Chapter Thirteen

Trips to the bureau offices, to see if Joanne recognized anyone, had been fruitless. Since then it had been two weeks of going through thousands of mug shots and regurgitating every aspect of her capture. She’d sat with a sketch artist, directing sketch after sketch to try and capture the picture of the man she’d only seen once. 

The animosity between Jack and Max had been adding to the tension until she felt like she was being torn apart. Eventually, she’d given in and moved in with Jack. Since then, he’d backed off, but he watched her like a hawk; everyone did, and she wished they’d stop, although she understood why. They were watching out for her—keeping her safe.

Returning late in the afternoon after another grueling day of paging through hordes of nameless faces had taken its toll on Joanne. She was dead on her feet, tired beyond thought―emotionally and physically. She’d begged off after dinner and went to her room for a long, hot bath before going to bed. She fell asleep the moment her head had hit the pillow.

Her eyelids fluttered. What had woken her? A noise? She listened. No, all was quiet and yet, a silent panic turned her mind to a mental soup of conflicting emotions, threatening to choke her. Her body was frozen under the covers. She clenched her hands into fists as she tried to still her raging heart, but it was too much to ask.

They found me! God, no please. It was too soon. I need more time.

Fear sat on her like a pillow suffocating her. She managed to get enough air into her lungs, allowing her body to keep functioning.

Calm down, Joanne. You can’t afford to have a panic attack. Not now!

Joanne tried to still the quiver that shook her entire body, but she couldn’t quiet the cold voice in her mind. Fear spoke in many languages, but the result was the same. It made her legs go weak, her stomach lurch and her heart ache.

Adrenaline activated her nervous system so much so that she could hear the rapid beating of her heart. It caused her blood to divert to her muscles and drew the fear away from her gut. Flight or fight? The question milled through her mind. She’d learned over the past year to fight without holding back.

No one was taking me away from my family. No one! Never again!

 Joanne forced her muscles to relax but the terror wouldn’t leave. There was another person in the room. A presence. She felt it.

Get a grip, Joanne. Jack’s house is like Fort Knox. No one can get inside without triggering the alarm.

She settled on her side and dragged the duvet over her shoulders. Her eyes fluttered closed but not for long. She couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being watched.

Well, you’re not a procrastinator, Joanne. Get up and face whoever it is.

She dragged in a deep breath and popped upright like a Jack-in-the-box. Her eyes searched the room. All was quiet; the room was awash in moonlight filtering through the curtains.

Joanne went cold. Every muscle in her body felt like it had turned to ice. She glanced toward the door, judging the distance. She’d be able to reach—if she hit the floor running.

Her muscles bundled in preparedness, but her eyes remained glued on the large wingback chair in the corner of the room, next to the window.

He was there.

The chair was so big, she couldn’t make out a shape but she sensed him.

Sitting there.

Watching quietly.

A sudden calm descended over Joanne. She felt it then.

His presence.

His strength.

His care.

Her shoulders sagged with relief.

“Maximilian.”

“I didn’t mean to wake you.”

His deep voice drifted across the room and permeated every crevice of her mind, soothing her soul and awakened the emotions she’d been trying so hard to deny. She tried to stem the rapid beating of her heart but failed miserably.

“What are you doing here?”

“I couldn’t sleep.”

“You couldn’t sleep?”

“I guess my body has become used to two hours a night over the past year.”

“You haven’t slept for a year?” Her heart hammered harder against her chest.

Max didn’t answer but Joanne could sense the negligent shrug.

“Because of me?”

“I had to find you, baby. Sleep wasn’t a priority.”

Joanne leaned over to switch on the bedside lamp, driven by an overwhelming desire to see his eyes. To read the emotions that filled every syllable he uttered.

“No, leave it. You look like a wood nymph in the moonlight. Just let me look at you, Jo.”

Silence followed his guttural command. The depth of emotion filling the room shook Joanne. Max had suffered alongside Jack and her parents. From the sound of his voice, maybe more than she’d believed to be possible. She swallowed the lump that formed in her throat.

God, I missed him so much!

“How did you get inside undetected?”

“I have a key.”

Joanne fiddled with the edge of the duvet. She squinted in the dark, desperate to see Max.

“Go back to sleep, Jo.”

“But—”

“Sleep. Now.” His voice lowered, and the command found immediate resonance with the submissive inside her.

“You’re such a Dom,” she complained but slid back under the cover and settled on her back. “Nite, Maximilian.”

He didn’t respond and with a sigh, Joanne closed her eyes. She willed herself to fall asleep. Fifteen minutes later, she gave up the struggle. It was a useless endeavor, knowing Max was sitting across the room watching her.

“Now, I can’t sleep.”

“Count sheep.”

“That never works, and you know it, Maximilian.”

“Relax your body and listen to your breathing.”

The silence stretched as Joanne breathed in slowly, then said in a sultry voice, “I’d rather listen to your breathing.”

“Jo . . .”

“In my ear.”

“Jo . . .”

“While you fuck me.”

Joanne held her breath. She’d never been this forward with Max in the past, but she wanted him—always had, and she’d come to the realization that she always would. He was it. Her soulmate.

“Is that an invitation?” His voice floated toward her with the richness of an early morning coffee.

“Hm . . . it seems old age is catching up with you, Maximilian. Or, do I need to spell it . . . oh!” She gasped in surprise when he yanked off the duvet and flung it to the floor.

“Oh my . . . now I know what a Greek god looks like in the moonlight,” she purred, watching how the streaks of moonlight danced over his naked back and ass. How he got his clothes off so fast didn’t even matter. She got onto her knees and flung off the oversized t-shirt she wore. She brushed her palm over his glorious rounded glutes. They flexed under her touch. “I have to admit, Maximilian, for an old timer, you have one scrumptious ass.”

The next moment she was flat on her back, her legs spread wide as Max thrust his hard cock inside her pussy—all in one smooth movement.

“Old timer? You’re asking for it, baby.”

“Really? And pray tell, what exactly am I asking for?” Her voice was soft, seductive . . . sex in a sound, and it caused Max’s testosterone to spike. His cock swelled even more inside her. Her eyes widened; her breath puffed from her lips.

“You’re asking to be twisted like a pretzel while I gorge on your delicious charms. Just to see if a little snip like you can keep up with an old man like me.”

Joanne locked her legs around his waist and tilted her hips higher, forcing him deeper inside her.

“You talk too much, Maximilian.”

“What did I tell you about my name?”

Joanne giggled as Max playfully nibbled on her earlobe before trailing a row of drugging kisses down the side of her arched throat.

“Uhm . . . lemme see. Oh wait, I remember, stuffing something into my mouth to keep it busy?”

“Jo . . .”

“No? Hm, maybe spank my little bottom red?”

“Jo . . .”

“Not that either? Well, then it has to be fucking me until I can’t speak.”

“You really are a little minx. Keep it up, baby, you’re racking up punishments at an alarming rate.”

“I am?” She wiggled her hips against his. At the same time, she clenched and released the muscles around Max’s shaft buried hilt deep inside her pussy. His cock twitched, and his breath wheezed out of his mouth.

“Fuck, Joanne!”

“Hmm . . . Maximilian . . .” She taunted him further and squeezed again, this time with multiple, short, quick flutters.

“Jesus, baby, I’m hanging on by a thread here. Don’t . . . Fuuchk!” He growled when she tightened her muscles in a long, tight hold that shattered the last of his control.

“That does it,” he grated in a low voice. He slowly pulled back his cock. His eyes glimmered as he gazed down at her. “Don’t blame me if you can’t walk after this,” he warned, covering her mouth with one hand as he slammed back into her.

To the hilt.

Her muffled scream of pleasure sounded dull in the silence, interspersed only by Max’s grunts as he began to pillage her body, powering his thick, rigid, fleshy shaft into her. 

