This time he didn’t make her wait. Max entered her in one hard, ruthless thrust. Her muscles froze with the shock of it, but her heart tripped over itself with greedy joy.
“Chloe,” Max murmured as he began to thrust. Oh, God, it felt so good. So good.
She dug her nails into his ass to pull him tighter. Max kissed her hard, devouring her mouth as he shifted higher on her body. And, sweet Lord, that was just what she needed.
Chloe dug her nails in harder and he growled in response. Good. She felt like an animal and she wanted him to be a beast, too. He braced his hands against the bed and raised his chest, giving him more leverage. Arching her neck hard to the side, she closed her eyes and concentrated on the feel of him fucking her. Hard. And suddenly she was caught up in a wave of brutal pleasure. She cried out, screaming as her body jerked against his, squeezing his cock even tighter.
By the time Max came, she was almost done shaking, but she couldn’t stop whispering, “Oh, God,” under her breath. Max was still above her, weight resting on his hands, head hanging down as he panted. She slid a hand into his messy hair and pulled him down to lie on her.
“Good Lord, Max.”
He made a sound like a mix between a groan and a purr. Chloe’s heartbeat slowed, but she felt a little twitch of pain at the end of every beat. She was so happy in that moment that it hurt. If she could stay just like this forever, body melting, sex still stretched tight by his body, she would.
“I think you’ve ruined me for other men,” she whispered.
“I was going to say the same thing about you.”
She opened her eyes and smiled at the ceiling.
“But with women, I mean.”
“Uh-huh.”
He grinned, and she could feel the curve of it against her neck. The pain in her heart burned brighter. It was too soon for this. Too soon because she barely knew him, and too soon because she was surely on the rebound. Max was nothing like Thomas, so she found herself falling for him. Simple as that.
Except that it wasn’t that simple. Max was nothing like anyone she’d ever known. Charming and grumpy at the same time. Laid-back and constantly worried. He was complicated, and the layers fascinated her.
“You smell so good,” Max whispered against her neck.
“I could put on some sunscreen for old times’ sake.”
He shook his head, edging off her to get rid of the condom. “Why don’t girls wear that nice coconut oil anymore?”
“Because it was meant to increase UV exposure? Those girls who used to smell like coconut? They look like coconuts now.”
When he lay back down and tucked her into his shoulder, Chloe snuggled in with a happy sigh.
“So how did you find this place if that crazy woman doesn’t like people?”
“My dad was her mailman for twenty years. He said that every single day he’d find her standing next to her mailbox, waiting for the mail. Not anything specific, just waiting for the chance to glare at him if he was late. Then one day she wasn’t there. He thought it was a little odd, but the next day she wasn’t there, either, and she hadn’t picked up the mail from the day before. He got worried. He braved the forest in the front yard and knocked on her door and heard the dog barking, so he called the police. She’d had a stroke and hit her head on a table, and she would’ve died if he hadn’t noticed.”
“Wow.”
“Now that he’s retired, he stops by once a week to see her. She’s still ornery, but now she serves him cookies in her kitchen and complains bitterly about the new mail carrier. When my dad mentioned my search for an apartment, she offered me this.”
“I like it.”
“Liar.”
He let that go, and so did Chloe. It wasn’t important. This place was only temporary and it reflected nothing about her but her misery.
She decided to change the subject. “How long before you have to go back to your job?”
Max sighed so hard that her head sank two inches before he inhaled. “Three weeks.”
“I’ll bet you can’t wait. Especially after a vacation like this.”
“Mmm.”