In a Heartbeat (Heartbeat #1) (31 page)

Stella couldn’t move. He had fixed her in place with his stare and she waited until he told her what to do. Sweeping his eyes from her feet to her head, slowly, deliberately, Max gave her a lopsided smile and extending an arm towards her said,

“Come here.” His voice was pure sex – low, husky, promising. She went to him and he crushed her against his chest, devouring her mouth with his. He licked and sucked and bit her lips until Stella couldn’t even remember what breathing was and why it was necessary. His hands dug in her hips as he lifted her up against him and she wrapped her legs around him. He carried her upstairs, his mouth never leaving hers.

“I missed you,” he said hoarsely as he laid her on the bed. Max left his lips to trail kisses along her neck, as his hand tugged the hem of her T-shirt up and over her head. Stella pushed up on her elbows, watching him, as he kissed her stomach. His eyes met hers and the fire in them was different from last night. Tonight it was pure inferno – inpatient, raging, determined. It turned her on so much that she couldn’t wait a second longer.

“Max ...” she bit her lip as he sucked a nipple in his mouth, bringing her to the edge.

“Yes, baby?” he teased, as he sucked her other nipple, his eyes never leaving hers.

“I want you inside me, now.” Her demand sounded weak and breathless but it was enough to make Max lose all control. He pushed her up on the bed, dragging her shorts off along with her knickers, and in two swift movements his clothes were gone, too. Rolling the condom on, Max pushed into her without a second of hesitation and made her cry out his name.

They’d made love in the shower, then again on the bed, until they were both completely exhausted. Stella was lying on top of Max, her head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat as it calmed down. His chest rose up and down in a rhythmic movement, while his hands caressed the skin on her back.

They didn’t speak; neither of them had the energy for that. There was nothing to say – just being together in that moment was perfect. Just before she drifted off to sleep, Stella felt Max pull the covers up on top of them and his strong arms wrapped around her securely.

“Stella, wake up, baby.” Max’s voice came from somewhere close and yet so far away. Stella didn’t want to wake up. Opening one eye and frowning, she saw Max’s face two inches from hers and he smiled, bringing his lips to hers. “You’re so sexy when you’re sleepy,” he murmured against her mouth. When he pulled away he had a huge grin on his face, but Stella continued frowning. Why was he waking her up? It was so nice and warm and cosy in here. The question must have shown in her one open eye because he said, “Come on, let’s go for a run before I go to work.”

Sharply, she opened her other eye and gave him an incredulous look. He laughed and kissed her again, this time lingering longer.

“I don’t want to go without you, babe. Come on, I promise I’ll make it worth your while,” he winked at her, and Stella couldn’t resist any longer the smile threatening to appear on her face.

Max ran behind her, ahead of her, next to her, circling her, slapping her ass, scooping her up and teasing her to catch him. He was everywhere, all around her. They made more than a few kiss stops which, instead of calming her heartbeat, increased it to near bursting level.

“I’ve wanted to do this since the first time I met you,” he whispered as he sucked the skin under her ear and his hands travelled down her back to her ass, cupping it not too gently.

“Mmmm,” Stella moaned at the back of her throat. “I’ll show you what I wanted to do since the first time I met you when we get home. It’s kind of too graphic for an open space, though,” she whispered back. Max pulled away, took one look at her face to make sure she wasn’t joking and, tugging on her hand, led her home, where she did show him what she had in mind. Twice.

Niki and Lisa must have left during the time they had been locked in Stella’s bedroom, because when they finally got dressed and went to the kitchen for coffee, the house was empty. Stella made coffee while Max prepared some sandwiches.

“So, I see Lisa’s gone to work. What are you going to do today?” Max asked, spreading butter on a piece of bread.

“Don’t know,” said Stella and shrugged.

“Why don’t you come to the beach? It’s Tuesday, so it shouldn’t be too busy.”

“I guess I can come. For you,” Stella grinned and raised an eyebrow playfully.

