“I guess you’ve never driven in snow before.”
“Not until coming up here.”
“Hell, winter hasn’t even started yet.”
Great.
“I’ll tell you what. I’ll park my truck and drive the Buick home for you.” He nodded toward Greg. “I don’t want to wake him up just to transfer him into my truck.”
He did just that. Without even waiting for an answer from her, he went back to his vehicle, parked it off the roadway in a field, came back, and made her sit in the back since Greg was asleep in the passenger seat.
He drove the car back to her house without a word, but she could see the grin on his face and the looks that he kept giving her in the rearview mirror. He must think it was funny that she couldn’t drive in the snow. She was just a helpless female.
With a straight face, she gave him the finger and slid over to the corner of the backseat so she was out of his view. A low chuckle came from the driver’s seat.
She looked out the window and realized that they were already pulling into her driveway. He pushed the garage door opener and slipped the car inside before turning off the ignition and shutting the garage door again.
He got out and went around to the passenger side and quietly woke up Greg. Max helped Greg out of the car. Amanda remained in the backseat watching this man take her brother into the house. He clearly had a soft spot for Greg. She had to admit that there was more to him than met her eye. All business on the outside, but on the inside? He was someone who cared enough to include Greg and her for Christmas with his family, and afterward go out of his way to make sure they got home safely. He didn’t have to do either. But he did.
However, she didn’t want to rely on anyone other than herself. She needed to be more independent. How was she going to achieve that if he kept stepping in to save her ass?
She had been dependent for most of her life; now she needed to be the complete opposite.
But, honestly, as much as it irked her that he had to drive them home, she was relieved he had. Not that she was going to tell him that. She didn’t want him to think he could step in whenever he damn well pleased.
Not even five minutes later, Max came back into the garage and stared at her through the car window. “Are you going to sit in there all night?”
She gave him a slight shoulder shrug.
He opened the back door and slid in next to her.
“Amanda—”
“You think I’m helpless, don’t you?”
He gave her a surprised look. “Why would you think that?”
“I could have driven home myself.”
“Okay,” he said cautiously. “And your point is?”
“My point is that I should have gotten us home. I shouldn’t have needed your help. I need to learn to do things on my own. Like driving in a little bit of snow.”
“Really? Because at the rate you were going, you would still be out there miles away.” He slid his fingers along her jawline, pushing a tendril of hair behind her ear. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. Yes, you should definitely be able to drive in snow, but, hell, tonight wasn’t a good night for practice. Especially with Greg in the car. I could help you learn, if you want.”
Amanda flattened her lips and looked out of the opposite window, away from him. He was throwing himself in the mix again.
Though, she was flattered he wanted to help, but…she wanted to stand on her own two feet, not have a man propping her up. Max grabbed her chin and turned her toward him. “Amanda. I only wanted to help. It’s my job.” I’m here to protect and serve.
She pulled her chin out of his fingers and met his eyes. “I’m not your job,” she whispered.
He didn’t say anything for a moment, just looked at her. She couldn’t read him. She wanted to know what he was thinking.
He reached out a hand, then captured her wrist quickly. Pulling it to his mouth, he brushed his lips lightly against her pulse.
“I know,” he said finally.
She closed her eyes against the heat she saw in his.
“Amanda…look at me.”
She opened her eyes and murmured, “You have no way to get home.”
“I don’t care.”
He brushed his lips against her fingers.
“I…I forgot to thank you for including us today—” He stopped her words with a thumb against her lips. His thumb continued across her lower lip, along her jawline, and then his fingers found their way into her hair. “And…” She sighed. “And for driving us home.”
“Was my pleasure.”
He made a fist, grasping and pulling, tugging her head back, exposing her neck. He leaned in, nuzzling her throat. His warm tongue stroked her skin.
She gasped as wetness pooled between her legs. Her breasts ached for his touch. She needed him deep inside her.
He nibbled along the neck of her sweater, around the hollows of her collarbone.
He sat up suddenly, pulling her roughly into his lap. Her miniskirt bunched at her hips as she straddled him in the backseat of the boring Buick.
Only it wasn’t so boring at the moment.
The hard line of his cock was distinct through his jeans. She could feel it nestled along her sensitive heat, her thin stockings no protection at all.
Max ran his hands along her back to slide under her soft sweater. The roughness of his fingers against her heated skin made her grind a little against him.
“Fuck,” he groaned, thrusting up just a little himself.
He reached higher along her back to release her bra, then slid his hands around to push the front of her sweater and her bra up, exposing her breasts to him.
“Perfect,” he whispered.
She wanted his mouth on her. Wanted him to suck her. To take each nipple in his mouth and tug on them hard. Wanted him to nip her and nuzzle…
Amanda grabbed his face and ripped his gaze from her breasts. His eyes were hooded and unreadable. With a groan she plundered his mouth. Their lips crushed together, their tongues fought, and she held his face tightly, not letting him go, not letting him escape.
He found both of her nipples with his fingers and tweaked them. Pulling, pinching, twisting, making her squirm in his lap.
