Chapter 22
TWENTY-TWO
MAISY
After nearly an hour of scrubbing the countertops, tossing empty bottles and shards of broken glass away, and wiping away every trace of the party and our wild sex, Sterling threads his fingers through mine. Without a word, he leads me down the hall to the bathroom.
He shuts the door behind us and turns on the shower, letting the space grow warm.
His eyes stay locked on me while his fingers trail down my body, skimming over my waist as he pushes my skirt down my hips.
I shiver under the weight of his attention while he takes his time, as if stripping me down is something he doesn’t want to rush.
When I’m finally standing naked in front of him, he tugs his shirt over his head with one hand and kicks his jeans free until there’s nothing separating us. My heart skips a beat when my eyes land on his thick, heavy length, hard for me again.
“So beautiful,” he murmurs, almost to himself, as his eyes skim over me.
His hand settles against the small of my back as he nudges me toward the shower. I step in first, warm water rushing over my skin.
Sterling steps in right behind me, crowding me against the tile as his mouth finds my neck, lips dragging wet, open kisses down to my shoulders as his palms work my breasts greedily.
By the time he turns me to face him, my chest is heaving, nipples peaked and aching, and every nerve is alive for him.
He pressed my back against the wall and nudges my thighs apart with his knee.
Without needing to lift me up, his cock finds my swollen entrance, and in one relentless thrust he stretches me to my absolute limit, forcing a strangled cry from my throat.
My fingers claw at his slick shoulder, searching for something to anchor me as he fills me.
“Fuck, Sterling,” I gasp, head tipping back against the tile.
He growls in response, grinding deeper, his mouth claiming mine. Each thrust is harder than the last, water running down our bodies as he drives into me. It’s impossibly overwhelming, but I never want him to stop.
He slows down, dragging nearly all the way out before slamming back into me, making me cry out again.
The rhythm is merciless—long, teasing strokes that have me clenching tighter around him, begging without words.
My thighs start to tremble as my toes barely grip the slick floor of the shower, every movement dragging me closer to the edge.
Sterling reaches down, and lifts me up so that I can wrap my legs around him.
He presses his forehead to mine, eyes locking on me and stealing my breath all at once. “Feel that?” he rasps. “Feel how good I fuck you? How perfectly you take me?”
The words unravel me, tightening the coil inside until it snaps, my orgasm tearing through me in violent, pulsing waves. I cry out as I cling to him, my nails leaving half-moons on his wet skin.
He doesn’t stop, though.
He keeps fucking me through it until I’m sobbing his name against his mouth, begging him to never stop.
With a broken groan, he follows me over the edge, his thrusts growing erratic before he buries himself deep and holds himself there. The shudder that rips through his body vibrates into mine, and his release spills hot inside of me.
For a long moment, the only sound is the water pattering against the tile and our ragged breathing. My body is limp against him, every muscle trembling as he kisses my temple, then my cheek, softer now, his mouth lingering like he’s trying to memorize the taste of my skin.
Then suddenly, the light flickers twice before the bathroom plunges into darkness.
“Shit!” I grab onto Sterling’s shoulders tightly.
“I’ve got you,” he says, gently pulling his semi-hard cock out of my pussy and reaching past me to shut off the water.
Sterling guides us out of the shower, my bare feet touching the cool tile, and feels around until he finds his phone on the counter. He switches on his flashlight to give us some light as he glances at the screen.
“There’s a blizzard warning in effect,” he mutters, thumb swiping quickly. “And I have no service.”
My stomach dips as I pray that Levi made it back to his house or the resort before the blizzard hit. Before I can say anything, Sterling aims his phone at the wall hooks, grabs one of the thick towels that hang there, and wraps it snugly around my shoulders before taking a towel for himself.
“Let’s get your phone,” he says. “Mine is about to die.”
He takes my hand and leads me down the hall, the chalet eerily silent as long shadows stretch across the floor. When we reach the living room, we find my phone on an end table.
I pick it up and tap the flashlight, seeing I have fifty percent battery left. “Hopefully it’s enough to last until the power turns back on.”
“Keep that steady, I’ll get the fire started.”
The glow of my flashlight bounces weakly off the walls as Sterling stacks logs and crumpled newspaper into the fireplace and strikes a match. Within seconds, the first flames lick upward and within minutes, the faint crackle and warm orange glow fill the room.
“Better,” he murmurs, before disappearing into the hall only to return with an armful of thick blankets and another towel.
I watch as he drops them onto the rug in front of the fire, before tossing the spare towel over my head with a crooked grin.
“Dry that hair before you catch a cold,” he says.
I laugh, muffled by the towel as I rub it over my dripping strands. When I’m a little drier, Sterling spreads the biggest blanket out across the rug and drops down into it, tugging me with him.
I let the towel drop from my hair to the ground, the fire popping and hissing, the warmth rolling over our skin. He leans back on one elbow, watching me with complete adoration.
I wish I could just sit here, with him staring at me the way he is now, but words I haven’t said yet sit heavy on my chest. I clear my throat and scooch closer to him.
“I never said thank you earlier, for what you did to Jeff.” Sterling slides his hand to mine and squeezes it gently. “You didn’t have to step in or hit him, but you did. For me.”
His jaw tightens as he stares into the fire. “I’d do it again,” he says. “And I won’t apologize for it.”
“I’m not asking you to,” I whisper. “I’m just saying thank you.” I drag the blanket tighter around my shoulders, heart pounding as I gather the courage for what comes next. “And, I need to say I’m sorry too.”
