‘Why not?’
‘They’re the wrong flour to sugar ratio to be considered cake,’ he said seriously, and pushing to his feet, started carrying her to the door.
‘Wait! Mav! I’ve got to change.’
Maverick looked down and noticed for the first time that she was wearing the old ‘Rage Against the Machine’ shirt he’d had on the night before and a pair of little shorts. ‘You looked dressed to me.’
‘What if Poppy recognizes your shirt?’
‘Poppy is about as interested in my clothes as she is in vegetables – i.e. not at all.’ Still, he put her down and watched as she quickly lifted the shirt up and off and sent him a playful wink over her shoulder.
Maverick’s mouth watered at the sight of her slender back, bare to his gaze. Because he was standing close to the door, he kicked it shut.
Nina laughed.
He went to her, said, ‘I love the way you look,’ as he approached because it was true, and because he didn’t want to sneak up on her.
She watched him over her shoulder, her dark eyes beckoning him, her mouth set in a sexy smirk, and when he stopped directly behind her, she pressed her bare back into him, welcoming him.
His hands rose to her naked breasts and kneaded. Leaning down, he trailed his lips over the velvet skin of her neck. ‘I love the way you taste,’ he murmured and lightly bit down on her shoulder. ‘I love the way you fit in my hands.’ To make his point, he cupped both of her breasts, and when she moaned, he whispered, ‘I love those little noises you make.’
‘Mav …’
‘What do you want, Nina?’
‘Touch me.’
Her trust almost shattered him. He knew what she was asking, knew that it took momentous courage after what she’d been through. And then she said, ‘When you touch me, it makes me forget everything else,’ and he groaned aloud.
He took her mouth in a passionate kiss as he slid his hand down, past the waistband of her shorts, breaking the kiss to curse when he slipped two fingers through her and found her soaking wet.
Nina let her head fall back onto his shoulder as she arched into his touch. One of her hands snaked back to hold on to his neck as he began to move, sliding his fingers up and down her damp inner flesh. ‘I’m already so close,’ she whimpered.
‘Fuck,’ he swore again. He slipped a single finger into her, felt those little muscles closing around him. He thrust quickly, pulling almost completely out of her every few strokes to rub the nerves around her entrance.
When she started panting, he gripped her hip with his free hand as if he could anchor himself to earth, to her, and when she closed her eyes and started riding his hand, he brought his lips to her ear and whispered, ‘You’re so goddamn sexy.’
‘Mav …’
‘I could come just from watching you.’
She erupted on a gasp.
Her back bowed.
Her body tightened around his finger, holding him close as the orgasm rolled through her, and when she started sliding down his front, he hauled her into his arms and placed his lips gently on hers.
This kiss was tender and slow and deep, full of everything he felt but couldn’t say. Things like,I want you,I need you,I’ll miss you.
It went on, spinning them through time, and when they finally broke apart, Nina smiled, and she whispered, ‘Best. Birthday. Ever.’
Chapter 16
‘Please, Maverick. I promise you won’t regret it,’ Markus whined for the hundredth time during dinner on Thursday evening.
Models, reps from Western Wear, and Markus’s people had arrived in groups all throughout the day. Although he had spent most of the afternoon walking around, scouting locations, and taking notes, Markus clearly wasn’t done. ‘You don’t have to do anything except go about your usual routine – wearing the clothes I tell you to. And occasionally listening to some direction – turn this way, look that way, smoulder.’
‘Smoulder?’ Maverick looked and sounded genuinely horrified. ‘Markus, I’ve told you, I’m not a model.’ He sat back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest, his food forgotten.
