When we got back to the house the first person we met was Lillian. She looked at me suspiciously.

“Have you seen Josh?”

“Nope,” I lied without batting an eyelid.

“I wonder where he is,” she said, still staring at me.

“He might be out taking a walk. The woods are nice this time of the year,” Max said.

“It’s too cold to go out walking. I’m not supposed to exert myself. I’ll wait for him in the conservatory.”

Max nodded. “Mimi and I are going upstairs for a…nap.”

I flushed to the roots of my hair and Lillian’s head snapped around to me. I stared at her in astonishment. Oh, my God, she was jealous of me. She wanted my man!

Max tugged my hand and we walked up the grand staircase. He pulled me into the room, kicked the door shut and started to undress me.

“Whoa,” I said, surprised.

“I hated seeing him put his hands on you. You belong to me,” he said, his eyes blazing with need.

His face looked cruel and beautiful as he crashed his lips on mine. Burning heat flowered in my core. All thought ceases to exist. With his mouth fused with mine, he was tearing away my clothes. Until I was standing in front of him naked.

“I’m going in raw this time,” he said, unbuttoning his jeans and pushing them down his slim hips roughly. His cock was so hard it was sticking out over the waistband of his underwear.

I looked down as it nodded. I wanted him too. He would be the first man I ever allowed such a thing, but an electric current of pure excitement raced up my spine. There was something completely primal about a man filling you with his seed. It was like an ancient pact; a man who took a woman and marked her with his semen. He turned me around and grabbing my hips with both hands he thrust so deeply into me, I cried out.

Like a greedy hussy, I pushed back and ground myself into him.

He grabbed a fistful of my hair and pulled my head back. While he fucked me ruthlessly, he growled, “you’re fucking mine.”

I gasped with pleasure.

“Say it,” he commanded.

“I’m yours,” I cried.

He sucked the side of my neck hard. I knew what he was doing. Like a wild animal, he was leaving his mark. He was telling everyone I was his. I stretched my neck and offered it to him, to lick, to suck, to bite.

“Play with yourself,” he ordered close to my ear.

I obeyed immediately, my fingers working furiously, as he pounded me from behind. His cock rammed into me, and his balls slapped against me as my climax began. My knees locked and body began to convulse and clench uncontrollably. I thought I would fall.

“I’m coming,” I cried.

He tightened his hold on me and slammed so brutally into me, pain mixed with the pleasure. A loud deep groan rumbled in his chest as he emptied his warm cum into my pussy. The aftershocks of my climax made my thighs tremble. He thrust slowly in and out of me. His grip on my hair loosened. His hand brushed strands of hair away from my face and neck. Then he gently kissed my neck while his hand traveled down to splay over my stomach and tightly hug my body.

“I loved that,” I whispered, my heart pulsing.

“You’re the only woman who has ever made my cock ache for her.”

The air left my lungs in a long sigh of contentment. I don’t know how long we remained in that position, with him just cradling me, until a sound from the outside world intruded.

“I’ve cleaned all the downstairs bathrooms. I’ll be starting with the Green Room next,” someone called in the corridor outside.

I turned to look into Max’s eyes. He smiled softly.

* * *

“Of course, Max won’t be winning any angling competitions any time soon,” Alexander teased during dinner.

Max shrugged good-naturedly, much calmer than he was when we first got back to the house earlier that morning. “I can’t be good at everything.”

I caught Josh hurling a nasty look his way, but only I saw it. Everybody else was busy laughing.

“How’s your lip, Josh?” Gretchen looked concerned—and maybe slightly amused? I couldn’t tell. Even if she somehow blamed me for seducing her daughter’s fella, she had to hold him responsible, too. Maybe she enjoyed seeing him hurt a little. A total mama bear.

He shrugged, looking down at his bowl of soup. He couldn’t handle much more than that, or so he said, since opening his mouth too wide hurt too much. “It’ll be fine,” he mumbled.

Alexander nodded sagely, his bald dome gleaming in the light from the overhead chandelier. “Gotta be careful in those woods, my boy. You never know what you’ll run into.”

Max snorted quietly, his head down. I kicked him under the table. He kicked me back, though not as hard. We’d finally been able to laugh about it after a little while. Josh hadn’t hurt me, and it would be a very cold day in Hell before I ever considered being with him again.

Life was good, I thought with a satisfied smile. I had a man in my life who was willing to fight for me. No matter what happened when we got home, there was no way we could go back to being just friends. I had seen his ‘O’ face. You can’t go back from that no matter how hard you try.

And I was sitting in a gorgeous dining room in a home I would never have had the chance to visit otherwise. With genuinely nice people, for the most part. Max found my hand, resting on my lap, and squeezed. I squeezed back, wondering what that night would bring. We were both wearing entirely too much clothing, as far as I was concerned. From the way he released my hand and started stroking my thigh, I could tell he felt the same way.

“So, Max.” Alexander’s strident voice broke into our little moment. “How are things going at work?”

“Oh, just fine.” I was intrigued. Max never talked about work. I might finally get to hear about it.

“And how’s that pesky little troll you’ve been dealing with?”

To my surprise, Max pales. He becomes white under his tan.

“You know,” Alexander says with a mocking laugh, “the one who won’t leave her apartment?”