Chapter 18

CHAPTER 18

I n the darkness, Charlie’s body jerked with pleasure and her thighs squeezed around Max’s head.

She didn’t care that she was teetering on a ladder, the wooden slats pushing into her back. She didn’t care that she was in the revered archives of Motham Palace, her pussy buried deep in a werewolf’s mouth, her skirt bunched around her waist and her legs slung over his shoulders.

She didn’t care about anything except the orgasm coiling inside her like an electric storm.

The orgasm being dragged from her by Max’s mouth.

Everything, everything she wanted was right here, coalescing into a bright pinpoint of light, even though all around her was darkness, and the only sound was the bang of the ladder against bookshelves, and his muffled, husky curses of pleasure as her pussy writhed against his tongue and teeth and lips.

“Yes, yes, yes. YESSSSS…” Those high, soft whines were hers, she realized, begging for him to give her his everything. Her fingers were twined in his hair as his big hands held her butt, the occasional sharp scratch of his teeth against her clit only spiraling her pleasure higher and higher. Suddenly his tongue dived deep inside her, thrusting with such speed and precision that she saw stars.

Charlie’s need for release was almost painful as he returned to sucking on her clit, spurring her on with muttered guttural words. Her head banged against the rungs of the ladder, making it clatter harder against the shelves, and a vague part of her wondered if there would forever be grooves in the exquisite woodwork. And then all coherent thoughts vanished as Max’s tongue vibrated on her clit so perfectly that her vulva shuddered into a ferocious orgasm, her cries reverberating around the basement.

Finally, spent, Charlie slumped, her legs limp over Max’s big shoulders as he licked and sucked the last remnants of her release from her.

As if he, like her, did not want the pleasure to end.

But before Charlie’s orgasm-drunk mind could give any thought to what might happen next, there was a sharp flicker of light, a buzzing sound, and then the basement was flooded with white bright light, and she and Max were suspended like flies in ointment.

In a second Max had untangled her, placed her on her feet, and dropped to his knees. She heard him mutter something about finding his phone, his glasses…

Meanwhile, Charlie’s legs were trembling so hard she could barely stand. She sprawled across the bookshelves, hanging onto the ladder to steady herself with one hand while she used the other to tug her rumpled skirt down. Her panties, she realized, had disappeared completely; there was nothing to catch the sticky dampness evident around her thighs.

And then… oh fuck, no! The sound of footsteps on the flagstone floor, a voice getting closer. “Hi there, so sorry about the blackout. Are you both okay?”

Charlie spun to face the shelves and grabbed a book to hide her flushed O face. She heard Max speaking, his voice remarkably level. “Charlie got stuck up the ladder when the lights went off. I was just helping her to safety.”

“These damn blackouts happen from time to time. You know how it is with the wiring in these old buildings,” Edwin said. “I’m so sorry.”

Charlie inhaled slowly and tried to calm herself before slotting the book back onto the shelf and turning with a forced smile. Gods, she sure hoped there were no damp marks on her crumpled skirt.

“I think we’re just about done for the day,” Max said smoothly, as if nothing in the world had happened. Charlie followed on legs that felt like rubber bands and leaned weakly on the doorframe, trying to look calm and collected.

“Erm, Charlie, did you write down the books we want sent over?” Max asked, not looking at her as he shucked on his jacket.

“Yes, of course.” Pulling herself together, she went over to her laptop and brought up the list. “I’ll email it to you, Edwin.”

“Wonderful. But if you want, I can leave you for a while longer.” Edwin turned to leave, and they both almost shouted, “No, wait!”

He gave them a quizzical look, then smirked. “Are you worried about being left in the dark again?”

“No, it really is time we left. It’s been a… most—er, remarkable day,” Max said in a strained voice.

Charlie nearly choked.

As they thanked Edwin, Charlie stole little glimpses at Max. He was going through the motions perfectly, but beneath his calm veneer, he looked shell-shocked.

On the way home, discussing whether it might snow appeared the most fascinating topic in the world. Which was crazy after all the fascinating things they’d uncovered today. Charlie felt a hysterical little giggle bubbling up her throat.

Meanwhile, her head was teeming with questions.

What would happen next?

Would Max raise it, or should she?

Would he insist on even more distance between them? Gosh, he’d have her working out in the front yard at this rate. Perhaps he’d put her desk on the sidewalk.

