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“Nope. I studied while everyone else was partying.”
“Oh God. You really are perfect,” Mia said with mock disgust. “And there could never be anyone else, Max. I even had your name tattooed on my ass,” she reminded him jokingly.
Max rubbed the marking possessively. “Yeah. You did. And it’s fucking beautiful.”
Mia laughed. “I forgot that you curse now, so I guess you aren’t perfect.”
“I always cursed. I just never did it in front of you. My dad never swore in front of my mother,” he replied remorsefully.
“Feel free to let it fly,” Mia replied with a smile. “I have two brothers. I’ve heard every profanity in existence and like to use a few occasionally. But since you never swore, I tried not to let one slip.”
“Christ, we really were pathetic. I’ve always adored you, but I’m not sure we ever really knew each other. No, I take that back. My heart knew you, but the rest of me was a damn idiot,” Max answered despondently. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you when you needed me. You shouldn’t have needed to run to Travis. You should have been able to come to me.”
Mia put a finger on his lips to shush him. “I didn’t allow it. And I wasn’t there for you either, Max. But I think we’ve both changed. Can we just start over again? I’d like to be a real wife to you now.”
Max cocked a brow and gave her a bemused look. “Did you really think there was ever any question about it? You’re not going anywhere, sweetheart.”
Her arrogant and possessive Max was back, and hotter than hell. Mia sighed and squirmed, trying to get closer to him, as close as she could possibly be. She closed her eyes, totally exhausted, but not wanting to miss a moment of this intimacy with him. “You belong to me too, you know.”
“Baby, I’ve known that from the moment we met,” he told her seriously, still stroking her tattoo absently.
Mia’s heart soared at those words. “Me too,” she confessed, knowing that she had started falling for Max at the very beginning, the first time she’d ever seen him smile.
She fell asleep a few moments later, secure in Max’s love, in his strong arms. Max sat stroking her tattoo for quite some time with a contented, relieved smile, before he joined her in slumber.
The next week at the Montana ranch house turned out to be the happiest days of Max’s entire life. He and Mia were getting to know each other again—or maybe actually for the very first time. And even as he cherished each day, each new discovery he made about his wife, he still mourned for the wasted years during which he could have really known her, but never did. She was still the sweet, incredible woman he had married, the woman he loved with an intensity that nearly killed him, but she was so much…more. She was complicated and insightful, mysterious and bewildering, and the challenge of figuring out the way her mind worked intrigued the hell out of him. She had shown him the designs she was creating now with her jewelry, and her skill and passion still amazed him. The things she’d never told him in the past because she was afraid he’d be repulsed actually made him admire her strength. His wife was a survivor, a woman who had been through hell and had come out of it stronger and wiser. She might laughingly call herself a “work in progress,” but to Max, she was perfect. She always had been.
He sat on the bed and pulled on his hiking boots, a purchase he’d made, along with a bunch of casual clothes, on a trip into Billings. Grinning, he laced the boots, thinking about how seldom he and Mia had even made it out of the house in the last week. But honestly, he didn’t think she minded much. She seemed to flash that damned tattoo of hers way too often, and protested very little when he made good on his promise to fuck her every time he saw it.
His cock sprang to life, pressing hard against the denim of his jeans.Shit. I can’t even think about her without getting hard. I don’t have to see the damn tattoo to want her.
Max felt nothing but relief that he didn’t have to hide anything from Mia anymore, or worry about not being the man she wanted. Apparently, she wanted him exactly as he was, and her constant affection, the way she opened herself to him, soothed his soul.
Max walked out to the kitchen, stopping at the entryway to watch his wife’s sexy ass shimmy around the kitchen while putting their breakfast dishes away, her body swaying to the beat of a country song coming from his cell phone. He’d never heard the song before, and he wasn’t much into country, but damned if he’d ever forget the tune now. He might even have to get the music for the piano if there was any possibility he could watch her dance like this whenever he played it.
Mine. My wife. My love. My life. My woman. Forever.
Max couldn’t move, almost couldn’t breathe as he watched her. How in the hell had he managed to live without her for over two years? He could feel her allure from across the room; the need to be joined with her was constant. Mia completed him, and he’d been lost since the moment she’d left him. Now, he had another chance. Everything he’d ever needed was right here in this room, dancing around in a snug pair of blue jeans and an emerald green sweater.
Mia’s head turned, as though she’d sensed his presence, her lips turning up in a brilliant, welcoming smile. God, he loved that about her. There was rarely a time when she didn’t look at him that way, like there was nothing that made her happier than seeinghim.She reached over and switched off the music blasting from his phone, coming over to him and wrapping her arms around his neck. “I hope you don’t mind. I used your music app. I left my phone in Florida.”
She could use any damn thing she wanted, anything he had. Hell, she could use him for that matter, in any way she wanted to, so long as she kept smiling at him like that. “You’re my everything. What’s mine is yours,” he answered simply, wrapping his arms around her waist.
“So you don’t mind if I use your shaver on my legs?” she asked innocently.
“Okay, anything except that,” he answered, frowning. He hesitated for a second before adding, “Oh hell, you can use that too. If the blade gets blunt, I’ll get another one.” Max decided the smile on her face was worth getting a large supply of men’s shavers.
Mia’s laugh floated around him as she admitted, “I wouldn’t dare. I know where men draw the line.”
“There are no lines with us,” Max answered gruffly. “Cross the line any time you want to with me. Invade my personal space.”Fill my life with love.
He kissed her because he had to, covering her sweet mouth with his. Mia immediately opened to him, accepted him, welcomed him, and it drove him insane. She melded with him perfectly, beautifully, complying with his needs as if they were her own. Really, maybe they were…but it still inflamed him.
He pulled his mouth from hers and buried his face in her hair, absorbing her scent, needing to be close to her. Maybe he was still afraid someone was going to take her away again, and he’d never survive it.
“I thought we were going riding,” Mia murmured against his shoulder.
Both of them were good on horseback. Mia had spent summers here in Montana with her grandmother before the elderly woman had passed away when Mia was in high school. And Max had spent time in Texas with an old friend of his father’s when he was alive. They’d spent a few lazy days in the last week riding and enjoying the decent September weather they were getting in Montana. But right now, he was really rethinking the type of riding he wanted Mia to do. “Maybe we need to take a different type of ride,” Max told her huskily, savoring her sweet smell as he gathered her closer.