Without a word, he hauled me into his arms for a spectacular bear hug. He held me, his face buried in my hair, breathing me in.
My return embrace was tight, almost pulling, like if I could, I would have soaked up every bit of PTSD his injury had left him with.
No words were needed.
We just held each other.
Yet I fell faster and deeper in that moment than I had throwing myself over that river.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
MAIA
The music in the club was a wee bit too loud, but my friends were enjoying themselves, shouting over it to be heard, nursing their beers and cocktails. Callan had pulled some strings and gotten the entire VIP mezzanine for us. He said it was so we could dance in privacy if we wanted to since our escapades last time had gone viral on social media. I was looking forward to this campaign being over so Baird and I could explore our relationship in a normal environment.
My fiancé had his arm around the back of the booth behind me, his side pressed to mine as he talked and joked with Callan, John, and Sebastian. Ainsley had come with us and had brought a date, a gorgeous blond dude called Alex. The two of them had disappeared down onto the dance floor thirty minutes ago. I was being grilled by Beth and Lily about the wedding plans since the two of them, along with January, Belle, and Elle were my bridesmaids. I was grateful they’d said yes, considering how quickly everything had come together.
Two weeks had passed since the bungee jump. Brunokept to his word, and we approved the final edit of the video. The public loved it, so Pennington’s asked permission to follow us around on a “typical date night.” Baird had taken me out for dinner and drinks while the public stared at us, wondering why there were two camerapeople and a director following us around town.
It had been a whirlwind few weeks. Pennington’s really ramped up the schedule for the campaign, and we’d filmed everything but the wedding and honeymoon. Thankfully, the company had decided it was more cost effective to book a studio with a pool and use green screen and just pretend they were filming us on our honeymoon than send an entire crew with us for the duration. They had some footage from the resort they’d booked for us in Bali (I couldn’t say I wasn’t excited for that!), and Baird and I would take handheld footage that Pennington’s would edit together with theirs. Our “honeymoon” shoot wasn’t for another week.
We had a break from filming for the campaign for a while, and I was glad because I wanted to focus on us.
After the bungee incident, Baird had agreed to reach out to the therapist the club had hired after his injury. He’d had two sessions with her so far, and we were both optimistic it would help. Baird assured me that just confiding in me had lifted a huge weight off his shoulders, and I felt incredible and humbled that I could do that for him.
Despite how busy we were, we’d managed to grab alone time. And while my period momentarily interfered with our sex life, as soon as it finished, we were all over each other. I swear I had a little more definition in my abs from how athletic the sex was.
And yet, my favorite standout moment of the last few weeks was just a few nights ago. Christina informed me Becky would be accompanying me to Paris Fashion Weekfor some cooked-up reason she’d whispered in her boss’s ear, and I was stressed and pissed off. Baird had given me a key to his place, and I was supposed to be meeting him there. He’d called to tell me a property management work meeting was running late. I’d decided to fill my time by running a bubble bath in Baird’s oversized, egg-shaped tub to decompress from the terrible news. I hadn’t had a bubble bath in forever.
I was luxuriating in said tub, Hozier playing from my phone, when Baird came running into the bathroom, giving me the fright of my life.
His cheeks were flushed, and he was already tugging at his tie.
“What on earth?”
He grinned even as he devoured me with his gaze. “I heard Hozier.”
It took me a second and then I burst into laughter. Laughter that only got more hysterical as I watched him tear off his clothes like an excited schoolboy. He knocked over a plant pot, stumbled into the sink trying to get his trousers off, skidded on the bath towel I’d laid down and nearly landed on his arse … it was chaotic and hilarious. There were tears in my eyes by the time he lunged into the tub, sending water cascading over the sides.
I’d squealed as he reached for me, totally uncaring of the mess he was making. Even as he kissed me, I burst out laughing again. “I’m sorry,” I wheezed, “I just keep picturing it.”
He grinned at my teasing, completely unabashed by his less than suave seduction attempts. “You’re ruining Hozier.”
I snorted. “I think you ruined Hozier.”
“Aye?” He dipped his hand in the water between us andI sucked in a breath at the feel of his thumb on my clit. “You sure about that?”
“Hmm … maybe … maybe I can be convinced otherwise.” I gasped as he pushed his fingers inside me.
From there, Baird made languid, decadent love to me in his bathtub and we didn’t get out until we were both wrinkled and pruned. He made me scarily happy. For the fifty millionth time in two weeks, I held back the wordsI love you.
I didn’t know why I was holding myself back.
Correction: I did know why. I just didn’t like thinking about it.
I was terrified of rejection, abandonment.
Therefore, I was waiting for Baird to take that first step.
