Chapter Six
Hustling home in her elf costume always scored high on Gina’s entertainment spectrum. In New York, a city where people didn’t blink twice at any given oddity, apparently dressing in a red and green costume with bells tinkling away on her shoes was cause for second glances and secret grins. At least she left a bit of happiness in her wake.
She greeted Charlie, who held the door for her, with a friendly wave, smiled at the guy at the front desk, rode up the elevator, and walked down the hall to her door—all without a single glimpse of Max. Not that she expected to see him.
“T-Bone,” she called, once her door closed behind her. “I’m home. Let’s go take a potty break!”
She poked her head over the gate she used to keep him in the palatial bathroom where she’d set up the Shangri-La of doggy time, including water recycler, a fluffy bed three times his size, and toys safe to leave with him. T-Bone went nuts, his half-curly, half-straight tail wagging a mile a minute while he did donuts and jumped up on the gate, practically knocking it out of the door jamb in an attempt to get to her.
Gina scooped him up, craning her neck to avoid getting a tongue bath. Thank God he wasn’t turning out to be a yippy dog. She’d worried about his alerting the neighbors to his presence while she was at work, but no one had said anything. Yet.
“Time to sneak you outside.” She tucked him into her spy bag—grinning at the memory of Max’s face. He’d been jealous of her sneakiness, she could tell.
Cracking her door open, she peeked outside, only to discover a familiar dark head at the door two down from hers, and she breathed a sigh of relief even as a spark of anticipation ignited inside her. “Hi, Max.”
He glanced up as she approached. That charming smile of his—the genuine one this time, the one that reached his eyes—would be the death of her equilibrium.
Gina locked her knees, probably walking like a newborn giraffe in the effort to convince her body that wobbly knees were dumb.
“Hey.” He glanced at the bag. “Potty time?”
Two words she never would’ve expected to come out of Max’s mouth. “Yup.”
As soon as he heard Max’s voice, T-Bone went bananas inside the bag, yipping and squawking and scrambling to play. He managed to work his head and paws out of the hole in the top, which was only a drawstring closure, before she could do more than swing it off her back.
Max grabbed the fluffball, pulling the little dog all the way out to hold him, despite how the dog fur would stick to his suit, and receiving the same delightful tongue bath T-Bone had tried to give her a minute ago. Just as she was about to take the dog back, the tell-tell snick of a deadbolt being unlocked sounded.
“Hide!” Gina grabbed Max by the arm and dragged them all into his apartment, right before one of their nosiest neighbors opened her door and poked her head into the hall.
“Gina?” she called. “Was that you?”
Gina waited with baited breath, leaning with her back against the door, Max beside her doing the same, as they waited for Mrs. Blakely to go back inside. Gina glanced over to find he had his hand over T-Bone’s muzzle, bouncing the animal in his arms like he was calming a squirming child.
The humor of the incongruous picture—an elf, a man in a conservative suit, and a wriggling dog, all hiding behind the door—struck like lightning. She tried to hold it in but couldn’t. A snicker escaped in a burst of sound, and Max frowned, holding a finger to his lips.
But the floodgates had been opened. Another laugh broke free, followed by another, until she couldn’t stop laughing.
Max scowled as he placed T-Bone on the floor. “It’s not funny.”
She nodded but couldn’t stop the giggles from tumbling out. “I know.”
“At this rate, we’ll both be evicted,” he pointed out.
But his poker-faced response only set her off again. Before long, after holding his glower until he couldn’t, Max chuckled, then those chuckles rolled into deep laughs. The dog hopped around at their feet, panting and jumping up to get their attention, but fortunately not barking.
As their mirth eased, Max turned his head to face her. “This is all your fault.”
“Hey. I was doing just fine before you came along,” she countered, a few chuckles still escaping. “It’s not my fault T-Bone is a bad judge of character.”
The laughter started back up, another wave overtaking both of them. Even as she chortled, a new kind of sensation replaced the rush of hiding and the shared silliness with Max.
All that time spent arguing herself out of fantasizing about touching him bubbled to the surface, and she couldn’t seem to disconnect her stare from his lips. What would he do if she leaned over and kissed him right now? She checked his expression and registered awareness in the amused blue-eyed gaze trained on her face. The intensity of that stare drew a gasp from her.
All traces of laughter abruptly stopped as they both froze, something electric sizzling between them.
Was he going to kiss her again? Did she want him to?
Suddenly, Max moved, pinning her between his door and his hard body, his lips on hers. Heat flooded her body as kissing changed to kissing.
In less than a heartbeat, they were locked together. Hands roaming. Bodies fused.
With every sweep of his touch, every press of his lips, she dove deeper into the kiss. Glorious, the sensations he pulled from her body. The needy ache, how her nipples tightened, the way everything tingled. She never wanted it to end.
