by Ana Balen
“That will keep you satisfied for a while,” I peeked under my forearm at him.
He had a smug look.
“Don’t count on it,” I said.
Throwing his head back, he gifted me with another sight that I stored in my memory bank, the one of him laughing.
“See you downstairs. I’ll get the coffee ready.”
He kissed me, his hilarity still on his lips, and went out of the room. I turned on my belly, hugged the pillow, sighed, and I realized I was happy.
***
"Fucking hell, she's trying to kill me," he muttered, looking at his coffee cup like it held the answer to eternal youth.
I didn't know what he was on about. Still, it didn't matter as my participation in that particular conversation wasn't needed since he went on.
"Walking down here in barely there shorts and a tank top after I ate her not even fifteen minutes ago and gave her three orgasms."
"I'm sorry?" I knew he was talking about me, but he was wrong. "First, it's the crack of dawn, I just woke up and am already ready to go back to be. I also am in a daring need of caffeine. These are my sleep clothes, and everyone knows they need to be comfy. Second, it's summer, it's hot and no matter what time of year it is, I need to cover myself while I sleep so I can wrap the sheet around me. Hence, the barely-there shorts as you called them," I indicated my body with my hand.
When he opened his mouth, I put that hand up to stop him.
“Second,” I carried on. “You're the one that put a stop at festivities going on in our bed. I would have been more than happy to carry on as you well know. Sure, it was hot, it was awesome, but may I remind you that you are also the one to give you a break. And you are the one who left me in that bed upstairs, alone.”
I stressed the last word. He again tried to speak, but again, I didn't let him.
“So, all this crap about trying to kill you is all on you," I pointed at him with my index finger.
“I see I still have a little monster Skylar on my hands, three orgasms, and it’s still not enough. Makes for an interesting future and fun of finding creative ways to tame you,” his smile turned sexy.
Then again, it always was. What he said gave me a rush, but I ignored it. Without a word, I took the mug from his hands and walked to the French doors.
There, I turned and announced, “Now, I'm going out to enjoy my coffee. There's a new deck that's kick-ass, the sun's shining and birds are chirping. I intend to enjoy all of that. It's not as hot as hell, but it is summer, and I won't need a blanket to feel comfortable. If you can swing
it, you are welcome to join me, but fair warning, at some point, I'll probably put up my feet to a railing, and my shorts will hitch up even more.”
I watched as a smile morphed into a frown than to a gulp. I turned and walked out. I did it with a satisfied smile. I was sipping my third sip and looked at the green that was all around me when the doors behind me open. Max sat without a word next to me. I put my feet up on the railing.
“Fuck,” Max muttered.
I turned to him and winked. Seeing me wink, his face got soft. Then he grabbed my chair and pulled it toward him. We drank our coffee, and I was happy.
The only thing that married my happiness was the fact I only once got a hold of Kiki. She ended the call under two minutes, saying only she was fine and she was going to call me. She was out partying. I should have guessed. Also, I had a habit of asking Max every day if there were sights of Nico or if they had any new information. They didn’t. I was getting tired of his antics. I needed him in jail so we could get on with the rest of our lives. And I needed it over fast. I only stopped asking because every time I did, before answering me, Max would grit his teeth. The good news was, Melanie had enough of hiding with her parents, and she was coming back home. I couldn’t wait to see her.
“Could we have a party?” I asked out of the blue one evening while we were lying in bed.
“Sure,” Max traced random patterns on my shoulder. I didn't think he was even aware of what I asked him.
Something had him distracted.
“Honey, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” he dismissed my question.
He never did that.
It had to be something big.
“Tell me what happened!”
I pushed up, put my hand on his chest, and pressed down.
“I signed the last papers for my retirement at S.W.A.T today.” His voice sounded defeated.
“Are you sure you want to stop working there?” I asked cautiously.
He sure didn’t sound like he wanted to.
“It’s not that I’m regretting my decision, I just didn’t expect it to feel so,” he paused. “Final. That job left so many scars, mental ones that now that it’s over, it’s weird. It feels like my limb went missing from the moment I gave my badge to the captain.”
Red lights started flashing when he said scars. I know a lot about scars, especially mental ones, but I wasn’t sure I should ask.
Barely above a whisper, I did. “Scars?”
“It’s nothing to worry about, Bean. They’re a job hazard.”
I decided to wait for him to start talking. I knew one thing, and that was that Max shared.
I wasn’t wrong at that time, either.
“We all have scars, Skylar. And every single person thinks their scars are something hideous. But they admire the scars of others. They say that those same scars are beautiful. They say that person is stronger because of them.”
