“Talk like that will get you in my pants.”
“That’s the dream.”
In answer, I sat up and pulled my top off. I was prepared tonight with a pretty set of matching underwear. Nothing supersexy, but the black satin looked great against my skin, plus it was probably a surprise under the cargo pants and concert T-shirts. Max stared up at me, his mouth open, then he ran a fingertip between my breasts, lingering over the tiny bow between, and then he traced my bellybutton, admiring the small silver ring with a delicate touch.
“This working for you?”
His throat worked. “In a big way. Your skin is...glowing. Moonlight. Here. And here.” He kissed where he touched, bringing back the shivers.
“Please get naked,” I said. “I want to fuck you in the worst way.”
“God, yes.” He was down to boxer briefs in, like, fifteen seconds.
Not that I was counting. Okay, I was totally counting.
If anyone had told me I’d be naked in the woods with Max Cooper, I would’ve said they were bananas. But I couldn’t be happier about it. He knelt before me, almost like a penitent, but his dark eyes blazed as he lowered his head to the tops of my breasts. He didn’t need to push for me to fall back. I’d fantasized about this before, but it was so much better than my imagination to have Max’s mouth on my nipples, his black hair slipping over my skin. He used lips and tongue with only the barest hint of teeth to get me writhing on the blanket, clutching his head as I stared up at the ocean of stars. I’d meant for us to get to the fucking because his emotional honesty revved me up, but it seemed I was getting foreplay, the extended cut. Pleasure crashed through me, so much tension in my thighs and calves that I might actually cramp up. As if he sensed it, Max shifted lower, an arm across my stomach to hold me still. He licked down my ribs, which tickled a little, then he nuzzled at my navel, toying with my ring.
“You like that?” I managed to ask.
His voice came out hoarse. “It’s incredibly sexy. Like you.”
“Mmm.”
He didn’t linger long. Soon he was driving me crazy with his mouth on my lower belly, so close, but not close enough. Impatient, I touched my breasts, not to tease him, but because it felt good, but he stared, riveted, forgetting momentarily to keep kissing me.
“Never saw a woman take the reins before?” I teased.
“You are so hot.”
“I just know what I want.”
“What’s that?” He shifted to my inner thigh, licking upward, until I was shivering in anticipation.
As I opened my mouth to answer, he parted my labia with gentle fingers. I gasped out the answer, lifting my hips. “You. For so long, it’s been you.”
“I can’t stand the thought of anyone else looking at you.” As he spoke, he kissed. Licked. Nuzzled. I arched with a whimper that blossomed into a full moan. “Touching you. Courtney, you have to be mine.”
“I am.”
“Mine.” As he growled it, he sucked on each of my lips in turn, teasing me.
The next shift made me see stars. “That’s it.”
“Here?” He increased the pressure, working me with lips and fingertips, until my pulse pounded in my clit. I tingled and ached, a sea of heat rising with each movement.
“No,” I gasped. “Courtney. That’s the endearment. You always called me Kaufman before. So...I don’t need anything else. Just my name.”
“You want me to say your name?” Max hooked a finger inside me, lowering his head to rub his tongue against my clit.
“Yeah. Yes.” The last word came out in a near hiss, more in response to the steady rhythm in my pussy than his question.
“Courtney.” He spoke the word straight into my core and it shouldn’t have turned me on as much as it did. I went white-hot as he licked harder, faster, while finger-fucking me slowly. Like I was too tender for words, he eased another inside, so it was better and fuller, but still not enough. I wanted his cock so bad that I couldn’t think or breathe.
I raised my hips, only thinking about the orgasm. “Faster.”
“Are you close?”
“Mmm.”
“Then...” He stopped, prompting a snarl of frustration.
“Dammit!”
But when I heard the crinkle of the condom wrapper, my interrupted sex-rage abated. I helped him roll it on, noticed how incredibly hard he was, but he didn’t let me touch him for very long. Though I’d love to study his dick close up for several hours, it wouldn’t be tonight. Max was actually trembling when he rolled on top of me.
“Sorry. I keep trying to rock your world, but I can never wait. Maybe next time—”
“No, this is good. It’s good now. Please. Please.” I urged him forward as I opened my legs and he pushed home in one thrust.
Immediately, I lifted my hips, breathless at the feel of Max. There was no way he could be just a warm body to me, faceless pleasure. There was too much of his soul twined with mine, so each time he moved, I felt him so deep in me that my heart pounded with his. He wrapped his arms around, holding me so close he could barely move but somehow it made the sporadic, desperate lunges feel even deeper. His belly slid against mine, his cock slick as he thrust. I held onto him as hard as I could, need spiraling.
“Come on.” A hard thrust. Two fingers on my clit. “Take it, Courtney.” Max groaning my name into my mouth sent me over, a ferocious orgasm tightening my thighs.
He throbbed but he didn’t come. Somehow he held on for three or four more strokes, then he let go, collapsing on top of me as the waves rocked him. I held him and stroked his back until our shivers subsided. Eventually he groaned and rolled away, seeking blindly for the light blanket folded on top of the basket. Still unsteady, he pulled it over us and I snuggled into his side.
“So...you said you might crit my performance,” he said dreamily. “And I’m in a receptive mood. Any feedback?”
“Yeah.” Evilly, I paused long enough to get him to open his eyes.
“Uh-oh.”
“Don’t worry about not being able to wait. There’s no time minimum on good sex. And because it’s you, it’s consistently amazing.”
His arms tightened. “Keep talking, it’s making me feel like I can fly.”
“Hey, no jumping off high things. I need you beside me.”
“For you, I’ll desist.”
He kissed me so tenderly it brought to tears to my eyes. The whole world was washed in silver and gold—moonlight and Max’s skin. God, being this happy scared the shit out of me. For the first time in forever, I had something precious to lose. From deep down inside me, a tiny, cynical voice that didn’t belong to Eli quoted an old Robert Frost poem: