The Gamble (Colorado Mountain #1)(89)

“Max –”

His head came up and he grinned at me, so big he looked like he was about to laugh, as his arms got even tighter. “Baby, you keep callin’ me and I’m right f**kin’ here.”

He looked at me, waiting for me to speak and I found I didn’t know what to say.

Then I found myself saying, “I’m sorry.”

His head jerked and his fight with his amusement became far more visible.

Even his voice vibrated with it when he asked, “What?”

“I… um, you didn’t… I didn’t…” I closed my eyes tight then opened them and said, “that went really fast.”

“Good thing, considerin’ we don’t have much time.”

“But –” I started, he kissed me and I stopped.

“Like that you respond to me that way, Duchess.”

“It’s that, well, I respond to you –”

He smiled against my mouth, I felt it and I watched his eyes doing it and both were so marvelous, I stopped speaking.

“Oh yeah, you respond to me.”

I decided maybe I should stop talking altogether. I didn’t have my head or my body under my control and I didn’t seem to be able to finish a sentence anyway.

So I dipped my chin, tucked my face into his throat and slid my arms around his waist.

“How fast can you eat steak?” he asked the top of my head.

“I’m sorry?” I asked his throat.

“You need to make it record time, darlin’. I wanna get home in time to have my turn and I’ve noticed when you get tired you pretty much slip into a coma.”

My head tilted back and I felt my brows come together as I protested, “I don’t slip into a coma.”

He didn’t answer, he just raised his brows in return.

“Last night I drank nearly a bottle of wine by myself,” I reminded him.

“Yeah, and the night before?”

“You were with Mindy.”

“I walked up here to get Mins a t-shirt about five minutes after you came up and you were dead to the world.”

“I was not.”

“Babe, you were. I took the ice out of your hand and you didn’t even flinch.”

I’d wondered where that ice had gone.

I decided my best course of action was to stop talking about this as it appeared my arguments weren’t holding much weight.

I pulled my arms from his waist, put my hands on his chest and gave a shove, saying, “I need to go get ready.”

His head tilted back to look at the clock then his arms got tighter, locking mine between our bodies, rendering them useless.

“We got another twenty minutes,” he muttered then he lifted his head and his face disappeared in my neck again as his hand slid over my behind and pulled my h*ps into his.

My fingers curled into his shirt as I steeled myself against a reaction and I tipped my head back and looked at the clock.

Then my hands flattened on his chest and I cried, “We don’t have twenty minutes! I need to start getting ready now.”

His tongue slid up my neck to my jaw and then along it before he responded, “You can hurry.”

“Max! ‘Makeup’ and ‘hurry’ are two concepts that do not mix well together.”

His head came up and he looked at me. “Then wash it all off. You look just as pretty in the morning as you do right now.”

I felt my eyes grow wide in horror at the very thought and declared, “I am nowhere near ready to go Colorado mountain fresh makeup free like all the natural beauties that seem to populate Gnaw Bone.”

He grinned and repeated on a tease, “Colorado mountain fresh makeup free?”

I decided not to rise to the bait and snapped, “Max, let me go.”

I was pretty certain he was still teasing when he asked, “You sure you don’t want to hang out in bed for awhile and feel each other up?” However, even so, I paused to consider this idea as it seemed interesting and more than a little appealing.

This was a mistake and I knew it when Max burst out laughing and kissed me quickly before knifing out of bed, taking me with him when he did.

He set me on my feet and I concentrated on mentally solidifying my jellied legs as Max did up my jeans with swift, practiced hands then curled his fingers around the back of my head, pulling me to him and he kissed my forehead.

Then he turned and walked to the stairs, calling, “Want me to bring you a glass of wine?”

It was so very annoying when he was thoughtful.

“Yes,” I called back.

“Duchess,” he called again when I eventually turned to the bathroom. I stopped and looked to the stairs to see only his torso and head through the railings. “It might be fancy for Colorado but still, wear jeans.”

Then he kept winding down the stairs and I was thankful that he told me. I’d hate to be too dressed up, that would be awful.

Still, it was also thoughtful, which again was annoying.

* * * * *

I looked at myself in Max’s bathroom mirror, took in all that was me and whispered, “What on earth are you doing, Nina Sheridan?”

My reflection did not reply which was a bit frustrating since Charlie had also disappeared and I needed guidance.

I grabbed my empty wineglass from the tiled counter and walked into the bedroom. My eyes went to the clock and saw we were closing in on launch time so I hurried to my luggage, set the glass on the nightstand and dug through it to find my going out clutch.