by Lori Foster
“I think they sound downright nasty.”
Maddie laughed at that, then dredged up another taunt. With any luck, he’d decide to prove himself to her again. “To a man who’s afraid to submit to his baser side, it makes sense that the slogans would intimidate you.”
Far from appearing amorous, Max looked ready to strangle her. “I am not intimidated!”
Maddie sighed. She knew he wasn’t. He also wasn’t the unconscionable playboy she’d imagined. No, Max Sawyers was a gentle man who loved his dog and had an innate honor that caused him to turn her down repeatedly.
He wanted to go slow, but going slow meant getting to know him, and already she liked him far too much. The more time she spent with him, the more risk to her heart.
She didn’t want to care about another man. Glancing at Cleo snoring on the couch, Maddie decided it was bad enough to care about a man’s dog. If she let it go any further than that, she could end up with her pride butchered beyond repair.
No, she wouldn’t allow herself to get roped in like that again. If Troy with his limited experience had played with feathers, there was no telling what a man like Max played with—other than women’s hearts. Getting overly involved with him would be like jumping from the frying pan into a raging inferno.
She was just about to let Max off the hook, to concede defeat, when he asked belligerently, “Were you just kidding about dinner, or do you intend to feed me?”
Her spirits lifted. “Can you be bribed with food?”
“No.”
Despite her disappointment, she laughed. His honesty delighted her; she knew without a doubt that Max would always be truthful with her; his sister was right about that. He might be a confirmed bachelor, but he was an honorable one. “I’ll feed you. Would you like to help me in the kitchen?”
“Will you behave?”
“Heavens, no!” Maddie winked at him, enjoying the banter between them. Never had she carried on so before, and it was fun. Not as much fun as she was sure an affair would be, but still very enjoyable. “I had no idea that becoming a vamp would be so enjoyable.”
“You’re not a vamp yet, Maddie,” Max said with a growl reminiscent of Cleo in a malcontent mood. Not that Cleo appeared to have any other moods.
Maddie patted his shoulder. “Come on. You can tell me about your travels while I cook, and we’ll both, unfortunately, behave.”
An hour later Maddie had dinner ready to be served. Max had surprised her by being more help than she’d expected. Not only wasn’t he a shallow playboy with only personal gratification on his mind, but the man knew his way around a kitchen. One more thing to like about him, she thought, and frowned at the idea. Liking him was not part of the plan.
As she set the food on the table, Maddie heard a noise from the couch and saw Cleo’s nose move first. Then her front left paw. Her stubby legs started jerking as if she were trying to run to the table, but her eyes were still closed.
Maddie laughed out loud. “She’s so fat, and still so attuned to the smell of food.”
Max grinned, too. Softly, so softly Maddie barely heard, he said, “Cleo,” and the dog’s small head jerked up, her too large ears rising to attention. “Food,” was his only other word, and Cleo instantly lumbered off the couch and to Max’s side, to sit next to his chair.
Rubbing the dog’s scruff, Max explained, “She was near starved when I found her. Since then, she eats like a glutton.”
Hearing that brought a glitter of tears to Maddie’s eyes. With a wavering smile, she reprimanded Max. “She’s like a little kid with too many treats. Sometimes overindulgence isn’t the best way to prove love. Look at her. She needs more exercise and less food. Or at least buy her food that won’t make her any heftier.”
So saying, Maddie began cutting up some skinless chicken into bite-size pieces. Max watched her with a curious little grin on his face. “You should have a dog of your own, Maddie.”
“I would if I could afford one,” she assured him. For the longest time she’d wanted a dog and a cat and a house—and a husband and children of her own. Maddie shook her head—that plan had come and gone. She said negligently, hiding the remnant of longing, “My salary doesn’t allow for a lot of extras. And I’d never get a dog if I couldn’t take care of her properly.”
Max said nothing to that, but he had a strange look on his face.
“C’mere girl,” Maddie called, then set the plate on the floor. When Cleo growled and snarled her way over to her, Maddie smoothed down her fur.
