Page 37 of Craving You

The logical part of her brain was telling her to say no; they should go home and stop avoiding the situation, and be thankful for the sexy time they had.

Unfortunately, all of her girlie parts were very excited at the thought of more naked time with Max.

Ugh…what to do…what to do…

Glancing over at her, he asked, “What do you say? Are we going home or are we hiding out for a little longer?” Reaching over, he took her hand in his. “The choice is yours, Hailey. Whatever it is you want to do, then that’s what we’ll do.”

There was really only one answer.

“I don’t want to go home yet,” she quietly replied. “Does that make me a bad person?”

Kissing her hand, he shook his head. “Never. You could never be a bad person.” He let out a long breath. “Okay, so…where to? Back to Summit Ridge or someplace new?”

Again, there was really only one answer.

“Summit Ridge. I still want to have dinner in the restaurant.”

“You got it.”

“This is becoming a dangerous habit.”

“Are you kidding? I think it should become a daily thing. It should be normalized and embraced.”

“Max, eating cake in bed should not be normalized!” she laughed. “The crumbs alone would be enough to make me crazy!”

“That’s what washers and dryers are for!” he joked.

“Not if you had to change the sheets every day!”

“You’re talking nonsense. Here. Have another forkful of cake.”

And before she could argue, she had a mouthful of dessert.

Which was positively decadent.

“I would never say this outside of this room, but I think this cake is better than Billie’s,” he said. “She makes some of the most amazing stuff, but this cake is just…I can’t even describe it!”

Swallowing, Hailey nodded. “Your secret is safe with me. She can’t possibly be great at everything, and even if this cake is better than hers, it doesn’t take anything away from what she does. I’m particularly fond of her iced brownies.”

“Same. She’s been bringing me home a box of baked goods from Books & Beans several times a week. I should probably cut back, but I don’t want to hurt her feelings.”

That made Hailey laugh. “Yeah, that’s why.”

Leaning back against the pillows, she sighed happily. They had checked back into the hotel after a quick stop at the local Target to buy some clothes. Then Max surprised her by stopping at the café and ordering lunch for them, along with a slice of chocolate cake.

Up in the room, lunch was still sitting on the table because they had reached for each other as soon as the door closed—as if they hadn’t just made love only hours ago. She felt boneless after making love twice and was now enjoying their cake. It was a little after three in the afternoon and she was completely confident that this had been the right decision. She knew they needed to text Billie or Marcus and let them know where they were, but she wasn’t ready for that yet.

Beside her, Max mimicked her pose, turning his head and smiling at her. They stayed like that for several moments before he reached over and held her hand. “We should probably eat something healthier than cake. And we both know why.” He winked. “I’m going to make a reservation for the restaurant for dinner, but maybe we can split one of the sandwiches we bought?”

“I know you’re right,” she said, scooting closer to rest her head on his shoulder. “But now I’ve got a belly full of cake and I’m not sure I can eat even a half a sandwich.”

“Just a few bites, then. For me.” He kissed the top of her head before sliding out from under the sheet and grabbing the bag and his phone. When he sat back down, he handed her half the sandwich but then scrolled on his phone before tapping something out. Hailey didn’t want to ask and ultimately didn’t have to. “I’m letting Marcus and Billie know where we are, and I’m telling them not to expect us home until Sunday morning. Is that cool?”

Nodding again, she returned to her earlier pose of resting her head on his shoulder and yawned.

“Maybe we should take a nap before dinner,” he suggested.

“Mmm…maybe. But someone said I needed to eat some of this sandwich first,” she joked before yawning again. “Damn. Sorry.”

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