Chapter Forty
Lucy
I haven’t felt this free in such a long time. Thinking about it, I couldn’t name the last time I felt like this. It’s strange, in the best possible way, being out in the open with Max. I absolutely love it.
His gaze hasn’t left me once since we got here. I’m not stupid. I know exactly what my dancing is doing to him, what it always does to him. It’s the main reason we have so much sex in my studio. He fucking loves it.
Being out in public like this, though, it’s a different feeling altogether. The last thing I want is for anyone to find out, for now at least. I would never admit it out loud, but the excitement of being caught is something new to me. Is it wrong that I get off on the thrill of it all? I do want our secret out there, so we can act like a normal couple, but at the same time, it’s nice. Knowing our love is just between us, no outside voices chiming in. It’s just me and Max.
We have danced and laughed for hours. There hasn’t been a moment that his hands weren’t on me. Gliding up my back, caressing my hips, pulling me in close. I’m so riled up I could jump him right here in the middle of the other couples dancing.
“Look.” He says, pointing out towards the sea. “The sky is just starting to lighten. Let’s go, I want to show you something.”
Without saying a word, I let him guide me out of the club and back onto the main street. Although the sky isn’t as dark as earlier, it’s still dark enough for me to barely see where I’m going. He leads me towards a small gap in a wall, and on the other side, there is a narrow path.
“I know I have joked about it in the past, but you have serious creepy vibes sometimes,” I say as he continues to pull me along after him. “Where the hell are you taking me?”
“Don’t you trust me, Sugar?” He calls over his shoulder, his beautiful smile aimed right at me.
“Always.”
“Then shut up. We will be there in a second.”
He isn’t joking.
Only a second later, the path opens up and we’re now standing on our own, secluded cliff edge. It comes out at a point, with nothing to see other than the sea and sky. For a moment, it takes my breath away. I have never felt so at peace as I do right now. The gentle breeze coming in is blowing my hair in every direction, and I must look like I’ve been electrocuted. But I'm going to go with windswept and interesting.
“This is the place,” he starts, taking a deep breath as he stares out at the now purple sky, “the place where I would go to escape the world. When everything was just too much. When I would feel so alone in this world. The place where I would think of you.”
“Oh, Max.” I let out a breath of my own, my throat thick with emotion.
“I’d sit here and wonder where you were. If you were happy. If you had moved on. If you were somewhere, at the same moment, thinking of me too.”
He’s still not looking at me. His focus is solely on the rising sun, and fuck, I want him to look at me. Instead, I takea step beside him and slip my fingers through his. My heart is racing. For such a strong man, he hides behind his humour. I always knew how much he struggled with his father leaving, yet I went and did the very same thing.
“Max, I never moved on,” I murmur. “I tried. Trust me, I did. Every time, I couldn’t go through with it. Sara would laugh and say to get over you, I needed to get under someone else. But I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t be with someone else when my heart was always with you.”
Finally, his head turns to look at me. I can’t quite decipher the look he is giving me, though. His eyes are wide, and his jaw slack. I’m not sure if it’s awe on his face, or complete and utter shock.
“You… you have only ever been with me? You’ve never slept with anyone else?” He asks, his voice deeper than usual.
I don’t need a mirror to know my face and neck are turning an embarrassing shade of red. I can feel it as it travels up my body. I never planned on telling him my ‘issues’, and now that I have, I feel so vulnerable.
“Mmhmm.” I hum in response, unable to form the words aloud now they’re out there.
“Lucy. I need to hear you say it. Tell me that I am the only man you have ever slept with.” He growls as he pulls me into him, so that my body is flush with his. “That I am the only man to have ever had the pleasure of touching you. I need to hear you say the words.”
His gaze burns into my very soul. His hands clenching the fabric of my skirt. I still can't speak. I’m worried that if I do, I might just cry.
“Please, baby.” He begs.
“You are the only one, Max,” I whisper. “There has only ever been you.”
He lets out a loud groan as he tips his head up to the sky. It’s light enough now that I can see all of him. The stubble along his strong jaw, the flecks of blue in his piercing green eyes, even the little scar along his cheekbone from one of his many fights he’d had in school. I have memorised so much of his face, yet it still gives me butterflies each time I look at him.
“You don’t understand how much I fucking love that you are mine, Lucy. In every way possible.” He jerks me closer again, his hard cock grinding up against me. “I didn’t think it was possible for me to love you anymore, but you always surprise me, Sugarplum.”
Dropping his hands lower, he grazes the bottom of my arse before yanking me up to straddle him. My arms automatically wind around his neck as I now stare down at him.
