A Fighting Chance Read online

  His lips trail down my throat as his hands lift my shirt. As if the need outweighed the time available, he lifts the cups of my bra up taking a nipple in his mouth. It didn’t seem like he could get close enough to me to satisfy his need. His lips trail down my stomach as he quickly removes my jeans. With the same speed and desire, his lips attack my core as my back arches off the mattress. His lips move in sync with his fingers thrusting in and out, and I quickly have an orgasm. He doesn’t let up and continues lapping and thrusting. Just as the first one ends, I’m thrown into another. He still continues as he moans and finds that sweet spot. He inserts a finger up my ass, and I see stars as I have a third orgasm. In the middle of the orgasm, he pulls away and I instantly want more. He doesn’t disappoint as he quickly fills me and roots himself deep inside as I come down from my orgasm. I cover my mouth and scream at the feeling of pure euphoria.

  He removes my hand from my mouth and says, “I want to hear you, Chloe. I want to hear you say my name as you come on my dick.”

  I run my nails down his sweaty back as he stills and says, “Now, Chloe.”

  “Max,” I breathe as a fourth orgasm rips through me, sending me to a place like no other. Max groans in my ear as he comes right along with me. Never in my life have I had four orgasms in a row. Max plays my body like a finely tuned piano. He knows every right chord to play at the exact right time.

  He kisses me on the cheek and turns me in his arm. I lay on his chest as he holds me tight. His chest heaves up and down as I listen to his heart race. His breathing evens out as he plays with a strand of my hair in between his fingers.

  “Max?”

  “Hmm,” he replies, tucking his chin to his chest to look at me.

  “Can I talk to you about something?” I ask, almost dreading the timing and the outcome.

  “You can talk to me about anything. What’s on your mind?” he says as he squeezes me closer.

  “I’d like to talk about Samuel.” The instant his name is mentioned his grip on me loosens. “I’m so sorry that you missed the funeral because you were with me in the mountains.”

  “I didn’t miss the funeral. I went and paid my respects and hurried back up the mountain. I didn’t go to the burial though, there wasn’t enough time for that,” he says in a whisper. His words are laced with emotion, and I heard the crack in his voice as he spoke.

  “Did you want to talk about it?” I ask, tracing a tribal tattoo on his upper chest and neck. The silence in the room could break fine china. Several minutes go by, and I’m not quite sure what to do. Do I ignore the question I just asked? Does he want me to leave the room? Just as I’m about to move to get up, he squeezes me tight again.

  “Samuel was a hell of a man. He was my father in all aspects of the word when my own failed to be one. He taught me to be the man I am today. For the longest time I didn’t think I knew anything about being a good man, until I met you that is. I may not be the best at hearts and flowers, but the way you light up my world when you walk into a room, is the exact same thing I saw in Samuel when Samantha walked into a room. I learned that from him. The way I feel about Noah when he’s in my arms. I learned that from him too. I never thought I’d be this guy who could love or be loved. I never thought I deserved it. I always thought I never mattered to anyone growing up. But I did every time I was around Samuel, I just never knew it. Through his own subtle ways, without trying to be forceful, he instilled in me what he instilled in his own sons. I can see it as clear as day now.”

  “You are a good man. Don’t ever think otherwise,” I say lifting up and looking in his eyes.

  “I never thought of myself as a good man, but I can see now because of Samuel, I am.”

  The room fills with silence once more. I think Max’s mind is reeling with the thoughts of Samuel. Every thirty seconds or so, he’d pull me closer to his chest with a squeeze. But I knew for sure he was thinking about Samuel when I felt the wetness of his tears in my hair.

  Max

  I’ve only ever thought about everything that has gone on as being for Chloe. But the truth of the matter is, I feel like I’ve been given a new life too. I never knew what happiness felt like. I didn’t think I knew what love felt like until I fell in love with Chloe. But the ache in my heart tells me otherwise. I loved Samuel. He’s the only father figure I had, and I never got the chance to tell him that while he was alive. I know it’s dumb, but I hope he can hear me right now. Samuel, if you can hear me right now, I just want you to know that I love you. Thank you for treating me like one of your own sons and showing me how to be a good man, despite my upbringing. Thank you for showing me how to open my heart and love the woman in my arms, right now. I always said I never wanted kids, because I was afraid I’d be just like my dad. But I know for a fact that I’m not. And if I can someday be half the dad that you were, I’d still be an incredible father.

