Max (Ryan family Book 2)

by Ana Balen

  "Earth to Skylar," Max called.

  The skin around his eyes crinkled with his smile. I decided this was my favorite one.

  “Are you all right over there?”

  My staring and obvious lust was amusing him. Bastard. When I remained silent and continued devouring his body with my eyes, he pulled off his work gloves and shoved them in his jeans back pocket while getting up to his feet. I traced the lines of his chest and six-pack while he walked towards me. Chancing a look at his face, I saw his eyes became hooded and heat gathered at my cheeks and between my legs in response. He got up the steps, stood in front of me and asked once more.

  “All you all right?”

  I again didn’t answer, and I studied the angel wings tattoo. It was black and white. The tip of each wing went to his shoulder blade. It was also incredibly detailed. Out of reflex, I traced the word written under the left-wing, Dad. He let me study it, and when I started tracing it with my fingertips, he began to murmur.

  “It’s okay to ask?”

  I looked up, my lust now taking a backseat.

  “What happened.”

  “A car accident,” his eyes were intent on mine as if he were waiting for something.

  “I lost my parents in the same way,” it still hurt whenever I thought about it. “I was five.”

  He stayed quiet.

  “I wonder if my life would turn out differently if that didn’t happen.”

  He pressed my palm to his skin and started gliding it over his chest, much like he did the other morning. I watched fascinated as goosebumps rose on his skin.

  “Would I be brave? Would I see Nico for what he really is?” I kissed the center of his chest.

  “Would I still meet you?”

  He cupped the back of my head and hummed. I dragged my lips across his tattoo, and when I got to the lettering, I kissed it softly.

  “I’m sorry,” I pulled away, dislodging his hand.

  When he remained quiet, I grew uncertain. I did something wrong. I pushed too far. My nerves were getting the better of me, and I wanted to run. He must’ve seen it because he spoke.

  "With the exception of walking out of my house the other morning, when was the last time you did something you wanted?" his tone was casual, but his body was on full alert. "Took something you wanted."

  "I don't remember," I said softly.

  He ran his tongue over his bottom lip, and my eyes zeroed in on the movement. I wanted to do it for him. I longed to taste that lip. I needed to kiss him.

  "Don't you think it's time you do it now?" he asked, tilting his head.

  "Huh?" what was he talking about?

  "Bean, look at me," he called. I gave him my eyes. "Is there something you want right now?"

  What I wanted at that moment was to finally taste him. Our situation of looking and not touching was getting ridiculous. We were both adults, and if he felt just a half of what I felt, he would relent and make the first move.

  "Yes," I breathed.

  "Then take it," he said.

  "I can't," I admitted.

  I had to look at those amazing lips just for one more second. So, I could imagine what they would feel like, what he would taste like. What it would be like for once in my life to get something I wanted.

  "Why not?" he kept at me.

  "I'm scared."

  I was shaking like a deer trying to walk for the first time, the need pumping strong in my veins.

  "What are you scared of?" he asked.

  "Rejection," I didn't even know what I was saying. My whole focus was his lips and how much I wanted them on mine.

  "Skylar, honey, look at me," he called to get my attention again.

  I tried to look him in those beautiful eyes of his, I really did, but mine kept going back to his mouth.

  "There would be no rejection."

  "How can you be so sure you don't even know what I want."

  "I'm sure."

  "Maybe what I want is something bad,"

  "It's not," he assured me.

  "But how do you know?"

  " Because you're not capable of doing something bad."

  "How do you know that?"

  "Because I know you."

  "You don't know me," I argued.

  "I do."

  "How can you possibly know me when you just met me four days ago?"

  "Baby, I know you," there was a cocky smile on his mouth.

  "How?"

  "You spent years sending me messages that told the tale of you."

  "Oh, I forgot about that," how could I forget that I spilled all my secrets to this man?

  "Take what you want," he urged.

  "But what if I don't get it?"

  "You will."

  "And how do you know that?" I snapped. I was losing patience.

  "It's obvious what you want. It's written all over you. I'm not going to give it to you, you will have to take it for yourself. And I promise you baby; you will get what you want."

  "Don't make promises you can't keep, Max.”

  "I can keep this one."

  "Why are you so sure? "

  "Because I want the same thing."

  Everything stopped.

  Could I do it?

  Could I reach for something I want and get it?

  Fuck it.

  If he rejected me, I was going to move out, and that was it.

  But at least I would know I tried.

  I tried to be courageous for once.

