She leaned her head back on his shoulder, an act so simple but so full of trust that it nearly knocked him over. He released her arms, and immediately she reached behind her and ran her hands across his thighs. He pressed his erection against her, loving the feel of her curvaceous backside.
He swept a hand softly down the side of her face. With as much tenderness as he could manage, he leaned in and pressed a kiss to her cheek, then found her mouth again. Raw need mingled with curiosity as he deepened the kiss. He needed her tonight as much as she evidently needed him.
With one swift movement, he pulled the shift over her head, then removed the rest of her undergarments until she stood before him completely nude, save for her stockings and shoes. The sight of her long legs encased in those sheer stockings nearly sent him over the edge.
“So perfect,” he said as he grazed her right breast with his thumb. He cupped her, and she closed her eyes against the sensation. He went down on one knee and pressed kisses to her breast. His tongue flicked against her nipple, then he suckled it into his mouth.
“Max, please,” she said. Her fingers knotted in his hair.
“Do you want me?” He stood as he asked the question and looked directly into her eyes.
She swallowed, but her brown eyes never wavered. “Yes.”
“Say it.” For reasons he did not understand, nor wanted to, he needed to hear it from her.
“I want you.”
“Again,” he insisted. He closed his eyes and listened to her soft, sultry voice.
“I want you, Max.”
He moved past her then, and yanked back the coverlet on his bed. The creamy sheets looked welcoming and soft as they always did. But tonight was not a night for sleeping. Tonight was a night for loving.
She had been with other men, she’d all but admitted that. And it didn’t matter to him. Tonight he would make her forget that any other man had ever touched her. After this, she would remember only his hands, his mouth, his body.
Deftly, he removed his own clothes, then walked toward her. She stood still beside the bed, and gently he picked her up and set her on the mattress. He slid a hand up her right thigh and she sucked in a sharp breath. But he stopped at the top of her stocking and rolled it down her leg, knocking off her shoe, then peeling the stocking off. Then he did the same with her other leg.
The hair between her legs glistened with her desire for him. He nibbled at her inner thigh, laving kisses on her warm flesh. Then he covered her center with his mouth. She was hot and wet, and her musky scent drove him wild. Her fingers threaded through his hair, her nails scraping over his scalp.
He dipped his tongue in, and she bucked against him. He grabbed her hips to keep her still as he licked and suckled her folds. That sensitive little nub got most of his attention, and Sabine’s fitful cries let him know her release was near.
And then she climaxed. She cried out his name again and again as she shook beneath him. Her hands fell away from his head, and she lay there completely spent. But he was not done with her.
He crawled up beside her and kissed each breast and then her collarbone.
Still her breathing was labored, but she was smiling.
“Touch me,” he whispered. Then he moved her hand downward until her fingers brushed against him.
She encircled him with her hand. While she explored his body, his hand ran down her stomach to the apex of her thighs. He cupped her, threading his fingers through her hair until he found that sensitive nub. He slid one finger across her opening, and she spread her legs farther, inviting him to touch her more.
Gooseflesh spread over her body, her nipples growing larger. She gripped him tightly, and he tossed his head back with a groan. She moved even closer to him.
“Now,” he said firmly. He placed himself on top of her, her body plush and warm beneath him.
He intertwined his fingers with her own, pressing her arms to the bed as he slowly entered her. Her knees came up, and she wrapped her legs around his back, clasping her feet and pulling him even deeper inside. Still he held her down and moved in and out, grinding against her.
Her nails dug into his back, and her breathing became tighter and shorter. Her release was very near. She teetered right on the edge, so he moved deeper and deeper and increased his speed.
Her body rocked with pleasure.
His own release wasn’t too far behind. His abdomen tightened as wave after wave shot through him. Then he collapsed on top of her.
They lay in comfortable silence for several moments, and for the first time in so very long, Sabine actually felt at peace. A sharp contrast to the realities around her—the prophecy, the quest, the Chosen One. Yet in this moment, lying in Max’s arms, it seemed as if all would be well. She knew it was the worst sort of deception, the kind you weave yourself. It was what her mother had done, ignoring the truth around her, and in the end, she’d paid the ultimate price.
She snuggled deeper into his side, knowing tomorrow would be a different day, and this intimacy they were enjoying would be shattered. She could not have a lover, especially not someone who stirred her soul so. She could easily fall in love with Max, and that terrified her because she knew love, in the end, only brought pain. The thought seemed to paralyze her heart, and for a fleeting second, she would have sworn it stopped beating.
“Why have you not married?” she asked him. She needed conversation to empty her head of those thoughts.