“Are you gonna be quiet, baby?” Max asked in her ear as she clawed at his hand covering her mouth. She nodded. “Because if you’re not and your screams draw Jack’s attention, I’m not stopping if he comes barging through that door,” he warned as he removed his hand.

“Ohhh yes,” Joanne whimpered. She sucked in jagged gasps of air, exulting in the feeling of his body banging against her clitoris. “I love that, Maximilian. You know just how to . . . aah, yes, just like that,” she purred.

The room resonated with the noise of their slapping flesh as he plundered her body and drove her closer to the edge.  

 “I missed this. Fuck, I missed how good you feel,” he groaned as he pressed his face into her throat. He tangled his fingers with hers and pressed them down. He ground his hips against hers. His pumping reflexes were strong, increasing the erotic slide of his shaft against her silky walls.

Joanne moved in perfect harmony with him, urging him on as she became inundated in waves of pleasure that rocked her into a state of eroticism.

Max closed his eyes, losing himself in her softness, in the heat that surrounded his pulsing shaft. He lost himself in her. Nothing mattered anymore. She was back, in his arms, where she belonged.

She’s back. She’s mine and I’ll never let her go again.

Joanne was floating on a cloud that spiraled higher and higher. And still, it wasn’t enough. She wanted more, so she demanded more. She became greedy. She wanted all of Max. So much so, that she wanted to draw him into her body deeper and cherish him for eternity.

The emotions, combined with the sensations he forced from her body, engulfed and overloaded her senses. She moaned as a powerful tide finally struck and the strong currents sucked her under―lifting her high, only to crush her beneath its powering rage.

“Max . . . I’m coming! It’s . . . fuck.”

Her plea turned into a low cry as her body tightened. Warmth flushed her pussy, coating his tumescent flesh as he continued to thrust to the hilt. Her hips jerked, and she clawed at Max’s hands in a desperate attempt to draw a breath. He pushed relentlessly into her, subsuming her in an act of lustful indulgence, fueling another orgasm that triggered spasms of delight through her body.

“That’s it, baby. Show me how much you want this. How much you need me.”

Joanne had never felt so helpless, as she was flung about like a spindle by paroxysms of pleasure. Waves of ecstasy rolled over her as she fought the dull ache of over-indulgence. She relinquished all control, as she twitched in submission to his masterful possession.

“Aahh . . . again . . . Maxi-mil-ian!” She had never come so hard in her life.

Joanne was overwhelmed. The sexually provoked sensations merged with the emotions that ran rife inside her. She admitted it to herself; it had been foolish to try and deny it. She loved Max; the only man, who had the ability to draw every raw emotion from the depths of her soul; the only man who could give her such unbounded pleasures.

As a final wave of feverish bliss seized her, it decimated any thoughts from her mind, leaving her fragmented in his arms once again.

Max was overawed by Joanne’s untethered submission, her overwhelming sensuality. He came inside her, pumping with wild contortion of his hips as he roared out his release. He slumped on top of her, incapable of moving until she began to struggle for breath. He reluctantly moved to settle beside her. He pulled her into his arms to rain soft kisses over her face. His own emotions flooded him as he looked at her—wilted and sexually drained but completely satiated.

His voice was raw when he whispered, “You're amazing, baby. I was such a fool to let you go.”

Joanne smiled. She brushed her fingers down the side of his face as Max’s arms tightened protectively around her.

“Yes, Maximilian, you were.”

Max buried his face in her fragrant hair and breathed in deeply. “And you smell like heaven, Jo. My heaven.”

Joanne snuggled closer against him, sighing contently as she wrapped her arms around him.

“What are you doing?” Max growled in her hair.

“Going to sleep. That was just what I needed to . . . Max! No! What are you—”

“You didn’t think I was done with you, now did you, baby?” He said as he flipped her onto her stomach.

“You can’t be serious,” she whispered into the pillow, a low wail escaped her lips when Max dragged her hips higher and spread her legs wide apart.

