Page 115 of Catching Trouble

He answered anyway.

A shift, a growl, a flick of his tongue and pressure, delicious and deep.

With his lips against me, the world vanished, replaced by starlight and a rolling sea in my veins.

Maxime was all I needed. With my hands tangling in his hair, I pulled him closer, shattering like glass against him.

The second I stilled, Maxime brought his lips to my inner thigh, kissing a path up my belly. At the shadow of his stubbled jaw against my freckles, something ignited down at my centre. I knew I’d just come, but I’d never wanted him more.

“Maxime.”

He looked up at me, eyes ablaze.

“I want you.”

He stilled for a long beat, then, with a growl, pushed out of the pool, every muscle straining under the effort. Without a word, he leaned down and picked me up, holding me close to his body. Even though he’d been in the cool water, his skin was scorching hot to the touch.

“Where to?” I asked, drawing circles on his chest with my nail.

“I have plans,” he ground out. With a kiss on my forehead, he swung me into his arms.

When we made it into the kitchen, he paused, glancing around.

“What’s up?”

“I went shopping in Nice. I hoped you’d choose to stay, so I visited the pharmacy.”

My heart thrummed, and I fought to contain my smile. Yay for my boss and his attention to detail. We had condoms. Let the saucy times commence!

“Well, where did you put your shopping?”

One corner of his mouth lifted in a smile. “In my jacket.” It laid draped across the back of one of the dining chairs.

With a kiss to the side of my head, Maxime set me down on the counter. But he hesitated, his fingers still on my skin.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I whispered. “You’ve made promises and I expect you to keep them.”

With a look that could melt ice, he moved to the chair, reaching into his jacket pocket, rifling until he found what he was after. He tore open the box and slipped out a foil packet.

At the triumphant look on his face, my ovaries gave a shameless little shimmy.

“Just the one?” I asked, giggling.

He grinned and damn if the choirs on high didn’t sing a tune and form a conga line. His rare smiles were what I lived for these days.

Maxime returned to his jacket and pulled out the entire box. Things were looking up. But as he moved towards me, arms outstretched, ready to pick me up again, something ticked over in my brain.

“Why do we need to move? Sophie’s not here. Bean’s probably down at the beach looking for her. Who’s going to see us?”

Maxime rewarded my question with another grin. Two in one day. Maybe this was my overtime pay.

I leaned back on the counter, aiming for sexy, sultry, and just a touch of “please, for the love of Neptune, fuck me now.”

“You might not know this yet, but I’m very impatient.” I curled my lips into a smile. “I don’t enjoy waiting.” To make my point, I drew my foot up his thigh, nudging at the mighty bulge in his shorts. “I say we just do it here.”

With enough heat in his eyes to set the counter on fire, he put down the box, moving towards me. “If you insist.”

Maxime pulled up in front of me, and I threaded one arm around his shoulder while slowly undoing the drawstring at his shorts. “Oh, I do. Bearing in mind, I’ll be giving you a full performance appraisal. I expect you to beverythorough.”