Page 76 of Maxim

She playfully slaps my arm. “Stop fishing for a compliment.”

“I would never do such a thing.”

I’m going to hell. I’m having more fun with her right now with our clothes on than I’ve had in a long time.

“Should we find something else to watch since neither of us knows what’s going on?”

“If you want, that sounds good to me.” I pick up the remote from the arm of the couch and hand it to her. “Here, you find something to watch, and I’ll order us dinner.”

I reach under her legs and work my phone out of my pocket. “What sounds good?”

Olena turns her head, and her lips brush my neck. “You choose.”

When she’s done speaking, she kisses my skin.

Jesus Christ, I’ve only had her for maybe five minutes, and I’m already addicted.

“You like that,” she states.

“How do you know?” I ask.

“Because I felt your heart rate pick up, and you twitched under me.”

I shiver at her words. “You’re going to be a pain in my ass, aren’t you?”

She pulls back and winks. “One of your making.”

“Be a good girl and find something to watch while I find us something to eat. Are you sure you don’t have a preference?”

“Nope, you know what I like, and I trust you.”

Having her complete and utter faith in me is inconceivable. I don’t know if anyone else trusts me the way she does. Nikolai trusts me to protect him and Lia. He trusts me to get whatever job done but this kind of trust is different and one I won’t ever take for granted.

“What did you order?” Olena asks a few minutes later when I set my phone down.

“It’s a surprise.”

For the rest of the night, we eat, pretend to watch whatever comes on the TV, and make out.

Despite the simplicity, it will go down as one of my top ten favorite days ever.

Last night was a whirlwind in the best possible way. I feel lighter and relieved that Maxim knows how I feel. For the first time ever, I felt beautiful and desired the right way. I know Szymon wanted me and was attracted to me, but when he looked at me, it felt wrong. With Maxim, though, it feels right.

The fact he told me that I’m in charge and he’s following my lead? That’s…overwhelming. I loved being able to kiss him and feel the way his body reacted to my touch. I know most people figured that out in high school or maybe even middle school, but it’s all new to me, and I love that he’s the one I get to explore those feelings with.

Then when it was late and we were both fighting to stay awake, he tried to do the noble thing and send me to bed alone. He didn’t try to push his way in, but when I asked him to stay, he did with zero hesitation. Maxim crawled into bed with me and held me in his arms all night long. He curled around my body like he was protecting me from everything that goes bump in the night. Then this morning, I woke up after the best night’s sleep I’ve ever had, and he was still holding me.

I could feel that he was turned on, and I fully expected him to make a move, but he didn’t. Because Maxim, whatever his actual last name is, is a man of his word.

I love it, and if he doesn’t watch it, I’m going to fall in love with him.

“Okay, I quit,” Thea says as she tosses the yarn onto the coffee table.

“Crocheting not for you?” I tease.

“Hell no, I’ll leave that to you.”

Smiling, I set down my project. Despite the fact neither of us was interested, we tried it anyway. Turns out, I’m pretty good at it. Who would have thought?