Max had carried me to the car he had rented, not letting me escape his touch except to move into the driver’s seat. Even then, his hands were back on me as he started to drive. I didn’t question where we were going and I didn’t care. I trusted anywhere Max would take us. We pulled up to the Tropicana. I almost objected, but Max silenced me as he helped me from the car so that valet could take it. I waited in the lobby as he checked us in. As many times as I had been to Vegas, I had never gone exploring along the Strip. I hadn’t planned on what I would do after going to my father’s grave. I was kind of just winging it.

A hand grazed my back, and Max lead me over to the elevator. We were alone when we got on and all the way up to the eighth floor. When the elevator dinged for our departure, Max stopped me, looked around outside of the elevator, and without notice, picked me up and tossed me over his shoulder. I squealed as I beat across his back.

“Put me down, you brute!” I couldn’t help but laugh, but then a moan escaped me as I stared at his ass and one of his hands whispered across my inner thigh. He stopped in front of a door, letting us in. Luckily it wasn’t too far to the bed, where he tossed me. I bounced a few times before spreading out amongst the sheets, looking up at a man who clearly had an appetite. I seemed to be the only thing on the menu.

“Max.”

He pulled his shirt over his head. “You will never run from me again.” Next went his pants. He stripped bare for me, exposing himself fully. I licked my lips in anticipation. “Ever.”

He didn’t make a move towards me, but stood there, staring down at my body. I tried to open my mouth to ask him what he was going to do, but he silenced me with a hand.

“You don’t talk unless I tell you to.” I pursed my lips, biting to keep them closed. The dark look in Max’s eyes intrigued me, and I wanted to play with what he was offering. “You keep your eyes open the whole time.”

He slid across the bed, hovering over me. He slid his hand up my dress, gripping my panties, and tore them down my legs with a vice grip. He didn’t hesitate when he ripped open the I felt exposed in the best way. I said a silent prayer to myself for not wearing a bra today. He held himself up with one arm as he snaked the other around my back to unclip my bra. Max dangled it in front of me, like it was his trophy, and then tossed it to the other side of the room.

“Lastly.” He scraped his nose along my neck and a shiver coursed through my body. I could already feel myself dripping wet and completely ready for him. “You scream my name when you come.”

Max melded his lips to mine, not giving me room to breathe. I pushed my body against his, wanting to feel the heat that was emanating off his body. I tried to wrap my legs around him, but he pushed on my thighs, causing me to spread my legs further and away from him. He broke the kiss quickly, looking down to where his cock was pointed straight at my core. I tried to push myself closer to him, but he only held me down again.

“Not yet.” The words came out as a growl, and I couldn’t tell if he was telling me or himself. He flipped me over, pinning me to the bed as his kissed down my back. I could feel his length poking my ass as he descended on his journey. The bites along each cheek came quickly, and they soon multiplied. I was going to have bruises all over my ass, but I soon realized that the thought made me even wetter. I wanted Max to mark me, even if no one else would see it.

I pushed my head into the pillow, stifling a moan, but Max would have none of that. His left mine and my head was pulled back by the roots of my hair. My face was smushed down to the side so that I was looking at the wall.

“You don’t hide your pleasure from me. You understand?” A smack lashed across my ass, as Max’s lips brushed against my ear. His words rang through my head, causing my ass to move in the direction of his cock. I was more turned on than I had ever been. “Answer me.”

I closed my eyes to moan, but another smack came across me.

“Open your eyes and answer me.” My eyes shot open and Max bit at the lobe of my ear. I knew he was losing patience.

“Yes.” He pressed me further into the bed, waiting for more. “Yes, I understand.”

He let go of me, petting my hair, moving back over my body with kisses. This was it. This had been the caged monster I had been wanting to release. Max skimmed his fingers along my back, tracing every curve he could find. His hands went to my ass again, kneading it with his rough fingers. He bent his head to kiss where he had smacked it. I bit my lips, and with the moan coming from him, I knew he saw it. I shoved my ass further into the air towards him. I wanted him, and I wanted him now.

