“You want me inside you?” he breathed out of his mouth as he lowered himself to his knee. Lifting my left leg with his hand, my knees were bent and my vagina exposed. As he teased me with his tongue, I couldn’t take it anymore. With a hand full of his hair in my fist, I moaned while I covered my mouth with the other hand.

“Max…yes…please,” I whispered as my head thrashed from side to side. It was too much. I didn’t even know what I was saying at that point. Needing him inside me, I pulled him up and sucked his tongue the way he had done to my clitoris, and started to unbutton his jeans.

The anticipation of him being inside me was driving me crazy. I wanted and needed him, but a part of me was hesitant since we were in his parents’ house, and thoughts like “what if someone knocks on the door?” came to mind. But a part of me didn’t care. I wanted to do something I hadn’t done before, and the urge down there was burning, over powering any of my rational thoughts.

Still holding onto me, he turned on the faucet, letting the water run to cover up the sounds we were making. I took this opportunity to caress the front of his jeans. When Max moaned, it gave me pleasure knowing I could affect him so much just by touching him. As I wondered if we were really doing this in his parents’ house, the phone that was attached to his belt loop started to ring. Even after he turned the sound off, it kept vibrating. Irritatingly, the phone would not stop.

“You should get that,” I told Max, breathing heavily. “What if it’s an emergency?”

With a frustrated groan, Max picked it up. “Hello?” The look in his eyes said it all. His face turned pale and he walked out without a word, leaving me to wonder who was on the phone.

Max seemed distant toward me after the phone conversation, and though he sat next to me and smiled, something felt off. Thinking that I was worrying too much, I brushed it off, but I couldn’t help but wonder if Crystal had been on the phone. Using the excuse of being tired, Max and I left first, before the other guests. On the drive to my house, he was quiet too. Perhaps he was really tired, but he hadn’t seemed tired in the bathroom.

When he walked me to my apartment door, I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to ask the question that was on my mind. Peering up at him, I tried to read what his eyes were expressing. “Max, is everything okay?” I also wanted to ask him about Crystal, but I bit my tongue and shut her out of my mind. It would make me sound jealous, and I didn’t want to be that way.

Max didn’t answer at first. He looked at me tenderly and brushed my cheeks with his hands. “Everything is fine,” he said softly, running his thumb carefully along the line of my bottom lip.

“You can tell me anything, Max. It doesn’t seem like everything is fine. Is it work? Your family?” Instead of answering, he kissed me…deeply…passionately…to the point I wanted to rip off his clothes.

When he pulled back, the worried expression was still there, so I tried to lighten the mood. “Becky went home to her parents. Want to come in?” I asked shyly.

Max slowly curved his lips with that smirking expression I loved, then a second later, it was gone. “I’m feeling tired today. I promised to go golfing with Matthew early tomorrow morning. Why don’t we meet up Saturday or Sunday?”

I didn’t know why his rejection felt hurtful…perhaps because he had never turned me down before, not that I had offered many times…maybe just once.

“Hmm…sure.” I tried not to sound disappointed, but knowing something was wrong, I wanted to know what he was thinking and what it was that was bothering him so much.

“I’ll call you soon,” he said wearily. “Go inside so I know you’re safe.”

Opening my purse, I took out my key and opened the door. “Max—” I thought I’d try one last time.

Max jumped in before I could say another word. “It’s nothing, Jenna. Everything is fine. I’ll call you soon.”

There was nothing I could say after that. I wasn’t going to push more of his buttons and add more to whatever was going on. Since he’d assured me everything was fine, I began to wonder if he was getting tired of me and didn’t have the guts to tell me. But he wouldn’t have done what we did in the restroom if he felt that way. What troubled me the most was the phone call he’d received. There were many other times he had looked like that when he’d gotten a text, too. What was going on?

Chapter 34

The dark gray clouds spread across the sky, full and thick, getting ready to release more of what was already pouring. Shivering from the sight of lightning from my apartment window and the booming sound of thunder that always followed, I took a sip of my green tea.

“Come sit with us,” Becky said. She was sitting on the sofa with Nicole and Kate.

Kate was breast-feeding Kristen, her four-month-old daughter. Bringing her along meant she could stay longer, and we didn’t mind. She was a joy to have around. Kristen was a reminder that we were not ready to have children.

Gazing out the window, though not really looking at anything, my mind was on Max. We had spoken on the phone and he had texted every day, but something was not right…or was it just my imagination? After all, I’d only seen Luke once a week. Perhaps I was used to having Max around more since we both worked at the same place. Whatever the reason, I had to stop thinking negative thoughts. It wasn’t like he stopped paying attention to me. He was busy with work…or so he’d claimed.