Marrying Max Read online

  I pull back and look at her steadily in the eyes.

  “I love you, Lindsay,” I say.

  She draws in a breath. “You do?”

  I nod.

  “I…I love you, too.” Her words come out tenderly. We stare at each other, breathing in sync, both wholly present in this moment.

  “Max?” she finally says.

  “Yes, sugar?”

  “Can we leave?”

  Heat sears through my body. “Of course we can.”

  Fifteen minutes later, we’re back in her apartment, her body fitting perfectly against mine as we make out in the middle of the room. As my hands run over her, all I can think about is how her glorious curves are going to drive me wild our whole lives.

  Our whole lives. We may have only met a few weeks ago, but when I think about Lindsay, I think about her as my wife. I think about her as the mother of my children. And I think of myself as her husband, as her protector, her provider, her everything. Whatever she needs, I’ll always be there to give it to her.

  “I’m going to make you come so fucking hard,” I murmur against her lips.

  Lindsay’s cheeks flush. “Is that a promise?”

  I throw her over my shoulder and she yelps with glee as I carry her into her bedroom.

  “I’m too heavy for this!” she cries out.

  “You’re not too heavy for anything, sugar,” I say. I throw her on the bed and she laughs. But then she grows dead serious. With a come-hither voice, she purrs, “Come ’ere, big boy.”

  I shed my tie, my shirt, my pants. I tear my briefs off, freeing my raging hard-on. As I climb onto the bed, Lindsay’s smiling lips part in anticipation.

  “God, you’re hot,” she murmurs.

  “Dress off,” I command. She unzips herself and wiggles out of the garment. Beneath, she’s wearing a strapless bra and a tiny pair of panties. I unhook her bra, toss it aside, then practically rip her panties off.

  I bring my mouth down between her legs and give her clit a slow, teasing lick. She tastes creamy and sweet…and like home. I lick her again and again, increasing the speed of my strokes, eliciting high moans from her lips.

  “Max!” she gasps. “Oh God. I’m going to come.”

  She cries out and arches her back as an orgasm overtakes her, and as she topples over the edge, she pulses like crazy against my mouth.

  “Fuck,” I groan as I kiss my way up her soft, sexy stomach. “You came way too quickly, baby.”

  “It was so good,” she moans, regaining her breath.

  I work my way up her body, planting more kisses over her skin, finally reaching her mouth. She wraps her legs around me and I push the head of my cock into her, groaning at how wet she is. As I sink deeper into her, we lock eyes, and it feels like the room has just been set on fire.

  I thrust into her with deep, hard strokes. Our breathing grows heavier together, our bodies becoming slick and hot. Every time I drive into her, she lets out a moan, and her fingers dig harder and harder into my back.

  Grunting, I thrust into her like a beast, driving into that wet ecstasy over and over again, bottoming out each time. As I make love to her, I tell her how incredible it feels to be inside her and how fucking beautiful she is. Soon, our breathing is desperate, our chests both heaving. I ram into her harder than I ever have and she screams out with delirious pleasure.

  And then orgasms are simultaneously crashing over us, the sensation so good my vision goes white for a second, and I’m draining myself into her, filling her up with my seed.

  “I love you so much,” I choke out in my post-orgasmic haze.

  “I love you so much, too,” Lindsay says, her eyes filling with tears. I’m still inside her, and our bodies are pressed tightly together. Little aftershocks from our orgasms burst across our skin.

  When we kiss again, everything feels entirely right in the world.

  Chapter Seven

  Lindsay

  Three Years Later

  I give the dog a good scratch behind his ear and he looks up at me and weakly wags his tail. The dog just got out of surgery, and he’s going to need a while to heal, but I can tell this little guy is going to be all right.

  I go over a few things with the doctor, then thank her and walk out to the front desk of the care center. As I do, I take a moment to look around and reflect on how grateful I am that I was able to make my dream come true.

  Three years ago, when Max and I got together, our relationship changed so many things for me. His love for me didn’t just fulfill a part of my life that was missing; he also gave me the encouragement and support I needed to start a non-profit care center for abandoned pets, an idea I came up with when I was working at the clinic.

  I may still have some of my bad habits—I swear to God, I think I’m always going to be late for stuff—but I no longer believe my life is a mess. Partially that’s because my life feels more fulfilling now, but it’s also just been a change in my state of mind.

  The front doors to the care center slide open and the loves of my life walk in: my gorgeous husband and my adorable little girl, Hannah. I’ve been in love with my daughter since the day I found out I was pregnant—which was a month after Max and I first told each other we loved each other.

  I crouch down and open up my arms. Hannah runs up to me and gives me a hug.

  “Hi, Mommy!” she says.

  “Hi, baby,” I say, and give her a kiss on the cheek. Then I stand up and give Max a kiss hello, too.

  “You still have time to grab lunch with us?” he asks.

  I nod. “Definitely.”

  “Any cravings?”

  “I have all sorts of cravings, babe,” I say, laughing. I set a hand on my stomach and Max grins at me. My cravings have been super strong with this second pregnancy.

  “Well, let’s get a little bit of everything, then,” says Max, and the three of us head out of the care center for lunch.

  As we walk outside into the sunshine, I feel the rays warm my cheeks, and I feel so grateful for this life.

