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  He ignored the idea of her ever being done with him and grabbed a condom out of the pocket of his jeans. Loathed to lose contact with her, he looked at her the whole time. Her shyness about the shape of her body seemed to have momentarily fled as she spread herself out for him like a meal.

  Once he had himself sheathed, he was at her entrance, looking for the tight fit of her cunt. “Jesus. Fuck. You’re so hot around me.”

  She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and her legs around his waist, heels digging into his thighs. He wanted her around him like this all the time. Now that he’d had her, he wasn’t sure if he could ever let her go.

  The terrifying thought that he couldn’t part with Letty now that he’d been inside her should have had him retreating, making her leave. He was too much like his father to ever have someone as precious as Letty permanently. Letty was so energetic, loving, and fun—just like his mother might have been before his father had gotten his hooks in her. There was no way that he would let himself turn such a vibrant woman into a mousy shell. He could only hope that she would use all that strength in her heart to flee before he damaged all the beauty she held in that same organ.

  He palmed her delicious ass and pulled her fully on him. She burrowed her face into his chest, and he couldn’t be sure if she was laughing—or crying. So, he stopped and tipped up her chin. The smile on her face reassured him. “Still my favorite expression.” Maybe his favorite face.

  “Only because I haven’t sucked your dick.” She dragged herself up and down his cock slowly, telling him without words that her mouth would be slow, torturous, and perfect.

  “No. Just because.” He didn’t care what other things they got up to. This moment was perfect.

  “More, Max.” Another slow drag. “More.”

  When she buried her face in his chest again, he gave her what she’d asked for. Every stroke pushing around the furniture because he could never bury his body completely inside of hers. He’d never understood people who wanted to lose themselves in someone else—until now. If he could just give everything over to Letty in that moment, he would.

  All of his troubling thoughts fled as soon as his balls drew up, and he knew he wouldn’t last much longer.

  “Need you to come again, precious girl.” She made an “emhhmmm” sound, but she didn’t move her fingers to her clit. “Pet your clit for me. I need to feel you around me.”

  He squeezed his eyes closed when she followed instructions because he couldn’t see her like that. If he saw her touching herself with him inside, he’d lose it immediately, and he needed to wait.

  When she broke over him again, with coughing sob-like moans, he let himself go, pretty sure he was going to black out and wake up days later on the floor of his studio. He only hoped she was right there along with him.

  Chapter 9

  Max was still inside her when Letty asked, “How are we going to do this?” She couldn’t wait to find her clothes or even come down from her second orgasm before asking. She’d just broken all of her own rules again, and they needed to clarify boundaries immediately.

  Anxiety hadn’t even waited for the happy orgasm chemicals to vacate her body before rearing up and punching her in the boob.

  And then Max laughed, and she temporarily forgot to be worried. Every time he laughed, it was a surprise to her. She loved the sound, and she knew his sense of humor was buried deep, under his intensity, right next to his kindness. She wanted to learn what had put them so far away from the surface, why he rarely smiled and rarely laughed. She wanted his laughter almost as much as she wanted to keep touching him.

  He held the base of the condom and pulled out of her before he said, “I think we just accomplished ‘doing it’ pretty well.” He tossed the condom in the waste basket and looked at her. “Or do we need to practice again?”

  “I still work for you. This is a problem.”

  And then he was touching her again. “Don’t tell me you’re going to make me wait another three days to do that again.” He dropped a kiss on her neck, on her shoulder, and palmed her breasts again. No stranger to men wanting to touch her there, Max’s caresses were still different. He was reverent in the way he stroked her every time, and she nearly choked on how sexy that was.

  Could she make him wait to do it again? Wouldn’t that be the professional thing to do? Hadn’t professional gone out the window as soon as her panties had come off?

  “I don’t see it as a problem, unless you want me to fire you.” She knew he was kidding, but his words stirred up a little bit of anxiety.

  “You can’t fire me. Your invoices are only half-done.”

  Max shrugged. “How about a compromise?”

  “What kind of compromise?”

  “I won’t fuck you in my studio again.”

  “I can live with that.”

  “For another three days.” His smile made her want him to break that promise immediately. “But we will fuck.”

  “Will we?” In another miracle, she felt like she could flirt with him. Especially when he handed her his T-shirt.

  “Cover up so I can stay true to my word.” The sex had loosened him up a bit. He was making jokes now. Winking, smiling, and sarcasm? Not like the man she’d first met at all. But he was deadly serious when he said, “But we’re going to do it in my bed.”

  Being in a bed with Max sounded like the most delicious thing she would ever experience, but him saying that made her realize that she’d never been in his home. They’d never been on a date, and she’d thrown herself at him like the slut that Simon had insinuated she was with his parting shot.

  It’s not like you made me do any work at all.

  That thought destroyed any remaining lazy sensuality of the afterglow. Simon was in the room now, contaminating everything. She hopped off the table and found her jeans on the chair, where she’d left them when she’d asked Max to draw her in the buff.

