Page 47 of A Love So Sweet
“What was upstairs in that shop?” Max asked as she held up a spoonful of tiramisu gelato for him to eat.
“It was an adult toy shop,” he said uneasily.
“Oh.” She gazed out at the water. “Do you like to usethose?”
“No, Max.” He set his gelato down and pulled her onto his lap. She smiled, but it was the shy smile that told him she had many more questions in that brilliant mind of hers. “I don’t need toys, or anything besides you. But if you ever want to explore, we can do it together.”
“It’s a little embarrassing to talk about this,” she whispered.
“Then we won’t,” he reassured her.
“No, it’s embarrassing but it’s good. I like knowing that I don’t have to hide my past with you. That you accept me with my insecurities and they don’t make you run away.”
“Baby, nothing will make me run from you.” That earned a bigger smile. “You can count on me, Max. Always.”
“What if I never want to explore?” she asked carefully.
“Then we won’t. I want to help you heal.”
“You’ve already helped. Just being able to accept and trust you in my life is a healing step for me.” Her expression turned serious. “But what if you want to explore one day? I don’t want to hold you back.”
“Max, I’m thirty-seven. I’ve explored. I’ve sowed my wild oats. Any further exploration will be because we want to do it together. You can trust me when I tell you that beyond sharing you, there’s nothing sexual I wouldn’t do for you or with you if you wanted me to. On that same note, though, all I need is right here on my lap. When we’re close, it’s not about toys or pushing limits; it’s about intimacy.”
She lowered her face toward his, and her glasses slid down her nose. Treat righted them for her, and she said, just above a whisper, “But guys need excitement.”
“My excitement is drawn from the pleasure I bring you, not whether you’re willing to get off on sex toys.”
“Will it be enough? In the long run?”
“Max,you’reenough. You’ll always be enough. I’m not your ex, and I’ve never been someone who needed to dominate a woman. That’s not me, and honestly, most of the guys I know aren’t like that either. Real men don’t dominate. They cherish, they love, they pleasure, but it’s mutual, not an ego trip.”
“I hope you’re right, because I want to believe you.”
He sealed his promise with a kiss. “It’s cold out here. Let’s go home.”
Max had asked him about his home, and as they walked back to the car, he knew his answer had been completely honest. His home would be anywhere Max was.
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Chapter Twenty-Two
LATER THAT EVENING, Max sat with her legs stretched across Treat’s lap in front of a roaring fire as he massaged her feet, pressing his thumbs deeply into the arch of her foot.
“You can’t even begin to understand how good that feels.” She closed her eyes, enjoying his touch.
“Oh, I think I can.”
She opened her eyes. “Yeah?”
“It’s touch, and touch is good,” he said in a husky voice.
Why does your voice turn my entire body on?She pulled her feet from his lap and sat up, tucking them beneath her.
“Let me do you,” she said.
“Why, Max, what kind of man do you think I am?”
She playfully swatted his chest. “Not like that. Let me rub you and make you feel good.”
