Page 51 of Domino
“I never had you pegged as an Imagine Dragons guy,” I say.
“No?”
I shake my head. “I figured you’d be a country guy.”
His laughter, a deep, booming sound, fills the cabin and sends goosebumps crawling along my skin. The vibration of his voice rumbles through me deliciously, making me tingle from head to toe and everywhere in between.
“That is such a cliché. Not all bikers listen to country. We don’t all fit into the box you’re trying to stuff us into, you know,” he says.
“True. But you were in the military, too, so I figured between the two things, that it was a pretty good guess.”
“It was a terrible guess. I knew a guy in my old unit who listened to nothing but Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby… all those old crooners. Another guy I knew listened to EDM incessantly. And another guy—”
“Okay, okay,” I laugh. “You made your point. I’m a terrible person for stereotyping you like that.”
“Yeah, you kind of are, actually.”
I throw a wadded-up napkin at him. “You’re such an ass.”
We both turn back to our sundaes as the rain starts to pick up outside, the steady thrum of the drops on the roof growing louder.
“So, you never told me how you ended up out here,” he says.
I bite my bottom lip and consider how to answer the question. My instinct, of course, is to clam up and not say anything. I’m a private person by nature, but every year I was with Ryan made me draw inward even more. He always made me feel terrible about myself and talking about my own issues was forbidden. Ryan always made me feel like I was a burden and that my problems were trivial compared to his. It got me to the point I’m at now… where I don’t even know how to talk about anything happening with me or in my life.
But Max makes me want to open up to him. He makes me want to share because I get the feeling that I’m not a burden to him. That he would never think my problems, my fears, or my issues, are trivial or not worth talking about. When Max looks into my eyes, I see that he cares, and even more, that he wants to know those pieces of me I’d always had to shut away because Ryan just didn’t want to hear it.
“Are you okay?” he asks.
I nod. “Yeah. I’m fine. I’m just not used to somebody asking about me. It’s been a long time since anybody’s cared enough to ask.”
“I want to know. I want to know everything there is to know about you,” he says.
And I believe him. Slowly and haltingly, I tell him my story. I start from when I first met Ryan and continue on until this very moment. As I speak and pour my heart out to him, I feel the shadow that’s been draped over my heart for as long as I can remember, lightening. The weight that I’ve been carrying around on my shoulders begins to ease, and I feel like the shackles that have kept me tied to my past are starting to break. I feel more… free.
I fall quiet, finally out of words, and a silence descends over us. Max looks at me with an expression I can’t interpret, but his eyes are filled with a compassion so pure and so genuine, it makes my own heart ache.
“I’m really sorry you had to endure that. You shouldn’t have had to,” he says, his voice thick with sincerity.
The air between us crackles with an intense and sensual electricity that warms me from the inside. I feel the heat growing between my thighs as I become wetter than I have in… I don’t even know how long. Setting my sundae cup down on the dashboard, I lean over and press my lips to his. He seems taken aback at first and starts to pull back. But I grip the front of his shirt and keep him where he’s at and press my mouth to his even harder, forcing my tongue between his lips.
Max warms quickly. He sets his own cup down and leans forward, pressing his body to mine. His kiss is forceful. Passionate. And as our tongues swirl around one another, I feel a quiver run through my entire body. He pulls back, a sultry smile on his lips, leaving me feeling breathless and a little lightheaded. It seems like it’s been years since I’ve been kissed with such heat and intensity.
“I think you should show me just how comfortable that back seat is,” I tell him.
“Thought you’d never ask,” he quips.
It’s a bit awkward climbing into the back seat, but we manage, giggling and groping each other like a couple of horny teenagers. Max falls forward onto me, his hard, toned body firm against mine. Our mouths crash together, our kiss full of fire. He grips my ponytail and yanks my head back, making me gasp as he plants a line of kisses down my neck. A soft yelp escapes me when he nips the skin on my collarbone.
Max pulls the straps of my dress down and I slip my arms out of them. He pulls it toward my stomach, exposing my breasts. As he cups one of them, circling my pert nipple with this thumb, he takes the other into his mouth, sucking on it fiercely. He nips it with his teeth, drawing a sharp squeal from me that makes Max smile.
With the rain thrumming on the roof of the truck above us, Max slides down my body. With a mischievous gleam in his eye, his runs his hands up my legs, his fingertips leaving furrows of fire upon my skin as he pushes my dress up. My stomach clenches and fear ripples through me as the tips of his fingers reach the warm center of me.
My heart racing, I bite my bottom lip as he looks up at me from between my legs, the question in his eyes more than clear. This is the point of no return and just like I thought, he’s looking to me for confirmation that this is what I want. A salacious smile curls my lips as I look at him.
“Don’t stop now,” I tell him. “Things are starting to get interesting.”
The breath of his laughter is warm on the skin of my thighs and sends tingles up and down my body.