He wrapped his hands around my waist and hoisted my ass up. I made sure to keep my head turned towards the side as I propped myself up on my elbows. I could see Max staring appreciatively at my ass, and I wiggled it for him. His eyes went straight to mine, and the bright gray eyes I had been looking at almost every day were now black. I opened my mouth to moan, but nothing came out.

Max took his cock in his hand, stroking it a few times, his eyes never leaving mine. He pushed it against my opening, only teasing me as he slipped up and down my slit. I pushed back, taking in only a small portion of his tip. Max bit his lip, grabbed my hips, and plunged into me, all in one move. I didn’t lose eye contact with him as I gasped for air. I was filled to the brink and I loved it.

Max pulled out all the way, teasing me again, until he plunged in one more time. He did this over and over again, interchanging between teasing my clit and smacking my ass. The sting drove me insane, but the kisses along my back afterwards brought me back down.

“I’m done teasing, babe.” Max mounted me, one knee between my legs and the other bent so that his foot was planted next to my knee. He was able to lean down and kiss my lips in this position, but I also felt so much more of him. He was pushing into my walls and I cried out in pleasure. “I’m going to fuck you so good.”

“Please.” I knew Max had said not to talk unless spoken to, but I needed him to know how much I wanted this.

“Anything for you, babe.” He pounded into me hard. One hand held my waist steady and the other went for my neck. Max’s hand wrapped around it, bringing me up. I put my palms into the bed as I bent back to look at the ceiling. With each move of his cock, his fingers wound tighter around my throat. I could still breathe, but just the thought of Max choking me made me come. I shouted his name into the empty hotel room, contracting around his cock as my orgasm took over.

Max shoved my head back into the bed, fully mounting me this time, with both legs bent on each of my sides. One arm was wrapped around my middle, holding me up, while the other hand pressed the side of my face into the bed as he ground into me. I strained to look back as he grunted his release, holding all of it inside of me. He didn’t pull out immediately, but he did release my head and moved us so that he was spooning me. I could still feel his cock twitching inside of me.

I was game to go a second round, but all too soon the sleep that I knew would come over me took me. It wasn’t until I was almost asleep that I realized we hadn’t used a condom, and I didn’t care. We trusted each other wholeheartedly, and now that it was out in the open I could not have children, there was no worrying about pregnancy. What once would have made me upset or heartbroken made me feel at peace. I was completely open to Max, and him to me. I let the deep sleep take us over into the night, not wanting to go back to reality just yet.

* * *

Sunlight was streaming into the room when I finally woke. I looked at the clock to see I had slept for over twelve hours. When I rolled over, the bed was cold. I looked around the room to see Max sitting in the corner, with a computer in his lap.

“Working already?” Max didn’t move to shut the laptop as he looked up at me. I looked closely at the case the computer was in. The stickers on there were too familiar. It was my computer. “Why do you have my laptop?”

He didn’t answer me but instead moved back to the bed to sit beside me. He kissed my forehead as he showed me the screen. I could feel the panic start to rise as I looked at the document he had open. It wasn’t just any book he was reading. He was reading my book.

“How?” I looked up at him. Max’s face lit up with laughter as he leaned down to kiss me again.

“Lilly texted me where I needed to go to find you.” He readjusted himself and placed the laptop on the nightstand, then rolled over to pull me into him. Max kissed the top of my head as he continued to talk. “Once I booked my flight over the phone, I realized I had a little time, so I stopped by the office to tell Chase I wouldn’t be back for a while, and neither would you. When I went to your office, I saw your laptop was still there. I didn’t want to leave it in my car, so I brought it with me.”

He reached over and brought the computer back towards us, setting it into my lap. Max was only three chapters into it, and there were little notes in the margins. I sucked in a breath. What if he hated it?

“It’s so good, babe.” I looked up at him, and the spark in his eye wasn’t one of love or adoration, it almost seemed like he was proud of me.

