“I…I….” He was standing so close. I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t breathe. This was not how I had played it out in my mind. He wasn’t suppose to ask me about these feelings.

His stance over me, demanding an answer, was hot and frightening at the same time. “Jenna…tell me? Did you miss me?” His tone was so commanding that it made me twitch. And since I knew he wouldn’t back down until I told him the answer, I lied.

“No!” I said sternly into his face, and ran to the front door. The word stung me more than it might have him, and I felt my eyes pool with tears. I hated that I had so many emotions with him. No, I take it back…I liked it. I liked all the emotions I felt with him, that I never felt before with anyone else. The emotions that made me come alive, the emotions that made me want to be naked in bed with him…to touch him…to feel him inside me…oh...I needed to stop thinking.

“You’re lying,” Max said from behind me. He had almost reached me. “You’re just afraid I would give you something great. You’re afraid to fall in love with me.”

“I’m not afraid to love you,” I snapped, and I couldn’t believe the words came out, or what I was about to say. “I’m…I’m more afraid of losing you.”

Max pulled me in so tightly that I could feel his hard muscles against me. His piercing eyes looked me squarely in my eyes with so much conviction it was terrifying. “You haven’t really given us a chance to even know what losing means. You think you’re the only one afraid here? Does life just revolve around Jenna Mefferd? My heart isn’t made out of stone. I feel pain, I feel anger, and I feel every emotion that you feel. You don’t think I’m afraid of losing you? Yes, someone like me, who’s got it all, is afraid of losing what I want the most. I’ve wanted you since the day you captured my heart. It was the first day you looked at me with the same look I’m giving you right now, the look of want and need and searching for something great. Yes…you are my great. Can you see what I want you to see in my eyes? My body aches when you’re not around. I see the image of you in my mind, and I see so much in our future, but we can’t get there if you’re too afraid. I’m fighting for you. I’m fighting for us. So what are you waiting for?”

From his beautiful words, from his body touching mine, I was panting like a wild animal, and the erotic heat blistered through me so that I had to look away to cool down. I wanted him. I wanted us. All my life I’d played it safe, no risk and no adventures. Changing jobs was the first step to something better, and having Max in my life could be something great. I’d rather know what having something great was, than not knowing what it was at all.

At that moment, I realized I hadn’t lived to my full potential. Life was about taking good risks, to learn and grow from them. What good was it if I was too afraid to try? I would never know the meaning of true love or happiness. If I got hurt in the process…so be it. There was no self-control at this point. As I blinked, my eyes found his again and gave him the permission he needed. “I don’t want to wait anymore, Max,” I said softly.

Chapter 25

There were no words after that. My back contacted the wall when Max claimed me with his lips, those lips that I’d been wanting to taste for so long. And he did not disappoint as the urge between my legs awakened. Feeling his tongue pressed deeply, wanting me, took me to another level. My tingling hands shot up to his hair and gripped it tightly, letting him know I wanted more than just a kiss. He let me know too, as his body, already pressed against mine, got harder.

Feeling his hardness drove me wild as his hand slid down my back and cupped my behind with a firm grip that made me suck in air. “Mine,” he said with conviction as he continued to kiss me. “You taste so sweet. I can’t get enough.”

His possessive words had me spinning out of control. My hands on his hair slid down his rough manly stubbles, down his Adam’s apple, over the curve of his firm chest, and stopped by his waistband. Hearing Max groan, he pulled back to breathe and took both of my hands and pinned them against the wall. With a naughty grin, taking me in with his eyes, he reached in and tenderly kissed my neck, slowing things down.

Making his way downward, he released my arm and placed his hands on my waist. When his tongue played with the base of my breast, I yelped while I arched my back, and the ache between my legs intensified a hundred fold.

“Do you want more, Jenna?” he teased. “Tell me you want more or I’ll stop.”

His hot breath on my skin just added to what I was feeling. “More,” I cried out with my eyes closed as his tongue slipped inside my sweater. With a slight twist from his head, I felt it on the side of my breast. When he dug in deeper, his stubbles brushed my nipple, and I quivered from the pain and how they made me feel….so good. I thought my knees would buckle.

When I felt a sudden coolness, I stiffened. Max was using his teeth to unbutton my sweater, already half way down. “My lady in red…you…are… beautiful,” he said, asking my permission to continue with his eyes.

I locked my eyes on him and unbuttoned the remaining three buttons. Helping me slip out of my sweater, he held me tenderly as he unhooked my bra. Taking in my br**sts with his eyes, he pulled off his T-shirt and crushed my lips into his. My ni**les, that had been yearning for his touch, perked up. With one of his hands caressing one of my br**sts, his tongue was soothing the other. Flicking, nipping, and sucking, then sucking really hard, sent me over the edge. I could not control the burning, wanting sensation anymore.