Bedding the Bachelors Box Set (Books 1-3) (32 page)

“You kissed Elizabeth,” she reminded him.

“And I won’t be seeing her for another week. When I do, we might pretend some more, but we’re certainly not going to have sex.”

“Even so…”

“You’re the only woman I’m interested in right now, Dixie.”

“What if that changes?”

“It won’t.”

“But what if it does?”

“I’ll deal with it. And that will mean talking to you before I betray your trust.”

“I don’t want press,” she said. “I’m dealing with stuff you don’t know about, Max. Stuff that means I need total privacy. If you can’t give me that…”

He immediately wanted to grill her about what “stuff” she was talking about.

One thing at a time.

“I promise I’ll keep you out of my business. We’re the only people who will know we’re seeing each other. With my performance schedule and having to work the bars, we won’t have tons of time together, but the time I do have, I’ll devote to you.”

She thought about it then seemed to come to a conclusion. “Okay. Under those conditions, I’ll try to be open to whatever you suggest.”

He wished he could let it go at that, but he couldn’t. She was waffling, and he needed to be very clear about what he was asking for. And what she’d be agreeing to. “
Trying
to be open isn’t going to be enough. You place yourself in my hands completely—with the exception of anything that you don’t like
after
you’ve given me a fair shot at persuading you. You have to commit to letting me do everything I can to pleasure you and trust I’ll know when the time is right for you to go all the way.”

Her expression turned mutinous. “That doesn’t make sense.
I
already know what I like.
I
already know what works for me. I don’t mind giving up control, but only to a point.”

“And it’s that point I have to push you past, Grace.
I
don’t have a problem with you being in control, but I’ll sure have a problem when your control cock-blocks me. Better to reach an understanding now.”

“Cock-blocks you?” she practically choked out.

He leaned into her. “Yeah, because given your past, it will happen. And my cock wants what you’re control is hell-bent on blocking. Let me have it. Let me have all of you or tell me what you’re afraid of. Because it shouldn’t be this hard.”

She flushed, looked away, then forced herself to meet his gaze again. “Easy for you to say. Have you ever given your body and your orgasms over to someone else?”

“I’ve never had the issues you do,” he said quietly, to which she had no response. “So are we going to do this or not? You know I won’t hurt you. You know what I want to give you. I can’t unless you trust me in a way you haven’t trusted any of your partners.”

He was saying it straight out so she couldn’t misunderstand. She looked scared as shit but tried to rally. “I did trust them. I trust you…”

“Words are easy, Dixie. You might think you’ve trusted your lovers because you’ve let yourself be topped. Because you’ve let a man blindfold and tie you up. But I’ll bet anything you maintained control even then, no matter how it looked. If you think you trusted them with all of you, you’re wrong. And it’ll be my job to prove it to you.”

He saw the conflicting emotions in her eyes and felt her pain. The fact she was still clinging to the very
idea
of control told him she more than liked it. She needed it. Just like she needed to keep some part of herself from others even out of bed.

She shook her head and he knew he was losing her.

“I don’t know. Maybe this is a bad idea. Let’s just—”

“What if I give up control to you?” he asked abruptly.

She looked startled, then intrigued. “What?”

He hesitated. Cursed himself. What the hell was he doing? But he’d already said he wouldn’t allow himself to come unless she did. Why not go all the way if it made her feel better about what she was going to be giving up? “You said it was easy for me to tell you to give up control, when I haven’t done the same thing myself.”

She nodded.

“So before you place yourself in my hands, how about I place myself in yours?”

“What does that mean?”

“You say you’re adventurous. Show me. Control my pleasure and decide when it’s time for me to come. Who knows, maybe that’s what’ll get you off. If it doesn’t, then we’ll try things my way.”

Silence stretched between them as she thought about it. He practically saw the gears turning in her head.

“I need to think about it. Can—can I take the night? To make sure I can clear my schedule, I mean.”

Disappointment crashed through him, but he nodded. “Sure, Grace.”

He drove her to her hotel and pulled up in front. To his amusement, when they got out of the car, she held out her hand. “No matter what, thank you, Max. I mean it.”

