Chapter #3 - Kissing is a Cover

*This writing is the Copyrighted Intellectual Property of Elaine White*

Copyright © 2015 by Elaine White

***

Chapter 3

Hadley was breathless, as she and Maxx stilled against each other. She wound her fingers in his hair and held him close, as she basked in the afterglow. She leaned her head against his shoulder, as they caught their breath, while she wondered what on earth she had been thinking. She should never have allowed events to take off as they had. She could so easily have played coy and made him want to see more of her, by being mysterious.

Instead, she had panicked that, by rejecting him, she would lose her story opportunity and now she was in major trouble, but she couldn't let it get to her. She had to use it to her advantage. She had his attention, now she had to use it, to get exactly what she wanted from him; a way into his life, so that she could get the real inside story on just who Maxx Mackenzie was.

Suddenly, amongst all the rationalisation and planning that she was doing, she remembered something that made her laugh, despite herself.

“What's so funny?” Maxx asked, sounding caught between annoyed and intrigued.

“I heard those friends of yours say it was your birthday.” Hadley confessed, a little embarrassed by the hidden meaning of her words. “Happy Birthday!” She smiled to herself, glad that Maxx smiled back at her.

It sounded ridiculously like she'd let them get carried away, in some sort of birthday gift to him. But, for the life of her, she couldn't think of anything else to say. He'd fried her brains and she was incapable of any logical thought, so technically it was his fault.

“That's some birthday present. How about a repeat performance later, before I have to leave?” He wondered, teasingly

She hoped that meant good things, for her potential story. Then, he cupped her chin and kissed her, lingering for a response.

Hadley blushed in embarrassment, trying to remember why she was there, though in light of her latest experience, she was struggling. When she didn't say anything, he took the hint, that she was waiting to see how the rest of the night panned out, before giving into him again. At least, that's what she hoped he assumed, because, if not, she was in serious trouble. Though, she suspected she was already in knee deep.

Maxx backed over to a table, in the empty function room, fixing his clothes as he went. She had the rather awkward timing of catching him removing the condom he'd worn and throwing it into the nearby trash bin. But still, that wolfish, approving smile was on his face, the whole time, as he eyed her up, across the room.

Hadley pulled herself together; she pushed the skirt of her dress down and pulled up her panties, while fitting the top half into place. The straps didn't want to stay put, and the bust hugged her breasts until she could see her nipples showing, but that couldn't be helped. Her bra was on the floor and she wasn't going to fumble around with it, while Maxx watched.

Maxx held his hand out to her, as he backed into a seat. It was a casual offer, not demanding but invitational, as though he would like her to sit with him, but she didn't have to, if she chose not to. It was unsurprisingly gentlemanly of him, compared to other men she knew.

When he caught Hadley's moment of hesitation, he smiled lazily and turned his hand, until it looked like he was waiting to shake hers.

“I'm Maxx Mackenzie,” he introduced himself, in a very flirtatious manner, as he sank into his seat and stared at her. “A fairly well off art gallery owner, with no interest in exercise or healthy living. I like a drink, I smoke cigars and cigarettes, and I love to sit back with a good book and a cognac.” He recited, as though he was one of those Lonely Hearts ads in the newspaper.

It made her smile, as she made her way, rather unsteadily, towards the table, where he was sitting.

“I hate long walks on the beach, love listening to, but not being in, the rain and I relish the electricity of thunder storms.” Maxx continued, as she placed her hand in his. His smile softened, as he lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed the back of her fingers. “I don't like dancing or public displays of affection and I'm known to be jealous and possessive of what's mine. Call it unreasonable, if you will, or an unfavourable trait, but it's the truth.” He confessed, while using his loose grip on her hand, to draw her closer.

Hadley got the message loud and clear; he wanted a repeat performance or something close to it. But she wasn't nearly ready for more; her brain and body were still struggling to accept that their last encounter had actually happened. “Well, it's very nice to meet you.” She said, playing along with his odd little game.

“I'm Hadley Mendez, half Colombian and half American. I don't like the sand either,” she confessed, as she backed away and sat across the table from him. Unluckily for her, the table was a booth, and the seat was one single bench that circled the round table.