“You’re playing with fire, babe. One more comment like this and I’ll swing you over my shoulder and lock you back in the bedroom,” said Max, pointing at her with the butter knife in a mock threat.

“I’ve been playing with fire since I met you. I’m kind of fire-resistant by now.”

“Yeah? We’ll see about that.”

They went out together, hand in hand, and Max drove them to the beach. He had an overnight bag packed in the boot of his car where, very thoughtfully, he had his uniform, some toiletries and a change of clothes.

Stella had packed her iPod, Kindle and a couple of magazines to keep her entertained. The beach wasn’t too busy, but Max was at work so he couldn’t keep her company all the time. He insisted on her positioning her towel right next to his station, so that he could stop by every now and again, kiss her until she wanted so much more than a kiss, and get back to work.

Just as Stella was typing a text to Lisa, something in the water grabbed her attention. Someone was waving their arms frantically, disappearing under the surface and then coming back up again. Her brain was too slow to register what was happening, but it caught up with the events when Max shot past her, running much faster than she’d ever seen him do before. He dived into the sea and swam towards the waving arms, which were starting to show over the surface after much longer intervals. It all happened so fast that Stella could barely move. She stood up, frozen to the spot, watching what was happening in the water with terror in her eyes.

Someone was drowning. And Max had gone in to try and save them.

Soon he reached the person and, grabbing them under the arms, swam towards the safety of the shore. It took him considerably longer to swim back than to go in.

Finally, they reached the shore and Stella moved closer to see what was happening. People had gathered all around and watched helplessly as Max expertly performed CPR on the plump, middle-aged man he had just dragged from the sea. Two other lifeguards arrived, one moving the crowd away from the scene, the other helping Max with the CPR. The man coughed and they turned him onto his side as water streamed out of his mouth. He started taking ragged breaths and, seeing that he’d be fine, Max rolled off him and sat on the sand, his head in his hands.

Stella pushed through the crowd, trying to get to him, when the third lifeguard grabbed her upper arm and pulled her back.

“Let go of me!” she shouted at him, with such menace that he was startled for a second and loosened his grip on her. Stella didn’t hesitate as she swung her arm from his grasp and ran to Max.

“Max, baby – are you OK?” She knelt in front of him, afraid to touch him. He lifted his head and his face was dangerously pale. His eyes looked lifeless and sunken, as if he didn’t know where he was. “Oh, God ...” Stella embraced him and he relaxed his head on her shoulder. “It’s OK, baby; he’s fine. You saved him. You hear me? You saved someone’s life.”

Max’s arms came around her and he pulled her to him, squeezing her tightly as his whole body trembled as if in shock. Nobody bothered them for a while, and Max managed to calm down. The colour of his face slowly returned and he seemed almost fine.

As they stood there, pressed to each other, paramedics rushed by and led the rescued man away. The lifeguard who had tried to stop Stella came closer and said,

“Hey man – you OK?” Max nodded, but the guy knew better. “Why don’t you go home? I’ll cover for you. You’ve done your job for today,” he said and patted him on the back. Max nodded again and the lifeguard left.

They didn’t leave straight away. Max looked better, but he needed some more time to fully compose himself.

“Was that the first time you’ve saved someone?” Stella asked softly, thinking that must be the reason why he was so shaken by the experience.

“No, it was my third. It never gets any easier. The swim back is the most agonising thing in the world. This person is unconscious in your arms and heavy as hell and you’re trying to drag them back, when all you can think about is ‘Please don’t die’. It seems like hours before you pull them to the shore and start CPR, still chanting ‘Please don’t die’ in your head. When they cough and the water comes out of their lungs, the relief you feel is so intense that it literally knocks you off your feet. And then you can’t help but think, what if next time I’m not that lucky? What if next time they don’t survive?”

