Reckless Abandon (Phantom Protector Book 1) (13 page)

Jamie reached for the pictures, placed them back
in the trunk, and handed it to Max. “We don’t have time to explain. Do you mind
if we take Alicia’s trunk with us?”

Dave hesitated.

Jamie touched his arm, sending him a reassuring
vibe. “You found us, and we won’t be far away. I promise we’ll keep in touch.”

The lines around Dave’s mouth increased.

“I promise.” She reached into her backpack and
pulled out a pen and paper. She wrote down her email and cell phone number.
“Use this to contact me. We’ll be back when it’s safe.”

Dave glanced up at Max, who said, “You have my
word that I’ll bring her back.”

He hesitated then shook his head. Dave pulled
her into a hug as he clutched the paper. “I just found you.” He leaned out of
the embrace, his eyes pleading with hers. “Please come back.”

She leaned up on her toes and kissed his cheek.
“I’ll see you again.”

She walked past him and out the front door.

Chapter
12

Jamie rode in silence back to the hotel. She
watched as the sun retreated behind the horizon. Her mind whirled with the
implications and possibilities of what she’d learned. Her father was a killer
and a maniac, her mother was dead, and now she had a sister to contend with. If
she’d thought her life was complicated before today, she hadn’t had a clue.

They stood in silence as they rode up the
elevator. Max clutched the box tightly against his chest. Neither one of them
spoke as they traversed the hall and pushed open their hotel room door.

She plopped down on the bed. Their little jaunt
down memory lane had completely depleted her mind and what energy she was
running on. With her legs dangling over the side of the bed, she fell backward into
the soft mattress.

“Do you think Floyd would have turned out
differently if he knew he was a father?”

Max lifted her legs and removed her shoes,
dropping them to the floor. He placed her legs on the mattress. “I think being
a dad changes a lot of men for the better. They become more caring and less
self-centered. Being a dad gives you a different outlook on life. When you have
children… it changes everything.”

Jamie bit her lip. “You sound like you’re
talking from experience. Do you have a kid hidden somewhere you never told us
about?”

Max remained silent as he went around the room
gathering their things and packing bags.

She shot up to a seated position on the bed. “Oh
my god, you do, don’t you?”

****

Max’s hands stilled over the half-packed bag.
He’d never thought about having this conversation with Jamie, or anyone for
that matter. There were only a handful of people who knew about his past, and
he liked to keep it that way.

He moved to sit down on the bed with his back
facing her. “She’s dead.”

He hadn’t uttered those words in over a decade.
He still remembered the fateful night that his world had been turned upside
down. He’d take those memories to the grave with him.

Jamie laid her head down on his shoulder. “I’m
sorry. I didn’t know.”

Max stood and grabbed some things from the bag.
He stopped at the door to the bathroom. “Not many people do.” He glanced at
her. “You should get some sleep. We’re leaving before first light.”

Max pushed the bathroom door closed and leaned
against it, closing his eyes. He’d thought that he’d gotten over the pain of
losing not only his wife but his daughter too. As each year passed, the hurt
had eased but never completely vanished. His heart still ached for Julie and
his little daughter, Gabby. The drunk driver that had unwittingly killed his
family had killed him too.

He opened his eyes and shook his head. There was
no going back, only forward, he reminded himself. He’d kept busy in his work
and keeping other people safe to make up for not being there when his own
family had needed him the most. A penance that he would live and breathe until
the day he died.

As Max went about his shower, his thoughts
veered from the woman he’d buried twelve years before to the woman asleep in
the next room. She didn’t deserve the crap that life had given her. She
deserved more… better. How she hadn’t curled up and died when she realized
Floyd was her dad proved the strength she possessed. Max dried off and dressed
into something more comfortable.

He quietly left the solitude he’d found in the
bathroom. The lights had been dimmed, and he glanced over at the bed. Jamie’s
eyes were closed as she lay on her side, with her hands out of sight underneath
the pillow. Max tried to make as little noise as possible as he slid under the
covers onto the bed next to her. He lay on his back, his hands underneath his
head as he stared at the popcorn ceiling, trying as he might to make sense out
of his life.

Jamie rolled over and placed her head on his
shoulder and an arm around his waist. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

He slid an arm around her shoulder. He wondered
how the feel of another woman other than his wife pressed up against his body
could feel so right. “You didn’t. It’s in the past.”

She glanced up at him. “I’m still sorry.” She
placed a light kiss on his shoulder and ran her fingers over the muscles in his
chest. She laid her head back down on his shoulder. “I think it defines us.
Having loved and lost makes us who we are.”

Max chuckled. “You’re not going to tell me next
that it’s better to have loved and lost than not at all, are you?”

Her hand stilled from the small circles it was
making. “As a matter of fact, I was.” She looked up into his eyes and held his
gaze. He hadn’t wanted her to take pity on him. He’d done enough of that
himself in the first five years after their deaths.
 

She leaned up on her elbow and pressed her lips
to his. She pressed her palm against his chest as she inched up the bed to be
closer to him.

He broke the kiss. “I can’t do this again.”

She propped her cheek in her hand. “Do what?”

He turned toward her and placed his hand on her
waist. “I can’t give anyone my heart. I did that once, and it about killed me.”
He briefly closed his eyes and opened them again. “But if I could, I’d choose
you.” He rolled onto his back.

His body betrayed his thoughts. He wanted her and
knew that all it would take was to show a tiny amount of interest and he could
have her. She was willing and ready. It was him that couldn’t stand the thought
of letting himself get that close.

