And I realized, I’d never really seen anyone but her.
I cupped her face with my hands and kissed her then. I kissed away the anger, the unforgiveness, the betrayal I’d felt. I let it go, laying it across her lips like a promise that I would chase her forever, if that was what it took.
Because she was mine.
She was worth it.
And I wasn’t ever going to give up on us, even if I had to go to the depths of Hell and fight every demon in order to free her.
She cried out against my mouth, and I captured each sound with the flick of my tongue, with the pressure of my lips as I tried to make it last, the seconds where everything felt right in the universe. That was the thing about moments of bliss. They end sometimes before they even have time to begin.
I pulled her from the tile then followed, my body shaking under the cold water as she kept pressing small kisses to my lips, my cheeks.
“So…” Maddy laughed a bit, and then her teeth started chattering.
“Yeah?” I couldn’t stop staring at her. It was harder than hell to turn away, flick off the shower, and grab a towel. I wished we could have stayed there, pressed against the wall.
I slowly wrapped a white terrycloth towel around her body, then grabbed my own. She tucked herself under my arm as we walked out of the bathroom and into the adjoining master suite.
I should have been surprised to see Max standing there, soap in his hair, looking pissed off, but I wasn’t. This was the guy who’d tried to run for mayor of New Haven, just because he’d wanted a reason to make a sign.
So, standing in my bedroom?
Towel wrapped around his waist?
Soap in his hair and, from the twitch in his right eye, maybe there, too?
It should have been expected.
“’Sup, man?” I grinned.
“’Sup. Man.” He pointed at his eye. “You took all the hot water! Do you really think that all of this…” he pointed at his body, “…takes only a few minutes under that heat? I need to cook, Jason! My body demands it! What do you expect me to do?”
“Go to a hotel,” Maddy offered.
“Grab a hose.” My suggestion was less kind.
Max growled, “One does not put cold water on this type of product.” He glared at Jason. “Don’t you know anything?”
“Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention. I was too busy with this one, using all the hot water, longer than seven minutes, I’d say.”
Max’s face changed, his one eye narrowing. “Nine minutes, at least. Better than last time. I’ll give it to you.” He grinned, “I take it the graph—”
“Never mind about the graph!” I coughed and pointed to the door. “Now leave.”
He turned and then called over his shoulder, “Get some.” And then finished with a spanking move before I slammed the door and turned to Maddy.
“He takes some getting used to, kind of like when people used to poison themselves to develop an immunity? Max, here, is like arsenic — small, small, small doses, and you won’t die.”
Maddy’s face spread out into a bright grin. “As long as I get you in big doses, I think I’ll be okay.”
“Oh yeah?” I walked over to her. I wish I could say I sauntered and looked sexy as hell; instead, I probably looked too eager to get in her arms again. The sloppy grin on my face wasn’t helping.
“Yeah.” Her eyes darted to mine. “We’re doing this.”
“Yeah, we are.”
I sealed it with a kiss and pulled the towel from her body. I dropped mine to join it in a heap in the middle of the floor.