Page 298 of The Maxwell Brothers
"For anything?" The question in her eyes haunted me. Liz needed to know she was mine, and I needed to make sure she understood that.
"Yes. Now, how do you want to celebrate that you’ve found your store space?"
“Oh, no, no. No celebrating until I sign the contract. I don’t want to jinx it.”
“You’re not. I’m bringing you luck.” I slipped my hands down her ass cheeks, squeezing them slightly and enjoying their taut feel.
“You’re declaring yourself my lucky charm?” Her face lit up.
“Hell yes, I am.”
“Hmm… I’ll consider it. Now, are we baking or what?”
“Hey, you’re the slacker,teacher,” I said, giving her one more squeeze.
“Stop that.” She burst out laughing, lowering the hand holding the cup of flour. She turned to look at me at the same time and accidentally pushed the bag of flour to the floor. It exploded all around us, sending a white cloud in the air.
I coughed and heard her do the same as I took a step back. Liz tried to wipe her face and inhaled deeply, breathing in a mouthful of flour. She stepped back from the cloud too, coughing again.
A few seconds later, my own coughing turned to laughter. She grabbed a glass, filling it with ice and water from the refrigerator dispenser.
"Some teacher you are," I said, and that made her laugh too.
"Hey, you had your hands all over me, and you were saying things that went straight to my heart without a warning. I can be forgiven for a small mishap."
"This is small?" I asked. Teasing her was so fun. I couldn’t care less about the mess we’d made. I just wanted her.
"Oh my God, your pants! Damn it, I knew I should have told you to strip down."
"Babe, it's flour. Nothing will happen. But I do think it's high time for both of us to get naked and into the shower."
"Oh yeah, definitely," she said.
"Let's go to the upstairs bathroom."
"Yeah. But let's take our clothes off here. We don't want to make the whole house messy."
We started to undress right away. At least, I did. She watched me take off my pants. Straightening up, I cocked a brow at her. Smiling saucily, she took off her own pants as well as her shirt.
"The rest comes off upstairs," she said with sass.
"You bet it will." I walked toward her with determined strides. Without warning, I lifted her into my arms, putting a hand under her knees, the other at her back. She balanced the glass of water precariously in her hand.
"Oh, and I'm being carried up the stairs. I like this."
All I could think about was how this was so unlike me. The thought of carrying someone over the threshold, so to speak, didn’t seem ridiculous like it did before. With Liz, it felt natural, especially because it seemed to make her so damn happy. I’d always been a cynic, as my brothers liked to point out. After hundreds of divorce mediations, I didn’t believe in the idea of relationships anymore. But with Liz, I believed it.
More than that…
I wanted it.
CHAPTER 18
DECLAN
We went directlyinto the master bedroom. After putting her glass of water on the nightstand, I carried Liz to the bathroom.
When we were standing in front of the shower, I put my hands on her hips, turning her to face me. "You're so damn beautiful, babe."