Maxx slid around the bench seat, until he sat right next to her, reaching up to brush a strand of dishevelled hair from her eyes.

Hadley reached up to remove it from its ponytail, letting it fall around her neck. Much to her surprise, Maxx groaned, low in his throat and brushed her hair back from her shoulder, while leaning towards her. He kissed her neck, nipping lightly with his teeth. It felt wonderful, but she knew she couldn't let him keep doing that.

“I,” she tried to remember where she'd left off, and tried again. “I don't smoke, but I do like the odd glass of wine. I'm a sucker for red tulips and marshmallows; not so much a chocolate and roses girl.” She continued, try hard to distract herself from the hot mouth, drifting down the length of her neck.

“Why?” Maxx muttered, while dragging himself away from her.

“What?”

“Why marshmallows?” He asked, actually looking genuinely interested, as she turned to look at him.

So, Hadley figured she'd tell him the truth. “Because they're so light, that I can convince myself they're like air, so I'm not breaking my diet.”

“Please tell me you're not on a diet,” he groaned, leaning his forehead on her shoulder, as if in despair. It was ridiculously cute, but she decided to focus more on the important question of just what he meant by that.

“Why?” She wondered.

“Because you're on the skinny side of perfect.” He complained, lifting his head to gaze into her eyes. His chocolate eyes drew her in, until she was speechless. But then he sighed, as though in defeat, and crushed his lips to hers, in a hot kiss.

Hadley found herself responding, without thought for consequences or what was right. Kissing Maxx felt right; it was all she wanted to do. She tilted her head into the kiss, gave up control to him and caught the back of his head in her hand, to hold him close.

***

Maxx had to drag himself away from Hadley, the moment he felt his hand surrounded by her soft thighs. He was getting dangerously close to undressing her again and he didn't want that. Well, he did, but that wasn't all he wanted.

He wanted…no, needed…to know this girl. He had to understand her and find some way of keeping her around. He'd only had a brief taste of her and already he felt like an addict, who could never get by, if she got up and left. If this girl walked away, Maxx knew that he would spend his whole life craving her, but never able to satisfy that craving in anyone else. Only Hadley would do, now and he hated it. He hated that he had no control over himself, that just looking at her, made him want to spend days with his mouth locked on hers and his hard cock buried deep inside her.

No-one else would ever taste so sweet.

Forcing himself away, he licked the taste of her from his lips and sat back, to give them some space from each other. Hadley's brown eyes stared at him, with such need and raw emotion that he wanted to dive back in and finish what he'd started. But he didn't; he had more control than that.

Instead, he turned his mind to other matters. Like her reaction to his full name; most people either ran away, wanted money or tried to get closer, to get gossip from him, when they realised who he was. He was intrigued to see that Hadley didn't seem to register any meaning behind it or connection to his profession or his father's reputation, as most people did, upon their first meeting. That intrigued him, but also made him wonder what rock she had been hiding under.

“I should probably have asked you, already,” Maxx began, realising something important. “But are you here with anyone, tonight?”

“No.” She smiled at him, though she still looked a little dazed from their kiss.

“And will you be leaving with me, tonight?” He asked, unable to stop himself, as he gently brushed the hair back from her shoulder. She looked…ravishing…with it hanging loose, down the back of her neck. There was no other word for it. It fell in light waves that seemed to mimic the curves of her body. It made him hungry.

“Your friends,” Hadley said, turning away, to look at the table, as she changed the subject. “What are they…your entourage? Bodyguards? Secret agents? Work colleagues?” She asked, teasingly, amusing him as he sat at the table and watched her.

Maxx was only more intrigued by her; who was this mystery woman, who knew nothing about him or his father? He watched her like a hawk, for any sign of who she was or what she was about. “I believe they would be considered both work colleagues and bodyguards.” He answered, deciding how much to tell her and about what.

“Wow…you must be pretty big news to have bodyguards. What do you do?” Hadley acted excited and impressed.

