Dana Bell - The Wallflower

She’d never come so hard in all her life. And he hadn’t even gotten her naked. She desperately tried to ignore the little voice that asked, if it was that good upright and clothed, how would it feel with him naked and inside me? She shivered.

“Are you okay?”

Emma tried to ignore the way her cheeks were heating, instead focusing on the purring amusement she could hear in his voice. “I’m fine,” she squeaked. Clearing her throat, she tried again. “I, um…” Her voice trailed off as Max took her hand in his, placing it on his hard thigh. She had to clear her throat again, shaking her head violently to see if she could get her brain cells to start working again. “Ah, Saturday…when will you be picking up the costumes?”

Max smiled lazily. “I’ll head to the costume shop tomorrow and get them, don’t worry about it.”

“When will you drop them off?”

Max was silent for a moment, obviously thinking. “Would Becky wear a costume from a secret admirer, or would it be better coming from you?”

Emma bit her lip, her attention once again focused on Becky’s problem rather than the tall blond problem at her side. “I’m not sure. If I told her I’d gotten the costume, she might feel more comfortable about wearing it.”

Max smiled. “We’ll do that, then.” His shoulders went back and his head tilted as he looked down at her briefly, the determination in his eyes completely wiping out the earlier humor. They seemed to gleam gold under a passing street lamp before he turned back to the road. “Now you’re going to explain to me why you carry mace in your pocket.” That odd note of command was back in his voice as he drove away from Noah’s, demanding a reply.

Emma shrugged and ignored the urge to put her head down. “No reason, I just think a woman alone should carry protection and I don’t like the thought of guns.”

“Don’t lie to me, Emma.”

Emma’s chin tilted up. “I’m not lying.” She sniffed. “I don’t like guns.”

“Emma,” he growled.

“Oh, pooh, you don’t scare me, so stop growling,” she yawned. She turned to look at him. “Anyway, should Becky carry her own rapier or would it be better to have her carry a toy?”

Max’s jaw was moving, like he was grinding his teeth. “I can find out. Would you rather tell me, or let me go looking?”

“Wow,” Emma breathed. “I’ve heard of that, but never actually seen it.”

He looked at her quizzically out of the corner of his eye. “Seen what?”

“You actually talked through clenched teeth. I didn’t think anyone really did that, you know?”

He pulled over and put the car out of gear. “Emma, why don’t you want to tell me what happened?”

“Oh, gee, maybe because it’s none of your business?”

His utter stillness surprised her; she wasn’t even certain he breathed for a moment. When he turned his head with exaggerated slowness, she realized she’d finally succeeded in pissing him off. “Everything about you is my business, Emma.”

She was shocked at his dangerous tone of voice. “Max?”

“You’re mine, Emma, and I protect what’s mine.”

Her jaw dropped in disbelief. “What ? ”

He put the car back in gear, taking off with a squeal of tires. “You heard me.”

“Uh, excuse me, but one kidnapping with food does not make Emma your property!”

“You bear my mark.”

She blinked, totally confused. The feral light in his eyes hadn’t lessened. The Durango was roaring as Mad Max drove like a bat out of hell for the outskirts of town. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“I bit you.”

“And? You think you’re the first guy to give me a hickey? Shit! ” Emma made a grab for the door as Max took a turn at high speed.

“I don’t think I need to hear about you and other men right now, Emma.”

“Okay, okay! Could you slow down, please?”

Max took looked away from the road long enough to see her glaring at him. With a rough sigh he slowed down. “Look, I know you’re confused.”

“No, I think you’re the one who’s confused. Have you forgotten to take your medication today? Is that it? You turn into psycho-boy while in college?”

Max ran an impatient hand through his hair. “This isn’t the way I wanted to do this,” he muttered gruffly.

“Look, I promise I’m not jealous that the voices only speak to you, okay?”

Max pulled off the main road and onto a side road, shaking his head. “Emma, we need to talk.”

The tone of his voice made her sit back. He sounded…odd, like he knew whatever he had to tell her was something she wouldn’t want to hear. “We talked. We talked all through dinner. Why are we out in the middle of nowhere to talk, by the way?”

He sighed. “Because there are certain things you may want to see that I can’t show you in the middle of town.”

“Uh-huh. I think your thing can go without being seen tonight.”

The Durango jerked to a stop. There was a stunned silence for a moment. “I can’t believe you just said that.”

“I can’t believe you can’t believe it.” Emma folded her arms under her breasts and scowled. “What’s the matter, Max, never been turned down before?”

“Why are you being such a pain in the ass?” Max turned to her, frustration written all over his face. “I offer to help you, buy you dinner, kiss you senseless and bring you to orgasm, oh, no, don’t bother lying about that either,” he yelled as she opened her mouth, “and all you do is give me grief!”

“You felt me up without permission, kidnapped me, practically attacked me on the street, bit me , then act like a crazy man, drive like a bat out of hell out of town, and you want to know why I’m giving you grief? You’re lucky I haven’t broken out the mace, pal!”

“All I want to know is who hurt you!” he yelled at the top of his lungs.

“It happened two years ago, Max! What are you gonna do, hunt the guy down in jail and beat him up?”

“Ah-hah!” Max’s finger waved in her face. “Someone did hurt you!”

“Argh!” Emma’s hands flew into the air in frustration. “All right! I was mugged, okay? It was a college student, he’s in jail, I had a broken wrist but he got a broken nose, end of story!”

Emma glared at him, her arms crossed over her chest. If he made one wrong move, hell, one wrong sound , she would mace him!

He grinned as the temper visibly drained out of him. “Did you give him as much grief as you’ve given me?”

“ More .”

“God, you are so beautiful when you’re pissed.” He grabbed the back of her head and gave her a quick, hard kiss. “Okay, warrior princess, now that you’ve told me what I wanted to know I’ll tell you what you want to know. Okay?”

Emma took a deep breath and debated whether or not to kiss him back or clobber him. “It better be good.”

Max leaned in until her lips were once more beneath his. “And then I’m going to take you home and

fuck you raw.” As her eyes widened, he added, “And, baby, that will be better than good.”

She was completely speechless as he got out of the SUV in a slow glide that had her thinking of silk sheets and heated skin. She gulped as he prowled around the hood of the Durango, moving like sex in jeans. His heated gaze never left her face.

“Oh, boy,” she whispered as he opened her car door. He smiled when he saw her seat belt was still on.

He reached in slowly to unhook her seat belt, brushing his arm deliberately against her breasts. Her nipples hardened, rasping against his sleeve as he removed his arm just as slowly. His smile, sexy and satisfied, showed he’d felt it.