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“Max. You can’t—”
He put a hand under her ass and hefted her body upward, moving to take her place as he pushed. “Climb, dammit,” he demanded, spotting her from underneath her body.
She wasn’t far from the top, and Max’s stern voice made her scramble to find a hold above him to keep him from falling. One final mighty push from beneath her sent her upper body over the top of the cliff, and she clawed her way over, panting and breathless as she collapsed on solid ground.
She swung her body around awkwardly, hanging her head over the edge of the cliff and gasped as she spotted Max just as the foothold she had been standing on gave way, collapsing beneath his foot. He’d put too much weight on the wobbly rocks when he’d shoved her over the edge, and his body swung insecurely for moment, the longest moment of Mia’s life, until he found purchase again.
Please. Please. Don’t let him die.
She nudged her upper body slowly over the ledge, trying to get closer to him.
“Get your ass back over that edge now,” Max commanded gratingly, finding another handhold and inching his powerful body upward.
Mia inched back, but not much, determined to help Max. “You can grab my hand.”
“Just. Move. Back.” Max’s voice was rough, his powerful body moving up the cliff from pure male strength and stubborn will.
Realizing that her immovable husband wasn’t going to risk pulling her over, Mia moved sideways, leaving him space to launch himself over the edge as he found a foothold to help him mobilize. She grabbed the waistband of his jeans and tugged with all her might as his upper body hit the rim of the cliff.
She gasped as he grabbed her around the waist and rolled, protecting her with his body as they moved away from the edge of the jagged rock wall. He didn’t stop until they hit grass, coming to rest against the trunk of a tree, her body sprawled on top of him.
He got up and pulled her to her feet, his eyes shooting fire. “Are you okay?” he asked abruptly, his hands everywhere on her body at once, checking for injuries.
Mia expelled a pensive breath, her body still shaking. Max was scraped and scratched, but he was all in one piece. “I’m fine. I was just afraid you’d kill yourself. What were you thinking?” she asked, adrenaline firing through her body as she shot him an angry look. “That was a stupid, risky thing to do. Don’t you ever do that again, Maxwell Hamilton. You took at least twenty years off my life and scared the shit out of me.” She punched him in the shoulder. And then did it again, relief coursing through her that she was punching the solid muscle that was Max.
Max picked her up calmly as she continued to punch at him, carrying her flailing body down the incline, stopping about halfway down and setting her gently on her feet. He captured her wrists and pinned her against an enormous tree, subduing her with very little effort.
Her adrenaline still high, she stopped punching at him and started to sob, her fear overtaking every one of her emotions. “What would I do if something happened to you, Max? I couldn’t stand it.”
“I know. That’s how I felt for over two years when I thought you were dead, baby,” Max answered, his voice coarse and raw.
Mia stopped struggling, the truth of the hell Max had really been through hitting her straight in the gut. She’d had a few minutes of agony, wondering if Max was going to die. He’d had over two years of not knowing, thinking she was already dead. She’d been lonely, mourning Max, but at least she’d known he was still alive. “I couldn’t have borne it. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” The full force of what Max had suffered filled her with remorse, anguish, and grief.
“I don’t care about the past anymore, Mia. I care about us now. If I have you now, nothing else matters. I get that you were trying to protect me. I get that you didn’t know what else to do. I contributed to the whole mess with my own fucked-up way of handling everything. Let it go. Right now I need to be inside you,” Max growled, grasping the bottom of her sweater to pull it over her head. “We’re alive, we’re together.”
“I can’t believe you came down that cliff after me,” she told him, still stunned.
“It doesn’t matter where you are—I’ll always come after you,” Max vowed gruffly.
She looked up at Max’s crazed, anguished, and yearning expression, and her entire body went up in flames. Max was feeling the rush of adrenaline too, but his needed to be vented in an entirely different way.
Mia’s core flooded with heat, her need answering his, and they were suddenly clawing at each other to get naked, get closer. Clothing hit the ground as they disrobed each other in a frenzy, both of them perfectly aware that they could have just died and never experienced this closeness again.
“Be still,” Max told her harshly, pinning her hands over her head against the tree when they both were finally naked.
Mia was panting heavily, her pussy flooding at the command in Max’s voice. She complied immediately, her body relaxing as she looked up at his fierce expression with feminine longing. Her husband might have been reluctant to admit his alpha tendencies toward her, but there was no mistaking the possessive, protective, and insanely covetous look on his face right now. All of the dominant emotions were there in glorious abundance, contained in her hot, muscular male standing directly in front of her, the testosterone seeping from every pore of his sculpted body.
His skin was scratched and sweaty, droplets of perspiration rolling down his face as he pinned her with a hungry look. “I need you to need me,” he said huskily, one hand gripping both her wrists as the other caressed one of her breasts, circling the nipple with his thumb.
Mia whimpered, both nipples hard and incredibly sensitive, the slightest touch jarring her nerve endings. “I already do. Fuck me, Max. Please.”
“Do you know how I felt when you went over that cliff, sweetheart?” he asked gruffly as his fingers moved to the other breast, pinching it lightly before soothing it with his fingers.
“Yes,” Mia cried out. “The same way I felt when I saw you hanging there.”
“I felt like you were dying all over again.” Max’s hand moved slowly between her breasts and down her quivering belly. “And I died for a moment too.”
His voice was harsh, but his touch was gentle as it moved between her thighs, tenderly parting her folds and stroking lightly.