Page 18 of BillionHeir

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Chloe

I was not expecting to kiss Max tonight.

But now that we have, I don’t know why we waited so long.

I have never been so thoroughly shook by a kiss the way I was with this one.

When he brought his hand up to the wall next to my head, it felt like a cheesy move from some B-list movie.

But as our lips touched, it felt like my whole world shifted.

Like the answers to all the questions I ever had about love and sex were right there within reach.

Like an actual sex god was leaning over me whispering all torrid things he wanted to do to me.

Obviously it was just one incredibly hot kiss, but it felt like so much more.

I sink down into the most comfortable bed I have ever slept in and stare up at the ceiling, wondering if I will ever feel the same again.

Logically, I know it was just a kiss. Nothing more. I am not foolish enough to believe that my billionaire patient suddenly wants to settle down and spend the rest of his life with me. But it certainly felt real in the moment.

It felt like there was so much in that kiss—lust, frustration, attraction, tension. I will admit that I poured everything I have been feeling into it. But maybe it was just what we needed to get it all out. Now that the tension between us has been relieved, we can go back to normal.

Whatever ‘normal’ is.

* * *

The next morning, I am just finishing putting the dishes away when Max emerges from upstairs with his hair still damp from a shower.

The fresh scent of his masculine body wash fills the room as he approaches me.

He smells so good that I nearly moan. I hold it in, but only just. I can feel my cheeks heat with embarrassment as I struggle to keep a better hold on my reactions.

Max gives me a self-satisfied smile. It is almost as though he knows exactly what he is doing to me .

“Good morning,” I say, trying to brush off some of the awkwardness after our kiss from last night. I don’t want things to be weird between us.

“Morning,” he says, sliding his good hand into his pocket as he casually leans against the door frame. I watch as his eyes take their time slowly working up my body before finally meeting mine.

“Coffee?” I ask, trying to keep things business as usual. I ignore that little look of his as I take a sip of the English Breakfast tea that I prefer.

I have realized during my time with Max that he practically runs on coffee. He will drink the bitter liquid morning, noon, and night. I have tried to convince him that it is unhealthy to have so much caffeine, but he hasn’t listened to a word I have said.

“Please,” he says, the deep timbre of his voice reverberating throughout the kitchen. I can feel the vibrations in my body, making me want him even more.

I roll my eyes at myself. The man says one word and my resolve goes out the window? I need to get a grip.

I pour him a cup of coffee I brewed while I was preparing my tea. I don’t add any cream or sugar, just the way he likes it, and hand it to him.

“I was thinking about going for a walk on the beach this morning. Would you like to come with me? ”

He looks down at the ankle that has kept him from doing most physical activity since his accident. The last time the doctor came to visit, he said that Max was ready to start doing a little more activity with it. But I wouldn’t blame him for saying no to a walk in the sand.

In fact, I am counting on it.

“Sure,” he says, surprising me. “As long as we stay near the water where the ground is more firm, I should be okay.”

The smirk on his face tells me that he knows I was trying to avoid him.

An hour later, we are walking the rocky beach. Coming from the UK, I don’t need white sand and bright blue water for the beach to be relaxing. In fact, I much prefer the wilder version. It feels more authentic.

Some of the earlier tension I was feeling with Max has subsided, giving way to a free-flowing conversation about our respective college days.

“Why do I get the impression you were involved in Greek Life?” I ask, watching the way Max’s easy smile takes over his face as a memory strikes him.

“Liam, Tristan, and I rushed our first semester there,” he confirms. “The first year was terrible, but we built friendships that will last a lifetime. You?”

“I thought about it, but I was so focused on getting my nursing degree that I didn’t have time for much else. ”

He is quiet for a moment before hurling another question at me.

“Weirdest sexual encounter?”

I let out a stuttered, awkward laugh as a memory immediately springs into my mind. So much for the evaporated tension.

“You can’t be serious! Do you really want to know?”

Max looks over at me with a devious look in his eyes. “Of course.”

“Ugh. Okay. You asked for it.” We continue down the beach, dodging the incoming waves as we walk.

