Ignite: a Billionaire Second Chance romance (4 page)

C
yn heard
the insistent knocks on her door but her dream registered them as something else. Fireworks! Founders Day Fireworks!

She lay on a blanket beside Max, their hands twined together, their laughter swallowed by the crowd around them. Cyn watched as a toddler walked past, her steps uneven, her ice cream cone threatening to tumble from her hand.

The sky above was inky black and the explosions overhead were glorious. She sat up and Max sat with her, his hand in her back pocket.

She leaned against him and saw his lips move. He was yelling
Cyn!

She roused from her dream to find he was at her door, calling her name. She threw on her robe and pushed the hair from her eyes. Her bedside clock read 1:35 in its angry red letters. She stumbled to the door before Max woke up everyone on Willow Lane.

Her heart thrilled that he was here but why at such a late hour? Surely Brooke should have him on lock down at the King house.

She opened the door and he slipped inside. The cool air and the scent of citrus filled her nose and she smiled. It was the smell of
her
Max.

He stepped over her threshold and took her in his arms, kissing her like a man looking for water in the desert. She wanted to ask him so many questions but he was as hungry for her now as he had been in the garage earlier that day.

Cyn pulled away and placed a hand on his chest.

“I want this more than anything, Max, I do. But what about Brooke? I know what you said but…”

Max pulled her roughly into the circle of his arms and teased her lips until she gave in to her desire. The kiss was long and deep and his hands roamed her body, caressing her through the thin fabric of her robe.

Cyn moaned against her will. She broke the connection again, her head swimming with desire. Max smiled as he slipped a hand inside her robe and palmed the weight of one perfect orb, his thumb teasing the swollen proof of her need.

“This is mine, Cyn. And I want it. Now.”

She sighed and leaned against him for support as he rolled her aching nipple between two fingers. Her mind fought for control before her body completely betrayed her.

“I’m not going to be second place, Max.”

He dropped his hands to her hips. Cyn whimpered at the loss of stimulation.

“You could never be second place, Cyn. I’m here, not in Brooke’s bed. Tell me to leave if you don’t believe me.”

In the silence that followed, Max gently lowered the fabric of her robe and gown. Cyn stepped from the gauzy puddle at her feet. He pushed down her sheer panties and her body was as hot for him as it had been all those years ago.

Max undressed as she led him to her room. In the moonlight from the window, his broad chest and chiseled abdomen drew her eyes. Cyn saw he was more than ready to make love to her and she crossed the distance between them to touch him in the places she knew drove him over the edge. She traced the hard planes of his chest softly causing him to moan and beg for her to make love to him.

Cyn knelt before him and admired his erect manhood. She teased him with her tongue, loving the moans and gasps her actions solicited. She took him in her hand and stroked gently, slowly closing her mouth around him, the rhythm of her lips making him tremble.

Max caught her dark hair in his hands and held on as Cyn brought him closer to release. He bit his lip and tried to think of spreadsheets or stats for his favorite team. He did not want to come just yet. He wanted to make love to her until the sun came up. For forever.

Max lifted her gently and plunged his tongue into her mouth, hungry and aching for her. He carried her to the bed, his eyes locked with hers. The love and desire he saw there caused him to lay her back upon the sheets and begin a slow worship of her luscious body. He knew every inch, every place that pleased her, where to use his tongue and where to nip playfully. Cyn was writhing and begging incoherently by the time he’d taken his time with her body, the one he remembered now riper, more ready for a man than ever before.

Cyn called out his name as he thrust deep inside her. He stopped and gazed into her eyes.

“Watch me Cyn. Watch me make love to you as a man. A man who wants all of you. I’m not leaving this time.”

Cyn turned her head away, a tear forming in her eye.

Max thrust twice again and turned her head to meet his gaze, repeating his promise.

“I am not leaving this time.”

