The Mate That Wasn't Mine novel Chapter 41

Chapter 41

TESSA POV

I whisper, a needy little. “Yes. No. No. Yes. Oh God Maxim I don’t know what…I don’t know.

He keeps staring. From up between my legs. Knelt down, eyes up, one of my legs hooked over his broad shoulder where I can last every angle H fingers digging in. His grip doesn’t scare me. Nor does the way he resembles some kind of unfed beast.

But the way he said please. It’s so, so dangerous.

Hot breath fans across my inner thigh, teasing my skin, every nerve dancing. I know my pussy is clenching, my orange scent probably overwhelming. Goddess help me. The blue shirt is failing completely at preserving my dignity, lifting up the instant he grabbed my leg.

“I’m not telling you what to do Tessa,” his other hand resting around the back of the leg still planted on the ground. Slowly it travels up the back of my thigh until he’s cupping my bare ass. My face is burning but for once it’s not embarrassment.

“Maxim…you are insane.”

He smirks, the green flecks at the edge of his irises so alive they seem to be dancing of their own accord. “Perhaps. But then you’re a firecracker so guess we match.”

“Firecracker?”

“Because you blow my head to pieces,” he whispers quietly. “Because I know you’ve got fire under all those blushes and shy looks. And it’s driving me fucking crazy. There’s a version of you that’s still so hidden away.”

It would be greedy to tell him to talk about anything he likes. Recite me the packhouse code of conduct if he wants. The menu for the next year. Because talking, the air naturally leaving his mouth, gently fans against my pussy. I don’t think I can handle this.

“You want to know why I punched that wall?”

“Yes. Please.”

The grip he has of my ass and thigh is powerful, inescapable. Letting me feel how badly he wants this to happen.

“Because I watched you with Briggs and Irene. Laughing. Hugging.”

“So?”

“Don’t play dumb Tessa when I’m on my knees for you. Feeling you shivering under my fingers, shining…” squeezing my ass softly in confirmation.

“|–|–”

“I lost my shit because you won’t even look at me. Won’t talk to me. You flinch when I take your hand but-” his face turning, planting a ragged kiss on n inner thigh.

Where his beard brushes it leaves a hot, aching sensation. One that needs more of his kisses to soothe. “-I guess you’re so much better than me at pretending. I don’t doubt you’d keep this up for a year and never break.”

Looking up at me his face is severe, his grip on my leg ever–tightening, but his expression, his eyes have something like hope gleaming, I can’t stop looking down at this impossible sight.

“It’s been awful. I lied before.”

“Then let me hear you say my name properly. Like you did in that room. When you slapped the door and soaked my hand.”

“You have a mate out there. You don’t need to do this. I’m on your side anyway. You have…ah…a mate out there” as his rough sniff of derision sends

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Chapter 41

blinding jolt of pleasure through me. I close my eyes. He does it again. Fach outwards breath on my exposed sex acts like a contenballi

excuses.

“So do you,” he snarls, “doesn’t make me want this any less. Doesn’t change the fact that your, walking out of that bathroom in my shirt is the forest thing I’ve ever seen.”

He squeezes my thigh and plants another kiss, a little closer, so close I forget how to breathe.

“It matters. It matters that we’re liars. But…” my head hits the door, eyes closing. Maxim gently guides his breath over my clit, when fie moves it sway. without thinking my hips chase him. I can’t help it.

My hands, that had previously spent the entire time pressed flat against the door bunch into fists.

“You know I’m not going to force you to do anything you don’t want Tessa, I’m only on my knees asking for the chance to make you lose your mind like you did to me thirty minutes ago.”

“I didn’t even touch you.”

“And yet look what happened. That was all you.”

Goddess he’s so close. He would just need to stick his tongue out and I’d be ruined.

“You don’t have to start talking to me, looking at me. Stop worrying this is signing yourself up to some social ordeal. This, tonight, Tessa, just…separate it.”

“How am I meant to do that?”

“I’ve got the shitty life compartment that I don’t look in. I’ve got the wins and losses against every Warden in this place. The things I’ve seen. The life I’ve taken. The fear that this entire pack is going to come down upon itself in blood and fire. And then there’s this. Us.”

“I’m one of your little mental boxes?”

“It’s a good one if that helps,” daring to throw a wink my way.

I know what he’s saying. it’s no strings. Just some fun. Obviously Maxim has no issues there. Yet the way he’s looking at me, eyes burning, makes it feel like so much more.

He keeps going. “So this. Me giving you everything your body is begging for, it’s not regular life. It’s not tomorrow morning. It’s not the pack. It’s not Donlon, Sabrina, Alpha Hale. It’s just…a moment. Pack it away in a box after. I’d say forget about it but I’m pretty sure you won’t-”

“You’re not a good man you know. This is a hostage situation.”

“I’m sorry,” he murmurs, turning his head to kiss my inner thigh. Then again. And again. His warm lips, scuff of his short beard merging into a long, searing heat. “Tell me to stop. Tell me you feel absolutely nothing and I’ll never try anything like this again.”

“I can’t say that,” I whimper, the leg hanging over his shoulder pressing upon his back, giving him the push closer he’s been craving. “I want tonight.”

“Undo those buttons on my shirt. Then put your hands around the back of my head.”

I do exactly that. When the dark blue cotton slowly parts, revealing the swell of my chest he groans, squeezing my ass. “Just like that. Gorgeous.”

So many thoughts zip by. All stupid. Like, what is he going to think when he realises how wet I am for him. Spread so wide, one leg over his shoulder there can be no disguising my desperation.

I don’t want him to see my bite mark. I want to pretend. If this is one night of suspended belief then I can pretend my skin is creamy clear.

Final button opened, the shirt hangs open, my hip covered. Trying not to shake, I slowly place my hands on his cheeks. Then intr ill slightly damp hair, my fingers parting through through rich chocolate waves.

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Chapter 41

Eyes locked on each other the whole time the air seems too thin to breathe properly.

This is such a bad decision.

Except it’s not. This is just a taste. A tiny taste so I can stop wondering what it might feel like.

He twists his head and kisses my wrist. It sends a tingling need through me but I can’t wait any longer. “Tessa?”

“Yes.”

I give his head the slightest nudge forward and his tongue quickly laps my clit. My brain empties into nothing more than reactions.

Held tight, shifting his shoulders to spread me even further, the hand that was cupped around my ass sneaking lower, in between my cheeks.

Maxim and I groan in unison. I tighten my grip on his hair. All the wet, slick heat from my pussy must be on his tongue but he only takes more.

My head is spinning and then two of his thick fingers slide inside me and I’m useless.

My orgasm slams through me. All the thinking, overthinking and imagining leaves me crying out, my head smacking into the door. His two fingers are hitting switches that my desperately overwhelmed pussy cannot cope with.

Not with his tongue gently lapping away at my clit feasting on me with kisses and gentle tugs.

“Hmmm. That’s a very good start, but your legs aren’t going to hold out for a second one,” he growls. With a shrug my leg slides from his shoulder to the floor, not that my toes ever hit the ground. He stands and scoops me into his arms, lifting me onto the bed in seconds.

“That felt…Maxim…”

“No, fair is fair Tessa. I came twice…”