The Gamble
Page 156

Gladys sighed. I pressed my lips together in order not to laugh at Norm calling Max a “pretty boy”.
Max, however, spoke. “We had a fallin’ out, Nina’s prone to gettin’ wild hairs and she took off. I found her a coupla hours too late. So, yeah, Norm, that’s on me.”
I stopped pressing my lips together, suddenly completely unamused, and I turned in his arm.
“What Damon did to me isn’t on you,” I declared.
“I wasn’t talkin’ about Damon, Duchess, I was talkin’ about you bein’ tied up in knots but, now that you mention it, he’s Damon. He spray painted your car. I knew he wasn’t done with you and yesterday, from the minute you left home to the minute I walked in this cabin, you were unprotected so, yeah, that’s on me too.”
“It is not.”
“Babe, it is.”
“It isn’t!”
Max’s hassled eyes went over my head and I knew he was looking at Norm when he stated, “She’s up five minutes and we’re fightin’. Our first date, she fought about how Germans invented beer.”
“I did not!” I cried.
Max’s eyes came to me. “Babe, you did.”
I turned again in his arm, looked at Gladys and announced, “He has the memory of an elephant which you would think is good for, say, anniversaries and birthdays and such, but day-to-day?” I shook my head and concluded, “It’s very, very bad.”
Max’s arm at my chest gave me a squeeze and my neck twisted so I could look at him when he spoke.
“You didn’t think that when I gave you that ring, incidentally a ring you haven’t taken off. You said it was thoughtful and the best gift anyone’s ever given you.”
My gaze swung back to Gladys and, harassed, I declared, “See? He remembers everything.”
I realized then that both Gladys and Norm were smiling at about the time I realized that Max and I were acting like lunatics.
“I don’t think she’s tied up in knots anymore, Gladie,” Norm observed.
“She is, dear, just not ones she wants to untie,” Gladys remarked.
“I should make breakfast,” I mumbled, mortified and to my further mortification when I tried to break free of Max’s hold it just got tighter and then I felt his lips kiss my neck.
“Why don’t we make it lunch?” Gladys suggested, her eyes sparkling, she’d caught the neck kiss but then again, it would be hard to miss.
“No, I can make breakfast,” I told her quickly.
“Lunch,” Norm said firmly, reaching a hand out to Gladys and making a move to the door.
“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 h*ps 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 f**ked 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.