He leaned forward and kissed my forehead. “Seria fácil te amar, Daisy.”
“What did you say?”
“Goodbye.” He pivoted and strolled down the pathway towards his car.
He was leaving and I was letting him. There was no other choice.
I nudged open the door and stepped inside.
I hung my dry cleaning on the hallway coat rack and set the shoebox down on the attached bench. Then I leaned against the wall to catch my breath, my mind reeling as I tried to decide what to do next. Letting him walk away felt wrong—it felt like a piece of me was already missing. He’d healed my heart a little. Made me forget the sadness that had brought me to my knees. I’d lost so much, and Max had appeared each time I’d needed him to as though he’d been heaven sent.
Go after him.
Tell him how you feel.
I flew out the front door and bolted into the street.
I stopped when I saw the Ford Escort parked in the same space where Max’s car had been. How could I have not told him the truth when I’d had the chance? I’d been so daring lately, right up until it mattered.
Head bowed, I went back inside.
Tracing my fingertips over my lips, I recalled once more the way he’d kissed me the night before. The desire and meaning it held for us could never be conveyed with mere words.
Max Marquis’ kisses were a love letter to the soul…my soul.
When the doorbell rang, I spun round and pulled open the door.
Max was standing there. “Is the offer still on? For pancakes, I mean?”
“Sorry, kitchen’s closed.”
His lips quirked up and he rolled his eyes.
Grabbing his hand, I pulled him inside and we stumbled back into the house, laughing.
He shoved the door closed behind him. Cupping my face with his hands, he leaned down and kissed me hard, crushing his lips to mine with a fierce passion that suddenly turned tender and loving.
He eased back a little. “This is what you want?”
I took a deep breath. “Yes…oh, yes.”
Stay forever.
We moved together, me tugging his coat off and him working on mine. We reached the staircase and he sank onto the lower step and pulled me onto his lap. Straddling him, I crushed my lips to his again, wrapped in his warm embrace.
“Daisy,” he whispered. “If I stay, we’re going to do more. We’re going to have sex, the mind-blowing kind. The kind that will change everything between us. Do you want that?”
“Yes, I want that. I want you.”
In response to his words and his touch, I felt my breasts swell, my sex was wet and ready, my clit throbbing as I rubbed against the bulge of his cock. This felt natural, inevitable, a coming together that we could no longer fight.
He buried his fingers in my hair and nipped my ear. “Bedroom?”
“Yes.”
I climbed off him and we raced up the stairs. I took his hand and led him down the hall to my room. We burst through the doorway and were back in each other’s arms again, stripping each other’s clothes off and flinging our shoes, not caring where they landed.
“Do you have a condom?” he asked.
“I’m on the pill,” I said breathlessly.
Max fell to his knees before me and tugged at my panties, pulling them down and then glancing up as though to read my expression.
With my hands on the back of his head, I pulled him forward between my thighs to answer his unspoken question. He let out a lust-filled moan as his tongue darted between my folds.
I inhaled sharply at the pleasure, moving my legs farther apart.
His hands reached around to hold my butt, pulling me closer to his face. This felt forbidden, and at the same time it was as though we’d always been destined to be together like this.
My head fell back, fingers scrunching in his hair, as he continued to masterfully lash me with his tongue as I pleaded for him not to stop. He reached up and cupped my breasts, catching my nipples between his fingers, squeezing rhythmically.
He eased my left thigh over his right shoulder, exposing more of me, and I shuddered through the shock of an even more intense arousal, my hips rocking against him.
I’d had a crush on this man since I’d first met him. He had transitioned me away from heartache—and now we moved together with the ease of two people who’d always been destined to meet and become more.
“You’re beautiful.” He eased my leg down and stood up. Covering my mouth with his, he kissed me forcefully, sharing my own taste with me, his tongue tangling with mine, his teeth catching my lower lip in his and biting it playfully.
My fingers curled around the rim of his boxer shorts and I tugged them down, allowing his erection to spring free. I wrapped my palm around him and stroked his length, swooning as his cock hardened even more, becoming firmer.
Max was speaking in Portuguese again; his words timed perfectly with gentle pecks and laps of his tongue along my shoulder and collarbone, then up my neck to my earlobe.
He suddenly pulled back, lowering his gaze. “We have to slow down.”
“Why?” My breathing was ragged.
“Because I care about you.” He squeezed his eyes shut.
“I want it all, Max. Give me all of it.”
He walked over to the chair his jeans had landed on and pulled out his phone, setting it on the bedside table. “Let’s have some music.”
I was too nervous to offer any requests, too excited with what was happening.
Harry Styles’ voice rose into the air, singing the romantic lyrics to “Falling.”
Somehow, Max knew this was what I needed, a dreamy backdrop to ease us into making love.
Max nudged me back onto the bed and quickly climbed on top of me, lifting my wrists above my head and pinning them there.
“You like this?” he asked, his voice husky.
“I’ve never…” Been taken like this before.
“But you like it?”
“God, yes.”
“I want to know everything you like.” He dipped his head and dragged his lips along my breast, biting my nipple and sending a shockwave of pleasure down between my thighs.
Max moved down to my feet. “Our first time needs to be special, Daisy.”
“It’s already special.”
His lips curled at the edges and then he drew my big toe into his mouth and sucked, watching me, working along my other toes slowly. He kissed my ankle and worked his way up my leg, sending an erotic shiver through me. Again, his mouth found my sex, ravishing it as though addicted.
My body responded to his every touch, alight with each sensation.
He lay on top of me and eased my thighs apart, maneuvering himself between my legs. He raised my left arm to trace kisses along it, and then planted another kiss beneath my armpit, his tenderness sensual and carnal as he worked his way back up to my face. He kissed me passionately, his teeth nipping my lower lip, his tongue warring with mine, driving me wild with its fury.
Using his thumb, he traced circles on my clit, causing me to shudder beneath his touch, rising closer to that moment of bliss.
“Not yet,” he teased. “I want to feel you around me when I come.”
Max rose over me and used an elbow to support himself as his right hand directed his cock toward my sex. I arched up as he pushed in deep, dragging my fingernails along his back, the pulsing pleasure building inside me as he slowly eased in and out.