style="font-size:15px;"> “Not as such.” Though they’d known one another for years, they hadn’t had much in common outside of that connection. And once they’d stopped having sex, they’d lost the last threads holding their relationship together. There wasn’t anything between them to hold a friendship beyond romance and sex, despite the fact that he’d known her as long as he had.
“She’s close with Evie—Vic’s little sister—so I see her frequently enough but we’re not what I would call friends.” She was simply part of the family, though not his fiancée anymore.
“Because she’s so helpless and annoying?”
He began to argue but it was impossible to do so with a straight face so he didn’t bother. Rada was smarter than a lot of people gave her credit for, but she did expect things to be done for her. To be taken care of. “Not all women are like you.”
“Lucky for you, then, I guess.”
“I can’t find fault with that statement. Family visits notwithstanding.”
“Look at you. I’ve been watching you as you took a dip in the sea of pussy since your broken engagement. You didn’t turn this level of game on any of those ladies. Not that I saw. You just gave them broody, sultry and mysterious and they hopped aboard. And who could blame them?”
He shook his head. “Sixty percent of whatever you say makes no sense at all. Are you aware of this?”
“I totally make sense! You’re really going above and beyond here is what I’m saying. I like it that you’re bringing everything you’ve got to the table and not just relying on that face of yours. And the accent of course. Man oh man. And the way you smell and look in general. How is that not making sense?”
“How do you know I don’t have game with them behind closed doors?”
Her grin was quick and bright. “I’m sure you know what to do with your cock. In fact, I’m counting on it.”
“I find your bluntness when it comes to sex quite delightful,” he told her, meaning every word.
She blushed again, ducking her head a moment before speaking once more. “Anyway, if you spoke to any of those women the way you have to me tonight, they’d be at the shop every day making cow eyes at you. Nah, you give ’em the accent and you give ’em a ride and then after a few weeks they’re gone.”
The truth was, he hadn’t said any of this to those women because it wouldn’t have been true. And he didn’t need pretty lies to get between a woman’s thighs. All the sex, and the fucking around, had been about burning off energy. The women he’d been with knew that and had been as into it for the sex as he had.
“Does this mean you’ll be making cow eyes at me now?” he teased—albeit a little hopefully. She was not the same as anyone he’d been with before. What he felt when he was with her was not the same.
“Depends on what else you do when you sex me up. I mean, if you’re magic or something, I might have to.”
“Being with you is like riding a roller coaster.”
“Do you like roller coasters?” she asked.
He nodded.
“All right then.”
He stood, meaning to settle on her bed with her until his phone buzzed in his pocket and he remembered he was only going to take a walk and he’d been there for at least an hour.
And a look at the screen told him he was correct that they’d noticed his absence.
“Is everything all right?” Maybe asked as she stood as well.
He typed that he’d be right back and put the phone away before taking her face in his hands and kissing her.
He didn’t want to go back over there. He wanted to stay here, with her scent all around him. So he could watch her face as she spoke, animated and so freaking full of energy.
He really didn’t want to break the kiss he’d started to delay leaving and now felt like the best thing he’d ever experienced. She seemed to melt against him, her body snugged up against his, her curves calling to him so he gave in, sliding his hands down her body to her hips. She gasped and he sucked in the sound.
Need seemed to gather low in his belly as his cock throbbed in time with his thundering pulse.
She was fire. Her skin seemed to sear the palms of his hands as they roamed. This was what he’d needed. What he’d wanted from the first he’d met her. Her taste, her body against his.
He could have fucked women for years and not felt this level of intimacy and connection and that humbled him.
Once he was able to drag his mouth from the kiss, he touched his forehead to hers a moment before stepping back. “I was only escaping for a walk in the fresh air. I need to accompany my mother back to her hotel. Cristian’s taking her back now so I have to leave. Believe me when I tell you I’d rather be here.”
“I get it. We’re still on tomorrow night?”
“Yes. I’ll be out most of the day as my mom’s plane leaves in the late afternoon.”
“You know where I’ll be. Just let me know.”
He kissed her again and then made himself walk out of the house and over to where his family had spilled out into the yard saying goodbyes. Half of them would be at the airport tomorrow to say goodbye again, but it wasn’t as if they saw one another very often.
“Wherever have you been?” Vic asked in an undertone as he approached.
“I had a drink with Maybe.”
“And?”
“And now I need to ride with my brother and his fiancé and our mother to her hotel and pretend there’s no tension. I’m overjoyed to have been torn away from Maybe’s bedroom for that.”
Vic’s smile flashed quickly. “Sorry about that.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he told his cousin as he held the car door for his mother.
ALEXSEI ADJUSTED HIS cuffs one last time before he grabbed his keys and headed out. He forced his attention away from the mirror on the back of the door. He’d changed already, not sure if he should be more or less formal and then getting really annoyed with himself for making such a big deal out of a simple date.
But it wasn’t simple. Because it was Maybe.
And it was their first official date and he wanted it to be just right.
He cruised down to the theater’s box office to pick up the tickets. A big-budget Hollywood action movie with giant muscles, fast cars, machine guns and lots of explosions.
He knew she had a particular weakness for such fare. And the theater was within walking distance
