May
Chapter 15
A big hand floated over Maya’s hip as she pushed it back, forcing the thickness of Everett to slip between her thighs. “Good morning.”
Everett groaned and tightened his grip, pulling her back against him. “Jesus. What a way to wake up.”
Maya agreed. She flipped around in Everett’s big bed so she was facing him and reached down to run her hand over and around him. Everett groaned again and moved in for a kiss. Maya tried to pull back because she hadn’t brushed her teeth, but Everett caught her, uncaring, and pulled her lower lip between his.
It had only been a few hours since Everett had last been inside her, but she couldn’t wait for him to be there again. Skipping the foreplay Everett was so prone to get lost in, she lifted her leg over his hip and pushed him inside.
“Oh God…ah…I hate to say this…” he stuttered. “But…condom…”
“Maya thrust toward him and he clenched his jaw. “Are you clean, Everett?”
He nodded, his eyes on hers.
“Me, too. And I’m on the pill.” She thrust again.
He closed his eyes briefly, but they flew back open and he pierced her with his gaze. “But if we do this, we should be…”
Maya smiled and rolled her hips. “Yes. We should be exclusive. Maybe this is my way of finally answering you.” He smiled, then his eyes clenched shut as she rolled again. “You don’t want anyone else, do you?”
His voice cracked as he tried to concentrate on the conversation. “You know I don’t. It’s only you I want.”
Maya kissed him, unable to resist pressing her lips to his. “And I’m only with you. I promise.”
Everett’s answering groan was accompanied by his body rolling them over so he was on top of her, thrusting into her hard and fast, and it was so damn good Maya thought she’d lose her mind.
It didn’t take long for them both to climax, calling out then collapsing in a tangle of limbs on the bed. Everett held her close to him, her chin resting against his chest, his lips kissing the top of her head lazily. “I have to go to work. But I’d rather stay here with you.”
Maya was still adjusting to her new schedule. As of last week, she was working four days instead of five. That left Fridays free for her to paint. She was planning to stay at Everett’s and work in the little balcony room. And as much as she wanted that, she also thought lying in bed with a gorgeous man all day sounded appealing.
She ran a hand over his ridged stomach. “You’re the boss. You could just stay here with me.”
Everett tipped her head up by pressing his fingers under her chin. He kissed her gently. “I could, but I have a couple things I have to do today. Besides, you need to paint because you won’t have time this weekend.”
“I still can’t believe we’re doing this.”
He smiled. “I couldn’t do it without you.”
She huffed out a breath. “I’ve never been to Florida. At least that will be fun. Can we hang out on the beach?”
“We can do anything you want.”
“Like skip the wedding?”
Everett chuckled and the movement made her stomach quiver. “Why are you so nervous about the wedding? I’m the one who should be freaking out. And, actually, I’m not. You know why?”
Maya looked into his deep brown eyes and shook her head.
“Because you’re going with me.”
“That’s sweet.”
“But it doesn’t make you less nervous. So now you’ll have to tell me why.”
Maya bit her bottom lip and contemplated how much truth she wanted to tell. In the end there was only one choice. “I’m afraid of meeting Rebecca. I still feel like…like she…”
“She what?”
“She was once my competition and she won.”
Everett kissed the tip of her nose then smiled at her. Her stomach twisted as the long moment of silence dragged out. “She didn’t win.”
Maya couldn’t wrap her head around that. “I don’t understand. What does that mean?”
“I didn’t marry her. I was never going to. And if things had been different, I would have left her for you. I was on the cusp of it. If anyone should be nervous, it should be Rebecca, meeting her competition. But she’s happy and in love with Elias. And I’m happy for them. And I’m happy for me, because even though it took a while, I finally got you.”
“You better get out of this bed now,” Maya warned him. “Because if you don’t, you will never make it to work.”
“Oh yeah?”
Maya took her threat a step farther by scrambling to kneel between his legs. She leaned over, dropped a luscious kiss on his stomach, then hovered over him, tongue pressing on her lower lip. “Oh yeah. You’ve got about thirty seconds to move before it gets real dirty in here.”
Everett leaned back, his eyes filled with something bright and intense. “I don’t feel like going anywhere.”
Maya grinned before rewarding him for his generous words.
****
Everett did eventually leave and Maya showered, ate a quick breakfast and got to work on her paintings. She stopped around lunchtime, called to touch base with Melissa at the gallery, ate yogurt and a cookie for lunch, which would have garnered a major snicker from Everett if he were there, the stupid health freak, and then called her mother.
Henny McDonald had never been known for her brevity. And nearly an hour had gone by when Maya started to attempt to extract herself from the call. She had more painting to get in before Everett came home and they packed up for the red eye flight to Miami.
But Henny had other ideas. “I want to talk about this thing with you and Everett.”
“Thing? Mom. What?”
“Well, what is it, exactly?”
“We’re dating. And I really ought to get going—”
“Are you living together?”
Maya sunk back into the cushions of Everett’s super comfy couch. “No. I just stay here sometimes.”
“Every time I’ve talked to you in the last three weeks you’ve been at his place.”
“He set up a place for me to paint. It’s better than the closet I have at the apartment complex. Plus…I like this house.”
“And him. Don’t forget that you like him, Maya.”
“Of course, I do, Mom. I’m not denying that.”
“Aren’t you?”
Maya rolled her eyes. “No. I just told you, didn’t I? Here, I’ll say it again. I really, really like Everett. He’s hot, he’s a good kisser, and he cooks me healthy dinners with spinach and shit in it. And I like spending time with him.”
“But you’re keeping him a secret.”
Maya let out a noisy sigh. She’d given into so many things. But the one thing Everett hadn’t asked her to do again was to go public. And she really didn’t want to. It was kind of stupid. Actually, it was really stupid. Her family knew. His family knew. And a whole bunch of strangers in Miami were about to find out about them. But for some reason the idea of telling the people they saw every day was just more than she could handle.
“I love you, Mom. I have to go.”
“Maya. Don’t you dare—”
“Big kiss to Dad!”
And with the push of a button, it was over. Maya felt bad for a moment. Technically, she’d hung up on her own mother. That probably made her a bad person. But self-preservation seemed like the greater goal at the moment.
Maya tossed the phone on the couch beside her and stared at the ceiling. The painting she’d been working on was waiting for her. And back at her apartment, hidden under a cloth, was another unfinished work, a portrait of Everett. It had started out as a way to get out her frustrations over the intense attraction she felt for him. But it had quickly morphed into something else. And now it sat, unfinished, like her thoughts about their relationship.
Everett was dangerous. He always had been. And it didn’t matter how much she warned herself about not getting in too deep, she already was. She always was. Everett was her Kryptonite. With a one-night stand and a handful of texts he’d stolen her heart seven years ago. And now, with his gentle touch, passionate kisses, and sincere whispers in the night, he had easily reclaimed it.