Chapter 27
CHAPTER 27
D ecember 25 th
Merry F-ing Christmas. Literally.
The Christmas ball was a dream. Paige and Max danced the entire night, but when they weren’t dancing, there was no awkwardness as they chatted with her parents, Nick, Holly, or any of the other people Max had met. It was as if he were already part of the town and it felt as if they’d already been a couple for far longer than the past week.
Max was considerate, protective, supportive, and damn, he could dance like a dream. However, Paige’s thoughts kept straying to Mr. Paris. He’d just saved the bookstore and she needed to thank him. She also felt as if she needed to confide to Max who Mr. Paris was. Yet, it wasn’t really any of his business. She knew he’d had other sexual partners and it wasn’t as if they’d been together when Paige was with Mr. Paris.
Paige excused herself from the dance and locked the stall in the bathroom. She pulled out her phone and began searching the Groupe d’C?ur. She saw the pages she’d already seen with her friends, but on the bottom was a link to the d’C?ur Foundation. She clicked that and read that it was comprised of a family board that worked with many organizations. The page was pretty bare bones and didn’t offer a lot of information. They obviously didn’t like to advertise the foundation. Upon digging on other sites, she found that the foundation was responsible for close to fifty million a year in grants, funding, scholarships, and more.
Digging further, Paige found information on a French tax site. This was it. She’d found him. The president of the foundation was Pierre d’C?ur IV, the son of Pierre and Catherine, and there was an email link.
Paige clicked it and took a deep breath. She hoped she got this right.
Dear Mr. Paris,
I hope this finds you and that I’m correct in your identity. I just had to write to tell you goodbye but also to thank you. I want to first thank you for what you did for Holly’s Bookstore. Second, our times together actually made me realize many things about sex, relationships, and about myself. You never made me feel I was wrong for wanting pleasure. Instead, you encouraged me to explore experiences I never had before. You made me feel safe for asking for what I wanted, trying new things, and powerful for embracing my sexuality.
For that, I can’t thank you enough for being a part of my adventures.
Goodbye,
Miss Reading
Paige hit send and felt good about what she’d done. She’d needed to thank him. Mr. Paris had treated her well. As much as she wished she could stay friends with him as she had with Jack, Roman, and Griz, she knew it wasn’t possible. Mr. Paris was the only other man besides Max she dreamed of being with. However, just as Mr. Paris had told her, her dreams of him were fantasies. Her dreams of a life with Max were real, and reality was so much better.
Paige headed back out to the ball. She found Max dancing with a group of kids hyped up on sugar. He was twirling two girls at the same time as their parents took the opportunity to dance with each other.
Paige watched as Max laughed when one of the boys jumped on his back. “I know I can joke about you getting married,” her mother said, coming to stand by her. “I hope you know I never wanted to be like Gretchen.”
Paige turned to her mother with surprise. “I know that, Mom. You’re nothing like that. You and Dad have always been supportive of me.”
“Good,” her mom said, turning and gripping her hand. “Then you know I mean this. Marry that man, Paige. Right now, this minute. He’s the one. I know it. Your dad knows it. Max knows it. The question is: do you know it?”
“It’s too soon. We just started dating.” It even sounded weak to Paige’s ears as she said it.
Her mother raised an eyebrow, silently calling her out on the fact that they’d been friends for almost a year. “When a woman knows, she knows. You went after the job of your dreams and got it. Now, go get the man of your dreams.”
The song ended and Max joined them with a huge smile on his face. “What a fun night.” A slow song came on. The kids groaned and left the dance floor. Max held out his hand. “One last dance with your duke?”
“Duke?” her mom asked with a laugh.
“She called me a prince and I said I was merely a minor aristocrat. Then she downgraded me all the way to a knight,” Max told her, looking wounded, his hand over his heart.
“Well, you dance with your duke and I’ll dance with my king,” her mom told them as her father approached. “We’ll see you two tomorrow morning for family Christmas after I wrap up with the guests. Nine in the family quarters?”
“Can’t wait,” Max answered. “Merry Christmas, Lily, Adair.” Her father patted Max on the back with a big smile on his face before leaning forward and placing a kiss on Paige’s cheek.
“Merry Christmas,” her father told them both before spinning her mother away for a dance.
Max held out his hand. “Shall we?”
Paige snuggled into him as they swayed with the music. Max’s hands ran slowly up and down her back, his thumb teasingly brushing the top of her butt. Paige looked up at him as they danced. Max was smiling down at her with such love that she knew right then and there she wanted to make love to him. She didn’t care about her virginity. That’s not why she was doing it. She was doing it, not for her resolution, but because she wanted to make love with the man she loved with all her heart.
“Let’s go back to the cottage,” Paige said. She thought she’d be nervous, but everything was so right. “I have a gift I want to give you.”
Max drove back to the cottage, holding her hand and talking about the night, the town, and how great her parents were. Paige had never felt surer of anything as she walked into the cottage. Max didn’t say anything as he lit the fire in the small fireplace.
“Do you want your gift now or later?” Max asked her as he tugged his tie free.
“Later,” Paige told him, moving in front of the fire and kicking off her heels. “I want to give you my gift first.”
Max grinned and sat on the chair. “Should I close my eyes?” he asked, closing his eyes and holding out his hands.
