Last on the List (Wait With Me #5)(48)

Fuck.

And all that bullshit she spewed about not being the type I normally fuck? She doesn’t know me. And she clearly doesn’t know herself.

Does she not see how beautiful she is? How her quiet confidence in those ridiculous tie-dyed crop tops she’s always wearing is quite possibly the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen? Does she not see how the soft curves of her body make it impossible for me to make the right decision here? How can she not grasp what’s so fucking obvious?

The lights of her house shut off, and it’s like a hardwired switch on my patience.

With a low growl, I slide open the door to my deck and march my ass across the lawn to her tiny house. She’s not going to bed. Not until I put those fucked-up thoughts she has out of her mind for good.

I bang loudly on the door and back up to pace in the grass, my chest heaving with all the thoughts running through my body.

It takes her a moment, but finally, a light flicks on inside, and she opens the door with a dejected look.

I fucking hate that look.

“Max, I’m going to bed,” she groans, pulling her cotton robe tightly across her breasts as she steps outside and leans against the side of the house. “Let’s just forget this horrible evening ever happened.”

“I can’t forget,” I bark, pointing at my head like a lunatic as I continue to pace. “Because I have a daughter. And knowing that she could grow up someday and have fucked-up thoughts about her physical appearance will never be something I’m okay with.”

Cassandra’s brows knit together. “What?”

“What you said about me throwing you over my shoulder? First of all…I could do that. Feel free to challenge me on that. I love a challenge.” I turn on my heel to march the other way. “But second of all, who gives a fuck if I couldn’t? Do you think that makes you any less worthy of someone? It doesn’t. It’s a superficial fucking nothingburger of a comment. It tells nothing about the person you are or the beauty you possess.”

I pause to prop my hands on my hips, hitting her with a lethal glare before I deliver the next bit. Her lips are parted, and her eyes are wide and glistening in the security light as she falls back against the white siding.

She looks like a goddamn angel.

“Third of all, you are not now, nor could you ever be a convenience fuck. In fact, you are the most inconvenient fuck of my life. Which is why I need you to hear the next part.”

“There’s more?” she gasps, her fingers touching her parted lips.

“A lot more, Cassandra,” I growl, my voice echoing off the house as I stalk toward her, slowly registering her body language to make sure I’m not scaring the fuck out of her.

I might be scaring the fuck out of myself.

I’m not sure I’ve ever spoken like this to a woman before. Not even my ex-wife got under my skin this much.

When I enter her space, I flatten one hand on the siding by her face and use my other to tug at the tie on her waist. Her chest heaves as I pull apart the thin robe to reveal the matching tie-dyed short set she’s wearing. It’s green, like her eyes. I run my finger along the exposed part of her soft stomach. My cock thickens in my jeans at the memory of my lips on her flesh.

I lean into her neck and inhale deeply, running my nose from her neck to her ear and then her hair. A low grumble vibrates in my chest when that heady scent of coconut hits me.

I have her right where I want her. Placid, responsive, and thankfully quiet for what I’m about to say.

My voice is low and controlled as my breath falls on her ear. “If you think for one fucking second your body isn’t everything I want…” My voice catches in my throat as I palm her side, my thumb brushing along her breast as my pulse races in my veins. I take a deep breath to collect myself. “Everything I have been craving…” I blow softly on her collarbone and relish in the shiver I see roll through her body. “And everything I jack off to when I can’t sleep at night because you haunt all my waking moments…” My tongue slickens my lips as I pull back to stare hungrily at hers. “Then you’re not as smart as you think you are.”

In one last ditch effort, I grab her hand and place it on my groin, eliciting a gasp from her perfect, plump lips. Her fingers form around the ridges of my cock, squeezing the firmness of it through my jeans.

Her head falls into my chest as she sags into me, so I dip my head and whisper against her earlobe. “I’m a grown-ass man, and I’ve never been inspired to give a woman a hickey before. Make no mistake, you aren’t a convenience fuck, Cassandra. You are a dream fuck.”

Her eyes snap to mine as she releases my dick to grab my neck and haul me down to her. Our mouths fuse, our tongues gliding against each other as my hands roam her supple curves, squeezing and groping as the dam finally breaks inside both of us.

I slip my hands inside her robe and slide my palms down to her ass, hoisting her up into my arms. Her strong legs wrap around me as I carry her through her open door, kicking it closed behind me once we’re inside.

This is how I expected the night to end. Her in my arms, my cock nudged firmly into her warm center. If she needs me to tell her she’s fucking beautiful every goddamn day to get her to believe it, I’ll do it. I’ll make it my life’s mission to do it. For her and for Everly.

But Everly is the farthest thing from my mind as I make my way over to the ladder that leads up to the loft. I press Cassandra’s ass against the rungs and take the opportunity to rip the robe off her body. My lips find her chest as I glide my hands over her delicious legs, my fingers digging greedily into her flesh as her sweet sounds have my cock trying to bust through my jeans. Jesus, I need to be inside her.