Parents Of Convenience
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"I'll say goodnight, Max. It's getting late, and I'm sure the boys will be up with the kookaburras in the morning."
"Thank you, Phoebe." Max caught her arm as she moved to pass him, staying her. "For agreeing to remain here for now."
A lot went unsaid in those few words. Their antagonism and attraction. The fact that it wouldn't be easy. That they were both on uncharted ground in this.
"You're welcome." She looked up at him, thinking that would be the end of it. But something in his gaze changed and he bent his head, probably to drop a kiss on her cheek.
Okay. It would be a novel experience, Max being nice, but she would do her best not to keel over with shock. Phoebe braced to receive the salute, then felt her breath hitch as his lips met not her cheek, but her mouth. The feelings that bombarded her then, stunned her to her toes.
All she could think, was, Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, oh-my-goodness! She was going into shock, or cardiac arrest or something. Her breath stuttered, a shiver started at the base of her neck and quickly suffused her.
Max's hands gripped her shoulders, holding her still while his mouth moulded to hers in slow, steady exploration. No wonder women got involved with him, even though he was a love 'em and leave 'em type. The man's kisses were dynamite.
Phoebe melted into him, into the kiss. Like a big old blob of butter in a pan. Why, oh why, had he done it? Why did he continue it, even now as her bones melted?
It was Max, not Mountain Gem or Katherine or any of the rest of it, that gave her that feeling of coming home. The thought came from nowhere. She denied it instantly. It couldn't be that. This was a potent kiss, from an experienced man, that was all.
And oh, boy, it really was all that. She lost her concentration in the heat of it. Sensations bombarded her from all sides. The touch of those warm, firm lips, pressed so intimately against her own. The scrape of his jaw against her softer skin.
His fingers moved to her chin, angling it as he kissed her, and she wanted to be angled and kissed more and still more.
For a moment insanity took her, and she kissed him back with all her worth. Their bodies pressed together and his arms crushed her close. Heat roared through her, burning her up until she was almost convinced she could smell scorched butter. But sense and reason came back eventually, and with them an all-important question. Two, actually.
What was she doing?
And with Max of all people?
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