. . . fuck.
CHAPTER 34
Max
I didn’t think I would be able to keep my hands off her for too much longer. Especially when she was sitting opposite me looking likethat.God, she was gorgeous. The candlelight made her almost ethereal. The warmth of the light brought out the color of her eyes and bathed her skin in a golden glow. I wanted to reach out and trace that color across her collarbone, up her neck, and then lick it off her lips. We’d been sitting in silence for the past five minutes since she’d come back from sending off her work to Sebastian. She’d sipped her glass of wine, staring at me over the top of the rim, and I’d sat back in my chair, legs crossed, watching her as if this was the greatest show on earth and she was the star attraction. I was also waiting for her to deliver her verdict on the kissing proposal. I didn’t know how much longer I could wait.
“You’re staring at me,” she said, breaking the silence. She put the glass down and slowly traced the rim of it with her fingers. Fuck, I wanted those fingers of hers to trace so many parts of my body.
“You look beautiful tonight—that’s why I’m staring.” She blushed instantly. “But you also look very fucking sexy too.” The color in her cheeks intensified. “That’s why I’m staring and finding something very, very hard to believe.”
“What?” she asked.
I uncrossed my legs and moved closer to the table again. “I cannot believe that you’re not having good sex.”
She laughed unexpectedly. “You’re just never going to let go of that one, are you?”
“Probably not,” I said. Her laugh stopped and the smile that she’d had on her face suddenly disappeared. I leaned closer, sensing a very strange shift in the mood. As if the weather agreed with me, a cool breeze raced past, tossing one of our napkins onto the floor. Neither of us moved to pick it up.
“You know, it’s so ironic thatyouare the one that keeps asking me that question, since you are the one that—” She stopped talking abruptly and pursed her lips together tightly.
“What?”
She shook her head. “I’m not going to say it.”
“Say what?”
She took a large sip of her wine. Very large.
“Say what, Ash?” Things had turned from playful to serious in a matter of seconds and I didn’t know why. “Ash?” I implored her to continue. I could tell we were on the verge of something big here. Something huge and unsaid. Something that clearly needed to be said. “I’ve told you everything. Every last awful embarrassing detail, but I get the sense there’s something you’re still not telling me.”
She looked at me and let out a loud, long breath. My entire body tensed with anticipation.
“Okay, so . . .” she started, then stopped. Took another sip of wine and then her words flew out. “Okay, so you know that night we had sex—or tried to have sex, at least—well, as it bloody well turns out, that was also the night that—”
She was cut off by the appearance of a very harried-looking ranger at our table, clutching a gun. “A leopard’s been spotted in the lodge, and as a precaution, we’re asking guests to go inside while we deal with it.”
“What?” Ash jerked her head at the guy.
“A leopard.”
“No, you’re joking.” She sounded panicked.
“I’m not. I’m going to need you both to come with me now,” the ranger said. I got up, but Ash seemed frozen to her chair.
“Come on, Ash. Let’s go.” I pulled her up by her arm and dragged her along as we followed behind the ranger. I’d been to lodges before when wild animals had walked through—it was always a risk when there was no fencing—that’s why all the rangers had guns and you weren’t allowed to walk around at night on your own. But I hadn’t been in a lodge when a leopard had walked through it.
“Thorns, mud, storms, snakes, leopards,” Ash mumbled softly to herself. “What the fuck?”
“This way,” the ranger said, swinging his gun as he walked. Suddenly, the bush to our right screamed to life as a large troupe of baboons came hurtling out of it, running across the path, sending Ash flying backwards. I tried to catch her as she fell, but the ranger pushed me out of the way too as a massive male baboon jumped into the middle of the path, barking for his troop to hurry up.
“The leopard must be close.” The ranger raised his gun and I tried to pull Ash towards me, without attracting the attention of the massive male baboon.
“Ow,” she moaned, grabbing the back of her neck as I pulled her.
“In here, quick.” The ranger opened a door I hadn’t seen before and pushed us both into a dark room, and then I heard the click of a lock and the ranger ran off, shouting.
“You okay?” I asked, scrambling in the dark, trying to find Ash.
