To the Max (23 page)

She was still reluctant, her voice unsure. “Max, you can’t blow—”

“Air inside your pussy,” he finished her sentence. “I got it. Don’t worry. The baby is safe.”

“How do you know about that? Oh God. Don’t tell me you have some weird fetish about pregnant women.”

Her half-suspicious, half-terrified gaze made him chuckle. “Nope. You’re my first one. I’m a bit freaked out about all the things I want to do to you and how badly I want to, but the truth of the matter is, I’m a compulsive reader. Can’t have books lying around without at least skimming them.”

She stared at him questioningly.

“Okay,” he confessed. “I’ve read all yours books. Of course I have. You’re pregnant; I want to know. I promise to eat you thoroughly, lick, suck, nip, and lap at every inch of your pussy, but no blowing. Now lie back and open up for me, baby.”

She obeyed him. He had the feeling it wasn’t the promise he would make her come that ultimately convinced her but the fact that he’d read her pregnancy books and knew what not to do.

Whatever. He was going to make good on his words and blow her mind. Not eating her out wasn’t an option.

He grabbed the backs of her knees and spread her wide, seeing her pussy for the first time.

“Fuck, baby. Look at you. Bare. Soaking wet. Red and puffy from my cock. Begging for my touch.” He caressed her and delicately opened her folds. He’d been thinking about this for so fucking long now, he was going to gorge on her.

Not letting her retreat, he put his mouth on her and lapped at her entrance with long, deep swipes of his tongue, rubbing at her clit, working her slowly. She tasted fantastic. Even better than he’d imagined, and he’d imagined plenty. Sweet but fiery.

Whenever she squirmed and tried to close her legs, he tightened his grip and ate her harder, turning his head to her inner thigh and gently biting her, growling his displeasure. She seemed to like it, because every time he did so, she whimpered, growing wetter and wetter.

Pushing two fingers inside of her, he took her clit into his mouth, and she jerked, her back bowing, her muscles clamping around him.

“Watch me, baby. Forget everything else.”

Soon she was moaning and bucking against him, her hands in his hair. Totally lost in the moment.

He redoubled his efforts, sucking and lapping at her clit until her whole body was quivering and tightening and she was coming. In his mouth. Screaming.

He should wipe the smug look from his face, but he couldn’t. He nuzzled her skin as she floated back. “You alive?” he asked, moving up and kissing her lips.

“I think so.”

“Good. What was that about not coming from being eaten out? Because I pretty much felt you spilling in my mouth.”

“Show-off,” she muttered.

He suited up and flipped her on all fours. “Let’s see if I can make you explode again before this beautiful pussy drags me along,” he whispered in her ear, pushing balls-deep inside her.

Her core was swollen and extremely hot and he had to grit his teeth not to loose it on the spot, every single muscle in his body so fucking taut he was going to snap, just from entering her.

“I can’t come again,” she whimpered.

But he started moving and soon she was giving him the ride of his life and screaming her orgasm against the sheets.

Afterward, Max disposed of the condom and gathered her in his arms. She was already half-asleep, but he had to say it. “I’m clean, Ace. I can’t deny my record is colorful, but I’ve never had sex without a condom. Ever. And I know that is no guarantee that I’m clean, but I got tested before going to California. I’ll get tested again. I just wanted to tell you. I wouldn’t ever risk you or the baby. In any way.”

“I know,” she answered.

* * * *

Max could have pinpointed with absolute certainty the second Annie had woken up and processed what had happened in the night, because she jumped out of bed, wrapped herself with the sheet, and made a dash for the door.

“Here it goes,” he muttered as he got up. He’d figured she was going to freak out, but running wasn’t an option anymore, for either one of them. He trapped her against the wall, his hands at either side of her face. “Okay, let’s have it.”

She clutched the sheet, her eyes anxious. “Max, this was a bad idea.”

Whatever was going on in that pretty little head of hers, it wasn’t good. “Humor me. Why?”

“Why?” she shrieked, trying to wrench away. “Because when I was nineteen and losing my virginity, you were eleven and playing with Legos! You’re a kid. God, what was I thinking yesterday? This is crazy.”

“I was not losing my virginity at age eleven, but I wasn’t playing with Legos either. I spent the whole night fucking you. I’m no kid. You need to get over the age thing.”

