My glass was empty. The bottle was empty.
Mae sighed dramatically.
“Fine. Ugh.” She stood. “I could have slept in that chair.”
“I wasn’t kicking you out.”
She put her empty glass on the dresser. “I’m out too. A sign from the universe that we should get some sleep.”
I got up from the bed. “What time does the universe think we should get going tomorrow? The supplier is meeting us at nine.”
Mae thought about it. “We have to get downstairs for breakfast. So maybe ready to leave by eight which gives us forty-five minutes to eat and head out?”
“Works for me.”
She opened the adjoining door, said “good night” as she had a thousand times before, and disappeared through the door. I stood there, wanting to close mine and get some sleep. But I also wanted to call her back. Tell her, despite the empty wine bottle, it didn’t matter to me how tired we’d be tomorrow. That I wanted her to stay.
Idiot. Why are you tormenting yourself this way?
Instead, I lifted my t-shirt and tossed it on the dresser, reaching over with my other hand to close the door, when Mae’s whipped open.
“I almost forget to tell…”
Whatever she was about to say was lost. Mae’s eyes dipped down to my chest before flying back up to my face. I could easily break the tension with a quip about not having to pretend to forget to tell me something. That she could admit she secretly wanted to see me undressed.
But the words stuck in my mouth.
I wasn’t the only one frozen in place.
“Mae.”
Having no idea what I was about to say, I was fairly certain I’d just given myself away. My voice was thick, unnatural. Filled with a need for this woman unlike anything I’d ever experienced before.
She blinked, wide-eyed and as beautiful as ever. Evening gown, sweats and a tee… didn’t matter. If it were any other woman, I’d have kissed her by now. The signs were all there. But… this was Mae.
I had to be sure.
Just when I was about to do that, her lips parted in a telltale sign, coupled with the way she looked at me, and her silence… she wanted me to kiss her.
And I was more than happy to oblige.
I took the one step necessary to close the distance between us, reached behind her head and pulled Mae toward me.
“Beck.” Her hands shot out, I thought to push me away, but instead lay on my bare chest, as if to brace herself. She would need it.
Bringing my head down, I captured her lips in mine.
They were softer, tasted better and fit more perfectly in mine than I ever could have imagined. Her hands moved from my chest to my shoulders, Mae gripping me as if to hold me in place. As if I was going anywhere.
Tongues tangling, the kiss was frantic and urgent, as if neither of us could get enough.
I am kissing Mae.
Surely this was a dream, and I’d wake up any second. Instead, a soft moan that I would hear in every one of my dreams from this day forward came from her mouth.
I’d paid dearly for all the times I’d kissed the wrong women. But if it taught me one thing, it was… when it came to Mae, I would never, ever waste a second.
I would kiss her until she forgot every man before me.