****

Jamie could still see the pain in Max’s eyes.
The thought of him never loving again in his life made her sad. She lay next to
him and warred with the options she was faced with. She couldn’t use her gift
to release his sadness, and she couldn’t make him love her, but she decided to
settle for what they had right then.

She moved to straddle his waist, sitting atop
his groin. She leaned down and pressed her lips to his. “I don’t want forever.”
She kissed him again. “Just here and now.”

He wrapped his arms around her body and ran his
palms up and down her back. “Just here and now,” he agreed and pressed his lips
to hers.

He rolled with her until her head hit the
pillow. His hands slid into her hair as he slightly angled to deepen the kiss,
his weight pushing her snuggly into the bed. She opened for him. His tongue
swept into her mouth and lazily explored the crevices. He moved to her side and
placed a path of warm kisses to her ear before he nibbled on her neck and
whispered, “Are you sure?”

The weight of his palm resting on her stomach
only added to the desire she felt when he touched her. She reached up and
pulled her T-shirt and bra over her head, letting them drop to the floor. “I’ve
never been more sure about anything in my life.”

He slid his hand up to her breast and cupped the
mound of flesh. His mouth descended on the other, sucking and nipping at her
areola.

Oh yeah, this is what she’d been waiting for.
She ran her fingers through his hair as she tried to hold his head in place.
She arched up into the exquisite feel, wanting more…needing more. “That feels
so good.”

He moved to her other breast and ran his tongue
around the peak. “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered against her skin.

He moved between her legs and kissed a path down
her stomach, sending a frenzied feeling to her heart and between her legs. She
was wet and wanting, and her need was spiraling out of control.

He slid his thumbs between her skin and the
elastic of her panties as he drew them down her legs and off her body. She lay
open for his eyes. She knew her core glistened as it throbbed as she hoped for
more. He sat back on his hunches and let his gaze run over her. Max ran his
hands down her legs, caressing her as he moved to lay between her spread
thighs. “Absolutely stunning.” He ran a finger over her slit then placed the
digit in his mouth, sucking the evidence of her desire. “And so wet.”

He held her open with his hands as he let his
tongue run over her hot flesh. Jamie leaned back into the pillow and closed her
eyes. She was primed and his for the taking. His tongue elicited waves of
pleasure to course through her body. He penetrated her core with his finger.
The added sensation sent the tension in her body higher. He added another
finger. His teeth latched onto her clit as his tongue slid around the extended
nub.

Jamie reached for the covers. The triple assault
had her climbing to the edge and falling over into bliss as she found her
release. He continued the assault, never stopping even after she shuddered. He
slid his fingers out and ran his tongue from the back of her slit to the top.
He placed his fingers in his mouth and moaned. “I don’t think I’ll ever get
enough.” He grinned. “You taste so good.”

He slid up her body, placing kisses as he went,
only stopping at her breast. He laved his tongue around one mound and squeezed
the other. He kissed a path up her neck until his mouth found hers, and he
devoured her. It was pure, unadulterated lust that was driving both of them.
She ran her fingers up his chest and into his hair, latching onto the brown
strands. Her body was on fire, her core longing for him to fill her. She
couldn’t take anymore.

She whispered, “Take me, Max.”

As if on cue, he slid into the wetness he’d left
behind, filling her. Her breath caught. She released a breath she didn’t
realize she’d been holding. “Yes.”

He slowly slid out and back in, moving in a
rhythm that was going to drive her insane. She needed more. He grinned. “Like
this, baby?

She rolled him until she was sitting atop of him.
He was still firmly inside of her. “Like this.”

She placed her palms on his chest and slid up
and down his cock, which was covered in her juices. She increased the rhythm as
she bent down and found his lips. She kissed him with a passion that threatened
to send her over the top. She tried to slow her own release, wanting him to
find his own.

She leaned back, and reaching behind their
joined bodies, she cupped his balls and slightly squeezed. She heard his quick
inhale as she impaled herself back down. Up and down she glided, her body sliding
over his erection. Her gaze went to his face. His eyes were clenched tight, and
one of his hands clenched the cover to his side. He needed this just as badly
as she did. She let her head fall back on her shoulders and enjoyed the
sensations he gave her. He lifted one of his hands to cup her breast. The other
found her clit. He circled and increased the rythm as she rocked up and down on
his length. Her pace quickened with his fingers massaging her. She wasn’t going
to last. He was sending her over the edge again, no matter how much she fought
it. She gave one last squeeze to his sac and placed her hands on his chest. His
hands moved to her waist, helping her quicken her motions. He lifted her and
slammed her body back down to meet his. He moaned, and his words penetrated her
sex-induced haze.

“I’m not going to last, baby.”

She closed her eyes and increased her speed, her
breath coming out in short, uncontrollable pants. Every nerve ending in her
body was primed to follow him over the edge. He found her clit again, giving a
gentle push to the nub.

“Come with me, baby.”

His words undid her. She came, screaming his
name. He lifted his back from the bed. His arms went around her waist. He
latched onto her nipple and bit as he groaned. The warmth of his seed shot into
her womb. He licked the indentations in her flesh caused by his teeth.

Her hands snaked up to his neck as she leaned
down and pressed her lips to his. His kiss wasn’t demanding but beautiful and
gentle just, like the man who had given her so much.

He stayed inside of her, never moving to release
her. His mouth moved to place tiny kisses against her neck and back down to her
chest. She felt him harden inside of her. She inhaled sharply. “Don’t you need
time to recuperate like most men?”