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Mia collapsed on Max’s chest, completely spent, and slightly disoriented, not quite sure how she had managed to live through the kind of passion she’d just experienced with her husband.
Neither one of them spoke, nor did they need to. Max’s hand stayed possessively on her ass as his other splayed over her back, stroking lightly, soothingly. She absorbed the feeling of his hot breath on the side of her neck, the brush of his abrasive whiskers against her skin, and the steady, rapid beat of his heart beneath her fingertips.
Finally, her breathing and heart rate calm, she murmured, “Still hate this beach?”
“No. But now every time I come out here my cock will be hard,” he grumbled, but his voice held a note of amusement.
Rubbing sensually against him, she answered, “Good. I’ll come out with you.”
“You damn well better,” he insisted, slapping her playfully on the ass.
Leaning up, she rested her forehead against his. “You’ve certainly developed quite the potty mouth, Mr. Hamilton. I never knew you could talk that naughty.”
“I’m not quite sure I can restrain it anymore,” Max told her, sounding slightly disgruntled. “You’ve always made me crazy.”
“Then don’t hold back. I love you, Max. Nothing between us is wrong. You can talk dirty to me any time. It turns me on,” she told him as she ran a palm down his whiskered cheek and jaw.
“Then I’ll never try to control it.” He took her hand from his face and brought it to his lips, kissing her palm reverently. “Don’t come out here alone, Mia. I can’t lose you again. I won’t survive it.”
His tone was deliciously bossy, but the tortured look on his face nearly killed her. Whatever she’d done, Max had suffered for it, and she hated herself for leaving, whatever the reason. She’d put him through hell, and she didn’t even understand why. “I won’t. I promise.” There was a newness, an openness between them that she didn’t want to see destroyed.
“See that you don’t,” Max said gruffly, disconnecting himself from her and disposing of the condom. He sat up, turned her position on his lap, and got to his feet with her still held tightly in his arms.
Mia fought to get Max to put her down, afraid he’d end up straining his back by carrying her up the stairs, but he just clutched her naked body tighter, his hold on her unyielding.
“I’ll never let you go,” he told her adamantly, more of a vow than a statement.
Mia gave in with a sigh. She couldn’t argue about that. “The condoms. You didn’t grab them. We might need them,” she said a little shyly, thinking she was being a little presumptuous in thinking Max might want her again so soon.
Max’s laughter boomed through the air as he entered the house. “Sweetheart, do you think I don’t have some stashed in every nook and cranny of this house?” He gave her a lusty grin. “I did mention that it was a priority.”
Relieved, she smiled back at him, her heart soaring at the fact that being with her had been so important to him, dire enough that he put condoms everywhere.
“Still feeling pretty ambitious?” she bantered, still not quite used to this new Max.
“Depraved and deprived,” he told her, disgruntled.
“I think we can take care of that,” she said longingly as Max carried her toward the bedroom.
“Oh, I’m planning on it,” he answered in a cocky, haughty tone.
Mia sighed, speechless. She certainly wasn’t going to argue about that.
“Billionaire’s Wife Returns From The Dead With No Memory!”
Mia flipped the newspaper over on the bed, her stomach sinking to her feet as she realized the media had caught up with her. “I hate the media,” she commented vehemently, unable to keep the slight tremor from her voice.
Max came through the bedroom door with two cups of coffee in his hands, handing one to her before picking up the paper, glancing at it and dropping it into the trash can beside the bed. Seating himself on the bed next to her, splayed out like every women’s fantasy in just a sexy pair of black silk boxer shorts, he replied, “Hey, don’t let it upset you, sweetheart. I’ll give a statement, they’ll be hot on our trail for a while, and then they’ll find something more interesting to write about. They always do.”
Mia knew that, but while they were the hot topic, they’d hound them to death. Her eyes ran over Max lovingly, her pulse accelerating as she took in his powerful thighs, that tempting happy trail on his sculpted abs and his broad, naked chest. Finally, her gaze landed on his face, and the concern she saw there as he watched her closely over the rim of his coffee cup made her relax. “I’m sorry. I know it’s part of our life, but they never let up after what happened with my parents…” Her voice trailed off, not really wanting to talk about her mother and father.
She’d grown up monetarily privileged, but all that proved was that even the wealthy could be incredibly dysfunctional. Her father had been a brilliant man in business, but he had been emotionally deranged, and everyone in her family had paid for it in one way or another, her mother with her life. She didn’t want to be in the news, didn’t want the murder/suicide of her parents to be dug up and talked about again. It had barely died down when she had met Max. Since then, she’d done everything possible to stay out of the media’s gossip columns.
“They won’t drag it up, Mia. I’ll kill the first person who does,” he said ominously.
Mia smiled, sipping her coffee and watching her husband, her heart skittering at his dangerous look. They should both be exhausted since they’d spent most of the night devouring each other, even after their passionate interlude on the beach. But strangely, she felt happier than she’d ever been, even though she was missing part of her past. And Max looked relaxed, even with the irritated expression he had on his gorgeous face from talking about the press.
“I don’t care about me. I can handle it. I don’t want them to talk about it because it would be hard on you, Kade, and Travis.” She took another sip of her coffee, watching Max’s expression turn from irritated to stunned.