“Yeah.”
“What happens if anyone wants to set you up with someone along the way?” I ask.
Max vehemently shakes his head. “Nope. No dating. You too.”
“I think it’s more of an issue for you.”
He looks at me like I’ve lost my mind. “Do you have any idea how gorgeous you are? Men literally do a double-take when you walk past.”
I laugh. I’m not completely ignorant. I know I’m pretty. But double takes? Doubtful. “They do not.”
“They absolutely do. And we had a team meeting the first day of spring training where Coach had to tell us to be respectful, and how none of us better come on to you.”
I snort. “Obviously, that didn’t go far in your brain.”
“It’s not like I went out of my way to be with you. I tried to avoid you at all costs. Coach is the one who threatened to take me off the roster unless I worked with you. Everything else seemed to be the universe working to put us together.”
I think back to that hike, how he followed me home, and the kiss that I can’t get out of my mind. “You’re blaming the universe for you kissing me?”
He smiles. “Among other things.”
“Like what?” I ask.
“The fact that I can’t get you out of my head. How your face is what I see when I jerk off, and how I imagine your body when I fantasize. I hear your voice in my head, too. I definitely blame the universe for that one.”
The room feels at least ten degrees warmer. “What do you fantasize about?”
Max’s eyes grow hooded. “What you like. How you sound. If you like dirty talk, or if you’re okay with a man controlling you — within reason, of course. I wonder if you like to be edged, and how easy it will be to make you come. And I spend way too much time thinking of how you’ll feel when I slide inside you.”
I let out a high-pitched moan. Everything he says turns me on even more. “Talk to me more about the controlling thing. I’m a little unsure about that one.”
He reaches up, dragging a finger along my collarbone. “I like to control the pace. What we’re doing, and when you come. I will edge you. I’ll take you to the brink again and again, but you’ll onlycome when I allow it. I’ll never force you to do anything you don’t want to do. I value consent above all else. I may control much of this, but you have the final say in everything. This is all about your pleasure, Layla. Don’t forget that.”
I clear my throat, trying to keep my voice even. “And if I say no or stop?”
“Then I stop immediately. No ifs, ands, or buts.”
Closing my eyes, I smile faintly. “And I can make requests for what you aren’t allowed to do?”
“Of course.”
I take a deep breath and blurt out, “I don’t want my hands tied behind my back, and I don’t like a lot of pain. Light spanking is okay, but nothing more. I don’t want to do anal, and you aren’t allowed to cover my nose and mouth, so I can’t breathe.”
“Alright. Thank you for trusting me with your hard limits,” he replies solemnly. He sounds so serious, I burst into a fit of giggles. “Something funny?”
“This is all so weird!” I exclaim, covering my mouth as I cackle. “It isn’t romantic at all. I don’t know how to act.”
“Talking about hard limits shouldn’t be romantic. This is serious. I don’t want to cross a line where you feel victimized again. Ever. I can’t take away what happened with Morales, but I can sure as fuck make it so that you don’t experience something similar with me.” I open my eyes to find his gaze boring into mine. “I could have taken you against the door. Not asked you one question, and assumed what you liked and disliked. While I can hope that you’d trust me enough to speak up if I did something that upset you, I fear I don’t know you well enough for that yet.”
“I don’t know how I’d react in that scenario,” I admit, feeling heat rush up my neck and onto my cheeks. “I’d like to think I’d speak up. But I’m not positive.”
“That’s why we’re having this conversation,” he says, cupping my cheek tenderly. “We have to be on the same page.”
“This is a lot, and I don’t know if I’m at a place where I canmake a decision about a possible future for us,Max,” I admit quietly.
“One day at a time, Lay. That’s all I can say.”
“None of my other boyfriends are this upfront,” I joke, but Max doesn’t smile.
