“Max, I?—”
He growled in my ear. “Kiss me.”
I shook my head, needing to say it. Needing him to know.
With his free hand, he dragged my hips back and put me on my knees, splaying his chest against my back. He kept my head face down in the mattress. He thrust his cock deep inside my pussy, slipping one finger in before he added the second.
“Holyfuck!”
Face buried in the pillow, I muffled a curse and bit down, smothering a scream of pleasure as my walls seized again. Sweat coated my skin. My body trembled as I reached my limit.
WithMercyperched on my tongue, I nearly released it.
But he didn’t push farther.
Drawing one finger out, he held there, kissing my shoulder as I shuddered. Working my body like he’d mastered it—written the book on making me come apart before he ever touched me—and earning the nickname I’d used to tease him.
One hand circled my throat, hoisting my body against his chest. Arching my back. Pulling my core taut as he spurred his hips up and his cock home inside me.
And I did exactly what he’d wanted.
I unraveled.
Crying out one final time, I threw my head back as he gripped my chin. Turning my face to his, he plunged his tongue back into my waiting mouth. He kissed me hard, shielding the sound as I convulsed around him and my walls seized around him. So tightly, his whole body shuddered.
As his climax tore through him, he bent my body forward, pressing me into the mattress. He sank his teeth into my shoulder, slamming his hips in to the hilt. Pouring his release into me. Filling me completely.
He gave me everything.
And when we finally collapsed, hips dropping to the bed and breathing ragged, he refused to leave my body. Skin drenched, thighs slick with arousal and sweat, he caged me against the mattress as I squirmed beneath him.
With his cock buried inside me and his familiar scent overpowering me, I closed my eyes and reveled in the feel of him. We stayed that way long after our climax. Full, my heart and body so impossibly full, tears slipped silently.
He kissed each one as it fell. Not leaving, refusing to draw back, until my walls stopped fluttering around his cock, and he softened, completely spent.
Kissing my shoulder, he swept his tongue over the sting from his teeth with pride. It emanated from him as he bit my earlobe. As he kissed my throat and every inch of my skin. And as his eyes shone when I finally stared into his sated, onyx eyes.
“You are everything to me, Quinn Everly.” He pressed his forehead to mine. “That’swhy I care.”
Chapter Thirty-One
When I woke the next morning, Max was gone. On the bed beside my pillow, he’d left a thumb drive with my photos and a diary. My clue.
After we’d fallen asleep, I dreamed of sharp nails dragging down dark skin and witches burning at the stake. Waking up alone amplified an emptiness that wouldn’t abate until I finished this.
Until I won The Quest.
With everyone meeting once the parents arrived later, to kick off the Final Trial, I needed to distract myself from the big feelings in my chest. I grabbed my lockbox from under my pillow and went outside. I had to catch up on my clues, and escaping to the lake, while still close enough to the house, seemed like a smarter way to focus.
Pulling out all the items I’d stored inside, I examined the diary first, then I reached for the scrap of paper Kingston had handed me in his office the night before Ben attacked me.
I read the clue aloud. “I inspect what gets cut but never bleeds, has hands but does not grab, what may be licked but not eaten, and what grows inside and under the sun.”
It was vague as fuck.
And I couldn’t fathom why that surprised me.
I read it about fifty more times while sitting cross-legged on the lawn, and I considered my options.
