“Maia? I’m no longer your sweet darlin’?” I smirk, taunting him. His eyes rake over me with a predatory gleam and my heart does a crazy flip in my chest. Anticipation buzzes along my skin. “You want me so bad you can’t stand it. Admit it. Just please, finally admit it.”
He laughs sardonically. “You think you have any clue what’s been going through my head? You think you’re the only one struggling with this.”
“Tell me!”
“I want you so bad I can’t fucking think straight. Is that what you want me to say?” In the next second, his mouth slams into mine, forcing me back, my head bumping into the mirror behind me with the brutality of his blazing kiss. My arms fly around his neck, needing to stabilize myself against his assault. I kiss him back, equally as hungry with no desire or way to stop the rising swell of lust as it swarms through me.
My body temperature flames to a pulsing heat.
He breaks the kiss as quickly as he started it, leaving us panting and our eyes glowing as we stare into each other.
“Jesus Christ.” He punches the wall. “Fuck! No woman has ever aggravated me more. I don’t know whether to spank you or fuck you.”
“Both. I’ll take both please.”
He shakes his head, roaring as his teeth gnash into my bottom lip before sucking it into his mouth to ease the sting. He finds no humor in my poor attempt at a joke. He’s a cornered animal, wild and unpredictable and fiercely dangerous. And right now, all I want to do is provoke him, so he’ll unleash all that on me.
“I waltz repeatedly right up to the edge, knowing better the entire time. And yet, I can’t stop myself from doing it. I want you, Maia. Like I’ve never wanted anyone else. It’s tearing me up inside, but I’m so tired of fighting it. You’re a wildfire I’m dangerously close to burning alive in and I can’t even find it in me to care anymore.”
“Make me burn with you.”
He shakes his head, but his eyes are glittering with a barely contained lust. “You’re too young. Too untouched.”
“Am I so untouched still?”
“Baby, you have no idea what it is to be fully touched by me.”
No. But I really want to. And just as he’s tired of fighting it, I am too.
He spreads my thighs by stepping in between them. “I’ve wanted you for what feels like forever now. It’s non-stop. It’s constant. It’s consuming. It’s deranged. And yet there is no evading it or making it disappear. Every second I’m with you, I only seem to want you more.”
Slipping my dress up, his hands glide along the shimmery fabric until he’s exposed my panties. My breath hitches. He stares down at me, breathing hard, a swirling storm of desire in his eyes. I spread my legs a little wider. Knowing this isn’t going to end with me simply coming on his fingers.
I plant my hand on his chest, waiting until he meets my eyes again. “I’m not a one-time, screw around with me to get me out of your system, girl. If we do this, if I give you this piece of me, I’m yours. And screw Henry’s warning, if you break my heart, I will break yours back.”
He swallows thickly and nods. “I think you’ve always been mine. You’re under my skin. Once with you could never be enough.” He cups my face roughly, his thumbs grazing my jaw and bottom lip.
“I love this job, Keith. But more importantly, I need it.”
He shakes my head violently. “What kind of monster do you take me for? All I’ve done since I’ve met you is try to make your world a better place. Try to ease the pain and fear I recognize in your eyes. Not once have I placed any condition on my help. Do you honestly believe that anything that happens or doesn’t happen between us would ever impact your job?” He bristles. Pretty hard, actually. “Never,” he emphasizes. “Never, Maia. This job is yours for however long you want it or don’t. I am not a factor in that and will never make myself one. You hear me?”
“Then why aren’t you kissing me?”
His expression grows bleak, distraught. Broken. He emits a shaky breath and once again, he’s at war with himself. “You need to know this has nothing to do with Amy. My feelings for you are not tied to her. I know you worry about that. I see it in your eyes all the damn time. But when I look at you, I don’t see her. When I think about you, I don’t think about her. It’s only you, Maia. My sweet darlin’. Just you.”
Now it’s my turn to swallow. Because I believe him. Even though I can also see how much it costs him to say that. That’s what’s breaking him. He’s a festering wound of guilt.
As much as that cost him to say, this could cost me everything to do.
I blow out a silent breath.
His head dips toward mine, resting inches from my lips. “I need you.”
An uncontrollable shiver skitters up my spine at the heat and carnality in his gaze. My insides quiver. After one heart-stopping moment, Keith drops his hand to my thigh before slowly sliding it up.
“Can I have you, Maia? Finally? Say yes.”
20
Keith
* * *
She stares into my eyes for forever. What she sees in mine beyond my desire for her, I’m not sure. I told her I want her. I told her I need her. I told her, her job is secure. I told her it’s not about Amy. And yet, she still stares at me.
“Maia?”
She looks terrified as she says, “Yes.”
“Are you saying yes to me saying your name or yes to me?”
She grins, but it’s shaky. “Both.”
“You sure?”
She nods.
“Maia?”
“I’m sure. Yes. I want you. I want this.”
“You’re scared?”
Her eyes bounce back and forth between mine. “I’m scared.”
“Me too. But we can do this together. I want to do this together.”
“Okay. Together. Now kiss me.”
I cup her jaw. “I’m not fucking you in this bathroom,” I tell her. “That’s not how your first time will go.”
“Then what exactly are you planning to do in here?”
I grin wickedly. “I’m going to eat you out and then I’m going to take you home and spend the rest of tonight inside of you.”
“Is that what you think is happening tonight?”
I slide her body along the smooth marble until she practically falls off the edge. My eyes locked on hers, I reach up and shred her panties into tatters of satin. It was surprisingly too easy and the way she gasps tells me she knows I’m going to do exactly that tonight.
“Spread your legs wide, darlin’. I want to see every inch of your beautiful pussy. I’ve tasted it on my fingers, but never from the source. I have a feeling it’ll be even sweeter this way.”
At first, she refuses. Because this is Maia and Maia never does anything I ask on the first go around. No, my stubborn woman has to fight back at every turn.
I lean in, bringing my mouth directly beside her ear without touching her. “Show me my future paradise and I swear I’ll worship her accordingly.”
Brazenly, losing any last shred of her resistance or fight, she spreads her legs as wide as they can go on the counter. I glance down. Pink. Swollen. Wet. Paradise indeed. She is goddamn perfection. Saliva pools in my mouth as I kiss the spot just beneath her ear and then drop to my knees.