He held her face gently as he brought her to orgasm again and again before allowing himself satisfaction. Cyn held him to her breast as he fell upon her, his breathing quickly returning to normal.

“Max, I never thought to have you in my arms like this again. I dreamed it and hoped it, but never believed.”

Max rolled and positioned Cyn on top of him. He stroked her hair and spoke in whispers.

“We were meant to be together Cyn Diamond and nothing can change that.”

Cyn crossed her arms on his chest and rested her chin on her forearm, lost in the depths of his eyes now gone a darker blue with passion.

“I want to, Max. You don’t know how much my heart wants to believe in you.”

Max entered her again and Cyn sat up, riding him desperately for release.

Max watched her full breasts sway above him as she ground her hips into his. Cyn Diamond loved him! She might not believe their love was strong enough yet, but he would make sure she did before the sun rose. They had years to make up for in these few short hours and he grew harder each time he saw the ecstasy written on her face.

Cyn was lost in the emotions he was stirring. Her body wanted time to stop as each stroke, each thrust filled her with sensations she hadn’t felt in years. She laughed and she cried and she begged him to never leave.

“I love you,” Max whispered over and over as he brought her to the edge of heaven time and time again.

Later, as she fell asleep in his arms with the light of dawn creeping into the sky, Max told her he was going to New York in a few hours to fix everything and hurry back to her. There was no way he could explain the bomb Brooke had dropped in his lap. Not that he believed it, but Cyn might and that would be the end.

B
rooke awoke alone
in the masculine bedroom, her hand reaching out to find Max’s side cold. There was no indication he’d ever come to bed last night. She sat up and glanced at the bedside clock. They would leave for the airport to board the King private jet to New York in a few hours.

She wondered where he’d spent the night and the idea of Cyn Diamond flitted through her mind. He wouldn’t. And if he had, what difference did it make now? She would get pregnant once they were in New York and he would never know the difference. First babies came late all the time.

She toyed with telling Mrs. King about their bundle of joy
but Max had warned her and she didn’t want to risk a rift between them. Every chance she had to make love to him again was precious now that the clock was ticking.

She laid out her clothes and went to the vanity in the bathroom and brushed her hair as she thought of life married to one of the richest, most eligible bachelors in New York. They would travel around the world and of course, they would have a nanny. She wouldn’t allow a baby to come between them as so many women did.

She would do whatever it took to keep her figure during her pregnancy and go to the gym for hours a day after the child was born and placed in the capable hands of that well vetted nanny.

No, there wouldn’t be so much as a hiccup in her routine as she became Brooke King. But she would have more money, more friends with money, and all the help she would need to run Max’s home and raise his child. One was plenty. Enough to give her rights to his huge fortune and not ruin her body.

She put her brush down, pleased at the dream life she’d woven in her head, and stepped into the large granite tub. Half an hour later, her thoughts of Cyn Diamond went down the drain with the expensive bubbles courtesy of the Ferragamo she’d gotten at the Waldorf Astoria during a sexy weekend with Max last summer.

She heard his voice in the hallway as she finished tying her wrap dress. She’d left him easy access for their mile high club adventure before placing her feet into another pair of ridiculously high heeled shoes. The ones that inspired naughty thoughts when any man stopped to gaze at her legs, revealed from mid thigh down.

Max opened the door and Brooke frowned when she saw he was in the same clothes as the day before.

She caught the same scent from yesterday afternoon as he walked past. She’d bet Cyn Diamond had enjoyed a night to remember. One last time for old time’s sake.

“Too bad you missed it, darling. I would have enjoyed making love to you in that tub.”

Max ignored her and made his way to the bathroom.

Perhaps she should take a small trip of her own to see Ms. Diamond at her salon before they left? But then she decided to let it go. Max was hers. They would be married and expecting their first, and only, child in a matter of months. Cyn Diamond couldn’t compete with that. Of all the things Brooke knew about Max, his goodness was genuine. He wouldn’t leave her and his child for an old girlfriend.

