Her Best Friend's Brother by Nicolette Lyons

when Hailey realized where my mind and heart was, she dumped me.” He lifted his hands and let them fall to his sides, the gesture filled with frustration.
    Chloe stared up at Max. Had he really dated Hailey because the woman had looked like— her? “Why didn’t you say something to me before now?”
    “I couldn’t. Em needed your help with the wedding, and before that you were busy dating that James guy. You looked happy, and I didn’t want to screw that up for you if he was who you wanted.”
    James… Sweet, safe, snooze-worthy James. James was everything she was looking for in a man. Smart, handsome, kind. She’d imagined a future with someone like him, but when things began to get serious she’d had to end it. Because all she could see was a future of long boring nights with a man who wasn’t the man for her. “You moved home two weeks after I broke up with him.”
    Max nodded in agreement, seemingly pleased she’d realized the significance.
    “I was missing out on everything I wanted, and the longer I stayed away, the more chance there was of us never being together. I didn’t want to push you, but haven’t you wondered why Em’s been getting us together so much.”
    Em. Oh, sweet, Em. “I just thought it was because of the wedding preparations. Max…” she whispered, awestruck by the overwhelming awareness of it all.
    He slid his hand along her jaw and tugged her close, until his lips brushed hers when he spoke.
    “I know what I want. I know who I want. Now it’s up to you. I want you, Chloe. Only you. Always you. Crazy as it sounds to show up here for Em’s wedding and spring this on you, I couldn’t think of a better time or a more beautiful place finally tell you how I feel.”
    She couldn’t stop the smile forming on her lips anymore than she could keep from closing the distance between them and throwing herself in his arms, dragging his head down to hers for a voracious kiss.
    Max bent and lifted her up, sliding her along his hard body. It seemed only natural to curl her legs around him, to cant her hips so that she could feel the bulge hardening beneath his slacks.
    Max tore his mouth from hers and groaned.
    “No chair here, sweetheart. Sand only. Besides, no proper maiden would let herself be taken in the open night.”
    Her eyes widened at the mention of her fantasy and she lifted her face toward his, trying to adopt a haughty, appropriately shocked expression. “Indeed they wouldn’t. Let go.”
    “I don’t think that’s what you want,” her pirate Max countered. “Come here, wench.”
    With a muffled shriek, she turned and sprinted down the beach, struggling to control her laughter and gain more distance from the hotel, even while her body warmed in anticipation.
    Max let her stay a step or two ahead of him, playfully reaching out to snag her arm only to “slip” so she could get away. The game lasted a few minutes, until she was breathless and slowing to a jog.
    That was all the encouragement Max needed. He closed the distance between them and swept her up, holding her high against his chest while he carried her away from the edge of the shore to the edge of the dunes. He lowered her to the sand, making sure her long skirt protected her intimate places. She kept up the pretense of the fantasy, struggling a bit while he stripped her of panties.
    “Nothing will keep me from my reward, wench.”
    Max shouldered his way between her thighs and promptly tongued her clit, ending any comeback she might have made.
    She dug her toes into the sand, the sky above twinkling with stars and the half-moon, the surf in her ears. Her pirate loving her in the most intimate of ways, his mouth suckling her, flicking her clit before venturing low and probing her entry with breath-stealing lunges that tormented and teased until she lifted her hips. “Please.”
    His big hands gripped her outer thighs and held her still while he played her, his lips pulling at her clit again and again until she