Page 88 of Moving Forward

She stutters, stepping away. “Is it okay if I take a shower?”

I laugh under my breath. “That’s what has you so nervous? Sure. If you’re up to it.”

She squints, not following.

I raise my eyebrows. “Your head.”

“Oh. I’ll be okay.” She backs away from me and darts toward my bathroom. Weird.

I continue cleaning, listening to the sound of the shower. I should’ve warned her that the water runs from hot to cold to hot again in a matter of seconds. I never bothered to fix that, something I regret now. Didn’t expect to have a girl in there. Sure enough, I hear her give a little shriek that makes the bottom of my heart drop out. When she calls out, “I’m okay!” I throw my head back, laughing. Yeah, I will need to get that fixed. Soon. I don’t need a faulty water heater giving me a panic attack every time she takes a shower.

She’s leaving in less than a week, I remind myself. Who knows when she might come even remotely close to Orchard Valley again? From the way she’s talked, she’s leaving Orchard Valley for good. I know she needs to; it’ll help her truly move on from Ethan. That also means she’ll be leaving me behind . . . unless I visit her. I have to. I don’t have the will to stay away from her or let her go. I can’t lose her, not when I love her. I’ll do anything to hold onto her—even if that means leaving my comfort zone. We can make it work.

And that makes me fucking shiver with excitement.

Fifteen minutes later the water shuts off. When she comes out, I have to gather my tongue back into my mouth to keep it from wagging. Holy shit, do I like the way she looks in a towel. It barely covers her, those sexy legs of hers bare and her perfect tits nearly tumbling out. Her wet hair is darker, almost brown, and sticks to her moist skin, trailing down to her breasts. She looks like the best kind of fantasy come to life. She leans against the doorway, glancing up at me with almost terrified eyes. She toys with the top of the towel, biting at her lip.

“Can I borrow a shirt again?” she asks unevenly.

I direct her back to my dresser and head in to take my own shower. If I’m going to endure another night of sleeping with her in my arms but unable to plunge inside her, I need one. I’m thankful that my water temperature randomly switches from the fiery flames of hell to an Antarctic winter wonderland. That’s one way to kill the mood.

It’s not until I finish my shower that I realize that her little nearly naked act distracted me from grabbing my own clothes. Damn. It. The way her eyes ate me up last night, there’s no way I’ll be able to come out of this without another raging hard-on. I might need more than just another cold shower. At least I’ll have the memory of how tightly she gripped my hand when she came.

I freeze when I notice Max hasn’t gotten dressed since I left her. She’s sitting on the edge of my bed, her hands in her lap. Fuck me, she’s sitting on my bed half naked and wet. Blood rushes straight to my dick. No, this is a fantasy come true. Hell, who am I kidding? Everything about Max is a fantasy come true.

I whisper her name and sit down beside her, loosening my towel to hide the evidence of my arousal. I want her to know she gets me hot, but I don’t want to freak her out. “What’s going on?”

Her eyes widen as she stands up. She heads toward the front door of my boat. My heart accelerates. She’s leaving? What did I do? Why would she go? I can’t do this—I can’t let her go. “Where you going?” I ask, trying to sound light, even though I feel like my world is shaking off its hinges. “You can’t leave like that.”

She pauses. “I’m not.” She flicks the light switch off and checks to make sure the doors are locked.

. Every molecule in me vibrates with need and want as her intentions become clear. She stops in front of me and nudges my legs apart. She steps between them and bends down to press her forehead against mine. “Go slow,” is all she whispers, before she lets the towel drop.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

MAX

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