Laid Bear by Marina Maddix Page A

her neck. Still incapacitated from the mind-expanding orgasm, Bethany could do little more than try to catch her breath.
    But when she felt him pressing at her entrance, a new wave of energy flowed through her. She would finally have him inside her! Wrapping her limbs around him tightly, she guided him into her. He moved slowly, savoring the sensation, a low growl coming from deep within.
    It was a long moment before he was fulling consumed by her warmth, neither daring to move for fear of breaking the spell they were under. But Bethany’s whimper apparently sent Max over the edge and he began moving slowly inside her, filling her to a point beyond imagine.  
    “Oh, Max,” she whispered in his ear.  
    A quick turn of the head and his lips silenced her. Their tongues were intertwined and frantic, their bodies moving in unison, their hearts beating with the same rhythm.  
    Max broke their kiss and Bethany opened her eyes to see him staring at her as he thrust into her, claiming her. She’d never had a man look at her like that — with such hunger, such raw emotion — and her heart expanded in her chest, even as her inner walls tightened around him.
    When he buried his head in her neck again, Bethany knew he was close. She was surprised to find that she was, too. She’d never been multiorgasmic before but Max clearly brought it out in her. As the speed of his thrusting increased, the closer she came to the edge of reason. With a loud groan, he fell over the precipice, taking Bethany with him, holding her tight and rocking her till their sweat-slickened bodies stilled.

    ~ * ~ * ~

    They lay snuggled in bed, dipping spoons into first the pint of ice cream and then the berry crisp. Max tried to feed her a spoonful but it ended up hitting her nose. As their laughter subsided, she said, “Do you remember when we first met?”
    “Every detail.”
    “Please tell me you didn’t notice the ice cream smeared all over my face.” She blushed at the memory.
    “Sorry, Charlie. I did indeed notice and it was all I could do to restrain myself from licking it off.”  
    She giggled at the suggestion.  
    “Oh, you think I’m kidding?” He tickled her a little, making her squirm, then dribbled a half-loaded spoon of purpley goo over her breasts, making her squeal.
    Setting the pan and tub of ice cream on the night table, he moved over her, straddling her body and holding her arms above her head. His tongue slicked across his lips. “Now look what you made me do. Guess I’d better clean up my mess.”

T he next several weeks passed in a blur, the delicious haze of new love coloring Bethany’s every waking moment. Not that they’d confessed their undying love for each other or anything, but she was consumed by her feelings for Max.
    He was the strangest man she’d ever dated, probably ever met. Usually, lovemaking took top priority in a new relationship, but Max seemed to want to spend more time getting to know her. And the more he got to know her, the more he seemed to like her.  
    The feeling was very mutual.
    The guys she’d dated always tried to bend her to their way of thinking. If they liked or hated a movie they’d gone to see, she was an idiot for disagreeing. If she didn’t have the same taste in food as them, they’d tell her she didn’t know what she was talking about. If they leaned one way politically, they told her she was stupid if she leaned the other way.  
    Not Max. He accepted her for who she was. He hadn’t even teased her when he discovered her secret love of Barry Manilow. Instead, he pressed play on her MP3 player and danced with her in the living room.  
    Of course that’s not to say the lovemaking wasn’t incredible. No one had ever payed so much attention to her needs before. Max seemed to know instinctively which parts of her body to touch to send her spiraling into ecstasy.
    Bethany had never been happier.
    There was just one major bump in their road to love. Chet. They’d been able