Maximus (Guardian Security Shadow World #15)

Chapter 14

CHAPTER 14

E lena’s hands were shaking as she toweled off. Max would be waiting for her in her bedroom. She glanced at the bruises on her neck. They were ugly and glaring. She pulled the pins out of her hair and let it fall around her shoulders. Capturing it, she trailed it over her shoulders in an attempt to cover some of them. The attempt was useless and futile. The red spots in the whites of her eyes were vibrant marks, and she looked like some kind of vampire. Dark eyes surrounded by red instead of white. She pulled her wrap around her and turned off the light as she left the bathroom.

Max was in bed. His dark chest hair narrowed and trailed lower, blocked by the sheets on her bed. What was under the sheet was impossible to miss. He reached over, flipped the sheets down on the bed’s other side, and then extended his hand toward her. She drew a steadying breath and slipped off her robe.

Her insecurities grabbed ahold of her as his eyes traveled down her body. She moved her arms to cover herself, but he growled, “No. Don’t do that. Don’t hide from me. Come here.” She reached for his hand, and he pulled her in toward him. “You’re beautiful.”

“I’m not.” She shook her head.

“To me, you’re more beautiful than the most priceless work of art. Never try to hide from me. There’s no need. I see you. All of you, and I find you utterly enthralling.” He lifted the sheet that covered him and draped it over her.

She reached up and touched his cheek. Her hand was shaking. God, she was so nervous. She whispered, “It’s been a long time.” She hadn’t had sex in years. She’d tried to convince herself she was okay without the intimacy, but she wanted the relationship to work so badly that a part deep inside her wept for Max to love her. She prayed he was the man she believed him to be.

He leaned over her, his intense eyes boring into her soul. “I’ve never been in this position. Sex was an anatomic event before you. But tonight, we’ll go somewhere special, somewhere that we can only go together.” He lowered, and she thought he would kiss her, but he dropped a kiss on her cheek. He trailed kisses to her ear, then down the line of her jaw and neck.

Gasping at the sensation of his chest hair touching her breasts, she broke the trance she’d been stupefied in and reached around the man. His broad shoulders were plated with muscles. She trailed her hand down his spine as he moved over her, and she shivered when his lips found her breast. The sensations were so intense she was a little scared. She was scared of losing herself inside this mysterious man. The person who vowed to protect her and yet couldn’t tell her his real name. He filled the dream of who she’d always wanted. Attractive, strong, smart, and so damn perfect he’d shattered her dream and created a reality beyond anything she could have hoped for … until Sokolov shattered everything.

He lifted his head. “What’s wrong?”

She jerked. “What?”

“What did I do that you didn’t like? Your body tensed and not in a good way.” Max bent down and kissed her collarbone. “You can tell me if you don’t like a touch or a kiss.”

“No, no, you’re not doing anything wrong.” She wrapped her arms around his neck as he lifted. “I was thinking how perfect this was, how perfect it was until Sokolov …”

Max’s eyes flashed before he shook his head back and forth slowly. “He has no place here.”

She pushed his dark hair from his brow and smiled up at him. “You’re right. He doesn’t.”

He dropped for a kiss that left her breathless. She panted as his lips moved across her skin. He moved his fingers across the skin before his lips followed. She had no idea how long he lavished her with the attention, but she was more than ready when he moved between her legs. She wrapped them around him and felt him at her sex. “Do I need a condom?”

She shook her head. “I’m on birth control.” It was to regulate her periods and had nothing to do with being active sexually.

He dropped to his elbows and cupped his hands under her shoulders, pulling her down as his shaft entered her. She gasped as he entered her, and he stopped. The muscles of his neck were straining as he asked, “Did I hurt you?”

The momentary discomfort lessened almost immediately. “No. No, you didn’t. Please, don’t stop.”

His body bowed, and he slid inside her. His size stretched her, but the feeling of him inside her was beyond anything she could remember of the few times she’d had sex. Her body took him as he moved in and out. There was no pain, no rutting clumsiness, and no desire for the act to be over. She relished the feel of his strength over her, his hot body inside her, as the consuming sensation of being protected and cherished washed over her with ever-increasing waves of certainty.

Her body tightened, and her core ached for something … something more. “More.” She whispered the word over and over. She had no idea if he knew what she needed. She only knew she didn’t.

Max lifted to his knees and pulled her down the bed and up his thighs. She arched her back, and he slid inside her. “Oh, God.” She wasn’t sure if her words were a prayer or a plea, but the sensation was exactly what she needed. Max sped up and drove deeper. She was so close, so close. She shook her head in frustration. She needed something more. His thumb spread her sex and found her clit. He rubbed it, and Elena shattered into a billion shards of white light. He dropped on top of her, and she wrapped her arms around him as his hips moved in and out of her. When he came, she held him as tight as she could.

He moved to roll, and she tightened her hold and mumbled, "No, not yet.” She needed him to be close. She needed to feel their skin melded together and to force air into her lungs as his weight was on top of her. The awareness of what had just happened sunk deep into her consciousness. Her perception pivoted; she found a new truth, and that certainty soaked so deeply inside her she knew Max had forever changed her.

When she finally loosened her grip on him, he pulled her over onto her side so they faced each other. He pushed her hair away from her face and lifted her chin with his finger. His lips found hers, and the kiss was everything she needed it to be. It was soft, a promise and a pledge. Or at least it was for her.

She lifted her leg and draped it over his legs before she wormed herself closer to him. His finger made circles and lines on her back. She shivered when she realized what he was writing. Mine. The possessiveness filled the tiniest of voids in her heart. There was no room for anyone but him. She was fully consumed with this man. She kissed his throat. Yes, she was his.