She side-eyed him as he strode alongside her, dark and brooding and beautiful, thrilling at the memory of that sensual mouth devouring her pussy. And despite it being desperately awkward, Charlie could not shake the absolute perfection of what they’d shared in the dark.

She’d just made out wildly with her boss in the Motham Palace archives, and truthfully, she had not a single regret.

When they reached the house Max headed for his office, barking a terse, “Go and tidy yourself up. Then come to my office. We need to talk.” But even then, she was prepared to forgive him.

Sure, that was a tad abrupt, but she got that he was angry at himself, at the situation, after the measures he’d put in place to avoid this happening.

But she felt none of that. She felt elated.

The sense that she and this wolf were somehow bound to one another had only gotten stronger. And nothing would dislodge that from her heart.

But all Charlie said meekly, for now at least, was, “Yes, Professor.”

Max paced up and down his office like a caged animal.

What the fuck was he going to say to Charlie when she came down?

Firstly, he’d apologize. That went without saying.

He’d let his wolf take over in the most heinous fashion. His actions were unforgivable.

Just a day—one fucking day—after moving her desk out of his office, exactly what he’d been afraid of had happened. He’d succumbed to his baser nature.

Even if she’d… gods damn it—yes, she’d clearly enjoyed it, hadn’t she? He kept reliving the little gasps and sighs she’d made, her pleas for him to keep going, the way her inner muscles had rippled with her orgasm, the sweet shot of her juices on his tongue as she came.

But that didn’t make it okay.

He winced as he remembered the words he’d ground out, commanding her to fuck his face. Hell … he’d never spoken to a woman like that in his life.

Groaning out loud, Max rubbed his hands down his cheeks. He could still smell Charlie’s arousal on his face.

Her scent had marked him. And talking of marking, no doubt biting would come next. He’d stooped this low, so what was stopping him taking it to the next level?

There was no choice. He’d have to tell her to leave.

He couldn’t have her working here, drawing him off the path of sanity, constantly fighting his base wolf instincts. His biggest fears would be realized. His mother’s biggest fears. That he would turn into a beast.

If Charlie stayed working for him, he’d do it again. Maybe he’d resist her for another week… two at most, if he jerked off every day. But that clearly hadn’t helped much, had it?

At least, thank the gods, he’d kept his cock inside his pants. Just.

But what about next time?

Shit, there must be no next time.

A few moments later there was a light rap at the door, and Max jumped, even though he was expecting her.

To his shock, rather than tidying herself up, she’d let her hair fall loose around her shoulders, and she was still—defiantly, almost—wearing the same crumpled shirt and skirt. The scent of her wafted toward him, sweet, ripe, and oh so fucking tempting.

His resolve crumbled.

Max stifled a groan and shoved his hands in his pockets, only to be met with the tiny scrap of silk panties he’d found next to his phone when the lights came back on. He shoved his glasses up his nose and prayed his nostrils weren’t visibly flaring.

“Please, sit.” He waved in the direction of the chair.

She did, crossing her legs so her skirt rode up, showing a slice of stocking on a slender thigh… the same thigh she’d wrapped around his ears…

Max gulped hard. “Charlie, what happened… between us earlier…”

She cocked her head, her eyes bright. Said nothing. Waited.

Max started to pace behind his desk. “I need you to understand that I have never… In my life… done anything remotely like that before. I abused my position as your employer. I apologize unreservedly for taking advantage of your—vulnerability.”

“My vulnerability?” she parroted softly.

“Yes, absolutely.”

“That’s not how I see it.”

Max stared at her, confused. Sure, she was flushed, and looking a little shy maybe, but there was a defiance in her gaze as it held his.

“H—how do you see it?” he stuttered incredulously.

“You asked me to tell you to stop. And, um, I recall that I told you to keep going.” Now she looked down, and he saw a little smile play at her lips. “And I enjoyed it, very much.”

He stood still, breathing hard, trying to comprehend what he’d just heard.

“It can’t happen again,” he gritted out.

“Okay. I’ll lock the door of the snug when I’m working.”

Gods, was she teasing him? Couldn’t she see how wrong this was? He could almost see the headlines: “Max Hunt seduces his research assistant. Max Hunt unable to control his inner wolf.”

Max scrubbed at his forehead. “You have to leave, Charlie.”

