To Have It All(54)

“You’re an asshole.” she shivered, her lower lip quivering.

“I know,” I agreed, “but you had it coming.”

“Is that so?”

“You threatened me,” I explained as I shifted Pim a bit.

“Threatened to flash you? That warranted all of this?”

“Wa-wa,” Pim babbled as she raised her hand up into the running stream of water. The kid loved bath time from what I could tell and seemed to be loving shower time with the grown-ups.

“All our clothes are soaked,” Waverly pointed out.

“Gasp,” I mocked. “Whatever shall we do?”

Still using my arm for balance, she slid back from me. Her shirt was plastered to her body, the soaked fabric clinging to her, revealing the swell of her breasts, leaving very little to the imagination.

In the back of the shower, there was a wooden bench. “Can I at least sit if you’re going to trap me in the shower with you?”

Helping her over to the bench, she sat, and then I sat Pim on the shower floor just beside her feet. Grabbing the hot pink loofa from the shower caddy—obviously it was Waverly’s because it appeared after she started staying with me—I held it under the water, then handed it to Pim hoping it would keep her busy for a few minutes. When I turned back to Waverly, she’d taken her hair down and was running her fingers through her wet tresses. I swallowed hard as I felt the tingle, the shiver, the one I always felt when we made contact. Only this time, I wasn’t even touching her. Tucking my fingertips under her chin, I tilted her head up, forcing her dark gaze to meet mine. Her lips parted slightly as our eyes locked, depleting the air from my lungs.

A shiver skated up my spine as something, like a whisper, pushed me on. Kiss her, it urged. I forgot myself. I forgot who I was and who I wasn’t. I forgot the rights, and wrongs. All I knew was her and want. The two were separate, but as I stared into her eyes, they were hand in hand, the both of them taunting me, daring me to give into my urges. Leaning down, I searched her stare as I held her face, brushing my thumb across her cheek. Beads of water dripped from my hair and her lashes, but we never severed the stare. When I leaned forward slightly, my will on the brink of breaking, a small whimper escaped her, something between a plea to stop or keep going.

I couldn’t take it anymore.

I kissed her.

Her hands reached up, her fingers threading through my hair as my tongue swept between her lips. Dropping to my knees, I grabbed her hips and yanked her to me, deepening the kiss. She clung to me, her hands reaching everywhere, her fingers digging into my back. I was gone—my reason and strength had left me. There were a million reasons why I shouldn’t have kissed her, but with her in my arms, her mouth against mine, I didn’t care.

Nothing could stop me.

Almost nothing.

The kiss ended almost as abruptly as it had started when Pimberly grabbed my shirt and tugged. I yanked away from Waverly, jumping to my feet as I sucked in ragged breaths. Pim babbled something as she smacked the tile making the water splash.

What the fuck just happened?

When I moved my panicked stare back to Waverly, she wouldn’t look at me. Which could only mean one thing—she regretted the kiss. Or she was pissed. It was too . . . much. I should’ve known she wouldn’t want a man, especially Max, to carry her into the shower like that, but I got lost in the moment. I thought we were having fun, flirting, but that was stupid. Flirting with Waverly was not an option because in reality, she was not an option. Not for Max. Certainly not for me living as Max. He’d burned that bridge for both of us, and I really fucking hated him for it.

I kissed her? In front of Pim?

What was I thinking?

“I’m . . . I’m sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking.” Removing my shirt, letting the wet material plop to the tiled floor, I quickly washed away the sweet potato from my hair and off my face. “I’ll get us some towels.” When I climbed out, my pants were dripping wet, so I yanked them until they were off, keeping my boxers on, before I went to the closet to grab a few towels. Wrapping one around myself, I left a stack by the shower door.

“I’ll be right back with your crutches.





“I’m pretty sure she’s the cutest thing ever,” Helen noted as we watched Pim use her hands to shove spaghetti in her mouth. I’d stripped her of her clothing, so all she was wearing was a diaper. It was a good thing, too, because she was covered in sauce.

“Yeah,” I agreed as I grinned at my daughter. “Spaghetti is her favorite.”

Helen went to the kitchen and brought back the pot from the stove. She scooped a little more on Pim’s tray before taking it back to the kitchen. Helen returned with the bottle of wine I’d already had one glass of.

“Mama needs a refill,” she announced as she filled my empty glass.

“Oh, no.” I shook my head. “One glass is enough. Wine gets me giddy.”

“Oh, you have to drink it,” Helen insisted. Then rubbing a hand over her small belly, she pouted her lower lip. “I need to live vicariously through you. I miss wine so much.”

I chuckled as I raised the glass in a toast. “If you insist,” I replied, before taking a long sip.

“Really had to bend your arm behind your back on that one, didn’t I?” she jested sarcastically.