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For a man who’d been completely drunk the night before, he looked pretty unaffected by the amount of alcohol he’d consumed. He handled the little sports car with confidence, steadily making his way to the freeway. “I do not want to go back to the ranch. I need to be on that plane.”
“No you don’t,” Max answered with irritating certainty. “Danny’s dead. And you’re never running away from me again. I’ll make sure to give you every reason to stay.”
Danny’s dead? Max knows about Danny? He knows—he has to—and he still came for me. Why?
Mia’s entire body suddenly relaxed, her panic completely deflated. “How do you know about him?”
“Travis,” Max answered with more than a little irritation in his voice. “Why didn’t you ever tell me, Mia?”
“I thought it was all over, and I wanted to leave it in the past. I didn’t think you’d understand a woman being that stupid. What did Travis tell you?” she asked quietly.It’s over. It’s really over.The reality that a man she had feared for so long was finally gone forever hadn’t quite sunk in for her.
“He told me everything. Your relationship in college and the abuse, Danny nearly killing me, you saving my life. And you are not stupid. Did Travis miss anything?” Max turned onto the freeway, glancing at her briefly with a frown.
“It’s over,” Mia whispered, wrapping her arms around herself, afraid to believe it was really true. She looked over at Max, studying his profile as she tried to make herself accept that she didn’t have to run anymore. Would Max ever forgive her now that he knew the whole truth? Or would he be repulsed?
I’ve dealt with those emotions. I’m not the woman I was two years ago.Maybe not, but she had to fight her insecurities where Max was concerned. There were some things she hadn’t told him, things he had a right to know.
“Your running days are over, sweetheart, but you and me…we’ll never be over,” Max told her dangerously. “Not unless you’ve really stopped loving me, and you really want it to be over.”
“But the woman you fell in love with doesn’t exist. She never really did,” Mia told him honestly.
“For me she did and she still does.” Max glanced over at her with a look of fierce possessiveness that made Mia practically melt into a puddle on the seat of the car. “I didn’t care about the superficial things. It didn’t matter what you wore, what you said to other people, or what was in your past. I fell in love with you, the you who was always there and still is, no matter how much you twisted yourself to fit an image I never really cared about.” Max turned off the exit for the ranch before adding, “I want to know everything about you now. Maybe it was my fault because I put you on a pedestal instead of treating you like my woman. I thought you were perfect, but I would have felt that way regardless. Even if I’d known about your past, your insecurities, your personal preferences, I still would have fucking worshipped the ground you walked on.”
“Why?” she asked curiously. “I was a screwed-up woman who put up with a highly abusive relationship for over a year. My self-confidence was nil, and I never felt like I was good enough for you, or enough of a woman to keep you.”
Max pulled into the driveway of the ranch as he answered, “I can’t be the same man I was before either, Mia. The love was real, but we were both pretending, hiding.”
“What now?” she whispered softly.
Reaching the end of the long driveway, Max stopped the car in front of the ranch house and turned to her. “Now I plan to show my wife exactly how I feel about her, love her the way I’ve always loved her but was too afraid to show it. We trust each other instead of running away. We strip each other bare in more ways than one.” His voice was bold, but still held a touch of vulnerability.
“I trust you. I always have. It was myself who I didn’t trust,” she answered, mesmerized by the covetous look in his eyes and the fierceness of his expression.
Time seemed to stop, both of them staring at each other with unrestrained passion, and there wasn’t a sound except for their harsh breathing to break the silence.
“Fuck. I need you,” Max finally said harshly. He opened the door of the car and grabbed her bag. He was on the other side of the vehicle before Mia could even unbuckle her seatbelt, her fingers trembling as she fumbled with the restraint.
Max flipped it open and she stumbled out of the car, landing in his arms. He picked her up and strode to the house. “Key,” he requested impatiently.
“In the plant. I can see it. Were Kade and Travis here?” she asked breathlessly.
“Yeah.”
“They didn’t even bother to hide it.”
Max fished the key from the plant beside the door and unlocked the door, pushing it open with his foot. Dropping the key on the table next to the door, he released his hold on her bag and set her on her feet. “I want you naked right now. I need you wanting me and moaning my name. I want to feel every emotion you have while I fuck you until you’re satisfied.”
“B-Bedroom,” she stammered, her body yearning to be joined with his, the desire so raw and carnal that her entire being was trembling and the moist heat between her thighs felt almost unbearable.
“I’m not going to make it that far.” Max growled, the feral, reverberating sound vibrating low and dangerously in the air as he grabbed the edges of her shirt and popped every button off the Western button-down she was wearing. “Mine. Every damn inch of you is mine.”
Mia drew in a sharp breath as Max lowered his head and fused his mouth to hers. His kiss was possessive and punishing, but Mia welcomed it. She wanted to be completely branded and taken, declared his in the most primitive way possible.
Crazy love.
The way she felt about Max was insane and volatile, and she couldn’t care less if he could feel every wild emotion that coursed through her body, because she was simply answering his call. He felt the same way. They shared the same lush primitive fury that was ready to combust at any moment.
She opened to him, surrendered to him, entwining her tongue with his as she pushed her hands beneath his t-shirt and inwardly sighed as she touched warm skin over steely muscle. Trying to touch him everywhere at once, her hands roamed over his chest and around his back, her fingers touching every hot inch she could get to, and finding nothing except unyielding strength.