Maverick didn’t hold his breath that it would end happily as Saskia started plotting how she could use Jude, but when she met him for dinner to set her plans in motion and then invited him back to her place, Mav’s heart started to tap.
On screen, Saskia poured Jude a drink and excused herself.
Maybe because he had half been expecting her to shoot the poor bastard, Mav was shocked when she reappeared on screen, this time nude but for a sexy-as-hell, high-waisted thong that defined her subtly curved hips. But the moment she did, he didn’t see Saskia. He saw Nina, her small breasts gloriously naked.
Maverick didn’t look away. He couldn’t have, even if he’d wanted to. He did release an agonized ‘Fuuuuck,’ as, on screen, she sauntered over to an equally stunned Jude and then slowly removed her underwear.
Mav exhaled a tight breath as Saskia and Jude tore frantically at each other, their passion clear in their absolute abandon. But all he could think was that the woman completely naked on screen just then, the same woman who he had started something with, had told him to watch this movie.
Maverick looked down at his painfully hard erection beneath the fabric of his sweatpants. He could have finished himself using nothing but a few strokes of his hand and the rest of the scene. But it felt odd, even dirty, when Nina was right next door.
Taking his phone off the nightstand, he shot her a text.
About two-thirds of the way through Dogs of Despair …
He thought she might have been sleeping, but she replied right away.
Oh? What do you think so far?
Maverick grinned at the nonchalance, but he decided to play along.
Great acting. Gotta love a heist movie.
The little typing bubbles appeared and then disappeared. Appeared again.
Glad you’re enjoying it!
Maverick looked down at the text. ‘Glad you’re enjoying it?’ he whispered to himself. What the hell was he supposed to say to that?
He sat down on his bed and stared at his phone, suddenly unsure of himself. Maybe she hadn’t meant anything by it? Maybe this was her best movie, and she had genuinely wanted him to watch it.
Itwasa damn good movie.
He decided he would go speak to her and got all the way to the door before he simply stopped and banged his head gently against it. ‘What are you doing? Idiot.’
He had promised himself that he would give her the time and space to take that next step, and though he was pretty sure she’d wanted him to watch that scene, it didn’t mean anything until she told him it did.
Because that felt right in his head, he turned towards his shower. He’d take it ice cold and then he’d finish the movie, this time fast-forwarding through any scenes where Nina wore anything less than jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt.
He got halfway to his bathroom before a quiet knock sounded.
He knew it was her.
He could feel that static attraction pulling at his skin.
He exhaled one deep breath before backtracking.
He opened the door.
She stood a few feet back, dressed in those little silk pyjamas he’d seen her in that first morning. She shifted anxiously and clasped her hands together. Those dark eyes pulled at him. ‘Based on all the rom-coms I’ve watched,’ she whispered, conscious of Poppy across the hall, ‘this is kinda the part of the movie where you’re supposed to knock onmydoor …’
Maverick’s heart thumped erratically. He took a single step towards her, watched as those eyes steeled with determination. She was still afraid, he realized. She was afraid and trying not to be. ‘I won’t hurt you.’
‘I know. It’s just … I’m not exactlyexperiencedin this department.’
That gave him pause, but only because he wanted to know how gentle he needed to be. ‘What do you mean by that?’ he asked quietly. And when she didn’t reply right away, but blushed furiously, he added, ‘I want to know how to touch you without scaring you.’
She broke his gaze. ‘I’ve had sex three times,’ she saidsoquietly. ‘And no, not three partners. Three timestotal. And mostly because I wanted to test myself, see if I could feel any deeper emotional connection to the men I was with after sleeping with them … And I didn’t,’ she said in a rush. ‘And I’m kinda freaking out. Because I already like you so much, and what if I can’t …’ She dropped her gaze.