“Sophomore year, Jenna and I wanted to get drunk, but everyone we knew who was old enough to buy us alcohol was out of town. It must have been some kind of holiday or break. Anyway, I remembered this guy who I had recently met at a party who had not so subtly let me know that he had ‘the hook up’ and gave me his number. I didn’t know his name, but everyone called him ‘Tank’. ”

“Tank?” Max asks incredulously.

“To be quite frank, he looked like more of a barrel bursting at the seams than an actual tank. But I wasn’t there when he got the nickname, so I can’t really explain that.

Either way, he quickly responded when I sent a text asking him if he had a bottle of vodka to help us out.

He told me we could meet him at his apartment to pick it up.

When I messaged him from the parking lot, he asked me to come up to his apartment.

Jenna was busy on her phone, so I stupidly left her in the car and walked up to his door by myself.

It was inside the building and down this long dimly lit hallway that smelled like old, musty beer.

I had to knock a few times before he answered.

I was almost ready to leave when he finally opened the door.

And then there he was in all his enormous, sweaty, overweight glory, standing shirtless in a mostly darkened room with no vodka in sight. ”

Max’s eyes widen. “He did not.”

I smile at his reaction, knowing that he hasn’t even heard the worst part yet. “He did. Then he asked me if I would like to come in and take a shot with him. I politely declined, of course, but he had one last offer of persuasion.”

“What?” Max asks, staring at me impatiently as we continue our walk.

“He whispered, still standing half-naked in front of me, ‘I will eat you out.’”

Max throws his head back and laughs, clearly taking pleasure in one of the most embarrassing moments of my life. “What did you say?” he asks when he finally gets control over himself.

“What could I say, really? I was totally speechless! I just shook my head and ran back down to Jenna’s car as fast as I could.” I can feel the heat in my cheeks, both from the mortifying story and the bright Maine sun.

“After all of that, you didn’t even get the vodka?” Max asks, his eyes dancing with amusement .

“Sadly, no. But then Jenna had the bright idea to go into a grocery store. We paid a young mother twenty dollars to buy a bottle for us. Now that I think about it, I don’t really know why we didn’t just do that in the first place.”

“And what became of your not-so-dear friend, Tank?” Max asks.

“You know something? I don’t think I ever saw him again. I hope he found a lovely woman who wanted everything he was offering,” I say, giggling a little to myself as the memory floats through my mind once more.

“You have to hand it to the man,” Max says, thoughtfully.

“Do I?”

“Aw, come on. You can’t blame the man for trying to pick up a beautiful woman.”

“With no shirt on? In a dark apartment? While said beautiful woman stands on your doorstep?” My voice gets increasingly more shrill the more I list all the reasons why I was so incredibly uncomfortable with the whole scenario.

“Okay, fair enough. What should he have done?”

“To pick me up?” I ask, using his words.

Max nods.

“Perhaps he should have started with wearing a normal amount of clothing and some lighting that didn’t make me worry he was some kind of serial killer waiting for his prey. ”

“So a man must be dressed in a well-lit room to make an advance?”

“At the very least,” I say, laughing.

Max chuckles to himself, the low timbre of his laugh sending chills down my spine.

We fall into a pleasant silence as we continue our walk. We are both seemingly lost in thought, but together. I never thought I would enjoy a man’s company as much as I am right here and now.

“I have always loved this place. I have been all over the world, but to me, there is something so untamed and wild about it. It soothes my stress and anxiety far more than picturesque views,” Max says, nearly echoing my thoughts from earlier as he looks ahead to where the waves crash against the rocky shoreline.

“I couldn’t agree more. This beach reminds me so much of home.”

“There has always been a loneliness here for me, too,” Max says quietly, no longer looking at our surroundings, but rather, directly at me. “But I think I can feel that starting to fade away.”

Rather than use my words to say something that would fall flat or sound meaningless, I do the only thing I can think to do when someone says they are lonely. The only thing I want when the feeling of aloneness overwhelms me.

I reach down and thread my fingers through his.