"Give it to me, " she dared him.
He did, driving into her so deeply that she felt the breath leave her lungs in a gust. And then again and again. Harder, each time filling her, stretching her. She whispered his name, moaned and panted as he pushed her higher. He let go of her knees and slid his hands around her, one cupping her b.u.t.tocks, fingers sliding between its cheeks, exploring and invading her darkest secrets. The other hand slid between them to find her breast, her nipple. He caught it between thumb and forefinger, began tugging and twisting.
"Yes, yes, yes, " she whispered as he pushed the flames higher. She lost all sense of what he was doing or how he was doing it. She felt pleasure, delicious naughty stabs of pain mingling with it as he pinched and pulled and drove. And then she was exploding, and she knew he was, too, when he drove into her so hard she felt him in her womb, pulsing into her, holding her to receive him.
She wrapped her arms and legs around him, holding him to her, tightly, desperately, as unbearablepleasure twisted her body into knots. She held on, and so did he; his arms and body were her anchor as her entire being shattered like a dropped mirror and rained down in a deluge of glittering, shining bits that pierced her body and sank deep, and then melted into quicksilver in the warmth that suddenly lived inside her, warmth Lou had put there. Then the parts of herself gathered together again, smooth and shining and better than before. Her body uncoiled. Her arms went from clutching him to simply holding him.
Lou lifted his head, so he could stare down at her face. She thought he was going to kiss her, smiled just a little in expectation. But he didn"t. He rolled off her, then gathered her in his arms and maneuvered them both into a more comfortable position in the bed. Then he drew the covers over them both, turned off the light and lay there, holding her, spooning behind her, his arms around her.
"Lou?"
"Hmm?"
"Are you okay with this?"
She felt his breath wafting over her hair. "Go to sleep, hon. We don"t need to pick it apart tonight."
"We don"t need to pick it apart at all. It was wonderful, Lou. It was a wonderful, amazing, mind-blowing moment. It doesn"t have to be anything more."
He snuggled her close to him.
"Would it be better if I went back to my own room?" she asked.
"Don"t even think about it."
"But-"
"Maxie, hon, just shut up and go to sleep, okay? Don"t worry about what I"m thinking. I don"t even know what I"m thinking right now. Ask me again in the morning." To soften the words, he pressed a kiss to her shoulder.
"Okay, " she said. But she snuggled closer to him. "It"s okay, you know. Nothing has to change, Lou"
"Everything"s changed, Max."
She closed her eyes tightly, dreading what he would say next. "Was I...I mean, did you...?"
"You were incredible." His arms tightened around her. "You are incredible."
And I love you, she added mentally, imagining those words on his lips. Say it, Lou. Just say it.
But he didn"t. He snuggled her as if he loved her, held her as if she were precious to him, but he didn"t say what she was so longing to hear.
"Just get some sleep, hon. We"ll figure this out in the morning."
"Then I hope the morning never comes, " she whispered. But to her surprise, she did just what he"d suggested. She fell asleep. Deeply, soundly asleep in his strong arms. When she woke, she was alone in the bed.
She rolled over onto her back, blinking the sleep from her eyes, then winced because even that small movement caused pain. A deep, dull achiness pervaded her body. Her limbs and back hurt.
What hurt more was the uncertainty in her mind. She knew Lou far too well to think he was going to take this easily. He would be a basket case by now. The man thought too much. Well, he could deny it all he wanted, but she knew d.a.m.n well he"d been as into her last night as she had been into him, and he couldn"t take back what had happened between them.
h.e.l.l, that would drive him crazier than anything else. She sat up in the bed and looked around. The bathroom door was open. She smelled fresh soap, shampoo scents lingering on the air, and got to her feet to pad across the floor, stark naked, to take a look. The mirror was still coated with steam and moisture. She ran a palm across it. A damp towel was slung crookedly on the rack.
He"d gotten up early. Must have been d.a.m.n quiet about it, too. Showered while she slept and then slipped away. h.e.l.l, he was probably halfway back to White Plains by now.
Pressing her lips tight, she corrected herself. He wouldn"t leave her-not while she was in danger, at least. He would stick around until the case was solved. No longer, though. She had probably sealed her fate by pushing him into something he wasn"t ready for last night. No way would he stay with her now.
