As he walked away, my breath let out in a whoosh, and then I felt Max’s head dip next to mine.
“You’re incredible, do you know that?”
I let out a weak laugh and then reached for my stomach, feeling a small cramp.
“Max…” I tipped my head.
“Incredible and all mine.” His mouth dropped to mine, kissing me in the middle of the crush without a care in the world.
“Max?”
We pulled apart as a very handsome and vaguely familiar face came over. In the background, a banner echoed his striking features.Blaze Stevens.
“Blaze,” Max greeted warmly. “Good to see you again.”
The Hollywood star smiled, but the expression didn’t reach his eyes. “I was hoping I’d find you here…” he said as he shook Max’s hand.
“Blaze, this is my wife, Daisy. Daisy, this is Wade’s brother, Blaze.”
Blaze gave me the same clipped smile, like a flower that had been clipped and pruned so it didn’t grow too tall or too wide. Like he’d trimmed his emotions into the image the public wanted to see.
“I just wanted to thank you for letting me rent the apartment,” Blaze continued, his voice lowering a notch. “It’d be different if it were just me, but with Pais, I don’t trust a hotel or the strangers there to keep my privacy.” There was a flash, and his head snapped to the side, though his expression remained untouched.Like a man who smiled as he was being tortured.
“It’s not a problem. Glad I could help.”
“Flowers look great, by the way. And the perfume…genius,” he added, and I felt a blush of pride warm my chest. “Heard a bunch of people remarking on it.”
I looked up at my husband, who just smiled calmly and said, “Wonderful.”
Max’s reserve carried new meaning now. New weight. A gentlemanly kind of armor he only shed when he was around me, and that made my blood heat.Just like I shed a few things only around him and became something I never thought I’d appreciate: submissive.
“Blaze!” a deep voice called from behind the famous actor. With a nod that looked more like a grimace, Blaze excused himself and disappeared into the crush.
“Everything really is beautiful, Max,” I said, inching closer to him as a group of men who were drinking and talking loudly moved behind me.
He took my hand and lifted it to his mouth, pressing his lips to the back for long seconds and staring at me. “You’re beautiful, Daze. Exquisite.”
“Max.” I sighed and shook my head.
I’d lost count of the number of times he’d complimented me tonight. In every private intermission between meeting and greeting people, Max had told me how beautiful I was. How exquisite I looked. How he couldn’t stop looking at me.How he couldn’t wait to get me back to our room.
“I’m serious, Daze.” He stepped closer and cupped my face. “Everyone in here is looking at you.” His voice lowered. “You’re a goddess.”
“You keep saying that?—”
“Because it’s true,” he growled. “Everyone is looking at you, and all I want is to take you back upstairs and remind you that you’re mine.”
“Max.” I shivered, my eyes fighting to stay open as his mouth found the shell of my ear.
“Do you still feel me running out of you?” he husked with a devilish grin.
My jaw went slack, my nipples pebbling hotly against my dress. I picked this one because the way the fabric pleated over my chest, I could get away without wearing a bra.I had to get away with it.I was too big and uncomfortable for bras anymore, and Max acted like I’d made the decision solely for him.
To him, I didn’t live in oversized T-shirts and dresses because everything else was too tight or uncomfortable. I wore thosethings because they gave him easy access to my body. When I woke overnight, tossing and turning because there was no position comfortable enough when you were about to pop, it was just one more invitation to give me an orgasm. When I couldn’t bend down to put socks on or tie my sneakers, he never wasted an opportunity to get on his knees for me—and make mine weak for him.
Every moment when I could’ve felt bloated and overstuffed, uncomfortable and unattractive, he turned those thoughts on their head. He made every minute of this pregnancy—every change my body endured—like I was providing him one more facet of his fantasy.
I’d never felt more attractive. More desired. More cherished.More loved.And I would admit to being wrong, to picking the wrong man a thousand times over, if every time it meant it would lead me to the right one. To Max Hamilton.