His mouth tipped up and he shook his head. “I think we can end this night with something better than a handshake, don’t you?”

“Um…sure,” she said.

She waited for him to move toward her. When he didn’t, she leaned closer and kissed him.

She was complex and so was the way she kissed. She started slow and easy, a whisper of soft caresses that drew him in. Then when he started to relax, she amped things up. Nipped. Sucked. Made him groan and bury his hands in her hair and, before he knew what he was doing, start to take over. He tipped her head to the side, giving him better access to her mouth and plunged his tongue inside her. Pushing her back against his car, he lapped her up and pressed against her until a car honked and someone whistled.

He pulled away.

Her breath hitched and puffed against his mouth. She wanted more. And so did he.

It took everything he had, but he took several steps back.

She’d said she needed time and he was going to give that to her.

“Take tonight, Grace. If you decide you can accept my terms, let me know. Otherwise, catch that plane tomorrow and know that I wish you well.”

Max’s Magic Rule #7:

Never let a beautiful woman upstage you.

“Melina told me you were concerned about Grace. You finally track her down and make your move?”

Max blinked. Considering he was right in the middle of bench-pressing two hundred and fifty pounds, he didn’t answer his brother, who was spotting him, right away. It had been less than twenty-four hours since he saw Grace, but for all he knew, she was heading to the airport to catch her flight right now. To make sure he didn’t do something stupid like try to stop her at the airport and fall to his knees begging for another chance at bedding her, he’d called his brother to meet him at the gym. Like he’d told her, he needed Grace’s total trust if he had any hope of giving her what she wanted. Without that…

After he settled the free weights in place, he sat up and cocked a brow at Rhys. His brother already saw too damn much. On the off chance Grace didn’t get on that plane today, he needed to throw him off the scent. “Make my move? What are you, in sixth grade?” he asked, injecting an “as if” tone into his voice.

Rhys rolled his eyes. “Right, like you haven’t wanted a piece of her since you heard her voice? She’s gorgeous. Her accent is sexy as hell. And all those little Southernisms she spouts?” He paused, obviously waiting for Max to fill in the blank.

“Adorable,” Max said. They were just one more thing he enjoyed about Grace. One second he wanted to shove her against a wall and fuck her hard, the next he wanted to laugh at the crazy things coming out of her mouth. He wondered how many southern idioms she had in her back pocket.

He choked back a laugh when his brother scowled. “I don’t get you, Max. You hit everything else, why not Grace?”

Max took the towel lying around his neck and wiped his brow. “She’s Melina’s friend. I fuck her and that fucks up everything.” He shrugged, again suggesting his disinterest rather than lying flat out.

Rhys’s shrug mimicked his. “So what’s the plan for tonight?”

Max frowned. He hadn’t expected Rhys to accept his excuse so easily. He found himself wanting to continue talking about Grace. To give in and do what he always wanted to do but never had—grill Rhys about what he knew about his wife’s friend. He wanted to know what her hobbies were. What kind of movies she liked. What her favorite ice cream was. All he had were the little bits of information Melina had dropped in conversation over the years and what he’d learned about Grace last night, which wasn’t enough. But he contented himself with the knowledge that he probably knew things about her that Rhys didn’t—like the fact she’d dated guys with big dicks. And that she made out like a porn queen.

Just thinking about those lips she’d laid on him last night had him wanting more and getting hard—not a good thing when he was wearing thin, dry-weave shorts at a gym.

He forced himself to answer Rhys. “Same as usual as far as I know. Rehearsal. Show. Promoting the show.” Unless Grace had decided to stay in town and grant him the opportunity to add something even more spectacular to his agenda.

“You heard from Elizabeth?”

“Only a voicemail, thanking me again and checking in.”

“She’s a good friend. Now that her husband’s out of the picture, you think anything might happen between you two again?”

Not at all, Max thought. First, because her husband wasn’t out of the picture. Not as far as her heart was concerned. Second, the only woman Max was interested in right now was Grace.

“Hey,” Rhys said, nudging him with his elbow. “Look who we’re
not
talking about.”

