Unacceptable Behavior (7 page)

Rafe had talked about how beautiful her strawberry blond locks were, so Max cut them short and dyed her hair black. She began going out with some girls from work to happy hour and quickly found solace in vodka and losing herself on the dance floor.

Oddly now that she was almost too thin, men came at her in droves. She wasn’t interested in anything but dancing and drinking as she tried to forget.

Max took to wearing kohl around her eyes, making them look like big cat eyes, stark in her pale face fringed by short black curls. Her glasses were a thing of the past; since the last spanking from Rafe about her glasses, Max had had Crystal Lens surgery to correct her vision.

Her breasts were still large looking, somewhat out of balance on her new thin frame.

* * *

When Rafe had been gone about four months, Tom, her boss, tried to talk with her about Rafe. “Max, I’m worried about you. You’re far too thin and I know Rafe would…”

Max froze then looked up at him with a frown. “Rafe? I’m not sure what he has to do with anything, Tom. He doesn’t work here anymore.”

“Rafe will be back, Max,” Tom said firmly.

“I’m sure that has nothing to do with me,” Max said resolutely. “I need to finish these reports before I leave for the day, so if there is nothing else?”

She pointedly stared at the wall over his left shoulder until Tom sighed and left with a short goodbye.

* * *

Rafe was finally back in Washington; he’d been imbedded deep in the deserts of Iraq and Syria for the last five months on a black op pinpointing small ISIS cells so a crew could come in and clean out each nest.

He’d only agreed to the op for a few weeks until the man he was filling in for came back after the birth of his first child. The problem was after the birth of his child, the man no longer wished to participate in black ops.

It took Rafe the next four months to convince his superiors that he now had a reason to come home as well. He no longer felt like risking his own life so cavalierly. He’d done his part and parcel for his country. Now he wanted to spend the rest of his life loving his woman. Loving Maxine.

The first chance he got he called her, eager to tell her he was coming home; he closed his eyes when Max answered the phone. Hearing her sweet voice was enough to bring tears to his eyes.

“Hello, Maxine,” he said softly. Silence greeted his words. “Max? It’s Rafe.”

“I know who it is, I just have no idea why you would be calling me,” Max said harshly.

“I told you I’d be back, Maxine,” Rafe said firmly.

“You said you’d be back in a few weeks, but of course that was a lie just like everything else. I don’t know why you’re bothering to call me, Rafe. You won’t find me easy pickings this time,” Max said coldly.

“Nothing between us was a lie, Maxine,” Rafe told her.

“Whatever, Rafe. I really don’t have time to talk. I’m due to meet some friends at the club. Don’t call again.”

“Maxine, don’t you dare…” He stopped when he realized he was talking to a dial tone. The little minx had hung up on him! Everything between them a lie indeed; he wondered how much of a lie she’d think it was next time he was blistering her backside.

Rafe told her when she gave herself to him that it was forever and she should have heeded his words, because he was home and he was going to reclaim everything that was his.

* * *

Max was reeling; why had he called now? Just when she was finally starting to feel normal again?

She put him determinedly from her mind; perhaps it was time to sleep with one of the guys at the club. Many had made a play for her attentions; the problem was none of them stirred her.

Not the way he did; even now just from the sound of his voice, her traitorous body was coming back to life. Every nerve was pulsing with an answering throb between her legs as the telling moisture began to seep from her core where she ached for his possession.

Max glared at her reflection in the mirror. No way was she going there again. The satisfaction he’d give her would be short-lived and the pain when he dumped her again would be something she might not recover from a second time.

Nope, Rafe was better left to memory… memories she could pull out in the dark of night and use her vibrator to assuage the yearnings of her body.

She studied her reflection once more before leaving for the club; the mermaid hair dye she’d used gave her an odd but striking look. Gone were the black tresses she’d sported for the previous few months; now her hair hung around her shoulders bleeding from purple on the crown of her head to a brilliant blue then finally to the turquoise that swung freely around her shoulders.

