The Perception (The Exception #2)

He massaged my clit with his mouth, his tongue stroking it with more force this time. He added another finger inside me, moving them in and out slowly. My legs began to shake, my core heating.

“Max,” I warned through gritted teeth, the stimulation preventing me from saying much more. I tugged at his hair again, the soft locks slipping through my fingers.

He licked harder, my legs shaking faster, and before I knew what was happening, I toppled over the edge. Multi-colored glitter flashed through my vision, my body exploding from the work of Max’s tongue.

I moaned his name, trying to pull his face away from my body, the contact now suddenly more than I could bear. He groaned against my body, objecting to being tugged away. He slowed his onslaught, licking more gently, the strokes of his tongue softer.

My legs felt completely dead. My heart and breath both struggled to achieve some rhythm. My eyes were heavy but I forced them open anyway, wanting to see the grin I knew was staring at me.

His dimple was set deeply in his cheek as he wiped his face with the back of his hand. “Good?”

“Magical.”





KARI


The cafe on Mill Avenue was bustling. Patrons were going in and others leaving, waiters and waitresses buzzing around tables. The sounds of laughter and silverware clamoring from the kitchen filled the air.

I sipped my water and waited on Sam to show up. I had called her that morning and agreed to meet her for lunch at a cafe close to Alexander Industries so she could swing by on her lunch break. It wasn’t the best way to spend the afternoon, but it seemed to mean a lot to Max that I tried to be friends with her.

I swiped the Arizona Republic from a nearby table and paged through it until the seat across from me was pulled out. “Hey, Kari!”

I looked up to see Sam’s pretty smile. “Hi, Sam.”

She sat down next to me and shrugged off her sweater. “I’m sorry I’m late. I got stuck in construction traffic.” She took off her sunglasses, a teal color with a fancy gold emblem on the side that was vaguely familiar.

The waitress came by and Sam ordered a Diet Pepsi. “So, thank you for meeting me for lunch. I only see you when everyone is around and it’s hard to really talk, you know?”

“Yeah, thanks for inviting me.”

Samantha rested her hands on the table. “I just wanted to get to know you. I mean, if we’re going to be family now, we may as well be friends, right?”

“Family?” I asked, my eyebrows arching.

She laughed. “I was just kidding. You know, the whole engagement thing from yesterday. I’m sorry about Brielle’s outburst, by the way. I don’t know what she was even doing. John ripped her apart when you left.”

I sipped my drink and tried to figure out how to navigate the conversation. “Well, he didn’t have to do that on my behalf. It just sort of caught me off guard.”

“So, you and Max aren’t engaged? Has he even asked?”

I felt like a loaded question. “We’ve discussed it,” I replied, trying to mask my uneasiness with the topic. “It’s just one of those things, you know?”

“I can only imagine. Max has always been such a family guy. He told me once he wanted to have five kids,” she laughed. “I hope you’re ready for a houseful.”

Thankfully, the waitress showed up and saved me from coming up with a reply. We placed our orders and the waitress picked her way through the tables back to the kitchen.

Sam swirled her straw around her drink, watching one of the televisions overhead.

“It’s been such a long day already,” she sighed. “We had one of the places we’re working for call in first thing. The guy demanded to talk to Cane. Something about getting a tip that the asphalt we put down on a job wasn’t the correct thickness or something. I could hear Cane and Max yelling in the conference room and then they tore out of the office.” She laughed. “Not that that’s weird behavior from Cane, but I normally don’t see Max that upset about anything.”

“Max stays pretty level-headed,” I agreed, slightly annoyed about her presumption that she knew my man’s habits. “I hope things are alright. I know he’s been worried about the bid he’s working on and then about Dan.”

“That Dan guy is crazy! He called in again today, shouting at me and demanding to talk to Cane. He’s a lunatic.”

“Max said he seems to have gone off the deep end a little,” I shrugged. “I’m sure it’ll work out. Max has a way with people.”

She smiled. “He does. Everyone loves Max.” She swirled the straw around in her drink again. “And he loves you.”

“Well,” I said, not sure how to respond. “I hope so. I think a lot of him.”

“How could you not?” she asked, eyebrows raised. “He’s pretty perfect.”

I gauged her closely, trying to determine if I should mark my territory. “He is. That’s why I decided to move in with him.”

“You know I was kidding the other night about moving in with him, right? I didn’t think anything of it until Brielle pointed it out when we left the bar.”