The thugs he killed all had records, both in the States-Nevada to be precise so Sheriff Rawlins was happier than a pig in shit-and Western Europe. No one would mourn them and the world was a better place without them. Sheriff Rawlins sent us on our way, Max claimed the insurance money on his home, and although the check had eventually come through, it still wasn't nearly enough to maintain the kind of lifestyle we perpetrated.
Both of us had savings and money in the bank but we couldn't touch it. The paper trail alone would lead Dimitri directly to us and he was the last person we wanted to deal with at the moment. Not when we'd cultivated the perfect plan to get his money and make him suffer.
Ironically, with Raz out of the picture, Max was much more pliable and even depended on me for advice and information. Ever the alpha male, we had some knock down, drag-out fucking in the bedroom but outside of it, we treated each other as equals. He'd never mentioned the fact that he'd bought me ever again and I never teased him about me having his balls in the palm of my hand.
It was the strangest feeling because if I ever imagined a life where Edward and I would have been able to be together as a couple then Max and I were living it-minus the bikers. Not that it was bad to be on our own. We each had our own demons and could give each other space to deal with our shit when we needed to while other times, we relied on one another and worked perfectly in tandem. I truly couldn't be any more content than I was at that moment.
Even if my feelings for him were in a muddled gray-zone I couldn't quite work out yet.
Neither Max nor I had ever used the "L" word with each other, mostly because we both knew it would be a lie. We cared deeply for one another and would do anything to protect ourselves because we were a unit. But love-maybe we were both too fucked up to believe we could ever feel that deeply for anyone at all. It was just better to know that we respected each other and would never make a move without consulting one another.
It was enough for me.
For now.
Max walked out on to the deck and sat in the lounge chair next to mine. He also had the requisite Florida tan although his skin was lighter in color than mine. I was almost bronze to his sun-kissed complexion that didn't handle the sun nearly as well as mine.
"You're going to burn," I warned as I gazed at him, his eyes hidden beneath blacker-than-black Ray-Bans.
"And you're going to get skin cancer," he retorted.
"Why can't I relax and just enjoy some time in the sun?"
Max stood and held out his hand. "You've had enough sun. Come on inside, we have to talk."
"Yes, Daddy," I mumbled sarcastically under my breath as I stood up and followed him inside to mid-deck.
There was a full living room with a wrap around leather sofa and all the amenities one expected in a super yacht, including dark wood paneling, a built-in bar, a sixty-inch television and more than enough space to easily entertain ten guests though the only two people on board were us.
"Don't call me that, Peaches," he murmured as he sat down on the sofa with casual grace.
I made us both Macallan scotch on the rocks in crystal tumblers before I sat down and turned my bikini-clad body towards him. "What's up?"
"We leave for the Palm Beach tomorrow. We'll drive-this yacht is too risky. Plus it's tacky and flashy, something the head-up-their-ass residents of Boca Raton would remember quite well. Our whole point is not to stand out," Max explained in a measured voice.
"I thought your mother was in Paris."
"Mila came back early." He smirked after he swigged from his scotch. "The weather wasn't to her liking."
I lightly bit my bottom lip. "So, everything's good to go? We're still gonna do this, right? You're not gonna chicken out on me?"
"And face your wrath? Hell fucking no. The plan is on and it stays as is-to the letter."
"You're really ready to do this?" I certainly didn't want him to think I would dare talk him out of it but nearly four months ago he'd sworn he'd never be able to do this and now he was okay with it? I wasn't buying it at all.
Max stared into my face, his aquamarine eyes brilliant in the sunlit room. "Are you getting cold feet now?"
I rolled my eyes as he set his drink down on top of a coaster on the glass magazine table and reached for my face. "Nope. Shit like that doesn't happen to me, Max. I had most of my humanity fucked outta me by the time I was fourteen and the rest . . . well, when you kill people for a living, you know we don't feel like normal people. I'm frightened and I never thought I would ever reach this point in my life."
"Frightened of what, Peaches?" he teased before he slid his tongue from my collarbone all the way up to my jaw.
"You. Not of you but I don't want whatever you feel for me to ever turn into resentment. I'm not stupid, you know. If I push you too hard and you do this, you'll blame me for the rest of your life. Love has a very easy way of turning into hate."
"Who ever said I love you?" The question was rhetorical but the way he cocked his head to the side, I wasn't so sure I hadn't hit the nail on the head.
"It's just a turn of phrase, babe. I wouldn't think you feel anything for me other than uncontrollable lust and a pull at your hormones for somewhere warm and wet to stick your dick when the mood hits you." I shrugged. "I'm okay with that-I've put up with worse situations and you're not bad at all. Easy on the eyes, you fuck like a stallion and know how to say all the right stuff to a girl so there are no complaints outta me. I just . . . I don't want . . ."
"What? Me to start despising you because you thought this would be the easiest way for us to accomplish our goals? It is and Raz had a valid point-what has the bitch done for me lately? I try to forget all that shit she did to me and remember the good times because it's what keeps me sane, Mags. If I truly thought about all the crap I've endured over the years, I'd surely flip the fuck out and have a nervous breakdown. We can't afford for me to be like that," he explained with a genuine look of sincerity creasing his brows.
"I could take care of you. We all have to go a little crazy sometimes to get sane, Max. It's human nature."
He shook his head adamantly. "Maybe I don't want you taking care of me, ever thought of that? I'm the eldest here and I'm the one who's supposed to be the expert at this. I can't . . . I don't ever want you to see me at my lowest. I've been there, done that-own the fuckin' t-shirt. It was a long time ago when I lost my shit but it was bad and I can't go through that again."
"You wanna talk about it?" I urged in a soft voice.
"No, I don't. All I wanna do is fuck you right here, right now. We can fight too and that will be all the catharsis I need. Tomorrow, we get down to business but today belongs to us."
I hated how easily my body responded to his request but the moment he mentioned sex, I tingled all over and my body became a raging inferno of hormones and firing synapses. Every nerve ending crackled with heat awaiting his touch, his tease, and ultimately his very release.
His fingers easily slid across the bowtie knot at my neck and loosened it until my breasts tumbled out after the top of my bikini fell down. I swigged from my scotch, grabbed an ice cube and held it in my mouth before he snatched my glass and set it on the table beside his.
He leaned into me and when we kissed, the ice cube transferred from my mouth to his before he took it out with deft fingers and massaged my nipples, the feel of the air conditioned room and further coolness from the cube left my nipples stiff and almost as erect as his cock hidden beneath his board shorts.
I leaned back and moaned as he stuffed the cube back in his mouth and tackled my nipples, his warm tongue against the ice utterly exhilarating as wetness pooled between my legs.
Max lifted me up as if I weighed nothing and sat me on his lap. His hard, insistent dick pressed against me and I couldn't help I wanted to tease and please him at the same time if possible.
My hips worked on their own and ground down against his cock as he switched nipples and slid the other into his mouth. This would have been enough to make me come alone but I knew what would happen next and the anticipation built inside of me like a twister spinning completely out of control.
Soon, I was lost in the feeling of his lips on mine, our tongues twirling around each other as our kiss deepened. I could barely breathe from want and need but the moment his beautiful hands gripped my neck and cut off my air supply, my heart thudded inside of my body and the sound of blood rushed through my ears.
It was a battle of the wills to see how long I could hold out, kissing him, teasing him as my hips bucked against his before he let me breathe again.
The tension completely relaxed and a rush of blood went to directly to my head. I felt dizzy and slightly nauseated but that was the purpose of breath play. If I didn't entirely trust him then it wouldn't have been as satisfying or worth the pain that brought so much pleasure afterward.