“I think the local pet shop sells special food for overweight dogs.”
Max shook his head. “She doesn’t like dog food.”
“Then disguise it with some chicken or something she does like for a while. You know it’s best for her.”
His gaze locked on hers, Max said quietly, “I can’t believe you’re really worried about her.”
“Who knows,” Maddie said around a laugh, “maybe her disposition will improve when she feels healthier. Do you walk her every day?”
“In the park.”
Giving her attention to her plate so Max wouldn’t see her yearning, Maddie said offhandedly, “Maybe I could join you both sometime.”
“Maybe.”
Jerking her head up, Maddie stared at him. “You mean it?”
“Sure, why not? You, Maddie Montgomery, just keep amazing me.”
Why that made her blush, Maddie didn’t know. It probably had something to do with the way he said it, with a hint of admiration and a look of lust in his eyes. At least to her it looked like lust. Not that she was an expert, just very, very hopeful.
She also wasn’t used to praise, and certainly not that kind of praise. So she amazed him, hmm? “Enough to give in? Enough to put me out of my misery, to want to be the first notch on my bedpost?”
To her amazement, he didn’t immediately refuse. Instead, Max thoughtfully chewed a bite of chicken, then swallowed a drink of milk before finally saying, “It’s possible.”
Maddie’s eyes widened until she thought they’d drop out of her head. It’s possible was a whole lot more encouraging than I’m not interested. Progress, she decided, and throughout the rest of the meal, she barely tasted her food.
Once Cleo realized the food was all gone and the humans wouldn’t be handing her any more scraps, she slunk off to sleep on the couch again. Maddie watched her go, noticing that she moved even slower now than she had before being fed. When she lay down, her body looked twice as wide, spread out on Maddie’s couch. Cleo was one lazy dog.
“What are you thinking, Maddie?”
Red with guilt, Maddie turned to Max and admitted, “I was thinking of conniving a way to get Cleo on a diet.”
Rather than being angry or insulted, he nodded. “Good luck. If you can find a way to get her to eat the good stuff, I’d be indebted. My vet mentioned a diet last time we were in—”
At the word “vet,” Cleo jerked awake, then fell off the couch during a vehement snarling jag. She looked surprised and embarrassed to find herself sprawled on the floor.
Max just shook his head, but Maddie leaped from the table and ran to the distraught dog. Despite Cleo’s furious barking, Maddie cuddled her close and hugged her. “Shh. It’s all right.”
Cleo, going quiet in a heartbeat, looked as flummoxed as Max. Maddie ignored them both. She hated to see anyone or anything afraid.
She pressed her face against Cleo’s scruffy neck and said again, “It’s all right.”
Very slowly, as if half afraid to move, Cleo began crawling toward Max with her belly scraping the floor. She kept casting worried, suspicious glances at Maddie, and Maddie kept pace with her, scooting along on her knees until they were both at Max’s feet.
Maddie released the dog and saw that Cleo was staring up at Max, her expression a request for aid. It was obvious Cleo had no idea how to deal with Maddie’s affection, which reminded Maddie of the women she worked with, how they’d first behaved when meeting her.
Many of them had moved on with their lives, happier, more content. The few that Maddie still saw now loved her, as she loved them. She hoped the same outcome was possible with Cleo.
Max laughed out loud and Maddie sat back on her haunches, shaking her head at both dog and man. “She still doesn’t trust me.”
“I beg to differ. She doesn’t know what to make of you at all.” Max patted one knee. Maddie started to move, but Cleo beat her to it, and lumbered up onto his lap.
She sighed. Max’s lap looked very comfortable. But there wasn’t room for both of them.
Cleo gave Max one grateful lick on the chin, then looked back at Maddie with a worried frown. Her furry brows were pinched together, her teeth were showing, but for once, not in a snarl.
“You’re covered in dog hair,” Max pointed out as his gaze slipped over Maddie’s breasts.
“Oh.” Maddie looked down and attempted to brush herself off, but the last thing she was concerned with was a few dog hairs.
