high. I smile at him as he watches me.
Maverick cups my face in his hand. “You say you love me. Why? Why do you love me? How can you love me? Convince me,” he says, curiosity lighting his face. He doesn’t think I’ll be able to do it…with good reason, too. A year ago I would have no idea how to respond. I don’t think I even knew what love really was. He still thinks I don’t. But I do. I trace his lips with my fingers and bring my hand down to rest over his heart.
“I love you because behind the steel plates, narrowed eyes, and perpetually convincing ‘tough guy’ act you put up, you are soft—soft in all the places that matter. I love you because when you love something, you do it with all of your heart. Halfway or a quarter of the way isn’t an option. It’s all or nothing. I love that when you make up your mind, that’s it…the decision is made. I wish I could have an ounce of that ability, but I don’t need it when I’m with you because we balance each other out. I love that when you start a hobby, it becomes your passion. Passion is rare, and I can’t even calculate the amount that hums around you at any given moment. I love the way you look at me like you know exactly what I’m thinking, even when you don’t. I just love the way you look at me—like my eyes or face will fix something inside you. With a man like you, I feel helpless to contribute anything to our relationship. It drives me crazy. Then I realized I don’t have to match you stroke for stroke. All I have to do is love you. And I do. I love you. More than I even thought possible. Being away from you is torture. I want to fight with you and make up with you and live life with only you. I don’t need you in my life, Maverick. I want you in it to make life worth living.”
I’ve shocked Maverick Hart. He’s wide-eyed and gaping when I finish. Holding my head in his hands, he kisses me. Long and deep, just lips and breaths.
Into my mouth he whispers, “Thank you, Win.” It’s his only response other than his kiss. And I’m glad I finally had the nerve to admit it.
I should have told him that the second I figured it out. I know his thank you is all-encompassing and I don’t ask him to explain. When he breaks our kiss, he trails his hand over the side of my body, gliding over my hip and ending between my legs—his fingers rubbing the insane wetness between my thighs. I prop my knee up so he can look.
“It’s like truth serum,” Maverick says. “I like me in you.” He watches as he fingers glide in and out easily. A small sigh escapes my lips, drawing his gaze back to my face.
“I love you, Windsor.”
I lean in and kiss his nose and then his lips. “I love you, T.H.”
My words give him pause, his mouth stops working against mine. A few heartbeats pass, and he begins the kiss again, forcing me to lie back on the pillows as he buries himself inside me at the same time.
His face in my neck, he pushes in and out of me slowly, making love to me instead of fucking me senseless. I’m already hypersensitive so it doesn’t take long before my thighs tingle and I’m clenching around him. He muffles my cries with his lips, watching my eyes as intense waves of pleasure cause me to shiver. He comes seconds later. There are no words between us as his warm body lies on top of mine, our chests heaving, trying to catch our breath.
He licks my neck and inhales by my ear, breathing me in. I’m his. We stay connected as he rolls us to our sides. We fall asleep that way, joined as one and as close as we can possibly be. He’s mine. In all ways.
_______________
“I still can’t believe we’re in Vegas. You’re crazy. You know that?”
Maverick chose the one destination that I never would have expected. He’s a recovering alcoholic for God’s sake. Embracing the mindset that he can do anything he wants to do without being tempted, and in order to prove to me that he’s in control of himself and his actions, he chose Sin City. The city