Her eyes widened. “W—what?”

“I’m sorry, Charlie. If you stay here, I will do it again. Not might, will. Clearly, I can’t control what happens to me around you. I just don’t seem able to resist you… your scent, your smile…” He huffed. “Gods, I— I can’t get you out of my thoughts.”

Suddenly her eyes blazed. “What if I can’t resist you either? What if I don’t want to?” Her jaw was set now, stubborn. Beautiful.

He watched helplessly as she uncrossed her legs, got up and moved around the desk. When she was almost brushing against his body, she put her head close to his and whispered, “What if I want you to do all those things to me that you think are wrong and wicked? What if I really want that?”

Max groaned. “Charlie,” he croaked, lowering his head, drinking in the intoxicating scent of her. His mouth brushed her neck, his incisor grazing her skin as she arched into him. “You don’t know what you’re asking…”

“Don’t I?”

He screwed his eyes shut, shook his head. “What if I lose control?”

“I told you, I feel safe with you, Max. Safe… and wild. And that’s what’s so wonderful about whatever this is between us. You bring out all of me. I want to do the same for you. You want everything to be safe, you want to fit life into a nice safe box. But you know as a historian that so much that happens isn’t safe. It’s vibrant and dangerous and beautiful. Life, relationships, it’s all messy. It always has been. All I know is that what I feel for you is real. And amazing. And I don’t want it to stop.”

Gods, she shook him to the core. On the surface she seemed so young, na?ve even, and then, suddenly, like a hot knife through butter, she cut through his intellectualizing, his desperate attempts to be in control, to do the right thing.

He couldn’t move away. He knew he should, but he was held like a bee caught in a honey trap. Her lashes swept her cheeks as if waiting for him to kiss her.

Unable to stop himself, he stroked around the line of her jaw, rubbed at her swollen lips with his thumb pad, gazing into her glittering dark eyes.

He wanted to kiss her so badly.

But if he kissed her lips—and this was crazy, when he’d kissed those other lips so ardently less than an hour ago—he’d be admitting to a level of intimacy between them that he’d never imagined possible with a woman.

“Do you want me to leave?” she asked, her eyes searching his face. “Honestly?”

With that steady, dark gaze on him, how could he lie? He groaned. “No, I don’t want you to leave. But I need you to.”

She let out a little growl of frustration.

Max broke away, dove a hand through his hair. “Charlie, I have to put some distance between us. I need to think this through without my damn wolf getting in the way. Leading me… leading me to wanting you… every damn minute of the day.”

She was staring at him, her lips glistening and still so close. And oh fuck, how he wanted to claim her.

“Charlie, I’m a lone wolf, a sigma. We have to work things through alone,” he said, knowing his words just sounded like lame excuses. “None of my behavior since you arrived has been logical or, for that matter, appropriate…”

She reached out and put a finger to his lips, and he couldn’t stop himself from taking hold of her hand and kissing it. And there they stood for many moments in silence.

He heard her draw in a ragged breath. “If that’s what you really need, then okay, I’ll go away for a few days. But I’m still working for you, right?” She tilted her chin at him and he nodded. “There’s a stack of notes to be collated, I can take them with me.”

He laughed ruefully. “Oh yeah, sure, the book… that is getting nowhere fast. I can’t seem to work on any of it with my headspace the way it is…”

“Then let me at least help you while I’m gone, Max. I can take your notes from the archives today and knock them into order.”

“You’d do that?” He gazed at her incredulously. Gods, this girl was kind and generous as well as the most desirable creature on earth.

“Well, you are paying me to be your research assistant. Guess you need to get your money’s worth.” Again, that that dimple, the twinkle deep in her eyes. No one had ever teased him the way Charlie did. Even in the most goddamn awful moments, she could somehow lighten the mood.

He huffed a sigh. “Okay. Yes, thank you. I’d really appreciate that, Charlie.”

She nodded and moved away from him, starting to pack up the files.

It was all Max could do not to take her into his arms and beg her to stay. But he didn’t.

Instead, he glued his feet to the floor and watched through the window as she left shortly after, taking her little suitcase and her laptop and his files of notes.

And as her car disappeared round the bend, it struck him that he felt so gods damn alone.

All his life, he’d told himself this was what he wanted.

To be a proud lone wolf.

But now, it didn’t seem to make any sense at all.