Ohmygod. Once the sterile, masculine-looking office of the infamous Maxwell Cole, this newly decorated corner space overlooking downtown Chicago had light pink walls with etchings of white lilies. There was an overstuffed white couch with lily-shaped pillows and several armchairs, all surrounding a natural wood coffee table. Even the desk—a whitewashed antique-looking thing—was totally laid back and outrageous wonderful.
It was all so…incredibly thoughtful. I wanted to cry.
He continued, “But given you told me last evening you came to Chicago to say goodbye—”
“Max, let me explain—”
“No. Let me. As you pointed out, I was foolish to assume you would be waiting around six months after I gave no indication whatsoever of a reconciliation. But it took me thirty-three years to find you, Lily, and it never occurred to me that you’d fall in love with someone else. So now I see that I’ve made two errors since we met: one, not telling you how much I loved you before the scandal, and then taking six months to tell you where my head was at. So please don’t see all this as some sort of scheme meant to pressure you to come back. I simply never doubted we’d have a future together and, true to my flawed nature, I wanted everything to be perfect—for you, for us. This was all meant to be a new life and fresh start for us.”
My eyes teared. He had seen this company—and the store and this office—through the lens of a man who was already married. And now that he’d explained that, it made sense. Maxwell Cole was obsessed with perfection—he couldn’t help it. So why wouldn’t he take the same obsessive approach with us? His six-month absence from my life probably seemed like a necessary sacrifice to him in order to make everything just right.
I took his hand. “Max, you beautiful eccentric man, I can’t begin to articulate how blown away I feel right now. I mean, I get what you were doing, and as long as I live, no one will ever measure up to you.” I looked around the room. “This is all so…” I blew out a breath. “It’s wow.”
“But?” He crossed his arms over his chest.
“But I’m confused about us. My heart wants you so badly; my body wants you, too. But my head keeps telling me bad things, and I don’t know how to get past it.”
“So you really are saying goodbye.”
I didn’t want that. I really, really didn’t. But I didn’t want to jump into this and fuck it all up again and get hurt or hurt him. I also needed to get my act together. It was time to shake some old habits and learn to love myself. As for him…
“This is what I wanted to talk about, Max. I feel like we both have a road ahead of us before we can be together. You have some things to work out, too.”
He shook his head. “That’s the point you continue to miss, Lily. We are much stronger together. We challenge each other. We definitely don’t take each other’s shit.”
All true.
He walked over to the desk and pulled out the comfy-looking exec chair. “Take a seat, Lily. Because this is where you belong. Here, with me, living your dream.”
I stood there, next to the coffee table only a few feet from the door, frozen in conflict. Meanwhile, Maxwell Cole looked like his usual, confident self, able to convince anyone of anything. A natural born salesman. And who could resist that face? Or body. Or hell, that long dick of his.
“I think I should…” I closed my eyes, barely able to resist the pull. But I had to do what was right here. “I should go.”
“Lily,” he growled.
“I need a little time. That’s all.”
“I think you need something else altogether.” He walked toward me, unbuttoning his pants.
My eyes shifted side to side. “Uh…what are you doing?”
He walked past me, shut the door, and faced me. “Turn around.” He pulled out his hard cock and my eyes stuck to it. My body immediately reacted with heated throbs between my legs and tingles erupting on my c-spot. My nipples tightened into little pebbles and my mouth went dry. God, I so want him.
“I said turn around,” he demanded in that low authoritative voice he always used when something displeased him.
I didn’t reply because my mind was a crazy hot mess. I should go before he fucks all sense of rational thought from my mind.
No. Stay. Look at that thick hard dick. You know you want it.
Max stepped up to me, grabbed my hand, and placed it on his hard shaft. He dipped his head and pushed his lips to mine, pressing his other hand to the back of my head, deepening the kiss. The other hand he used to guide my fingers around his girth. Not that I needed help. I knew exactly what I wanted to do with him. I began to stroke him firmly, enjoying the feel of the soft velvety skin sliding over warm steel. I imagined him inside me, pumping hard, hitting that sweet spot that made me come in earth-shattering contractions that radiated through every nerve in my body. I loved how Max took control in the bedroom, how he knew how to use his body and deliver hours of mind-blowing fucking. The man made sex into an art form where he skillfully balanced giving and taking. He took and he took hard, but what he gave in return was sinful ecstasy.