“Aren’t you coming to bed?” Maggie looked as sexy as ever wearing one of my shirts. Since we started sharing the same bed, she’d been sleeping nude like me. When she had to go to the bathroom or needed to come find me, she slipped on one of my shirts. It covered her completely, but it was almost hotter than nothing at all. It was getting harder to resist.

We had only been back a couple of days, so I still had a few more days to wait for the results. Until I knew whether or not that kid was mine, I needed to keep all other aspects of my life on hold. Maggie deserved a man without baggage, and I had the entire cargo set. She deserved more than I could offer.

“When I get done.” I lifted the trim piece above my head and held it in place until I could secure it with the air gun. I looked at it when I realized how loud it was. “I’m sorry. Was this keeping you up?”

“No, I can’t hear that upstairs. It echoes in here because the room is empty. What kept me up was the cold spot next to me.”

“I need to get this done. We passed out all those flyers, and people are starting to inquire about the opening. I got behind, so I need to catch up.”

I went back to work and secured the rest of the trim piece down the length of the ceiling. When I got off the ladder to move it to the other side of the room, Maggie took the opportunity to wrap her arms around my waist.

“That’s good enough for tonight. I’ll help you in the morning.”

“Your mom is coming over tomorrow to help you go through the rest of your dad’s things. I can get this. Go back to bed.” I kissed the top of her head and moved her to the side so I could get back to work.

She let her arms fall to her sides. “Should I dye my hair brunette?”

“If you want. I’m sure any color would still look great on you.” I glanced her way when she shook her head. “Look, I’m not the guy to ask. I don’t get into fashion or anything.”

“Maybe I should ask Bryce?”

“Why the fuck would you say that?”

She sighed and hung her head. “Nothing. Never mind.” She turned to leave, but I wasn’t finished.

I dropped the trim piece and grabbed her arm. “What the fuck is your point because you obviously had one?”

“You haven’t touched me since we left Laney. You’ve barely spoken to me.”

I dropped her arm and took a step back. “It has nothing to do with her.”

“No? You’re just sick of me on your own?”

I ran my hand through my hair. “I’m not sick of you. I’m doing all this work trying to get everything perfect for you so when we get the results, you can come back and open like you’ve dreamed of doing.”

She crossed her arms and looked down. “I see.”

“I’ve said nothing wrong, and yet you look as if I just gave you the worst news possible.” I held my arms out and dropped them to my sides. “I don’t even know what sets you off anymore.”

“You think this is set off? You haven’t seen set off.”

“I don’t have time for this.” I bent over and picked up the trim I’d dropped earlier. I looked at the doorway as she ran out when I stood up. I didn’t want to argue with her. I wanted nothing more than to go back to bed and hold her, but I didn’t know what my future held, and it wasn’t fair to keep her life in limbo.

I was done being selfish. I wouldn’t hold another woman hostage. It didn’t matter she wasn’t locked in a room like Laney. It felt the same to me. She couldn’t move forward because I couldn’t. I couldn’t do that to her.

I finished the piece I was working on before Maggie had her meltdown and was stepping off the ladder when she ran back into the room. She was back into her pajamas, and she had my bag over her shoulder.

“Here’s a check for the services through what you’ve done tonight. I know I usually pay you in cash, but I can’t get that kind of money through the ATM. You know I’m good for it.”

I looked at her but didn’t say anything. I didn’t know what to say.

She took my bag off her back and shoved the check inside the pocket. “I can take care of the rest of this, but I do appreciate all the help you’ve been.”

I crossed my arms when she held my bag out. She wanted something from me. I wasn’t sure what the stunt was supposed to prove, but I wasn’t saying anything until I figured it out.

She dropped the bag onto the floor when I made no move to take it. “You didn’t have much. I’m pretty sure I got all of it, though. I didn’t think to check the laundry, but you can check it on your way out.”

It was how cold and matter-of-fact she was being that I couldn’t get over. The Maggie before me was not the Maggie I’d fallen into bed with the last few months. She wasn’t the woman I’d gotten to know or started to care about. I never met her father, but I had a feeling the person standing in front of me was the product of such a man.

I startled when she yelled, “Get out!” She pointed to the back of the gym where the truck was parked. “Pick up your shit and fucking leave.”

“I didn’t say I wanted to leave.”

“No. No, you didn’t. You just told me when you were going to. I don’t need you to wait that long.” She turned and walked away.

