Chapter 28 Maia
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
MAIA
Ihad to borrow one of Baird’s tees after we showered.
It was massive on me, hanging off one shoulder and bagging over the top of my skirt.
My wet hair was knotted on top of my head to be dealt with once we arrived at my place.
As I waited for Baird to dress for the day, I sipped a coffee and tried hard not to rub at my eyes.
While the most phenomenal sex of my life was worth the blurred vision and gritty pain of wearing my contacts overnight, they were really starting to bother me. I was itching to rip them out of my eyeballs. In fact, the irritation was almost, but not quite enough, to ruin my afterglow.
Every time I thought about last night or this morning, my skin would flush from the tip of my toes to the top of my head.
I wasn’t kidding when I told Baird I was a wee bit sore.
The last time I’d been sore after sex was the first with Charlie.
It wasn’t just Baird’s “monster cock.” It was Baird.
Sex with him … I’d never felt so free in bed before. It was invigorating and vigorous!
I realized up until last night, I’d been an overthinker during sex.
Not that I’d slept with a ton of people, but I’d had three boyfriends between Charlie and Will.
With every one of them I’d thought: Is he enjoying it?
If I move my hips a little, would it help make me come?
Would that make me seem greedy? Do I look good from this angle?
Did the fact that he didn’t look at me mean he’s bored?
Toward the end of my relationship with Will, I’d gone from overthinking it to feeling apathetic about his or my own enjoyment.
Sometimes it was good. Sometimes it was meh.
I still used my vibrator a fair bit whenever I was by myself in my flat.
With Baird, I doubt I’d have time to even think about my vibrator unless he was using it on me.
With Baird, it was like everything condensed down to feeling. Experiencing. I lost myself in the bliss of being with him. There was no overthinking. Because I believed he was lost in it with me. When he looked at me … goodness, I could come from that awed expression on his face alone.
I smiled dreamily even as I rubbed at my eyes.
“Where did you go?”
I looked up from my perch at Baird’s island to the blurry vision of him standing opposite it. “Huh?”
“You didn’t hear me walk in because you were daydreaming. Where did you go?”
“Where do you think?” I hopped off the island and squinted at him.
“My …” Baird grew a little less blurry as he approached, his face clearing slightly when he pulled me against him. There was a frown puckering his brow. “What’s going on? Your eyes are red.”
“I left my contacts in overnight, and these are only daily disposables, so they hurt like a bitch. We need to get to mine so I can take them out.”
“Take them out now.”
“I don’t think you understand how bad my vision is, Bear.”
“Is it any worse than it clearly is now? We’re leaving here, getting in my car, and going to your flat. I think I can get you there safely. Take them out.”
He was right.
“Can you walk me to the powder room because everything looks like blobby shapes to me right now.”
Baird clasped my elbow. “Were you just going to pretend you could see? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t want to be a nuisance.”
“You’re never a nuisance.” He swung me up into his arms and I lost my breath for a second.
“You have to stop doing that!”
Baird chuckled and strode to the powder room. He lowered me to my feet in front of the mirror and stayed behind me, bracing his hands on the sink so I was caged in.
“Are you going to watch? Because it’s not pretty.”
“I’m going to make sure you make it safely out of my house and to my car. Next time, you bring extra contact solution and an extra pair of glasses that you can leave here.”
I paused, pulling my eyelid down.
“You should probably bring some other stuff too. Extra toiletries and clothes. And I’ll do the same for yours until we move in together after the wedding.”
I gaped at his blurry reflection.
“What?” he asked quietly, uncertainly.
“Nothing,” I whispered, my heart in my throat. “It’s just … feels nice to not play games with you. For you to just … for you to really want me in your life and not be afraid to say it.”
Baird pressed his chest to my back, his lips lingering at my ear. “The only way I’ll ever not be in your life is if you ask me to go. And even then … I’ll fight for you.”
Tears threatened to spill, exacerbating my current problem. I elbowed him. “Don’t make me cry right now!”
His body shook against mine with amusement. Then he gently slapped my butt. “Hurry. We’re going to be late.”
