The Wallflower

“Oh, gee, maybe because it’s none of your business?”

His utter stillness surprised her; she wasn’t even certain he breathed for a moment. When he turned his head with exaggerated slowness, she realized she’d finally succeeded in pissing him off. “Everything about you is my business, Emma.”

She was shocked at his dangerous tone of voice. “Max?”

“You’re mine, Emma, and I protect what’s mine.”

Her jaw dropped in disbelief. “What ? ”

He put the car back in gear, taking off with a squeal of tires. “You heard me.”

“Uh, excuse me, but one kidnapping with food does not make Emma your property!”

“You bear my mark.”

She blinked, totally confused. The feral light in his eyes hadn’t lessened. The Durango was roaring as Mad Max drove like a bat out of hell for the outskirts of town. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“I bit you.”

“And? You think you’re the first guy to give me a hickey? Shit! ” Emma made a grab for the door as Max took a turn at high speed.

“I don’t think I need to hear about you and other men right now, Emma.”

“Okay, okay! Could you slow down, please?”

Max took looked away from the road long enough to see her glaring at him. With a rough sigh he slowed down. “Look, I know you’re confused.”

“No, I think you’re the one who’s confused. Have you forgotten to take your medication today? Is that it? You turn into psycho-boy while in college?”

Max ran an impatient hand through his hair. “This isn’t the way I wanted to do this,” he muttered gruffly.

“Look, I promise I’m not jealous that the voices only speak to you, okay?”

Max pulled off the main road and onto a side road, shaking his head. “Emma, we need to talk.”

The tone of his voice made her sit back. He sounded…odd, like he knew whatever he had to tell her was something she wouldn’t want to hear. “We talked. We talked all through dinner. Why are we out in the middle of nowhere to talk, by the way?”

He sighed. “Because there are certain things you may want to see that I can’t show you in the middle of town.”

“Uh-huh. I think your thing can go without being seen tonight.”

The Durango jerked to a stop. There was a stunned silence for a moment. “I can’t believe you just said that.”

“I can’t believe you can’t believe it.” Emma folded her arms under her breasts and scowled. “What’s the matter, Max, never been turned down before?”

“Why are you being such a pain in the ass?” Max turned to her, frustration written all over his face. “I offer to help you, buy you dinner, kiss you senseless and bring you to orgasm, oh, no, don’t bother lying about that either,” he yelled as she opened her mouth, “and all you do is give me grief!”

“You felt me up without permission, kidnapped me, practically attacked me on the street, bit me , then act like a crazy man, drive like a bat out of hell out of town, and you want to know why I’m giving you grief? You’re lucky I haven’t broken out the mace, pal!”

“All I want to know is who hurt you!” he yelled at the top of his lungs.

“It happened two years ago, Max! What are you gonna do, hunt the guy down in jail and beat him up?”

“Ah-hah!” Max’s finger waved in her face. “Someone did hurt you!”

“Argh!” Emma’s hands flew into the air in frustration. “All right! I was mugged, okay? It was a college student, he’s in jail, I had a broken wrist but he got a broken nose, end of story!”

Emma glared at him, her arms crossed over her chest. If he made one wrong move, hell, one wrong sound , she would mace him!

He grinned as the temper visibly drained out of him. “Did you give him as much grief as you’ve given me?”

“ More .”

“God, you are so beautiful when you’re pissed.” He grabbed the back of her head and gave her a quick, hard kiss. “Okay, warrior princess, now that you’ve told me what I wanted to know I’ll tell you what you want to know. Okay?”

Emma took a deep breath and debated whether or not to kiss him back or clobber him. “It better be good.”

Max leaned in until her lips were once more beneath his. “And then I’m going to take you home and

fuck you raw.” As her eyes widened, he added, “And, baby, that will be better than good.”

She was completely speechless as he got out of the SUV in a slow glide that had her thinking of silk sheets and heated skin. She gulped as he prowled around the hood of the Durango, moving like sex in jeans. His heated gaze never left her face.

“Oh, boy,” she whispered as he opened her car door. He smiled when he saw her seat belt was still on.

He reached in slowly to unhook her seat belt, brushing his arm deliberately against her breasts. Her nipples hardened, rasping against his sleeve as he removed his arm just as slowly. His smile, sexy and satisfied, showed he’d felt it.

Suddenly, she had to know. “Max?”

“Hmm?”

She ignored the hand he held out to help her down. “Why me?” He looked confused. “I mean, you just came home three months ago and can still have any woman in Halle. Why are you trying to seduce me ?”

“The real question in my mind is why I didn’t try it sooner.”

Emma stared into his eyes, reading regrets past and a determination that almost alarmed her. When he cocked his brow questioningly, she took his hand and let him help her out of the Durango. She took a deep breath to steady herself. “Okay, what’s the big deal?”

Max’s lips twitched.

Emma crossed her arms and tapped her foot. Her chin lifted as she waited for an answer.

Max reached out and gently stroked the bite mark on her neck. “Do you remember how you felt when I bit you there?”

Remember? My legs still feel like rubber. She nodded, doing her best not to let any of that show in her face while secretly locking her knees. She must not have succeeded because Max’s smile heated. “That was me marking you as mine.”

Emma rolled her eyes. “Didn’t we have this discussion, Captain Caveman? A hickey does not make me yours.”