Chapter 18

Chapter 18
Max

She tasted like heaven and hell all mixed together.
Angie sighed the moment his lips touched hers, her body stiffening for a heartbeat before she melted against him, breasts soft against his chest, hips coming to rest against his.
He groaned, sliding his fingers from her cheeks into her hair, pulling her closer.
Her tongue tangled with his, her pelvis pressed against his erection, making stars flash behind his eyes.
It was incredible. It was everything.
But Max wanted more.
He wanted to strip her naked and fuck her right there on the conference table, to drop to his knees, spread her thighs wide and make her come with his tongue, and then he wanted to thrust home and push them both over the edge.
Which was exactly why he pulled away.
Angie wavered, and he caught her against his chest, both of them breathing hard.
“That was—” She shivered.
“Good?” he asked, not too steady himself. His head was spinning, his cock rock-hard. He’d never experienced a kiss like that. One touch of Angie’s mouth and his blood had threatened to evaporate from beneath his skin, his brain . . . hell, that body part was still struggling to make sense of it all.
“Incredible,” she said, nuzzling into his chest, the word almost drunk with pleasure.
He knew the feeling. Incredible didn’t even begin to cover it, let alone encapsulate how natural it felt to wrap his arms around her, to hold her close and stroke a hand down her spine.
“You’re a bad influence,” he teased, mouth curving when she shot him a glare.
“You kissed me,” she said, stepping back and putting her hands on her hips again.
Yeah, he really liked it when she did that, could seriously appreciate how the movement accentuated those perfect handfuls of breasts. Not to mention that when Angie was mad at him, when her pretty brown eyes were shooting fire, she forgot to be in her head so much.
He’d take a present, pissed off Angie, over a scared, distant one any day.
Beautiful—inside and out—in both versions, but only one of those had asked him to kiss her.
“Should I remind you that you asked me to?”
Her jaw dropped open, and Max couldn’t help it. He kissed her again, sweeping his tongue in between those parted lips, loving the way she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him back.
“You’re terrible,” she said, a few minutes later, chest heaving, eyes still filled with fire.
“Well, you’re amazing,” he told her and tapped a finger to her nose.
She stepped back, crossed her arms.
“What?” he asked when she didn’t say anything.
“I’m looking for your flaws,” she grumbled. “You’re perfect and hot and can kiss like a fucking god.” A pause. “And I’m just me . . . the nerd who has a wardrobe consisting of pun-filled T-shirts and Star Wars dresses—”
Yeah. No. He wasn’t going to let her slip back into herself again, wasn’t going to let her shortchange how special she was. Fuck, he’d known her for such a short time and he could see that Angie was different.
Not in a weird way either.
Yes, she liked Star Wars and knew Wookie speak, but fuck it all, so did he. And he loved that she enjoyed the things he did. Nerdiness was equal to sexiness in his book.
For God’s sake, Max was the biggest nerd of them all.
He played video games on the plane trips. He watched every SciFi or Fantasy movie he could get his hands on. He looked forward to sharing all of that nerd-dom with Brayden.
But nerdiness aside, what mattered more to Max was Angie’s heart.
It was, all jokes aside, solid gold.
“Are we going to play Who’s the Bigger Nerd?” he asked. “Because I think I’ll win.”
She snorted.
“No?” He tipped her chin up. “Good, I’m glad you acknowledge my greater nerdiness.”
“Hey—”
Max kissed her again.
And, yup, sparks. Heat shot down his spine, arrowing straight for his cock. Yes, it had been too long since he’d been with a woman, but he’d never gotten this hard from a simple kiss. Chubbies were a given, raging boners, not so much.
Then there was the other feeling.
The potentially scary one.
Because it had the power to devastate him.
So, he kept it light.
He grabbed Angie’s hand and closed her fingers over his erection. “You do it for me, m’kay?” Her hand twitched, and he groaned, hips thrusting forward before he managed to regain control and tugged her fingers off.
Her shoulders relaxed. “That’s not a pity boner?”
He snorted. “Not so much.”
She grinned. “Damn, and here I was working up a full head of anxious steam.”
“Nice try.” Max cupped her cheek. “Should I add to that steam? Or should we stay here and risk getting caught making out like a teenage couple?”
Angie’s eyes were filled with a mixture of hope and fear. “You mean Mandy?”
He nodded. “She’ll leave pretty soon.”
Angie sucked in a breath and lifted her chin. “As much as I want to keep kissing you, I think I’m finally ready to do this.”
“I think you are, too.” He laced his fingers through hers. Such a short time and yet . . .
He knew her.
Angie was special.
And she already meant too much.