  She hadn’t made him do any work for her at all. A few heated looks over the course of a week, and she was boots up in his place of business. What was wrong with her? Would she never learn?

  For his part, Max didn’t seem to notice that she’d started freaking out. Maybe he’d only notice those things if he was actually inside of her at the time?

  He sat at his worktable with the sketch pad he’d discarded before they’d started, engrossed. He only looked up when she walked toward the door. She hadn’t expected that he would ignore her after sex, and she was angry with herself for being surprised.

  “Are you leaving?” He had a confused look on his face. “It’s before noon.”

  Like a bucket of ice water over her head, the distance she felt between them made her bones grow cold. The way he could just go back to doing what he was doing before they’d had sex mere feet away made her realize that this thing with Max was not different. He might not have the same problems with her body size that Simon had, but he still saw her as merely convenient.

  She hadn’t even made him work for it.

  He wasn’t freaking out about how much he’d felt while they were together. And she was letting her feelings for him get in the way of finishing a job, which would be quite the impediment to making a life that she wanted on her own terms.

  She had to leave. Right now. Before she did something crazy, like starting to cry. Sure, it wouldn’t be the first time that she’d cried around Max, but he couldn’t see how much what they’d just done affected her. Although he’d said that he wanted her again, he probably wanted her to disappear at least half as much as she wanted the floor to open up and swallow her.

  Dear God, she was an idiot.

  And she couldn’t just stand there forever. “I have to—I have to run some errands.” Let him think that she needed to stock up on printer paper. If she was lucky, he’d believe that she was as unaffected by what they’d done as he was.

  * * * *<
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  Max was proud of himself. He hadn’t destroyed any property when Letty walked out of his studio. Even though his chest had squeezed and ached watching her leave, he hadn’t pulled apart any of his work for the show with his hands.

  And when she didn’t come back to the studio the next morning—saying she could complete the rest of her work remotely via text—he didn’t throw the mug full of coffee he held at the wall.

  Fucking her had left him emotionally raw. He had never connected like he had with Letty during sex. Maybe she wanted him to give her some space. He didn’t know because he didn’t usually do the feelings. Maybe she was feeling the same way and needed time alone to deal with that. But, in his mind at least, she didn’t want him anymore.

  The thought that he’d been too much, done too much, overwhelmed her haunted him and rendered him unable to sleep.

  Sleep deprivation was the only explanation for calling his grandmother to find Letty’s address. She could search a legal database at Rogelio’s office—kind of creepy, but Max was desperate. If he could just talk to her, get some time alone with her, he could make her see that he was a good bet.

  He didn’t believe it himself, but Letty didn’t have to know that.

  When his grandmother answered, he jumped right in. “I need Letty’s address.”

  “This is a turn of events.”

  “You have it, don’t you?”

  “Of course, I do.” He could feel Lola’s smile over the phone. “But I question why you need it. What did you do?”

  He couldn’t very well tell his grandmother that naked drawing time had turned into even more naked fucking time. “I didn’t—that’s none of your business.”

  “So, you like her?”

  That was an easy question to answer. Thinking of Letty smiling at him while he was drawing her was the only thing that hadn’t had him going rock-star-in-a-hotel-room on his completed pieces for the show. He more than liked her, but he didn’t need to give that to Lola right now. “Yes.”

  “But you did something to drive her away, and now you need my help to find her?”

  With each question, his irritation grew. His desire to stomp around and throw things, growing almost overwhelming. But if he wanted any chance of something with Letty, of her not seeing how fucked up he was, he would have to learn to control his temper.

  “Yes. I fucked up.” He didn’t know how, but he had to talk to Letty in order to find out.

  “Hmm.”

  “Are you going to help me or not?”

  “Pick me up in thirty minutes. I’ll take you to see her.” And then she hung up the phone.

  Chapter 10

  Max wasn’t the kind of guy who chased after a woman when she ran away. Letty comforted herself with the thought that she was safe as long as she didn’t go back to the studio. If she did that, she’d be naked on the nearest hard surface within minutes. And Max would oblige because she was convenient, and he liked her tits.

  The only solution would be to stay away. She was almost done with the work she’d agreed to do with him, and she didn’t think he’d go back on his agreement to recommend her non-sexual services to his cousin-in-law and his friends.

  Even though she’d made a grave error in sleeping with him, his behavior directly afterwards told her that it wasn’t a big deal to him. She was probably just a roll in the hay for him.

  So, she’d hide from him and lie to herself about being so damn thirsty.

  She had her headphones in, listening to every pop song that celebrated being an independent woman. She needed to get back her resolve to make it on her own, even if she could still feel the imprint of Max’s hands on her body.

  When the doorframe started shaking, she took her headphones out. For fuck’s sake, the last thing she could afford was fixing the door. She probably pulled it open with a little too much force, and Max nearly fell in, followed by a tiny, elderly woman.

  Letty stood there mortified for long moments. Because she’d planned to work from home, she hadn’t put on any make up or done anything with her hair. She actually hadn’t even showered since she’d used all the hot water in her apartment building the night before trying to scrub off the scent of Max. It hadn’t mattered that she wanted to wallow in his scent all over her skin, and she knew she was acting weak.

