“My place. You’re staying with me tonight.”
I don’t argue. Don’t want to.
Silence follows us until we’re in his place. I expect a lecture, but as soon as the door shuts behind us, I’m pinned up against the wall, and he’s kissing me. Hard, desperate.
“Max,” I whimper, and he pulls back.
“God, Kendall, do you have any idea what could have happened to you?”
“I know—”
“Shit. you could have...” Pain slices through his features and his palms are on my face.
I can tell he’s holding back his frustration, holding back the lecture he wants to give me.
And I know he’d be right.
“Your face,” he says, gently dragging his thumb over my cheek. And even though I haven’t looked in the mirror, I know it’s going to be black and blue tomorrow. “I’ll get you some ice.”
He starts to turn, but I grab his arm.
“I don’t need ice.”
His eyes lock on mine. “What do you need, Kendall?”
“You,” I whimper, knowing it’s the only thing that will make me feel better. “I need you, Max.”
Chapter Seven
Max
Earlier this evening, I may not have told her how I felt, but tonight I am going to show her.
In my room, I undress her. Slowly. Her eyes are closed, and a single tear runs down her face as I pull off her top, kissing the tops of her breasts, her collarbone, her cheek.
“Don’t cry, little one,” I tell her and she sucks in a sharp breath, looking at me as I pull her close.
“I’m scared, Max,” she tells me. The confident Kendall I know is gone - in her place is a girl looking at a man with longing and desperation and hope that is etched in fear.
“Why?” I ask, both of us undressed, naked, bare. “You’re not in danger anymore.”
“I know.” She chews on her bottom lip. “It’s not that.”
“What is it then?” I tilt her jaw up, holding her gaze.
“I don’t want to mess this up.”
“The sex?”
She shakes her head. “No, Max. Us.”
I pull her in my arms, not wanting to waste another damn minute waiting. We’ve been fire and ice for so long, she is hot and I’m constantly trying to cool her down - but not tonight. Tonight, we can let it burn. Whatever we were before - it doesn’t matter.
In my bed, with her soft body, curves and dimples and long blonde hair, I don’t care about the past - hers or mine - I just care about making her smile, making her feel as beautiful as she makes me feel strong.
I lean over her, my cock hard and her body willing and God, this is the moment. The one I’ve pictured so many fucking times.
“What?” she asks.
“God, I’ve wanted this for a long ass time.”
She laughs, her smile breaking through the tension and letting me ease myself into her without hesitation. “How long?” she asks between whimpers as I fill her up.
“Since I got my first boner in middle school.”
She wraps her arms around me. Kissing my shoulder as I squeeze her big ass, so round and so damn sexy. “I’ve been wanting you for about as long.”
I groan, loving the way my cock feels, buried deep inside her sweet pussy. It’s tight, the way I knew it would be, fits like a motherfucking glove.
“You touch yourself, thinking about me?” I ask, rolling her over so she straddles me. My hands on her narrow waist, her long hair falling over my chest as she rides me like the goddess she is.
“So many times. You were my teenage fantasy, Max Major.”
I take hold of her hips, loving the idea of her spreading her creamy thighs, slipping her fingers inside herself as she thought about me. Her sweet teenage pussy mine.
“That year I lived with you?” I say, thrusting my cock where it belongs.
“Yeah?” she moans.
“I was a fucking creeper, you know that?”
She laughs, pressing her hands to my chest and rocking her little clit nice and tight against me. “Tell me more.”
“I’d always find a reason to be in the hall when you walked out of the shower. Loving the way you looked with that skimpy towel around you, barely covering your ass.”
She moans, my cock throbs, both so fucking close. “I chose that towel carefully. Hoping you’d notice.”
I grin, running my hands down her back as she arches, the pleasure mounting to a fucking peak.
“I noticed, little one. I noticed everything.”
We move as one, until we’re shaking, until our bodies - fire and ice - melt into one. When we finish, my heart knows, with no uncertainty, what my body has understood for a decade. Kendall is mine.
She curls up in my arms, head on my chest, and I know I never want her to leave. Not my bed. Not my house. Not my life. She belongs here. And it’s scary as hell.
But not as scary as the possibility of losing her.
I’d heard the fear in her voice when she called me. I didn’t think twice, I drove to Piccadilly, paid the insane cost to get into the rave, and stood at the back of the building, watching her.
She was a goddess up on that stage, controlling the crowd with her music and energy. So damn beautiful. She commanded the room. But from where she was on the platform, she couldn’t see the dangers all around her.
I’d nearly lost my mind when the power went out, and I couldn’t find her.
Even now, every muscle in my body goes tense, thinking about what could have happened. I know she doesn’t want me to be overbearing, but it’s my nature to protect her. That’s never going to change - even if she decides to break this off.
Her fingers lace with mine, and I know she’s lost in her own thoughts too. This is so much more than just a booty call. More than just hooking up.
Shit, I’m not sure what it is, but I know there’s no way I’m letting her go.
Chapter Eight
Kendall
Max isn’t in bed when I wake up, but I can hear him in the kitchen, smell the coffee percolating. Sunlight shines through the window, and I groan when I glance at my phone and see the dozen missed calls from my brother.
