time for subtlety and patience ended. With his heart thundering a frantic cadence, Max sat up, flipped Rachel onto her back and slid into her with one long thrust.
The perfection of Max buried deep inside her robbed Rachel of breath. Five years was a long time to go without being complete. And complete was how she felt in Max’s arms. No other man reached past her defenses and captured her heart the way he did.
“You feel amazing,” he said, voice husky and raw as if overused. The timbre rasped against her nerve endings with delightful results. “I’m sorry I didn’t take it slower. I wanted to.”
“You always wanted to delay the good stuff,” she groused, but couldn’t hide her smile.
He dropped a kiss on her mouth. “And you were always rushing me.”
“Like this?” She placed her feet on the mattress and rocked her hips into his.
“Exactly like that.”
But he began to move with her and the incredible slide of his thick length in and out of her body transported her beyond speech. She peaked fast, the climax shocking her with its intensity and duration.
“What the hell?” she muttered as his body continued to move against hers, stronger now. “Where did that come from?”
“Where they all come from.”
He kissed her hard and long, the play of his tongue mimicking the movements of his lower body. To her intense disbelief, pleasure began to spiral upward again. Impossible. She was sated, exhausted by the intensity of her orgasm, yet another loomed on the horizon. Max slipped his hand between their bodies, finding the knot of sensitive nerves and plying it to great effect.
“Come for me again,” he demanded. “Come hard. I want to hear it.”
Faster and harder he thrust. Teeth bared, breath coming in heavy pants, he moaned her name, sounding as if it ripped from deep within his soul.
“Yes,” she clutched his shoulders, driving her nails in as another orgasm rippled outward from her womb. “Yes, Max. Now.”
And he came. She watched it unfold. Her inner muscles clenched in aftershocks as he bucked against her, wild and ferocious in his release. It thrilled her that she’d done this to him. For him.
He collapsed onto her with a gush of air and rolled them onto their sides. With Max still locked deep within her body, she bound his legs with her thigh, needing to keep them connected as long as possible.
“I’d forgotten how it was,” he murmured, his palm damp against her sweat-soaked cheek.
She laughed then. It burst from her like the trill of a happy songbird. “So did I.”
Time and self-preservation had dulled her memories of him. Of this. How else could she have gotten on with her life? And now that she’d tasted the amazing passion between them again, how was she supposed to walk away a second time?
When he pulled out of her arms and headed into the bathroom, she rolled onto her stomach and buried her face in the pillow. The sight of so much male perfection had aroused her all over again. She tingled with glee at the thought that he was hers, and hers alone, all weekend.
And after that?
The question clawed its way out of her subconscious and roosted in the front of her mind. Max was never going to marry. Even if his father’s infidelity and mother’s acceptance of it hadn’t given him a sour view of the institution, there’d always been misgivings lingering in the back of his mind. Hesitations that had bloomed into full-blown skepticism after she’d made him an unwitting participant in betraying her marriage vows. Which meant, even if he changed his mind about marriage, he’d never change his mind about her.
Sunday morning, Max leaned his forearms on the balcony railing off the master bedroom and watched the rising sun shift the color of the sky from soft pinks and lavenders to a bright coral and gold. The wind had picked up overnight, and blew against his face, carrying the scent of brine to his nostrils. A jogger went by, nodding to a couple walking hand in hand as he passed. Farther east along the beach, a black lab chased a stick into the surf, bounding into the water with great enthusiasm.
Behind him, Rachel slept like someone who’d spent an exhaustive night making passionate love. He caught himself grinning. He’d worn her out. And she’d worn him out, but not enough to still the thoughts circling and bashing together in his head like bumper cars.
Last night, his mother had called. She was working on the seating arrangements for her thirty-fifth wedding anniversary party next weekend and wondered whether or not he was bringing a date. He should have told her he was flying solo; that had been his plan when he’d first learned his parents were renewing their vows and planning a big celebration.
His thoughts coasted to the naked woman slumbering in the room behind him.
If he asked Rachel to accompany him, the invitation would alter the texture of their relationship. No longer could he pretend that his interest was purely driven by sexual need. If he introduced her to his family, they’d be approaching something that resembled dating. Is that what he wanted?
Five years ago, before finding out she was married, he’d been ready to head down that road. Four short days with her had caused him to consider what his future would be like with her in it.
This weekend wasn’t supposed to be about starting fresh. It was supposed to be about settling old business and Rachel seemed on board with that. Why alter course and sail into a storm when the skies before him were a calm blue?
He could tell himself that he was simply taking her for moral support. Both his brothers would be accompanied by their wives, and there was something about the way Sebastian and Nathan regarded him these days that felt a whole lot like pity. As if life was so much better for them. Both of their wives had them wrapped around their slender fingers. With children on the way, they were as trapped as two men could be. So why the hell did they seem so damned blissful?
Slender arms circled him from behind. Against his back, the soft press of Rachel’s breasts, encased in thin silk, jump-started his body. Her hands played over his chest as her lips trailed over his shoulder. He closed his eyes, savoring the sweet seduction of her caresses until her teeth grazed the tender skin below his armpit and her fingers dove below the waistband of his pajama bottoms.
Lust surged, but instead of losing himself in sensual oblivion, he caught her wrists to stop the sexy exploration and trapped her hands in his. “Come with me to my parents’ anniversary party next weekend.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Her body tensed as he dragged her around to face him. “You don’t want your family getting to know me.”
No, he didn’t.
“My mother thinks I’m bringing a date.” He drew a fingertip along her spine and felt her shiver.
She pushed against his chest. “I’m sure you can find someone to take in the next few days.”
At her resistance, every bit of his ambivalence vanished. “I asked you.”
Bending down, he hoisted her onto his shoulder and strode back toward the rumpled king-size bed, her fists hammering on his back all the while. He dumped her onto the mattress
