Chapter 25
‘Once you’ve written your public statement, send it to me and I’ll edit it or approve it. Once we’ve nailed it down and you’re safely back at the ranch, we’ll both post it. You, to social media. Me, to my firm’s pages. After that, the media will pick it up and distribute it for us.’
‘Okay.’ Nina knew she should have said more, or maybe profusely thanked Linda for her help, only she couldn’t find any remnant energy. She felt so heavy, so tired.
‘This is going to be hard, Nina,’ her attorney warned for the dozenth time. ‘But we’ve got this.’
Nina nodded.
Linda smiled kindly. ‘I’ll be in touch almost every day. Given your celebrity status, things are going to move really quickly at first. But given that you don’t want to settle, things will slow down towards the court date. They always do.’
‘Thank you,’ Nina managed.
‘Get some rest.’ When Mav started walking her to the door of the suite he’d booked, Linda waved him away. ‘I know the way.’
Mav extended his hand, and when Linda returned the shake, he gently closed both of his over hers. ‘Thank you. We appreciate your help.’
‘Oh, trust me, this one is going to be my pleasure,’ she reiterated.
Nina waited until she heard the door click softly closed, but the moment it did, she fell apart. It was as if the lock clicking into place had the opposite effect on her, unlocking everything she had held back during the interview and the follow-up meeting with her attorney.
She didn’t sob. She only curled into a ball on the bed and let her pent-up tears flow freely and silently, blurring her vision.
Mav didn’t say anything.
Neither did she.
What was there to say? She felt as if she had come into his life under false pretences, and she had made things so difficult for him. For Poppy. It didn’t matter that she hadn’t meant to fall in love with him. She had.
Her shame was so immense just then, that she was the one who broke the silence first. ‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered, knowing that the words weren’t adequate.
Mav kicked off his boots. She heard one and then the other as they dropped to the floor.
He climbed onto the bed behind her and moulded his big body to hers, one arm pulling her close, his legs folded beneath hers.
He kissed the side of her hot, damp face, and he whispered, ‘I’m not.
’ He moved his arm to trail his fingers down her bare arm.
‘I’m angry and stressed and sad. But I’m also the happiest I’ve ever been. Because whatever happens, I found you.’
Nina thought about that, and as much as she wished she could change things, it was also exceptionally humbling to realize that the worst thing that had ever happened to her had also resulted in the best.
‘What do you need, Nina?’ he asked, interrupting her thoughts. ‘Food? Wine? Sleep? Markus? I can call him. He’ll come.’
Even the thought of food made her warring stomach sick. Sleep wouldn’t come. Markus needed time to decompress with Juan, just as she did with Mav. ‘I want you to love me so hard that I forget everything else, even momentarily.’
Mav’s breath caught. She heard it, that little catch.
‘Are you sure?’ he asked, always so sweet, so concerned.
‘It’s what I need,’ she whispered in reply.
Mav made a rumbling sound in the back of his throat that shot straight to her womb. He moved, making space to roll her onto her back. His blue eyes, hot with his own need, searched hers. ‘How do you need to be touched?’
‘It doesn’t matter how you touch me, only that it’s you.’
Mav smiled his full, dimple-popping smile. But it was Nina who felt lighter, as if the happiness that sparked in his eyes kindled a fire within her. She would protect this man and his family even though it would break her heart.
‘Have I told you that I love this dress?’ he asked, his voice low as he toyed with the strap of her sundress. ‘It’s so sexy. And—’ he slid, first one, and then the other, strap down her shoulder, shimmied the dress’s bodice down to her hips ‘—easy to remove.’
Nina fished her arms out of the straps and raised them to him, wanting to touch his golden skin. She started on his buttons, slowly at first and then quicker as the desperate greed in his eyes fuelled her own.
The moment the last button gave, she raked her nails lightly over his chest, chasing the quiver in his muscles.
He had barely touched her, but it didn’t matter. She was ready – wet – just from the anticipation of what he would bring her.
‘Tell me what you want,’ he reiterated.
Nina took one of his big hands in hers and lowered it between her legs. She needed to remember that, despite what had happened to her, she had found someone whose touch to her most vulnerable self did not take, but gave.
‘Here?’ Mav asked, and when she nodded, he slid two fingers through her.
He closed his eyes when he felt how wet she was, said, ‘You make me wild, Nina. Touching you makes me want to take you ruthlessly, even while knowing what you’ve been through makes me want to be gentle and go slow.
