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Right now, though, what he needed was a shower to wash the sweat drying on his skin away. As he stood up, he saw Sloane standing on the bottom of the steps watching him. Her hair was ruffled and her cheek had creases from the pillow. She was adorable.
He had made up his mind—this woman was not going to get to him. He wasn’t desperate. He could have Charlie purring around him with a simple phone call. Maybe that’s what he needed. Someone to take the edge off. It’d been a couple of months since he’d had anything more than a self-service release. It was about time he had something other than his own hand. After he showered, he would give her a call. Mind made up, he leisurely walked toward the steps.
***
Sloane
“Heeeyyyy, Max. It’s Charlie. I haven’t heard from you in a while, baby. I was hoping you’d come over to play. Get your handcuffs ready and call me back.”
The message kept playing on a loop in Sloane’s head. She stood motionless, watching Max grin at the machine. When their eyes locked, his still held desire, but in an instant it was gone. They were just eyes, not the heated amber orbs that had held her captive since they’d met. Pain radiated in her chest; she had to stop herself from physically rubbing it.
Max walked toward her slowly. In nothing except running shorts, his golden brown body glistened with sweat. She wanted to trace his dark nipples with her tongue, making them peak for her pleasure and her pleasure alone. Everything about him was massive, and she wanted to own it all…No, she wanted him to ownher.
“I’m gonna grab a shower. Then we can head over to Foster’s to fill them in.” He looked like the same Max, but his voice was different—distant, professional. His body was stiff and his eyes lacked anything more than cool detachment. “After that, we’ll pick up some of your things. How are you holding up?”
Her tongue felt like it was glued to the roof of her mouth as she pictured water running over intimate parts of his body. Blinking a few times, she focused on the step below her.
“I’m fine. I’ll be fine. No need to worry.”
“I won’t be long. Give me ten minutes.”
Max left her standing there, taking two steps at a time up the stairs. Maybe she had misread the signals he’d been sending earlier? No, no way. They were clear as day. Plus, that kiss was proof positive of something happening between them. Maybe he’d heard Brody earlier and changed his mind. A man like him, or any man for that matter, wouldn’t want to get involved with a woman described as cold or dead inside.
She didn’t feel like that at all with Max. She felt the electricity all around her when he was near. Her blood boiled. Butterflies took up residence in her stomach when he looked at her…at least they had until this last time. This time she was filled with dread and longing.
“I was hoping you’d come over to play. Get your handcuffs ready and call me back.”
The words haunted Sloane. The sweet silkiness of the woman’s voice made it all too easy to picture the type of woman who got to experience the irresistibleness that was Max. Sloane bet she was tall with legs that never ended. She sounded like the type to have a piercing in her taut belly—not to mention other places. Without an inch of fat, she probably oozed sex with every move she made. Sloane instantly hated her.
She ran back upstairs and retrieved her cell phone from her purse. It showed fifteen missed calls. Two from her parents’ house. One from Mirabella. The remaining twelve from Brody. All time stamped after their talk earlier. Yup, not going there. She shot Bella a text letting her know that they would be there shortly, then put her phone away. She’d call her parents later.
Max stepped out of the bathroom with a towel secured around his waist. The vision of him was breathtaking. She wanted to pull the offending cotton off and beg him to bend her over the rail—Whoa.She was really starting to lose it. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, but never said anything as he continued down the small hallway, shutting the door behind him once he was inside his bedroom. She hurried down the steps. She didn’t stop until she was on the back porch trying to catch her breath. She was in trouble. Given half a chance, that man could break her heart.
Chapter Eight
Sloane
They drove in silence to Bella’s house. Only the road noise and the sound of his keypad typing multiple text messages filled the cabin of the truck. Who kept the sound of their keyboard on, anyway? Sloane watched the fields go by out of the passenger window. After observing him grin at his phone a few minutes ago, she couldn’t bear to look at him anymore. The betrayal she felt didn’t make any damn sense. Until just a few short hours ago she’d had a boyfriend. A shitty, lying, cheating boyfriend, but a boyfriend just the same.
She and Max had never been an item. Sure, he’d kissed her once. Now she could almost admit to herself how much she’d liked it. She shouldn’t feel anything for this man, though. She knew he wasn’t the type to stick around. That didn’t stop her from wanting him anyway.
She needed a night out. A reason to get dressed up and dance away whatever was making her pine for the man sitting next to her.
Once they were parked—in what she was starting to think of as Max’s spot—she practically jumped from the truck. She briskly marched up the steps and let herself inside without waiting for Max to catch up. He knew where the door was. The less time she spent with him, the better.
“Bella,” Sloane yelled once she was inside.
“Hey. I’m upstairs.”
Taking the steps two at a time, she found Bella putting away a basket of laundry. Once again she was in a dress, baby blue with little white flowers and her hair pulled back. Only this time her outfit was paired with a simple pair of flats. They resembled the old ballet slippers Sloane had when she was a kid.
Sloane was a jeans and t-shirt kind of a girl most days. She enjoyed dressing up, but only when there was an occasion to do so.
“Hey, honey.”
Bella embraced her, hugging her harder than she expected. Given everything she had experienced in the last twenty-four hours, she admitted she needed it more than she would have thought.
Sloane sobbed into her cousin’s neck. “I did it.”
