She pushed her way through the crowd toward the glimpses of silver and purple hair she could make out.
When she got there, she saw Tasha grinding enthusiastically against a different dark-haired hottie.
“Hey, Jacks,” Tasha said, grinning as she tossed her hair back and forth. “Good call coming to this place. I love it. Is your man candy going to come inside at all?
Jackie shook her head, having to talk loudly over the music. “I don’t think so. He’s working. I might just head out.”
“Okay, after this dance,” Tasha said.
“But—”
“If you aren’t having fun, I’m not either,” Tasha said firmly. “We’ll go do something else.” She ground back into the dude behind her. “Oh God, this is good.”
Jackie smirked and turned to leave the dance floor when she bumped into a hard, solid chest. Was there any other kind in Club Crimson?
She looked up to see a man with black hair and gray eyes that she hadn’t seen before.
“Don’t leave,” he said. “I haven’t even gotten to dance with you.” He slipped an arm around her waist, far pushier than any of the others, and began to move her to one of the dark corners.
She pushed away from him, but he was huge and could drag her without much effort. She just had to hope that, like the other men in the club so far, he didn’t mean any harm.
But damn, who would have known she would be this popular in Club Crimson?
“You’re hot,” the man said, putting a hand on either side of her head when they reached the back wall. There were a few women drinking on either side of her. “I’m not letting you leave without a dance.”
She frowned, having had just about enough male attention when she only wanted Max’s. She placed a hand on his chest, pushing him backward. “Sorry, I’m not feeling so well. I think I’m going to head out.”
The man took a step back, still blocking her path. “I told you I’m not taking no for an answer. You’re the hottest thing in this club.”
She raised an eyebrow at him, irritated now. “I highly doubt that. Now find someone else.” Though, she had a mind to tell Max and Benny about this guy in case he was aggressive with anyone else.
She tried to move around him but got caught around the waist and pulled back in with her back to his front. As she struggled to pull his hands off, she felt him go totally still.
She looked up to see Max parting the crowd as he walked over to them, a furious look on his face.
“Oh damn, it’s the killjoy bouncer,” the man behind her muttered, releasing his hold slightly. “Hopefully I get a warning first.”
Given the way Max’s eyes were burning, Jackie doubted it.
Chapter 13
Max didn’t know if he’d ever been more furious, and he’d seen some real shit in his life.
His eyes noted the man’s hands on Jackie’s waist, her hands trying to push against him, and the anger in him flared even higher.
This man would regret placing his hands on a lion’s woman.
And Max would never again let Jackie be alone in Club Crimson.
The man clearly knew how much shit he was in, based on the way he released Jackie and put both hands in the air apologetically as he tried to take a few steps back.
But Max was there in a second, brushing past Jackie, the lion in him wholly focused on his prey.
He hated any man who got pushy with a woman, but this one had made things personal.
Max’s hand shot out and connected hard with the offender’s jaw.
The man went down like a sack of marbles and then moaned as he tried to get to his feet.
The crowd parted to watch as Max got on one knee and hit him again, hard.
The man didn’t move this time.
Max sniffed the air, then scowled. Bear. Of course. Half the trouble he had in this place was from stupid-ass bears.
And there had never been a stupider bear than this one.
The murmurs from the crowd seemed in agreement. Max bent to pick up the man and haul him over his shoulder, then felt a hand on his arm.
“Don’t hit him again. He’s not moving,” Jackie said, flushed and worried.
“I wasn’t going to. I’m just throwing him out,” Max said tersely, hating that she would try to defend anyone else. On another night, he might think she was being merciful and kind, but tonight, he was too jealous to appreciate it at all.
He should have marked her as soon as he asked her out, with his scent if nothing else. Something that said she belonged to one of the most powerful shifters out there so no one dared invade her space.
Mate.
The urge to mark her couldn’t mean anything else, and it stunned Max down to his center. But even as the logical part of him knew he shouldn’t mate a human, the other side of him was roaring to quickly make her his.
He’d seen too many other men put their hands on her.
He shoved the man over his shoulder and turned to Jackie with a scowl. “Come on. We’re getting out of here. I just need to drop this guy off in the dumpster.”
“But Tasha—”
“Tasha can handle herself. I’ll text Benny and have Harley give her my address. Right now we’re going home.”
“But—”
He whirled on her. “I told you I was jealous. Can you handle that or not?”
She blinked, and her small hands tightened into fists as she raised her chin. “I can handle it. Fine, we’ll go.”
Max frowned to himself, knowing he could have handled things better but sure he could explain when they got back to his apartment.
He made good on his promise to dump the jerk in the trash, then sent texts to Benny and Harley and picked up Jackie in his arms as he started to cross the street.
Jackie let out a gasp. “Why are you carrying me?”
She looked so gorgeous tonight, with her perfect curls, those tight clothes, the generous cleavage peeking out of that blood-red shirt beneath her jacket. He just wanted to tear all of that off.
Would she let him?
“How else can I keep the whole world out?” he said angrily. “I want you all to myself. When you’re in my arms, no one can touch you. I shouldn’t have left you alone for a second.”
