Reckless Encounter Read online

  “Right now, I’m not interested in the past.” Max spun her around and found the long zipper that ran down the back of her gown. “Only the present.” A rustle accompanied his words as he pulled down the zipper. “Or perhaps the future.” He pushed the fabric past her shoulders and bent his head to press a kiss at the base of her neck.

  A shiver raced down Elena’s spine. She leaned back against Max.

  “Easy,” he whispered into her ear. “We’ll take it nice and slow this time, get to know each other a little better.”

  “We already know each other, at least in the biblical sense.” She gave a strained laugh, awkward and tight, then caught herself and inhaled a calming breath. “I don’t know why I’m so nervous. I feel as if I’m about to leap into the unknown.”

  Max spun her around once more, now to face him. “Just close your eyes and let go.” He lowered his face down to her as he spoke, his breath brushing warmth against her lips. His mouth descended over hers in a gentle invasion that sent tendrils of longing through her. His hands curled around her throat, the thumbs caressing the hollow between her collarbones.

  “I can feel your pulse,” he said. “It’s racing almost as fast as mine.”

  “Why am I so scared?” Elena pulled back and stared up at Max. His dark eyes glistened with what almost looked like the sheen of tears. It eased her anxiety to realize that he too had been caught up in something powerful, something that swept them along and would not allow holding back.

  “Don’t be afraid,” Max said. He pushed the jade green gown down, past her waist, until the heavy fabric folded on its own weight and fell to her ankles. He wound his arm around her waist and lifted her up against his chest, sliding one hand inside her panties to cup her buttocks. Slowly, he edged the fabric aside, reaching down to push the scraps of silk along her thighs, sending her panties fluttering to the floor.

  Elena closed her eyes. She’d bought the silk stockings and suspender belt years ago in a burst of folly and had buried them deep in her closet, never daring to wear them. When she was preparing to fly out to meet Max, she’d searched them out. A blush crept over her face now as she thought of the wanton picture she must make. Then she recalled her earlier encounters with Max, and her skin tingled with the memories. Feeling shy made no sense, but she couldn’t suddenly shake off a lifetime of caution.

  “Can we turn down the lights?” she whispered.

  “All right,” Max said. “But some other time I’ll want to make love to you in bright sunlight and see every inch of you.” He lowered her until her toes touched the floor, and then he released her and crossed the room to draw the thick velvet curtains before turning off the bright ceiling lights and switching on the bedside lamp. The tasseled crimson and gold shade muted the light, leaving a warm glow that didn’t reach into the corners of the room.

  Max returned to Elena. “I can’t get enough of your beauty.” He stood in front of her and stroked the back of his fingers down her neck and past her breasts.

  “Do you want me to keep these on or take them off?” she asked, gesturing at her lace bra and suspender belt.

  “Today I want you to take them off. I want nothing between us. Some other time I’ll want you to keep them on.”

  It made her shiver, the way Max talked about the future, with a clear certainty that they would come together again. She reached behind her back to unhook her bra.

  “No. Let me.” Max reached around her, struggling with the clasp. Elena took it as an indication of his lack of experience in undressing women. The realization sent a new surge of courage through her.

  “My turn,” she said after he finished sliding the straps down her arms.

  “Not yet.” His voice was low. He stood behind her and swept his hands up her arms to her shoulders and then down to her breasts, keeping his touch feathery. His fingers brushed along the dip of her waist, until he found the fastening of the suspender belt and unclipped it. The belt sprang free, held up by the stockings that clung to her legs.

  Next, he knelt before her. Slowly, inch by inch, he rolled down the silk stockings, caressing her legs as he exposed her skin, lingering along the elegant taper of her calves. He curled his fingers around her slim ankle.

  “I can hardly believe the difference in our bodies,” he said. “You’re so delicately made. I wonder how your bones don’t snap from the pressure of everyday tasks.”

  “Women are tougher than men,” she told him. “That’s why we have babies.”