His cock hard, his jeans were rough and irritating through her stockings and panties, but she didn’t care. It felt good. She thrust against him harder. She thought she heard a tear. But, again, she didn’t care.
All she wanted at this moment was to get closer. Eat him up. Take control of his mouth as their lips meshed. She pulled back only to say, “Harder.”
He did what she asked. He pinched her nipples harder, pulled harder, twisted harder.
She had to give his mouth up. She had to let him go to gasp against his neck. She shuddered against him, tilting her hips, feeling his hard cock so close but not close enough.
Still hiding her face against his shoulder, she grasped the snap to his jeans and pulled. It gave away, but the zipper was tougher. The pressure of his cock against it made the zipper difficult to manipulate.
Before she could finish, he had his large hands on her hips and had her flipped under him on the backseat. Max settled between her legs and captured her wrists, holding her still.
“Do you know what you’re asking for?”
Of course! She wanted to scream. But instead, she choked out a “Yes.”
He tightened his hold on her wrists and stretched her arms over her head. “Do you like it rough?”
Amanda’s heart skipped a beat. “Oh yes.”
Max’s smile grew.
His cell phone, which he had thrown in the console earlier, blared an obnoxious country tune.
Max frowned. But didn’t move.
Amanda pulled on her wrists and thrust against him to remind him what they had been doing. What she wanted him to continue with.
The tune stopped, and the phone beeped to indicate a voice-mail message.
Max’s icy blue eyes pinned her. He transferred both of her
wrists to one hand and worked the other one between them until he found the hole in her stocking, which was in a very convenient place. Right at her crotch.
He dug his fingertips into the hole and pulled, ripping the hole bigger, giving him more access to what was beneath. He maneuvered his fingers into her stockings enough to yank her panties to the side and then plunged two fingers deep within her. His fingers met no resistance. She was slick and hot.
“You are so fucking wet,” he said between gritted teeth. “So fucking wet. Jesus.”
Amanda gasped with the pleasure of his fingers ramming in and out of her. It wasn’t enough. “Do you think you are man enough for me?”
He suddenly stopped. A slight hesitation. She had caught him off guard.
“Baby, I’m all you’ll ever need.”
“Then show me.”
Max’s cell phone blared that stupid tune again, making him yell out a curse. He jerked away from her and snatched up his phone.
“What, Marc?”
Amanda took a deep breath. Trying to catch her wits. What were they doing? They were in the backseat of the car, which was parked in the garage. With Greg just upstairs.
“Yes, I’m fine… No, I left my truck there… I did not wreck it… Amanda needed help getting home.”
Amanda stiffened and pulled her knees up, making Max unbalanced. He had to move off her completely to finish his conversation.
“Uh. I guess… Okay. How soon? You are?”
Amanda watched Max tense and scrub at his short hair in agitation with his hand.
“Sure.”
Max hit the End Call button with more pressure than was needed and turned his head to look at Amanda.
“Marc is parked out in your driveway.”
“What?” She sat up quickly, straightening her miniskirt and what was left of her stockings.
“He said if I’m not out there in five minutes, he’s coming in.” He frowned. “I’m going to kill him.”
Amanda rehooked her bra, wiggled her breasts back into the cups, and tugged her sweater down.
“Why is he here?”
“He saw my truck abandoned in the field and got worried. He saw two sets of tracks nearby in the snow, so he figured your car was the second vehicle.”
“Oh. Well, shit.”
“Shit is right. He’s going to give me a ride back to my truck.”
“Oh.”
“Jesus Christ. Is that all you can say?” He reached down in his jeans and adjusted himself before zipping them closed and fastening the snap. His movements were jerky, and his jaw was clenched. She wondered who he was angry at. Her? Marc? Himself?
“What do you want me to say?”
“That you’re disappointed?”
“I…” Am. I want to fuck your brains out. There…are you happy? “Well, maybe it’s better this way.”
He looked at her in disbelief. “Better?”
“Look at us. We are in the backseat of a car. We don’t even really like each other.”
“We don’t?”
“Well, no. I think you are way too bossy, and you think I am irresponsible and immature.”
Excuses, excuses. But she refused to let on how disappointed she was.
“Amanda—”
Max’s phone rang again, and he flipped, cursing his brother up one side and down the other. He pushed the door open and climbed out of the back of the car. He grabbed his coat, which he had removed sometime earlier, and shoved his arms into the sleeves.
“I’ll talk to you later. I have to go commit murder.”
“Merry Christmas,” she called out. She was answered by the slam of the side door to the garage.
Her dreams were going to be torture tonight.
Chapter Seven
Her cart was near to overflowing. Jars of peanut butter, pounds and pounds of butter, bags of flour, eggs, milk… Amanda looked down at her list. She still needed to hit the meat department. She had dug out a Crock-Pot from the back of a cabinet after finding an easy recipe to try in the slow cooker. It had only listed a handful of ingredients and not much preparation. She could handle that. But shopping, on the other hand…
Her grocery list was three pages long—both sides. She had already spent forty-five minutes in the retail giant. She couldn’t imagine what her bill would be when she checked out.
