“I can’t believe you did all of this. It must’ve taken hours.”
“It was definitely more labor-intensive than dinner and a movie.”
I swallowed hard. “More special, too. I know what this place means to you.”
“Then you know why I want you here?”
This might sound dumb, but... “When Lois Lane visits Superman’s Fortress of Solitude...he’s symbolically giving her the keys to his kingdom.”
Smiling, Max wrapped his arm around my shoulders. The rush of the water lent this space a private, sacred air. “Something like that. For so long, it’s just been me against the world. But since I met you, Courtney...I haven’t felt alone. The first time I brought you here, I suspect I already felt this way about you. I just hadn’t put the pieces all together.” He offered a wry smile. “I’m bad at puzzles.”
“So what’s the plan for tonight?” I leaned my head against him as tenderness flooded through me.
“We eat. Listen to music. Stargaze. Talk about life, the universe and everything.” As I identified that as a Douglas Adams reference, he went on, stealing my ability to think. “And when you’re tired of that, I make love to you.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The sky gradually filled with stars as the MP3 player worked through my favorite songs mingled with Max’s. Truthfully our preferences weren’t as far apart as some people I’d dated. He liked older music along with a variety of indie artists, and I’d always been all about music I discovered myself. There was an indescribable thrill in unearthing a beautiful sound, akin to finding buried treasure.
By the time the songs started looping, we’d finished the food and were working toward the bottom of the wine bottle. I had a nice buzz on and Max was looking mellow. He drew me into his arms, settling me in front of him, so I leaned back against his chest. At first I resisted because I figured that couldn’t be comfortable for him.
He tightened his arms around me. “Stop squirming, woman.”
“Why, you don’t like it?”
“Maybe I like it too much.”
“There’s no such thing.”
In response he kissed the curve between my neck and shoulder. “The nape of your neck is so fucking sexy.”
“It is?” I’d never heard that before.
“Yeah. I didn’t realize I liked short hair on a woman until we got together. Now I’m constantly fighting the urge to nibble. Right here.” He trailed his fingertips just beneath my hairline, sending a shiver through me.
“So don’t,” I whispered. “Fight, that is.”
He chuckled softly and then his mouth grazed the sensitive skin behind my ear. Growing up in the city, I’d never fooled around outside, so the prospect sent an eager thrill through me. Arching my neck to give him better access, I closed my eyes as heat burgeoned with each graze of his lips. When he switched to teeth, a soft sound escaped me.
“Oh, God,” he murmured, right in my ear. “I could stand to hear that again.”
“Keep it up. Out here I can be as loud as I want.”
“Challenge accepted.”
Though I was ready to fall into the longing, an old question niggled at me, and it wasn’t idle curiosity. Max had said hurting women during sex was a hot button for him before we got together, and I needed to know why, since I wasn’t opposed to rough play, but I didn’t want to trigger any flashbacks, either.
“Can I ask you something, knowing it may impact the mood?”
His lips stilled on my neck. “Now I’m worried.”
“It’s about something you said. I made a sex joke about not being able to walk—”
“Oh. I figured you might bring it up eventually. You’re too attentive to just forget.” He wrapped his arms around my shoulders, settling me against him. “That’s both amazing and alarming. I bet you know what my favorite cereal is.”
“Lucky Charms,” I said promptly.
“My point exactly. I guess you already know this, but...my first year away from home completely sucked. The motel I stayed at charged by the hour, and I got...friendly with the girls who worked there.”
I had no idea if he was telling me he’d slept with hookers, so I just kept quiet, glad he couldn’t see my face. Nothing could make me stop caring about Max but a frisson of fear surfaced about what he might tell me. It seemed like he was waiting for some kind of response.
“Yeah?”
He went on. “They were good to me. I was living on fast food because it was free, completely rudderless and half-crazy worried about Mickey. Charlene used to bring me tuna casserole because she said I’d die of malnutrition eating only where I worked. And eventually I got to the point that I couldn’t choke down a burger without wanting to hurl.”
Quietly I covered his hands with mine. He clutched like this was unexpectedly hard to talk about. “She sounds nice.”
“Most of them were. It was weird, but...they mothered me.”
Picturing that, I had to smile. Trust Max to charm a bunch of working girls into wanting to take care of him. “I’m not surprised.”
“In return, I paid attention, listened for trouble when I was around. One night after my shift, I heard screaming. Didn’t even think about it, just ran up and kicked the door in.” I felt a tremor run through him. “There were three assholes with Charlene, and it wasn’t a package deal. Her eyes, she couldn’t even see, and she was bleeding—”
“What happened?”
“I got the shit kicked out of me, but the assistant manager called the cops, and they prevented it from turning into a murder scene.” From his bleak tone, I couldn’t imagine how bad it was. “There was no way I could stay down and watch them finish gang-raping her. So no matter how much it hurt, I got up again. I couldn’t see, couldn’t fucking breathe, and I could only think, Fuck, at least life with my dad trained me for this. I know how to take a punch.”
“Oh, Max.” My heart ached; I’d never imagined his hot button could possibly be this bad.
“What happened afterward?”
“The police rounded us all up, asked questions. I bailed before they realized I was underage and limped off to a free clinic. And I had to pay for the fucking door.” Wry tone.
“Wow. When you say life completely sucked, you weren’t exaggerating.”
“Later, one of those assholes tried to stab me.” He showed me the scar on the back of his hand. “And that was when Charlene had a come-to-Jesus talk with me. It was her way of thanking me, I think.”