Setting Cleo aside, Max said, “Go lie down.”
Maddie assumed he was speaking to the dog.
Cleo gladly retreated to the couch and again settled herself there, yawning and stretching and sighing in relaxation.
Maddie smiled. “Let’s be very careful not to mention that ‘v’ word again. I don’t like seeing her upset.”
Without warning, Max caught her beneath her arms and pulled her upward until she was on her knees between his open thighs. It was a very nice place to be. Her face tilted up to his, her hands clasped his shoulders for balance.
Max stared at her mouth, and said huskily, “You’ve convinced me.”
Maddie’s heart leapt. She was half-afraid to believe what she hoped he meant by that. “Convinced you…of what?”
“That a sexual fling between us wouldn’t be meaningless.”
Her fingertips dug into his shoulders—nice solid shoulders—and she held on in case he suddenly changed his mind. “This means you’re now willing?”
“Willing, able and anxious.”
Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod. “Tonight? Right now?”
Max glanced toward Cleo, heard her snoring, and smiled. “All right,” he said gently, and his eyes seemed to be peering into her soul. “If you’re certain that’s what you want to do.”
Maddie was more than certain. She was insistent. Fanatical even. “Yes.”
Lifting her, Max brought her face up even with his. The new position caused Maddie’s belly to flatten against his groin and she had to swallow back a groan. He was hard again! Or was it that he was hard still?
That thought made heat curl through her in dizzying intensity.
Max caught her gaze, refusing to let her look away until the very last second when his mouth touched hers. Her eyes drifted shut. The damp heat of his mouth, the sultry scent of his hard masculine body, the feel of his large rough hands, all consumed her.
Maddie’s last thought was: Finally! And then she couldn’t think at all.
4
MAX TASTED HER deeply, ready and willing to fall off the deep end. Damn, he’d had no idea that watching a woman coddle his dog could be such an aphrodisiac. He loved Cleo, had loved her from the second she’d tried to bite him while he carried her off the road. Seeing someone else love her was a heady thing.
He hadn’t known anything was missing from his life until he’d brought Cleo home.
He hadn’t known anything was still missing from his life, until he’d seen Maddie press her face into Cleo’s yellow fur and squeeze her so tight that the dog had no breath left to growl.
Cleo had looked helpless against the emotional onslaught. Her feelings had mirrored his own.
Something insidious and sweet and warm expanded in his chest the second Maddie went to her knees by the dog, making Max’s heart feel full to bursting.
The more emotional feelings blended with the sharp sexual desire he’d been trying so hard to ignore, leaving him with no way to resist her.
Max’s hands trembled as he held Maddie a tiny bit away from him. Her eyes were heavy, sexy, the blue heated to a midnight hue. Damn but he wanted her.
And he knew in his gut that it wasn’t just physical desire, though physically he was so aroused his bragging about a lead pipe earlier was coming back to haunt him. He felt so heavy, his jeans were now painfully tight. But it was more than that; Maddie had nurtured his dog when no other woman even wanted to look at her, much less touch her.
Max had felt the dog’s loneliness, her need for love behind her bristled warnings, and Maddie had seen it, too. She was a special woman, too special to let get away. He was already convinced that she’d be perfect to mother his dog. He had a feeling she’d be perfect for him, too. One way or another, he’d convince her to marry him.
What better way to start than by making her body need him?
Max brushed the corner of her mouth with the edge of his rough thumb. “Why don’t you go get ready while I put our dishes away? I’ll join you in five minutes.”
Eyes wide, Maddie asked, “Umm… Get ready?”
She sounded scandalized, and Max couldn’t help but grin. “You don’t have to put on risqué lingerie or break out the oil. Just get rid of the excess dog hair clinging to your clothes. Maybe turn down the bed. That’s all I meant.” He added, “Most women like a few seconds alone to themselves.”
She stared at him blankly and Max sighed. “You do have some sort of birth control on hand, don’t you?”
“Uh…”
Max felt the urge to laugh with disbelief, or shout with frustration. “I gather by your long face that you don’t?”
