Max

I stared down at the cookbook and groaned.

“Son of a bitch,” I muttered.

Not only had I forgotten to add the butter, but I’d put in five tablespoons of flour instead of teaspoons. I picked up the bowl and upended it over the trashcan. Thirty minutes of mixing and measuring and whisking, all down the drain.

“Sum a bitch,” Dylan muttered as she struggled to get hold of a rogue Cheerio on her tray.

I let out a groan and bent low until we were eye to eye. “Please, do Daddy a favor and don’t tell Addison where you picked that up from, okay, pumpkin?”

Her eyes lit up and she laughed. “Assin?”

My heart beat double-time and I tickled her chin. “Did you say Addison? Say it again. Addison.”

“Assin,” she chortled back gleefully.

Okay, so maybe my raspberry soufflé was in the shitter, but the baby had just said Addison’s name for the first time. If my own emotional reaction to hearing it was any indication, Addison was going to be stoked.

I opened the oven door and peered in at the browning pot roast. It looked exactly like the picture in the book, and smelled like a home run. I just had to hope that I was enough for dessert.

The doorbell rang and I swiped a hand over the dishtowel I’d tucked into the waist of my jeans.

“Be right back,” I murmured to the baby, heading for the door. I swung it open to find my mom standing there, her face full of anticipation.

“Where’s my baby girl?” she said, pushing past me and swiveling her head around as she searched for Dylan.

“Hello to you, my wonderful mother,” I said with a smirk, bending low to give her a quick kiss on the cheek. “Boy, it didn’t take long for me to go from prodigal son to persona non grata, did it?”

She slapped my chest gently and rolled her eyes. “Don’t be silly. You’ll always hold a place in my heart, dear. She just holds the rest,” she said with a wink. “Now, where’s that little angel?”

I gestured to the kitchen and Mom scurried away. I joked about it, but the truth was, I couldn’t be more thrilled about how quickly my parents had opened their hearts to Dylan. As parents, they’d been loving but reserved, attentive but strict. As grandparents? That tiny baby girl had them wrapped around her finger.

They’d only seen her a few times since she’d moved in with me because my father had gotten a stomach flu they hadn’t wanted to transmit, but they Facetimed with us three times a week, and couldn’t wait to get their hands on her again now that he was better. When I’d called to ask if they wanted to have an overnight visit, they were ecstatic.

It was going to be weird to be without Dylan. I’d become so accustomed to her being here, to hearing her sighs in the middle of the night and kissing her downy head in the morning. But tonight, after the rough couple days we’d had, I wanted to focus completely on Addison and whatever this was growing between us. She deserved my undivided attention because it was finally starting to hit me that this could actually be the real thing between us.

By the time I got back into the kitchen, my mother had already gotten Dylan out of her high chair and was shouldering her diaper bag.

“Don’t forget. She doesn’t like cold water, so give it to her room temp,” I said, bending to ruffle my daughter’s soft curls. “And she hates peas. If you try to give them to her, she’ll spit them out and refuse to eat anything else. Also, no grapes unless you slice them l—”

“Lengthwise,” my mother cut in dryly, shaking her head in mock disgust. “I swear, it’s like you think you hatched from an egg fully grown. I got you through your toddler years just fine, so spare the lessons, kid.” She hoisted the baby higher on her hip and bustled over toward me. “Now, give your mother a kiss good-bye so I can get out of your hair and you can try to seduce this nanny of yours.”

I froze and stared at her in stunned disbelief. “How . . . what do you mean?”

“You said you needed a sitter for a date. I’ve seen and talked to your nanny during a couple of our Facetime visits, and you’d be stupid not to give it a whirl,” she said with a shrug. “Judging by your face, I’d say I’ve confirmed my suspicions. Don’t mess it up; she seems like a good egg.”

With that, Mom wheeled around and made for the door again, disappearing as quickly as she’d come.

Don’t mess it up, indeed. No pressure there.

