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“Now you do.”
Azalea slips her hand behind my neck and pulls me in for another kiss. We keep it slow and gentle, pressed flush together beneath the comforter. I’m getting hard again, but I don’t care. I don’t care about anything except the fact that Azalea is in my arms.
That when forced to make a choice, she chose me.
When we break apart, I wrap my hand around the back of her head and pull her hair away from her ear so I can murmur against it. “Please don’t doubt the way I feel about you, Azalea. I want you so much. I’ve wanted you since the moment I saw you.”
“I want you, too.” She speaks into my neck, her warm breath washing over my skin and sending a shiver down my spine. “But you’re leaving, Maverick.”
“Ask me to stay.” It’s out before I can think better of it.
Azalea rears back, her dark eyes wide. “What?”
“Ask me to stay.”
She shakes her head. “No. I told you before, I would never ask that of you.”
“But if you did, I would.”
“That’s why I won’t.”
And…yeah. I already knew that.
“Then we can try long distance, can’t we?” I’m not even embarrassed by the pleading, the borderline desperation, in my voice. “I’ll do whatever it takes to make this work.”
Azalea sighs. She tilts her head up to brush a chaste kiss against my jaw. “Let’s sleep on it.” It’s not what I want to hear, and my face must betray that, because she continues: “I’m not saying no. I’m saying let’s talk tomorrow, when we’re rested. It’s been a long day.”
“Yeah,” I concede. “Okay.”
“Do you want me to get out of your bed now?”
I launch myself at her, pushing her onto her back. She lets out a laugh of surprise, and her arms encircle my torso. I push myself up on my palms and grin down at her. “Not even a little bit.”
Chapter Seventeen
Azalea
Iwakeuptoblinding sunlight and Maverick’s voice coming from somewhere above me.
“…check out tomorrow,” I make out once I get my bearings. “No, I think we’re good on towels.”
I roll over and find him standing between the two beds, talking on the landline. He’s still wearing his shorts from last night, but his shirt is nowhere to be seen. This is not my first time seeing Maverick shirtless, but I still find my eyes lingering on his well-defined abdomen, remembering how those muscles felt as they rippled under my fingertips last night.
When he hangs up, I force myself to redirect my gaze to his face. “Good morning.”
He’s smirking, and I know he saw me checking him out. Instead of teasing me, he leans over to drop a soft kiss on my lips. I resist the urge to pull him down beside me. “Morning.”
“How long have you been up?”
“Only about thirty minutes.”
“Who were you talking to?”
“The front desk,” he says. “I asked to stay an extra night. I thought it might be cool to hang out in the city today and go to dinner later.” I just look at him, and a flicker of panic enters his eyes. “Unless you don’t want to. I can call them back—”
“No.” I shake my head, biting my bottom lip to hold back a smile. “No, that sounds great.”
“Great,” he says, and gives me his authentic, face-splitting grin. I love it on him. I think I’ve seen it more in the last two days than in the last two months. “Hold on, I have to pee.”
