Her Best Friend's Brother (4 page)

CHAPTER SEVEN

They slept the next several hours and the next time Chloe opened her eyes, she found herself in the bed alone, the balcony door open and a tropical breeze blowing over her skin.

She stirred lazily, not in the least bit anxious to move and disturb the peace within her. She said a silent prayer, placing her trust in God, asking His forgiveness in giving her body to a man she wasn’t married to, but had always loved.

That was the key for her. She loved Max, but she wouldn’t allow him to jump into something he might regret later, even though it meant breaking her own heart by denying herself the man she’d always wanted.

She rolled over and wrapped the sheet around her naked form as she got to her feet. The open balcony door called to her, and she moved toward it, expecting to find Max.

The balcony was empty but she caught her breath at the view. The suite overlooked the main grounds of the pricey resort, the landscaping flowing from pools to shaded areas to the white sandy beach and a long stretch of clear blue water.

Movement nearby caught her attention and she lifted a hand to shade her eyes and turned to find herself under the very blatant perusal of a man standing on a nearby balcony. He had dark hair and darkly tanned skin, wore a white shirt and light khakis.

The man made no attempt to disguise his interest in her state of undress, and hot heat burst into her face, burning her cheeks. She stepped back toward the interior and stumbled over the long drape of sheet. It took some doing to untangle her feet, and she felt foolish and uncoordinated and painfully gauche as she made her way back into the room.

“Do not be embarrassed,” the man called. “I consider myself a lucky man to catch a glimpse of such beauty.”

Her face burned hotter still but the opening of the suite’s main door snagged her attention. Max walked inside looking tan and sexy, his simple T-shirt and cargo shorts looking surprisingly elegant.

“You’re up. I was hoping to make it back in time to wake you up myself.”

“Where were you,” she asked, aware she sounded a little breathless. But she wasn’t used to being eyed first thing in the morning by some European hottie, much less coming face-to-face with her own dream hottie in the flesh.

“When I got your things this morning I didn’t let the desk know you’d be staying with me. So I did that—and I ordered us brunch. It will be here in thirty minutes.”

Brunch. Staying with him. “Max, are you
sure
you want to do this? I don’t want to be rude, or sound ungrateful because I am, but can you afford to pay for us both?”

A slow smile tugged at the corners of his mouth, and Max walked toward her, every step filled with seductive promise.

“Yes, I can,” he said simply. “Now stop worrying and come here.”

Here was in his arms, his mouth over hers. She moaned when he kissed her like they’d been apart for years, his mouth smothering her protest when he undid the knot of sheet at her breasts and letting it fall to the floor. “There’s a man. Next balcony,” she gasped, head back to give Max’s mouth better access to her skin and all the sensitive places he now knew so well.

Max lifted his head and stared down at her, making no bones about looking his fill.

“Did he speak to you,” Max asked, his gaze lingering in the direction of her chest.

She nodded once, nervously. “I didn’t know he was there. He said— He said not to be embarrassed and…”

Max’s
lashes flickered up and his gaze snagged hers.

“And?”

“He was…lucky to have seen me.” She might not have a lot of experience, but Chloe recognized the spark of jealousy in Max’s eyes for what it was. Her heart fluttered out of sync, and a thrill shot through her a the thought of Max being jealous.

Max held up a hand as though motioning her to stay where she was and took a quick glance outside, pausing before stepping back in front of Chloe.

“He’s still there. Shall we give him a taste of what he’s missing,” Max said.

Her eyes widened. “What do you mean,” she asked, well aware of the fact she stood there naked. “Max…”

Max dropped to his knees in front of her, his hands on her hips keeping her still for his mouth to plunge against her cleft. She gasped and stumbled back, her shoulder blades hitting the paned balcony door with a gentle slam, her hands immediately going to his head to push him away but—not. “Max!” she cried softly, throatily due to the fact he was presently sucking on the bundle of nerves between her legs.

He lifted her leg and draped it over his shoulder, opening her up to his loving, forcing her to lean more heavily against the door behind her. Her body was primed, edgy for more having overindulged last night.