  I must have drifted off to sleep talking to Samuel, because the next morning I woke with a smile on my face and the love of my life wrapped in my arms. Looking at the clock on her nightstand it’s 5 A.M. I kiss the top of Chloe’s head and give her a squeeze.

  “You need to get ready for work, sleepyhead.” She inhales deep and laces her leg between mine. She starts again with those soft circles she does on my chest. Every full revolution of her finger she takes it down an inch and does another, until she reaches my, oh so happy, good morning wood. Diving under the covers she takes me in her mouth.

  “Chloe,” I whisper.

  Still in her mouth, she lets go with her hands and rakes her fingernails down my thighs sending wild chills up my arms. Her pace is slow, and firm, and deep. I peel the covers off her head as she makes her way to my tip. Letting go, she smiles at me as her hair frames her face. Grabbing it in a ponytail in my hand, I clear it out of her face. With her face so close to my dick, she ever so softly touches the tip with her tongue, drags it down to the base and between my balls. God, what this woman can do to me. She takes me back in her mouth sucking hard, up and down. I feel it as I tell her, “I’m coming.”

  She kisses just above my belly button, gets up from bed and heads to the shower. The sight of her naked ass sashaying away makes my dick hard again. She turns on the shower and glances at me over her shoulder with a smile. Stepping in, she again glances at me with a wicked grin. I’m no fool. I jump out of bed at her sly invitation. I open the shower curtain to see her standing under the water with her feet spread wide, and her hands on the tiled wall in front of her.

  I squeeze some soap in my hand, rub them together and gently massage her shoulders. I wash her back, and then slide my hands to her breasts. Taking one in each hand, I knead them in my fingers. Her head falls back on my shoulder as my hands trail down her stomach. But I don’t stop there. Bending my knees, I wash her legs which put her ass right at face level. Bringing my hand to the back of her calves, I move up and firmly grab the back of her thighs while I kiss her right ass cheek. Licking over to her other cheek, I kiss my way over every inch of her perfect ass. Her legs tremble with anticipation, and I don’t know how much more I can take of this.

  I stand and rub my dick on the crack of her ass as she pants, and her hands turn into fists on the wall. I place one foot on the side of the tub and enter her in one slick thrust. She screams my name and slaps the tile with her hand. I lace my right hand in her fingers over hers to hold it firm on the wall, and my left low around her hips and pull her into me, hard. I splay my hand on her core and with one finger, I hit my target. Meeting me thrust for thrust she comes with my name on her lips. As she finishes, I pull out and come on her ass.

  She turns around with a smile and kisses me. I wrap her wet hair around my hand and pull her to my lips, thrusting my tongue in her mouth. She rises up on her tip toes to deepen the kiss.

  “Chloe, I love you,” I say on her lips.

  She backs away and searches my eyes. This woman has the power to bring me to my knees and see straight to my soul. She smiles and brushes water from my cheek
and says, “I’ve never loved anyone as much as I love you, Max ‘Slick’ Jones.”

  I’ve been out of the office for way too long and have a briefing scheduled with Levi and Chase at seven. Chloe and I walk out of her room hand in hand to the kitchen to a bright eyed and bushy tailed Ava, dressed in an expensive suit, shoving a piece of toast in her mouth and then proceeds to guzzle a huge cup of coffee.

  “Morning you two. There’s plenty of coffee left, I’ll see you later tonight?” she asks Chloe. Chloe nods her head as Ava hands her a cup, kisses her on the cheek, grabs her briefcase, and heads out the door. What the fuck just happened here? It’s twenty to six and she’s heading out to work already. That girl works too much.

