Landlord Wars(54)

He kissed my lips, and I snuggled in closer. “We’re done with that part. This is the full-body portion of my services.”

I laughed. “Just make sure you keep your glasses on.”

His brow pinched. “Do you really like them?”

“Have you any idea of the attraction of Clark Kent? Yes, I like them. But you don’t need the glasses. You’re potent without them.”

“Noted,” he said and slid his hands to my waist and under the hem of my top. “But just so you know, they’re going to get in the way when I kiss you and do other things.”

I reached up, pulled off the glasses, and tossed them on the mattress.

Max laughed and rolled until he was on top, holding his weight above me and carefully setting the glasses on the nightstand.

“That was a smooth move,” I said, staring at his lips only inches away.

He kissed me and ran a hand up my side and below my bra line, teasing me.

“Um, I think you missed a spot,” I said and wiggled. “Your hand should be a little higher.”

He grinned and covered my breast with his large palm. “Like this?” He pushed up my breast and kissed it through the fabric.

My breath hitched. “You found the spot.” I ran my hands beneath the hem of his T-shirt, gliding my fingers over his stomach as we kissed, while crackles of electricity shot beneath my skin.

And then I felt it: the telltale undulation of defined abdominal muscles.

I pulled back and looked him in the eyes. “You really do have rock-hard abs!”

He laughed and resumed his efforts to push down the neck of my top and expose my cleavage, kissing every inch of my décolletage. “You doubted me?”

“Not doubted,” I said, ruminating while I ran my fingers over his toned midsection. “But how do you maintain this with your chocolate addiction? I have a fine layer of padding thanks to mine.”

He eased farther down and hiked my shirt beneath my breasts, kissing and running his hands over my belly and waist. “Your body looks perfect to me.” He lifted his head and looked me in the eye. “Though you’re wearing too much for a thorough investigation.”

“I think the bigger issue is why you’re still wearing your cumbersome T-shirt.”

Without another word, Max reached back, jerked his shirt over his head, and tossed it over the side of the bed.

He slid my top up and over my head, and I barely registered it, I was so distracted by the view. “Crap.”

He glanced at my face. “Problem?”

“Yes.” I stared at his smooth skin and defined muscles. Because it wasn’t just his abs that were perfect; his arms and shoulders were spectacular. “You’re too pretty. I can’t compete.” Even so, I continued to feel him up.

“There is no competition,” he said. “You’re much too beautiful and sweet for me.”

Before I knew it, he’d reached behind me and unhooked my bra.

“Hmm,” he said, looking me in the eye. “Seems like someone has been hiding a couple of things beneath the baggy clothes.”

If only he’d seen my breasts before I dropped the ten pounds. “They run in the family.”

“I approve,” he said as he kissed and licked said perky and very happy breasts.

And then all talking ceased, as there was too much steamy kissing and touching and rolling around in the covers. I had just gotten the button on Max’s jeans undone when I heard Jack say something loudly in the living room.

This was strange for two reasons. First, Jack’s tone was dark, when it was normally light or humorous. And second, Max seemed to notice Jack’s unusual mood too.

He lifted his head from his deep dive into my cleavage and angled it toward the door.

And then Jack’s voice came again, and this time, his voice was loud enough to decipher his words.

“What do you think this place is, Elise?” Jack said sharply.

“Shit.” I sat up and covered my breasts.

For a split second, Max frowned at the absence of the view, and then he looked toward the door. “Were you expecting your sister?”

“No. Though I offered to let her study here while I was working last night. But that was yesterday.”

“I was invited,” came Elise’s sharp response.

I reached for my bra and top and wrangled them on before handing Max his shirt. “We should go out there.”

He pulled the T-shirt over his head. “Did something happen?”

“She slept with Jack the night we went to the bar, and she’s been acting weird ever since.”

Max’s eyes widened. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

I buttoned the fly I hadn’t realized he’d craftily undone. “Do you want to know who my sister sleeps with?”

He cringed. “Absolutely not, but I do if it’s my best friend. That falls in the boyfriend needs to know territory.”

I grinned, because he just called me his girlfriend, in so many words, and it never got old. And then an angry growl of the feminine variety floated back, and I braced for what was to come.

“Where is she?” Elise shouted.

Max and I rushed out of my room right as Elise was making her way down the hall.

Her face was flushed, and she was wearing denim and a fitted top, an upgrade from her normal college-leisure sweatshirt. “There you are.” She huffed out an angry breath. “Your bulldog of a roommate wouldn’t let me in.”