Chapter Ten
As soon as they entered the bathroom, Gina bee-lined to the mirror to see if her panic was reflected in her eyes. To her shock, she looked pretty normal.
Okay, she could handle this.
Cassie was a petite woman with pale blond hair and startlingly lovely eyes the shade of the Caribbean ocean, hidden behind Coke-bottle glasses that did nothing to detract from her beauty. She wore a vintage-looking cocktail dress, black with a black lace overlay, that had a wide skirt flaring out from her tiny waist. Drew had barely been able to look away, even to grill Gina and Max.
Secretly wondering what it might feel like if Max looked at her that way, Gina checked her lipstick in the mirror. Reds were always tough. If you didn’t apply often, the inner part wore off, leaving her resembling a five-year-old in clown makeup. Plus she’d been kissing and drinking. Sure enough, time to reapply. She was mid-application when Cassie joined her at the mirror to wash her hands.
“So, how’d Max con you into being his fake girlfriend?” she asked, as though she were asking the time of day or where Gina got her dress.
Gina’s throat closed up tight and she coughed. Thankfully, she didn’t smear bright red lipstick across her cheek in her shock. That would’ve been hard to wash off and even harder to explain to Max.
“Ummm….” What the hell did she say to that? Fess up? Or brazen it out?
Cassie’s clear turquoise eyes sparkled at her with no hint of judgment or censure, more an amused curiosity.
Gina wrinkled her nose, then double checked that no one else was in the room with them. “How did you know?” she asked slowly.
Cassie laughed. “Nothing you did, I promise.”
“Oh.” Even so, Max was going to kill her. Would he rat her out about T-Bone now? If he did, that might just break her heart, and not because of the dog or her best friend.
Cassie continued to watch her, waiting for an answer to her original question. Gina cleared her throat. No use hiding the truth at this point. “Max caught me trying to hide a dog in our apartment building. It’s a Christmas present for my ten-year-old brother, Mateo. Max promised not to tell on me if I helped him out with his family situation.”
Why she felt the need to sugarcoat his blackmail was honestly beyond her. Except she didn’t want his closest friends to think badly of him.
Gina leaned a hip against the counter with a sigh. “Tonight was supposed to be a trial run. But if you figured it out in five minutes, no way will his family believe it.” What was she going to do with the dog now?
Cassie reached over and squeezed her arm. “Don’t worry. I’m sure he’s not surprised. Ask Max. Not a lot gets past me…occupational hazard.”
“Do you work at the same finance firm as Max?” Not that Max had shared any details about his work. Maybe Cassie could supply a few tidbits.
Cassie blinked. “Uh… Sort of. I don’t deal with the finance side of things. My job is to analyze data and determine problems, potential outcomes, and suggest solutions.”
“Oh?” Knowing little about the world of finance, that sounded plausible enough.
“I find I do it even in real time with real live people.” Cassie rolled her eyes. “Someday I’ll tell you the story of how Drew and I met.”
Gina put her lipstick away in her purse. “How you met has something to do with you analyzing Drew? I bet that’s an interesting story.”
She received a satisfied smirk. “You could say that.”
“Does Drew work with you and Max at the firm, too?” Gina asked as they walked to the door. Although Drew didn’t strike her as a finance type.
“Drew’s an analyst like me.” Cassie paused at the door. “Hey, about Max?”
Gina waited, eyebrows raised.
“Don’t give up on him. He’s a great guy who lets his need for control keep him from having a meaningful relationship.”
“Okay,” Gina murmured slowly. “He and I aren’t dating for real.”
Cassie adjusted her thick glasses. “But you want to. Am I right?”
Gina would’ve bit her lip, but she remembered her fresh lipstick and refrained.
“Like I said, don’t give up.”
“He doesn’t think of me like that.” Which hurt to say out loud more than she wanted to admit.
Cassie tipped her head. “He can’t keep his eyes, or his hands, off you.”
“I really don’t think that means anything.” Even if she wanted it to. “He’s putting on a show.”
“If you say so.” Cassie’s knowing smile didn’t slip an inch. “But you should probably try to get him to open up a little more before you get too involved.”
