“Maxie.” He pushed her door open and walked inside, needing to explain. She stood by the nightstand next to the bed, removing her necklace.
“I just wanted you to have the opportunity to meet with them. I never once thought I was undermining or manipulating you.”
She turned to him, frustration in her eyes. “Well, you did both. And now I’ll never know if I got that job on my own merit or because tech mogul Lucas Monroe called in a favor.”
“I get it.” He held up both hands in defeat. “So what are you going to do if they offer you the job?”
“They already did. The salary is good, benefits solid. I accepted, of course. I’d be stupid not to, no matter how it came to pass.” She sounded sad when she ought to be excited and happy.
“I’m sorry, Max.” He stepped closer, wanting her to forgive him as much as he wanted her.
“Well, that’s something Keith never gave me,” she murmured, her shoulders dropping in obvious relief. “Thank you. But Lucas, I need to grow and stand on my own, and I need you to respect that from here on out.” She eyed him warily. “Can you promise me that?”
“Cross my heart,” he said, meaning it. He’d do anything to put and keep a smile on her face.
Anything to have her in his arms.
“Maxie?”
“Yes?” She removed her earrings next, placing them in a tray on the nightstand, and met his gaze.
“Where were you all day?” And night. He asked the question that had been plaguing him all evening.
“My girlfriend Bailey’s,” she said, her lips twisting in a wry grin. “She’s an artist. She paints and works from home. I hadn’t seen her in a while, and I showed up with ice cream and we hung out all afternoon. Then we went out for dinner.”
He exhaled a breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding. “So you weren’t on a date tonight,” he said, aware of the relief in his voice and not giving a shit that he was putting his emotions out there for her to see.
“Not in the way you mean. Why do you care?” She met his gaze, all but daring him to answer.
Something he had no problem doing. “Because I care about you.”
“I care about you too.”
He wasn’t talking about friendship anymore, and she needed to understand where he stood. Two steps and he was in her space, crowding her between the bed and the nightstand.
Her fruity scent was stronger in the bedroom and went straight to his cock. The time for pussyfooting around had come to an end. “I want you.”
She blinked, her eyes alight with surprise. She obviously hadn’t expected him to verbalize what had been unsaid for years. She hadn’t anticipated him crossing the line between friends. But this morning he’d realized he couldn’t maintain the status quo.
And tonight, pacing the floor, waiting for her to come home, he’d nearly lost his damned mind.
“Lucas—”
“Shh.” He placed a finger over lips so soft, desire threaded through his veins. “I heard everything you said tonight and I respect it. I’ll play by your rules, but fuck, Maxie, I crave you. Your touch, your taste, your body.”
Her chocolate eyes darkened with a need that rivaled his. He wrapped a hand around her neck, pulling her close. “Say no.” Because that was the only thing that would stop him from taking her mouth with his.
“Yes.”
The word released all the frustration tonight had caused and the pent-up desire he’d been holding back for too long, and he slammed his mouth down hard on hers. She moaned and parted her lips, letting him inside. He took full advantage, devouring the deep recesses of her mouth, savoring her taste.
She moaned and pressed her breasts against his chest, the feel of those luscious mounds nearly causing him to lose it completely. He slid his mouth back and forth over hers, nipping at her lower lip, causing her to shudder and dig her nails into his shoulders. His dick pulsed inside his jeans.
He reminded himself to take it slow, but his heart pounded, and need beat a rapid pulse inside his chest. He tugged at the binding in her hair, and it spilled down, tumbling over his hands. He wanted to feel those strands on his bare chest and on his thighs as she took his cock into his mouth.
Slow, he reminded himself. Give her time to adjust to the idea of them. But nothing inside him allowed for slow. He continued to kiss her, as he turned and backed her against the bed. Her legs hit the mattress and she collapsed, taking him with her onto the bed.
She pulled at his shirt, sliding her hands along his sides and ribs. “Your skin is so hot,” she murmured. “So tight.”
He returned the favor, lifting her top and gliding his thumbs along her silken flesh. “And you’re so soft.” He pushed her shirt up and bared her stomach, pressing a kiss to her belly, sliding his tongue over her skin. She tasted a hint salty, and he continued a trail of damp kisses along her rib cage.
A loud banging noise sounded, and he jumped, ignoring it only to hear it again.
“Door,” he said with a groan and rolled to his side.
“Who could be here at this hour?” she asked, immediately fixing herself, smoothing her hair and adjusting her clothes.
“Good question,” he muttered, pissed at the interruption. “I’ll get it.”
He jumped up from the bed, adjusting his own clothes as he made his way to the door, cursing whomever had interrupted them.
* * *
Lucas looked through the peephole, uttering a curse when he saw his parents on the other side.