Stella didn’t know what to say to that. She’d never saved anyone’s life and had no idea how that felt. It must be pretty stressful to have a job where people’s lives depended on you. She said the only thing that she felt right now:

“I’m proud of you, Massimo Selvaggio. You’re an amazing person.”

Max looked at her with surprise, gratitude and relief written all over his face.

“How did you know my last name?” he asked, a small smile playing on his lips.

“I have my ways.”

“Yeah? I have mine, too, Ms Quinn.”

Stella laughed and that seemed to relax him even more. If it wasn’t for the shadow lurking behind his eyes, he’d be the same Max he was half an hour ago.

“Wanna go?” he asked.

“Let me just grab my stuff.”

Max waited for her until she’d packed her bag and put her sundress back on and then, taking her hand, led her to the car. Once they reached it, he put their stuff in the boot and when he’d closed it, he pressed Stella against it.

*

As Max pushed Stella against his car and put both his arms around her, she was a little surprised, but cooperated. Licking her lips, because she knew what was coming, she wrapped her hands around his neck and met him halfway. Their lips crashed, urgent and desperate, one seeking comfort, the other more than happy to provide it.

It had been a long time since Max had last needed someone. He’d been pretty much on his own since he’d been fourteen and had had to take care of his dad round the clock. Stella was an incredible combination of someone vulnerable, who woke up every protective instinct he had, and someone who when needed stepped up and offered comfort and reassurance.

When she told him she was proud of him, he felt invincible. The world was at his feet and all he wanted to do was climb the highest mountain and shout ‘I love you’ until his voice had gone.

But he couldn’t. Not yet anyway. A small but very persistent voice in his head told him that if he did, she’d run.

He chased all those thoughts away from his brain and continued kissing Stella as if she was everything he needed in his life.

And maybe she was.

*

Stella refused to leave Max alone after what had happened. They went to his house to get some more clothes for his overnight bag and, while she waited for him, she texted Lisa to ask if it was OK to invite him for dinner. The answer was of course ‘yes’, and since it was still only four o’clock in the afternoon, they headed to the supermarket to buy some groceries before preparing the meal. Stella also texted her aunt to let her know they’d have a guest for dinner, and the said guest would be cooking it. Niki was very enthusiastic about not having to do the cooking herself, judging by the three exclamation marks in her text.

Max said he’d make something called
strozzapreti pesto rosso con polo
for
primo
, and Stella had no idea what the hell that was, but coming out of his mouth it sounded damn sexy. For the main course he was making aubergine rolls with spinach and ricotta, which sounded very complicated to Stella, but he assured her it was not. Feeling bad that she wouldn’t contribute to dinner at all, she suggested she made her special sundae, which was basically ice cream, fruit, Nutella and chocolate brownie crumbs all mixed together.

“Food doesn’t have to be complicated to be delicious,
tesoro
,” Max said when she described her dessert as ‘nothing special’. “As someone once told me, Italian food is like Italian men – minimum effort, maximum satisfaction.” Stella laughed so hard she leaned on him for support and, wrapping his arm around her shoulders, he kissed the top of her head. They continued browsing along the aisles until Max was satisfied they had everything in the trolley and headed for the check-out.

Chapter Twenty Five

“Can I assume that if it was OK for me to stay last night, we have Niki’s blessing?” Max asked, as he sliced chicken breasts into cubes. After everything that had happened today, Stella had completely forgotten to tell him how the ‘talks’ with Niki and Lisa had gone.

She summarised what each of them had said, leaving some of the details out, and expressed her concern at Lisa’s calm reaction
– especially after she’d reacted so negatively when she’d thought Max had spend the night there just about a week ago. In the end they both agreed that the key to Lisa’s recent weirdness was her secret rendezvous, and were more determined than ever to find exactly what was going on.

Niki came home just as Max was taking the aubergine rolls out of the oven, and she was followed shortly afterwards by Lisa. They had both been ecstatic about the meal, because it had smelled and looked so great. After they had left to wash up and change, Max and Stella made the salad and set the table.