No way.
Tipping her head to one side and rubbing the back of her neck, she walked to the front of the motel room to take a look out the window. Her car wasn"t in the parking lot. But Lou would be back. She had no doubt about that. Besides, it wasn"t even six-thirty yet. Might as well shower and be ready for the blow he would no doubt deliver when he came back.
She stepped into the tub, yanked the curtain closed but left the door open, and turned the faucets. When the water was flowing just right, she flipped the control lever, switching the flow to the showerhead. Then she let the hot spray ma.s.sage and soothe her achy muscles.
"h.e.l.lo? Maxie, you in there?" Stormy"s voice came just as Max was wrist deep in shampoo.
"Yep. You bring breakfast?"
"No, Lou"s getting it. I saw him on his way out. Thought I"d come get the dirt. So what happened last night?"
Max finished rinsing the suds from her hair, peeked around the curtain and said, "We did it."
"You..." Stormy blinked, then grinned ear to ear. "Son of a gun! About time you nailed that hide to your wall, girl. Good for you."
"Not really." Max ducked under the spray again to finish up.
"You mean it wasn"t...?"
"Oh, h.e.l.l no. The s.e.x part was great. Earth-shatteringly great. It"s the repercussions I"m thinking aren"t going to be so hot." "Oh. There are gonna be repercussions?"
Max turned off the water, s.n.a.t.c.hed a towel from the nearby stack and wrapped it around her as she stepped out of the shower. "Oh, yeah. Any minute now he"ll be back here. I imagine he"s been awake all night figuring out how to explain to me what a huge mistake this was and why it can never happen again."
"If he thought it was a mistake, he wouldn"t have done it."
Max was bent over, briskly rubbing her head with a towel. But she looked up long enough to say, "I didn"t exactly give him much choice."
Stormy"s brows went up. "What did you do, take him at gunpoint?"
"Not exactly." She slung the towel from her head onto the counter, finger-combed her hair and then strode back into the bedroom. Stormy sat on a comfy chair with her feet propped on the foot of the unmade bed. "I might as well have, though, " Max said. She was reaching for Lou"s drawer but decided not to keep wearing all his clean T-shirts. "I have to go to my room for some clothes."
"I"ll go for you, if you"ll do something for me first, " Stormy said.
"Name it." She turned from the dresser, but when she saw Stormy"s eyes she knew she had more problems to worry about than just Lou"s reaction to their night of pa.s.sion. Stormy was staring at Max"s legs, and when Max looked down she saw the bruises that had formed overnight. Her arms didn"t look much better, and she knew there were scratch marks on her neck and face.
"Tell me what went on last night, Max. I know d.a.m.n good and well Lou didn"t put those marks there.
What the h.e.l.l happened to you?"
Max rolled her eyes and tried for a casual att.i.tude. "I thought I saw someone lurking around outside.
Went wandering out there like a moron. All alone. Wound up walking right over a drop and rolling all the way to the bottom." She held out her arms, looking from one to the other, shaking her head as if at her own stupidity. "It looks a lot worse than it is."
"If it didn"t, you"d be dead."
"It was stupid. Fortunately, Lou saw me slipping away and came out after me. Got me back here and doctored me up."
"Uh-huh."
"That"s how we ended up-"
"Max, knock it off."
Max stopped talking. She bit her lip and knew where she"d screwed up her story.
"I woke up bruised to h.e.l.l and gone, too. And not wearing the same nightie I wore to bed, " Stormy said. "Why is that?"
"Okay. Okay, I"ll be honest." "I attacked you"
"No. No. You were actually the one I saw wandering around. I followed you. You fell, same as I did. It was dark, and the drop came up on you kind of suddenly. Lou would have fallen, too, if he hadn"t seen me go over first."
Stormy stared at her, as if willing her to reveal the whole truth.
"You were sleepwalking, I think, " Max said.
She didn"t mention the dark vampire who"d been out there by the sh.o.r.e, maybe waiting for Stormy. She didn"t mention wondering if he"d somehow used his powers to lure Stormy out there to him. And above all else, she didn"t tell Stormy that she had pummeled her best friend silly last night in what looked a h.e.l.l of a lot like defense of the vampire.