My groan increases when I catch my reflection in the mirror. I was right about the bruise. My entire cheekbone is a dozen shades of purple. I ignore the texts, wanting, more than anything, to be here - present with Max this morning. Isn’t this what I’ve wanted for so long? His undivided attention?
After last night, I am pretty sure I have it. He didn’t fuck me - what happened in his bed was deeper than that. More real. Wasn’t it?
I find one of Max’s clean t-shirts and slip it over my head, loving the way his smell wraps around me. Max is the opposite of Antonio, who smells like cigarettes and Ketel One... Max is green grass and sunshine and barbeques ... and so much more of a man.
As I walk through his house toward the smell of bacon, I’m reminded just how much of a man he is ... grown up in a way that makes my Breakfast Club poster and second-hand furniture feel immature. He is put together, a police officer. He has a mortgage. A 401k. I pass a spare bedroom he has turned into an office. I walk through it, seeing folders labeled taxes, health insurance, receipts.
I think about my checking account balance. My booty shorts. My knee-high socks.
“Hey,” he says, coming up behind me holding out a cup of coffee. His ripped chest is bare, and he wears low slung grey sweats. “What do you think of my place?”
“It’s really...”
“You can say it.” He laughs. “Boring? I think we’ve had this conversation before.” He takes a sip of his coffee, looking around the office. “This place really needs a better paint job. The whole house is beige. Beige couch, beige walls, beige appliances.” He groans. “I’ve never been creative. Not like you, Kendall. You even made that old skate rink look amazing.”
I smile, realizing maybe I am overthinking this. Maybe Max and I could be more than a bootyogomous relationship
. I wish he’d just say something, tell me how he feels. But maybe he isn’t because I’m reading this all wrong.
Max sets our coffees on the desk.
“Come here,” he murmurs, pulling me against him and kissing me hard. His cock is against my belly and his hands running over my bare ass. “God, you look sexy in my shirt,” he says and my body races with pleasure, loving the sound of those words on his lips.
He picks me up and carries me into the living room, placing me on the couch. He is tickling me, my bare pussy wet, his cock grazing my entrance, nipples hard and my body his. His.
All his.
And then the front door opens. My brother Grady walks in and Max immediately jumps off of me, covering his hard-on. I scramble to cover my bare butt, my face burning.
“What the fuck?” Grady shouts.
Shit.
I don’t have time to react, before my brother is marching over to Max, and slams him against the wall. “You’re fucking my sister?”
Max shoves Grady off him. “Before you freak out—”
“Don’t fuck with me, Max. Goddammit.” Grady groans, running his hands through his hair looking at me like he doesn’t know me at all. “Go get some clothes on,” he yells, turning his back on us, while we scamper for our clothes. “Jesus, I’ve been worried sick, you know that? No one has been able to get a hold of you all night.”
I run down the hall to Max’s room and pull my clothes on from the night before, listening to the guys shout at one another as hot tears fill my eyes.
“I can’t believe you. I trusted you, Max.”
“It just happened. It wasn’t planned. I got her from the rave and then one thing turned into another...”
Max’s words thump inside me, and I barely hear what my brother says next.
Is that what this is for Max, one thing turning into another? My chest tightens, and I feel like I’m falling - no, like I’m crashing.
I’d let myself hope for more than just being a booty call for him.
Grady is yelling again. “I can’t believe after everything, that you’d fuck my sister.”
“We weren’t fucking we were—”
“What? You’re going to tell me this is anything more than screwing? She’s just a piece of ass to you.”
“Watch what you say.”
My brother laughs sharply. “Oh, now you’re going to get all protective, now that your cock is wet?”
“Get out of my fucking house, Grady,” Max shouts. “I mean it.”
I walk into the living room, shaking.
“Come on, Kendall,” my brother says. “Get your shit, I’m taking you home.”
Max shakes his head. “You have no idea, Grady, no idea what she means to me.”
I turn, wanting to ask what he means, but he doesn’t offer it up, so I won’t beg. I won’t ask Max to love me. He either does or he doesn’t.
And as I leave his house, tears streaming down my cheeks, he doesn’t run after me.
I have my answer.
We made a pact for a no-strings relationship, and I got what I asked for.
Except if that’s true, why am I the one leaving his house with a broken heart?
Chapter Nine
Max
I shouldn’t have let Kendall walk out my door. But hell, my brain was spinning with Grady walking in on us. He has every right to be pissed, but I lost my cool when he started talking about shit he knows nothing about.
Fuck bootyogomy. I need so much more.
I need Kendall. All of her. Heart. Body. Soul. And I’m going to make sure she knows it. She might not feel the same way, but I’m not going to let her go without a fight.
Trouble is, she’s not picking up her phone. I went to her apartment, but if she was there, she wasn’t answering the door. I even stopped by the roller rink, but it was closed, and Kendall’s car was nowhere to be found.
I head over to Grady’s place, knowing I’m going to have to deal with him at some point anyway. As soon as he opens the door, I see the anger in his eyes, the way his fists curl at his side.