Max shrugged; she wasn’t entirely sure she liked it but it would do for now. One thing she’d really enjoyed in the last several months was continually reinventing herself. The weight hadn’t really been deliberate. She’d just lost her appetite for anything except the blessed relief the vodka gave her. When she was drunk and muzzy-headed, she was able to laugh and dance and for a little while forget all about Rafe Jennings.

Before Rafe she’d never really drank, she was really quite the goody-goody. But after he left, in an effort to pull her from her dark depression, her coworker Sally had finally convinced her to try happy hour.

After the first few drinks, Max had discovered peace from her busy thoughts of Rafe and whatever she did to drive him away. Blessed silence in her meandering mind… suddenly she was able to live in the moment and to her surprise the alcohol also served to get past the natural reserve and shyness she’d always experienced in social situations.

Now Max could interact with everyone else with ease once she’d had a drink and the dancing; she loved to dance and lose herself in the music swirling around her in the dark heat of the night.

Suddenly Max was almost desperate to escape the silence in her apartment; she would forget her problems minutes after walking into the club… she would give herself up to the fuzzy-headed peace the alcohol provided and then lose herself in the dance. Maybe tonight she’d find a man who could help her forget Rafe’s touch.

Chapter Eight

Rafe followed Tom into the dimly lit club with a frown. Max was here? This wasn’t the type of place Maxine frequented. The air was filled with desperation… desperate people looking for something, anything to fill the empty void of their lives.

Max was vibrant and alive, she didn’t belong here; this place would suck the life out of her and leave her a hard shell.

“Are you sure Maxine will be here?” he asked dubiously.

Tom looked at him with a little sadness in his eyes. “Max is here every night, Rafe. I told you she’s different. Harder… at least on the surface; she never smiles anymore. I’m not sure you’ll even recognize her.”

Rafe frowned finding it hard to reconcile what Tom was saying with his Maxine. Then Tom pointed out the small figure moving her body seductively on the dance floor. He froze with shock; the strawberry waves that used to fall down her back were gone. Instead her hair hung about shoulder length and was an odd mix of purples and blues and she was scarily thin. The curves he’d enjoyed so much were now just hard angles with the exception of her breasts; they were still enticingly full but looked out of place on her almost emaciated frame.

He watched as she danced; she barely even seemed to be aware of her partner as she moved to the beat. The man she was dancing with didn’t care, he used every opportunity he could to brush his body against hers in a sick parody of making love.

Rafe found himself getting angry; what the hell was she thinking letting some strange man rub himself around on her like that? Her behavior was beyond risky.

Before he even knew what he was doing, Rafe was standing in front of her on the dance floor, Romeo shoved roughly to one side.

Maxine didn’t even seem to notice her partner had changed at first, she was so caught up in the music, but when he took a firm hold of her waist and jerked her pliant body against his own, she stiffened and her eyes flew open in alarm.

He watched as her alcohol-muddled brain tried to make sense of being in his arms; it took a minute but soon she was trying to jerk away. “Let me go, Rafe.”

Ignoring the angry little demand, he pulled her closer and began to slow dance around the floor despite the fast beat thrumming around them.

She felt so good in his arms, even with the hard little bones poking him when before he’d felt only soft womanly curves. One of his first orders of business would be to put some weight back on his woman.

“I’ve missed you, Maxine,” he said softly into the shell of her ear and was rewarded with a soft shuddering sigh before she stomped hard on his instep.

“Let me go, you big ass!” Max yelled up at him.

He grunted at the slight pain in his foot and loosened his hold a little but didn’t release her. “I’ll let that one slide, baby. We’ve got to talk. You’ve got it all wrong…”

Maxine reared her hand back and slapped him solidly across the face, the anger behind the blow enough to give her the strength to make his ears ring.

When she started to lift the other hand, he caught her wrist before it could connect. “Tread very carefully.”

She glared up at him before finally dropping her gaze from his. “Fine, will you please let go of my arm? I don’t feel well and would like to go home.”

“Okay, I’ll give you a ride,” he told her and began to lead her off the dance floor, ignoring all the very interested stares their exchange had garnered.