Max followed his brother’s line of sight and barely stopped himself from pumping his fist in the air.

It looked like Lady Luck was sidling closer and closer.

Grace stood at the check-in counter, dressed in black spandex shorts and a pale pink sports tank that left a few inches of her lower back exposed. Her head was bent as she signed some papers, her ponytail revealing her neck and upper back. Above and below her tank, Max could see tattoos, which had always been covered before. The tattoos were curved lines, spaced about an inch apart. The lines, at least what he could see of them, created a shape that resembled half a feather. He had no idea whether all those curved lines met in the middle of her back to form some kind of recognizable image but he wanted to find out. More than that, he wanted to trace the patterns with his tongue, then work downward until he could kiss, suck and bite the curvy flesh of her ass and explore the buttery-soft skin between her legs.

The tattoos were just another facet of Grace. Bold yet mysterious. Trendy yet subdued. She wasn’t hiding them, but she wasn’t revealing them either. Just like she wasn’t hiding her desire for an orgasm, but—despite the fact she was right here in front of him—he’d still bet she wasn’t willing to bare all she was,
give
all she was, to get it.

Not unless he continued to push her.

In a moment, she straightened, dug around in the large workout bag slung over her shoulder, and produced what Max figured was a credit card. The young woman helping her at the counter took it and swiped it through a register.

“She’s staying in Vegas for another week,” Rhys said. “But you knew that already, didn’t you?”

“What?” Max said absently, keeping his eyes on Grace as she headed toward the women’s locker room. He could feel the grin trying to take over his face.

Then he remembered he’d promised to give her total control and it tempered his feelings of victory and anticipation. His unease grew the longer Rhys stared at him. Was his brother going to say anything, or burn him with laser eyes all day?

Max finally turned toward him. “She’s staying for a week? Why would you think I already knew that?”

“You called Melina last night and found out where she was. Next thing I know, Grace has decided to extend her trip. Quit bullshitting me, Max. I need to know
you
know what you’re getting into. Because somehow I don’t think you do.”

“I’m not getting into anything.” Besides Grace’s pants, he thought. But Grace wasn’t some conquest to bed. She was one of his sister-in-law’s best friends. He was determined to take care with her, and that meant respecting her desire for privacy. Too bad it would be creepy for him to follow her. It’d be fun to watch her bouncing up and down doing aerobics, or displaying her ass as she did a Downward Dog.

“Max,” Rhys said.

“Don’t you have a pregnant wife to get home to?”

His brother sighed. “I most certainly do. And to tell you the truth, she hasn’t been feeling well.”

Max’s good humor immediately fled. “What’s going on? Do you need to take more time off?”

“She and the doctor assure me it’s just normal aches and pains. And believe me, I’m taking plenty of time off to be with her. So much she’s worried she’s interfering with work.”

“Well don’t let that stop you.”

“Of course not. But you know the baby blankets Mom’s been working on? She finished them early and wants me to pick them up before they leave for Hawaii. I’d planned on driving there today. Only…”

“No problem. I’ll swing by and pick them up for you.”

Rhys’s expression turned to one of relief. “That would be great. I’ll head home and watch a movie with Melina.”

“Is that all?”

When Rhys hesitated, Max understood. “Wait. Are you that concerned? That you’re afraid to—”

Rhys shook his head. “We’ve been cleared to have as much sex as we want. Only she’s so tired lately. So fragile…”

“If Melina heard you say that, she’d kick your ass. Besides, even if most of her old clothes don’t fit her right now, I’m betting a certain bikini still does. Break it out and neither one of you will be tired for long.”

Rhys laughed and rubbed the back of his neck. “You’re right. She
would
kick my ass. Thanks, Max.”

“No problem. Now run along and have sex with your hot pregnant wife. Magician’s orders.”

The hand Rhys clapped on Max’s shoulder said it all. After Rhys left, Max headed toward the check-in counter.

The young woman who’d helped Grace a few minutes earlier smiled at him and leaned against the countertop, not so surreptitiously pressing her breasts together with her elbows. “May I help you, Mr. Dalton?”