Page 72 of Defensive Zone

Which she never was when Max was involved.

“No. No. I need to go feed her. I’ll probably go to bed after that. I’m beat,” Ava said.

“If you’re sure,” Gabi said.

“Yes. It’s fine. I can rewatch the last episode. Did I sleep through anything good?” she asked.

Max let out a strangled cough.

“Ah, no. It’s a good show though. We can watch more tomorrow or something. I’ll probably head up soon, too,” Gabi said, wondering how cool she sounded when her belly was doing butterfly backflips.

“Hang out. It’s good for both of you,” Ava said.

Gabi wondered if her friend saw through the bullshit coming out of Gabi’s mouth. No. That wasn’t possible.

“Good night, Ava,” Max said.

“Good night. Ooh, she’s really upset,” Ava said, looking toward the stairs as Elise let out another cry. “Better get up there before anyone else wakes up. Night, guys.”

Then she was gone.

Gabi took in a shuddering breath.

“Should we keep watching?” Max asked, reminding her of where she was.

Was she kidding herself? She knew exactly where she was and who she was sitting next to, and why her belly was on the fritz. She was quickly coming to realize that when it came to Max, she had very little control. Her body wanted him desperately, no matter what her head tried to convince her of.

And her heart seemed to be siding with her body.

Traitor.

“Looks like a lot of thoughts are brewing up there, Gabi,” Max said. “Want to talk about it?”

“Nope.”

“Want to talk about how fucking hot the end of that last episode was? Any chance you did that after our video chat when I was on the road?”

She gasped, her eyes locked on his. “Are you really asking me that?”

“Absolutely. Because in my head you were. You were wearing my shirt and nothing else and thinking about my hands on you. In you,” he said.

“Fucking hell,” she whispered. How was she supposed to function if he was going to come at her with dirty, beautiful words designed to wreck her?

“Did you wear my shirt last night?” he asked, trailing his thumb over her cheek, her lips, her jaw.

“No,” she murmured, turning into his touch.

“Really? I’m not sure I believe you.”

“Why are you doing this, Max?” she asked.

He paused. “Am I coming on too strong? Do you want me to stop?”

“No. I’m just afraid this is going to blow up in our faces, but I want you too much.”

“The feeling is mutual, Gabi,” he said, gripping her neck.

Her head fell back, exposing her throat to him. A groan rumbled from his mouth, and then his lips were branding her with hot kisses up her throat and over her jaw, but staying away from her lips.

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