His End Game (MMG #1) (36 page)

He chuckled. “Would it be wrong to say I’m flattered?”

The look of horror on my face made everyone join in the hilarity. I however, was not humored. Changing the subject, I asked Piper how she managed to get into the locked house in the middle of the night.

She shot an evil glare at Max. “Max already grilled me on that. Everyone knows you keep a key under the ugly clay frog in back by the hot tub, Ellie.”

“Who’s everyone?” I asked, eyeing her skeptically.

“Don’t you remember the night Joss and I talked you into going to Joey Edgerton’s party? It was the end of our senior year and I was home for spring break.”

“Ugh, how could I forget? I spent days trying to get the taste of Hot Damn and Goldschlager out of my mouth and nose,” I cringed and crinkled my nose at the memory.

“Nose?” Max asked, his eyes dancing with humor.

“Ellie sat at the beer pong table all night pissing off all of the guys because they couldn’t beat her.”

“But doesn’t that mean she didn’t have to drink?” My dad asked. I arched my eyebrow at him and he snorted. “Honey, I practically invented the words ‘drinking game.’”

“Anywaaaay,” Piper continued, laughing at us, “Lance Lawson didn’t like losing so he made up new rules in order to beat Ellie. Every few points they alternated taking shots of Hot Damn and Goldschlager.”

I screwed up my face at the memory. Just thinking about it made me want to vomit. “How was I to know it wasn’t really part of the game? Before that night I had only had a few beers.” Both dad and Max scowled at this.

“How did the damn key play in?” Max asked.

“Oh, that’s the best part,” Piper smirked. “On the way out the door, your girl here announced to the party that anyone who wanted to come over and play beer pong in the future had an open invitation, just use the key under froggers in the back yard.”

My dad almost spewed his coffee across the table he was laughing so hard. “Froggers?”

I shot her a dirty look. “I don’t remember saying that!”

She gave me a toothy grin. “Thank goodness she was slurring and that nobody knew what she was talking about. It could have been ugly.”

“So you got sick?” Dad asked, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes.

“Yep,” Piper answered, “all over the side of Lance’s car, Joss’ front and back yard and finally the toilet.”

“I thought it was your car,” I winced, seeing the angry look coming from Max.

“I see my girl was busy while I was gone,” he muttered.

Not wanting to go there with him, I quickly changed the subject. “What time did you get up this morning?”

“Early,” he clipped, obviously a bit testy. “I heard a commotion in the front room and came to check it out.”

“And?” I encouraged.

“Saw a man and what looked like Piper. I asked if everything was okay and got pulled into introductions and coffee.”

Piper sighed heavily. “Well, now that we have this all settled, I’m going to go shower and crash. Wake me only if the house is on fire.”

Giving her a I-will-so-be-talking-to-you-later look, I asked, “Hey, where are your things?”

“Uh….” I could tell she was stalling. “Coming sometime in the future. I didn’t want to overwhelm you with my shit all at once. I’ll catch you all at dinner?”

“Yes. In fact, I am cooking for everyone tonight. Dinner will be at six thirty.”

She waved over her shoulder as she shuffled up the stairs. The sick feeling in the pit of my stomach almost overwhelmed me.

Someone hurt her and I can’t do anything about it because she won’t talk to me
.

I cleaned up the dishes while Max and my dad talked out on the back patio. I had a pretty strong suspicion they were talking about me. Right as I had loaded the last plate into the dishwasher they strolled back in looking like best friends.

Really
?

Max made a be-line straight for me. When he got within arms-length he tagged the back of my neck, folded me into his chest and kissed the top of my head.

My dad poured another cup of coffee and asked, “When are you planning on heading back to Kentucky?”

“Soon. I have things to deal with here before I head back, though.” My heart did a free fall into my fuzzy slippers.

He’s going back to Kentucky!

I raised my eyebrows at him. “You’re going back?”

“Yeah,” he replied. I felt his wonderful pancakes inching back up my throat. I don’t know what I expected but this definitely wasn’t it. Sensing something wrong he asked, “Hey, you okay?”

Nodding, I blinked back the tears that were threatening to spill.

“Sweet thing, when your beautiful body stiffens up and you go all cold on me? That is a strong indicator that you are not okay. Want to tell me what crazy thing is going through that head of yours so I can make it better?”

Not ready to discuss him leaving me again, I said, “Nope.” We stood there staring at each other, the silence a huge gulf between us, until his phone rang. Relief washed over me. I didn’t want to explain my abandonment issues. He hadn’t been back long enough for my emotional baggage.

Maybe, in a couple of years I’ll introduce him to it
.

I had just escaped to the other room to call and invite Benny, Joss and Kurt over for dinner when Max informed me that he had to go check on the garage and would see me at dinner. My dad had editing to do, so I made my calls and sat down with a cup of hot chocolate to listen to my music. Soon I was back to thinking about Max and Kentucky.

Piper came downstairs while I was prepping the burgers for dinner. She looked better but still not herself. The bruising on her face was awful.

“Tell me who hurt you,” I implored.

“Let’s just say I’ve had an extraordinarily bad month and leave it at that.”

“Can I at least say that I am worried about you?”

“You can but I still can’t talk about it.”

I set down the knife I had been chopping onions with. “Can’t or won’t?”

She shrugged and then winced from the pain. “Both, I suppose.”

