Page 21 of Awakening Anna

Anna’s hand flattened over his. “You can’t be serious. I couldn’t.”

Max brushed her hand away and continued to undo the buttons. “You can. I’ll let you keep the dress on, but you have to open it for me. Let it hang off your shoulders.”

“It isn’t even dark out,” she murmured as Max continued to undress her, dropping soft kisses on her skin where he drew the cotton apart. “There’s too much light.”

The button over her naval opened, and Max slid his hands beneath the material, cupping her breasts as he placed a kiss in the crevice between them.

“Let me do this for you, Anna. Let me show you.”

His dark eyes held hers, and she acquiesced with a nod of her head.

Max escorted her to the bed. “Climb up,” he said, helping her onto the mattress. “Now sit up on the headboard.”

Anna hesitated before lowering her weight onto the thick mahogany. Thanks to Max, the rest of the buttons were undone in no time and the dress spread out around her. Feeling self-conscious, she kept her legs pressed tightly together.

“Open for me, Anna.” Max kissed the top of her knee. Catching her eye, he said, “You’re perfect in every way. There’s no reason to be shy.”

After their activities of the night before, there wasn’t a single inch of her body that Max didn’t intimately know. Hiding now really was pointless.

Her knees separated as Anna braced her hands on the headboard and leaned against the wall. “For you, Max,” she said. “Only for you.”

He showed his gratitude with a hot kiss that made the world fall away.

As he stepped away from the bed and pulled a sketch pad and pencils off the dresser, Anna removed the clip from her hair and let the dark waves fall around her shoulders. His breath caught as he watched her arrange the curls.

“Gorgeous,” he said, having a seat on the small loveseat across from the foot of the bed.

The pencil flew across the page as Anna twirled the pearls between her fingertips. Instead of feeling vulnerable, she felt alive. Powerful even. She could tell what he was drawing by following his eyes, and when he focused between her legs, Anna opened wider.

“It doesn’t seem fair that you get to look at me, but I don’t get to see you.” If she was going to be the obedient muse, Anna should at least have something pretty to look at.

“I’ll make it up to you,” he said, pencil still moving. “A few more minutes.”

Determined to get what she wanted, Anna trailed a hand along the inside of her thigh.

“Maybe you should come closer,” she said. “I’m sure you could see better from over here.”

Max shook his head as a wicked smile danced across his lips. “You’re trying to distract me.”

“I wouldn’t dare,” Anna said, putting on an innocent face. “I just miss you all the way over there. We don’t have much time, Max. Wouldn’t you rather touch me than draw me?”

The pencil stilled as his eyes locked with hers. He set the pad and pencil on the sofa beside him and reached for the buttons on his shirt.

Kicking off his shoes, he said, “Show me, Anna. Show me how you want me to touch you.”

She should have known not to challenge a master. Too far gone to back down now, she embraced her newfound confidence.

“Like this,” she sighed, dragging the backs of her fingers up the inside of her thigh. “And this.” She tweaked a nipple as she sucked the tip of the index finger on her other hand. The moist digit traveled down her body. “And here,” she said, rubbing the finger against her clit.

Watching Max watch her was intensely arousing. He peeled his shirt down muscular arms, letting it fall to the floor before moving on to his pants.

“I’d like that,” he said, his voice heavy with need. “Does that feel good?”

“So good,” she moaned.

“Show me more, Anna. Show me everything.”

Dropping the dress off her shoulders, she arched her back in open invitation. Max was on the bed now, kneeling before her. She continued showing him what she wanted, setting herself on fire as she held his gaze.

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