Indiscretion: Volume Four (4 page)

I believed him when he said he didn’t know she would be there and that he hadn’t written the note, but I still couldn’t get the image of them wrapped around each other out of my mind. My head was telling me that what he was saying made sense, but my heart was begging me to get out and stay as far away from him as possible.

Max’s hand came to my cheek. “Chloe, I promised you I’d never do anything to hurt you again and I meant it. I didn’t speak with her the rest of the night. I spent last night camped out on your porch, waiting for you to come home. If you don’t believe me, ask anyone at the gala. I was not with her, and I left alone as soon as my Master Of Ceremonies duties were done.”

“I can’t ask anyone,” I reminded him bitterly. “We’re not supposed to be together, remember?”

His thumb brushed along my cheek, and I fought the urge to lean into his warm palm. “I swear to you nothing happened with Sarah. You believe me, don’t you?” He gazed down into my eyes, his crystal blue ones swirling with emotion, and fuck me if I didn’t believe him. I didn’t want to. Not at all. But I couldn’t deny the truth that I saw there.

I inhaled a deep breath, unsure what to do. Maybe it was best just to end things now. Clearly things had passed the casual mark with Max and I at some point, and we were hanging out somewhere between just-fucking-around and full-on-commitment. Things were getting confusing, emotions were getting involved, and someone was bound to get hurt when Max returned to his life in New York City. Possibly both of us. Most definitely me.

I squeezed my eyes shut tight. I must be a masochist because I wanted to hold on to him for as long as I possibly could, regardless of how much it was going to hurt when we parted.

I felt defeated. “I do believe you, Max, but I can’t get the image of the two of you out of my head.” This was the exact reason I had never googled Max. I didn’t want images like the one I had now, permanently ingrained in my psyche playing on a loop inside my head.

“I’m sorry,” he said—his voice warm, soft, and sincere. “I didn’t know she’d be there. My father and I had it out last night about him letting her join him. He knows his interference was not welcome and nothing like that’ll be happening again.”

I believed him, but it was difficult to go from the hurt I’d been feeling into happiness that things with us should be fine. There was still an impenetrable melancholy surrounding me, and I couldn’t place if it was because I was just emotionally drained from these past twenty-four hours, or if it was because somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew this kind of hurt was guaranteed when Max left town for good.

He tugged my shoulder and I went willingly, allowing him to pull me into an embrace and rest the side of his face on top of my head. I wound my arms around him, and finally the emotions I’d managed to keep at bay earlier suddenly came pouring out of me. Tears rolled down my face, and I sobbed into his chest. I felt like an idiot. Crying now seemed so stupid when I believed that he hadn’t done anything wrong and had just been trying to handle a shitty, awkward situation the best way he could.

It was probably a combination of relief at being back in Max’s arms and the whiplash of emotions I’d experienced in the last day. Not to mention, the fact that another strange occurrence had happened, and I had no idea who could be behind it all.

“Shh, it’s okay, babe. I got you.” He rubbed my back and whispered soothing words into my ear until I was cried out.

After a minute or two I pulled away and wiped at the tears under my eyes. “Sorry. That was embarrassing.”

Max leaned in and kissed my forehead. His finger gently pulled my chin up so that I was looking at him. “Never apologize for how you’re feeling. I always want to know what’s going on in that head of yours.” I gave him a small smile, and he looked relieved. “You ready to get out of here?”

I nodded. “Yeah. I could really use a nice hot shower and a long nap.”

“Then that’s what you’ll get,” he promised softly, tucking a lose strand of hair behind my ear.

For the first time since I’d seen him today, it dawned on me what I must looked like. My hair was a rat’s nest and last night’s make-up
was probably smeared over half my face by now. He was probably wondering why he’d bothered coming to try and win me back at all.

I ran a hand over top of my messy hair, giving him a sheepish half-smile. “I’m sure I look terrible. I drowned my sorrows in wine when I got back here last night.”

“You look gorgeous as always.” To my surprise, he was smiling like he actually meant it.

“Think you could drive me home? Or just drop me off a block or so away so no one sees us? I let Jess use my car earlier.”

“I know.” He wore a somewhat guilty grin. “She’s the one who told me where to find you. She won’t be returning with your stuff. I told her I’d get you home one way or another.”

It wasn’t until then that I even gave any thought as to how Max had found me. “I’m sure she didn’t give the information up too easily,” I joked.

He shrugged. “It took some convincing.”

“So…about that ride?”

“Of course I’ll take you.” He took my hand and lightly kissed the back of it, causing tingles to invade my belly. “But you’re coming to my hotel room. You can sneak in the back stairwell.” I opened my mouth to protest, but Max put a hand up. “You can shower at my place and have a nap after just like you want. I need to be near you, Chloe. I won’t bother you while you’re sleeping, but I need to have you close to me right now. You won’t deny me, will you?”

I just barely stopped myself from rolling my eyes. As if I could deny this man anything. I wasn’t that strong.

Chloe

I awoke in Max’s bed, groggy from my nap. My eyes were still closed, but I knew Max was near, watching me. I fluttered my eyes open slowly to find him on the bed, perched on one elbow, gazing down at me.

“How long have you been there?” I asked, my voice still raspy.

“A while,” he said simply, brushing a piece of hair from my cheek.

“How long was I asleep?”

“A few hours.” He smiled. “It’s dinner time.”