She was quiet as he carried her the rest of the way back. Calm down, he told himself, but it wasn’t working.
Someone had laid hands on his mate.
When they got to his apartment, he set her down and locked the door, and she headed over to the couch while he continued pacing.
“Goddammit, men are animals. Literally sometimes, and—”
“I’m really grateful you came to help me,” she said, looking a bit confused. “But I’m sorry if I made you angry. It’s just—”
“I know,” he said. “You turned down the others. Benny told me. I kept looking in and seeing men going after you, but Benny reassured me that you were fine. I knew men would want you, but—”
“I mean, they don’t usually, not that much.”
“But I didn’t think any would get aggressive like that. I should have been there sooner. I should have been staking my claim.”
She frowned at that. “Um. I mean. It’s fine now. He didn’t do anything.”
“He was trapping you. He could have done something.”
“He wouldn’t have,” she said calmly. “I would have called for help.”
Max sat on the other side of the couch, trying to calm his agitation. “I’m sorry. I don’t know how to explain it. I’m jealous in a way you probably can’t understand. When I want someone, I don’t want anyone to touch her. Or look at her. I want her to only belong to me. I want to tear her clothes off and—”
“Okay,” she said simply, dark eyes sparkling as she watched him rant. “It’s okay. You can have all of that.”
He blinked, shock moving through him. “I can?”
“I didn’t want any of them to touch me. I knew we were exclusive. That’s not my scene anyway. I like you, Max. I’
m good with exploring that.”
He took a deep breath. “Even what I said about the clothes tearing and—”
She grinned. “Especially that.”
He growled, moving over to her and grabbing her by the shoulders so he could pull her in against him. “Good. Because I want them to stay away. I don’t want them to look at you, let alone touch you. You’re mine, Jackie. Mine.”
She merely smiled at him, flushing lightly. “Okay. Do you expect me to say no or something? You’re kind and awesome and gorgeous. And you always show up when I need help.” She cupped his face. “I’m good with this.”
He looked down at her cleavage again, then back to her full lips. The lion in him was still raging and would be until she was fully his.
He couldn’t afford to mate her, not all the way yet, since she didn’t know what he was.
But as he lowered his lips over hers, he was determined to give her a very big taste of what was to come.
Chapter 14
Jackie’s insides coiled with warmth as Max’s lips pressed to hers. They were soft at first, firm and steady. Then his arms wrapped around her, pulling her closer, and Jackie felt a rush of emotion as she opened her mouth and let him inside. With long, slick swipes, he claimed her, making her entire body respond to him in surprising, heated ways.
Ever since Max had said he wanted to be exclusive with her, Jackie had been wondering how far they would go, how fast they would go. Even with the close proximity in which they found each other while taking care of Lionel, she’d always had the impression that Max wasn’t one to rush into things.
But after what had happened tonight, there was no way she could say there wasn’t something incredible between them. Something that made Jackie ache to experience physical pleasure more than she ever had in her entire life.
His tongue swiped along the roof of her mouth, pressing deeper and pulling a muffled moan from her throat. As he did, he straddled her on the couch where they’d been talking only a moment before, surrounding her. The upholstery groaned under the impossibly large, six-something guy atop her, but it only further verified Jackie’s suspicions that Max seemed to be so much bigger than average guys.
The way he’d picked up Chad like he was a toothpick or how he’d manhandled the man back in the bar stood as pretty undeniable evidence, too.
Max leaned down, kissing her neck. Everywhere he touched set off sparks of need deep within her. She pressed her hands to his chest, feeling his unyielding pecs as he trapped her against the couch.
When he nibbled at her ear, dragging her lobe between his teeth and lips, a flash of desire shot up her back. Max, who seemed more attuned to her body’s responses than even she was, did it again, a little harder this time, and she bucked against him, the sensation so powerful it was nearly shocking. But he didn’t let her move away, and when she looked up at him, his golden eyes were watching her hungrily, as if devouring her from head to toe.
She’d never felt so wanted before. So needed.
And she’d never felt the same toward someone else, either.
She took a deep breath, the kind one took before going underwater, just as Max’s hands cupped her breasts, squeezing them as he dipped to kiss the base where her neck met her shoulder once more. The thick material of her bra pressed against her nipples, rubbing them as he kneaded. She moaned louder this time, unable to stop her body’s acute response to him.
“Fuck, you’re hot, Jackie.” Max’s words against her skin were like a sensual oath, unable to hold any pretense of control. Just the thought of him losing himself like that over someone like her was oddly arousing, knowing she had an effect on someone who made it his job to seem unaffected by everything and everyone around him at all times.
His thumbs pressing directly over the center of her breasts made her mind go blank, a stark contrast with the firm, velvet brush of his lips down her collar. He seemed ravenous now, quickly moving to the top of her cleavage and making her heart race with anticipation of more. So much more than she’d ever dreamed.
Then suddenly, Max tore the center of her red shirt, right down the middle, as if it had been made of tissue paper. His eyes widened with arousal as he stared for a split second, and she gasped at the sheer want in his expression, matching the want she felt within for him.