  Max chuckled. “You might be right.” He rose from his kneeling position. “Your turn.”

  Elena undressed him, struggling with the hooks at the waist of his trousers and the buttoned fly, just as he had struggled with the clasps on her underwear. “I’ve never done this before,” she said, to justify her slow progress.

  “Neither have I,” Max said. “It has never been important to me until now to savor every second of being with a woman.”

  She undid the black bowtie and let it slip to the floor. Unbuttoning the white dress shirt, she pushed the crisp fabric past Max’s shoulders. The cuffs got trapped, and she had to pull the shirt back up to twist out the simple gold squares.

  “You could have told me I’d forgotten the cufflinks,” she scolded Max.

  “Why?” he replied with a quirk of a smile. “I like being undressed by you. I want to make it last as long as I can.”

  “I never thought men’s clothes could be so complicated.”

  He took over and removed the last of the austere evening clothing. When he finally stood naked in front of her, she thought of the legend of Atlas, the giant who balanced the world on his shoulders. She leaned in to kiss the tight brown nipples on his chest, enchanted by how they puckered, just like hers did when he touched them.

  Max groaned softly. “I’m not used to this. I’m used to taking what I want and then going to sleep. I feel like I’m on fire.”

  “Hush,” Elena said, and led him to the ornately carved canopied bed. “Tonight is not about you taking what you want. It is me giving you what I think you need. And deserve.”

  ****

  Max waited while Elena folded away the black and gold brocade bedspread. As he watched her working at the task, a fierce sense of possessiveness seized him. His house. His woman. Getting ready to make love to him in his bed. Impatience welled up inside him. He reached out to curl one hand around her forearm.

  “Leave it,” he ordered. “Just drop it on the floor.”

  Elena threw a startled glance at him over her shoulder. Max stepped up to her, his body spooning around hers. His erection jutted against her buttocks. The feel of her smooth skin sent a jolt of need through him. He tugged the bundle of the folded bedspread out of her hands and shoved it on the floor behind the bed.

  “Later,” he said.

  Gathering the long tresses escaped from her upsweep to expose her neck, he pressed hungry kisses on the curve of her shoulders. Memories of their first heated mating flooded back to him. It awed him that he could know Elena so intimately, and yet feel that there was so much more of her to learn and discover. It was as though making love to her with his body had left something missing. Now that she had stirred his emotions, there was much more at stake.

  He wanted to make love to her in a way that reached into her soul, captured something that would make her his forever. The mechanics, the sexual prowess of size and stamina suddenly seemed inadequate. For the first time in his life, Max wanted to satisfy a woman emotionally, not just physically.

  “I want to be gentle with you this time,” he said in a husky murmur, pressing his hands to her soft skin, sliding them up to cup her breasts. When Elena leaned back against him with a moan of pleasure, his already straining erection grew even harder. Max gritted his teeth at the hot burst of lust. He’d promised to be gentle, and he’d keep his promise.

  But she ground her buttocks against him, sending fiery sparks down the length of his shaft. Max couldn’t stifle the harsh groan that rose deep in his
chest. His hands tightened over her breasts, his forefinger and thumb finding the taut nipples and playing with them, until Elena whimpered and began to struggle against his touch.

  “No,” she told him on a sharp intake of breath. “Don’t be gentle. I can’t wait. You can be gentle later. Now I just want you inside me.” She pushed his hands away from her breasts. Leaning down, she grabbed the pillows and heaped them on the edge of the bed in front of her. Bending over, she guided his hands to settle on her hips.

  “Christ,” Max growled. “What are you doing to me?”

  “I’m showing you how much I want you,” she replied, and arched her back so that her rounded buttocks thrust up at him.

  Released from his promise, Max didn’t hesitate. He surged inside her in one forceful thrust, felt her inner walls gripping his shaft. He clasped his hands more firmly on the flare of her hips and set to a rhythm of advance and recoil that rocked her body against the pillows heaped beneath her.

