Picking Up the Pieces (Pieces, #2)

"I thought you were playing hard to get?" I asked him.

His eyes shot to mine, their burning intensity rocketing warmth through my entire body. "I'm not hard to get. You've always had me.

For a few minutes after he spoke, we did nothing. We didn’t speak. We didn’t kiss. And truth be told, I couldn’t be sure if we even breathed. As always, I instantly got so lost in him, in us, that the thought of doing anything other than just being with him hadn’t even crossed my mind. I savored this time spent with him, and silently cursed myself for almost ruining the chance to experience it.

Eventually, his mouth moved purposefully toward mine, my lips meeting his with the same intensity. As much as I adored our ability to simply be, I loved these moments too. When a kiss began slowly, our tongues licking, pulling, and sucking until our hearts began to race faster and our breaths quickened.

I moaned against his mouth, my hands massaging down the length of his spine and back up again, feeling the pull of his skin beneath my fingers. He lowered me onto the bed and his hand immediately found my thigh, draping it over his hip so we could grind softly against one another. I felt myself get even wetter as his cock teased me until I was ready to beg to have him inside me.

His fingers danced tantalizingly down my legs and settled between my thighs. Reflexively, I thrust my hips against his hand, gaining the friction I craved. “So smooth,” he groaned out as he slid a finger inside me, expertly stroking the most sensitive part of me.

His fingers increased their speed, causing more of the slickness to slide into his palm as he swirled and stroked me toward orgasm. When my hand reached down to grip his shaft, he moved it away slowly. “Mmm-mmm,” he groaned teasingly. “You’ll feel me when I’m inside you. Not until then.”

I whined playfully, but the truth was I liked it. The idea that I couldn’t please him right away only turned me on more. He took his time licking his way down every inch of my body, across my arms and down my stomach to my toes and back up my legs, until his warm mouth finally ceased its torturously long journey and came to a stop at just the right spot.

Slowly at first, and then with increasing speed, he made love to me with his tongue—licking, thrusting, flicking, and sucking wildly until my need to have him inside me was excruciating. My subtle sounds grew steadily louder until I was sure the whole street knew what we were up to.

I bit my bottom lip to keep from screaming as his tongue and fingers worked inside me perfectly. “Please,” I finally begged, knowing that I couldn’t hold out much longer. But he didn’t let up. He teased me, bringing me just to the brink of orgasm before slowly tapering off his movements. God, he knows me better than I know myself.

Slowly, he brought his mouth back up to mine, kissing every speck of skin on the path up to my lips. I writhed beneath him, waiting impatiently for him to fill the emptiness in me that only he could ever fill. Then he pulled away for a moment, his gaze finding mine before speaking. “What is it you want?” he asked, a slight smile peeking out from the corners of his mouth.

I stilled my body before speaking, my eyes returning his intimate stare. “What I always want,” I said simply, knowing he loved to hear it. “You.”

And that's exactly what he gave. What he'd always given. And as he thrust solidly into me, causing my body to climb even closer toward release, I was so incredibly thankful for getting this chance that I really hadn't deserved. And as he pounded into me and brought me to the brink of shattering, love swelled even more in my chest because I knew that he'd be there to pick up the pieces after. In his arms, I'd always be whole.

"Let go, doll. I wanna see you fall apart beneath me."

I met his thrusts, my hands roving wildly over his body, until finally my body seized and my orgasm rocked through me.

He continued to pump inside of me, causing my body to continue to shake as my muscles contracted, making me even tighter for him.

He groaned his release, emptying inside of me. "God, I'm so glad we stopped using condoms. The feel of you around me with nothing between us is incredible." He lowered himself onto his side so that half of his body draped over me.

I laughed. "You are a true romantic, you know that?"

"Just speaking the truth," he replied as he buried his face in the crook of my neck.

"So did I show you?" I asked.

"Show me what?"

I turned so that we were facing each other. "How much I love you," I whispered.

His sexy smirk primed my body for him again. "You did. But maybe you should show me again. Just to be sure."

"Whatever it takes," I replied sincerely.

And as we began to get lost in each other again, I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I loved this man. He was my one, my only, my Max.





Epilogue: Max


Nearly Five Years Later




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