The oven timer went off, saving me from having to think about that dire warning for too long, and I bent to take the roast out, releasing the scent of roasting meat and onions into the air.

“Oh my God, that smells like heaven,” Addison said, stepping into the kitchen and tossing her keys onto the island.

I grinned and set the pan on the stove before turning to face her. “Thanks. I didn’t even hear you come in.”

I’d sent her off to get a spa treatment that afternoon, hoping it would scrub away the memory of pasta-hair and shit-water from the night before. Her glowing skin spoke volumes, but her eyes were glassy with tears. She swiped them away and forced a smile.

“I came in just as your mom was leaving. Boy, she is a real bundle of energy. She looks like a kid at Christmas.”

“Yeah, she’s excited,” I agreed, my stomach sinking as I stepped closer and took her hand. “But don’t try to distract me. What’s going on? You’re crying, Addison.”

She let out a snort that turned into a broken sob, and my heart cracked in two. Not at all what I had planned for tonight. I just wanted to make her smile.

“Talk to me. Are you hurt?” I asked, pulling her into the circle of my arms.

“N-no. Oh God, it’s so dumb. When your mom said hello to me, Dylan said my name. She called me Assin.” She laughed again and then hiccupped. “You must think I’m a frigging idiot right now.”

“On the contrary, I think you’re so fucking amazing, you take my breath away.” I pulled back and stared into her eyes. “And the fact that you love my daughter so much means everything to me.”

“She’s the best kid in the world,” Addison said. “You didn’t have to ask your parents to take her tonight, you know.”

“I do know. But I wanted to.” I lowered my mouth to hers, swearing to myself it would just be the one kiss for now. I’d planned to romance Addison, to feed and pamper her all night. But the second our mouths touched, it set off an avalanche of need, and I gripped her closer.

She opened her mouth and touched her tongue to mine, groaning as I pulled her closer.

So sweet . . . her skin was so soft. It smelled like honey and cinnamon, and I drew back and managed to grin down at her.

“You smell delicious. If that was a trap to try to get me to go down on you, it was a wasted effort. It’s pretty much all I think about anyway.”

Her cheeks went pink with pleasure and her gaze shot to my mouth. “You have a great mouth, Max,” she admitted softly.

Her words sent a hot rush of blood to my cock and I dived back at her with a growl, this time going for her neck. I trailed my tongue over the silky skin and closed my teeth gently over her flesh as I let my hand roam up her rib cage to cover her breast.

Her nipple instantly hardened, and I rubbed it between my fingers. Her back bowed, pressing her closer against me, smashing her pussy tight against my needy cock.

Fuck yeah.

How could I have missed this so much when we’d only done it once before?

Damn, though, that once had been a mind blower. As I recalled how her cunt felt squeezing my fingers, dinner suddenly seemed like a waste of precious time.

“How hungry are you?” I asked softly, my lips still against her throat.

I felt the vibrations of her chuckle as she shook her head. “Not very. Why, you got a better idea?”

I shoved aside the mail that still sat on the counter from earlier that afternoon and sent it scattering to the floor like confetti. Then I gripped her waist and hoisted her up onto the countertop.

With her deep, throaty moan spurring me on, I yanked her shirt up, and with nimble fingers unclasped the front catch of her bra. Her pert breasts spilled forward and the breath whooshed out of me.

“You’re killing me, Addison. It’s like you were plucked from my fantasies and put on earth to torture me.”

I pressed my hand to the small of her back, urging her to arch forward as I caught the tip of one breast between my teeth. She curled her legs around my hips and let her head fall back as a moan escaped her lips. Realizing that I still had a free hand, I slipped it between us and shimmied her cotton skirt up a little higher. She cried out as I cupped her through the lace of her tiny panties.

I sucked hard, drawing her nipple deep into my mouth, laving it with my tongue before letting go.

“I can feel how fucking wet you are.”

She let her head loll forward to meet my gaze. “You make me so hot, Max. All I can think about is how good it feels to have you inside me.”

