Page 66 of The Ruthless and the Strong

“You don’t sound sorry,” I said. She laughed harder.

“I am. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up your age. I didn’t realize it was a touchy subject.”

I shook my head and rested my hand on the small of her back. Brat.

She shot me a playful smile. “It’s okay. You’re hot for an old man.”

“I didn’t realize thirty-nine is so old,” I said dryly.

“Almost forty in just a couple of weeks,” she said, ducking her head shyly.

“You always wished me a happy birthday, every year,” I said.

“Always,” she said softly.

There had been a time when we went months without talking to each other, but then I received a text from her on my birthday, and it was the best thing to have happened to me on that day.

How fucking pathetic.

But I had been that for her, and I would be that for her for the rest of our lives.

I realized then, that was what I wanted. For her to be here with me and wish me a happy birthday. For every year that I got to spend on this earth, be it one more year, or ten more, or even fifty more, I wanted to spend it with her.

I wanted to be selfish.

I wanted her to show me how.

“I wish you could stay the night,” I said. This wasn’t enough time. I wanted more, and more still, and always more.

“Me, too,” she said regretfully. “But Hunter—”

“Hush, sweetheart. I understand. Hunter comes first. Always.”

Her eyes turned soft, and I wanted to spend the rest of my life putting that look in her eyes. “Thank you.”

“You don’t have to thank me for that,” I said gruffly, and because we had a limited amount of time, I pulled her down and devoured her lips in a hard kiss. She moaned in my mouth, and I bit her bottom lip, eliciting a small whimper.

Before she could say any more, I flipped us over and spread her legs, moving in between them. She looked at me with heated eyes as I moved my gaze down her sweet little pussy. I pulled a bit on the neatly trimmed red hair she had there, and her legs twitched.

Smiling wickedly at her, I cupped her slick flesh and began to massage gently. She let out a small whimper, but otherwise stayed still for me.

“Good girl,” I said. And she was that. My good, my beautiful girl. “Open your legs for me.”

I could feel her getting more aroused from my words, and I knew she loved it when I took charge. When I told her what to do, and when I rewarded her with those little praises that seemed to be turning her on.

She spread her legs wider and gave me full access to her.

I inserted a finger inside her tight heat, loving the way she clenched around me, as if she couldn’t get enough. I inserted another finger, widening it a bit, and she let out a small moan. The sweetest fucking sound I had ever heard, especially since it was made with me touching her like this.

I began to move, and Lizzie moved her hands up to her breasts, playing with her nipples. “Fuck. If only you could see yourself. Like an angel sent down to tempt the devil.”

She smiled a little at that and I increased my pace. The faster I moved, the harder her fingers clenched down on her pink nipples, and the more turned on I was.

“Max, please. I need to come so bad.”

“Don’t fucking come,” I commanded. “Not until I say you can.”

She let out a small noise, a cross between a whimper and a moan. “Please,” she begged.

I moved faster against her, loving the sound her drenched pussy made every time I moved back in. It wasn’t long before I felt her trembling; she was close, but she’d held on so beautifully, I had half a mind to torture her some more.

But my girl wanted to come, and as much as I loved playing with her, I loved that glazed look in her eyes when she reached her peak even more.

“Come,” I said, pushing my fingers at her front wall, hitting just the right spot. She shot off, her foot pressed on the bed, and brought her hip up at an angle. I watched in fascination as she came.Watched the way she abused her nipples as a tremor flashed through her, and watched the way her soft creamy skin turned red and pink, and watched as she bit on her plump bottom lip and wished I was the one doing that instead.

She was beautiful and all mine.

Never in a million years had I thought I could see her like this for me, and now that it was happening, I realized I didn’t know how to let her go.

She’d sealed her fate tonight when she came knocking on my door. She probably didn’t know what she’d gotten herself into, but I would protect her from any repercussions of my actions. Her and Hunter, and I would never let them go again.

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