Page 65 of Seducing the Knave

She took a long breath, then gave a short little nod before licking her lips again. “Are you?”

His tone was raw as he replied, “Bloody brilliant.”

Her attention flickered back to his slowly softening cock, then to his spend cooling on his skin, before returning to meet his gaze. “That was...”

Fucking amazing was what he’d say. Instead, he braced for her next words.

“That was...extraordinary,” she finally managed.

Max arched a brow, then chuckled. It was not at all what he’d expected her to say but it pleased him greatly. He reached for the corner of the bedsheet and wiped his seed from his chest and belly. When he finished, he glanced back at her to see her eyes narrowed fiercely upon him.

“I’m so glad I managed to amuse you yet again,” she said tightly. “I suppose an experience like that is ridiculously ordinary for you. No doubt, just an instance among thousands.” She rolled forcefully to her other side, giving him her back.

“Elle,” he muttered around his smile as he lifted himself to his elbow. “Ye got me wrong.” Grasping her hip in his hand, he pulled her toward him. She resisted briefly, but then rolled to her back with a low sound of frustration.

She stared up at him with a brightly furious gaze. “Did I? What else should I believe when you so enjoy insulting me with your constant amusement at my expense?”

Even now, in her tousled, well-pleasured fury, she was a gorgeous creature. Max shook his head. “No insult, luv, I swear.” He brushed a few golden curls away from her face, inciting a deeper scowl between her elegant brows. Then—because he couldn’t seem to help himself—he smoothed his thumb over the lush pouty curve of her bottom lip as he muttered thickly, “Ye fair ruined me.”

Her lips parted on a long exhale as the fury slowly ebbed from her features. Then she gave a short little nod. “Good,” she replied simply before she rolled away from him and curled up to go to sleep, leaving Max to stare into the darkness for a long time after.

But eventually, the sound of her soft snoring purr lulled him into a state of mental relaxation. Unfortunately, it left him vulnerable to a truth he would’ve preferred not to acknowledge.

The woman had ruined him.

With her haughty ways, her gentle ferocity, her optimism, and her prideful temper, she’d triggered something in him. Something dangerous.

Something he had to stop. Immediately.

#

MAX WAS GONE AGAIN the next morning.

Elle wasn’t sure what had made her think he might still be there when she awoke...except perhaps a moment of severe naivete.

Obviously, nothing had changed. For him.

Not so for her.

She squeezed her eyes shut to block out the bright truth of day, but nothing could stem the flow of memories of all that had transpired between them the night before. Heat flooded her bloodstream when she thought of how she’d behaved under his sensual attention. The things she’d said. The things she’d demanded he do to her.

And what she’d watched him do.

A moan of dismay mixed with a liberal dose of renewed desire slipped from her throat.

Now that she knew...

Now that she’d experienced such things...

It was going to be fairly impossible not to think of doing them again. And more.

Surely, there was more. And no doubt, Max knew all about the various pleasures to be experienced with a lover.

Lover?

Was he her lover now?

The thought sparked a deep flare of pleasure inside her, followed quickly by trepidation.

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