She heard the shower go on and left the room. Rhys might be downstairs already and his company was much preferred to his brother at this particular moment.

She and Rhys were often mistaken as a couple when they were seen without Max. She knew they had the same drive, the same take-what-you-want attitude that made them seem a perfect match.

But Rhys wasn’t the older brother with control over the King conglomerate. Had he been the one in that position instead of Max she could’ve easily had him in her bed. He was her partner in crime when it came to Max, though. He’d made sure she was on that flight yesterday. And he’d likely sat up late last night gleaning information from his older brother.

She entered the dining room and found Rhys there alone. There were places set for five and so she sat next to him, hoping to pump him for information before Mrs. King or Max appeared.

Rhys smiled at her in his condescending manner, made worse by being here with Max.

“Did you sleep well, Rhys?”

Rhys turned, his eyes bloodshot.

“I can’t say that my father’s study is remotely comfortable but with enough expensive liquor, comfort becomes relative.”

Brooke placed a fruit tart on her plate and sighed.

“You wouldn’t know if he was in the study all night as well, then?”

Rhys snorted laughter.

“I would know that. He left not long after midnight, I think. Tried to push that old truck down the road but I heard it start. Would know it anywhere.”

Brooke stiffened in her chair. She glanced around the table counting the plates once more. One for Max, one for Mrs. King, and one more. An odd thing.

Jo walked in and placed a fragrant plate on the table. Brooke looked up at the woman and smiled her brightest smile. Jo stood and held back her irritated sigh. It was only breakfast, not a pageant.

“Will we have company for brunch?” Brooke asked as she glanced to the plates again.

“Why, yes. Cynthia will be over this morning to help Mrs. King with plans for the winter formal at the high school.”

Brooke’s smile fell flat and she turned away from the housekeeper. She had hoped they might leave Belleport without seeing Cyn again.

Max walked into the room, dressed for business and wearing a satisfied smile.

“Jo, is that bacon I smell? You know they never let me have it at my penthouse.”

Jo patted his arm.

“All the more reason for you to come on home, Max. I would make you bacon every day, promise.”

Rhys smiled at his brother.

“Oh, I don’t think its bacon he wants every day, Jo.”

Max shot him an irritated glance and turned when he heard his mother’s voice.

“Now Rhys, you can go one day without deviling your brother, can’t you?”

Max pulled out a seat for his mother and took the seat next to the empty plate.

“Cynthia will be here soon. She and I are planning the winter formal, Max. Won’t that be fun?”

Max smiled. He loved the way Cyn took care of his mom, especially now.

Cyn entered the room then, hearing her name and hoping brunch would end soon. She took Mrs. King’s hand and smiled as she spoke.

“It will be the best winter formal yet. Mr. King adored attending each one, and this year we will pay tribute to our benefactor with his favorite melodies and some special prizes for the best couple on the dance floor.”

Brooke glared at her. How dare she come into their home after she’d lain with her fiancee last night like a common whore?

“Mrs. King, you are a generous woman. Your style and grace should be enough to cover Cyn’s lack in that department. ”

Max stood and took Brooke by the arm holding back his anger at her rudeness at his mother’s table.

“We need to speak in the kitchen.”

Brooke stared at Cyn, hoping to shame the woman but Cyn stared back, unperturbed. A fight it was, then.

B
rooke followed
Max from the room, her anger barely concealed. Max turned to face her.

“Brooke, you can’t….”

She stepped back a few paces and kept her hands in tight fists by her side.

“Don’t you dare tell me what I can and can’t do Maxwell. You spent last night with
her
after telling me you were
grieving
and
worried about work
.”

Max looked away and saw Jo in the pantry, her eyes wide. He shook his head slightly and turned back to Brooke. He took her arm and strode out the back door.

“Wherever I was last night is not your concern. Aren’t you pregnant? Haven’t you proclaimed yourself my fiancee? Seems you have it all under control.”