  I pushed up on my toes, took his face in my hands, and pulled his head down. I didn’t need to pull. He met me halfway. The moment his lips touched mine and electric current slashed through me. He stood there, his hands under my shirt on the skin of my back, and he let me explore slowly meeting, a peck for a peck. It was only after I traced the tip of my tongue that he lost control. His mouth opened over mine, and his tongue pushed my lips all the way open, plunging it into my mouth.

  Sweet Mary.

  I never knew you could kiss like that. I never knew a kiss could make you brave. That it could make you strong.

  That it could free you from your past.

  That it could fight the pain and dark away.

  That it could obliterate all the lonely nights you cried yourself to sleep.

  That it could make you forget every hit you took even for just that moment.

  I never knew that a kiss could give you energy. Energy to live. To breathe. To make you live. To say that a kiss from Max was the best kiss of my life was an understatement. His hands went to my ass, and he flushed us together. I could feel him. I could feel all of him. And he was hard everywhere. I reached down and squeezed his ass back, pushing his hardness to my softness.

  I wiggled and moaned, trying to alleviate even a smidge of the pain that gathered at the apex of my thighs. When that didn’t happen, I tried to hitch my leg high enough so I could reach his hip and have a new angle to rub better.

  “Stop,” Max broke the kiss panting.

  He touched his forehead to mine. His eyes closed.

  “What? Why are we stopping?” he appeared to be in pain.

  “Welcome to the club, baby.”

  “Damn, you can kiss, honey.” he didn’t answer my question.

  “Thanks,” I said offhandedly.

  I had other things on my mind. Primarily, his cock that I could feel was hard as steel and trying to break his jeans.

  “It’s too soon. You’re too vulnerable,” he opened his eyes and regret swam in them. “And while I want what you’re offering, please don’t ask for it. Give me some time.”

  Oh, wow. I didn’t know what to say. I was disappointed. But I could see this was hard on him too. Pun intended.

  “Can we kiss a little bit more?” I asked.

  I found my new favorite drug, and I craved it already.

  “That you don’t have to ask ever again,” he smiled, and he leaned down and kissed me again.

  As his tongue explored my mouth and his hands roamed my back, as his
scent was all I could smell and Max all I could feel, I finally found my center. My heart started beating and not just pumping blood. I started breathing and not just inhaling and exhaling for the purpose of my body functioning. I started living. And at that moment, I decided I never wanted to stop. I never ever wanted to go back to just existing. After a few more heated kisses, he led me to a chair and sat me down.

  “What are you doing?” I asked after I got my breathing under control.

  My leprechaun must have liked Max’s kisses too because he was nowhere to be found. Making out with my man cured the hangover, that was good to know.

  “Building a deck,” he was back at hammering.

  “Why?”

  What has happened that he suddenly decided to build a deck when he showed no intention of doing it.

  He looked back and said, “Because you said you wanted one.”

  I had no words to say to that, so I let my face say it instead of me. He saw what he needed and went back to work. And I spent a day sitting in a backyard, on a sunny Denver day, watching my man be hot as hell, and building me a deck.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Skylar

  I was on my back in bed and I was panting. That was because Max was on top of me, his hand on my ribs going up and down, his mouth working my neck. We’ve been we for three weeks now. The three most beautiful and glorious weeks of my life. Also, the three most frustrating. Per Max’s request, we went slow.

  He wanted for us to get to know each other and for me to get under the dark cloud that still cast a shadow over me from time to time. I gave my best to push through the fearful times that gripped me whenever a phone rang, or someone knocked on our door unannounced. Every time Max saw my reaction, his mouth would get high, and I knew I could cross one more night without having him fully. I didn’t know it was possible to be in a constant state of arousal. I swear, at this point, all he would have to do was breathe on me, and I would come. It was lucky that I had a little bit of self-control, so that didn’t happen.

  “Max, baby,” I panted harder.

  He reached the side of my breast for the twelfth time and went to glide his palm down again.

  I needed him to take what was his. I needed him to touch me already. I had no qualms of telling him so.

  “Fucking touch me,” the frustration dripped mixed with my sweat off my skin.

  “I am,” he chuckled and went back to alternating licking and sucking the skin of my neck.

  I could think of better places for him to do that. I gave up on saying, please. For how hard he urged me to ask for what I wanted, he still held one thing out of reach. I pushed my hips up to remind me how big that was.

  Sweet Mary, I needed it.