  “Tell me,” he murmured. “Don’t let me be too rough.”

  “Harder,” Elena choked out through clenched teeth. “Deeper.”

  Max complied, driving to the hilt and pulling so far out between the thrusts that he could see himself slipping into her, their bodies joining, again and again.

  “Now,” she told him, her voice low and breathless. “Don’t stop.” Her shoulders fell as she bent lower over the pillows, meeting him, allowing him to enter deeper.

  “Max,” she cried out. “Oh, Max, yes.”

  He felt her shudder, sensed the final tug in the coil of tension inside her that would bring about his own release. Somewhere in a distant corner of his mind Max realized that he’d never asked Elena about contraception. It didn’t matter. Whatever the answer, Max knew that nothing would stop him now.

  As he exploded into a violent climax, a roar of ownership tore from him and echoed around the room. His body bowed, and he held still, clutching Elena tight, buried impossibly deep inside her as he felt the hot spurts of semen that might claim her forever as his.

  She shuddered in his arms, her long dark hair unraveled from the upsweep and spilling across the pillows. He could feel the rhythmic contractions inside her, gripping him, prolonging the pleasure.

  Only after the last of their tremors had subsided, did he withdraw from inside her, so he could turn her around, gather her close, and hug her tightly to his chest.

  His woman. In his house. Making love to him in his bed.

  ****

  Sleepy silence enveloped Elena, like a favorite outfit, comfortable and easy. Max shielded her in the curve of his body, protecting her against the nighttime cool. Lazy satisfaction throbbed though her veins, pulsing from her toes to her fingertips, but far more important was the emotional pleasure over how Max had opened up his mind to her.

  After that first explosive joining, with her bent over the bed, face down against the pillows, he had made love to her with a tenderness that was all the more devastating because it was clear to her that he was finding his way through an emotional intimacy he had never shared with any other woman before.

  A hesitant sigh left her chest, like a wish drifting into the darkness of the room. Despite her resolution not to start building foolish dreams, Elena found herself making plans. There was nothing that bound her to Seattle. She’d ended up there simply because McKenzie and Harris had made her the best offer when she graduated from law school. If Max asked her to live with him, she could move to San Francisco and apply for jobs there.

  “I have to get up and check my email,” Max said, interrupting her thoughts, his deep voice rumbling close to her ear. “Joe was dealing with a problem with one of the fitting crews today. He promised to send me an update by the end of the day.”

  “Can’t it wait until morning?” Elena craned her neck to look at the display on bedside clock. “It’s only two o’clock.”

  “I ought to check now, in case there’s something I have to do first thing in the morning and need time to think about.” Max stood up and pulled on his underwear. A few brisk steps took him over to the closet, and with equally efficient moves he dressed in navy blue sweats with the FoodMax logo on the back. “I won’t be long,” he told her over his shoulder as he strode to the door.

  Elena waited, half asleep. She had no idea how much later it was when Max reappeared. “Bad news, I’m afraid,” he said as he stripped off the sweats and climbed into bed beside her. “The crew has downed tools. They were supposed to work all weekend and be finished by Monday morning when the deliveries start to arrive. I need to fly out early tomorrow morning. You’ll have to manage on your own. I’m sorry, but I have no choice.”

  Elena told him she understood. Then she curled up against Max and went to sleep, trying to bury the niggling doubts that he might have found an excuse to avoid spending the day with her. She could just hear her mother’s scolding voice. Let me tell you, Elenita, once these fancy boys have had their way with you, they’ll melt away faster than ice cream in August heat.

  She ignored the voice. Max had been genuine in his tenderness, and she expected that he’d be blunt enough not pretend if he wanted to be rid of her. When the time came for it to end between them, he would make sure she was left in no doubt.

  ****

  Elena woke to find Max prodding at her shoulder. He leaned over her, dressed in a gray business suit. “Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t want to wake you up until the last minute. I won’t be back before you have to leave for the airport.”