It was time that he answered me. I knew to the very center of me that losing his father was not the only scar he had.
“And what about your scars?”
“Mine? You know what mine are.”
“Not all of them,” I could see he didn't want to tell me. He was ready to turn the conversation to something else. But not this time. If he wanted to have all of me, he needed to give all of himself to me. “Tell me.”
Silence.
“Please, Max, tell me.”
He sighed, and I tensed. I was sure he would push me away and throw the covers off him. He didn’t. Instead, he pulled me closer, and when he started talking, his voice was barely above a whisper.
“It was bad, Bean. I still can't figure out the guy's motive in all of it.”
With each word, his grip tensed. Not knowing how to help, but also not wanting to interrupt him, I pressed my palm to the center of his chest, trying to give him some comfort. It was a good decision because his grip loosened a little, but he still didn't look at me.
“We were called out. It was a hostage situation. The guy had a family at gunpoint and had killed the father in law already. Unfortunately, it was something we did almost daily. You wouldn't believe what people are capable of doing for money.”
He looked at me then, almost in surprise. I gave him a small, sad smile in answer and patted his chest. We were both aware that I knew very well. In fact, it was what led me to him, to this bed.
“Anyway,” he cleared his throat, going back to looking at the ceiling. “We got there, spread out, and waited for the negotiator to give us the signal. The situation was beyond tense. The husband kept wailing that he didn't have the money, that it was his father that owed, and this was the first time he saw him in ten years. The wife went into labor from shock and the kid… Shit, Sky, there was a three-year-old kid with them in that living room. Can you imagine? A Sunday morning, you enjoy it with your family, and because of a fucked-up decision of a man you barely even know, everything turns to nothing.”
I tensed. I knew it ended badly, but from the way he was telling it, it was obvious it ended really badly.
“We got the signal and entered. We shouldn't. All six of us ended up in a standoff with the fucker. I could tell he was aware he wouldn't walk out of that room and was searching for the weakest link. Thank fuck, Liv shoved the kid out of the room the second she entered.”
He paused; clearly lost in the moment he was relieving in his mind.
<
br /> “What happened next?”
“The man moved, and I stepped in front of the woman. You know that bulletproof vests don’t cover you all the way down to your hips?” I stayed silent. He wasn’t really asking me a question. He was talking. “They end just above your belly button. The fucker aimed low since the woman was lying on the floor. He got me in my lower abdomen.”
“Oh, my God,” I pressed a hand to my mouth. I was sure I was going to vomit.
The mere idea of someone shooting at Max made me nauseous.
“Liv took the guy out, but not before he fired one more shot,” he rubbed his eyes. “I passed out. I didn’t see it. But, the bullet hit the woman, tagging her in the arm. She passed out from shock. Stone thought she was killed and carried her out. Apparently, he fell on his knees once he hit the street.” He stopped, then went on. “Fuck, reliving his worst nightmare.”
He shifted and turned on his side, facing me.
“He came to the hospital, and the first thing I said to him was that I was done. The next day disappeared.”
I don’t know what troubled me more. The fact, Max walked in the situations he described, or that he deflected and reduced to nothing the fact he was shot and talked more about Stone. I told him what was on my mind.
“It’s not that, baby. I was with one foot out, even before that. That last time just sealed the deal. I can’t watch people destroy each other anymore. I don’t have the stomach. And the reason I’m telling you about Stone is, I don’t want to live through what he had. And if I stay on this job, it’s a possibility.”
“Okay,” I pushed my hand in his hair.
“And with Barone still on the loose, it messes with my mind, just the thought that it will happen.”
Once he said it out loud, the seed of fear was planted, and there was nothing we could do about it. After that last, both of us were silent. Both of us lost our heads. None of us slept.
Chapter Fourteen
Max
I watched as she sat at the table, the sun making her eyes squint. There were no signs she got scared or started to pull away after that shit flew out of my mouth. I knew I would have to share; I didn’t want any secrets between us, but I planned to tell her about it when all this shit was over, and we could have a real go. But last night, after I told her and she sweetly kissed the underside of my chin then and thanked me for telling her, I know I was going to marry her. I knew it the moment she sat in my car in that wedding dress, but last night cemented the fact in my brain.
I couldn’t look away from her. The wind blew her blonde hair into her face, and she reached up with delicate fingers to move it away. My eyes followed the movement of her hand and fell to her neck, then lower to her tits and lower. God, I wanted her. I needed to fuck her. After last night there was no going back, and this game of cat and mouse was getting really old. I started with good intentions. I wanted her to know she could ask anything from me and get it. No matter how far out of reach it was. I would bust my balls and break my legs. But she would get it. Then it turned to fun. She was cute as hell when she was flustered, and nothing got her more flustered than when I touched her for that first time, she saw me shirtless. I made sure she got the sight every day.