“Oh, I am dead serious, luv. That was only the beginning.” His hot breath against the softness of her labia was the only warning before he took a leisurely lick from the front to the back of her slit. “And so hot, wet and ready for me, already.”

Max kept his promise. The sun was peeking on the horizon before he allowed her to sleep.

He stood gazing down at her, stumped at the emotions she had managed to unearth in him throughout the night. He brushed a wayward curl from her forehead and leaned down to place a butterfly kiss on her temple.

“You are mine, Joanne Katherine Blackmore. No one is going to hurt you again. That is a promise.” 

* * * * * * * *

“You’re wearing Max’s collar,” Jack observed when Joanne walked into the kitchen later, or rather shuffled with a painful wince. She was still half asleep but unless she was ready to admit to spending the entire night being fucked senseless, she had to get up in time for breakfast. Muscles she didn’t even know she had, were protesting with every step she took. Not to mention the tenderness in other private places.

Her fingers stole upward to brush over the diamond that fitted snugly in the hollow of her throat.

“It is beautiful, isn’t it?”

“And that’s why you’re wearing it?” Jack’s brows arched upward. He turned to remove the frittata from the oven. “Hm, smells divine,” he said, sniffing the air.

Joanne managed to climb on the high barstool at the breakfast nook without groaning. “The coffee smells even better,” she hinted.

Max placed the skillet in the center of the counter. Joanne didn’t wait for an invitation and helped herself with a large piece. She was buttering a thick piece of bread when the tantalizing aroma of the coffee filled her nostrils.

“Mmmmm,” she moaned as she took a sip. “I can’t tell you how much I missed proper coffee like this.”

“And avoiding my question very effectively in the process,” Jack said. He sat down opposite her and filled his plate. He took a bite and sat watching her as he chewed lazily.

Joanne glanced briefly at him. She continued eating. “Does it really bother you that much, Jack? Max and me? Together I mean, as a couple.”

Jack didn’t respond immediately. In that, he and Max were very similar. They always thought over their responses carefully.

“His previous callous treatment of you bothers me, sis. You forget, I was the one who returned to find you shattered and heartbroken.”

“That’s all in the past, Jack.”

“Is it? Just what has he promised you, sis? A happily ever after? A D/s relationship? Open or exclusive? I can’t just stand back and allow him to overpower you, Joanne. He’s too powerful a Dom for someone as young as you.”

“I’m twenty-eight years old, Jack. I’m not exactly a young girl anymore.”

“No, you’re not, but against Max’s experience, you’re still a baby.”

“What if it’s what I want, Jack? What if whatever he offers is enough for me?”

“Maybe it would’ve been when you were younger, Jo, but now? No, I don’t think so. God, just look what you’ve gone through the past year! I can’t begin to tell you how proud I am of what you did to survive.” He took a sip of his coffee, his gaze penetrating and direct. Max was like his own brother and he loved him, but he knew him too well to believe he would ever change his way of life. He didn’t want Joanne to be hurt again. “No, sis, it’ll never be enough for you. Not now.”

“You’re right but at the same time, I don’t believe what Max wants from me is all that much different from what I want from him.”

“You think? It’s all too up there in the air, Jo. I ask again, why are you wearing Max’s collar? Now, outside of the club.”

Joanne didn’t hesitate. If she had learned one thing during the long hours of the night she’d spent in Max’s arms, it was that she loved him, unconditionally and whether or not he admitted it, she instinctively knew that he loved her too.

“I’ve always loved him, Jack, since I was a little girl. I tried, I honestly tried to forget about him, but I never could. No man has been able to take his place in my heart. That day, when I looked up and saw him standing there in front of me in Riyadh, I knew. He had found me because he had never stopped looking and because he needed me as much as I needed him.”

“And if he refuses to exclusivity at the club? What then, sis.”

