You Belong to Me

by You Belong to Me (NCP) (lit)

  Max was studying her with the strangest glint in his eyes. "I hope you aren't disappointed. The price of freedom is loneliness and fancy can run in short time to disillusionment."

  "You sound like you're tired of your fast-moving life style." Julie's eyes opened wide in surprise. "Don't tell me you're of thinking of settling down?"

  "It's crossed my mind. There's much to be said for the comforts of hearth and home."

  How would Max know that? He'd never stayed in one place long enough to have a hearth or a home. Julie stopped her mind before it could begin to unravel tangled old memories. "We sound like the teenagers we once were - wanting what we've been denied and not appreciating what we've been given." She dropped her hands and crossed her legs. "I wouldn't take anything for the years I had with Shannon but now I'm looking forward to doing some of the things I put on hold to raise her."

  "Like what?" Max was asking the question that Julie had avoided as much as possible over the past several months. What would she do when she was alone, really alone for the first time in her life? "I don't know." Pride wouldn't let her admit how afraid she was of being not only alone, but lonely. "I've thought about taking a Caribbean cruise or a vacation to Europe." This dilemma of what to do with her life after Shannon was gone was one she was going to have to face and soon. "I haven't made any concrete plans."

  "I have," Max slanted her a questioning glance. "Would you like to hear them?"

  "You've made plans for the future?" Making long-range plans didn't fit into the picture she had of Max. "What kind of plans?"

  He shocked her by saying, "Some very definite plans. I'm going to buy a ranch and settle down."

  Julie drew a quick breath of utter astonishment. "What in the world would you do on a ranch?"

  Max seemed pleased that he had surprised her. "Raise cattle."

  "What about your business?"

  "I can run my business from the ranch." He sounded as if he had given this a great deal of thought. "I'm tired of the rat race, Julie. I want some time now to do all the things I didn't do when I was younger."

  Julie raised a questioning eyebrow. "Like what?"

  "For starters I intend to spend some time with my daughter. I want to get to know her. I intend to be a part of Shannon's life from now on."

  So Julie wasn't the only one with regrets. "Won't you miss living in the city and traveling all over the world?" A new and frightening thought took her. Maybe Max didn't plan to live on his ranch alone. Maybe he was thinking about marriage and another family. She was stabbed by a jolt of excruciating pain. "You'd be bored to death in thirty days."

  "Maybe," Max agreed, "but I'm willing to give it a try."

  Julie's train of thought was interrupted as the car's headlights flickered and then dimmed. She scrambled to her feet, thinking as she did so, that she had probably ruined her best dress. "We'd better get back to the car." In the dim light she squinted to see her wristwatch dial. "Good heavens, it's three-thirty. I have to open the restaurant in an hour and a half. Take me home, Max."

  Max was on his feet and dusting the seat of his pants with his hands. "I doubt if you have time to go home. I'll take you straight to the restaurant."

  The car lights were growing dimmer by the minute. Julie began to pick her way over the rough ground toward the fading beam. "That's a good idea. I can grab a quick shower while you go home and bring me some clothes. Shannon will help you find something suitable."

  As they reached the car the beams faded to tiny pinpoints of light and then died away with one last flickering blink. Max fumbled around in the dark for his car door. "Let's get out of here."

  Julie got in and sat down. "We can't go yet. We don't have any lights and it's pitch black out there."

  "We can't go, period." Max said over the grinding sound of the keys turning in the ignition. "The battery in this crate is dead as a door nail."

  Something dangerously near panic caught in Julie's throat. "You mean we're stuck out here?"

  Max rested his head on the back of is seat and sighed. "I'm afraid so."

  "But I have to open the restaurant at five." Another thought chased that disturbing concern from Julie's head. "Shannon will be frantic." She reached for the car door. "I have to find a telephone and call Shannon."

  With a gentle yank, Max pulled her back down into her seat. "It's fifteen miles to the nearest phone. We can't leave here until it's light. It wouldn't be safe." Loosening his grip he held onto her arm. "Sit down and relax. All we can do now is wait."