Sterling blinks at me. “For what?”
My chest tightens, shame twisting in my stomach. “For the things I said to you when I ended things three years ago. I was cruel and I said things I didn’t mean.”
For a long beat, he just stares at me, and his silence is suffocating. Finally, he exhales. “Why won’t you tell me the real reason you left me?”
“Sterling—”
He shakes his head, looking away from me. “I loved you. I would’ve done anything for you. And you cut me off like I was nothing. Like what we had was just…a mistake.” His jaw clenches. “I want the truth, Maisy.”
My throat tightens, tears hot behind my eyes. I force myself to look at him, because he deserves the truth I should’ve given him three years ago. Even if he doesn’t love me anymore.
“Because I felt weak. I thought you deserved better than me,” I whisper. “After the accident I wasn’t myself anymore. I was so broken, so angry, and the doctors told me the road back was likely going to be long and ugly.”
I swallow, digging my nails into my palm to stop the shakes. “I didn’t want you chained to that—to me. I wanted you to be free to focus on your career, to chase everything you’d worked so hard for without worrying about me slowing you down.”
I see shock flicker across his face, but I keep going, my voice trembling. “It wasn’t because I didn’t love you, or because I blamed you for what happened. God, I loved you so much it terrified me. But I thought letting you go was the only way to protect you from the mess I had become.”
I swipe at my cheek, but a tear slips free anyway. “What I didn’t expect was for you to give it all up. You walked away from your career. You left town.” My chest aches. “That wasn’t supposed to happen. That wasn’t what I wanted for you.”
Sterling is silent as he watches me, his jaw tight. When he finally speaks, his voice is low but shaking.
“Let me get this straight, Maisy,” he says, eyes flashing angrily. “You decided what I could handle, and what I couldn’t. You decided not to even give me the chance to show up for you. You chose to just shut me out. Did I understand that right?”
I open my mouth to protest, but no words come out, so I just nod because he’s right. He sits forward, elbows on his knees, fingers laced together so tightly his knuckles turn white.
“Do you have any idea what that felt like? One day I’m thinking about the next competition, the next trip we could take together once you recover, the future plans we made together, and the next day I’m—” His voice cracks and he swallows hard, forcing himself to go on.
“I’m standing there while the only person I’ve ever loved tells me it’s over, that it should’ve never been more than friends.
Like everything we were working towards didn’t even matter. ”
I bite my lips, tears spilling faster now as he blurs before me, but I stay quiet.
He shakes his head, still staring at the fire. “I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t even breathe without you. I would look at the board, at the mountains, at everything I thought I wanted, and none of it meant anything anymore. Not without you.”
The blizzard rattles the windows, and a low howl blows outside the chalet. Sterling finally turns to me again. “You should’ve told me how you were feeling, Mais. We could’ve figured it out together.”
“I know,” I whisper. “You’re right, I should’ve told you. I should’ve trusted you enough to let you in, and I’m so sorry I didn’t. I’ve regretted it every single day.”
He searches my face like he’s trying to decide whether I mean what I’m saying.
I take a shaky breath, my heart pounding.
“I never stopped loving you, Sterling. Not once. And being here with you now…it feels like breathing again. I tried so hard to push you away when you first got here, because I was so scared you’d realize how I actually felt.
But I literally feel like I’ve been holding my breath for three years and I finally want to let it out. ”
His jaw tightens, but his eyes drop to my lips, hungry with need. Before I can second-guess myself, I lean in and kiss him. Slow at first, until he groans against my lips, one hand cupping the back of my head.
“Twice in one night wasn’t enough for you?” he mumbles against my lips. “Greedy girl.”
I can’t stop the smile that spreads on my lips, but this time I don’t let him take control.
I push him back, easing him down onto the blanket, straddling his lap in front of the fire, damp hair clinging to my skin.
His hands slide up my thighs and then higher as he slowly undoes my towel and tosses it to the side.
I lower my hands and unwrap his towel from his waist, adjusting myself over him so that I can push it away. I grind down against his hardening length, and his head tips back on a groan.
“Maisy,” he says.
It sounds like a warning, a plea, and a prayer all in one.
“Let me,” I whisper, my hands braced on his chest. “This time, let me.”
His gaze locks on mine, and when I roll my hips again, he nods, jaw tight.
I reach down and guide his cock to my wet entrance, sinking down slowly, inch by inch, until he’s buried deep inside.
My breath hitches as once again my pussy stretches around him, and he squeezes his eyes shut, a guttural curse slipping past his lips.
“I want you to feel how sorry I am…how much I love you. Every second of it.”
I roll my hips, but he still bucks upwards, matching my slow rhythm, wanting me to feel every inch of him.
“You feel like home,” he rasps.
Tears spill hot and fast down my cheeks again, and I cup his face between my palms, forcing him to see the truth in my eyes. “I am home,” I breathe. “With you. Always with you.”
His lips crash against mine, desperate, like he’s been starving for me, too. I ride him slowly, dragging it out while I pour every ounce of love and regret into the way I take him.
There’s no running this time. No hiding as his body tangles with mine on the rug.
Every thrust feels like it’s binding us back together, piece by piece.
It doesn’t take long for his whole body to tense, his forehead pressing against mine as a strangled groan tears from his chest. He shudders, spilling deep inside me, his release warming me from the inside out.
I keep moving through it, rocking gently until his breathing evens out.
“I love you, Maisy,” he finally whispers, and in this moment, I know that this is where I’m meant to be.