Page 15 of Flirt

As I stood there, deep inside Gabriella while we both fought for breath—the realization that she could be what I was searching for—struck me deep in my core.

Then I wondered why it took me so long to find her.

Chapter Six

Gabriella

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Isat across Max’slap with my head on his shoulder as he rubbed his hand up and down my arm with no memory of either of us getting dressed. I briefly wondered if ‘thank you’ would be appropriate under the circumstances. Or would it be over the top to ask for his address and send him a thank you gift? What would a woman even buy a man for giving her mind-blowing orgasms?

For all I knew, we could have been sitting that way for minutes or hours. His heartbeat was steady, and the sound was soothing. I was an experienced woman as far as sex was concerned. At least I thought so before Max. A slight shiver went through my body as I thought of the first contact of the flogger and the slight sting, which quickly turned into pleasure. How was it possible that a man I just recently met knew more about my sexual need than I did?

“Are you cold, Angel?” Max asked and continued rubbing my arm along with placing his other hand on my leg and duplicating the process.

“A little,” I lied, not wanting to admit the real reason. As an afterthought, I added, “Sir.”

“Ah, Angel, I appreciate the effort,” he said, chuckled, and smacked my thigh before removing his hand. He snagged one of the bottles of water off the side table and handed it to me. “Drink.”

I nodded, took the bottle from him, and twisted the cap off. The water was room temperature yet still soothed my parched throat. Max reached for the other bottle and then brought it toward the hand that had been rubbing my arm. He removed his own cap and drank.

After he finished, he set his empty bottle back on the table. I drank the rest of my water down, then replaced the cap, and shifted on his lap to stand. He clasped my arm and helped me to my feet, then released me.

“Well, I guess we should leave. There could be someone else waiting for the room,” I said, suddenly feeling shy and vulnerable and unable to look at Max’s face. Which was stupid considering everything we had done together.

He reached out and grabbed my hands, holding them within his, and stood. “Are you okay, Gabriella?” he asked. His voice softened as he gave my hands a gentle squeeze.

“Yes.” It was the only answer I could give him then, with so many emotions flooding my system. Once the sexual haze had lifted, the onslaught of emotions had taken place. I had gone a long time without letting a man bust through the barriers I had built to protect not only myself but Sawyer, too.

I had loved, and I had lost. Sex was to be an escape from my daily life, nothing more, nothing less. It was why I joined Whispering Nights. It was to be a place where I was able to turn over the sexual power to someone else for a bit without the worry of them wanting anything else from me.

Instead, I found myself the one who wanted more from the man in front of me. If I had had the energy, I would have laughed at how my plan had backfired before it had even got off the ground. The unexpected draw to Max had brought home the fact there was a gaping hole in my plan. A roughly six foot two gaping hole.

“Gabriella, I don’t think you are telling me the truth. Do you want to discuss what happened here or what caused the sudden change in your demeanor?” Max asked, and I forced myself to look up at him. He frowned, and I wondered just how much he was able to read by looking into my eyes.

I forced a smile and slipped my hands from his. “No, really, all is good. I was just...wondering what time it is. I didn’t want to get to my sitter’s house too late,” I said, broke eye contact with Max, and gathered the two empty water bottles from the table. After a quick glance around the room, I saw the small trash can and walked to it, and tossed the bottles in. I noticed Max’s bag sat by the door and realized how out of it I must have been to not remember him putting his things away and moving it from in front of the other chair.

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