  Anxiety crawled up Julie's spine. "Where's your cell phone? I know you have one. I saw it last evening on the table beside the couch."

  "And that's where it still is." Max admitted on a resigned sigh.

  The words exploded from Julie's mouth. "A lot of good it does us there." Anger was swiftly replacing her anxiety. "Why the hell didn't you bring it?"

  Max snapped, "I forgot the damn thing."

  "That was a dumb thing to do." Julie stared out into the blackness and wondered if Shannon had missed her yet.

  Caustically, Max replied, "I always do dumb things when I listen to you."

  She couldn't believe he was shifting the blame for his forgetfulness to her. "I didn't forget your phone, you did."

  Not to be outdone, Max argued, "It was your fault I had it in the house in the first place. You told me not to make long distance calls on your phone."

  Julie slumped in the seat and folded her arms across her chest. "Shannon's going to be worried sick about me."

  Max moved a little closer. "You're lucky. If Shannon never saw me again I don't think she'd be too upset."

  Julie's anger vanished as she heard the pain in Max's voice. She touched his cheek with her fingertips. "Yes, she would." She could feel the beginning of stubble starting to form on his cheek. "You're an important part of Shannon's life."

  Catching her hand in his Max moved his lips to kiss her open palm. "No. I'm not and it's my own fault. I should have spent more time with her when she was growing up."

  "Shannon loves you very much." Julie could smell the scent of him, a clean, yeasty odor mixed with the lingering aftermath of some spicy cologne. Her nostrils quivered as memory recalled intimate moments when that scent was enough to send desire scorching through her. She touched his face with the back of her hand and then let it slide over his cheek and across his neck until it came to rest over the pulse that beat at the base of his throat. "And she knows that you love her."

  Max closed his eyes and then opened them again very slowly. "I still remember the first time you touched my face. You had been so shy and then suddenly you were a little bold. That touch sent shivers through my aching body and unbidden thoughts bombarding my befuddled brain."

  Julie caught one of her hands in the other and laid them in her lap. His frank admission was as surprising as it was unexpected. "You remember the first time I touched you?"

  "I remember the first time you touched my face." Max tilted her chin looked into her eyes. "Don't you?"

  She didn't, and she told him so and then added, "And I can't imagine why you would."

  "Because nothing that had ever happened to me before had the impact that little touch did." He brushed her hair back from her forehead as reminiscence brought a smile to his lips. "It was after a football game. Every muscle in my body ached and every bone hurt. I was taking you home. We stopped in your driveway. When we did the streetlight exposed what you hadn't seen before, an ugly bruise on my cheek. I can still remember how you caressed my face with your fingers, much like you touched me just now. It was meant as a gesture of comfort but it set my head spinning and my aching body burning."

  The thought that she had ever moved him that deeply was a cause for quickening joy. "I can't see how a little touch could be that special." Julie reminded herself that Max could wax poetic at the drop of a hat. She stared down at her hands still folded and resting in her lap. "And I don't remember."

  "What about the night I took you to Jim's place?
Have you forgotten touching me then too?"

  Julie wanted to blot that period of her life from her memory forever. "I don't want to talk about what happened that night."

  "Why not, Julie, It was beautiful. You touched me and for the same reason that you had touched me all those years before. You were offering comfort and consolation because you cared for me." His fingers trailed through the softness of her hair. "I felt that same sweetness when you touched me just now. And you feel the same thing when I touch you." His hand moved from her hair to the juncture where her neck connected to her shoulder. "You do still care, don't you?"

  Somewhere in the far reaches of Julie's subconscious an alarm sounded. "Of course, I care." Caution dictated that she qualify that statement. "You and I were once very close and old feelings die hard." She knew that she should put some distance between them but she wasn't about to move nearer her door. That would be tacit admission that his suspicions were true, touching him did have the power to move her deeply.

