Page 56 of Can We Skip to the Good Part?
Aha. Maybe they’d argued. Is that why Max carried an uncharacteristic heaviness? “And how was the visit?”
Max sighed. She slid Ella one of the glasses of wine and picked up her own. “Surreal. I should probably tell you that my mother was recently diagnosed with cancer.” She paused. “Sorry. I’m still working on processing that, and it’s entirely different saying the words out loud.”
Ella’s hand went still, glass frozen midway to her mouth. “Oh, shit. That’s awful.”
“It is.” She lifted a shoulder. “The statistics are in her favor, but she seems to be preparing herself for the end of her life, and it’s … jarring. She’s never been someone who gives up easily.” Max stared at the wall behind Ella and shook her head. “It’s not in her DNA.”
“I’m sure this has you rattled.”
“Understatement.” Max nodded. “I think I needed … someone tonight. No. Not someone. You.”
Ella came around the gray and white marbled island and faced Max. “Well, I’m glad you called.” They stared at each other for a long moment, the tension prickling Ella’s neck. “Do you want to talk about it or talk about anything but? Maybe we could?—”
Max’s lips silenced her as they pressed to Ella’s, insistent and mixed with something deeper, something she wasn’t sure how to name. Max paused for a moment, giving Ella the chance to pull away or step out of her space. She did neither. The kiss had sparked something primal in Ella, and she went up on her toes, wrapped her arms around Max’s neck, and crushed her mouth to Max’s. As their lips tangled, fitting together just as perfectly as before, the spark turned to flames, and the heat licked its way from her toes to her midsection before dipping lower. Shewas already aching for Max, the throbbing between her legs incessant. She slid her tongue into Max’s mouth and explored, greeted by the soft press of Max’s nails. She was quickly wet and longing to be touched, licked, fucked, all of it.
The cardigan hit the floor.Good.
Max’s fingertips skated down her arms, highlighting the sensitivity of her skin. Her whole body came alive at just that slightest touch from Max, like it had been waiting for her. In so many ways, it had. Their breasts pressed together as Max walked them backward, and Ella loved every second of that sensation. When her ass hit the back of the couch, Max paused and cradled Ella’s face, holding her there as she good and kissed her into next week. Her tongue touched Ella’s bottom lip, a request. She granted it, and Max’s tongue was in her mouth, exploring expertly, devouring. It was everything holy in this world.
“You are so fucking hot,” Max said, coming up for air.
Ella, lust drunk and wanting more, nodded. “Do you know what would be even hotter?” Her fingertips found the hem of Max’s dress shirt. “You with no shirt on.”
Ella unbuttoned the first button, which offered her a glimpse of cleavage. The second showed off Max’s baby-blue bra and the tops of her breasts. Ella swallowed, and her mouth watered. Low cut and sexy as hell. Max conducted business in a boardroom wearing that thing? Ella’s cheeks flamed, and her center ached. “Fucking look at you,” she murmured, watching as Max’s eyes flashed dark. She didn’t say a word, waiting patiently for Ella to continue, and she did. The fourth and fifth buttons left the shirt hanging open, exposing the soft skin of Max’s stomach. Ella pulled the shirt down Max’s shoulders, met her gaze, and then placed a kiss on one of them. It was Max who reached behind and unclasped the bra, setting it on the top of the couch behind them. Ella exhaled slowly, trying to keep her thoughts clear. With Max now standing topless in front of her, the world wasless steady. Ella wanted to touch, taste, and stare all at the same time. The jumble of feelings, emotions, and primal impulses assaulted her senses, overwhelming. She knew one thing with certainty. There had never been a more gorgeous woman than Maxine Wyler. Her breasts were round and perfect, medium in size, with rose-colored nipples. Ella’s hands trembled slightly as she touched one, tracing the perimeter of a nipple. Max sucked in air, which pulled Ella’s focus from her breasts to her face as she continued to touch her intimately. Max’s lips were parted, her eyes luminous. Ella’s featherlight touches gave way to a more assured massage as she watched each tiny reaction play out on Max’s features. The kind of movie she could watch all day long. She rolled the nipples between her thumbs and forefingers, prompting Max’s eyes to slam shut and the wordfuckto escape her lips.
“They’re sensitive,” Ella said, her own voice emerging with a rasp she didn’t recognize. Max bit her bottom lip and nodded. On a power trip now, Ella wanted to see more of Max, to spend time with every inch of her body, make her writhe beneath Ella’s touch before eventually breaking into a free fall to pleasure. But then she had a thought. “What do you want?” she asked, afraid to race ahead of Max. It was an important question.
“That’s my bedroom. I want to go in there with you,” Max said, indicating a doorway beyond the living space. “And explore every part of us. Finally.”