  Letty didn’t even have time to ask Max what the hell he was doing at her apartment or how he’d found her apartment when the tiny, elderly woman—she was guessing this was Grandma Lola—pulled her down and kissed her on both cheeks.

  “You’re even prettier up close!”

  “Thanks, I guess.” She certainly didn’t look pretty right now—braless and bare faced.

  Letty turned to the man that she desperately wanted to avoid. She couldn’t help the fact that her body thought it was time for round two, but the look on his face told her that she was in trouble—the professional kind. “Did you need something, Max?”

  He looked up at her through his too-long-and-lush-for-a-man lashes and shook his head. “Would I be at your apartment with my grandmother if I didn’t?”

  “I guess not.” She stood up straight, pushing her shoulders back even though Max wouldn’t be able to help noticing that her nipples perked up at his entrance. Her body reacted to him, just like most bodies that like male bodies reacted to him. He was certainly used to it, given how blasé he’d been about dismissing her after sex.

  “You left after we—after we—yesterday.” Really? They were going to talk about this in front of his grandmother?

  Lola piped in at the wrong time. “I smell coffee. Could I trouble you for a cup?”

  Anxious to escape the impending clusterfuck in her living room, Letty walked to the kitchen without responding. She pulled out two mugs, the only clean ones that weren’t chipped, and poured cups of coffee, fixing one for Max the way he liked it. Even when she wanted to dump the scalding hot liquid all over his face, she couldn’t help but cater to him.

  He didn’t deserve to know why she’d left the day before; he ought to be able to guess that picking up where he’d left off with work two point two nanoseconds after pulling out was not likely to make her want to stay.

  Letty had a special fucking talent for attaching herself to clueless and cruel men. She could only guess what he thought about her dinky apartment, stone floors and almost bare walls. When she’d moved in, she’d never expected to stay; she’d been hoping that Simon would propose. The idea that Simon had ever had any intention of marrying her garnered a snort-laugh now. She could still remember the look of shock and disdain on Simon’s face when he’d walked in and realized that she actually lived there. He’d never understood her need to live independently of her family. Hell, he’d have probably suggested moving in with them had he ever decided he could stomach being serious about her.

  When she brought the cups into the living room, she caught the tail end of Lola saying something like, “I didn’t come all the way over to Coconut Grove to watch you fuck this up.”

  Letty cleared her throat. “It’s so nice to finally meet you, Señora Hernandez. Max speaks of you fondly.”

  Lola sniffed and took the mug Letty offered. “You’re so polite. I know that I’m a huge burden on my grandchildren.”

  She had to suppress a laugh when Max rolled his eyes. “You’re not a burden, Abuela.” He took the remaining mug out of Letty’s hand. When his skin brushed hers, she felt that thing with him again.

  “You still haven’t mentioned why you decided to visit.” Not sure what to do with her hands, she crossed her arms over her chest—hoping to head off any more misbehavior by her nipples at the pass. “Can you not find something at the studio?”

  “No, you labeled everything.” The day that she’d brought her trusty label maker into Max’s studio, she would have thought she’d menaced him with a machete. Now, he sounded almost proud of her for wra
ngling all of his materials. Such a weird man.

  “Max was just going to bring me to lunch, and I wanted to meet you.” Lola was almost smooth with her lies, but she couldn’t keep the smirk off of her face. Still, the woman had a certain charm that Letty, even though she wanted to be angry at Max right now, was finding hard to resist.

  If Letty had to guess, Max had been dragged here by his ear to apologize. Horror dawned when she realized that he might have told his grandmother that they’d had sex. And then that he’d fucked up after the sex. The coffee she’d had before they’d shown up threatened to come back up.

  “You want to come with us?” Max’s invitation didn’t sound forced, though.

  “To lunch?” She looked down at her ratty clothes and shot a glare at Max. He didn’t have to do this. They’d slept together. It hadn’t affected him in the same way that it had affected her, and now he felt guilty because it had gotten in the way of their professional relationship.

  Maybe Lola hadn’t dragged him here? Perhaps he was using his sweet, scheming, grandmother to soften her up for an apology? And he thought showing up at her apartment with his grandmother would smooth things over. Totally logical, and she wasn’t living in the upside-down at all.

  “You can shower.” A flash of something in Max’s gaze said that he was thinking about her soapy and naked and he didn’t hate that idea. If she weren’t so confused by his hot-cold thing, she would have felt a thread of satisfaction at that.

  “I don’t want to keep you from an afternoon with your family.”

  “So, it’s settled. We’ll wait.” Lola sat on Letty’s couch, making herself comfortable. “Very good coffee.”

  When Max tried to follow her back into her bedroom, she stared him down. “Wait out here.”

  “But we need to talk.”

  “Not in front of your grandmother.” Letty had never hissed something angrily at a man until that moment. The fact that she felt comfortable enough to do so troubled her the whole time she was getting ready to have lunch with him and his grandmother.