“Just the one. Now strip.”
There was a long stretch of silence between us when I didn’t react to his command. I couldn’t. I was nervous. Finally, I heldmyself steady on the dresser while I stepped out of my heels, but I stayed in the thin gown I’d worn to the rehearsal dinner.
“If you want this dress off my body, you need to be the one to take it off.”
Max didn’t break eye contact once. My chest hurt. Itburned. He moved in behind me, his hand meeting my back, and held me closer. Finally, he reached to unzip the dress, but he didn’t take it off. The feel of his large, calloused fingers against my skin made my rational thoughts worth nothing.
He leaned in closer to me, brushing the tips of his fingers against my hips.
Ba-bump.
Ba-bump.
BA-BUMP.
He turned me to face him. The warmth that surrounded me traveled to my lips as Max’s mouth hovered above mine. It was a push and pull that messed with my emotions. The tension was killing me, burning my heart slowly. I was stealing his breath, and he was stealing mine.
“How much strength do you have?” I asked, pulling on his white dress shirt.
His head fell to my shoulders as if admitting it caused him fatigue. “I’m holding onto the last of it.” He was never a nervous man, but his hollow breaths gave him away completely. I knew deep down he was affected by this.
I smiled against his neck. “Barely.”
“Because you’ve done nothing but test me. Constantly, relentlessly, for years. You wanted my attention so badly? Well, now you have it,” he whispered against my ear. “What will you do with it?”
Heat coursed through my veins at the simple touch of his skin on mine. It was a dangerous feeling that set my nerves on fire.
“Take it,” I murmured, the words slipping freely from my lips before I could shut them.Did I really just say that? Shit, I think I did.Panic erupted chaos in my mind. I knew this would happen. I knew I’d be weak, unable to say no.
He was awful. A monster by any rational measure. Yet here I was, practically asking him to take me to bed. What the hell was wrong with me? The very idea of him should repulse me, but instead it drew me in.
His breath was enticing against my ear. It brought me even closer. Despite every warning, every voice of reason, I couldn’t resist.
All my defenses had come crashing down with a simple whisper against my ear. I felt everything with him—everything, all at once. I was like a puppet in his arms, and he knew exactly what he was doing to me. He saw it all. Every fear, every desire. He reveled in it.
“Lie down on the bed,” he demanded.
Before I did, I pulled his lips down to mine. They were warm. Wet.Addicting.His hand held the back of my head, keeping my lips on his. He held my face as he deepened the hold he had on me, brushing his tongue against mine.
I wasn’t sure I had any dignity left. Kissing him was so wrong. He’d been the one to hurt anyone who kissed me. He was dangerous. Possessive.Arrogant.And also an incredible kisser.
Ohgosh.
Max’s kisses ignited a craving within me. My stomach was in a tight twist. His warm breath brushed my skin, sending shivers down my spine. I reached for his shirt, undoing each button until I could take it off. He’d never let me undress him before, which was a shame, because I was definitely missing out.
He was everything you’d expect from a man like him. Strong and defined. His muscles rippled under his skin as he took hisshirt off completely before throwing me down on the bed. His arms caged me against the mattress.
My legs opened further for him to move his body between them. I could feel how hard he was through his pants. I wasn’t sure why they were even still on.
Kissing Max was probably my favorite thing to do. I wouldn’t admit that to him, but I could do it all day. He’d never kissed me like this before. It was as if he was making up for years of missing me, and he couldn’t get enough. Kissing someone had never felt this good. My stomach twisted and turned into knots only he could untangle.
Just a simple touch from him had me wanting more. It was tragic how much my body needed his.
“I’m not wearing anything beneath this,” I told him with a whisper.
A low rumble passed through his chest as his hands brushed the straps off my shoulders. Then he grabbed onto the hem of my gown, bunching it up so it was wrapped around my waist. “You have no fucking idea how long I’ve waited for this,” he said in a deep,deepvoice.
It sounded as if he were mad at me for making him wait so long.