Ella nodded, and within a millisecond, they were kissing again, unable to keep their hands and mouths off of each other for more than a couple of beats. “Let’s go,” Ella said around kisses. Max led the way to her bedroom, but they took frequent kissing breaks. And ones for touching, groping, and pressing. Up against the wall was her favorite, and it was very quickly determined that clothing was their enemy. They lost a few more items as they traveled to Max’s absolutely gorgeous bedroom.She had a cream and lavender bed, lower to the floor than was traditional. Ella liked the uniqueness—very Max. She’d only glimpsed the furniture before the lights went out—Max’s doing. But it was a deep gray with long silver handles. She liked those very much, but was too lust drunk to think beyond that. A bolt of pleasure slid up her thighs because there was a hand between her legs, touching her through her underwear, stroking her slowly from behind. The attention sent shockwaves straight to her center, causing her knees to go weak and her words to disappear. Her pants had been lost somewhere en route to the room, leaving her bare-thighed and trembling—all Max’s adept work. Hypnotized with longing, Ella closed her eyes, lost in the sensations that overtook everything. She dropped her head back, reveling, enjoying, and craving so much more with each passing second. She wanted their bodies naked and pressed together on Max’s bed. She wanted to learn Max’s body and use that knowledge to make her whimper and claw that beautiful bedspread. She wanted Max’s fingers curled inside of her, carrying her higher and higher. That’s when she felt the pressure start to build. She was making sounds she didn’t remember choosing to make, which meant she wasn’t in charge of her own body at this point, but was merely along for the ride. There was something so incredibly freeing about that knowledge.
“I want to do so many things to you,” Max said in her ear as she continued to touch her, stroking with more purpose. Her underwear was soaked. “I want you to want. And I want you to come so hard. To cry out. And then I want to do it to you all over again.”
Ella swallowed, thick with need, pressing herself against Max’s hand, which had withdrawn to light touches, avoiding the one spot that so desperately craved attention.
“Show me you,” Ella managed. She’d waited long enough and fantasized too often.
Max straightened and crossed to the lamp on the bedside table. She clicked it on, casting a warm glow across the room. She turned around and faced Ella, whose gaze fell immediately to the breasts she was only just getting to know. Ella watched in captivation as Max dropped her black pants to the floor and effortlessly stepped out of her underwear. She was exquisite. A woman to be painted and hung on a wall, yet here she stood in front of Ella, hers. At least for tonight.
“How are you so perfect?” she asked, moving immediately to Max with purpose. She captured her mouth with a hungry kiss before Max could answer. It was only moments before her bikinis were slid halfway down her legs, and without pulling her lips from Max’s, she stepped out of them. Her bra hit the floor right after, and skin on skin was a sensation Ella hadn’t been prepared for. The intense pulses of pleasure tripled when she was pushed onto her back, and Max crawled on top. As her weight settled, the world changed forever. This. It was everything Ella had longed for and craved for so damn long. The warmth, the curves, the smooth expanse of Max’s skin beneath her fingertips left Ella throbbing and in absolute heaven.
“Dear God, you feel amazing,” Max said, closing her eyes. She pressed her thigh between Ella’s and lifted, causing her to see stars. Ella pressed her nails into Max’s back as she absorbed the pinpricks of desire coursing through her.
“Please always do that,” Max said with her eyes still closed. Max liked nails on her back.
Ella nodded, taking note, lost in her body’s overt reaction to Max’s. She pressed closer against Max’s thigh, rocking her hips to inch closer to release. Accommodating her, Max removed the thigh and slid her hips between Ella’s legs instead, rubbing herself back and forth like a gift. “Oh, fuck,” and then pumping her hips, matching Ella’s rhythm. There was no way she could come from this alone, but to her utter shock, the pressure at hercore began to climb. What was happening? The friction became a relentless beat, a pulse that vibrated through Ella’s every nerve ending. Max’s breath hitched, a soft moan escaping her lips, the noise so incredibly sexy that Ella undoubtedly became wetter. Her earlier disbelief began to crumble, giving way to a singular focus on the rising tide within. Then something shifted. The shooting sensations skyrocketed, and cool air caressed her skin. Max had slid down her body and was sucking her clit. God. She clawed the bedding beneath her like a lifeline. Desperately reaching, she arched up in search of what was so close, rushing to her. With Max’s arms around her thighs, she pumped her hips rapidly until finally, the pressure broke like a speeding train, and she was rocked by a staggering wave of pleasure that moved from her center outward to every inch of her body. She shook against it, falling into a wonderful oblivion. When she opened her eyes, Max was straddling her stomach, watching her with reverence, as she rode out the remaining shockwaves.
“You are so beautiful.” She leaned down and placed a slow kiss beneath Ella’s jaw, her hair tickling Ella’s bare skin. “And that was worth every moment I had to wait.”
“You were waiting for me?”
“Are you kidding me? Since the first night we met. Couldn’t get you out of my mind. I wanted you right here.”
Holding Max right where she was, Ella pushed into a sitting position and stared up at Max, now in her arms. “We are such a storm. That was unreal.”
Max nodded, her eyes darker than Ella had ever seen them. “Complicated and powerful, but it’s sexy as hell.”
They came together again in a kiss fueled by passion and the kind of desire that Ella had only read about until Max. Their mouths moved in hunger, tasting, nipping, exploring. She kneaded Max’s breasts, loving the weight of them in her hands, realizing that she was now very much a breast girl. With Max’snipple in her mouth, she slipped her hand between her legs and smiled at how so very ready she already was.
