How can I say no to that?
We go to the underground parking garage of the hotel. Max clicks on the key, and when I look at the car, I am surprised. I never thought it would be Max’s.
“Is that your car?”
He grins like a little boy on Christmas morning. “Yes, it’s a Porsche Cayenne. One of my favorite cars.”
“One of? What do you do with more than one car?”
He winks at me. “I’ll let you discover that soon. Get in now, so we won’t be late.”
When I slide in the passenger seat, I feel the pleasure of the soft leather under me. The car is spacious and finished to the smallest details. Max climbs in behind the wheel and starts the car. “Ready?”
“Where are we going?”
“Do you trust me?” The way he looks at me makes me realize that his question is about much more than just this trip. In my head, I don’t doubt for a second, but I hesitate for a moment before answering. “Of course, I trust you.”
“Then you’ll see where we’re going.”
We drive into the traffic, and only ten minutes later we arrive at our destination. We are at a small airport. There are not many people, but there is a helicopter ready. I turn around to Max when I realize it.
“Are we going to fly?”
I can’t hide the enthusiasm in my voice. I’ve never flown in a helicopter before, but I’ve always been curious how it would be. As we are almost all alone here, Max pulls me against him and kisses me.
“Have you ever flown in a helicopter?”
“No, but I think it’s really exciting.” This time I kiss him first and I see how I surprised him a little. “Thank you for taking me with you, Max.”
He grabs my hand and folds his fingers between mine. Normally, I would immediately take my hand off and point out to him that someone could see us. But today I am not guided by my mind. Just like our time in the empty concert hall, for once I’m following my heart.
When we finally sit in the helicopter, I blame the butterflies in my belly for the nerves about flying, but deep inside I know it has nothing to do with flying and everything to do with the famous, handsome singer who sits next to me and occasionally laughs at me reassuringly and squeezes my hand.
13
Max
Yesterday was one of the most fantastic days of my life. Seeing Valérie sitting in that helicopter was phenomenal. For once, she enjoyed every second without worrying about being seen by someone.
Today and tomorrow we have another rest day before there is a concert series for four days. This morning Jonathan came up with the idea of going to the beach together. That way everyone can chill out a bit. He can build sandcastles with his sons, while Camille, Jolene, and Valérie can sunbathe a bit.
At first thought, it seemed like a fantastic idea. That was until Valérie took off her shorts and T-shirt and only kept on a little yellow bikini. The worst of all is that I can’t say anything about it because she made it clear to me that she doesn’t want anyone from Full Moon to know what we share.
So I lie here on my belly on my beach towel looking at her, as inconspicuously as possible.
“What is going on with you?” I jump up when John sits next to me. John follows my gaze and laughs when he sees Valérie sitting down. “Why don’t you just go sit with her?”
“She doesn’t want that,” I growl.
“And since when do you listen to anything anyone says?”
“Listen, I’m trying to regain her trust, and she doesn’t want anyone from the band to know what’s going on between us. So I’m giving her what she wants, for now.”
John starts laughing. A deep sound which makes almost everyone on the beach look at us. My gaze wanders a little to Valérie, but luckily, she’s far enough away from us and fortunately, doesn’t notice anything because of the earplugs from her phone she has in. When John is finally done laughing, he leans a little closer to me.
“Do you really think no one from the band knows that? Jesus, Max... I think the whole hotel has already heard what you’re doing in your room.”
Holy shit!
I look around and see almost every member of the band laughing and nodding. Not that I’m worried about one of them making it known to the world, but I would have preferred to have told them myself rather than letting them know this way.
I get up from the towel and stand in front of the group. “How long have you known this?”
“From the very first day, Max. Wasn’t that the reason you brought her here,” Tim says drily.
I can’t fault Tim, and somehow, I’m glad the band knows it. That’s one group less that I have to take into account during my hiding attempts.
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“And miss how you persistently try to keep it secret?” replies Camille. “What’s the fun of that?”
Jonathan laughs at her and then looks at me with mischief in his eyes. “If I were you, I’d just keep an eye on your lady.” He points to the place where Valérie lies.
In the little amount of time, I wasn’t paying attention, some douchebag wearing red swimming trunks came to sit next to her. Apparently, Valérie took out her sunscreen, and the guy offered to put it on her back. My mouth falls open when she laughs at him and then hands him the tube. Oh, hell no!
I don’t even think about the band anymore, and I run as fast as I can through the sand toward Valérie. Just before the guy can put the lotion on his hands, I push him away.
“Hey,” he spits at me. “She’s mine.”
When his gaze then falls on me, it is clear that he immediately knows who I am. “Shit, you’re Max, the singer of Full Moon.”
“Indeed, shit. Don’t you dare put your hands on my girlfriend? Tell the rest of your friends walking around here—She belongs to me.”
“Okay, relax. I just wanted to help her with the sunscreen. That’s all.”
“I’ll take it from here.”