  Seeing Chloe in her scrubs with a smile on her face just plain makes me happy. I drop Chloe off at work with a promise to pick her up tonight. I head to my office where a waiting Levi and Chase are ready to brief me on the open cases and discuss the new ones that have come in.

  I have a million other things that I should be doing, like payroll and my actual job of investigation, but I can only think of one thing. Again, I don’t even know if this is something I should do. But like before, it’s weighing on me like a Mac truck. It could really turn around and bite me in the ass. I make a phone call to see if it’s even an option.

  Chapter 11

  Chloe

  I loved getting dropped off at work by my hunk of a man. I love the smile on his face and his warm kiss with promises of more tonight. I love getting to work and seeing my brother’s happy face and the way we work so well together. I think until I came to the realization that it’s not a contest, we were just off. But today we click and kick ass as a team.

  Sitting in the doctor’s lounge, I plop up my aching feet and scarf down a vending machine sandwich and a Dr. Pepper before I have to make afternoon rounds. Kyle walks in with the exact same lunch, and we both chuckle. Yep, back in sync with each other.

  “Don’t tell Amelia what I’m eating. She thinks I should eat rabbit food and packs my lunch, but a man’s got to eat man food,” he says patting his flat stomach. I know just how much Amelia loves my brother, because I feel the same way about Max. “Things are good today, yeah?” he asks.

  “Things are more than good,” I say playing with the bottle cap. “Kyle, we’re good too, right? I mean, I owe you such a big apology…”

  “You don’t owe me anything. If you’re good, I’m good. Got it?” he says patting my hand on the table.

  “But…” I start to say as my cell phone buzzes in my pocket. Looking at the display it says ‘Savvy calling’. “I should take this. You’re sure we’re good?”

  “Positive,” he says taking the bottle cap from me. “Take your call, I’ll see you for rounds in just a few minutes,” he says getting up then heads to the door. Just when he’s at the door he turns around and flicks the bottle cap at my head. Yeah, we’re good.

  “Savvy, what’s up?” I answer my buzzing phone.

  “I’m freaking out. I’m sitting in the parking lot at school. Today is my first day of class and I can’t get out of my car. I don’t think I can do this. All the people in these classes are going to be young kid’s just graduated from high school. I’m old. I don’t belong here. Oh God, I need a paper bag. I’m hyperventilating.”

  “Calm down, girl. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Sit tight, I’m on my way,” I say and hang up. Not exactly what I intended on doing on my first day back to work, but Savvy has to do this. I know what an amazing hospice nurse she’ll be.

  I find Kyle at the nurses’ station and ask if I can borrow his car. He gives me a worried look. “It’s Savvy, I’ll be right back, I just need to give a quick pep talk,” I say with a smile. He hands over his keys with a promise to cover for me for thirty minutes, and thirty minutes only, or he’ll send out the lynch mob, AKA he’ll make a call to Max. I guess I can’t complain at the overprotectiveness.

  It’s a quick ten minute drive, and I find Savvy parked in a parking space with the engine running and a white knuckled grip on the steering wheel. I knock softly on the window. She jumps out of her skin, and then looks at me with a deer in the headlights look. I motion for her to roll down the window. She peels one hand from the steering wheel and pushes the button to lower the window.

  “Turn off the car, sweetheart.”

  She looks at me like I just spoke a foreign language to her. I reach in and turn the key to the off position. I press the unlock button and walk around the car and get in the passenger seat. Her jaw is chewing her gum a mile a minute as she stares blankly at the building in front of her.

  “See that building?” I ask. She nods her head but says nothing. “That building right there is where you’ll make your dreams come true. But you have to take the first step and get out of the car. You want to know what I know? I know for a fact that your mom is looking down on you with a smile.” That got her attention. Her face turns to me and a slow smile creeps on her lips.

  “Yeah?” she asks.

  “Yeah, and I’ll be here for you every step of the way, too. You’re going to knock ‘em dead. I just know it.”

  “I can do this?” she questions.

  “I know you can do this!” I answer reassuringly.

  “I can do this,” she says as a statement this time. I nod and peel her white fingers from the steering wheel.

