41

Cadence

I wake to Max lying flat on his back, snoring softly. I’m not draped over him like I was yesterday, but I am close enough to touch.

We touched a lot last night.
The numbers on the phone suggest it’s after six o’clock, but the light from the window tells me differently. I slide from the bed and make my way to the balcony door to peek through the curtain.
It’s a very different scene from yesterday’s sunshine.
Gray clouds hang low in the sky and it takes me a moment to realize the hazy mist is actually sheets of rain falling.

Poor Callie to have it rain on her wedding day.
But to have it rain in paradise—I’ve always loved storms. I unlock the door to the balcony as quietly as I can and slip outside. The air is still warm and everything smells earthy and fresh. I lean against the railing with a smile on my face.
I don’t know when was the last time I woke up smiling.
Being here is like I’m caught in a bubble. It would be different if I had my electronics and could stay connected—I’d be on my laptop already, checking things and making lists and assigning tasks.
Maybe Tatiana knew what she was doing by confiscating my computer and my phone.
Thunder cracks and the sky flashes. Waves roll onto the beach, threatening the lounge chairs left out, and leaving shells and rocks strewn about. A lone walker hurries home, and a woman runs with a dog on a leash.
I stand at the railing and let the breeze blow moisture onto my face.
“Looking to escape?” Turning, I smile as Max steps out, hair sleep-mussed and only wearing his black boxers. “Because the elevator might be the easier choice.”
I turn back to the weather, even though the view of Max’s bare chest is tempting. “I like to watch storms.”
“Me too.” Warmth surrounds me as Max steps behind me and puts his hands on the railing on either side of me. I hear his inhale and think he might be smelling my hair. “Sleep okay?”
“Eventually. I had this dream,” I tease.
“You said that wasn’t a dream,” he mutters in my hair. “I should thank you for that. Best reason to be awake in the middle of the night.”
“Best reason?”
“Well, I can think of a better one.” He presses his hips into my backside and I can feel his better idea.
“Please don’t thank me,” I tell him. “Because then I’ll have to thank you.” Not to mention I don’t think lovers should have to thank each other.
Lovers…
“That was pure pleasure for me.” His arm moves to encircle my waist, tucking me back against him. The feel of his hardness starts a drumbeat between my thighs.
I thought I worked that out in the middle of the night, but I seem to be back where I started.
Wanting more.
“Really?” I press back against him, moving my ass from side to side.
“You’re asking for trouble if you keep moving like that.”
“Like what?” I do it again.
“Cadence,” Max groans. “I haven’t had my fill of you. I woke up and reached for you, so if you’re in a teasing mood this rainy morning…”
I take his hand off the railing and place it on my breast.
Under my shirt.
Max groans into my neck. “Are you sure?” he pleads. “And I swear that’s the last time I ask that.”

I tilt my head, wanting his lips on my neck. “Take off my panties.”
“Here?”
“No one is out. Can anyone see us?”
I feel the shake of his head. “That’s why we built it on this side. Completely private.”

“Let’s make good use of the privacy.”
Max chuckles as he steps back, his hands skimming my legs as he removes my panties. “Your wish is my command.”
Taking my hips in his hands, he jerks me back a foot, pressing on my back for me to lean over. I grip the railing as his fingers search between my legs. “You’re so wet,” he groans. “Did you wake up thinking of me?”
“I went to sleep thinking about you. I can’t stop. I want you, Max,” I whisper.
Does he have any idea how difficult that is for me to say?
I think he does. His hands are firm as they push my legs apart, but not frantic. And he even checks himself. “I should get something.”
“I’m fine,” I tell him quickly. “I have an IUD, and been tested. There hasn’t been anyone in a while…”
“I was tested last month and there’s only been one since then.”
I immediately hate the nameless woman he slept with. All the nameless women.
“But I suited up with her,” he continues, his fingers moving a beautiful symphony between my legs. “She didn’t let me—”
“I want to feel you inside me,” I say in a hushed voice, not believing my own words. I have never… I kissed him and now…
I don’t let myself think about how much I’d to be kissing him right now. Among other things.
“God, Cadence.” He licks the length of my neck as he slides a finger inside me. “You feel so good.”
“Please, Maximilian.”
“I love it when you call me that.”
He doesn’t make me wait any longer—one minute I’m writhing against him, and then he eases inside me as easily as ordering that first drink last night. “Spead your legs,” he groans, cupping my breasts with both hands under my shirt. “So I can—”
I widen my stance, and then he’s sheathed to the hilt.
All of him. All of him inside me.
We breathe together, ragged and shaking, before he rocks against me. Slowly.
I rest my head on my hands, gripping the railing.
“We’re outside,” Maximilian murmurs, his hips moving against me. “I don’t want anyone to watch you.”
“You watch me.” I turn my head so I can look over my shoulder at his dark eyes full of
desire and need.
Need for me.
Men have wanted me, said they needed me, but no one has ever taken me with such a mix of fierce energy and tenderness.
His thrusts are strong enough for my legs to buckle, as he gently sweeps my hair out of my face. His fingers grip my hips tight enough to leave marks as he kisses my shoulder, my back, anywhere he can reach.