“What?” I watched as she walked out the door, and my stomach dropped. “Maggie, come back here.” My breathing increased the farther away she got. “Maggie! I’m not done talking to you!”

She opened the door and disappeared into the stairway. I felt as if I had just run a mile with a hundred pounds on my back and I couldn’t shake the weight. I looked around the empty room and it was as if the walls were closing in on me. She couldn’t mean it. She told me she was falling for me. Was that a lie?

I took a deep breath, set my jaw, and stormed up after her. No one lied to me and got away with it. I kicked my bag out of the way. I didn’t care that it opened and tossed my clothes all over.

My strides were twice as long as I followed her, and I took to the stairs three steps at a time. She still managed to shut the door and lock it before I got there. A lock wasn’t going to stop me. I took a step back, lifted my foot, and slammed it into the door, kicking it open.

Maggie was almost to her bedroom door when she turned around. “What are you doing?”

I stomped over to her, grabbed her upper arms, and shook her as I spoke. “You do not get to decide when this relationship is over. You don’t get to kick me out just because I want to get some work done. Who the fuck does that?”

“Someone sick and tired of your bullshit is who! You’re going to leave me. Just do it already so I can get over you faster. I don’t need to go with you to hear if the kid is yours or not just so you can spend a little more time with your precious Laney.”

“She isn’t mine!”

“And it kills you that she isn’t. It kills you that she chose Bryce over you. Well, let me tell you a little secret. Even if that kid is yours, she’s still choosing Bryce!”

I squeezed her arms tighter. “I don’t want Laney! I felt nothing for her when I saw her. Nothing!” I shook her again. “If I wanted Laney, I never would’ve left her again. I would’ve sent you home on your own, but I didn’t! I came back with you. I came back with you!” I let her go on the last shake and clenched my fists. I wanted to hit something. I wanted to pound something into the ground. I wanted a drink.

I walked over to the small refrigerator and opened it. I tossed water bottles aside and caused some to drop onto the floor. I didn’t care. I kicked them away. I grabbed the beer in the back of the fridge and slammed the bottle cap off using the edge of the fridge door. I lifted it to my lips on the way to my room, but before I could get a taste of anything, it was knocked out of my hand and shattered on the floor.

I clenched my jaw and went back to the fridge, but Maggie was already there with the last two beer bottles in her hands. She lifted them above her head when I took a step toward her. “I don’t need beer in my life anymore and neither do you. This just became an alcohol-free house.” I ignored her statement and looked at both of them as I tried to figure out the best course of action. I never wanted a beer more in my life.

I thought I could be quicker than her. I thought if I startled her when I took off running for her that it would buy me a little time. I was wrong. She slammed both beers onto the floor and shattered them right before I crashed into her, grabbing her wrists, and pinning them to the wall.

“Why did you do that?” I pressed her against the wall harder. “Why?”

“Because I’m not going to let you destroy the man I fell in love with.”

I looked at her lips. She couldn’t have said what I heard. I wanted to hear it. It was my ears playing tricks on me. She kicked me out. She wouldn’t kick out the man she fell in love with. I was afraid to ask, but I had to know. My voice was shaky and quiet. “What did you just say?”

“I’m in love with you, Brody Michaels. I’ve loved you longer than I want to admit. I kept my guard up because I always knew you were going to hurt me.” Her chin quivered as the tears she fought to hold on to fell. “I’m tired of hurting.”

I let go of her wrists and held her face. “Hurting you is the last thing I ever want to do.”

I kissed her and didn’t stop until she kissed me back. I wrapped my arms around her and walked her backwards over the shattered glass to her bedroom. I didn’t care about the work that wasn’t getting done. I didn’t think about the results and what it would mean for my future. I wanted to spend the entire night kissing and making love to the most amazing woman to ever enter my life.

I unbuttoned her pajama top and kissed down her body as I went. I needed her to know how much I wanted her. How much I wanted to keep her safe. And how much she meant to me, even though I wasn’t sure how much myself until that night.

I gripped her hips and pulled her closer to me as I got to my knees. I kissed her belly and licked just above her waistband as I hooked my thumbs in her bottoms and slid them down. I placed my hands on her hips again and directed her to sit on the bed. I lifted each foot and slipped her shoes and socks off before pulling her pajama bottoms completely off.

She started to crawl up the bed, but I grabbed her ankles and pulled her back to the edge before laying her legs over my shoulders. I wanted to taste her. I kissed each thigh the closer I went to her pussy. I reached one hand out and placed it on her lower belly while my thumb stroked her clit.