And to top everything off, she had picked a cart with a defective wheel. So every few feet it would stick and squeal like a stuck pig when she continued to push. She gritted her teeth.
The wheel jammed again as she tried to take a corner into the next aisle. She shoved harder, and the wheel freed abruptly, the cart escaping her grip.
She winced as it had a head-on collision with another shopper’s cart.
As the other shopper gave her an evil look, she apologized profusely.
“I’m so sorry. The damn—dang wheel stuck.”
The harried young mother tightened her hold on the toddler by her side. She looked like she was about to give Amanda a piece of her mind.
“I guess I’m going to have to write up a crash report. Do I need to call rescue?” Max rolled his cart up next to the “crash” scene. To Amanda, it looked as if rescue had already arrived.
“It’s okay, Mrs. Leonard. I’ll take over from here. You’re free to go.” He leaned down to the toddler, chucking him under the chin. “And you too, Jessie.”
Mrs. Leonard picked up her child and put him in the cart. As she rolled away, the woman grumbled, “You should write her a ticket for reckless driving, Max.”
Max gave Mrs. Leonard an easy smile. “I’ll do that.” He then shifted his attention to Amanda, his smile slipping a bit.
“What are you doing here?” Amanda’s cheeks burned. What a stupid question.
“Shopping?” He scanned the contents of her cart. “What are you doing? Opening a restaurant?”
“No. I have some recipes I’m working on, and I needed some ingredients. I bought a bunch of cookbooks at a church sale.”
He snagged a jar of the peanut butter. “Apparently. Ten jars of peanut butter? You must be making some more of your great peanut butter cookies. You can drop them off at the station anytime. We all loved them.”
“Uh, sure, I’ll do that.” The heat that had left her cheeks a second earlier returned in full force. She needed to change the subject. She eyed his cart. Vegetable juice, “healthy” frozen meals, a variety of fruits, and a gallon of skim milk barely filled the bottom. Not a doughnut to be found in this cop’s diet. “Watching your weight?”
“I always watch my girlie figure,” Max joked.
His figure looked good to Amanda. Extremely fine. His hard lines and masculine angles looked downright—
“Amanda?”
“Hmmm?” She drew her attention from the snug fit of his jeans back up to his face. Well, almost. Her gaze stuck on the bulge of his biceps through his long-sleeved cotton shirt. Then she finally met his gaze.
“I have to go. I’m working second shift.” He didn’t move. “If you need someone to taste test those recipes, I’m available.”
“I’ll let you know.”
“You have my cell.”
“Yep.”
“I keep it on all the time.”
“No kidding.”
“I have to because of my job…” His voice died away. Max shifted closer, their gazes locking.
Amanda said softly, “I’m sure.” Was he going to kiss her? Here? In the cereal aisle at Walmart?
“Okay, I have to go.”
“Me too.” He was going to kiss her. Her lips parted in anticipation.
“I’ll see you later,” he said in a husky whisper.
“Okay.” Her heart hammered.
Instead he ran his thumb over her lips. “Keep out of trouble.” He pulled reluctantly away.
“Right.” The break of contact left her feeling cold. Damn. “Max?”
He stilled. “Yeah?”
She gave him a tentative smile. “Stay safe
.”
He answered with one of his own. “I will.”
Then he was gone, leaving Amanda standing alone by the shredded wheat, wondering where this was going to go. And how soon.
Amanda pulled the plain Buick into the garage and popped the trunk release. She needed to get the groceries unloaded and put away before Greg got home. Even though her brother tried to be helpful after she went grocery shopping, it never failed that eggs got smashed, a grocery bag broke, or a dozen apples scattered out of the garage and down the driveway. He meant well, but…
As she came around the back of the car, she noticed Max’s truck pulling in.
What the hell?
He jumped out of his Chevy and yelled, “Hey, you forgot something!”
Her brows knit together as she patted her pockets. Did she forget her credit card at the store?
He rushed up to her, making her step back in surprise.
“What did I forget?”
“This,” he stated as he pulled her into his arms and captured her lips with his.
Oh yes. Damn her forgetfulness.
His mouth slanted over hers, their tongues tangling and twisting. He pulled her hips against him, and she could feel his hardness through his jeans press against her lower belly.
He swept his fingers through her hair, pulling her head back even more, exposing her neck. He licked her bottom lip, then trailed his tongue down her neck, over the rapid pulse along her throat. He finished with a kiss at the curve of her throat.
“You don’t know how badly I want to finish what we started in the back of that damn Buick.”
A shiver went down Amanda’s spine. Oh, me too.
The crack of a screen door slamming had them both looking at each other before looking over at Mrs. Busybody’s house.
“Shit,” Max whispered.
“I thought you had to go to work.”
“I do.” He glanced at his watch. “I’ll make it on time. I wanted to help you unload all the groceries you bought. And…and I wanted to kiss you. I hesitated in the store, and I regretted it.”
“What about your groceries?” Through his windshield, she could see the bags on the passenger side of his truck cab.
“I’ll throw them in the fridge at the station.”
Brothers in Blue: The Complete Trilogy: Brothers in Blue Boxed Set - Books 1-3 Page 7