  His breath came in little rasps. "Those feelings haven't died. They're still there, dormant and inactive and waiting to spring to life with one touch." Bending his head he brushed his lips across her open mouth. "I've wanted to do that for a long time."

  She touched her fingers to her lips, "How long?"

  "Ever since I walked through your door two days ago and saw you standing in the middle of your living room looking daggers through me." He kissed her again; this time he pushed his tongue into her mouth and suctioned her lips to his.

  This was not going to happen again. She wouldn't let it. She couldn't let it. Julie had every intention of pulling away but she couldn't convince her body to act on her mind's command. After long blissful moments she laid her hands against Max's chest, and sighed. "Max, please don't."

  His mouth made forays up the side of her cheek and across her forehead. "Why not, you want it. So do I."

  Oh, yes. She wanted it. She wanted him, more than he would ever know but she didn't want the aftermath that loving Max always brought. In a matter of days he would be gone and she would be left to pick up the pieces of her life again. Thoughts that should have reinforced her resistance suddenly had quite the opposite effect. After Sunday, Max would be out of her life once more and this time probably for good. Julie would be totally and completely alone. She had years of bleakness ahead of her. Why not seize this proffered, precious moment? She traced with her forefinger the strong line of his jaw and then surprised herself by whispering, "Do you, Max? Show me how much."

  A low groan escaped from deep in his throat as Max pulled her to him. His lips touched hers, softly at first and then with a demanding thrust his tongue pushed its way into her mouth, darting, seeking, demanding and conquering.

  Julie closed her eyes and gave herself over to his passionate embrace, returning his kisses that were more intoxicating than any rare wine could ever be; pulling him so near that she could feel the hardness of him against her thigh.

  With trembling fingers she unbuttoned his shirt and ran her hands across his hairy chest. He felt warm and vital and alive; that old Max magic was still there and more forceful than ever before. She whispered, "Undress me, Max."

  He tugged at the waist of her dress. "You may have to help me. I can't find the fastener."

  She guided his hands to the zipper that ran down the back and then shivered as the touch of his hands on the back of her neck sent splinters of desire sparking through her body like sharp spikes of fire. The zipper came unbound and the dress fell away revealing the soft roundness of her shoulders and the filmy bra that encased the rising mounds of her firm breasts.

  Max unsnapped the bra to reveal pearly flesh budded by nipples standing bold and erect. He dipped his head and caught one blossoming bud in his mouth.

  A shiver shook through Julie's body. Spears of fiery desire shot through her throat, her stomach and raced to converge in the damp space between her legs. Her hands moved to press his head even nearer. "Oh, God, don't stop. Don't ever stop."

  Max chuckled low in his throat, a purely male sound that was crowing and triumphant. "As if I could."

  Remembered moments of sheer ecstasy played through Julie's brain. She recalled the first time Max had brought her to a shattering climax. It had been a taste of honeyed heaven. She had wanted it again and again; and she wanted it now, maddeningly, desperately. Wriggling out of her dress, she struggled to loose herself from her pantyhose. "Help me, Max." With Max's help the pantyhose were disposed of in short order. Julie closed her eyes. "Touch me there, Max, like you used to do."

  It was all the encouragement he needed. He caressed the folds of the skin between her legs as she writhed and sighed with pleasure. "I had forgotten how good you can make me feel."

  Max slid his arms from his shirt. "Take it easy, Sweetheart, slow and easy. Let's make this last."

  Julie unfastened his belt buckle and then unsnapped the gripper on his pants and unzipped them. "Anything this good can't last." Pulling his shorts aside she took his hard flesh in her hand, stroking and kneading, loving the stiff, silky evidence of his desire. "Don't you know that?"

  It took a concerted effort but they finally divested Max of every stitch he wore. Julie had forgotten how incredibly handsome he was with his broad shoulders and trim waist, his hard firm buttocks and long muscular legs. Her eyes devoured him. "You look good enough to eat."

  He was looking at her with that old wild hunger in his eyes. "You are beautiful, so beautiful." He scooped her into his arms. His skin was hot and moist against her chest. Desire and primitive need came together in a spontaneous explosion of passion. The narrowness of the car seat was all that kept them from coupling immediately.