I muttered under my breath about arseholes saying perfect things when you had your finger in your eyeball, which only made him snort-laugh. As quickly as possible, I removed the contacts and dumped them in the trash with Baird’s guidance.
Everything was blurry, so it was hard to gauge the distance between objects. Once Baird had everything he needed, he took my hand again and guided me outside. He locked up one-handed, not letting me go, and then helped me over the cobblestones toward the building’s car park.
His grip was gentle but firm, and I bit back a giddy smile.
Will wasn’t the hand-holding type.
Charlie was. I’d loved holding hands with him when we were kids.
“What are you thinking?” Baird asked as we stopped by his car.
Realizing I could pretty much say anything to him, I smiled at his blurry face. “I love holding hands with you.”
He squeezed said hand. “Then my hand is yours to hold whenever you want it.”
There went those damn tears again. My nose stung trying to hold them back. “Seriously, you have got to stop saying the nicest things.”
His face drew closer, his lips brushing mine. He whispered against them, “Never. Not until it sinks in.”
“What sinks in?”
Baird didn’t answer. Instead, he opened the passenger door and helped me into my seat.
“What sinks in?” I repeated.
He closed the door and rounded the bonnet, sliding into the driver’s seat.
“What sinks in, Bear?”
“No time. We need to get moving. I hope you like a little El Camino in the morning.” Music blared to life, and I recognized the opening riffs of a song by The Black Keys.
Baird, like me, had an eclectic taste in music.
One minute he was listening to rap, the next techno, the next rock—whatever struck his mood.
I guessed we were done with the questioning portion of the morning.
I didn’t ask again, but I pondered his words all the way to my flat.
Not only was I tired from lack of sleep, but my body ached all over.
And not just from Baird rolling me around in his bed last night but from walking around venues all day.
Thankfully, the acting in love and happy part of the venue shoot was easy because Baird and I were still high from finally getting together.
On the way to the first venue, Baird told me about Braden’s proposal to use Blantyre as the location for the wedding ceremony and reception.
I was fully on board, so as soon as we met up with the director and crew, they called the project managers to relay the proposal to them.
They said if we could get permission to film there tomorrow so we at least had the footage, they’d talk with the higher-ups about switching venues.
The thought of another day of traipsing around luxury wedding locations might have made me want to curl into a ball if Baird’s presence didn’t inject me with adrenaline.
He could barely keep his hands off me.
At one point, during the second venue shoot, he’d waited until the crew was distracted and then he’d hurried me into the empty ballroom to press me up against the wall and kiss me breathless.
He’d been perfect all day.
My eyes were too sore for contacts, so I’d chosen to wear my glasses after Baird convinced me I looked hot. Bruno was being an arse about them.
“They reflect light! We can’t see her eyes, and they’re her best feature.”
Baird lost his good-boy charm in an instant.
“Wrong. Her heart is her best feature, which is why she’s too nice to tell you to fuck off.
I’m not. My fiancée’s eyes are sensitive today so she’s wearing her glasses, and if you say one more word about it, I’ll take Maia back to my car and we’ll drive out of here, leaving you to explain why your pissant behavior lost Pennington’s precious pennies today. ”
The crew all went silent, though I saw an assistant or two trying to cover their smiles.
I didn’t bother covering mine. I beamed, like the proud fiancée I was.
Bruno swallowed hard, his face blanching as if realizing he’d just upset the fiancée of a six-foot-five Scottish goalkeeper. “Right. Of course. We’ll manage fine as we are.”
Will had never stood up for me like that. Neither had Mum. Grace had. Dad had. But no one since them.
Until Baird.
In the empty ballroom, when he finally let me up for air, I’d squinted up at him because he’d pushed my glasses up into my hair so he could kiss me. I whispered hoarsely, “Thanks for having my back today.”
Baird stroked my cheek tenderly, before popping my glasses back onto my nose. His gorgeous features sharpened into focus as he eased away from me. “You’re my family now, My. In my family, we always have each other’s backs.”
I grinned a little too giddily. “Same.”
If my smile gave away too much of my feelings, Baird seemed delighted, not frightened. He hugged me into his side, pressing a slow kiss to my temple before we reluctantly rejoined the crew.