Brooke shook her head in frustration. She breathed deeply to control herself. She glanced down at the diamond watch Max had given her for Christmas. She had been so disappointed it wasn’t the ring she hoped for. She was so close. Damage control was the most important thing right now.

She move to stand in front of him and gazed at him with her best pouty face. She’d practiced it enough over the years.

“Let’s not fight, Max. I shouldn’t have come. And I shouldn’t have broken the news of our baby,” she paused and took his hand gently and placed it on her abdomen, “at a time like this. I only want us to be happy, to build a strong family for our child.”

Max sighed as Brooke laid her head on his chest, wishing with all his heart she was Cyn. He opened the door and led her back inside.

“We’ve got to leave now, the jet is scheduled for takeoff in an hour.”

Cyn smiled and placed her hand in his knowing she could win him back once they touched down in her home turf. Still, she longed to see the look on Cyn Diamond’s face when they said goodbye to Mrs. King.

The three glanced up from the table at their return. Mrs. King patted her mouth with a napkin.

“Have you two been fighting?”

Max shook his head and went to hug his mother.

“No, mama, not at all. But we are leaving. I meant to tell you last night but one thing and then another happened. I have to go back to see to business.”

Brooke smirked at Cyn and went to Mrs. King’s side and took her hand.

“Thank you for having me, even if it was for such a short visit. I am sure Max and I will be back soon, though.”

Mrs. King nodded and rose from the table.

“Rhys, are you leaving with them? I’d hoped you might stay a while longer.”

Brooke glanced at Rhys and caught his eye. She shook her head slightly. Max took Cyn’s hand and helped her from her seat. The look on her face twisted his heart but he mouthed the words
I love you
before turning away.

Brooke wondered if Max had told Cyn they were leaving last night. Surely after spending the night making love to her he owed her that? Perhaps the woman was just a comfortable distraction for Max after all he’d been through these past weeks.

“Cyn,” she said as she turned toward her fiancee’s sweetheart, “I plan to hold you to that promise to help with the wedding. I was hoping you would do hair and nails for the bridesmaids.”

Cyn bit her tongue and smiled at her adversary.

“Anything for Max, you know that.”

The two young women stood staring at one another and the atmosphere in the dining room grew tense.

Max took Brooke’s hand and kissed his mother’s cheek. He looked at Cyn as he spoke.

“I’ll see you again soon. We’ve got to go.”

Cyn watched Max walk away with Brooke and she wanted to hate him. He’d told her he was going back to New York last night, but this morning, in the light of day, it felt like Brooke had won. She excused herself and walked into the kitchen. Her tears fell before she could stop them.

Jo hurried to her side and embraced her.

“You don’t really think Max is going to marry her, do you?”

Cyn dried her tears and went to stand at the back door, her eyes on the old pick up in the garage.

“I don’t know Jo. If you’d asked me yesterday I might’ve said no.”

B
rooke sat back
in the limo and sighed her relief. She was very happy to leave Belleport city limits with her man by her side. This visit hadn’t gone as smoothly as she hoped but she’d made the best of every obstacle placed in her way.

Her mother had always said to put a pretty face on the worst of situations and she would go far in life. She certainly planned to go further than her mother had. There wouldn’t come a time when Max would trade her in for a newer model. Her child wouldn’t ever be left behind while another woman smiled into the flashbulbs and latched onto the most important man in his or her life.

It would take more of a threat than Cyn Diamond to steal her dreams of a life of luxury amidst the penthouses of New York and on the shores of a vacation home in Belize.

She glanced at Max and saw his lashes flutter closed. He had been busy last night. Deep in her heart she reconciled his wandering with the fact that she had lied to him so easily about something as important as a baby. Two wrongs didn’t make a right but Max was hers and that was all that counted. He was a good man. He’d stay by her side. One way or another.