“Let me hear you,” Max ordered, sipping at her, tonguing her, flicking against her and taunting her before moving lower to tease the entrance to her body.

“Max, please.” She fought for purchase, for something to hold onto, something to force his mouth on her harder, deeper, make him take her over the edge.

His hands slipped up her thighs, not stopping until he spread her lower lips wide, lifting his head so that the breeze blew over the wetness of her.

She balanced on one leg with Max’s support and that of the door, but her strength faded fast when Max looked at her like he wanted to devour her. Like knowing the man was outside, within hearing distance of their play, excited him.

Truthfully, it excited her too. There was something about knowing the man knew what was happening to her. Knew Max was taking her. “Please. Don’t stop.”

“Louder, love.”

His thumb stroked her clit and a shudder moved through her.
“Don’t stop.”

Max’s mouth was over her again in an instant, suckling her, flicking her clit, his tongue rubbing against the nub and flicking back to her entry until she fumbled to grasp Max’s wrist and shoved his fingers into her warmth, surging against his hand and mouth at the same time. “Please!”

Max’s finger slid into her effortlessly. One, then two, sinking deep. Then finally, blissfully, three, filling her and stretching her to the point of pleasurable pain while his mouth suckled her, working her over until she tossed her head against the door and climaxed with an audible shriek of pleasure she couldn’t contain. Her hips moved wildly against Max’s mouth and hand, and more moans and sounds of pleasure escaped her. Sounds undoubtedly heard by their neighbor.

In a single move, Max lightly pressed his shoulder into her belly as he rose and tossed her over his back, carrying her to the bed and dropping her to the surface in a heap of tingling limbs and wet thighs. She clawed at the sheets, tiny aftershocks zipping through her because of their decadence, and watched as he stripped himself bare. His cock was thick, standing tall and proud and nearly touching Max’s belly button. The tip red and slick.

“Pull your knees back and hold them,” Max ordered. “Let me see you, wet and waiting for me.”

Max’s order brought a fresh blush to her cheeks but she found herself doing as she was told without question, giving herself over to Max’s more experienced care because she knew she wouldn’t regret it.

The sight of him staring at her sex shocked her sense of decency, but the tenderness and desire she saw on his face, the need and caring for her she saw in his expression, erased her inhibitions. Between a man and wife nothing was forbidden. And as far as she was concerned, she’d become Max’s wife the moment he’d asked her to marry him, even though she hadn’t accepted.

“Spread your knees wider. Wider, Chloe. Ahh, that’s it,” Max said, lowering his hand to rub against her.

Instead of easing the ache inside her, his touch only served to stoke the desire to be possessed by him. “Please.”

“What do you want,” he demanded.

“You.”

“Where. Here,” he asked, teasing her entry with his thumb.

Her breath hitched in her chest and she nodded rapidly, her grip on her knees tightening because her body— Surely not again so soon?
“Please.
”

CHAPTER EIGHT

Max made her come again just by teasing her swollen, over-sensitized clit. But before she could descend from the second climax, he thrust into her in a single move that sent her soaring right back into the haze of pleasure, pulling out and sliding back in deeper, the slickness of her body allowing him to slam into her with all the speed and force their too-long-denied bodies required.

She’d heard of women having multiple orgasms but she’d never considered herself the type who could experience such a phenomena. Thankfully, Max proved her wrong, and from the expression on his face when he struggled to catch his breath, he was quite pleased with the results.

A knock sounded on the door of the sitting room and Max quickly donned his shorts to retrieve their brunch cart. While Max took care of the food, she sat up in bed and fluffed the pillows, wondering if she’d ever see the man from the balcony across from them again—and praying she wouldn’t now that she’d screamed Max’s name for the entire floor to hear. It was one thing to see someone and think them attractive in a general sort of way, but quite another to know what they sound like during sex.

“You’re blushing,” Max murmured as he reentered the bedroom pushing the cart. “Why.”

She couldn’t keep the color from blooming in her face or stop the embarrassed smile she now wore. “Just wondering what the guy in the next room thinks now.”