’ His eyes opened, burning into her, through her. ‘You tear me up inside.’
Nina swallowed. He had loved her fast and slow – but ruthlessly? It was a testament to her trust in him that the thought turned her on instead of scaring her. ‘Take me ruthlessly,’ she said.
Mav’s eyes snapped to her face again. They darkened with intensity even as he said, ‘I never want to scare you.’
‘I’ll tell you if it’s too much.’
There was one moment of perfect stillness.
And then Maverick flipped her over. Nina’s brain took a moment to process the new position on her stomach. But before she could move, he gripped her hips with both hands and dragged her backwards and up so that she was on her knees and elbows, her ass in the air.
Her heart thumped. But not with fear; with adrenaline, surprise, and anticipation.
When he unbuckled his belt and lowered his zipper, he did it slowly. The sound of his metal buckle sent a shiver through her, even as his zipper being lowered unravelled her.
She didn’t turn and look back at him because she liked not knowing what he was going to do.
And that surprised her. For someone who had never let her body take over, this ability to simply allow herself to feel was new and overwhelming and right.
And it was because of him. Only him. Because she trusted, absolutely, that he would never do anything to hurt her.
Mav lifted the skirt of her dress and let it fall over her shoulders, exposing her thong-covered ass to his gaze.
She thought he might pull her underwear to the side or take them off entirely, so Nina gasped in shock when he gripped the flimsy lace in both hands and tore it as if it were a piece of paper.
He tossed the scrap of fabric onto the floor, leaving her completely bare.
She fought a wave of self-consciousness, but it disappeared the moment Mav gripped her hips in his hands and said, ‘Look at you. All ready for me. So fucking perfect.’
Oh. My. God. Nina had not known the power words had in the bedroom until that moment. But only those few from Mav were enough to have her body tightening mercilessly. Her upper thighs were soaked. Her core ached to be filled. ‘Mav,’ she begged.
‘You wanted me to be ruthless,’ he reminded her, and instead of entering her from behind as she’d been expecting, he slid his hard length between her legs, stopping when the head of his penis nudged her entrance.
Nina’s breath rushed out of her as he began to thrust, teasing her, his hands at her hips easily controlling her body’s every movement. It didn’t matter that he wasn’t inside of her. Every nudge against her pushed her higher, the pointed absence of him somehow more erotic in that moment.
Nina felt that familiar wave gathering. She pressed her hips backwards, asking for more, but Mav just chuckled and kept torturing her, his hands reclaiming control of her restless hips easily.
Her core pulsed.
Each breath came in time with it.
And just when she was braced to go under, he stopped.
Nina’s eyes flew open as the orgasm started receding immediately. ‘Mav,’ she whined.
‘Ruthless doesn’t have to mean violent,’ he said, and she could hear the smile in his voice.
‘But—’
Before she could say more, he started again, slower now, each press of him against her meant to build that wave back up. ‘Watching you like this makes me so fucking hard,’ he said hoarsely. ‘I could come just from looking at you.’
Nina moaned loudly when she realized that he was torturing himself too, delaying his own release with hers. She was so wet that she could hear the slap of him against her, and somehow that only made it hotter.
Her hands gripped the comforter.
She buried her face in the bed, smothering her wanton cries.
But when he stopped the second time, she groaned at the loss.
Her arms and legs shook, as if her suppressed release needed to escape her body through different means.
Mav didn’t continue right away. He demanded, ‘Look at me,’ and when she turned to look at him over her shoulder, he leaned down, angled his head, and licked through her once, his wet tongue dragging sensation everywhere it touched.
‘Mav,’ she begged, as her body danced on the edge for the third time. ‘Please.’
‘Please what?’
‘Make me come.’
He entered her in one powerful thrust. Nina didn’t have time to brace as the orgasm he’d been teasing exploded through her. She cried out as her body pulsed around him, taking him deeper, holding him closer.
Mav didn’t even move.
He held himself inside of her as she came down from the tide, and the moment he felt her body quieten, he let go, spilling inside of her without a single thrust.
He released her hips and collapsed beside her on the bed.
They took a long moment, both of them lying on the bed, facing the ceiling. But it was Nina who moved first, sprawling over him, a well-loved woman in the afterglow of self-discovery.
She knew what she had to do. What she would do.