Maddie licked her lips. “I figured you carried condoms.”
“Often I do. But not this time.” Mostly because he knew the lack of protection would go a long way in deterring him from giving in. He was scrupulous about birth control, and didn’t take chances. Period.
But now… “I could run to the drugstore.”
Maddie’s eyes were hungry as she stared at him. “How long will that take?”
“Half an hour, tops. Why? You have someplace to be?” The thought that another man might be waiting in the wings tonight did not sit well with Max.
Maddie shook her head so hard her long blond hair whipped against his leg. “No! I’m just…” She shrugged, then gave him a wavering smile. “Impatient.”
Max touched her cheek again. He couldn’t seem to stop touching her. Her honesty was another turn on, nearly driving him over the edge. “I’ll be quick.” As quick as humanly possible! “I still have your key so I’ll let myself back in. Go ahead and get ready and if Cleo wakes up, tell her I’ll be right back.”
Still she hesitated, and Max asked, “What is it?”
“You won’t change your mind while you’re gone?”
Tenderness exploded inside Max, mixing with the lust and the other swirl of emotions with combustible force until it was all he could do to force himself to his feet. He needed to join with her, and it was tempting to say to hell with protection. At the moment, lowering her to the floor and taking her right beside the table seemed like a grand idea.
“I won’t change my mind,” he promised.
The rain poured down in buckets soaking Max to the skin as he dashed to his truck. He drove faster than he should have, but for once it wasn’t just Cleo waiting for him. No, now there was an adorable woman who displayed her brazen sexuality as often as she did her naiveté. He could barely wait to take her, to show her what her idiot fiancé obviously hadn’t.
The lights from the all-night drugstore barely penetrated the constant rain. By the time Max was back in his truck with the paper bag on the seat beside him, every inch of him was dripping wet. Not that it mattered because he expected to be out of his clothes very soon. He was so hot, it was a wonder he wasn’t steaming.
The apartment, as he let himself back inside, was quiet except for Cleo’s snoring. Her back paws went through spasmodic jerks and her lips curled in a soundless howl as she dreamed
of chasing some hapless critter. Max smiled affectionately.
In some ways, Cleo reminded him of Maddie. She was pushy and insistent one minute, in the next so sweet he wanted simply to hold her all night.
He couldn’t hold Maddie all night. He’d have to leave so that Cleo was in her own home come morning. The dog had a problem that he doubted Maddie would care to experience.
If it wasn’t for the doggy door Max had installed after the first two days of bringing Cleo home, all the carpets in his house would have been ruined. It wasn’t Cleo’s fault, so he’d never scolded her. She woke disoriented and nervous, and would run in circles trying to find her way out. Anytime she’d had an accident, she had looked heartsick about it, and strangely enough, embarrassed. So Max had ended up comforting her rather than scolding her.
As soon as Cleo had figured out the doggy door, she’d learned to hold on until she got outside. She’d still run around, baffled for awhile, but eventually she’d hit the door and find herself in the backyard where trees and shrubs beckoned.
Max smoothed his hand over the dog, settling her back into a deep sleep without pesky rabbits or birds to provoke her, then he looked toward Maddie’s bedroom. A bright light shone from around the partially open door. Max’s stomach tightened in anticipation.
There was only one bedroom in her apartment. It was a nice place, though very small. The kitchenette led into the tiny dining room that led into a sitting area with a small television and a stereo system. Her bookshelves were filled with books, rather than photos or bric-a-brac. Her reading material displayed her intelligence, and as he imagined Satisfying Alternatives to Intercourse joining her other more academic texts, he winced. Perhaps after a few days of play, she wouldn’t need the book at all.
Everything was decorated in floral patterns—cream-colored flowers, soft greens, hints of mauve. He liked it, and decided the small no-nonsense apartment suited her personality just right.
Dripping rain and gripping the paper bag, Max started toward that bedroom door and Miss Maddie Montgomery. He pictured her naked, in a sexy pose on the bed, her fair hair spread out over the pillow.