She gripped the comforter at the edge of the bed and moaned. I flicked my thumb a little faster before I leaned forward and took over with my tongue. Her hands went to my hair to keep me there. I wasn’t going anywhere.

I slipped two fingers inside of her and felt the pressure of her legs around my head. I was just getting started. I moved my fingers in and out of her faster while I sucked and flicked her clit with my tongue.

“I need you to fuck me, Brody.”

She was squirming on the bed, so I knew she was close. I wasn’t stopping until I had her orgasm on my lips. I moved my hand and tongue faster.

“Oh, God. Please, don’t stop.”

I loved hearing her beg. I slowed down.

“Faster, please. Go faster.”

I picked up the speed, but not the intensity. I still wanted to hear her beg.

“Harder. Fuck me, Brody. Harder.” She moaned when I went harder. “Yes, yes.” She gripped the comforter above her head and arched her back. “Don’t stop. Don’t stop. Don’t stop.”

I smiled when her knees squeezed my head harder. I hooked my fingers and moved them faster inside of her. She almost came off the bed.

“Yes! Oh, God.” Her hips jerked and it was difficult to keep my tongue on her clit. I pressed my fingers from my other hand onto her clit and rubbed her until her orgasm was done.

She collapsed and released the hold her legs had on my head. I smiled as I stood and watched her chest rise and fall with the air she was sucking into her lungs. She could take a rest, but I wasn’t done with her. Not by a long shot.

I took my shirt off, kicked my shoes to the side, and unfastened my jeans. She opened her eyes and looked for me at the foot of the bed. I slid my pants off and palmed myself. I wanted to take my time and love her body the way it should’ve been loved, but it was harder to keep myself under control when I looked at her body lying on the bed. I wanted to ravage her.

I allowed myself a few more strokes before I climbed into bed with her. I helped her to slide to the pillows and kissed her when I lay on top of her. She took one leg and wrapped it around my hip, opening herself up to me. She reached down and wrapped her hand around me.

We didn’t say anything, but never took our eyes off each other when she guided me to her. I thrust forward and held myself to her. It scared me to think what would happen when I pulled out. I never wanted to be without her. I never wanted to be with anyone else. When I let the world fall away and remained focused on her, life couldn’t have been more perfect.

I moved my hips as I kissed her. I didn’t have the words, but I could show her how I felt. I could show her how much she meant to me. How much us meant to me. I wanted to be a part of her forever and hoped when we were finished that she didn’t still want me out of her life.

She rolled us over and straddled me. I let her take over for a while. I could’ve spent the entire night over her, but I wanted her to know we were a team. I wanted her to know she was in control, too.

Maggie rocked on top of me before bouncing on her knees. I held her hips and made her go faster. She bent forward, placing her hands on my chest, and stayed above me while I thrust my hips under her.

“Please, don’t . . .”

I couldn’t hear the last part but thought she was telling me not to stop. I went faster. She said it again but quieter. I sat up and tried to look at her, but she buried her face into my shoulder. “What? I couldn’t hear you.”

She sniffed and I felt the wet of her tears on my shoulder. I pulled her back and made her look at me. “What is it?” I started to pull her hips off me, and she wrapped her legs around my waist, securing us together.

She whispered it again, but I heard her that time. “Don’t leave me.” She wrapped her arms around me and moved her hips again.

I kissed her neck and worked my way up to her lips when she let me. “I’m not going anywhere.” I laid her down and thrust my hips into her as I looked into her eyes. I didn’t have the words to reassure her, but I knew I could show her I meant it. I could show her I didn’t want to be anywhere else.

I closed my eyes and put my head on her shoulder when she tightened her walls around me. I wasn’t ready for it to be over. I wanted to make love to her all night. I went faster when she squeezed me again. I didn’t want it to end, but I needed this. I needed the connection only she could give me.

Her legs shook as she dropped them from my waist. I adjusted my hips to still lie as close to her body as possible but push her over the edge. I wanted to touch as much of her as possible. I wanted to feel the orgasm rip through her body.

I moved my hips faster and she arched her back, pressing into my chest, and I slid my arms under her back. She moaned and I felt the vibrations through my chest. I went faster. She squeezed her eyes shut and tilted her head back. She gasped right before her orgasm hit.

Her gasp sent me over the edge. I held her hips and drove into her over and over again until we both were satisfied. One thing I realized that night was that I would never be satisfied of her. I would always crave more.