“And I’m pregnant,” she continued, ignoring his words. “It may not look like it because my belly is small, but this is not an ‘I ate too much at dinner’ pouch, let me do a couple of sit-ups tomorrow and it’s gone. No. It’s going to get bigger until the baby pops out. A baby!”

Max snorted. “I know you’re pregnant. That doesn’t change the fact that I have feelings for you.”

She froze. “You have feelings for me?”

He leaned even closer and looked her straight in her eye. Hadn’t she heard his words yesterday about wanting exclusivity and all the strings? “Yes. Very strong ones. I didn’t develop them because you were pregnant, and I certainly won’t stop having them because of it. You have to come to terms with the fact that I’m going nowhere. I want this to happen. We’ll take it as slow as you need, but I won’t let you push me away. Or feed me bullshit excuses. I will keep pushing back again and again until you give me, us, a chance.”

She stared at him for a long while and then whispered, “You call this taking it slowly?”

“Ace, I’ve had you in my bed for weeks now and haven’t touched you. How much slower can it get?”

“My reasons aren’t bullshit excuses.”

“Yes, they are. You’re hiding behind your age and your baby. Tell me, how mature is that? Who’s the one acting like a kid?”

“Max—”

“This,” he said, signaling between the both of them, “
we
can handle. This,” he said, putting his hand over her stomach, “
I
can handle.”

She shook her head. “Max, you don’t know what you’re talking about. This is someone else’s baby. You may regret it later. It’s a frigging big thing. I don’t think you fully understand the scope of what you’re signing up for. What taking responsibility for someone else’s baby means.”

“I know what I’m talking about, Ace. Nate Bowen? He is not my biological father.”

Chapter Fourteen

Annie stopped ranting right away. “What?”

“Nate Bowen is not my biological father.”

She looked stunned. “But you and your brothers are—”

“So much alike? Yeah. We have the same mother. The same one who left us when I was four months old. Considering that, it wasn’t a wonder she couldn’t keep her legs closed for other guys while married, huh?”

The fight had gone out of her. “I had no idea.”

Very few people knew he wasn’t a Bowen. Max had found out long ago, at six, on the day his life had taken the shittiest turn possible.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. Cole has always been pissed at her for dumping us. James too—not to Cole’s extent, but he also held a grudge for a while. Not me. I’m fucking glad she left me here.

“Nate is my dad. He taught me how to ride a bike. How to fish. How to drive. He was with me celebrating when I graduated. He came to all my games. Supported me through thick and thin. He had my back when I returned from the military. For all intents and purposes, he is my dad, and I couldn’t have a better one. Biologically speaking, I’m not his.

“The thing is, Ace, blood does not a family make. Love and respect do. It’s the day-to-day contact. The wiping of countless tears, the laughs. Even the worries. Christmases. Birthdays. Helping with the homework in the evenings. Preparing fucking waffles in the mornings because your kids love it. Being there. Any asshole with a working dick can make a baby, but not everyone can be a dad.” That was why Nate Bowen was and always would be his father, regardless of what Max’s blood said.

Her voice was barely there. “What are you actually saying?”

He cupped her face. “I wasn’t planning for this to happen, baby, for me to feel the way I do about you. I want a fighting chance to make this work. I can’t promise it will, but as sure as hell I’ll give it my best shot. I do want a family. And kids. This, your pregnancy, is not a big issue for me. I can handle it. Can you handle us? See past the age difference?”

She was still scared, he could tell, but she slowly nodded. “I’ll try.”

“Fair enough. That’s all I’m asking, baby,” he said, bringing her to him and kissing her deep and long. “Nothing else. Just a chance.”

He continued kissing her until she softened. “We’re done talking?” She nodded again as he nuzzled her throat. Fuck, she smelled so fantastic. He’d spent the whole night fucking her, and yet here he was, dying to have her again. “Let’s lose the sheet.”

The grip she had on the cloth tightened. “Now? In broad daylight?” she asked, her eyes bugging as she looked around.

“Of course. What? Let me guess: you’re not a fan of sex in the day either.”

“Max, when you’re over thirty-five, you only have sex in broad daylight while dressed. Or naked if your partner looks worse than you do. Obviously, I’m staying covered.”