Luckily, he’s clever enough to get out of here quickly. When I turn around, Valérie has walked down the beach. I run after her and grab her arm to stop her. “Where do you think you’re going?”
She tears her arm loose of my grip, doesn’t even look at me and walks away. I run until I stand before her and stop her. She looks angrily at me. “You don’t have the right to say what I can and can’t do. You behaved like an asshole; he was only going to rub lotion on my back.”
“I know the rubbing that kind of guy was looking for; all you had to do was ask me.”
“And what about our agreement? You know I don’t want the rest of the band to know anything about this. Well, I can forget that now.”
I take her chin in my hand and push it toward the place where the rest of the group is. “Look carefully, Valérie. Do you think they don’t know?”
Everyone is staring at us like they’re watching an exciting film in a theater. Valérie loosens her chin from my grip and looks angrily at me.
“I can’t believe you told them.”
“Valérie, I didn’t tell them anything; apparently they heard us.” I scratch my hair. “More than once.”
Her cheeks turn red and she buries her head in her hands. “Oh God, this cannot be true. I’ve never been so ashamed in my life. I can no longer face them.”
I try to pull her closer to me, but she doesn’t allow that. “Leave me alone, Max. I can’t look at you now, so just leave.”
I understand she has to recover from everything, but if she thinks I’ll leave her alone, she doesn’t know me well enough. Without giving her time to think, I squat down and lift her behind the knees and throw her over my shoulder.
“Max! What are you doing? Put me down!”
To support her words, she beats my back. “I think you can use some cooling down.”
Now that she understands what my plan is, she starts hitting my back even wilder. However, there is nothing that can stop me now, and I quickly move to the ocean. Without even stopping, I step into the surf and throw her
into the water. She goes completely under water and then rises again flailing. She wipes her hair out of her face and then focuses her murderous gaze on me.
“What was that for?”
“You were completely overheated; I’m sure you needed some cooling.”
“You are real... I... sometimes you are unbearable.”
When I pull her into my arms this time, she doesn’t sputter anymore. The cold water has made her nipples stiff, and I feel them pushing against my chest. Her gaze immediately goes up to mine. She is also not immune to my touch.
“Soothed?”
“This is not funny, Max. Everyone enjoyed your little spectacle, but you know that’s not what I want. We have no relationship. Only sex. Good sex, but no more than that. I don’t want to be seen with you.”
“Is that how you still think about it?”
There is a loaded silence between us. Then I see her eyes wandering over the beach, and everyone is still looking at us.
I love her. With all my heart, but when she says such things, I feel like throwing her back into the water. I let her go and turn around to walk back up the beach. It’s not that I don’t understand why she wants it this way, but this is the first time in my life that a woman doesn’t want to be seen with me. What’s worse is that for one, I know she’s lying, and second of all, she is the woman who has conquered my heart. I have to distance myself now, but I will show her that I do not take into account what the world wants of me. I want her. That’s all that counts, and I’ll find a way to make that clear to her. But for now, I need to cool off a little.
14
Valérie
Seeing Max walk away from me caused my heart to break. The pain in his face when I said I didn’t want to be seen with him... I won’t be able to forget that soon. Of course, I didn’t mean it like it sounded. I just don’t want my bosses to see this. Since the helicopter flight, I’ve been trying to gather my courage to tell him what happened to me after he left with Full Moon.
I want him to know the whole truth before he decides he wants me back. Without knowing everything, he can’t make the right decision. I’ve withheld things from him, things he has the right to know. And as long as he doesn’t know, I don’t want him to say those words to me.
I hurry out of the water and walk to my towel. I ignore the staring gaze of everyone on the beach. While I am drying myself, Jolene comes to stand next to me.
“Are you okay?”
“No, I have to follow Max. I didn’t think about what I said, I didn’t mean to hurt him.”
She looks at Max, who’s already far away from us, walking back to the hotel.
“I’ve never seen him like this before. He really cares about you, Valérie. And I see in your eyes that you care about him, too. I know you don’t want my advice, but I’m going to tell you what I learned from my experience with John. You should never be afraid to express your feelings. If you care about each other, all the rest doesn’t matter.”
Her words touch me, and I know she’s right. All I have to do is find the right way to tell Max.
“Thanks, Jolene. Now I’m going to go find your brother.”
“No problem at all. You’re still coming to our ladies’ night tonight, right?”
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
I throw my towel in my beach bag, put on my shorts and T-shirt and run after Max. When I get back to the hotel lobby, Max is nowhere to be found, so I assume he is in his room. I want to talk about this with him, but maybe he just needs some time for himself. I decide to take a shower first and then come back here.
After the last few nights, it is strange to be in my room. I step into the shower to wash off the salty residue from the ocean and the suntan lotion. Until the incident, with Max, I really enjoyed our day at the beach. My skin is already golden brown from the little sun I’ve gotten.
I put on my bra and panties and a loose summer dress. With my hands, I quickly comb through my hair to make sure there is more volume in it. The nerves scream through my body when I open the door to the corridor, but this time, fortunately, there’s no one to be seen. I quickly go to the door of Max’ room and knock.
