eyebrows shot up. “What do you mean, okay?”
“You’re absolutely right that I don’t want to be the one to pay Max back.”
“You’re going to let me do it?” Hailey nodded in satisfaction.
“Nope. I have a different idea altogether.” Rachel rubbed her hands together and sent an evil grin winging toward her sister.
Hailey cracked a smile. “Anything you’d care to share?”
“Grab some silverware. We’ll talk while we eat.”
Rachel stood on Max’s front porch, her finger hovering over the doorbell. Her enthusiasm for the plan she talked over with Hailey had faded as she’d driven the twenty minutes to his house. What was she doing here? Max wouldn’t want to help her after what had happened earlier today. Even if he answered the door, he’d probably slam it in her face as soon as he spotted her standing here.
Maybe he wasn’t home. It was a Thursday night. Didn’t he get together with his friends and go clubbing on Thursdays? She should have called. But what if he refused to answer?
She should have waited until Monday and caught him at his office. Of course, he might refuse to see her there, as well.
The door opened while lose-lose scenarios played through her mind like an action movie.
“Are you planning on standing out here all night?” Max asked. He blocked the doorway with his arm and nothing about his hard expression or his tense body language gave her hope. But suddenly Rachel’s spirits rose.
“I guess I’ll have to if you don’t let me in.”
His eyebrows rose. “What’s the password?”
“You were right.”
“That’s three words.”
She dug deeper. “I’m sorry.”
“That’s two words.” A twitch at the corner of his mouth told her she was getting close.
“Help.”
He reached out and dragged her inside. “That’s it.”
Lowering his head, he captured her mouth in a hard, unyielding kiss that melted away her worries. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back, giving full rein to her angst and fear of losing him.
He stripped off her shirt and dove his fingers beneath the elastic waistband of her skirt, pushing it down her hips until she stood before him in bra, panties and sneakers. Then, he scooped her into his arms and carried her down the hall to his bedroom.
The long walk gave her time to summon explanations or apologies, but Max’s grim expression tied her tongue into knots. Make love to him now. Fight with him later. At least they would make another incredible memory for her to relive after they parted ways for good.
When he set her on her feet beside the bed, she grabbed the hem of his T-shirt and raised it past his flat stomach and powerful chest. He helped her by tearing it over his head. A purr-like sound vibrated her throat as she set her palms against his chest and backed him toward the bed.
Her fingers worked at the button and zipper of his jeans. She needed to taste him. The urgency made her clumsy and she let him rid himself of the rest of his clothes. Once he was naked, she dropped to her knees in front of him and sucked him into her mouth without finesse or preliminaries. He released a hoarse groan as her tongue circled him, discovering his texture and the best way to give him pleasure.
Before she brought him all the way to release, he stopped her and pulled her back to her feet. Placing a hot, sizzling kiss on her lips, he lifted her and deposited her on her back in the middle of the mattress. She kicked off her shoes. He followed her down and as his weight pressed her into the mattress, she ran the sole of her foot along his calf.
His fingers hooked around her underwear, stripping it down her legs. While he cast it aside, she took off her bra. The contact between her sensitized nipples and his hard chest set off a chain reaction of desire.
She lifted her hips toward the hand that teased between her legs, urging him to touch her with wild gyrations and garbled pleas. A half sigh, half moan broke from her as he slid his finger into her wetness and penetrated deep. She shuddered as he began to stroke her, each movement of his hand driving her further toward fulfillment. But that’s not the way she wanted to go. Her nails bit into his wrist.
“Not like this,” she gasped as his teeth grazed her throat. “Make love to me.”
“If you insist.”
He moved between her thighs, impaling her with one swift thrust. Hard and thick, he filled her over and over, the friction driving her crazy with wanting. Together they climbed. Higher and faster than ever before. When she came, the sensation rolled over her, wave after wave of intense pleasure. She floated back to earth in slow motion, the thundering of her heart keeping time with Max’s thrusts as he surged toward his own climax.
Fascinated, she watched him come. His facial muscles locked in concentration. His eyes, half-closed, snagged with hers. He set his mouth against hers and plunged his tongue deep in a sexy kiss that stole her breath. Then his body drove into hers one last time and spasmed in release.
With her arms wrapped around his shoulders, Rachel held on to him and absorbed his aftershocks. Loving Max like this was easy. They knew exactly how to communicate in bed. She’d lost hope at being able to do so anywhere else.
All too soon, Max pushed away and dropped onto his back beside her. He lay with his forearm across his eyes, his chest rising and falling as his body recovered. Unsure if he would welcome her touch now that their frantic coupling was through, Rachel rolled onto her side and tucked her arm beneath her head.
Five minutes passed before he spoke.
“I’m glad you stopped by.” Voice neutral. Expression hidden behind his arm. His mood an enigma.
“Me, too.”
As much as she longed to cuddle up beside him and feel the reassuring weight of his arm settle around her, she’d made too many mistakes to hope that he felt tender or affectionate toward her.
“I was hard on you earlier,” he continued. “I’m intolerant when I don’t agree with someone. It’s a bad habit of mine.” He shifted his arm off his face and set it above his head. His gaze locked on the ceiling. “Or so my mother tells me.”
“You were right to be angry. I screwed up. I should have been more up front with Hailey and with you. If I had, none of this would have happened.” She paused. “It’s my fault that Hailey gave Brody twenty thousand dollars. It’s my fault that you gave him a hundred and five thousand. It’s not right that he cheated you and I intend to get that money back.”
At last, Max looked at her. The iron in his gray eyes made her wish he hadn’t.
“How do you intend to go about that?”
