“We can’t do lunch, Nina has to go to the Police Station to press charges against Damon,” Max shared.
“Brunch then, we’ll be back at ten,” Norm put in.
“Works for me,” Max stated.
“Max!” I hissed on another twist of my neck to look up at him.
“Ten,” Gladys affirmed. “See you then, dear.”
Then the door closed behind them. Max let me go to walk to it, he locked it and then he turned back to me.
When he did, I asked, “How bad is my face?”
“Worse than when he backhanded you, better than expected since he connected three times.”
Max said this while stalking toward me. Yes, stalking. Therefore, I didn’t hear his words because instinctively I was retreating.
“What are you doing?” I asked as he kept coming at me.
“Veer right, baby,” he directed and I looked over my right shoulder to see the door to the bedroom.
Then I looked back, noting my mistake immediately for he’d gained significantly and was right on top of me. His hands came to my hips and he veered us right.
“Max,” I whispered.
“I know you’re banged up, honey, so this mornin’ all you gotta do is lay back and I’ll eat you for breakfast before we have brunch.”
My stomach dipped and my hands fluttered to his chest.
“Max,” I repeated but it was breathy this time. “I’m really tired, I was thinking of getting in an hour of sleep before they come back.”
We were well into the bedroom and I knew this because my legs hit bed, I went down and Max came down on top of me on my healthy side. Then his hand slid into my hair at the side of my head and his mouth came to mine.
“You sleep while I go down on you, Duchess, it’s gonna piss me off.”
I felt a quiver between my legs that radiated outward and I felt my lips quiver too.
“I’ll try to stay awake,” I promised him.
His mouth left mine but not before I felt it smile. It slid down my jaw then to my neck.
At my ear, he ordered, “Shimmy out of your pants, baby.”
“Okay,” I whispered and pulled the drawstring of my pajamas as his tongue touched my earlobe then the back of my ear then it slid down and out to the strap of my camisole on my shoulder.
I shimmied out of my pajamas and undies and I barely tossed them aside before his hand was between my legs.
“Wet,” he muttered into my neck then his head came up as his fingers slid around, I saw his eyes had grown hungry and the sight made me wetter. He felt it and his mouth came to mine before he growled, “Fuck. I missed this, baby.”
It had only been two days. It felt like two hundred years.
“Me too.”
His finger slid inside and a moan slid out of my throat.
“Kiss me, Duchess,” he demanded and I gave him what he wanted as he finger fucked me, his thumb pressing at my sweet spot as his tongue invaded my mouth.
He broke the kiss and muttered against my lips, “You’re ready.” Max used his hands at my waist to yank me further up the bed. “Now I want you to open your legs for me, honey.”
I opened my legs for him then he slid down and rolled between them.
Then his mouth hit me and he had me for breakfast and, at least for me, it was unbelievably delicious.
***
“Duchess,” I heard Max call and I blinked then blinked again then dazedly looked around to see we were parked in front of the Gnaw Bone Police Station.
I lifted a hand to pull my hair out of my face then dropped it and turned to the door to see Max standing in it.
“Did I fall asleep?” I asked stupidly.
Max leaned his torso into the cab and undid my seatbelt, muttering, “Out like a light.”
“Mm,” I mumbled.
“This’ll be all over town next, Jeff gets Nina Zombie swearing out her statement against Damon,” Max was still muttering but also grinning as he straightened and then slid an arm along my back and helped me hop down from the Cherokee.
After Max had “breakfast” we had a shower and I got ready. Then we had brunch with Norm and Gladys and after, exchanged contact information and fond farewells. Then Max and I packed up the groceries, loaded the Jeep, checked out of the cabin and Max followed me as we went back to the rental car agency.
The rental car agency, I found out when Max explained as we were packing up, was the downfall of my heartbroken getaway considering, when Max got home, found my note and saw all my stuff gone, he wasn’t too happy and decided he was going to do something about it pretty much at once. Then again, he didn’t get home until well after lunch, it took him that long to cool down so I had a head start.
Deciding I had to get a taxi, Max called Arlene. Then Arlene called Bill, who was the person at Thrifty’s who sent the taxi, and told him to tell her who my taxi driver was. Then Arlene called Alan, my taxi driver. Alan told Arlene, who told Max that Alan took me to the rental car agency so Max called the agency. Since by then the rental car agency employees had changed shifts, Max made more calls and he found out that George knew the man who owned the rental car agency. George called him, that guy called his employee at home and his employee told him where I was staying, the crux of my downfall. He told George, George told Max, thus Max found me.
The joys of small town living.
When Max arrived at the cabin, he’d been pounding at the door because, as he put it, “Babe, seriously, you sleep like the dead,” and eventually thinking he wasn’t going to wake me with his pounding, he had to open the door with a credit card.
Yes, a credit card.
Those cabins were very pretty and they’d done a good job renovating but they definitely needed new locks. And, perhaps, better outdoor lighting.
After we packed up the Jeep, we turned in my rental. Then I climbed into the Cherokee and evidently fell fast asleep.
I had not been in favor of the turning in the rental car business. I thought it might be good for me to have a car so Max didn’t have to drive me around everywhere. Max thought, since he wasn’t working, there was pretty much no reason he couldn’t take me where I wanted to go and, incidentally, be with me while I was there. Therefore Max talked me into returning the car. Or, I should say, Max ordered me to do it and after we argued for ten minutes, I was too tired to keep arguing so I gave in.
Luckily, he did. It wouldn’t do for me to fall asleep at the wheel. Though, I was not going to share that with Max.
Max still had his arm around me and he shuffled me to the side then he slammed the door to the Jeep then he shuffled me back, stepped in until my back was at the Cherokee and Max was pressed up against my front.
I tipped my head back to look at him, still partly asleep.
“Lucky you turned in that car, babe, or it’d be another call to triple A to pull it out of the ditch, you fell asleep at the wheel.”
God, Max was so annoying.
“You know, I think you’re onto something,” I told him. “A good way to get rid of Nina Zombie is to be annoying. And, seeing as you’re that way a lot, it’s too bad you like Nina Zombie because in future her appearances will likely be very rare.”
He grinned. “You only think I’m annoying when I’m right.”
“Yes,” I agreed. “Take, for instance, now.”
He burst out laughing but as he did this his hand hooked around the back of my neck, he pulled me up to my toes and his mouth came down on mine.
I’d never had someone kiss me while they laughed. It was an experience.
A good one.
I’d also never had anyone kiss me (or do other things to me for that matter) when I had a black eye and a bruised cheekbone not that I had them very often, just both the times my ex Brent hurt me. When I saw my face in the mirror that morning I found Max was right. It wasn’t as bad as it could have been but it was definitely worse than before. And not exactly attractive. Though that didn’t faze Max, not in the slightest.