Page 93 of Wicked Devotion
“Ulna Major,” he mutters to himself as he gets up. He leaves my room, probably to go outside where I don’t hear him laughing at me.
“And Max,” I yell after him, and he stops in his tracks. “Pick a pretty outfit for Lily. I’m sure Ruby packed a few nice, short skirts.”
33
LILY
Iguess it doesn’t matter how old you are because a day spent outside in the sunwilltire you out.
Max didn’t tell me what exactly was going on with Logan and only said I should avoid mentioning anything superhero-related around him. And that bringing up dads is also pretty high up on the no-no list.
The look on Logan’s face almost made me want to drown myself in the lake and hand over my lifeless body as a formal apology, but the outburst Max expected never came. Instead, Logan just sat there, smoking cigarette after cigarette for at least twenty minutes.
On most days, talking to him feels like navigating a minefield, and against my better judgment, I still take step after step, ignoring the possible consequences.
When I leave the bathroom after a lavishly long shower, sliding a strand of wet hair behind my ear, Max almost gives me a heart attack. Splayed out on my bed, he grins at me, reminding me that I need to talk to the guys about the sleeping arrangement.
Carefully, because I don’t want to cause a second fistfightin 48 hours. I do have to admit I would love to daydream about their last fight a little. Go over it in my head again and again, preferably with my hand down my pants, but privacy is scarce in this cabin.
“Lily?” Max asks, and I shake my head to get rid of these thoughts.
“Hm?”
“I asked if you had fun today,” he says, laughing as he pulls me onto the bed.
I try to keep my towel from slipping all the way off, bunching it around my breasts as Max drags me down with him until we’re lying face to face.
“Haven’t had this much fun in ages,” I whisper against his lips.
He smells so sweet as if he’s made out of pure sugar. But that’s just how he is. Max, who feels like an endless summer, like peaches and saltwater, like running into the waves while the setting sun casts everything in a golden glow. He’s like laughter that makes your stomach hurt, a person who makes every day feel like Christmas morning, and it’s at this moment I realize I lost my heart to him the first day we met, no matter how wrong it may be.
“What you said earlier before Logan called you over…”
“Lily, I—“
“I think I love you, too.”
He exhales in relief before his lips land on mine, and his grip on me tightens.
“I wish I could show you what you mean to me. What youdoto me. How you make my head spin whenever you look at me with your big eyes, how my heart is close to exploding from joy when you hold my hand.”
Max pulls back for a moment, cradling my face before he continues.
“Simply hearing you laugh makes me the happiest man onearth, Lily, and I promise to take care of you for the rest of my life.”
A smile spreads on my lips, and I search for the right words. “Hard to top that,” I whisper, and Max laughs, stroking my cheek.
“Sorry, I've had this brewing inside of me for a while now,” he says before he leans in for another kiss. “Oh shit,” he says all of a sudden as if he just remembered something important. “You need to eat. Salad with chicken nuggets is fine for you?”
“Only if they are dino nuggets,” I joke, focused on how the muscles on Max’s back flex as he reaches for a shirt.
“Baby, do you really think I would buy nuggets that aren’t dino-shaped? And here I thought you knew me by now.”
“Can you forgive me?”
“I’d forgive you for anything,” he says, leaving to prepare our lunch.
It doesn’t take long until Max comes back, making me wonder how many meals he made this morning.
