Page 54 of Dangerous Play

Max shot him a look and tugged me closer. Not that I was complaining. I wished he put his arm around me, but in my heels, I was taller than him and he couldn’t pull me to his side in that way.

We followed the booming music, stepping around objects and people who appeared out of the blue and it was a surreal experience. It felt like we were sneaking in.

“What are you drinking?” Derek shouted through the crowd as we stepped into the living room where the wall lights painted the walls red and black. It was positively creepy. Every year, this house became scarier.

“Gin and tonic,” Max muttered from my side. “Blossom?”

“Yeah, I’ll take the same, but with pink gin.”

Derek grinned. “Wasn’t planning to bring you a non-pink drink.”

“I’ll go help him,” Maddox offered, leaving us by the wall.

“Do you see your friend?” Max asked politely, looking around.

I shook my head and fished out the phone from my bag. “She said she is here.” I glanced at the message and back at Max. “Shall we do a round?”

“Let’s go.” Max grabbed my hand again and we walked the edge of the living room, searching for Kaia.

“Think I found her.” Max stopped me, and I bumped into his chest as he pulled me back into him. His hands rested on my hips and his lips met my ears. “By the bar, next to Dex.”

I gasped, looking at the Gladiator outfit. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I didn’t think she would dress in a piece of ripped brown cloth as a skirt and bandeau stud top and lace up shoes. “She looks hot.”

“You are the prettiest,” Max whispered, reminding me why he was the best fake boyfriend.

“Thanks,” I said, not particularly happy about the warmth spreading through my body at the compliment. It wasn’t like he meant it. Everyone else was dressed sexy as hell and there I was in my little Tinkerbell costume.

Max grabbed my hips and spun me to face me. Despite the height difference, he towered over me suddenly. “You look sexy as hell, and if we weren’t here to make our exes jealous, I would have already ripped off the little bodysuit off you and explore every inch hidden under it.”

“What?”

Max shrugged as his hand moved up my body all the way to my neck where he cupped the back of my neck and pulled me to him. He kissed me like that day in the park, like I was the air and he was suffocating. Like he couldn’t get enough of my taste. He devoured my mouth, with every stroke of his tongue, I was getting dizzier. My head spun as our tongues collided, and I opened wide for him, inviting him to explore every inch of me. Or at least of what I could give him right now. My body pressed into his and I was met with hardness straining against his cargo pants. He wasn’t lying when he said he wanted to fuck me and weird satisfaction filled me thinking I did that to him. I pushed into him again, and in response, Max groaned into my mouth.

Fuck Ander and fuck Daisy.

I wanted to get lost in Maximilian Aarons.

“There you are.” The voice was like a cold shower. I sighed as I stepped away from Max and glanced up at my sister. “I was worried you won’t come, but here you are with… him.”

“He,” I said pointing at Max, “has a name, and he is my boyfriend.”

“Yeah.” Daisy shrugged, her pupils wide from all the alcohol she had already consumed. She wore a pink bikini with a little pink tulle skirt around her waist. “I’m a flamingo,” she muttered when she caught my roaming gaze. “See, flamingo earrings.” She pointed at her ears as she arranged her perfectly curled hair. “No one gets it. Ander told me I look stupid.”

“You do look like a flamingo,” Max said kindly. There was no trace of the heightened emotions that passed between us, nor any anger by my sister’s dismissal.

“Thank you.” She looked at him in passing before her pleading sad eyes found mine again. There was sorrow and fear mixed in her gaze. “Come with me, please. I need your help. Ander is mad at me now and I want to get him a drink he likes so he gets less mad. You know what will do the trick. You’ve been there before.”

I bit my tongue as I knew if he was mad there was no way alcohol will help him. It was only going to make things worse.

“Or we could play beer pong, and you guys could let him win,” Daisy offered, panic shaking her voice as she glanced at Max for help.

My heart clenched in my chest from seeing her so worked up over a stupid guy. Someone who didn’t deserve half of her attention, yet there she was, still trying to make it right and please him.

It felt like looking in a mirror. That was exactly how I looked all those years and there was no one to help me.

But I could help Daisy.

“One game.” I pleaded with Max.

---