“Does this mean you’re not going to talk about moving out again?”
I shivered and went to smile up at him when the lust in his eyes prompted a different response.
“Only if you’ll still tie me to your bed.”
His growl of appreciation coiled right between my thighs. “As you wish, my little wife,” Max rumbled low, angling himself and holding out his arm toward the hall. “Go get in bed. I have one more surprise for you.”
I discarded my clothes as I went, feeling the heat of his stare clawing at my naked skin the whole way.
Chapter 27
Max
“Are you sure you want to do this?” I asked through the hotel’s bathroom door, an edge slipping into my voice that I’d managed to keep out for the last two days.
“Yes, I’m sure.” Her breathless laugh from inside should’ve been comforting, but it wasn’t. The mirror on the outside of the door showed just hownot-comfortingit was. My jaw was locked. My hands balled into fists in my pockets. Every inch of me tense and wishing I would’ve insisted she stayed at the house rather than come with me to Boston.
It was my fault.
I was the one who’d thoughtlessly mentioned to Daisy that Harper had bailed on coming to the FMH fundraiser gala with me. The remark had been more along the lines of “Andhere I’d thought Blaze being the guest of honor guaranteed Harper’s attendance.”
A joke turned into Daisy offering to go with me.
I couldn’t say no. God knew I’d never be able to say no to my beautiful wife. But damn, did I want to.
It wasn’t that I didn’t want her by my side. I wanted more than anything to show this woman off—and how much I fuckingadored her. But I was under no illusions about this event. It was exactly the kind of thing that belonged in the McCormicks’ world. On top of that, she was two weeks from her due date and generally uncomfortable all the time despite my best efforts to make her anything else.
“Do you not want me to go?”
I turned as Daisy came out of the bathroom, and my jaw dropped.
She looked like a Roman goddess of fertility, wearing a gold dress, the high waist drawn just under her full breasts, their curves on display in the deep V of the pleated fabric. The rest of the fabric fell all the way to the ground, shimmering in the light.
“Fuck, Daisy,” I growled, bracing myself.
“You like it?” Her eyes flicked down. “I ordered it online from the site where Frankie got her wedding dress. I was a little nervous about sizing, but she said they were pretty true to size.”
I hardly heard what she said. It felt like even my ears were salivating over the sight of her. “I more than like it, Daze. I don’t want either of us to go now.”I wanted to spend the rest of the night fucking her in that dress instead.
Pink brushed over her cheeks, and she smiled. “We have to go.”
I grunted my reluctant agreement.
She licked over her lips, and my cock jolted, hard enough to make her eyes drop to my groin for a second before they snapped back up. “Why do you keep asking me if I’m sure?” she asked, taking a step closer to me. “Do you not want me there?”
A frustrated breath whipped from my chest. “Of course I do,” I rasped, dragging my eyes over her again as I adjusted myself in my pants. “Even though it’s going to torture me.”
“Then why do you keep asking?”
My jaw clenched. “Because this event…it’s filled with people like Todd’s family. I go because I have to. Because it’s good formy business. But it’s not exactly fun rubbing elbows with people like that. I know how much you hated going to things like this with Todd and his parents, and I just want to spare you from it. Especially at thirty-three weeks pregnant.”
Her shoulder sagged, and she came to me. “Max.” Her hand landed on my chest, and my heart jumped to its home—in her palm.“It wasn’t the parties I didn’t like. Not really. It was how they treated me. How Todd treated me.” She shuddered. “He’d show me off, but it wasn’t because he was proud of me. He did it like…how I looked was supposed to be compensation for me not being part of that social class.”
I took her wrist and pulled her hand to my mouth, kissing the center of her palm and then releasing it. “I have something for you.”
Something I should’ve given her a long time ago.
“What?”