  “OK, I can do this,” she says again. She grabs her things and we both step out of the car. I grab her purse and walk over to her. I hand over her purse and offer a supportive smile. And like a switch, she turns back into the Savvy I know and love.

  “I’ve got this, sugar. Thanks for coming here and helping me, I don’t know what I’d do without you,” she says hugging me.

  “Right back at you, babe,” I tell her.

  She takes five steps toward the building and stops. Shit, I thought I had her all set. She turns around, runs back and hugs me again. With tears in her eyes and gum smacking in her teeth she gives me a nod. She turns back around, shoulders back, head up and starts to walk to the building.

  “Savvy,” I call.

  “Yeah,” she says turning around again.

  I walk up to her, hold out my hand just under her mouth, and look from her mouth to my hand with my eyebrows raised. “Spit,” I demand.

  “Spit? You want me to spit in your hand? Have you lost your mind? Oh, is this some secret doctor nurse only code?” she asks confused.

  I roll my eyes at her and say, “No, spit out your gum in my hand.” She puts on a mock embarrassed face and spits her gum in my hand. “You’ve got this,” I assure her again.

  I watch as she disappears in the doorway. I stand there for a few more seconds just to make sure she’s good. I think about her mom and that hospice nurse who had such an influence on her life. Just as I’m about to go back to Kyle’s car, Savvy pokes her head out of the building and with a huge smile she waves goodbye to me. What a dork. But what an amazing dork she is.

  Back at the hospital, I finish out my shift and brought three adorable, healthy, bouncing baby boys into the world. Some of these mothers may never remember my name, but they will always remember today as one of the happiest days of their lives. The day they welcomed their precious son into their lives and into their family. I could never imagine doing anything different with my life.

  As I walk out of a mother’s room, I see my man standing at the nurse’s station. An instant smile forms knowing he’s here for me. I walk up to Max and place the charts on the counter. The nurses behind the counter all have wide eyed dreamy looks. As Max kisses me, one of them opens her mouth in an ‘Oh my God, are you kidding, he’s with you’ kind of look. Max grabs my hand and we head to the elevator. I turn and look behind me to see nurses hunched together whispering. Yep, that’s right, he’s my man. And just for good measure, in a big handful, I grab his fine ass. He smirks at me and pulls me close to his side.

  At his truck, he holds open the door for me. On the seat is a la
rge box wrapped in a purple bow. I smile and instantly know, well hope really what’s inside. I squeal and grab the box and set it in my lap. Max closes the door and gets in the driver seat.

  “Well, don’t just sit there, open it.”

  I rip the box open, and inside are purple leather chaps and a purple leather jacket. It’s soft and feels amazing in my hands. Max takes the box as I try on the leather jacket. It feels even more amazing on. He reaches in the back seat and pulls out a purple helmet that sparkles full of glitter. I wonder if they make purple combat boots.

  I toss all the purple goodness in the back seat and straddle Max’s lap, grab him by the cheeks, and plant a thank you very much kiss smack on his kisser.

  Before things start to get too heated, Max pulls away and says, “We can go out for a ride this weekend. I have something I want to show you.”

  “Yay, road trip!” I squeal.

  Max

  Let’s just hope she’s still as excited as she is now when she sees where we’re going.

  I drive her back home, hold the door open for her to get out of my truck, and hold the front door open for her as we enter her condo. See there Samuel, I learned that from you, too. I smile at myself as I realize just how much I’ve learned from him.

  Even after a twelve hour shift at the hospital, Chloe looks just as radiant as she did when I dropped her off. On the way home, Savvy called Chloe and I could hear her yapping on and on all the way over in the driver seat about her day at school. Chloe invited her over for dinner with a promise to sit at the table and pour over all of Savvy’s new text books with her. I hated school with a passion, so I don’t understand either of their excitement. But as long as Chloe is happy, I’m happy.

  Chloe and I work seamlessly together in the kitchen. There are plenty of leftovers from last night’s dinner. We make a fresh green salad and just reheat the leftovers. Savvy comes in like the tsunami she is and plops half a ton of textbooks on the kitchen table.