Page 46 of Fallen Prince

He remained motionless for a long moment, staring down at me with a fearsome frown. I didn’t flinch or cower. I simply waited for him to surrender.

You don’t scare me.

“Max,” I prompted.

His name on my lips seemed to be a trigger for him, and he reached into his pocket to retrieve his phone even as he continued to scowl at me.

I lifted my brows and waited, expectant.

Nope. Still not scared.

He blew out a long sigh and typed in his passcode, unlocking the phone before handing it to me. I accepted it and quickly entered my contact details before he could change his mind and snatch it back. I fired off a text to myself so that I’d have his number, too.

“There,” I said, satisfied. I returned his phone. “Now you don’t have to stalk me anymore.”

“I have been stalking you. It’s not a joke.” He said it like a dark reminder, as though I’d somehow forgotten his madness and the terrible way we’d first met.

“You also saved me from getting hit by a car and protected me from Gavin,” I countered. “I’d prefer to be able to ask you to meet up than to find you lurking in the shadows.” My lips twitched, teasing.

“That’s not funny,” he half-growled, still trying to scare me off.

I lifted my chin and met him head-on. “I want to see you again,” I said firmly. “I’ll text you.”

He shook his head at me. “You shouldn’t.”

“That’s really annoying, you know,” I informed him flippantly. “Stop telling me what I should and shouldn’t do.”

His mouth quirked at the corners, as though hewas suppressing a smile of his own. “I think you’re infuriating, too.”

I rolled my eyes at him. White flames danced over his dark, intent gaze. They licked my skin, and my body began to tingle with the memory of his wicked kiss. My tongue darted out to wet my lips, craving more. His eyes riveted to my mouth, and he swayed toward me for an instant before his massive frame hardened to granite once again.

“I should go, Allie.” His desire-roughened voice caressed my name, even as he insisted on leaving me.

“Why?” I wasn’t ready to let my dark protector go. Having his strong arms around me felt far too good to sever our connection.

He glanced at the time on his phone before slipping it back into his pocket. “It’s getting late. I have somewhere I need to be.”

Something shrank in the center of my chest. “You’re not going after my dad again, are you?”

His jaw tightened, and he wasn’t looking at me anymore. “No,” he bit out.

He didn’t offer further information.

I didn’t know if I wanted to hear about his plans. I wasn’t afraid of Max anymore, but that didn’t change the fact that his family was full of criminals. Worry nipped at me, but I shoved it away. Maxcouldn’t possibly be capable of the heinous acts I’d seen in the Ferrara casefiles. I refused to even contemplate it.

Sensing my tension, he lifted me up off his lap and steadied me on my feet before stomping toward my front door without another word. I waited two heartbeats before rushing after him. I didn’t want to leave things like this between us. Not after the intensely intimate experience we’d just shared.

When night air kissed our skin, I snagged his wrist in my hand. He stopped as though shackled in place. Moving too quickly for him to stop me, I bounced up onto my toes and brushed a kiss over his cheek. “Goodnight, Max.”

A small shudder rolled through him as his bulky muscles flexed, but he restrained himself from crushing me to him for another scorching kiss.

I hesitated for a moment, tempted to test his resolve. I wanted this strong man to come undone beneath my tender hands. The idea made desire pulse deep inside me, and it took effort to force myself to back away.

I offered him one final smile. “I’ll see you soon.”

It was a firm promise. I wouldn’t allow him to retreat from me. I wouldn’t allow him to sever the intense, wild connection we shared. And judging bythe feral hunger that gleamed in his dark eyes as I shut the door, he wouldn’t be able to resist my demands to see him again.

Max burned for me just as hotly as I burned for him.

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