  When he repeated the same move once more, I had enough. I grabbed his hand and pushed it inward, right on my breast. At that, Max went up on a forearm and hovered over me. His eyes were smoldering with lust, his mouth hanging loose as he tentatively squeezed it. I pushed my head back; the feeling was so good and exposed my neck. As his palm became his fingertips tickling the sensitive skin lightly, the tip of his tongue went from my chin, down my neck, and over my breastbone. I feared he would stop us again. I didn’t have to. He wore off to the right and circled my nipple. My legs were restless, my hands balling in a fist and releasing. I was so close to getting what I wanted. I thought I would pass out from the excitement. He tortured me with his tongue going around and around my nipple until he had me on the verge of insanity. Then at the same time, he took the nipple in his mouth and pulled and the fingered of his hand dove into my panties, hitting the target momentarily.

  “Oh, God,” I moaned, my back bowing to the point of breaking.

  “Down, baby,” Max whispered, then bit my nipple.

  He alternated between my breasts, kissing, licking, and biting them, working me with his fingers on my clit the whole time. I was reaching the top. It was going to be epic. It was going to break me in half. I was ready. I was ready to have him inside me. I wanted that for both of us. Not just me. I reached blindly to his shorts, pushing them down with my hands and opening my legs so I could have him between them. I was going to come in a minute, an orgasm so big, I started to fear it. It all came crashing down when Max stopped.

  “No,” I wailed, still trying to get him naked.

  "It's been weeks, Bean, but I know you remember all that has gone down," I had trouble focusing on what he was saying, and my mind had only one thing present in it.

  And I was sure. Once he let me unwrap it, it really was going to be present. One that I would use over and over. And one that, judging by the feel as I was rubbing myself all over it, was going to be huge.

  "Sky," he growled after I went again.

  I wiggled under him, trying to get as much friction and make him let go of the tight grip he had on his control. The man was unbelievable. What did he do? He grinned!

  "Focus, yeah?"

  "Sure," I panted.

  He was shirtless, the wings on full display. I was about to lick each detailed feather when all of a sudden, I couldn't move my head. That was because he took my face in between his palms.

  "Give me a chance, baby," the plea stopped me in my tracks. "I'm trying to tell you something here."

  "Okay," I whispered and touched his cheek.

  He took a big breath, closed his eyes, and kissed my palm. It was an incredibly sweet gesture. One that made me want him even more.

  "What I'm trying to say is, you've been through a lot. In a short period of time, punch after punch kept coming your way. And you've been incredibly strong through all of that. But I'll be damned if I let you associate the first time I had you, with that shit."

  "Max," his name sounded winded.

  That was because, with that last, he took my breath away.

  "Our time will come, I promise you. But please, let me take care of you first."

  "Okay," I agreed instantly. How could I not?

  "Thank you, Bean,” he grinned.

  And there it was.

  The reason I fell in love with him.

  He gave me something when I didn't even know I needed it. He took care of me. He made me ask for things. He made me strong. I've never had that before. Especially not from a man like Max. That was because, before, I didn't have Max. Even after I agreed to give him a break, I still wiggled. I was turned way the fuck on, and I couldn’t help it. His body was on top of mine. The friction of our skin managed only to fire up every cell in my body. His grin turned mischievous. Mine mirrored his. The oh, so slowly, he went down, blowing gently on my fired-up skin. Goosebumps greeted him on his way down. Once he positioned himself, his shoulders between my caked-up legs, his face inches away from my pussy, he stopped. I held my breath. With a barely-there touch, he hooked my panties with one of his fingers and pushed them aside.

  “Fuck,” he growled.

  I looked down my body. The sight of Max lying between my legs was a sight I would remember, even when I was ninety years old and had dementia. He looked up, and our eyes clashed.

  “You sure you want this?” he raised his eyebrows, the finger of his other hand caressing me a little bit off from where I needed it.

  He was torturing me.

  “Don’t make me ask,” I pleaded, desperate.

  He flashed his cocky grin, the one that I both loved and hated, and without any warning at all, he moved in and licked me all the way from my entrance right up to my clit. I didn’t have the energy to make a sound. I couldn’t hold my head up anymore, either. He licked me like it was the only thing he was meant to do. And when he started to suckle and pushed three fingers inside me, I was done for. An orgasm so powerful took over me in a flash. My muscles spasmed over and over again.

  I was panting.

  I was trashing.

  I was losing my mind from the extraordinary feel.

  Bursts of colors flashed in front of my eyes, and the room started spinning. And then the orgasm went even more intense. I lost myself in it.
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br />   “Fucking hell, Max!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.

  He was merciless as he ate me and finger fucked me until I came again. And again. I lost track of time. Every time I came, it was bigger. I didn’t even know where I was. My sole focus was Max and what he was doing between my legs. Only when I closed my legs and gently pushed at the top of his head, did he stop. He crawled up my body, kissing it on his way up. I threw my hands over my face. I was ready to go back to sleep.