Page 53 of Lust and Honor

Emily turns to Maxim next, fixing him with a bossy glare. Maxim, however, is looking at me and only me. His gaze slowly drags over my body in a way that makes heat crawl into my cheeks.

He takes a deep breath, picks Aurora up into his arms, then lifts an eyebrow at Emily.

“Figured I’m not banned from your hotel anymore. Or am I?”

Emily throws me a quick glance before answering, “That depends. We’ll see.”

Then she walks back toward the boys, clearly giving us space.

The problem is, I have absolutely no idea what I’m supposed to say to Maxim.

In the end, he’s the one who speaks first.

“Alex is waiting outside.”

“I’m not done yet. Some of my things are still here. I need to pack them.”

Maxim looks down at Aurora.

“You wanna go back and play with the kids, baby girl?”

Aurora nods immediately. He kisses her cheek before setting her back on the floor.

“Let’s go.”

“I can do it myself.”

“I wanna see where my daughter’s been living. Move.”

Together, we make our way to the small suite that’s been home to me and Aurora for almost a year.

While I unzip a suitcase and start packing our clothes, Maxim looks around the room. He checks everything carefully, moving from drawer to drawer, opening every single one and looking through the few belongings Aurora and I have.

Once the suitcase is full and zipped shut, I turn around and find him sitting in one of the armchairs, flipping through my pregnancy album.

Without thinking, I walk over and stop beside him.

He’s staring at a picture taken the first day after I gave birth. I’m lying weak and exhausted in the hospital bed with tiny Aurora sleeping in my arms.

I can’t help smiling. “She was so pretty, wasn’t she?”

His voice comes out quieter than usual. “Yeah. She’s beautiful… and so damn tiny.”

“That’s exactly what I thought. The first few days, I was honestly scared to even hold her. I thought I’d hurt her somehow. But eventually I realized babies are tougher than we think.”

He stays quiet for a few seconds before speaking again, his tone softer now.

“You look exhausted in this picture.”

“Sixteen hours of labor will do that to a person.”

He takes a deep breath and finally looks at me. His jaw is tight, brows drawn together.

“That must’ve been hard.”

“It was. But she was worth it,” I say quietly.

“You were alone?”