Page 4 of Concerto of Crows and Cowards

It was just past eight in the morning and she’d only planned to drop off the little going-away gift and leave. She hadn’t been prepared for Max to answer the door stark naked and angry as a bear. His morning beard was scruffy and glinted with hints of red in the sunlight, and his arm was thrown across his eyes. His chest was broad and ridged with muscle, his waist trim, and a light smattering of white-blond hairs trailed down his flat stomach.

She’d taken in the full sight of him before slamming her eyes closed. Not that having her eyes closed would erase what she’d seen. Her mouth went dry, and something like fear clutched in her belly. She never thought of Max as a man—well, maybe she had a little, but that was only because he’d kissed her and she remembered the heat of his lips against hers and the tingles that had awakened inside her dormant body. He was her friend and he stayed nicely tucked away in that “friend” box.

He grunted something unintelligible at her and went back into the house, leaving the door wide open. Jade followed him in, admiring the back view as only a woman could, and closed the door behind her. She’d have to be dead not to notice, and that was something that had become increasingly clear over the last few months—she wasn’t dead. Shame ate at her as thoughts of her husband came to mind and she averted her gaze.

Max’s house had always been a little stark, even though it was about ten times the size of her apartment. It was all white walls and neutral colors, light hardwood floors and stainless-steel appliances. A few photographs of the team sat about here and there, but he wasn’t one for plants or dust-catching knickknacks other than a signed football that sat in a glass case on his mantel. Boxes were stacked and labeled, and it looked like he was all but ready for the moving company to come load his things.

“I take it the boys decided to send you out in style,” she said, breaking the silence.

Max ignored her and walked into the kitchen. It was a big open space, and the only thing that divided it from the living room was the long island counter and the barstools that sat in front of it. He dunked his head into the sink, dousing himself with cold water. He’d let his hair grow longer since the accident, and when he came back up for air it dripped into his face and onto the counter.

Beads of water snaked down his naked chest, and Jade licked her lips, following the trails with her gaze until they disappeared. Her skin flushed. Her mind fought against what her body seemed to want—screamed that she wasn’t ready for this—even though she told herself it wouldn’t mean anything. It would be mindless sex, and just because her heart was dead didn’t mean her body needed to suffer needlessly.

Max dug around blindly in the drawer next to the sink and pulled out a dish towel, drying his face and giving her a look that would have had her shaking in her skin if she’d been anyone else. She crossed her arms over her chest and arched a brow.

“Why the hell do you always have to be so damned chipper at the crack of dawn?” he asked. “It’s an unforgivable personality trait.”

“That’s funny, because I’ve always thought the fact you can’t hold your liquor better than a college freshman was pretty unforgivable.”

“I’m sure that’s supposed to be funny.”

“Maybe you’ll feel better if you put on some pants. It’s probably not a good thing for every housewife on the street to know you’re circumcised.” Please put on some pants, she prayed. Her control was slipping by the second.

A piratical smile slashed across his face. “It’s nice to see you’re looking out for me, but no. I’m pretty sure nothing will make me feel better. Not even pants. Though a couple of aspirin couldn’t hurt. You could always come back later—when I’m wearing pants—if I’m making you uncomfortable. Or maybe you just like what you see a little too much.”

Her lips pressed in a thin line, and she felt her blood surge at the challenge. She knew he was kidding. She was used to banter. Hell, she worked with a team of men, almost all of them ex-military, and she would have left long ago if she hadn’t been able to take their colorful vocabulary and trash talk. But this time the banter was too close to the truth.

Wasn’t she allowed to need? Donovan was dead, dammit. And no matter how angry she was or how many times she’d gotten down on her knees and begged for his death to be a lie, he wasn’t coming back. She was tired of being alone. She was tired of rolling over in a cold bed with no one there beside her. And she was tired of the constant ache inside her soul.

Her emotions warred inside her until she finally found the courage to say to hell with her brain. She wasn’t dead. She wasn’t dead. And Max was safe. She wasn’t interested in hooking up with a stranger. It just wasn’t part of her makeup to do that. But Max knew her better than anyone, and she knew him.

Max was a sexual creature by nature. He never seemed to be without female attention, and she figured with as many women who had shared his bed that he probably knew what he was doing at this point. She wanted someone who knew how to give her what her body craved and then the ability to walk away with no hard feelings later. It should’ve been an easy enough task because Max wasn’t the type of man to get attached to any woman.

“Maybe you’re right,” she said.

From the look on Max’s face, she could have knocked him over with a feather. Jade stalked her way around the counter and smiled when he took a few steps back.

“I guess it’s nice to know it’s not one sided,” she purred.

“Listen, Jade—” He backed away again when she took another step closer.

“You’re the one who made the challenge. I’m just calling you on it.”

His jaw clamped shut and she could see the pulse pounding at the side of his neck. His eyes were hooded and the blue of his irises had darkened to the color of a lake in the evening. Jade grabbed the hem of her tank top and slowly lifted it over the top of her head.

“You’re making this really difficult,” he choked out.

“No.” Jade took another step closer, and then another, and Max was effectively trapped with his back to the island. “I’m making this very, very easy.”

Her hand reached out and she pressed her palm against his chest. His warmth seeped into her skin and she was suddenly ravenous for more. She was five foot ten in her bare feet, so there was only a few inches’ difference in their height. His heart pounded beneath her hand and she leaned up to nip at his chin before fusing her mouth and body to his.

He stood still as a statue for a minute while she kissed him, while she gave him all the pent-up longing and frustration and desire she’d just started to feel again over the last months. And then he was kissing her back and she wanted to shout in triumph.

Max’s brain deserted him the moment her soft lips touched his. He’d wanted this, dreamed of this for three long years, but even though his dreams seemed to be coming true, he knew this wasn’t the way it was supposed to be.

But she was relentless in her pursuit. There was a hunger and desperation inside of her he wanted to soothe. A wildness built inside of him he’d never felt before. She was his mate, and his body recognized her as such, and all he wanted was to possess, to take.

Her lips parted and her tongue licked into his mouth, and the flavor of her exploded through his system. She was sweet to the taste, like sweet cream and melted sugar, and he’d never in his life experienced anything that felt as good as touching her.

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