“We don’t publish romance novels, but this,” He pointed towards the computer. “This could totally change my mind. I’m excited to see how it ends.”

I had only written the first ten chapters so far. It was something so different when I started it two years ago, but now I had changed everything about this book, with Max being my muse. I think that was what terrified me the most. Once he read it and all of the things happening in it, he would know that it was him. That I had written a book about him and that people would know the most intimate details about our life together.

“No one’s read it yet, not even Lilly.” I stared back at the computer, reading a few of his notes. Little bits on expanding or trimming, rewording, parts that he loved. The worker bee in me took over as I moved my fingers over the keyboard. I started reworking parts with Max’s arms wrapped around me. I heard a gasp behind me as I deleted a whole paragraph he said to rework, but before he could complain, I was already retyping it out, making it sound better.

“I love watching you work.” He kissed me on my head, and that was how we spent our day. Him reading a few chapters and me reworking them. In fact, that was how we spent the next two days, holed up in a hotel room, ordering room service and me writing. We were going to be leaving Friday afternoon and I almost hated the thought of going back to Georgia, but I knew there I would have my friends, and Max and I would be able to start our new lives together.

I stared down at my ring as we waited at the airport. Max was checking if there were any first class seats to upgrade to so that I could have room to work. I had been in a mood since I first started typing in front of him. Every single word that came to mind needed to be written down, and even now, standing here, I was itching to bring my words to life.

By the time we touched down to Georgia that evening, I had written at least five thousand words from the comfort of our first class seats. I had to say, the whiskey helped when it got time to write the sex scenes, the worst part for any writer if you asked me. Max had tried to hide his laughter as I got angry at my keyboard, almost giving up a few times.

I was lucky that Max had left his car parked at the airport so we wouldn’t have to wait to leave, but this also meant I had no idea where we were going. We weren’t headed in the direction of his house, nor towards downtown. My knee jittered up and down with anticipation until we pulled into Little Five Points. The Vortex came into view, and I didn’t think the smile on my face could have been any bigger than when I saw Lilly and Erica standing by the front door.

I barely waited for Max to park the car when I jumped out and ran towards them. Chase and Greg were laughing behind them.

“The table’s ready.” Jack poked his head outside the door, almost shocked to see that Max and I were already here. We made our way inside, with Max quick on my heels, trying to catch up. These people seemed to be becoming more my friends than his.

I was excited to be able to see everyone, but even though these were our friends, I wanted Max alone. I knew this was crazy because we had just spent multiple days together being hermits, but I loved him being mine. I was also grateful that no one had mentioned the ring on my finger. I kept catching myself staring at it, and every time I did, I could see Max smiling at me, because he knew, because we both knew.

“It’s good to have you back.” The comment came from Chase and broke me from my spell. I knew why he was happy, since I hadn’t been to work since I up and left. I felt horrible, but Max had told me not to worry about it. “We have a new account who has asked to work with you personally.”

My eyebrows shot up. Someone wanted me?

“You are quite known across the editing world now,” Chase praised me. I looked back down at my chili dog, trying to blend back in with the table.

“I’m thinking about bringing romance into our genre brackets.” Max’s words stunned everyone at the table. All eyes were on him now, and I was grateful. “Alexa showed me a few books and even her own writing.”

Well that was short-lived. All eyes turned back to me.

“I think this is a hidden genre that we can tap into, with the right help.” Max looked towards me. “I want to move Alexa to her own division to work on romance novels. She can employ who she pleases to help her, but each department will have a special hire to help with anything she needs.”

I sat there staring at Max, trying to figure out the words that were coming from his mouth.

“Hot damn.”

Erica giggled at Lilly’s words, but they were so true. Hot damn indeed. What the hell was happening? “That’s one hell of a gift.”

“You haven’t seen anything yet.” Max winked at me but left the rest of us in silence. I tried to figure out what he meant. He couldn’t have something else up his sleeve, could he? He had just given me my own portion of his company, what else could he do?