“Do you care,” Max asked.

“No, not in the sense that you’re implying but— It’s embarrassing.”

“Because he knows I can make you scream when you come.”

“Because he had to have heard us in the act of something so…intimate.”

“Did it turn you on,” Max asked, lowering himself to the edge of the bed. He held out a plump, juicy-looking strawberry for her to eat. “Knowing he was out there listening.”

She parted her lips the moment Max touched the strawberry to her mouth, and used the excuse of biting into the scrumptious fruit to ponder his words. Had she been turned on by the thought of the man listening to them? And if she was turned on by it— “Isn’t that wrong?”

Max finished off the strawberry and chose another for her to eat.

“Why would it be wrong? He didn’t see us, and even if he had, I wouldn’t allow him to see you intimately. That’s a pleasure for my eyes only,” Max stated firmly. “But it’s a long-standing fantasy to be watched or heard during the act. And if it enhances your pleasure, why not enjoy it.”

She blinked at the news. “Does it do that for you? Is it one of your fantasies?”

Max was silent a long moment.

“I suppose. But only in the sense that they’d envy me because the woman I’m with is passionately mine and mine alone.”

His and his alone. Yeah, she could get used to that.

After brunch they showered and dressed for the beach. While Max arranged for a cabana to be set up for them, she unpacked her clothes and frowned down at them. “I’m going to have to find a laundry.”

“You won’t need clothes while you’re here,” Max said with a wolfish grin.

She laughed at his expression but shrugged off her embarrassment. Beach time meant bathing suits, and she could wash her undies in the sink and lay them out to dry. Really, now that the wedding was over, what did she need besides shorts and tanks?
Or nothing at all?

“Are you sore,” Max asked softly, his gaze roaming her face when she glanced at him in surprise.

“Um…huh?”

Max drew her close and gave her a soft kiss.

“Don’t pretend you weren’t a virgin. Are you sore?”

She was. But in the most wonderful way. “A little, I guess.”

“I thought so.”

“I was hoping you wouldn’t notice,” she admitted. “Women my age aren’t virgins unless there’s something wrong.”

Max frowned at that. “You take your faith very seriously. That’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

It wasn’t. Except for the fact that she’d held onto her virginity all of these years, saved herself for marriage, only to give it away beforehand anyway.
Because with Max you couldn’t say no.

“I wouldn’t have been upset had you not been, but I can’t say that I’m not thrilled at being the only man who’s ever had you—or will,” Max added.

She smoothed her hands over his pecs. “Getting awfully cocky, aren’t you? I haven’t agreed to marry you.”

“Yet,” he quickly added. “You haven’t said yes yet, but you will.”

Yeah, she probably would. But not right now. Not until they were home and she knew Max’s head was clear of the salty sea air wreaking havoc on their desire and awareness of one another. “Oh, really?”

“Without a doubt,” he stated. “Otherwise I’ll simply kidnap you and keep you all to myself until you can’t possibly deny me anything.”

She made a show of rolling her eyes at his boast, but her heart leapt at the thought of being Max’s captive, like some damsel captured by a rogue pirate. A gentleman pirate of course, her mind added. A man of worth and value who roamed the high seas for adventure until he found desire in something—someone—else.

“Hey, where’d you go,” Max demanded, slipping his fingers under her chin to lift it so she would meet his gaze.

A fiery blush rosied her cheeks at where her thoughts had gone, and she realized the tropical locale had given her a few fantasies of her own. “I’m here.”

“No, what was that about,” he demanded. “What were you thinking that’s making you flush.”

She smiled up at him and lifted onto her tiptoes to kiss him, lingering over the caress. “Maybe I’ll tell you…on the beach.”

“Why there and not here?”

“Because we have to get away from that bed,” she said pertly. “You know, you’re not the only one with fantasies.” That said, she grabbed her beach bag and practically ran toward the door, glancing over her shoulder when a husky growl reached her ears. She laughed at the sound—and Max’s very intrigued expression.

“A fantasy, you say.”