  Max swore softly. "This damn seat is too narrow."

  Julie bit his ear and then whispered into it, "I'm an old hand at this. The back seat's better."

  Simultaneously they crawled into the back seat, laughing as they went. Once there, they grabbed for each other in a mad frenzy of desire.

  Julie gasped with painful pleasure as Max drove into her on a burst of power and then lay very still. "Almost heaven," he sighed as he began to move in and out with slow, teasing, tantalizing strokes.

  Julie raised her hips to meet each deep plunge. Her bliss soared with each successive movement. She wrapped her arms around his neck as his thrusts became more frenzied. They were no longer two people locked together; they had become one throbbing, pulsating entity moving nearer and nearer to a divine climax.

  Julie's backbone tingled and her heart raced, as a bubble of joy expanded in her groin growing and intensifying with each stroke until at last that frail bubble burst sending waves of bliss cascading through her body. She wrapped her legs around Max's back and cried out in sheer, unbridled ecstasy. The waves of pleasure began to recede as Max collapsed atop her with an explosive shout.

  They lay there for several minutes, a perspiring, palpating mass of tangled humanity. Finally Max sat up and pulled Julie into his arms. Brushing a sweaty strand of hair from her forehead, he kissed her. "Are you all right?"

  Julie snuggled nearer. "I'm wonderful. Are you okay?"

  "I've never been more okay." He reached over the seat, got his shirt, and covered Julie with it. "I don't want you to catch cold."

  Julie yawned. She was pleased by Max's concern, but reluctant to say so. "How long until daylight?" Her face lay against Max's chest. She could hear the strong, steady beating of his heart.

  Then he shifted slightly. "Julie, we have to talk."

  She didn't want recriminations or promises. This was her moment to remember and treasure for all the years to come. She wasn't about to let him spoil it. "There's nothing to talk about."

  "Julie, we just made love. I think...."

  Julie interrupted, "We just had sex, and I must say you've improved with age. But don't worry, I won't make demands or ask for promises. Relax, and sleep, if you can." She closed her eyes.

  "All right," Max agreed, reluctantly. "For now we sleep. But
later we have to talk."

  Julie was drifting away on a cloud of relaxed slumber. "Sure, Max, sure...."

  Chapter Five

  Julie stared out the car window at the passing landscape. "Can we go a little faster?"

  Max pushed his foot into the accelerator. "I'm doing seventy-five now."

  Julie glanced at her watch. "It's eight-thirty. Shannon must be frantic. Royce has probably called the police."

  Max sped around a slow-moving pickup truck. "Count yourself lucky. We could still be stranded at the gravel pit."

  How well Julie knew that. Shortly after dawn they had walked from the gravel pit to the farm-to-market road. There Max had flagged down an accommodating and somewhat curious farmer. "You say your car died at the gravel pit?" He used the cables he had in his truck to jump-start Max's car.

  Julie chewed her bottom lip and wondered how she was going to explain being out all night to Shannon. "Take me directly to the restaurant." For the hundredth time she cursed herself for being foolish enough to get involved with Max Anderson again.

  Max seemed lost in his own thoughts. "Julie, about last night," He cleared his throat. "I hope you don't think...."

  Julie waved her hand in a gesture of dismissal. "Last night is over. Forget it."

  "Even so there are some things I need to tell you."

  "Not now, Max."

  "But it's important."

  Nothing was more important right now than getting to Shannon. "Will you shut up and drive?"

  Max's face set in grim lines as he pushed down on the accelerator and sped toward Summerville. Fifteen minutes later he pulled his car alongside the curb in front of The Hungry Farmer and came to a grinding stop.

  Julie jumped from the car and raced for the door with Max following close on her heels.

  Royce was seated on a stool behind the cash register. He looked up as Julie bounded through the door. "Did you find her?" He looked Julie over from head to toe. "You look a mess. Where have you been?"