Colters' Daughter (Colters' Legacy #3)(19)

Callie parked in front of Max’s hotel and sat there for a long moment staring out her windshield. She was exhausted from the afternoon at her parents’ but her senses were alive at the thought of seeing Max again. This time without the hurt and misunderstanding of the past between them.Could they really start over so easily? Could she?

She opened her car door and stepped out, wiping her hands nervously down her jeans. Her stomach fluttered and her chest tightened with each step she took toward the door to Max’s room.

She raised her hand to knock and froze before quietly resting her hand against the aged wood. She was considering backing away when the door suddenly opened, and her hand fell.

“Callie.”

She took a step back and knotted her fingers together in front of her. “Max.”

He arched an eyebrow. “Were you going to knock or were you going to stand there all evening?”

“How did you…”

“I saw you pull up. I’ve been waiting for you.”

When she didn’t immediately make a move, he stood back and opened the door wider. “Come in.”

She took a deep breath and stepped into the lion’s den. Or at least it felt like it. The door closed behind her and she stopped in the middle of the hotel room.

Firm hands slid up her arms to grasp her shoulders and then warm, sensual lips pressed to the curve of her neck. She shivered and closed her eyes as sweet pleasure hummed through her veins. A welcome song.

“You smell just as I remember,” he murmured. “Sweet and a little exotic. Like wild honeysuckle in bloom.” He swept his tongue up to the hollow behind her ear. “And you taste every bit as sweet as you smell.”

“Max,” she whispered.

Slowly he turned her, his hands never leaving her arms. He stepped in closer until she was pressed to his chest. Then he moved his hands up to cup her face and he lowered his head to kiss her.

A moan gathered low in her throat, swelled and then slipped past her lips into his mouth. He ate delicately at her lips, nipping then sucking, and then he traced a line with his tongue before plunging deep.

There was nothing tentative or seeking about his kiss. He exerted the same mastery that had attracted her to him in the first place. Strong. Determined. And possessive. So very possessive.

He kissed her mouth and then pressed a tender line down one side of her jaw then up to her temple before skipping over to the other side to repeat all over again. He kissed her forehead and then pressed his mouth to her hairline and let it linger.

Tension coiled tight in his muscles. Whispered through his body and into hers until they were two wound springs.

When he finally pulled away, his fingers threaded through her hair, stroking absently as though he couldn’t keep from touching her.

“I’m going to make love to you, Callie. I can hardly think straight for wanting you. And God, I don’t think I can be easy. You deserve easy. Gentle and loving. You deserve for me to handle you like a piece of delicate glass. I don’t think I can.”

His words, so hoarse, his need so prevalent was like warm sunlight after a long winter. She stared up at him then touched his face with trembling fingers. “Then don’t be,” she whispered. “Just love me.”

With a harsh groan he yanked her into his arms. She hit his chest with enough force to knock the breath from her, and his mouth devoured her all over again.

He walked her backwards even as he yanked at her shirt, pulling it from her jeans. He shoved impatiently, freeing her from the shirt, and he wasted no time going for her pants. With one hand, he fumbled with her snap while with the other he unclasped her bra.

With her jeans still snagged at her knees, he tumbled her onto the bed. He tugged at her jeans until they came away, and the denim went sailing across the room to hit the door with a thud.

Then he set to work on his own clothing and she lay there, staring through half-lidded eyes as he revealed his muscular, tanned body.

He was leaner. A little thinner than he’d been before. The whorl of dark hair at the hollow of his chest tapered to a dark line below his navel where it disappeared into the band of his slacks.

Some of his impatience eased when he saw her watching him. He paused at his fly and began a slow tease that left her breathless with anticipation.

Inch by delicious inch, he peeled the material down his body until the dark hair at his groin became visible and then his c**k slid out, distended and swollen.

When he was finally nude, he crawled onto the bed and straddled her body as he stared down as if memorizing every inch of her all over again.

“You’re so beautiful. So perfect. Perfect for me. Just the right amount of soft and sweet with a thread of steel at your very core. I don’t think a more perfect woman was ever made.”

Her breath caught and hiccupped out until her throat burned with emotion. He’d always been able to say the right thing. He didn’t throw words out carelessly. Everything he ever had to say was measured and weighed. And so exquisitely rendered.

He was a man who when he talked, others listened. There was something in his tone that commanded respect. And obedience.

“Do you want me, Callie? Do you want me like I want you?”

She swallowed and nodded.

“The words. I want the words.”

“Yes, I want you, Max,” she said in a low voice.

“Put your arms over your head.”