Page 888 of One More Kiss

She held her breath and blinked at him, as though she couldn’t believe he’d think such a thing after what they’d shared.

Not only the physical, but also the intimate secrets. His deepest pain. Her greatest shame.

“Not come?” Her eyebrows lifted. “I almost came over to your house at three in the morning.”

“I wished you had. It was a restless night. Do you want to know what I did instead?”

She elbowed him in the side, wanting to hear his recounting of how he touched himself thinking of her, but not in such a public setting.

His hand flew to his chest. “You have a filthy mind, Miss Danvers. It’s not what you think at all.”

“Tell me about it after you feed me, then.”

“Oh, we’re not eating here.”

“Alright.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “Where are we eating then?”

“There.” Max tipped his head at the Belmont Hotel, rising ten stories from the ground and towering over the other shops and warehouse buildings.

“Room service,” he added with a wink.

Lu’s heart jumped at the idea of spending the night in a hotel room with Max. She grinned. The things they could do…

“You approve?”

“I’ve always wanted to go there, but on my salary, that’s always been a pipe dream.”

Even as a professor, Max’s salary still wouldn’t have been significant enough to afford such frivolities. “How can you afford this?”

Then Lu realized she’d finally let go of her notions of Max as Hollywood elite, as someone who could buy anything he wanted. Apparently, Max could still financially do just that.

“Let’s go.” He grabbed her hand and together they ran, ran like a couple teenagers in love, ready to be alone at all costs, and hide away from the world.

At least she wanted that more than anything.

As they entered the sumptuous, glittering lobby of the hotel, rich with high, carved ceilings and polished marble floors, they bypassed the front desk and headed for the elevator, taking it to the top floor. Max unlocked a door and held it open for her. She gasped at the sumptuousness of the room: a large, four-poster bed set on a dais and framed by deep-red velvet curtains matching the ones at the windows. And the views. Stunning vistas of the Blue Ridge mountains all around them, beautiful, even in the waning light of the overcast sky.

“This is too much, Max. Surely…” She pulled off her coat, hanging it and her umbrella on the stand in the small foyer of the room.

He waved her off. “I saved my money, Lu. And now I want to spend it. On you.” As he spoke, he slid up behind her, wrapping his arms around her, stroking her arms.

“It’s all for you. It’s you, Lu. And I want everyone to know.”

“But—”

“Shhhh…We won’t tell anyone until you’re ready. But I’m ready to shout it from the rooftops.”

“Max?”

He nuzzled her neck, and despite the heat his touch evoked, she whispered, “Feed me.”

He threw his head back and roared in laughter, the sound of it music to her ears.

“This way.” He led her to a table by the stone fireplace, a fire already blazing, and he pulled the lids off of two plates, revealing roasted vegetables and a meat pie and fish fillets.

She sat in the chair he pulled out for her, and once he sat opposite her, dug into the delicious food.

Neither spoke, focusing their energies on finishing their meal.

---