“Before you think about taking a swing at me, can you let me talk?” I say, rubbing the back of my neck.
His lips thin, and I can see him debating whether or not to slam the door in my face. Instead he gives a harsh nod, and motions for me to come in.
“Talk,” he says when we’re in the living room.
“I get that you’re pissed—”
“Of course I’m fucking pissed,” he growls out.
“I know it’s cliché to tell you that it’s not what you think, but it’s the truth.”
“What exactly is the truth, Max? Because we both know your track record with chicks. You’re not exactly the relationship type. I mean shit, when has it ever been about more than sex with any girl?”
“With Kendall,” I tell him honestly. “I love her, Grady.”
He turns his back to me and stands by the window looking out. “You think I don’t know that? In some ways you’ve been a better brother to her than I have. That’s why this...why it’s so fucked up.”
I let out a shaky breath. “That’s not what I meant. Yeah, I’ve always loved Kendall. You and she are my family, but...” I rub the heel of my palm into my temple, wishing I was better at words.
He glances over his shoulder. “But what?”
“It’s more than that,” I tell him, saying the things I should have said to Kendall. Things I need to tell her. “It’s not just sex with her. I want...”
“What do you want, Max?” a soft voice says behind me.
I turn and see Kendall there. She looks up at me, those big blue eyes wide, and full of so many emotions.
“Kendall.” Her name comes out in a rush of relief. I start to move toward her, but she puts her hand up, stopping me from pulling her against me and kissing her like I want to do.
“You don’t have to do this. I already told Grady the truth, that this was all my idea. That I’m the one who wanted this. So you don’t have to say anything you don’t mean just to fix things. Okay?”
“When the hell have I ever said anything I don’t mean?” I challenge her, taking another step closer, holding her gaze.
She sucks in a small shaky breath, then lets it out. “Never.”
“Right.” Emotions and heat and things I can’t even describe play between us, an almost tangible energy that tells me I’m not in this alone. That what I feel is right and true and all I have to do is reach out and take it.
Fuck the fear of rejection. What has it got me so far? Nothing but loneliness.
“I love you, Kendall. And not like a sister,” I say with a chuckle. “Yeah, I want to protect you. There’s something almost feral inside of me that needs to keep you safe. That I would do anything to make sure no one ever hurt you.”
A small smile stretches across her lips. “Can we go back to the part when you said you loved me?”
I chuckle, and pull her to me, cupping her jaw and kissing her gently. “I love you, Kendall. So much it fucking hurts just thinking about being away from you. I don’t want this to be casual between us. I want more.”
Her arms wrap around my neck and she smiles against my lips. “I want more, too.”
“Really?”
“Yes.” She pulls my mouth back to hers, and the kiss she gives me tells me everything I need to know.
She’s mine.
And I’m hers.
There’s a cough behind me, reminding me that we’re not alone, but Kendall doesn’t stop kissing me.
“Oh for God’s sake,” Grady says. “There are some things a brother should not see. Do you two mind?”
Kendall laughs and pulls back, but when I glance over my shoulder at Grady, there’s a small smile tugging at his lips.
“Don’t be mad, Grady,” Kendall says.
He lets out a sigh. “I’m not. But if you hurt her,” he says to me. “You know I’ll hang you by the balls to my plane and drag you around—”
“Yea
h, I know,” I say chuckling, feeling a huge weight lifting from me.
“Then get out of here.” He motions toward the door. “I don’t need to witness any more of you two sucking face today. There are some things a person can’t unsee.”
I take Kendall’s hand and lead her to my truck. When I turn on the ignition, the playlist I made just for her fills the space between us. The first song is Jon Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer.”
“Max.” Her eyes light up. “You know what this means?”
“What?” I pull out of Grady’s driveway longing to get my girl home. Where she belongs.
“This is our song now. We have a song. Like, officially.”
I chuckle. “So we’re official?”
She laughs. “Officially no longer in a bootyogomous relationship.”
“Good, because I don’t want to hide this thing we have.”
She gives a dimpled smile that tells me we got this. Just as the lyrics croon, We’ll make it, I swear. It’s true. I have no doubt that Kendall and I can get through anything, together.
“Oh, and Max?” she says.
“Yeah.”
“I love you too.”
Chapter Ten
Kendall
“What’s the emergency?” I ask Peyton when I arrive at the roller rink. “It sounded serious.”
“It is. Terribly serious.” Her back is to me, and I swear she sounds like she’s trying to hold back a smile.
It’s Monday night, my day off, and I’m not really sure what could be so important that she had to call me. Camille is much better at emergency stuff.
“Come on,” Peyton says. “I’ll show you.”
I follow her to the middle of the skating rink, and she points at the floor. I frown when I see the heart that’s been painted there, and crouch down, scraping at the paint. “Shit. Someone vandalized—”
The lights turn off and for a moment it’s completely dark, but then a spotlight turns on right above me, bathing me in light. Still, the rest of the place is dark, and I can’t see anything.
Bootyogomy: Booty Call Series Page 4