Page 42 of Driven By Desire
Krish flinched at the perfectly aimed hit. “It’s responsible.”
The stiff words had Max wincing. Guilt pinched her heart at the quiet hurt she saw in his eyes.
“Krish-“
“The three of them are all I have left of family in this world. They’re my responsibility, my promise to my parents and a daily reminder to be the best I can be for them. If that means I’m irrational and obsessive when it comes to keeping them safe, to helping them carve out happy, complete lives, to seeing them be the people my parents dreamed they would be, then so be it. They’re my heart, Max, and there is nothing in this world I wouldn’t do to keep them safe.”
Pushing to get words out past the emotion clogging her throat, Max whispered, “Pooja was never in any danger. I would never have allowed any harm to come to her.”
“Every time she lies to or manipulates one of us into giving her something she’s not meant to have, she learns that it’s okay to use her wiles to get around people. Every time she lashes out, either out of temper or selfishness, she becomes less than the wonderful person she truly is. Every time I let her get awaywith it, I do her harm, Max. Make no mistake about that. Old-fashioned, repressed and boring it may be but I will not do my sister the harm of letting her grow up into a selfish, bad-tempered human being who thinks of nothing and no one but her own enjoyment.”
Squeezing the nape of his neck to try and release the fatigue that had a vice like grip on him, Krish turned away to stare blindly at the wall in front of him. Why had he thought he could do this? Have a relationship in the middle of the manic chaos that was his life. A wave of hopelessness had his shoulders sagging. A second later, slim cool fingers enclosed his loosening them from around his neck. Slowly massaging the tense muscles, Max slipped around to his front and looked up into those serious, intense eyes. The wretched emotion in them had her breath hitching.
“I’m sorry.” The soft whisper had him closing his eyes and dropping his forehead to hers. Her fingers continued to work their magic as his traitorous muscles loosened and stretched languorously under them.
“It’s hard to completely comprehend from the outside the intricacies of what it takes to keep it together like you do. I’m really sorry about the language and about not checking with you before saying yes to the hair color.”
“Don’t.” Keeping his eyes closed, he soaked in the scent of her, the warmth of her. “Don’t apologize. That’s not what I came here for.”
“What did you come here for?”
“You. A moment of time with you. Just you.”
Softly, gently her lips feathered over his. A gentle press, a tender caress that stroked the fractures in his heart urging them toclose. Just a little bit. His arms came around her in a tentative embrace. Twining her fingers through his hair, she tugged his head down and deepened the kiss. His mouth crushed down on hers with a desperation that mirrored the tumult swirling inside him. Tightening his arms around her, he hauled her up until she was plastered against him. Her hands frantically tugged at his shirt and pulling it free of his jeans. Slipping her hands in, she slid them over hot, firm muscle in a decadent exploration that left them both breathless.
Her body moved against his in an unconscious caress that had him groaning and pulling back long enough to mutter, “Bedroom?”
“What?” The dazed response had him grinning.
“Your bedroom. Which one is it?”
Pointing to a door slightly to his right, Max barely caught her breath before she found herself unceremoniously dragged into the bedroom and dropped on top of the bed. Bouncing a little, she grabbed for his shirt and took him down with her. Arms and legs tangling in their haste to remove each other’s clothing, they landed in an uninhibited sprawl.
Sinking his hand into the wild tangle of her hair, Krish lost himself once more in the incandescent pleasure of her kiss. When she gasped against his mouth, he took the opportunity to slip his tongue through the gap and taste her further. Slowing now, he took his time and savoured the moist, succulent temptation she offered with such abandon.
The sensations rioting through her had Max’s eyes going blind with passion. Her nails dug tiny crescents in the warm, firm flesh of his back. A small cry escaped her as he tore his lips from herand trailed soft, feather-light kisses down the delicate curve of her neck.
Gripping the hem of her t-shirt, he pulled it over her head with one swift yank. Black satin with tiny red bows at strategic places had him groaning and burying his face in the sweet curve of her breasts. Nuzzling softly against the enticing flesh, he traced one finger against the curve of satin that kept it out of reach.
“Do the panties match?”
Max quivered as his breath feathered over the sensitive flesh.
“Yes.” When Krish’s hand reached for the clasp, she put a hand over his to stop him.
Krish froze with his hand still angled against the curve of her back. “You want me to stop?” The hoarse murmur had Max reaching for him partly in reassurance partly because she couldn’t keep her hands off him. “I want you skin to skin with me.”
It didn’t take more than a second for his shirt to disappear and for her ‘seduce Krish’ bra to go sailing over her head. The first stroke of his skin against hers had everything in her sighing and melting into his arms. The downy softness of her breasts met the taut, hard, planes of his chest in a heated embrace that felt like the furnaces of hell engulfed them.
Shivering against the cascade of emotions coursing through her, Max burrowed closer to the inviting warmth of him. Mistaking the shiver for cold, Krish cradled her closer and yanked the comforter over their heads effectively cutting out both the cold and the light. The dark pressed in from both sides leaving only sensation in the intimate cocoon. A slight susurration of sound and Max’s legs lost the tights and panties she’d been wearing.Wrapping a hand around one sleek calf, he lowered his head to trail kisses down the flat pane of her stomach.
“Krish.” The soft gasp was all she could manage as she reached blindly for him. Shucking his jeans, he rolled out of bed long enough to grab the condom he’d stashed in his wallet when leaving Vizag. Sliding back in under the covers, he kissed his way up from her toes to the softly moaning mouth.
Swallowing the tiny sounds of pleasure, he cupped one perfectly formed breast. Fondling and kneading it gently, he let her questing hands stroke and explore him. Dipping his head, he took the tightly furled nipple in his mouth. Max cried out and arched into his mouth. Slipping a hand between them, he found her wet and ready. When she reciprocated by taking the firm, hard length of him between her cool fingers, he almost lost it right there.
“Don’t.”
The guttural command had her defying him by pushing him on to his back and straddling him. Completely uninhibited in the dark tent the comforter formed around them, Max reached between them and found him again. Steel covered in velvet glided through her fingers even as she bent forward to kiss him. Breasts brushed gently against his chest in a tantalizing caress and had him crushing her to him. Arms banded around her and held her in place as his kiss ravaged her and her fingers stroked him closer to heaven.
