I cupped her cheek and lowered my face to hers. She tilted her chin, her lips meeting mine, gently at first, as if we were savoring each other after being apart for so long, then with a burninghunger. I gripped her hair and pulled her waist closer to me. Her hands caressed my cheeks.
As our tongues became entwined, I ran my fingers through her hair and stroked her nape, then her shoulders, slipping my hand under the silk. When I didn’t feel cotton or the strap of a bra, I stopped, eyebrows furrowed.
“Are you?”
“Naked?” Lauren finished the question for me, then answered it as she stepped back and pulled on the sash around her waist.
The robe she wore dropped to the floor, the silk forming a puddle around her feet. My breath escaped me.
My gaze lingered on her supple breasts before wandering lower, past her belly to the small patch of curls between her legs, knowing well what they guarded, then they moved back up to her face, to her succulent lips that were still moist from my kiss and her emerald eyes now sparkling with excitement and desire. Heat simmered in my veins.
I swallowed. “Did you come to my room to seduce me?”
She grinned. “Is it working?”
I didn’t give her an answer, though if she glanced at my crotch, she would know it.
Lauren stepped forward, standing right in front of me. Her fingers brushed against my arm.
“Actually, I came to offer myself to the man I love,” she said.
Love? So she felt the same way I did?
“You know all about me now,” she went on. “I have nothing more to hide. I know it may be hard for you to trust me again, but I want you to know that I trust you. Completely. You can do anything you want.”
My eyes narrowed. “Anything?”
Lauren nodded. “You can even tie me up and blindfold me if you want.” She stepped forward to whisper in my ear. “I’m all yours, Max.”
And I knew exactly what I wanted to do with her.
I gripped her hair as I kissed her again, tasting her, devouring her. I stroked her breast as I backed her up against my bed. When the edge of the mattress hit the back of her knees, she sat down. After our mouths parted, she moved to lie down in the middle of the bed, waiting for me, offering herself up to me as she said. I wanted to take her there and then but instead, I picked up the sash of the robe from the floor.
“Are you sure you’re okay with this?” I asked her.
Lauren nodded, offering me her wrists. “Like I said, I’m all yours.”
Other women had said something similar to me in the past, but I wasn’t the least bit interested. Only Lauren aroused my interest. Only she stirred my heart and my entire body.
I climbed on the bed, then turned her to her side so I could bind her wrists behind her, securely but not so tightly as to cause any pain. I was about to use my necktie to blindfold her when I heard a voice behind me.
“I guess this means you two have made up?”
Chapter Eighteen
Lauren
Wade? What was he doing here?
He was just staring at me, his eyes becoming narrowed and clouded with lust as they traveled over my skin. I drew a deep breath.
“Are you going to just stand there?” Max asked him. “Or are you going to join in?”
Wade met my gaze as if asking for my permission. I gave it to him with a nod.
“Well, that settles it then,” Max said. “Get your ass over here.”
Then he proceeded to place the tie over my eyes. As I heard approaching footsteps, my pulse began to race.