No way would she tell her that. Not ever.
"You"re not telling me everything."
"I am. I mean it, Storm, that"s all of it. "
Stormy squinted at her, and Max knew she was angry-not so much at her as at the situation. "I hate not being able to remember. I hate that my body seems so willing to walk around doing things without my knowledge or consent. G.o.d, it"s frustrating "
"I know. But we"re gonna get to the bottom of it, hon. Maybe even today." She pointed at the window.
"Look, no clouds. Clear skies."
Stormy started to reply but just then Lou came in. He had his arms full. Coffee, pastries. He"d been to the bakery again. He saw Max standing there still wearing a towel, and his eyes slid lower over her body and got all dark with pa.s.sion again before they leveled on hers.
"I, uh, was just gonna run over to Max"s room to get her some clothes, " Stormy said. "It"ll take me...ten minutes." She looked at her watch. "Good enough? "Cause it could take me twenty if you-"
"You don"t need to-" Max began.
"Make it fifteen, " Lou said.
"In that case, I"ll take this with me." Stormy grabbed a cup of coffee from Lou, dug into one of the bags he held for a doughnut and hurried from the room.
Here it comes, Max thought. Here comes the big rationalization as to why what happened, happened, and why it must never, ever happen again.
She was nervous and not looking forward to the conversation. "The weather"s not bad this morning, is it?" "No. Clear as a bell."
She nodded. "I wonder if it will turn bad the minute we start for the boat." "I still have my doubts there"s a vamp alive who could control the weather even while he sleeps by day."
"I don"t. Last night he all but admitted he caused yesterday"s storm."
Lou set the bags down on the table. He faced her, then moved closer, ran a hand through her slightly crazy, still-damp hair and shook his head slowly. "You"re looking at me as if you think I"m about to drive a stake through your heart, kid."
"Aren"t you?"
"Nope. I give up. You win."
She blinked three times in quick succession. "I win?"
He nodded. "I think we should get married."
Closing her eyes tight, bending her brows, she let that translate in her brain, then focused on him again and said, "What?"
"I said I think we shoul-"
"I heard what you said. I"m just not clear on why you said it. Jesus, Lou, how did we get from "let"s just be friends" to "let"s get married"?"
"Well...it"s pretty obvious, isn"t it?"
"We had s.e.x. I told you, it doesn"t have to mean anything."
"But you want it to. And h.e.l.l, Max, I"m tired of fighting about it. Besides, it"s done. The damage is done now, there"s no going back. So this is the only solution."
"What planet are you living on?"
He shrugged. "I"m not being old-fashioned, I"m being practical." He pushed a hand through his hair and paced away from her. "We"ve gone too far to go back now. The friendship is already ruined, Max. We can"t go back to being platonic-not after that"
She tipped her head to one side. "So why can"t we just be lovers for a while? What"s wrong with that?"
He lifted his brows. "I don"t do the "lovers" thing. I"m too old to be worrying about dating and romance and courtship. And that"s where you"re going with all this s.h.i.t, anyway, isn"t it? So why not just skip the middle and get on with it? We"ll find out soon enough if we can make this work or not."
She could not believe the words were coming from his mouth. Yeah, he was babbling, but d.a.m.n, he was hurting her with it.
"Besides, I know you pretty well. Well enough to know you"re not on any sort of birth control. Suppose last night"s idiocy results in-"
She smacked him. Hard. It shocked her as much as it did him, she thought. His head rocked to one side, and her palm stung. A hot, red imprint darkened his cheek. "Jesus, Maxie, what the h.e.l.l?"
"f.u.c.k you, Lou."
"I don"t-"
"No, you don"t, and I guess you never will. But I"ll tell you one thing, when you decide what a colossal mistake you"ve just made, it"s gonna be your move. I"m done. I wouldn"t come on to you again if you begged me. I"m tired, too-tired of being the only one interested. Tired of being the only one wanting.
Tired of being the one rejected, even after the fact. So f.u.c.k you. f.u.c.k you to h.e.l.l and gone."
She stomped to the door and yanked it open. Stormy was standing there with Max"s clothes in her hand.