I curled my fingers around her underwear and yanked hard. She gasped, shivering as they came away in my hand. I let them fall to the floor and then cupped her waiting pussy. The wet heat branded my skin as I palmed her gently.

“Max,” she breathed, shuddering as she wrapped one arm around my shoulders. “We have all night. Just this once, hard and fast?” she pleaded.

I had sworn that this night would be all about Addison, and if she wanted hard and fast, hard and fast was what she’d get.

I released her and used both hands to yank at my button fly, tearing my jeans open and freeing my cock. It bobbed between us and I grabbed hold, pausing to gaze down at her bare cunt for a brief, perfect moment. I’d seen her before, but only in dim light. Here and now, she was so totally open to me, so wet and slick, it was like my daydreams had come to life.

I moved my hand up and down over my shaft, wishing I could be everywhere at once. Eating her pussy . . . pounding my cock into her . . . sliding my hands in her hair as she sucked me . . . watching her beautiful face flush with desire as I exploded, jetting hot cum all over those perfect tits.

Addison’s eyes were locked on my hand as I worked my swollen member in smooth strokes until a bead of pre-cum glistened from the head.

“If you don’t fuck me right now . . .” Addison reached out to run her thumb over my aching tip, catching the creamy bead. I watched, light-headed, as she lifted her thumb to her mouth and sucked.

“Condom,” I muttered, half in a trance as I stared down at her. “I have to go get—”

“I’m on the pill and was tested last month,” she murmured breathlessly. “Are you . . .”

“Oh yeah,” I growled in response. Dylan had been conceived despite condom use. In fact, this would mark the very first time I’d ever fucked without one. If felt so fitting to have it be that way, with nothing between us.

I pressed myself into her and arched forward, flexing my jaw to keep from letting a string of curses fly. Her cunt fit me like a glove, cupping me, squeezing me, milking me with every inch I fed her.

“God, Max.” She gasped, rolling her hips and clutching at my shoulders. “You feel so good.”

I tried to think, tried to keep it all controlled and together, but it was a lost cause. I groaned and gave in to the wildness, plunging forward as deep as I could go. She reached around and closed her hands over my ass, urging me on with wordless whimpers as I pumped into her, using her hips to guide her response, forcing her onto my cock again and again in long, deep strokes.

She began to moan my name, over and over, slowly, softly at first and then faster, and I rammed deeper.

“Take that cock, babe.” I groaned, knowing how close she was, watching transfixed as her mouth dropped open and her eyes opened wide. “Take it all and let me feel you come for me. Let me feel it.”

I slipped my hand between us to massage her slick clit with two fingers, and then it was over. She was screaming as she jerked and shook against me, her cunt closing over me again and again.

The sensation set off a firestorm, sending blood pumped through my veins as my cock jerked and fired off, spurting into her as I groaned her name.

“Fuck, Addison. So fucking hot.”

We stayed like that for a long time afterward as our bodies recovered from the intensity. She moved first, swallowing hard and slumping forward to rest her face against the crook of my neck.

“Well, that was a nice welcome home,” she said softly, chuckling.

Home. This was her home. The thought should have scared me, but it didn’t. In fact, it made me feel warm somewhere deep down inside.

I wasn’t about to ruin our first night completely alone with questions or pressure on either of us. Right now, things were perfect. This didn’t require a label or some major declaration. Tonight, I just wanted to be with her and wake up with her next to me in the morning, then see how things unfolded.

“What do you say we eat some of this roast and then spend the rest of the night in bed, watching movies and . . .” I trailed off and let my gaze drift to her still bare breasts. Her nipples perked up instantly, making my cock twitch in response, and I wished I hadn’t mentioned the roast at all.

“I’m definitely in for all of that. Especially the ‘and’ part,” she said with a saucy wink.

I pulled back and helped her down from the counter, feeling better than I could ever remember feeling in my entire life.

If this was love?

I’d take it.