“Look at me,” I demanded. She raised her eyes to mine and I gave it to her in black and white. “Someone hurt my best friend and I am not okay with that. If the tables were turned, you wouldn’t be either. I understand that, for some unfathomable reason, you think that you cannot talk. But, eventually Piper, you will need to. Promise me that when that day comes, if it is not me that you choose to tell, it will be someone who can help you through it.”

“I promise”, she said, with tears in her eyes.

The question of whether it involved her ex-boyfriend was on the tip of my tongue when Max came through the door. His eyes immediately hit on me and I went liquid inside.

God, I have missed this
.

I couldn’t take my eyes off of him as he made his way over to me. “You better?” he asked.

I was so tied up in his presence that all I could manage was a nod and a smile.

He leaned down to kiss me and, instead, whispered seductively in my ear. “Good, I missed you today and can’t wait until later tonight.” I could feel my face getting hot. Laughing, he turned toward the bedroom. About halfway across the room, he looked back and shouted, “I need a shower. Want to join?”

“Max!” I scolded, “There are people who can hear you.” I cut my eyes at Piper, who was busy watching Charlie Hunnam strut across the television screen.

He grinned wickedly. “Don’t want to shower with her. I just want you, gorgeous.” I gave him a don’t-mess-with-me look and heard him laughing all the way to the bedroom. As soon as he was gone, I smiled to myself and continued making dinner.

Kurt and Joss flipped when they got a look at Piper. Max, my dad and I all backed off while she talked to them. Joss, like me, was unhappy about her decision not to talk, but what could we do?

During dinner my dad asked Max about his plans for MMG Charlotte. I could have kissed him for asking, as there is no way Max would have given me the depth of information that he would give to Benny, dad and Kurt. I hoped that he would give some insight into his future plans.

Like are you going to live in Charlotte or Kentucky
?

Apparently Max bought the garage from Benny the second that he was told that Rocky had been found. It hurt that Benny kept it from me. Max and Benny finalized the sale while Max was staying with Kurt and Joss and before he had seen me. The construction to add three more bays, a waiting room and finish out the upstairs with four functional bedrooms had already started.

Yes, but is he planning on living there
?

They talked about his plans for the new shop throughout dinner. He wanted Benny to help him run the bays. I thought this was a great idea. Before dinner was over he asked Kurt if I could have off until their engagement party, Thursday night. He wanted to spend time with me. Of course, Kurt said yes.

Once everyone had gone home, I left Max and Piper in the living room watching television. I slipped on a nightie and was standing in front of the sink brushing my teeth when I heard the bedroom door open and close. I watched through the mirror as Max entered the bathroom and leaned against the wall behind me.

I put my toothbrush away. “Everything okay?”

“Piper’s in the living room watching TV.”

“Yeeees.” I had a pretty solid idea where this was going.

“Your dad is upstairs.”

“He is.”

“With this many people in the house, I don’t like that we have to be so quiet.” His soft, husky voice made the back of my neck tingle.

Oh…My
.

His blue gaze held me captivated. “You wearing any panties under that?”

“No,” I replied hungrily.

I could see every move he made in the mirror. My breath hitched as he stepped to me and pressed his full length against my back. Fingering the bottom of my nightie, he whispered in my ear. “I’m going to lift this up around your waist. Then I’m going to take you hard and fast. A spear of red hot lust shot through me and chill bumps erupted all over my body. I felt my nightie slowly creeping up to my waist. His fingers skimmed around my belly button and then down between my legs and I purred down low in my throat.

“You like that?”

“Yes,” I barely got out. His fingers began working me. Dropping my head back on his shoulder, I was almost there, when he pulled away. Gasping in dismay, my eyes shot to the mirror and I watched him unzip his pants.

“Hold onto the edge of the sink and spread your legs for me.” I had just barely grabbed onto the sink when he yanked my nightie up further and thrust deep inside me. One hand slid up my stomach to my breast while the other traveled back down between my legs. “I’ve been thinking about this all day. Jesus, just the smell of you makes me want to come.” His voice was tight and laced with need. “Want you with me.” That’s all he had to say and I was there.

“I’m there Max,” I told him, looking up from his hand on my breast back into the mirror. The second our eyes met, he sped up his thrusts.

“Now, he groaned, and I flew apart.

Never had better
.

I woke the next morning with Max’s fingers trickling down my back. I forced open one eye and was surprised to see him sitting next to me already dressed in jeans and a black long sleeved tee.

I couldn’t stop my eyes from flaring in appreciation. “Hey,” I sleepily said.

“I could get used to this.”

“To what?”

“To falling asleep every night with you wrapped around me after I’ve been deep inside you and waking with you the next morning, all sleepy and sexy like.”

I felt his words right between my legs. “Max,” I softly said as I ran my hand over his hair.

“So much I missed, Ellie. Just hearing about you being at a party where some dickhead named
Lance
could take advantage of you? It makes me sick to my stomach.”

My man has been doing some thinking
.

I tugged his hair. “Hey, don’t do that yourself.”

“I wasn’t here to protect you. All I can think about is how that never would have happened if I had been here.”

“I wish you had been here. Not a day went by that I didn’t think about you or wish that you were with me, but you weren’t.” I squeezed his arm and forced him to look at me. “I am so glad you told me why you left. I think we now have to talk about what happened in the past five years while you were gone. Don’t you? That is, what you don’t already know. I’m not good
with surprises and, judging by your reaction to Piper’s story yesterday, neither are you.”