As they walked out of the bathroom, Gina realized Cassie hadn’t answered her question about where Drew worked. Not really. But before she could bring it up, she came to a standstill as she found Max waiting for her in the hall outside. The guy looked antsy, as if he’d been running his hands through his hair. Even his tie was undone. She loved the sexy, ruffled appearance—more human, less perfect—except when it indicated a problem.
Damn. He was going to fire her as his pretend girlfriend. She just knew it.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hey…?” She couldn’t keep the question out of her voice.
“I’m ready to go if you are?”
Gina forced a smile, even though her heart had taken a one-way trip to the bottom of her feet, dragging her stomach down with it. “Sure.”
They said quick good-byes to Cassie and Drew before Max took her by the hand and hustled her out to a waiting cab.
Gina’s mind spun like a toy top. Did she do such a bad job he wanted to leave early? Cassie had seen right through them. Gina would hazard a guess that Drew did, too. Maybe the rest of his coworkers had also seen through their ruse?
Shit. I’m toast. Max was going to cut her loose and find another girl. The worst part was, the ache of disappointment had everything to do with the man sitting beside her in stony silence. A silence that could’ve been an elephant in the cab with them, it loomed so large between them.
Gina managed to keep her mouth shut until they reached their building and the elevator door closed behind them, giving them their first second of true privacy, before she spoke. “I’m sorry—”
“Stop,” he ordered, his low voice gravelly. “You have nothing to apologize for.” But he kept his hands stuffed in his pockets and his gaze on the lighted numbers above the door as they passed each floor.
“But I didn’t convince your friends. Cassie asked me point blank why I was pretending to be your girlfriend. What if your other colleagues don’t believe us either?” Unable to contain her concern, Gina dipped her head.
“Hey.”
Not wanting to face the decision she was convinced would be reflected in his eyes, she kept her gaze glued to her hands and clutched at her fancy, borrowed bag with a white-knuckled grip.
Max wasn’t having that, though. With a gentle hand, he tipped her chin up so that she had to look him in the eyes—eyes filled not with irritation or condemnation, but with a heat that immediately melted every intimate part of her.
“You did a great job,” he reassured her gruffly. “I just didn’t think I could spend another second sitting beside you, making small talk with Drew and Cassie, when all I want to do is peel you out of that damn dress and run my hands—and my mouth—all over your body.”
Holy hell. The breath locked up in her throat. What did you say to that anyway?
Almost painfully slowly, Max ran the pad of his thumb over her lower lip, a possessiveness in his gaze that sucked the remaining air from her lungs. Please kiss me, she begged with her eyes.
The elevator pinged and the doors whooshed open. He didn’t move, didn’t take his gaze from hers, a question in those blue depths. Her brain finally caught up with her body as realization settled in. Max didn’t want to get rid of her…he wanted to sleep with her.
Hell, yes.
They’d come back a few hours earlier than she expected. T-Bone could wait a little longer.
She tipped her lips up in her best Siren’s smile. “Your place or mine?”
Breath punched out of his body as he reached for her with rough hands and yanked her up against him. “I don’t give a fuck,” he muttered.
He crashed his lips down over hers, and her mind splintered in the inferno of instant white heat that ripped through her.
Max tasted like scotch and desire, a combination that fizzed through her veins as his tongue plundered her mouth. Gina wasn’t even sure how they made it down the hallway to his apartment, but they ended up inside, with the door closed.
She stumbled as Max suddenly released her and took several steps back. The cool air against her skin in his absence caused a shiver to feather through her. Had he changed his mind?
No. The elemental craving in his gaze told her he hadn’t. “Take off your clothes,” he commanded in rough tones as he removed his suit jacket and loosened his tie.
He wanted her to strip for him?
She almost snorted a laugh. What was she thinking? Of course he did, because a person who had to be in control, like Max, would want to call the shots in bed. Judging by the pulsing at the juncture of her thighs, that thought turned her on more than she expected it might. Not that she’d let him be in control all the time. But for now, she was back to hell, yes.
From somewhere deep inside, her inner tease came out to play, and she smiled. Then, very slowly, she slid the side zipper to the skirt down—the click, click, click of the release joining the sounds of their heavy breathing in the otherwise silent room. Then she let the garment slither to the floor in a pool of satin. With a flick of her feet, she kicked it to the side.
Based on the way Max sucked air in through his nose, he liked what he saw. “And the top,” he prompted.