But then, I fucked up.
I caved and tasted her.
Fuck.
The taste of her.
I groaned, my dick getting hard with just the memory, and I shifted. It didn’t help. My dick pulsed with every heartbeat. I looked down at her body; my eyes devouring her bare legs as she stretched them in front of her and crossed her ankles. Damnit. How good would they feel wrapped around my back?
“You okay over there?” she teased.
I decided to tell her straight. No more playing games, no more delaying inevitable, no matter who was out there, trying to find a way to destroy us.
“I’m just imagining how it would feel having your legs wrapped around me while I was inside you.”
Her head whipped to me, her eyes bugged out, and her mouth fell open. But a second later, she sat up straight, put her cup down, leaned to me and her eyes turned to slits. That didn’t go as I planned.
“What's wrong?” I asked as if nothing happened.
“Nothing,” she muttered and continued to glare at me.
“Bean, would you stop trying to kill me with the powers of your look for one second and tell me what has gotten you so worked up.”
“You're doing it on purpose!” she exclaimed.
“I don't follow, honey,” I played dumb.
“Every day, you come in here all sweaty with your shirt practically pressed to you, reminding me of what you are keeping from me,” she was getting worked up. "Not that I need any reminding. Trust me. I got the vision of your body burned in my retinas. And then, you get me all hot and bothered with your Supreme sex abilities, and you just stop, say it's too soon, I'm too fragile and go on your merry way.”
“My Supreme sex abilities?” I laughed...
“Ugh,” she threw her hands up in the air.
God, I wanted her.
“Skylar,” I watched as a visible shiver overtook her body by just me saying my name. Oh yeah, it was time." Are you saying you want me to fuck you?”
Please say yes.
“Yes,” she said in what was almost a whisper.
In a flash, I was crouching in front of her. My palms at her ankles, and as I rose up to my feet, I dragged them along her skin. I watched fascinated as her pupils dilated, her breath hitched, then she started panting. She was trembling. She was giving herself to the powerful pull that lived between us. She was giving herself over to me. I picked her up from her chair and pulled her flushed to my body. Her legs hugging my waist, her pussy hot on my groin, she felt how desperately my dick wanted to get in her pussy, and she threw her head back with her moan.
“Thank fuck,” I said and went into the house kissing and licking her neck the whole way to the bed.
Her body hit the bed, and she was on the move. She took off her top, baring her tits, took my face into her hands, and kissed me. Fucking hell. I lost all semblance of control.
I broke the kiss and said, “I’m going to marry you.”
“Yes, you are,” she panted.
“I love you,” I needed her to understand that there was no going back.
Before she could say one word, I slammed her mouth with mine in a searing kiss. As she was pulling my body to hers, wiggling in every way, my cock started to weep for her, I broke the kiss, cupped one breast, and pushed up. I growled when I had one perfect nipple in my mouth.
Christ. I was like a fifteen-year-old, in danger of coming just from that.
Her fingers grazed at my cheek, “Honey, now.”
I lifted my head and muttered, “Not yet.”
Her nails dug into my skin. I dragged my lips down her body right to her pussy.
“Max, please,” her breath hitched when I pushed her shorts and panties down and started biting her thigh.
My fingers grazed over her clit and her body tensed. Then she was gone. She got up on her knees and crawled to me. Pushing at my shoulders, she got me on my back and tore my shorts off.
“You can play later, honey. I got a chance to get all of you, and I’m not messing around,” she muttered and threw her leg over me.
My hands automatically flew to her hips. She looked up and said. “I’m on the pill. I have been tested and I’m clean. I love you; I want to feel all of you, but if you want, you can wear a condom.”
Fuck.
She was hot usually, but seeing her like this, I felt every word in my balls.
“Max,” she said, frustrated.
“I don’t need a condom, baby,” I assured her.
She smiled a victorious smile.
“You ready?”
There was a gleam in her eye. I didn’t say anything, I gripped the base of my cock, positioned and in a swift move, I surged upward taking her by surprise. Nirvana. I knew it would be good. I knew she was meant to
be mine. I knew she would fit me. But to fit me so perfectly, I didn’t expect it. Her nails scraped at my chest down to my stomach. Her pussy pulsed with every move I made.
“Max, Skylar urged, sitting on top of me, her head tilted down, her jaw lax.
“Hang in there, baby,” I muttered in amazement.
I never saw her so beautiful as she was at that moment.
“Hurry,” she breathed.
I rolled us over, found a balance on my knees, and hissed, “Let go.”