  She squinted into the golden morning light that flooded in past the thick drapes that had been drawn open. Blinking sleepily, she stared at Max, all shaved and combed and ready to face the challenges of the day. Regret stung at her for having slept through the morning, instead of sharing it with him. She’d missed the chance to slowly wake up in Max’s arms, and then laze in bed, watching him get dressed.

  “My return flight to Seattle is at six p.m.,” she said, hiding her disappointment.

  “Call the limo company to take you to the airport. I’ve left the telephone number on the kitchen table. It will be billed to the FoodMax business account.”

  Elena scooted up to a sitting position. “Aren’t you afraid that I’ll snoop around the house if you leave me alone in here?”

  “Do all the snooping you want. The password to the computer in the den is snowflake.” Max leaned down to plant a hurried kiss on her lips. “I’ll call you tomorrow. Have a safe trip home.”

  “I hope you’ll get the problem sorted out,” Elena shouted after him.

  She lingered in bed for another hour, refusing to listen to the ugly whispers in the back of her mind, telling her that Max should have put her before the demands of his business. She knew how hard he’d worked for everything he owned. Protecting his investment had to be his priority.

  When Elena finally got up, she took a bath in the big claw-footed tub in the adjoining bathroom. The masculinity of the black marble walls went perfectly with Max. She found a big fawn dressing gown hanging on a hook behind the door and wrapped into it. Then she did a little poking in the bedroom cupboards, but she discovered nothing special. A row of expensive suits, and a shelf filled with folded pairs of jeans and sweaters.

  In the den, the dark oak furniture gleamed free of clutter. She sat in the swivel leather chair in front of the computer and switched on the power. When the system prompted for a password, she typed in snowflake. A big banner filled the screen. Good morning Elena. When the letters dissolved, the prompt asked for a second password, which Max hadn’t given her.

  Laughter surged in her chest. He was making fun of her curiosity. It wrapped her up in a warm glow to know that despite his hurry to deal with the construction crew, Max had taken the time to set up the joke for her.

  Her curiosity thwarted, Elena dressed in her jeans and sneakers and spent the next few hours inspecting the antique seafaring instruments and maps around the house. Then she took a long walk around the neighborhood and found a quaint coffee sho
p for lunch.

  All too soon, the time came to leave for the airport. It was less than ten hours since she had said goodbye to Max Glaser, but missing him was already like a thorn in her heart.

  Chapter Nine

  In the following weeks, happiness surrounded Elena like a great fortress that kept the petty frustrations of everyday life at bay. Everything seemed bright, including the prospects for her business. The extra work of checking the leases and the employment contracts and supplier agreements for FoodMax had caused a backlog with her other clients, and she put in the sixty hour week usual for an associate lawyer in any large firm. She reveled in the feeling of exhaustion.

  Busy meant secure.

  Busy meant successful.

  After a long and hard ethical quest, she paid Max’s check into her bank account and was clear of debt for the first time since the start of the year. As her financial security grew, the final traces of the niggling bitterness caused by Steven’s betrayal receded.

  She took another trip to San Francisco to visit Max, and this time he was free to spend the entire weekend with her. On Sunday afternoon, they roamed the flea markets in the city, seeking to add to his collection of seafaring memorabilia.

  “What do you think about this?” Max’s deep voice cut through the music blaring from a pair of loudspeakers hidden beneath the rough wooden counter of the market stall where they’d paused to browse.

  Elena lowered the travel book in her hands and turned to Max. He wore jeans with a gray sweatshirt, and the brisk autumn wind had tousled his hair, giving him a young, carefree look. Excitement shone in his dark eyes as he held up a small suitcase in tan cowhide.

  “It’s a suitcase,” Elena said, her brows lifted in question.

  “But look where it’s been.” Max ran one fingertip along the worn leather to trace the old stickers glued to the lid. “White Star, Cunard Line, Peninsular and Oriental. These labels span from the beginning of the century, before the First World War, all the way to the fifties. Just think of the adventures the owner of this suitcase has seen.”