Rather than contort her arms to attempt to get out of it, like she’d had to do to get in it, Gina pivoted on her heels, presenting Max her back. She glanced over one shoulder, and her tummy clenched as his expression tightened with blistering need, his gaze glued to her exposed backside.
“Can you unzip me?” she asked. That her voice functioned at all was a minor miracle.
She sort of expected him to just unzip her and yank the top off, going straight for her boobs like every other man in her limited experience.
Instead, he stepped into her, close but not touching, and slowly lowered the zipper, his fingers brushing her skin as he did so, his lips following, pressing against her as he revealed each inch at a time, his tongue tracing the indents of her spine. Gina closed her eyes as delicious shivers seized her, trying her best not to melt into a puddle at his feet. Each touch, each kiss and caress, heightened her anticipation.
If he kept this up, she’d orgasm during foreplay.
When he finally reached the bottom, the zipper popped apart and the top separated. He slid it down her arms, dropping it on the floor. Then, still standing behind her, his hard length pressing against her backside though his pants, his warmth branding her even through his clothes. His hands meandered around her sides, one sliding up to palm a heavy breast, the other slowly sliding down her tummy.
At the same time, he kissed his way up her shoulder to her neck, along her jaw, to her ear. That wandering hand dropped lower, sneaking in under the elastic of her panties. Too damn slowly, he slipped a single finger inside her.
He palmed her breast, humming his appreciation. “So ready for me.” Satisfaction filled the words.
Gina let out a long moan, dropping her head back to his shoulder. “After an entire night of foreplay?”
“I think you liked it,” Max said. He pushed that frustrating finger back inside her. He stilled suddenly, and she moaned a protest.
“Did you like it, Gina?” he asked, command in his dark voice.
“Yes,” she hissed, uncaring of his demands, eager to get him started again.
Immediately, he continued, bringing every nerve to humming, vibrant life with slow, deep strokes. “Good. First, I plan to make you come. Hard. Then I plan to fill you until we both explode. Do you want that, too?”
He nipped her ear and she sucked in a ragged breath. “God, yes,” she whimpered.
A low chuckle feathered against her cheek. Ordinarily she’d be calling him an arrogant ass, but what he was doing felt too damn amazing. She made a mental note to mention it later.
Needing to touch him, as well as needing something to hang onto, she reached behind her, clamping onto his thighs, her nails digging in. Max grunted and upped the pace of his fingers, molding her breast more roughly now, building the pressure inside her. Gina bucked her hips against his hand.
Reading her signals, Max brushed his thumb over the bundle of nerves. Gina shuddered in his arms with the jolt that drove through her, digging her nails into his muscled legs.
“More?” he asked.
Gina nodded, moans tumbling off her lips with each panting breath.
He pressed into that nub, zinging delight through her with each pass.
He lowered his lips to her neck again, dragging them up to her ear. “Gina. Come for me.”
Then he sucked her earlobe so hard, her knees buckled. The combination of sensations all over her body converged inside her, fizzing through her nerves to gather in her core before bursting outward with exquisite pulsing. Gina cried out as stars exploded behind her closed eyelids. Max continued to touch her through every last pulse of the orgasm as she shuddered and writhed in his grasp.
Finally, she collapsed, languorously limp. He spun her around and took her lips in a long, deep kiss, holding her up in his strong arms.
“Fuck me,” he groaned against her lips. “That was damn hot.”
She gave him a cheeky grin. “Can we do that next?”
With a tight laugh, he swung her up in his arms and carried her through the apartment to his bedroom, kissing her the entire way there. By the time he lowered her feet to the floor, the languor of release was already melting in the face of the fire he stoked inside her again just with that drugging kiss.
Gina reached for his belt. With frantic movements, they both had him out of his clothes, and her out of her undies, in record time.
“Leave the shoes,” Max practically growled when she reached to undo the strap.
“Okay.” She straightened. He had a thing for stilettos. Noted. “Condoms?”
His face contorted. “Damn.”
“What?” she asked.
“I don’t keep condoms in here.”
Disappointment sucked the air from her lungs. “Oh.” No. No. No.
“Wait…” He scrambled for the clothes on the floor, but then dropped them. “Hold on.” He hustled out of the room, and she enjoyed the sight of his tight, bare ass disappearing through the door. In seconds, he returned, holding his suit jacket, fishing in the pockets.