Crooning words of endearment as his hips buck against mine.
Telling me I’m beautiful. That he wants me.
That I feel so good, so amazing, that he can’t believe he gets to have me.
That he never wants to stop fucking me.

His mouth finds my neck and I whimper as he sucks the sensitive skin.
“Don’t stop,” I beg. His hands are everywhere, on my ass, squeezing my breasts, toying with my nipples, splayed on my hips. Trying to touch all of me, all at once.
Heat blooms where he touches, adding to the sensation. And the feel of him buried inside me…
“Maximilian,” I gasp.
It’s as if my calling his name spurs him on and the way he rocks against me, intense and determined, focused solely on my pleasure. It’s never been like this before. I never imagined it could be like this… so good… it’s all so good.
I grip the railing as the first of my cries ring out.
“Tell me you like it,” Max husks. “Tell me it’s the best you’ve had.”
“It’s good… so good…” I moan.
“Tell me not to stop fucking you,” he demands. “Never stop.”
“Maximilian… please,” I beg. And then I’m begging him not to stop, that he is the best, that I never want it to stop.
This is good, and it’s real, and I don’t want it to stop.
“I’m going to fuck you forever,” Max promises. “I’m going to keep this pussy so happy you won’t think of anyone else. This pussy is mine, got that?”
“Yours,” I sob, fighting to keep my cries low. It’s good—so good—but we’re outside and— “Oh, god,” I cry as he shifts, thrusting upward, hitting that spot inside me. “Maximilian, I—"
“This is your cock,” he tells me. “This is always your cock and—”
“Max!” I wail. “I’m going to come. I’m going to come, you’re making me come…”
His hand clamps on my pussy, fingers searching. “Just a little more, and I’ll make you come so hard…”
“So hard! It’s… I’m…”
I don’t know what I’m saying. I don’t even know how I can speak with him so deep inside me and his thrusts—pulling almost all the way out only to dive back harder than before, while his finger circles and rubs, his other hand squeezing my breast with the perfect amount of pleasure and pain. My world is all Max, every part of him.
I want every part of him with me all the time. I want—
“Max,” I plead. “Maximilian.” A storm has built in me, with waves of pleasure rising, rising until I’m sobbing, begging for release as Max keeps up his pace, keeps fucking me with his cock that is now my cock, in his pussy, and he’s—
The waves break, crashing over me in a rush, like they pound the shore, leaving it wrecked from the power.
I am wrecked.
But Max isn’t finished—harder, deeper, more, and he pounds into me, fingers still working so as soon as the wave crashes, another one begins and all I can do is grip the railing and let it take me.
With a gasp, Max gives a last thrust, stiffening against me as he empties inside me, his teeth on my shoulder to stifle his roar. By the time he’s spent, his fingers have brought me to the brink and over, leaving me shaking, biting my lips to keep from calling out loud enough for those on the beach to hear.
“Jesus.” Max draws in a shaky breath and wraps his arms around my waist as I straighten. “That was just a spur-of-the moment quickie?”
I don’t know how he’s talking. I’ve lost the power of speech, as well as the ability to stand on my own. My legs are like jelly as I lean against him.

“Maybe we should have taken that inside.”
I gasp out a laugh and Max joins me, pulling me against him.
Hugging me against him. He kisses the side of my head and the simple gesture kicks a hole through the wall I’ve kept around my heart.
I can’t catch my breath and I can’t blame the lovemaking. Because that was fucking, that was sex, but it was also something different. So different.
And I don’t know if I’m ready for it yet.
“It stopped raining,” I say.