Page 30 of Amethyst

There’s no reason to be scared. This is Max. Max, who would rather take a bullet than harm me.

Our lips glide together, and his velvet tongue caresses mine.

Without thinking, I reach toward him, wrap my arms around his neck and pull us closer.

And again the growl—the symphonic vibration from his body into mine.

And I find—to my complete and utter surprise—that I want more. Not just my body.Iwant more.

But still we kiss—we kiss and we kiss and we kiss—and as it becomes more urgent, my breathing quickens, my body warms, my heart races.

Until—

I push at him, breaking the kiss.

His eyes are wide. “Jen?”

I gasp in a breath, clasp my hand to my heart. “Beating so fast…”

“It’s okay,” he says. “You’re okay.”

“I… My heart… Usually, when it’s beating this fast, it’s…”

Max stiffens. “We can stop. We don’t have to do this.”

“No!”

I say nothing else, but I want to scream at him. I want him to know that if we don’t finish this I may die an untimely death. That I need him. That I need this whole thing. More than I thought.

“Jenna?”

“I just… My heart. It used to beat like this on the island. When I was being chased. When I was…in fear for my life.”

Max frowns. “Please don’t say you fear me.”

“No, I don’t. I don’t feel fear right now. I feel… I feel a need. An actual desire.”

His frown edges into a slight smile. “That’s a good thing from where I’m sitting.”

“It’s a very good thing. I’m feeling something. My body. It still works.”

“Of course it still works, Jen.”

“I didn’t expect this. I expected this to be something I had to get through. But Max… Maybe we shouldn’t do this.”

He pulls away, his gaze cast downward. “Whatever you say, Jen.”

“I don’t mean it like that. My God, I want it. I just neverexpectedto want it.”

“Trust me,” he says. “You wanting it will make it a lot better for me. A lot better for both of us.”

I look down at his crotch again, at the apparent bulge.

“As you can see,” he says, “evidence that I’m enjoying it as well.”

My urge to touch him is so great I can’t believe it. I never thought I’d want to touch that part of a man again, never thought I’d want it near me.

I assumed it would be something I had to cope with to have the children I so desire.

---