God, she cracked him up. “You’re unbelievable.”

“Not really, no. It’s a well-known thing.”

“Is that what those romance novels teach you? Because I’ve checked your e-reader, baby. There are things there I hadn’t heard of. I doubt very much that rule of yours apply to those romances.”

Annie sighed and gave him a duh-you’re-dense look. “No, but those are novels. This is reality. In the real world, a woman in her midthirties is…”

“What?” What the fuck was with women and age? He didn’t get it.

“Not in her prime. Guys keep getting better with age, like Sean Connery or Paul Newman, while women a hair over forty are delegated to playing the hero’s mother’s role.”

“That’s bullshit, Ace.”

She continued rambling. “Hello… Spock’s mother in the new movies? Please. When did she give birth? When she was five? Insulting, really.”

Max had no clue what she was talking about. Annie didn’t seem to be listening, so he ripped the sheet from her.

“Max!”

“What?” He crossed his arms over his chest defiantly. The sheet was now pooling around her feet, and she was trying to make herself small. It pissed him off. “I’m totally naked. We should be on equal footing.”

She gave him a once-over from head to toe. “Have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately? We aren’t on equal footing. Not by a long shot.”

He narrowed his eyes at her. Okay. He lifted her.

“What? Where are we go— Oh, no, no,” she cried out when it dawned on her what he had in mind.

Before she could do anything about it, he had her strapped on the sex swing. “We were on equal footing. Now we aren’t.”

“ARE YOU NUTS?” Annie jerked, trying to cover herself, but then Max let go of the ropes, and she screamed, losing her balance.

Jesus frigging Christ. She could barely manage a hammock; what the hell made him think she could handle a sex swing?

He reached for the ropes and steadied her. His smirk was all male. “Calm down, Ace. This thing is tricky. You don’t want to get entangled. If we have to call 911, it’s going to be a bit awkward to explain.”

No shit.

“I’m too old to be in a regular swing, never mind a sex one. And naked.” Someone in the book club had said it very eloquently last time. When you stood up, everything that seemed to be in place while you were lying on your back fell down. Very down. Very fast.

“Bullshit. You’re gorgeous.”

She doubted that very much. For the first time, though, she was happy for the mega boobs that blocked her view, especially downward. She tried to appeal to his ego. “Didn’t you say that you can lift your dates?”

He cocked an eyebrow, full of himself. “I can lift you with one fucking hand. That’s not what this is about.”

“What is this about?”

“Setting some things straight from the get-go. I will not let you hide from me. I will fuck you in broad daylight, and you need to get used to it. I like sex while dressed, sure. When the occasion calls for it. Now doesn’t.”

“You’re bossy.”

He shrugged. “My house. My rules.”

“That applies to the bedroom too? Maybe we should start having sex at my place.”

Max tipped her head up, pinning her with his stare. “Make no mistake. My place or your place, if I’m fucking you, I’m in charge.”

“You mean ‘my dick, my rules.’”

“Semantics.”

Semantics, her ass. She was over her head here. “Max, today is Halloween. I have lots to do.” So much so that she’d taken the day off from work.

“Don’t worry. We’ll be done by the afternoon.”

Oh God.

He did something with the swing, and her legs, which had already been open, spread even farther. He studied her, his eyes full of lust and something soft she couldn’t decipher. “You’re fucking sexy, Ace. And this…your pussy totally open for me, already wet and swollen. Sexiest thing I’ve ever seen,” he finished, caressing her sensitive folds, her core sharply contracting at the contact.

She was naked, in broad daylight, totally exposed and out of her comfort zone, yet all he had to do was touch her and she was ready to go.

He came even closer, his raspy voice giving her goose bumps, his hand brushing her clit. “Did you like coming in my mouth?”

“Yes,” she confessed. He’d licked every inch of her, murmuring about how good she tasted. How beautiful she was. Growling and biting her inner thighs when she tried to squirm away, turning her on even more. She’d kept waiting for that feeling she always got, that awkwardness that wouldn’t allow her to let go enough to come, but she hadn’t gotten it. Max had looked at her from between her legs, those bright eyes trained on her, his tongue lapping at her, and everything had flown out of her mind except how good he was making her feel.