Page 48 of Moving Forward

She only laughs.

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“You look . . . lighter,” Cain points out as I join him.

“Ellie and I had a good conversation. She’s coming around to you.”

An uneasy frown takes over his mouth. I can’t help but run my fingers along the hard lines of his jaw, wishing I could make that frown disappear. His expression softens as his gaze falls to mine, switching to a smolder. “Come here,” he growls. He snakes his arm around my waist in one quick movement and spins me around so my back is pressed against his chest. “Feel better already.”

His touch turns me to mush. The feeling of his hand gripping my bare hip and his arm wrapped around my stomach has my heart tilting like one of those rides at the fair. “Huh?”

“Holding you.” He nuzzles his head against my neck, breathing in the scent of my hair. Chills run down my back and I shiver. I settle into him, lost in the sensation of our bodies pressed against one another. “Calms me.”

I close my eyes, extending my neck more for him. “Same.”

“Sorry,” he murmurs.

“For . . .” I prompt.

“For being socially challenged. I’m not exactly getting into their good graces.”

“Cain, do you care about me?”

His thumb strokes my bare stomach around my belly button. I shouldn’t be focused on something so simple, let alone turned on by it. It’s just his finger on my stomach, not an invitation into his bed. “Too soon to admit this—but I more than care for you, Max. I’m falling for you.”

My breath hitches. “I’m falling for you too.” I close my eyes, reveling in our admission. Time would say it’s too soon, but my heart would say it’s not soon enough. “Then you shouldn’t be nervous. All they want is someone who cares about me and someone I care about too. They just want me to be happy and you make me happy.”

“Because I’m such a catch? My irresistible smile and quick wit and sunshiny disposition?” he jokes, his breath tickling my ear.

“No, because you’re so boring.”

“I wish,” he mutters. “I’m a bore in between punching things and completely losing it.”

“Now I’m worried I need to actually spell out what it is I like about you.”

“Well, if you really want to . . .”

My mouth drops in mock astonishment. “Mr. Egotistical, much? Well, as it so happens, I don’t like anything about you. I can’t stand the sight of you.”

“Don’t lie. You’re nearly purring in my arms.”

One of his hands drifts down toward the waistband of my bottoms, his pinky toying with fabric, while his other hand moves to rest just below my breast. The smallest shift and those hands would be touching me where I need him most. I arch back against him, all but begging him to go further. I’m so delirious I’ll take anything he’ll give me, even on a boat right in front of my two best friends.

“Max, if you keep doing that . . .” he trails off as his hips circle against my backside, revealing that he’s just as affected by our embrace. His teeth catch my earlobe and his tongue flicks out, tracing along the rim of my ear. “Starting to want more than I can take, Peaches.”

“Me too,” I murmur, closing my eyes and leaning my head back against his chest.

His thumb brushes softly against the bottom of my breast, making me moan. His hands are magic and his touch is paralyzing. Whatever higher power put Cain on this earth was really trying to create a secret weapon against women. No man should be able to make me feel the way he does. Just a touch and my hormones go haywire.

“We really have a habit of getting familiar in public places. Something we should work through in private,” he tells me, dropping his hands to my hips and spinning me around. He twines his fingers with mine and leans back, one elbow on the railing, putting space between us.

“I think that can be arranged.”

“Can?” he smirks. “Should.”

I bite my lip, wishing I wasn’t facing him for my next question. Ellie was right—I need to know where we stand. “Cain . . . what are we doing? What happens when I—”

“Let’s give this more time before we start thinking about those questions,” he tells me, almost pleading. “I’ll be honest: whatever this is, it’s intense and I’m beginning to feel something for you I’ve never felt before. And that fucking petrifies me. If I answer you now, I’m answering out of that fear, not because it’s the truth.”

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