Hadley acted it so well, in fact, that Maxx was tempted to believe that she knew nothing and was bowled over, by the fact that he had such an impressive group of people looking after him. But there was something…something he couldn't put his finger on…that said there was no way in hell that he could be this lucky. He did not choose a random club, to visit for his birthday, only to find a near perfect woman, who had no idea who he was or knew about his father. And that near perfect woman would never let him fuck her in the back room of a club, after her display of initial hesitation, without knowing who he was first.

Just what Hadley actually was, or who she was, was still a mystery to him. But it was a mystery he was willing to solve.

“Let's say I'm in the…arts business. I handle pieces of art, take part in transactions and have a very fine collection of my own.” Maxx agreed to keep the casual conversation going and allow Hadley to keep her secrets, for now.

“That sounds wonderful.” She sighed, leaning her elbow on the table, to rest her head on top of her hand.

“And what do you do?” He asked her, curious to find out if she would tell the truth.

“I'm a novelist. Unsigned at the moment, unfortunately, so I guess it would be more accurate to say I'm an aspiring novelist.” Hadley explained, with a light giggle that didn't seem to fit with the fiery, feisty girl he'd just been with, a moment ago. “Writing is my passion, but I just haven't found the right publisher. You need an agent to get a publisher and a publisher to get an agent. And no-one takes unsolicited mail, these days.” She shrugged, as though it was a sad fact that she'd had to accept.

Maxx was impressed with how well she could lie, but she had one little tell that gave it all away. She looked away and couldn't meet his gaze, whenever she lied. So he knew that writing was her real passion, but she wasn't a novelist and she wasn't waiting for her big break. But he wasn't going to let on that he knew that, just yet.

They sat and talked for an hour, about her unemployment and how she was looking for a new career. Maxx never asked what she used to do and she didn't offer up any suggestions. He feigned interest and asked lots of questions, about what kind of stories she wrote and what she was currently working on, curious to see if she would trip up and get caught up in her own lies.

Surprisingly, she was a class act. She didn't once stumble or fall into a mistake; she kept to her lie and, yet, she always managed to bring the subject back to Maxx and his life. He didn't mind so much, liking that someone was taking an interest in him and what he did, rather than grilling him about his father and his shady business. He would figure Hadley out eventually, but there was no hurry.

After an hour together, however, Maxx broke off the conversation, mid-sentence, when he kissed Hadley quiet. She reacted instinctively, as he knew she would, and all it took was one arm around her, to grasp her thigh, before she was encouraged to move.

She climbed over him, straddling his lap and sitting high on her knees, as they kissed lightly. He didn't like the distance between them, so he pushed her constrictive dress out of the way and drew her tight ass onto his lap.

“I'll have to leave soon. I have urgent business in the morning,” he explained, pulling her closer, so that she had no other choice than to press against him and accept the kiss he initiated. It was very seductive and slow, just like most of the other things running through his head.

He didn't know who she was, but he was constantly billed as unfeeling, professional and sadistic by the newspapers, so he wanted to prove to this mysterious girl that he could be passionate and sensual, too. Whatever she said about not knowing who he was, had been a lie and he knew it, but he wanted to know why such a beautiful, innocent looking girl was lying to him. And why she'd let him inside her.

Hadley kissed away from his lips and down his jawline, gradually moving down his neck. He could feel a strange tension in her, that hadn't been there since they first walked into the room, so he decided to take it from her. Tension didn't belong in anything they did together.

Maxx pushed her dress further up her thighs and explored beneath the taut fabric, where he found her already wet for him. He touched her, just briefly, and heard the gasp of surprise, by his ear. “Will you give me one last birthday treat, before I go?” He whispered to her, shifting his body beneath hers, until he only had to undo his zip, to get inside her again.

“Take me home with you and I might.” She bargained, in that low, husky voice he loved to hear. Then she pulled back, to hover her mouth over his, playfully, in the promise of a kiss that would never come.

He knew then that she was the most interesting girl he'd ever met. No-one else confounded him the way this lying, scheming, seductress did.

Maxx smiled, looking forward to the game of cat and mouse he'd unwittingly begun to play with her. He caught her thick black hair in his hand and pulled her down, until he could kiss those pink lips.