I yawned, enjoying the luxury of his expensive mattress beneath me. I couldn’t recall the last time I’d had a nap in the afternoon, but as I stretched my arms above my head I realized why people did it. I was well-rested but lazy at the same time, like I could stay in bed until tomorrow. It was a nice feeling. Or maybe it was just because Max was in bed beside me.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, trailing a finger along my cheek and down my chin to my neck.

“Less hung over,” I answered honestly.

He chuckled and leaned in, planting a chaste kiss on my lips. “Good.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck to stop him from pulling away. “Max,” I whispered. I wanted to apologize for believing the worst of him, for not allowing him to explain. And to thank him for flying my sister out to see me.

“You don’t need to say anything, Chlo.” He was always able to read me so well. A sad smile appeared on his face.

God, he called me Chlo, I realized.

Just like my sister did.

Just like my mom used to.

I pulled his face to mine and kissed him deeply, attempting to pour all the emotion I was feeling into that one kiss. His hand cupped the back of my head, and he shifted so he lay on top of me, half his body on mine. I loved the feeling of his weight pushing me into the mattress below.

Moaning, we both pulled away at the same time, ending the kiss, but I kept my arms locked around his neck so he couldn’t go anywhere. “Thank you for flying my sister out. Why did you do it?”

For whatever reason, he gave me a sad smile. “When you were talking to her in the car on the way back from Portland, it was obvious how much you missed her. I thought you’d like it if she could join you at the gala. Figured it might make it easier since you and I were going to have to continue the farce that there was nothing between us.”

What a sweet man. A barrage of emotions welled up inside my chest, and I pulled him down for another kiss. Unable to help myself, I wrapped my arms around his back and pulled up on his t-shirt. He took the hint and yanked it over his head with a growl. Without a word, he rolled to the side, so that he was off of me, and pulled the covers down until they rested at my feet. When he crawled back up over me again, he didn’t break eye contact as he slid the tank top over my head. He pulled off my shorts next, tossing them somewhere behind him. I didn’t have underwear on since Max had stolen them from under my dress last night. Jackie and I were close, but I wasn’t about to borrow her underwear.

Max gazed down at my body, taking me in reverently from head to toe. “You are so beautiful, Chloe. I’ve never met anyone whose outer beauty perfectly matched her inner beauty. You’re truly one of a kind.”

His mouth trailed kisses down my neck, across my collarbone, and then down to my breast. He pushed it up with his hand, his mouth descending onto my nipple, tonguing it back and forth and sucking it into his mouth. My hands went into his full head of hair as I moaned. He tongued his way over to my other breast and did the same until both of my nipples were rigid peaks, begging for more attention.

His hand trailed down to my center to find me wet and ready for him. He groaned into my neck, where he nuzzled his face.

Growing impatient, I used my feet to push his boxers down and, when I couldn’t get them any farther, Max helped me out and took them off the reminder of the way. He moved so he was fully on top of me now, the weight on his forearms on either side of my head.

Max pushed into me slowly, looking down at me, both hands cupping my face. My eyes fluttered closed as I basked in the feeling of fullness, the rightness of having him deep inside me.

He pulled out and pushed back in again. The rhythm wasn’t slow, it wasn’t fast, it was just the perfect measured pace for lovemaking.

He continued gazing down at me, his eyes swimming with emotion, full of unsaid words. Rather than trying to cover the enormity of everything I was feeling, I let it all escape in this one blissful moment. I couldn’t express to him with words the tangle of emotions I felt where he was concerned, but I hoped my body, my eyes, and the intimacy of our joined bodies would tell the story.

I wanted to keep my eyes connected to him, but with every entry and retreat his cock glided past my clit, I was getting closer and closer to coming. My eyes fluttered closed, and I took a moment to absorb the sensation. Without word or warning, Max’s arms came around my back and he rolled us on the mattress so that he was on the bottom and I straddled him on top.

He brought both hands up to play with my breasts. “I want to watch you take your pleasure from me,” he said, his voice husky and heated.

I gazed down at him, taking him in for a moment, happiness and joy washing over me. I recalled thinking of him as sex on legs when I’d first met him. And he was—what with his golden skin, chiselled abs, muscular arms, and a face any male model would envy. But I was connected to him now on a level far beyond just the physical. Whether we discussed it or not made no difference. The connection still existed, like invisible pieces of twine roping us together.

I sat up straighter, tossing my head back and moaning loudly. He was so deep inside me in this position. The feeling was exquisite. I brought my head forward so I could watch him, my hair falling over my shoulder. Max’s hands moved from my breasts down my arms until our fingers intertwined. I used his hands as leverage as I rose up and then came back down on his cock. I moaned again and Max licked his lips, glancing up at me with greedy, lust-filled eyes the color of the Caribbean Sea.

I continued riding him at a steady pace, our connection very much alive. We were joined in the most intimate of places, and at our hands, but the most overwhelming connection existed in our eyes. We watched each other as we made love, neither of our gazes leaving the other. Nothing could breach the bubble we found ourselves in.

I tried to keep my orgasm at bay, wanting to prolong not only the physical connection, but the emotional one. But it got to the point where I was panting so hard and the need to grind myself against Max’s pelvis was overwhelming.

He must have been able to read me because he said, “Take it, Chlo. Come for me.”

That was all the permission I needed.

I bore down on his hips, grinding my swollen bud against his pelvic bone, then I rose up again and slammed down on top of him. Max was breathing heavy now and sweat had begun to form on his brow. I rubbed myself on him again, my arousal on his skin making it easy, until finally, I came. My insides pulsed hard and I tried to keep my eyes open, but it was impossible. I cried out his name, enjoying the sensation until I was finally able to open my eyes again.