“Max, it’s me. Please let me in.”
It takes a while, but then I hear the lock click. The door swings open. Max stands before me with a towel wrapped around his waist. But otherwise, he is completely naked. He has just taken a shower because his skin is still glistening, and his hair is wet. I am staring when he interrupts my daydream. “Are you still going to come in?”
The angry edge to his voice hasn’t escaped me, but I go inside and close the door behind me. When I turn around and try to say something, he pushes me against the door, and before I can say a word, his lips are already on mine. The kiss is fierce, wild, and everything I long for.
When he finally breaks the kiss, we both gasp for breath. He pushes his forehead against mine. “I want to be angry with you, but I can’t do it.”
“I’m sorry, Max. There are things you don’t know about me, and I’m afraid you won’t want me if you know them.”
For a while, he looks at me. “There is nothing you can say that will make me not want you anymore. But I see that you’re not ready to share everything with me yet. There will come a day when you can, and on that day, I will be there for you.”
I can only agree with him; I am not ready to tell him everything yet. I stroke his cheek with my hand and see how he closes his eyes. “Thanks, Max. That means a lot to me.”
When he opens his eyes again, I see the fire burning in them. His eyes spark when he takes me in from head to toe. His mouth ticks up in a grin when he gently pulls me toward the bed. Carefully he pushes me down on the mattress, loosens his towel and lies on top of me.
“I think you’re still wearing too many clothes.”
His hand disappears under my dress. He caresses the tender skin of my thighs and pulls my dress up as he glides farther up, leaving goose bumps in his trail. My breathing quickens and I close my eyes for a moment to let it sink in. My dress slides over my body when he pulls the dress over my head and throws it beside him on the ground. Once the dress is gone, he lowers his head and kisses my earlobe. Gently sucking it into his mouth, before he lets his tongue sweep over the sensitive skin in my neck. I shiver and feel heat arise in my belly. His hands wander over my thighs while his mouth moves farther down toward my breast. He kisses the valley between my breasts and squeezes them over my bra.
The sensation flows through my entire body. Everything he does feels magical, and I feel the heat gathering between my thighs. “Max,” I moan.
He brings his mouth back to my ear. “I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere.”
How does he always manage to say the words I want to hear? Feeling brave, I put my leg around him and turn us. He is now under me, and I can feel his erection between my legs. I lower my head and kiss him, just like he kissed me. I let my tongue slide down his neck. His hands slide over my back, and he undoes the clasp of my bra, carelessly throwing it on the ground next to us.
His hands grab my naked breasts, and I arch my body into his big warm hands against my sensitive skin. The sensations are too much for me, and I decide not to lose one more second. I let my hand slip in between us and move my panties to the side, I grab his cock and place him at my entrance. Without hesitation I slide onto him and take him all the way inside. We both moan when he pushes himself inside of me until the root.
“Oh my God, Valérie, your so tight. ”
“I want it rough, Max. Please, just give it to me.”
Something in his eyes glints with those words, and before I know what’s happened, I’m lying on my back on the mattress with Max on top of me. He pushes himself inside me again in a hard stroke. But instead of moving, he remains still. I try to push him, but he grabs my hands and holds them over my head.
“You like that?” he asks.
“Yes, please, Max.”
He doesn’t need more encouragement. �
�Hold on to the headboard and do not let go.” I do what he asks and grab the bar so hard that it turns my knuckles white. Max sits back and grabs my legs. He raises them and puts them on his shoulders. Because of the change of angle, he can go deeper inside of me. And then he starts to move.
This is so intense. With deep, hard thrusts he starts to move, and I’m glad I have the bar to hold on to. I can feel my orgasm building. I already know that it will be intense because I feel it slowly climbing, a small tingle that’s about to explode inside my whole body.
“I’m going to come,” I scream.
Max keeps going in and out of me mercilessly. “Not yet, Valérie. Together, with me.”
“Oh God, I don’t think I can stop this.” My eyes go to him, and I see how he’s watching me. I bite on my lip to stop the orgasm and apparently that is the last thing he needed to come. “Now!” he screams.
With one last deep thrust, we both come. Max loosens my legs from his shoulders and then falls exhausted on top of me. I let go of the bar and stroke his hair gently.
When we both have caught our breath, Max sits upright and looks at me. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
I give him my most radiant smile.
“That was fantastic; when can we do that again?”
15
Max
It is almost time. I’ve been preparing for this for a few days now, but it’s finally going to happen tonight. The song that has been in my head for a long time, I finally got down on paper. So when I sang it during the rehearsal the other day after our afternoon at the beach, the whole band was immediately in love with it.
We practiced all afternoon. Luckily, I had sent Valérie away with an excuse, together with the other ladies of the group. She has no idea what will be happening tonight. We just finished the rehearsal when the ladies come back in.
Say You Crave Me (Full Moon, #4) Page 11