Page 181 of Are You Going to Love Me

“Got a shorty from Magnolia. Attached to the divine. I swear that shit holy. Got a scope on, niggas trying to take my head up off me. Protection got me out here flexin’. Boppin’ like a nigga escapin’ crucifixion.”

No matter how loud the crowd roared, Maximus would’ve heard Eden rapping along with him. That was what he needed. That was what he missed.

sixty

. . .

“Yo ass,”Maximus groaned, pinning Eden to the back of the elevator. “Surprising me like this. Looking like this, smelling like this.”

Eden giggled then moaned at the sensation of his hand palming her ass. “We cannot put on a show on this elevator. Hit P.”

Maximus, still gripping her right breast and ass, grumbled against her skin. “The room is on twenty-two.”

“Oh, nah, baby, it’s your birthday, penthouse,” she spoke, biting her lip. “Hurry up before someone walks-”

The elevator glided shut only to be stopped by a guest at the hotel. Maximus, unrelenting in letting his girl go, looked over his shoulder and hissed, “You see I’m busy, right? Get yo’ ass off.”

Eden peeked around his shoulder and softly snickered. The middle-aged man didn’t appear Ganton Hills, born and raised. He observed the scene, Maximus’ grip on Eden’s thigh. Eden boxed between his body and the wall. The squaring of his shoulders. The man tugged at his tie and cleared his throat before slowly backing off the elevator.

“Get yo freak ass on,” Maximus growled, hitting the button to close the doors and then P to take them straight to their room until Eden returned to Waynesville.

Off the elevator, Eden wrapped her hand around Maximus’ and led him inside. Thirty-three black balloons with black ribbons tied to them, each bearing a love note, affirmation, or a prayer.

“Eden,” he hummed, catching the gifts on each.

On the dining room table, next to the panoramic window, was a cake, a box, and a book labeled On Sight.

“You outdoing yourself. I don’t know which one I want first.”

Eden chuckled and pulled out the seat. “Sit down. There’s an order to these.”

Maximus took a seat and pulled Eden down with him. “What you got for me?”

“First, Poppi’s cream cheese pound cake, compliments of Davina letting me use her kitchen. So that’s something from the past. For the present, the book. For your thoughts, your prayers, your fears, your pain, and your uncertainty, but also for your victories. All of them.”

“What’s in the box?” he mused.

Eden picked up the black box and handed it to me. “For your future. Time is infinite. No more focusing on the time you lost, only on the time that’s ahead.”

Maximus took the box and opened it, exposing a custom piece, black diamonds outlining the face and the wrist. The face was opal, holding a platinum 3W that matched his pendant.

He mused over it all for a long moment before swiping his hand over his face. Schooling his emotions, he gripped her chin and clashed their mouths together.

Eden muttered between his passionate kisses and nips to her lips, “When you put the gun on the dresser at night, I want the watch right next to it.”

He rumbled. “Heard you.”

His lips traveled from her face to her neck to her breasts. “Come up out this muthafucka. It’s couture?”

Eden smirked, amused at how he remembered what pieces were what. “Yes, tug the zipper.”

She stood so he could unzip her. The dress fell to the floor, and the fabric puddled around her feet. Eden’s growing breasts, belly, and ass were on display. He’d already removed the thong in the JoyRide over and stuffed it into his pocket.

“Got damn, E. You look good as fuck, baby,” he groaned, leaning forward to kiss her belly before placing her atop the table. “I can have my cake now?”

“Yes,” she hummed, her hands gliding across his shoulders.

Hooking her thighs, he dived face first into her center. Moaning, groaning, licking sucking, slurping, kneading his fingers in and out of her wetness.

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