It was the first he'd noticed that she wasn't wearing any make up. Yet, she was still, easily, the most attractive woman in the building. He kissed her with desperation and need, devouring whatever he could of her.

Maxx was a suspicious person by nature, but something about Hadley made him like that she wanted to go back to his house, rather than give him anything else for free. She was gorgeous and when they came together, it was like an explosion of hot, heady sexual satisfaction, of the likes he'd never known before. He didn't mind so much giving in to her wish.

Besides, hadn't he just told himself, that morning, that he wanted much more than just to be forced into a relationship or marriage. But that one day, he was sure that he would find a girl he wanted and who wanted him, whether he was ready? Wasn't Hadley the most perfect, sweetest thing he had seen in a long time? How could he say no?

So she was a liar. That was a small price to pay for the roaring heat between them. And she was keeping secrets; who didn't? He would discover them, eventually.

He broke the kiss, curious about how far she would take this thing between them, to get whatever it was she wanted. “Do you have any idea who I am?” Maxx asked, wanting to see her reaction to a direct accusation.

Hadley shrugged and smiled, as if she didn't understand the question.

“Don't you care?” He wondered, since he could have done all sorts of nasty things to her, in the back room a club, where her screams couldn't be heard. For a woman who seemed smart and sophisticated, considering the things they'd talked about, she wasn't exactly aware of the danger she'd put herself in, tonight.

“Why? Are you a criminal? A serial killer? Do you go prowling bars and clubs, for vulnerable women to seduce?” Hadley giggled, pretending to know nothing about him and convince him that she was just a clueless writer, who barely left her apartment.

He studied her for a minute, cool and calm in his evaluation of her, before replying. She was lying alright; she knew exactly who he was, which only made the risk she'd taken all the greater.

“I might be.” Maxx allowed, since it was possible, curious to see if she would be frightened or concerned by it.

“I don't think so. You said you were an art dealer…that's not exactly dangerous or criminal, is it?” She wondered, with a thoughtful smile.

“It could be,” he confessed, with a wry smile. She had no idea just how criminal it could be. And, for a split second, she did a stellar performance of looking caught off guard, then concerned, before smiling, in a nervous way.

Maxx figured he'd tormented her enough; he laughed it off and cupped her face in his hand, adoring her attempts to deceive him. She was so good that, had he not been focused on her so completely, he might have missed the subtle signs that told him the truth.

“You've nothing to worry about. If I've got to take you home with me, before I get you naked, then so be it. But we have to leave now, if that's what you want?” He offered, giving her what she wanted, for now.

He caught a genuine look of surprise cross her eyes, and then realisation, that said she knew this was her moment.

Hadley smiled, bit her lip and got to her feet, giving him an odd look, that he almost thought was fear. But what exactly did she have to be afraid of?

She backed off a few steps, towards the door, acting coy, until Maxx stepped up close to her and took her hand in his own.

He looked at her, just for a moment, before smiling and leading her out of the back room and onto the club dance floor. His friends were all gathered near their table, dancing with girls or chatting amongst themselves. He gave them a nod and waited for recognition, before grabbing his coat from the booth and leading Hadley out the front door of the club.

She kept unusually quiet, the whole way, and when he glanced at her, she had a look on her face that said she was truly terrified. This time, however, he could tell that he wasn't the one who frightened her…she was scared of herself, and her choices.

Maxx pretended to be unaware of her internal struggle, as they walked a block to his car, with his arm over her shoulder. He played the gullible fool, who couldn't see past her lies, who was simply happy to have a birthday that went off exactly as he had planned it, and better.

But one day, very soon, he was going to figure out all of her dirty little secrets. And when he did, he wasn't going to be let her get away from him, without a fight.

She might think this thing between them was temporary, but Maxx had other plans. He was, after all, a career criminal's son and he'd learned from a young age that a little blackmail could go a long way. As soon as he knew Hadley's big secret, he was going to make sure to use it again her, whether she liked it or not.

***

THE END

I hope you enjoyed this cheeky little tease. For more, you can read Courage in the Kiss, when it's released with Simply Sexy Reads later this year. The situation will have changed and the characters lives are different, but the heat and the chemistry will remain.