“I can take myself,” she spat.

“Not in your current condition you can’t, young lady. You’re drunk and I better not find out you drive yourself around regularly in this condition,” he said sternly.

“Whether I do or not is no business of yours, Rafe Jennings!” Max practically screamed, demonstrating just how drunk she was.

“That’s enough,” Rafe said, turning her to face him firmly. “You have two choices. You can walk out of here on your own steam or you can ride out over my shoulder. Which is it going to be, Max?”

“Pig!” she yelled as she kicked him neatly in the shin.

“Shoulder it is,” Rafe said as calmly as he could, given he wanted to toss her over a knee and paddle the tar out of her. He managed not to, instead tossing her lightly over his right shoulder and taking her purse from Tom.

“See you at the office tomorrow,” Tom called after him as he walked out of the club with an irate Maxine yelling curse words and pounding his back from her position over his shoulder.

Rafe delivered one sharp swat to her bottom. “That’s enough!” Her struggles stopped, immediately reminding him how beautifully she’d responded to his discipline.

He sat her firmly in the seat of his truck and buckled her in, which garnered him another glare. “We’ll talk more at your apartment.”

Max made the ride home in complete silence; he could see the rage building in her as she worked herself up. He watched the rapid play of emotions across her face with concern but she continued to ignore him. As if it was no business of his how she felt and she resented his interference.

When the truck stopped in front of her apartment, Max jumped out and ran inside.

“Maxine, wait!” he called after her and cursed when she ignored him. Rafe walked into the apartment building, doing a quick perimeter check then a walk through before finding her in the kitchen pouring herself yet another drink. Rafe frowned; it was clear Maxine was drinking way too much. “What the hell are you playing at, Maxine? You know better than to just run in like that.”

“Leave me alone, Rafe. I’m tired and I needed a drink,” she said, pouring a generous amount of vodka in her glass.

Rafe frowned at her. “That won’t help, Maxine,” he said in a gentle voice.

She suddenly whirled on him in a fury. “Don’t you dare presume to tell me what I do and do not need, Rafe Jennings!” Max yelled before flinging the glass and its contents at him.

He ducked and the glass shattered on the floor behind him.

They stood staring across the kitchen at each other.

“You have no idea what I need,” she said, her voice raw.

“What do you need, baby?” Rafe asked.

Max suddenly gave him a brittle smile and started toward him. “Do you really want to help me?”

“Of course I do, honey, just tell me what you need,” he said.

Max started unzipping his pants the minute she reached him. Rafe caught her hand, shocked by her boldness. She laughed and jerked her hand away. “This is what I need but I can find it someplace else.”

She snatched her purse off the counter and walked out of the kitchen.

He grabbed her before she made it to the front door, swinging her around to face him. Max’s purse fell to the floor and she slapped him hard across the face.

Rafe caught her wrist and pulled her close. “Feel better?”

She looked at the quickly reddening handprint on his cheek and smiled. “Yeah…” she said just before his mouth came down hard on hers.

It wasn’t a gentle kiss but it fit the mood. Maxine ground her mouth hard against his and wrapped her arms tightly around him. He lifted her with his hands beneath her bottom and brought her tightly against him. She groaned and hooked her legs around him. Rafe sat her on the back of the couch and reached a hand between their bodies. As his hand grasped the crotch of her panties, he paused and looked down at her.

“You sure this is what you want?” he asked hoarsely.

In answer she unzipped his pants and freed him. “Just shut up and do it,” Maxine said, nipping him sharply on the chin.

Rafe ripped her panties off and surged into her waiting heat. He groaned and reached to pull her chest against his, but Max put a hand against his chest and laid back across the couch, her legs around his thighs, so that where his body joined hers was the only place they touched.

He frowned but grabbed her bottom tightly to hold her steady as he began to pound into her, giving her what she seemed to think she needed. It was hard and fast, only taking a matter of moments for Max to stiffen beneath him and cry out as she began to convulse around him. Rafe followed her quickly and rested his head on her chest in the aftermath.