  Chapter Eight

  Lindsay

  Ten Years Later

  “I see them, Mom,” Hannah says. “They’re over there.”

  “I see them, too!” exclaims Wyatt.

  As soon as I shield my eyes from the sun, I see what my kids see. There, across the park, is the group we’ve been searching for. I smile over at Max and he smiles back at me.

  “Knew they had to be around here somewhere,” he says. “Looks like everyone’s here.”

  “We’re always the last to show up,” Hannah groans.

  “That’s not the worst thing in the world, Hannah,” says Max.

  “Yeah, I guess,” grumbles our daughter. But as we reach all our friends, her grumpy mood vanishes. She loves hanging out with her “cousins,” as we call them.

  I go around and greet everyone, giving hugs and kisses. There’s so much food here that after I set out the pasta salad and drinks from the cooler slung from my shoulder, there’s no room left on the picnic tables to add anything else.

  Not that too much food is a bad thing.

  I make myself a plate and take a seat on the grass next to Aurora so we can catch up. She’s been the marketing director of her company for the past couple years, in addition to being a kick-ass mom of three. I ask her how things have been going since I last saw her, and she tells me about the kids’ summer camp plans and then about a guest lecture that Cole is giving in the fall. As she talks about her husband, the love she continues to have for him is evident in her eyes.

  “Hey, by the way, I was thinking just us girls should sneak out soon for a girls’ night,” says Aurora. “Think you could manage that?”

  “Oh, I’m definitely up for a girls’ night,” I say, and we both laugh.

  A little later, as we’re watching the kids and our husbands kick around a soccer ball, I get a chance to catch up with Marisa and Elle. Marisa and her husband, Gabe, recently went on a romantic weekend getaway to celebrate th
eir anniversary. (“It was so amazing, you guys, there was a jacuzzi bath and rose petals and everything,” Marisa gushes.) Then she updates us about their kids; their eldest daughter has been helping Marisa out with her catering business, and her younger daughter has taken an interest in Gabe’s restaurant management company.

  I ask Elle how her family is doing, and she beams as she talks about them. Liam’s consulting business is as successful as ever, she tells us, and their son Grayson is becoming quite the track star at school. Ruby graduated from college a few months ago with a degree in psychology, and she’ll be starting graduate school in the fall.

  “We’re so lucky that Ruby and Grayson both still like spending time with us,” says Elle, smiling and shaking her head. “The four of us have been working on the garden together at home this summer, and it’s been really lovely. By the way, I have some homegrown veggies to give you guys.”

  “Oh, awesome,” says Marisa. Then she nudges me. “How have you guys been, Lindsay?”

  A uncontainable smile immediately spreads over my lips, like it always does whenever anyone asks me about my family. They’re the source of my deepest joy.

  “Well, Hannah is very much acting like a teenager lately,” I say, which makes my best friends laugh. “But she and I also did a mom-and-daughter spa day together recently and it was really nice. And Wyatt’s just as sweet as ever. You know, I think he might be a writer when he grows up. He tells us stories all the time.”

  “I could see that,” says Aurora, approaching us. We welcome her, making room on the picnic blanket so we can all sit on it together.

  “And you and Max are well?” asks Elle.

  I nod. “Yep. We’re both great. I just got some more funding for the care center, and Max has been having a blast coaching Wyatt’s soccer team.”

  “God, we scored the most amazing husbands, didn’t we?” says Aurora, sighing dreamily. All four of us look out across the park to take in our husbands and kids. My heart swells at the sight.

  And it continues to swell as I watch Max break away from the group and jog over to us.

  “You ladies want to join us?” he calls out.

  Aurora, Marisa, Elle, and I all look at each other. With that one shared look, we all come to a quick consensus. The four of us get up from the picnic blanket and start heading across the grass.

  As I reach Max, he gives me a loving look and pulls me aside for a second. He’s a little sweaty from running around so much, and I love how masculine and sexy he looks. I can’t help but think of all the countless times his big, muscled body has caged me in on our bed and driven me to the most incredible places of pleasure.

  “Hey, I was talking to the guys earlier, and I was thinking we should all take a vacation together or something,” Max says.

  “All seventeen of us?” I say, lifting my brows.

  “I’m not saying it wouldn’t be chaotic,” he says. “But wouldn’t it be a blast, too?”

  He’s right. I can already imagine it. The beach. The sun. The memories we’d make. “Yeah. It would. Okay, I’ll talk to the girls about it.”

  “Cool.” He leans in for a kiss. “I love you, sugar.”

  “I love you, too,” I say, pressing myself against him for a moment. “So much.”

  It’s hard to not get swept away in Max’s kiss. But a few seconds later, our friends’ shouting brings us back to the present moment.

  “Hey, lovebirds!” our friends shout. “Come on, we have a soccer game to play!”

  “Be right there,” Max calls out over his shoulder, and then turns back to me for one more kiss.

  Thank you for reading!

  * * *

  Did you miss any of the Dirty Sweet Alphas books? Find them all here!

  A note from Kate

  Thank you so much for reading Marrying Max!

  If you have a moment, I would love to get an honest review from you on Amazon. Feedback from readers is so important to me.

  Thank you again for reading one of my little romances!

  * * *

  xo,

  Kate