“Kiss me,” she demanded softly.
Max’s eyes had adjusted to the dim light and noted that her eyes were open and staring up at him. He wanted nothing more than to lose himself with her lips and body but knew she wasn’t thinking clearly. “No, Tara. You’ve had too much to drink and don’t know what your asking me to do,” he said. “Go to sleep.”
“I knew it,” she said and sniffed as if she were about to cry. “You don’t want me either.”
Max could deal with a lot, but tears from Tara, strong, dependable, beautiful Tara, his body wouldn’t be able to endure that. “Don’t, sweetheart,” he said quickly and put his hands in her silky hair and pulled her close. “Please don’t cry,” he repeated and his lips touched hers. “I know you won’t remember this in the morning, but I want you more than any woman I’ve ever met,” he said harshly.
He kissed her gently, intending to only touch his lips to hers and then leave her alone. But she had other ideas. She put her hands on his cheeks which immobilized him. Her lips took over the kiss and deepened it, pulling him in deeper to the kiss and the magic of her touch. Her body also moved closer and within moments, they were kissing passionately, their legs tangled and their bodies touching from head to toe. Max groaned and pulled her harder against his length, his tongue touching her lips and asking permission to enter. When he was granted that permission, his tongue delved inside, touching hers, tasting her mouth and feeling the softness of her mouth.
Max pulled way, his breathing harsh and his body rock hard and ready to enter her softness. She was not herself, he reminded himself and pulled her hands off his chest. “Go to sleep,” he grated out. The next moment, she was sound asleep again, snuggled against his left side and Max stared up at the ceiling, willing his body to calm down while his mind worked through ways to get her back in this same position, but without the inebriation clouding her mind.
Chapter 6
Tara heard the whistling and cringed. Her head immediately started throbbing and she closed her eyes, hoping to block out the bright light streaming into her bedroom. The pain was so intense that she wished she could just pull the covers over her head and die. At the same time, she was afraid the death would be too slow and she needed quick relief.
After a few more minutes, she realized that this wasn’t her bedroom. The light was coming from the wrong side of the bed. If this wasn’t her bedroom, she puzzled, then whose bedroom was it? Was she sure that this wasn’t hers? Daring to open her eyes only a small amount, she looked at the covers. Sure enough, the sheets were a blue but hers were a soft yellow. The thought panicked her slightly which only intensified the pain.
“What have I done?” she whispered. She wracked her brain, trying to remember the night before. But all she could remember was leaning against Max and feeling warm and protected. Surely she and Max hadn’t….no, that was too….Oh no!
Tara concentrated on the sounds around her. She heard music coming from a stereo somewhere but she wasn’t sure what song was playing since it required too much concentration, a commodity she didn’t really have at this point in the morning.
There was also a shower going somewhere in the distance. The whistling was coming from that direction. Tara decided to be brave and open her eyes a little more. There were too many puzzles that were hurting her head more than the light was.
The shower turned off and the whistling grew slightly louder. Whoever was showering was getting out of the shower. Tara opened her eyes and looked around. The soft sheets felt wonderful against her aching body and she looked at the pillow beside her. There was an indentation on it that shouldn’t be there, she thought. Odd, but perhaps the whistler was also the person whose head had been resting there.
That last thought triggered something in her brain and Tara groaned as the memories came flooding back to her. “Oh no!” she said out loud.
The whistling stopped and Max appeared in the doorway to what must have been the bathroom. “Good morning!” he said, smiling as he approached the bed. His cheerfulness made her cringe. Couldn’t he be a night person? No, that wasn’t fair. As the memories slowly starting coming back to her, she remembered that he had been a night person as well. She was the one that had fallen asleep whereas he had been wide awake. How could the man have so much stamina? Especially when she felt so awful! It just wasn’t decent, she decided. She closed her eyes again, wishing the scene would just disappear and she’d be back in her own bed without the pain throbbing behind her temples.
“Closing your eyes won’t get you out of my bed,” he replied and Tara could hear the amusement in his tone.
With those words, her eyes popped open, wide open as she watched him walk toward her across the wide expanse of the unfamiliar room. Tara stared at the large expanse of incredibly muscled chest and stomach, amazed that someone with so much power and responsibility had the time to work out enough to produce those muscles. Her eyes wandered down the expanse of his chest, to his stomach, then lower. Tara gasped and sat up in bed. Her hands automatically reached for the blue sheet, pulling it up to cover herself and pushing her thick hair out of her eyes at the same time. He was only wearing a towel!
Accepting that she had to know the truth, no matter how embarrassing it was. Wondering if she and Max had….well, she just needed to know. “Your Highness, please tell me we didn’t…” Tara couldn’t finish the sentence and she felt her face turning bright red.
Max chuckled and tossed the extra towel he’d been using to dry his hair over onto the end of the bed. His casual attitude frightened her more than the broad expanse of his incredible chest. “No, we didn’t. But I got no help from you on that end,” he went on.
She knew she didn’t want to know but also didn’t want the unknown to haunt her later on. “What do you mean?” she croaked out. She felt her shoulders touch the pillow behind her and wished she wasn’t shrinking back from him. If only she was more confident…more experienced. She was sure that the other women who had shared his bed would be laughing at this scene. But she wasn’t experienced and she didn’t know how to handle being alone in his bedroom.
He sat down on the bed beside her, a charming grin on his face as he looked at her sleep tousled face. “I mean, I was trying to be the gentleman and keep my hands off you but you had other ideas,” he said, running a finger down her bare shoulder. “I can’t believe you don’t remember kissing me last night. I can guarantee that I remember it. Every special moment,” he said softly.