spontaneous wife, until one day he exploded on me about invading his space. I never did it again.” She shrugs. “It’s dumb, I know. But I was young, and it really stung. It’s stuck with me since.”
I like Patrick just fine, but moments like this, seeing the usually confident Maya so damn defeated…I want to smack the asshole upside the head.
I hook my finger under her chin, bringing her eyes up to mine.
“Well, and I mean this with all the offense in the world, he’s a fucking moron.” She laughs. “And he clearly has no idea how much fun can be had in the shower.”
Her brows shoot up. “Oh, so that’s why you want to shower together.”
“Well, duh. What’d you think I was going to do, wash your hair or something?”
“Oh, man. I love getting my hair washed. I swear sometimes that’s the only reason I get my hair cut at all.”
“That shit does feel really good.”
“So good.” That doubt creeps back into her eyes. “Are you sure you want to? I really don’t mind taking one after you…”
I sigh. “I’m sure, Maya. It really fucks me up though that he made you feel like you weren’t worth his time. That makes me real pissed off at him.”
“Don’t be,” she says. “He wasn’t an awful husband.”
I scoff. “He sure as shit sounds like it. I got a glimpse of how a man should love a woman, and that’s not the way you do it at all.”
She tips her head, so many questions swirling in her eyes.
I don’t usually talk about my mom leaving, but something has me wanting to spill all my secrets to her.
“My mom bailed the year I turned five. Told my dad she’d fallen in love with someone else, packed her shit, and left. My dad…he was devastated.”
A light bulb goes off for her. “Ah. Hence your hesitation with relationships.”
I nod, pushing past the lump in my throat. “Even though she left him high and dry, up until he died, he was still madly in love with her. That’s how you love a woman.”
Tears well in her eyes, and I hope she doesn’t start crying because I don’t know what I’d do if she did.
She blinks them back, then huffs out a breath. “I’m sorry, Nolan.”
I shrug. “Is what it is.”
“Yeah, but—”
I silence her, pressing my lips to hers, and she melts into my touch as I kiss her senseless.
“Don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to…” she says, coming up for air, rubbing her nose against mine.
“I don’t want to talk about that shit. I have better things in mind.” Pulling away, I throw the blanket off and slip out of the bed. I hold my hand out to her. “Come on. Let’s get wet and wild.”
She smirks. “You’re really lame sometimes, you know that?”
“All part of my charm, baby.”
She screws her face up, sliding her hand into mine and letting me haul her up. “No. I don’t like that one.”
“Huh?”
“The endearment. I like Juliet better.”
“Duly noted.” I smack her ass. “Now get in there and start the water. I’ll be right there.”
She sashays into the bathroom, and I hear the water hit the shower floor.
By the time I join her, she’s already under the stream of hot water. I’ve never been jealous of water before, but watching it roll over her skin…I am.
“Is that my shampoo?” She nods toward the bottle in my hand as I step into the shower.
“Yep. Now scoot over and stop hogging all the hot water.”
She rolls her eyes and moves over no more than an inch, her back to me. Tipping her head back, she lets the water wash over her as I flip open the bottle of shampoo and squirt a healthy amount onto my hands.
She jumps when my fingers find her head, then relaxes into my touch as I lather up the shampoo, letting a few soft moans escape her lips.
I wash her hair once, then again for good measure, and I know she’s loving every second of it.
Just like I know there’s no way she misses my cock brushing against her ass.
When all the shampoo is rinsed out, she turns, and there’s something in her gaze that has my chest feeling funny.
I don’t know what it means, but I know I don’t completely hate it.
And that makes me uneasy.
Instead of dwelling on it, I crush my lips to hers.
She wraps her legs around me. I press her back against the wall and slide into her.
And I