She finished her meal before she responded. “Max was right. I was too young and immature when I first entered the BDSM lifestyle. Since then, I’ve come to understand the dynamics of Domination and submission. I understand that doing a scene with different partners doesn’t mean his feelings for me would be any different. I would be the one he desires above all others.”

“You would accept him fucking other subs?”

“I don’t know. Off the cuff, the answer is an emphatic no. At this moment, I know I don’t have the desire to have sex with any other man but Max. I hope he feels the same.”

Joanne wiped her mouth with a serviette. She placed her elbows on the counter and rested her chin on her fists.

“Tell me truthfully, Jack. You have always said you’re not one for monogamy. Do you still feel like that? If you fall in love, would you want to honor her with exclusivity or would you still want others?”

“I felt it once, Joanne, with Selina Parker, while you were away at school. I offered her everything. My heart, my body and I would’ve given her my soul. In the end, she was the one who taught me that exclusivity is a myth, that the pleasures of the flesh are divorced from the chambers of our hearts. Love is what you feel inside. Pleasure is derived from everything surrounding you. What you see and hear, smell, taste and touch. So, no, I would never offer any woman exclusivity again.”

“Not even your wife, if you get married?”

“Not even my wife.”

“You believe Max is the same? That even if we get married, he’ll never give up on variety?”

“I can’t speak for Max, Jo. It’s something you will have to resolve yourself. All I’m asking is that you walk into this relationship with Max with open eyes. Shed those rose-tinted glasses that you’re wearing. I don’t want to see you heartbroken again.”

Joanne felt deflated. All her hopes and dreams were centered on Max wanting her exclusively. If Jack was right, that was never bound to happen.

“I hope the mewling cat didn’t keep you awake last night,” Jack said as he refilled their cups.

A telltale blush spread over Joanne’s cheeks. She hid behind the mug and mumbled a response.

“Hm, just as I thought,” he growled. He sat down his mug and walked down the hallway only to return with two large suitcases.

“What’s that for?”

“Max needs his rest, Joanne. Now that you’re back, maybe he’ll be able to get some sleep but not if he runs back and forth between his house and mine at all hours of the night.”

Joanne’s cheeks turned even redder when Jack laughed at her discomfort. It was almost like being caught out kissing a boy on the back porch by her mother, when she was a teenager.

“You won’t mind if I live with him? Are you sure?”

Jack hugged her briefly. He tilted back her head with his fist under her chin.

“I might be furious at Max for hurting you, but I also know that your feelings for him are real. Who am I to stand in your way? Besides, I know that he will keep you safe.”

Joanne jumped into his arms and hugged him for a long time.

“I missed you so much, Jack. You are the best brother that any girl could ask for.”

“Hm, yeah, put away the butter knife and go pack. We’ll drop your stuff at his house on the way to the office. Bruce said he’ll take you to the safe house.”

Jack stared after Joanne as she walked up the stairs. He still felt guilty that he hadn’t pushed her more when she’d told them she was taking a break from work to be a singer on a cruise ship in the Mediterranean. That she needed a break after the years of academics and the first backbreaking years to prove how good she was at forensic anthropology. It wasn’t like Joanne to be impulsive. He should’ve realized it was nothing more than a cock and bull story to soothe their parent’s concern.

To make it worse, the night she’d left, he and Max had overindulged in an orgy with some very entertaining subs at Crystals Club in L.A. They’d gone for a short visit specifically to wish her goodbye but instead, indulged in their own pleasures. If they had left when they were supposed to, maybe they would’ve been able to prevent her from being abducted. 

“It’s all water on the bridge, Jack old boy. All you can do now is be there for her and guide her as best you can.”

He was clearing away the dishes when a thought struck him.

“Fuck, I totally forgot Mom and Dad are coming here. Dad’s gonna be pissed if he finds out his little princess has moved in with the big, bad wolf,” he said under his breath. He brushed his hand over his hair and lifted his eyes upward, like he was praying for salvation. “Not to mention the clobbering I’m gonna get for allowing it to happen.”