Page 30

Max

"I don’t know," Cara laughs, as she follows me out of the elevator. "I still think I have some impressing to do with your family..."

"Seriously?” I shoot back. "My dad loves you. I think he was happier than me when you said yes to the proposal."

"Oh, I don’t know about that," she teases, as she spins around to face me, biting her lip.

Her cheeks are slightly flushed, and I can see the playful flirtatiousness flashing in her eyes. She might have been playing the role of my innocent, loving girlfriend-turned-fiancée all night, but there is another side to her, a side to her that I can’t wait to remind myself of tonight.

I make my way towards her, sliding my hands beneath the green fabric of her dress. As I sink my fingers into her thighs, I let out a long groan.

"You see, how could I let anyone else get close to you?” I murmur to her, shaking my head as I brush my lips across hers. "I had to lock you down as soon as I got the chance. Couldn’t risk it going any other way..."

"Oh, that’s how this works, huh?" She giggles, swooping a strand of hair back behind her ear. "And what exactly do you want me for, Max?"

"I think you know..."

"Yeah, but I’d like to hear you say it."

I pull back, cocking an eyebrow at her. This side of her, this liberated, exciting side, I can’t wait to see more of. I love it when she’s vocal with me, and I intend to make the most of that over the course of the night.

"I want to fuck you," I breathe in her ear, and she shudders against me, her body sinking into mine. I pick her up off the ground and pin her to the wall just next to the elevator—no need to get to bed to do this. I have to have her right here and now.

"That’s what I thought," she teases, as I kiss her again, reaching up to slip my fingers into her panties.

She groans against my mouth, her tongue sweeping along my bottom lip lavishly. I can taste the remnants of red wine on her lips, though she is more intoxicating than it could ever be.

I sink two fingers inside of her, grinning as I feel how wet she is for me, how ready.

She moans again. I sink my teeth into her lip slightly, drawing another shudder from her.

She is still so new to all of this that we have a whole world of sexual connection to explore, and I want nothing more than to be there to lead her through every single part of it.

"Tell me what you want," I demand, turning her question around on her.

She squirms slightly against me, as I curl my fingers a little, pressing against the sensitive nub a few inches inside of her.

"Oh!” she cries out, her eyes flying open as the new sensation hits her. It’s intense, I can tell from the look on her face, but that just makes me want to push her even further.

"Tell me, Cara," I continue, not letting her sudden reactions throw me off.

If anything I want to make this difficult for her. I want to make it hard for her to think straight, hard for her to focus on anything other than how much she wants me, and how much effort it is going to take to get the words out to tell me.

"I... I want..."

I press my fingers against her a little harder, massaging them in a circular motion. She lets out a hiss through her teeth, her body shivering, her legs parting so she can wrap them around me.

"I want to feel you inside of me," she blurts out, at last, as though she can hardly believe that she is actually saying it out loud. I grin and drop an almost tender kiss on the corner of her lips.

"With pleasure," I murmur back, and I withdraw my hand from between my legs and take myself into my hand.

Her panties are pulled to the side, just enough that I can nestle myself against her entrance. I watch her face as I sink myself into her, and the way the pleasure rushes to fill her eyes is the hottest damn thing in the world to me.

"There you go," I continue, as I start to move into her at a slow, steady pace. "You like the way that feels?”

She nods, but I am not going to settle for anything less than every detail.

"Then say it," I demand, grinning.

Her eyes are a little hazy and distant from the pleasure, and she is clearly struggling to drag her mind back into the moment.

"I love the way it feels," she finally manages to force out, her eyes focusing back on mine for just a moment, but I change the angle slightly, so that I am grinding up against her with every thrust, and her eyes drift shut again as she lets the pleasure take control of her.

Her ankles squeezed on either side of me, it’s as though she can’t possibly get enough of the way that I feel right now.

Her breath is starting to come harder and faster, her belly rising and falling against mine.

Her hand rests on the back of my neck, and I can feel the cool metal of the ring against my skin, the reminder of the fact that she has just agreed to be with me for the rest of my life. ..

I can feel her starting to tense around me, her body rocking back against mine as she takes every inch of me. It’s hard to believe that we only started doing this a few weeks ago. It might be new, but I can already tell that it is going to feel this exciting for the rest of our lives.

There is something addictive about her, something that consumes me body and soul in a way no other woman ever has, and as I watch her lips part to gasp down a few more gulps of air, I pull her onto me hard.

And finally, her body arches against mine. She clings to me, her whole back tensing up for a moment as her thighs crush against me. As she spasms around me, I whisper into her ear, telling her what a good girl she is for me, how perfect she feels right now, how perfect she looks.

Listening to the sighs of pleasure she lets out as I tell her everything she wants to hear, it’s all I need to go over the edge myself.

I sink into her one last time and let the warmth of her envelop every part of me, holding her close, drawing in the scent of her as I bury my face into her neck.

I can never get enough of the way her skin smells, like an alchemic mixture made just for me.

I trail my tongue along the vein in her neck, feeling the throbbing of it beneath my tongue as she begins to catch her breath once more. When she draws back enough to look me in the eye, I can tell she is still having a hard time speaking, so I just kiss her.

"This, us, together for the rest of your life," I tease her gently. "You think you can live with that?”

"Oh, I don’t think I can live without it." She kisses me one more time, and then begins to disentangle herself from my body, her legs shaky as she finally plants them back on the floor.

I catch her hand, and draw it to my lips, pressing a kiss against the finger that she now wears her engagement ring on. Her eyes soften when she realizes that is what I am doing, and she smiles at me.

"I can’t believe I get to spend the rest of my life with you," she whispers, and I can hear the swell of emotion in her chest as she forces those words out.

I can’t help but think back to the day I met her, at what was meant to be her own wedding—how close she came to being wedded to someone else. Even now, it feels laughable, like she was always destined to end up here, with me.

"The rest of your life," I echo after her, a promise that I intend to keep. She tugs her dress down slightly, and grins.

"You think we should toast to that? Out on the balcony?”

"I think we should. I have a bottle of champagne just for the occasion, actually..."

We pour ourselves a glass and then head outside, where the city air is warm, the breeze pouring in from the river. She takes a sip of her champagne, and glances around.

"You know, I think this place would look better with some plants in it," she remarks. "A bit of life, you know?”

I chuckle.

"Oh, so this is what they were all warning me about when it came to a woman’s touch, huh...?"

"What the hell does that mean?” she exclaims, but she’s laughing.

I draw her in beside me, resting my hand on the curve of her waist, marveling for a moment at how well the two of us fit together.

"I love you, Max," she tells me, her voice barely carrying above the sound of the breeze. But I feel as though I could make it out anywhere, my ears tuned in to her frequency.

"I love you, too," I reply, pulling her a little more firmly against me.

Because I want her to know that I wouldn’t want to be anywhere other than at her side, not for anything in the world. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere but here, with her, with the woman who makes me feel alive in ways that nobody ever has before.

No matter what the world throws at us next, as long as we have each other, I know that we will make it through in one piece.

And for now, at least, that’s all I can think of that matters.