Paige reached to her side and slowly unzipped her dress. The sound of the zipper seemed to echo through the cottage. Max opened his eyes as her dress pooled around her feet.
“Paige,” he said, his voice rough with the realization of what she was giving him. “Are you sure?”
Instead of answering, Paige reached over to the Christmas tree and pulled out a foil packet she’d hidden in the branches and handed it to him. Slowly, she unhooked her bra and let it fall to the floor along with her dress and panties.
“I think I’ve been waiting for you, Max, all along. Not because sex with someone you don’t know well or because you need an orgasm is wrong, but because I’ve known it was you since I tried my first meet-cute and spilled coffee on your friend. Then I saw your picture on the application for my virginity. I chose you back then and I’m choosing you now.”
Max stood up and slid his suit coat off before he began to slowly undo the buttons of his dress shirt. “I’d never been so tempted to break the law as I was when I walked into that hotel room.” Max pulled his shirt off and reached for her.
Paige licked her lips. They’d been naked with each other before, but it never got old seeing Max’s body. He pulled her to him and her hands rested on his chest. She raked her nails over the ridges of his abs to his belt. Max didn’t move as she unbuckled his belt and then unbuttoned his pants. He kept his eyes on her face, watching her as she undressed him.
Paige was going to reach for his erection, but Max bent and scooped her up into his arms. He carried her around the chairs and across the room. With just the fire and the lights on the Christmas tree casting a glow in the cottage, Max laid her on the bed.
He climbed onto the bed, his body covering hers, the heat of his erection nestled perfectly between her legs. His hand reached out and tugged her hair free until it was spread over the pillow.
“This is how I imagined it. You’re gorgeous, Paige.”
Paige knew what to do. Romance books had taught her well. There were no nerves as she closed her eyes and kissed him with all the love she had. Max whispered sweet words to her between kisses as his fingers went to work bringing her body to a frenzy.
Max moved down her body, his lips following his fingers as he worshiped her breasts before spreading her legs wide and sliding them over his shoulders.
“Max!” Paige gasped as he brought to the brink, only to pull back, to bring her back to that brink again. “I can’t take it anymore!”
Paige was gasping. Her head was spinning. Every nerve was firing as Max braced his elbows on each side of her head. She felt the head of his erection pushing into her, stretching her more than his fingers had.
He moved so slowly that she was squirming. Short, shallow thrusts that left her begging. “I love you, Paige,” Max said a moment before he kissed her and thrust fully inside of her.
He swallowed her gasp of pain and then kissed her until they were both groaning. “Are you okay?” Max asked, using a hand to push away some hair that was in her face.
“I want more,” Paige said, her body becoming almost fevered. Her hands were running down Max’s back as her hips moved on their own, begging Max to move again.
“I’m all yours.”
Max moved then. Paige reached up and grabbed his arms, holding on as Max changed the angle and knew exactly what to do. The heat grew, the tension coiled tight, and when Max lifted one of her legs to hook onto his hip as he pushed himself more upright, Paige saw stars. All she could do was cling to him as her body broke into a thousand pieces. But then Max was there, groaning out her name, collecting all the broken pieces and putting her back together with his love.
Max pulled out and Paige instantly felt the loss, but it didn’t last long. He rolled her into his side and held her tightly, kissing her. “I hope it was worth the wait,” Max whispered to her between kisses.
Paige didn’t know if it was or not. She couldn’t imagine any of her past dates ever giving her the pleasure Max did. One thing she knew though, even if she’d slept with a hundred men, she’d know this was special. This moment with Max was more than just sex. It was love.
“You are worth the wait. However, are you telling me we could have been doing that since this spring?” Paige smacked his arm playfully.
Max kissed her forehead and rolled from the bed to get cleaned up. “Don’t worry, duchess. We’ll make up for lost time.”
Paige watched Max glance at the clock and then walk over to his bag. He reached inside and pulled out a small square box with a bow on it. Paige scooted up in bed until she was sitting upright. “Merry Christmas, Paige,” Max told her, taking a seat next to her as if exchanging gifts in the nude was perfectly normal. Actually, it did feel normal. She might have to institute a new rule that when alone they had to always be naked.
“You didn’t have to get me anything,” Paige said as she took the box.
“I saw this while investigating a robbery three months ago and had to get it for you.”
Paige’s heart did another little stutter. He really had been loving her this entire time. She pulled the ribbon off and opened the box. Then she laughed. Hard. “I absolutely love it,” Paige said, handing it to him. “Put it on me, please.”
Paige watched as Max placed the diamond encrusted interlocking handcuff charms around her neck. They were small and from far away probably looked like an infinity circle, but up close you saw they were handcuffs. “Max, this is the most perfect gift you could have given me. I don’t think mine can compete with this.”
“You already gave me the best gift. And trust me, it was way better than a necklace.”
Max kissed her until they were both heated and wanting more. This time, he lay back, letting her take the lead. “Use me to find your pleasure, Paige.”
And she did. She moved awkwardly at first, but when he placed his hands on her hips and encouraged her, she chased her pleasure and it was the perfect gazie with Max coming with her, mixing shouts of love and promises of some very naughty things she couldn’t wait to try.