Jessie Keane - Ruthless

‘What?’ asked Max, irritated.

‘You’re such a maniac,’ she said.

‘Oh?’ He moved closer to her. Now he looked downright angry.

‘Men,’ she sighed. ‘You miss things, don’t you. So single-minded, so fucking focused – and you don’t see the bigger picture.’

‘And what is the bigger picture?’ he asked, his eyes moving from her eyes to her lips then back again.

‘Nothing. It doesn’t matter.’ She turned away, went to open the door.

‘Yeah, it does.’ He grabbed her arm and turned her towards him. Their bodies touched. His arm went around her waist and held her there. Annie bunched her fists against his chest.

‘So come on,’ he murmured from inches away. His breath brushed her lips. ‘Tell me.’

‘Alberto’s not interested in me,’ she said, gazing into his dark blue eyes. ‘He never has been. There’s someone he is interested in, though.’

‘Oh? Who?’

Annie shrugged and looked away. Every pulse in her body was beating hard, making her breathless.

‘ Who? ’ he repeated, easing her in even tighter.

‘I don’t know her,’ she lied. ‘But I think it could be serious.’ That much was certainly true.

Oh, Layla, I hope you know what you’re doing.

‘But you don’t know who she is.’

‘No.’

‘Yeah you do.’ He was staring into her eyes.

‘No. I don’t.’

‘You’re such a useless liar,’ he said, and kissed her.

Annie jerked her head away. ‘ Don’t do that,’ she said.

Max’s eyes were smoky with lust. ‘Why not? I want to. And you want me to.’

‘Oh, you know that, do you?’

‘Yeah I know it. Like I know you’ve been bored out of your mind.’

Annie’s mouth twisted in a sour smile. ‘You know that too?’

‘Yep. Why don’t you give it up, shove off to the USA, go and stay in New York.’

‘Maybe I don’t want to.’

He shrugged. ‘Your club’s there.’

‘And my club manager, who doesn’t need me peering over his shoulder. Aren’t you going to point out that Alberto lives there…?’

‘It is a point.’

‘And that I could go there and “be” with him, as you so tastefully put it?’

‘Yeah. Why not?’

Annie wrenched herself free of his embrace. Now her eyes were full of fury. ‘You utter shit,’ she said. ‘I’ve just told you. He’s interested in someone else. Not me. Never me. So why don’t you shut. The. Fuck. Up.’

She pushed past him, went to the door into the adjoining master suite, opened it, stepped through it and turned the key sharply in the lock.

‘ Bastard ,’ she muttered, enraged, and went and flung herself on to the bed. She must have been crazy ever to get involved with him at all, let alone marry the sod twice. He was never going to let it go. He was always going to throw it in her face. He was a nightmare and she was out of it, and she should be glad, because he was-

With a crash the door that linked the master suite to the room next door suddenly flew inward, juddering. Max walked in.

‘Don’t do that,’ he said, coming over to the bed. ‘Don’t walk away.’

Annie sat up, stared at the open door, the shattered lock. ‘You’ve broken my bloody door,’ she told him.

‘ Fuck the door,’ said Max, and striding back to the door, he wrenched it off its hinges and flung it on to the carpet.

Annie started to laugh.

‘ Now what?’ asked Max, returning to the bed and glaring down at her.

‘You’re such a bloody head case,’ she said. She hadn’t laughed like this in… oh, about eight years.

‘Stop laughing,’ he said, pointing a finger at her.

She couldn’t.

‘This isn’t funny,’ he said.

‘Yeah, it is.’

‘Shut up.’

Annie couldn’t.

‘That’s it,’ he said. ‘I am going to shut you up.’

Annie’s eyes were streaming with mirth. She stared up at him. ‘Don’t you dare touch me,’ she warned him.

‘Oh, that’s it. Now you’ve done it,’ he said, and got on the bed and grabbed her.

Annie just laughed all the more: she couldn’t seem to do anything about it.

‘Stop it,’ he said, and kissed her.

Annie pulled her head away. ‘Did I ask you to kiss me? I don’t think so.’

‘Shh,’ he said, and kissed her, harder, deeper.

Annie stopped laughing, gave herself up to the kiss. What the hell. She could be dead now. She ought to be. At any moment some new threat could present itself, and this might never again be possible.

This was just as wonderful as she remembered. Eight long dry years, and he was back, and Dolly was right, he could drive her crazy out of bed but for sure he could drive her crazy in bed, too.

He was driving her crazy now, unzipping her dress, yanking it off her.

‘That’s a very expensive dress, could you be careful with that,’ she managed to gasp.

‘Shut up,’ he ordered against her mouth, pulling off his shirt. ‘Where’s the catch on this damned thing?’ he asked, kneeling, tossing her on to her front and examining the clasp on her bra. ‘Oh right. Got it.’

He rolled her over on to her back, pulled her bra off, threw it on to the floor. Then paused, gazing hungrily at her naked breasts.

‘That’s…’ said Annie, feeling almost light-headed as she watched him. She’d stopped laughing.

‘What? An expensive bra? Couture, is it?’ His hands went to her breasts, smoothing over them, making her shiver, making her nipples spring into life.

‘As it happens, it is.’

‘Right. What about these?’ He was pulling down the matching pants, tossing those aside too.

‘They’re extremely expensive,’ said Annie faintly, feeling the hot pulse of desire start as he knelt there, staring at her. ‘And you know what?’

‘No. What?’ he was unbuckling his belt, unzipping his jeans, pushing them down on to his thighs along with his underpants.

‘Oh…’ said Annie as he got between her legs. The hard length of his cock touched her there, where she was most sensitive.

‘Come on. What?’ he said, looming over her.

‘I really hate you,’ she murmured.

‘Hate away,’ he said, and entered her almost roughly.

‘I can’t believe I just did that,’ she said a while later, yawning, lying perfectly relaxed against his chest.

‘Actually,’ said Max, turning towards her, ‘I think you’re about to do it again…’

They did it again. Annie screamed in orgasm this time, and lay sweating and panting in his arms afterwards. She felt as though she’d been picked up and flung against a wall. But that was nothing new. Max always made her feel that way.

‘Now I’m sore,’ she complained mildly.

‘I’m not,’ said Max, and she thumped him.

‘I have to get off this bed while I can still walk,’ she moaned, not wanting to.

She just wanted to lie there with him, to cling on to the dream. That they were lovers. That he wasn’t a jealous maniac. That there wasn’t danger lurking round every corner. That Layla wasn’t going to come looking for her soon, only to find her parents tangled together in bed, like guilty teenagers enjoying their first fuck.

That thought made her sit up and scoot to the edge of the bed. She looked over her shoulder at him. God, he was gorgeous.

‘What am I doing? I swore I was never again going to get into this,’ she said, clutching her head. ‘I promised myself I wouldn’t.’

‘Come back to bed.’

‘ No! ’

Annie told Layla at breakfast next day that she wanted her to go back to Ellie’s. She’d discussed it with Max and Alberto, she said, and it seemed the safest option.