Thankfully, he didn’t waste time, undoing the clasp of her bra and helping her shrug off her jacket, the remains of her shirt, and her bra all at once so she was completely bare from the waist up.
And when his mouth closed over one nipple, Jackie realized she was so wet she could feel it. But she didn’t care, giving herself over to the incredible sensation of being pleasured.
She felt feverish. As though someone had turned the thermostat up to a hundred and twenty, making clothes unnecessary accoutrements in the face of so much heat.
For several long moments, Max’s hands cupped her breasts as he licked and loved on them, suckling and savoring her skin like it was made of sugar. And then, just as it seemed she couldn’t take any more, he brought his hand lower between them, flicking the button of her jeans open and pulling down the zipper slowly, creating palpable tension as her body froze in place with eager anticipation.
Jackie tried to remember to breathe, but his finger so close to her clit made every nerve stand at attention.
His hand came lower over the soft material of her panties, then finally over her clit. The feeling of such direct stimulation felt as if it would nearly rip her in two, but instead, it just further stoked the already raging flame inside that was threatening to wholly consume her.
“More. Please, more,” she begged between soft mewls as his finger pressed against her clit over and over again. She was so close the world seemed to be turning on its side.
“I won’t stop unless you tell me to.” Max’s words were uttered more as a growl than normal human speech, rough and raw and animal-like.
“Never. Never stop.” The feeling was rising, rising higher, as though she were drowning.
Then with one smooth drag of the entirety of his finger up against her slit, she came, gasping for air that wasn’t going to come because her lungs weren’t cooperating.
In an explosion of pent-up energy, she orgasmed beneath Max. With nowhere to go, nowhere to move, she was left to focus wholly on the incredible release that moved over her in fierce waves.
And as she went, Max stayed close, remaining still like a rock of immovable strength she could hold on to as she rode out every little twinge of pleasure. By the time she was finished, Jackie couldn’t even remember how long it had lasted. It left her so hot and exhausted and wanting more from Max than she’d even thought possible.
For a moment, Max’s eyes lingered on her. And then, as if he’d heard something she hadn’t, his eyes flicked to the door. Then he frowned and stood up off the couch.
“I’d rather not have your friend walk in on us like this,” he said seriously.
“She probably won’t be here for a while,” Jackie said. She didn’t want the moment to end.
Max just grimaced, and Jackie could swear she heard a low-frequency growl come from somewhere deep in his throat, almost too low for her to even hear.
“No one gets to see my mate like this.” He folded his arms as he spoke, and the bulge of the muscles there just sent a shiver down the backs of her arms.
How did he look naked?
“Mate?” she asked, suddenly realizing what Max had just said.
“I mean make, as in make love to… The person I’m making love to.” He corrected himself, suddenly lifting her off the couch. His hands on her ass, pressing her hips into him as she straddled him, instantly reignited the fire inside her as he moved toward what she assumed was his bedroom.
“Hm, I like this,” she said, pressing her breasts into him, loving way his hard body felt against her yielding skin. Damn, she was already wanting more. It was as though he’d awakened a hunger in her that Jackie had never experienced.
“Me, too
, though that’s an incredible understatement.” As he passed through the door to his room, he kicked it shut behind him. Over his shoulder, she noted a huge king-size bed with a metal frame. But aside from a dresser and a nightstand, there wasn’t much else, like the rest of the house.
But compared to just being with Max, nothing else really mattered.
“What do you mean?” she asked as he laid her at the foot of the bed.
It wasn’t until she felt his hands near her ankles, pulling her black jeans slowly off, that she felt a blush creeping over the entirety of her body again.
“I like things like making doughnuts. I like it when it doesn’t rain during my shift. This?” He motioned between them with one hand while the other slowly, gradually pulled her pants off and dropped them to the ground. Then, as they fell, he crept over her on the bed in one smooth, almost catlike motion that made her skin tingle as he surrounded her once again. “This is amazing. Mind-blowing. I could never get enough of this.” The tension between them was like an invisible electrical current, crackling and popping with sparks.
“Yeah, it is. Wait, what were we talking about?” It was really hard to think when so much man, so much muscle, so much impending pleasure was bearing down on her like that.
Max just grinned, showing perfect white teeth and oddly sharp canines. “We were talking about how I’m going to make you come again. And again. And—”
“Yes, you’ve made your point.” Jackie felt red from head to toe, though thankfully, her complexion would hopefully hide it from Max. Regardless, she got the sense that he was acutely aware of her arousal.
“No,” Max said with a grin. “But I’m about to.”
Chapter 15
Max lowered himself and kissed Jackie, loving the way she moaned against his lips as he swept in with his tongue. As a lion with incredible senses far above that of normal humans, it was like he could feel her pleasure.
And it was the most amazing thing in the world.
He pulled away for a moment, tossing off his shirt and jeans. Frankly, he hadn’t expected them to go as far as they had tonight, but between every other shifter in the world wanting to take what was his and just how amazingly beautiful she’d looked tonight, Max couldn’t hold back any longer.
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