…
Damn she felt amazing, just as he knew she would—warm and soft against him, her curves fitting the hard planes of his body as though made for him. Gina whimpered against his lips, and Max slid his tongue into her mouth. She tasted like candy canes. Who knew an elf could be so sexy?
Tugging her closer, knowing she could feel every inch of his now-raging hard-on, he smoothed his hands down over her hips, then cupped her ass under that ridiculous skirt and lifted. In perfect accord, she wrapped those long legs around him, and he pressed into her body, rubbing against her right where he knew it would feel the best, smiling between kisses as he drew a shudder from her body.
She tangled her fingers in his hair, as if anchoring him to her. Her kisses were as sensual as the rest of her, her response so uninhibited, all he wanted to do was take her back to his bedroom and sink into her sweetness.
He pressed into her with his hips again, trying to relieve the throbbing, his tongue mimicking the motion as he ground against her. Gina moaned, and maybe he did, too, as she raked her nails down his back. Max tugged at her lower lip with his teeth, then laved the spot with his tongue, drawing a shiver from her.
Maybe he could break his one-night rule. Just this once. Just so he could have this woman and still keep their bargain.
Her hand skated up over his rib cage in a whisper of a caress that drove him even higher.
“Max,” she sighed into his kisses.
He brushed his mouth over the sensitive underside of her jaw. “Hmmmm?”
“Max, the dog. He’s making too much noise.”
Only then did T-Bone’s frantic yips as he leapt at Max’s legs penetrate the fog of need that had taken over his brain. Reluctantly, Max pulled back to glare down at the small animal.
As soon as he had their full attention, T-Bone squatted and peed on the floor by their feet.
Gina dropped her forehead to Max’s shoulder with a groan. “I swear I didn’t train him to only pee on your floors. I was taking him out when I bumped into you. Worst doggy mom ever.”
Max lowered her feet to the floor, still grappling with his aching body, but his head clear enough to know he’d been crazy for even considering taking Gina to bed. “At least he didn’t go on my expensive rug again.”
Gina shifted her weight, as if not quite sure what to do now. He couldn’t help because he had no damn clue.
“I’ll clean it up,” she offered.
Max waved off the offer. “No. You take him out. I’ve got it.”
“That’s right…” She lifted her head and grinned. “All those standards.”
Max shook his head. “You really need to get over that. What I meant was I’m particular about how things are cleaned, so it’s easier to do it myself.”
Gina picked up T-Bone, tucking him back into the bag. “That’s a relief,” she murmured. “I wasn’t sure if you meant me or the way I clean, and I’m pretty sure I’d blow your standards out of the water.”
Now he couldn’t tell if she meant cleaning or as a woman.
“Yeah.” Max mentally smacked his forehead. Yeah was all he could come up with for a response? When had his suave moves abandoned him?
“Okay then.” She paused, looking awkward again, then scooped T-Bone up. As she stood, she glanced over his shoulder at his apartment. “What? No Christmas decorations yet?”
Max glanced over his shoulder, following her gaze. “I don’t own any.”
She glanced around. “You really could use more color.”
Again with the color. First his clothes and now his apartment. Max tried to hide that her words made him tense up. He got enough from his family about his life. He didn’t need decorating tips from his fake girlfriend, too.
Unaware of his irritation, or maybe ignoring it, she sighed. “Not that I can talk. I don’t have any Christmas decorations, either.”
She wasn’t going to start in with suggestions to fix it? Some of the tension leaked out of him.
Gently, Gina tucked T-Bone into his carrier. “I always promised myself that I’d go all out when I got my own place. I could do a pretty spectacular job.”
She stood and gave him a cheerful smile, which, despite his irritation from a moment ago, managed to tug at some answering spot inside his chest and made him want to smile back.
I’m losing my damn mind.
“A treat to look forward to when I’m a Tony award-winning set designer, right?” Not waiting for his answer, she opened the door and peeked outside before she glanced over her shoulder at him and caught him checking out her backside.
“I’d like to see your designs sometime,” he said as a distraction. Plus, maybe he didn’t want her to leave. Jeez, Carter, get a grip.
He should be shoving her out of here, not only to get back to his levelheaded rules but also to clean up the puddle of pee still on his floor. Even so, some contrary part of him wanted her to stay.
She paused, studying him, as if she could read his conflicted thoughts. “That would be nice,” she finally said, softly.
Her eyes seemed to invite him to take her up on that offer now. Max took a step closer. Then T-Bone gave an annoyed bark from inside the bag, and they both jumped.
Gina sent him a rueful smile. “That’s the bat signal. I’d better get him outside.” She paused, as if debating saying more, but waved instead, then disappeared into the hallway, closing the door behind her.
Max dropped back to lean against the couch and groaned. What was wrong with him? He had zero self-control where Gina Castillo was concerned. If anything, this encounter had upped the urge to spend more time with her, not less.
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.