been through and the scare she’d had, of course she was worried.
“He’s in the kids’ room,” Mother said, coming toward us. “When I checked in on them just a bit ago, he’d fallen asleep.”
She paused, looking back and forth between the two of us with an assessing gaze. “He can just sleep here tonight. He was pretty tuckered out. In fact, you should stay as well, Maya.” She smiled. “I’m sure Soren would be happy to have you.”
Maya’s face reddened instantly.
Oh, hell. Really? I gave my mother a pointed glare, but she just continued smiling serenely, as if she hadn’t just embarrassed the shit out of Maya.
I opened my mouth to say something to put her more at ease, but Maya simply squared her shoulders and looked my mother directly in the eye.
“Thank you so much for the kind offer. I’d love to.”
Mother’s smile grew, and I knew then that I hadn’t fully escaped her matchmaking. But if it got me a full night alone with Maya while Dylan was in another suite entirely, I’d take it.
“I can’t believe this is where you live,” Maya said, wandering into my suite of rooms and taking it all in as I shut the main door behind me. “It’s incredible.”
I shrugged. “I suppose.”
She laughed. “Spoken by a man who has only known luxury his entire life.”
I took a step toward her, then another. “I may have known luxury, Maya, but there has always been something missing in my life…until now.”
Her breath hitched, her eyes widened, and the sweetest smile graced her lips. “Really?”
“Really.” I closed the distance between us, taking both of her hands in mine and pulling her against my chest. The urge to tell her how I truly felt was nearly overwhelming—the words I love you on the tip of my tongue.
For a moment, I simply stared down into her beautiful face, shocked at my own thoughts. Did I love her? I’d thought I’d loved someone before, but I’d been wrong. I’d been lied to and manipulated and tricked. And in the end I’d been left not believing that true love existed—at least not for me.
But then Maya had come into my life and changed all of that. I’d never felt this way before, and if I had to put a name to my feelings, love is what it would be. And that was the answer to my question right there.
I refrained from speaking the words out loud, though. Things were still so new between us, our relationship just beginning. I wanted to take things slowly and do things right with Maya, and I was still afraid moving too fast might scare her away.
So I showed her how I felt in the best way I knew how.
Reaching up, I cupped her jaw with one hand, running my thumb up and down her cheek, my gaze locked on her. She shivered beneath my touch, and I pressed my palm into her lower back, drawing her even closer to me.
Her breath came faster, and my eyes dropped to her lips, full and inviting and slightly parted.
A rush of need coursed through me, my own body lighting up at the feel of her body so close to mine, and part of me wanted to just spin her around and press her against the wall and fuck her senseless until all that existed was the two of us and this moment.
But another part—a stronger part—wanted to truly make love to her. To show her with every movement of my body just how much she meant to me. Slowly, gently, I brought my mouth to hers, brushing my lips lightly over her own.
She melted into me, her body responding to my kiss, and a soft moan escaped her lips, a soft caress against my mouth. I deepened the kiss, still moving slowly, gently tangling my tongue with hers.
Maya wrapped her arms around my shoulders, her fingers lightly brushing the back of my neck. My entire body lit up with awareness, my need barely kept at bay.
“I want you so much,” she breathed, pulling back slightly to stare up at me. What I saw in her eyes had my heart thundering in my chest. Was it possible that she felt the same way I did? That her feelings for me had morphed from desire and longing to something more?
I ran my hands over her curves, squeezed her hips, then gripped her thighs, lifting her up. She wrapped her legs around my waist, and I kissed her again,