He pulled out a single packet and held it up, his face alight with triumph. “Found one.”
In his suit pocket but not his bedroom? Was that for her? Had he wanted this? Or was it left over from a previous date?
Her expression must’ve given away her thoughts, because Max smiled. “I always have protection in my wallet.”
The questions and tension drained away. “Then we’d better make it count.” She reached out and tugged it from his grasp. “Let me.”
Max faced her with his back to the bed, and, mid-rip of the foil, a spark of devilry lit in her. She had a better idea. Gina placed her hands on his well-defined pecs, enjoying the warmth of his skin under her palms. With a grin, she shoved, tumbling him back to the bed.
“Hey.”
Gina chuckled as she crawled on the bed, straddling him. “Problem?” she asked sweetly.
Was he going to have trouble giving up control in the bedroom as much as he did everywhere else? She kind of hoped so.
“I like to be in charge,” he said. Eyes dark with need, he smoothed open palms over her breasts, and she couldn’t contain the slight shiver his touch sent through her.
“Oh?” Like she couldn’t already tell that. “So you wouldn’t like it if I did something like…”
She slithered back, and, before he could say anything, took his long length in her mouth. She curled her hand around him and sucked. Hard.
“Fuuucccckkkkk.” The word sounded as though it had been ripped from his throat.
She released him with a pop and smiled. “No?” she asked, all innocence.
He tangled his fingers in her hair, willing her to stop teasing.
“Maybe one more try.” This time, she licked from base to tip before sucking him back into her mouth. Max flopped back as she continued to torment him with her touch, the tension building in his muscles as he groaned with each stroke.
Before she could finish, though, he reached down and took her by the shoulders. Dragging her back up to straddle him. “You want to be in charge?” he demanded.
She licked her lips, hoping the move was as sexy as it felt. “Yes, please.”
“Fine.” He fumbled around on the bed and found the condom, pulled it out of the already-ripped pack, and rolled it on. Then he took her by the arms and lifted her, positioning himself at her slick entrance. “Then ride me.”
Technically, him giving the order still made him the boss, but she was too far gone to give a rip.
Careful to angle her heels so she didn’t stab herself in the ass with the shoes, Gina lowered herself. As soon as she’d taken his full length, she tossed her head back, rocking her hips slightly as she reveled in the fullness of having him inside her.
Once her body adjusted, she rose, then glided back down, her breath hissing out of her as gorgeous pleasure overloaded her brain. Meaning to torture him, but subsequently driving them both crazy, she kept the pace slow.
Max gripped her by the hips, trying to move her faster, but she simply smiled, and slowed down more. In response, he slid one hand around to tease that aching center of sensation. She retaliated by tightening her inner muscles around him, then releasing.
“Gina,” he grumbled what she assumed was a warning.
In response, she reached up and palmed her breasts, enjoying the savage look that tightened his features.
“Please,” he muttered.
She couldn’t have her big, strong, control-freak begging, even if she did like it just a little bit. Leaning forward to get leverage, she tumbled them into a frantic pace. Max rose up to meet her with each thrust, grunting as his body tensed, need riding him as hard as she was. She knew because the same intense pressure built inside her, a gripping ache that wouldn’t let her go until she reached the end.
Suddenly, Max flipped them over, rolling them so he was on top, driving into her. Gina wrapped her legs around him, adjusting the angle so he went deeper. Tension coiled inside, tightening and tingling until a tidal wave of bliss slammed through her, with more waves cresting over her again and again.
Max’s groan of release mingled with her own as he pistoned into her until he was drained. With a low moan he stilled, then leaned down and kissed her, long and deep. “Maybe giving up a little control can be a good thing?”
She gave him a sated smile. “Only good?”
“Fantastic seemed too extravagant.”
She stretched happily. “Fantastic works.”
Max rolled away to dispose of the condom. Then joined her on the bed, smoothing her hair away from her face with a smile both tender and dark with desire. She snuggled into him as her eyes fluttered closed.
“Gina?” his deep voice floated through a fuzzy haze of satiated sleep overcoming her.
“Hmmm?”
“Does T-Bone need to go out?”
“Mmm-hmmmm.”
At least she thought she mumbled something like that, right as sleep overcame her.