Colters' Daughter (Colters' Legacy #3)(27)

“I want you, Callie. I want us. I want to see where this takes us. I’ve tried it without you. I was miserable, and I think you were too. I think we’re better together.”

“I want us too,” she whispered. “There’s so much to talk about, though. So much we didn’t cover in Europe. I don’t even know what you do. My family asked, and I felt like the worst sort of idiot. I know nothing about you. And yet you know so much about me.”

Max pressed his lips to her forehead in a gesture so tender that her chest tightened. “That is what this week is for, dolcezza. Us. So that when we go meet your family, there is no doubt to anyone looking at us that you’re happy and confident.”

Her heart fluttered at the endearment he’d teasingly begun when they were in Italy. He’d taught her words of love and affection in many languages, but dolcezza had been her favorite. His eyes always burned a little brighter when he called her that.

“And to begin our week, I want you naked. I love the feel of your skin. I love the beauty of your body. My desire is that when we are in private I am never deprived of your sweetness.”

He pulled gently at the tie and then helped her to her feet. He stood in front of her and carefully peeled away the robe until she was naked in front of him, her skin soft and warm from the shower.

“Bellissima,” he murmured. “You are very beautiful, dolcezza. Even more so because you’re mine.”

He reached for a comb lying on the end table and then sat back on the couch, spreading his thighs. He patted the space between his legs.

“Sit so I can comb your hair while it’s still damp.”

She turned and then settled on the edge of the couch. His hands slipped over her hips as he steadied her, and then they wandered up her waist and around to cup her br**sts.

He toyed idly with her ni**les until they were rigid, and then he slid his hands up over her shoulders and gathered her hair at her nape.

“I love having the freedom to touch you however and whenever I want.”

“You’re such a spoiled man,” she teased.

“When it comes to you, I am.”

“You’re such a caveman.”

“And this is a problem?” he asked as he began working the comb through the ends of her hair.

“Evidently not.” She sighed. “I can’t resist you even when your knuckles are dragging the ground and you grunt stuff like ‘my woman’.”

“Damn right you’re my woman. What else am I supposed to say?”

She chuckled. “If I have to tell you then you require more work than I’m willing to put in to make you civilized.”

“Admit it, you love that I’m completely uncivilized.”

“Yes, I do, and I don’t want to know what that says about me.”

“It says you’re a woman with intelligent, discerning tastes.”

“You’re incorrigible!”

“You love me.”

She bit her lip when she would have said indeed she did. He’d said it in a light, teasing way. Like someone would say to a friend. Oh, you love me.

Only she did love him. So much it hurt. But it was the one part of herself she did hold back from him. Despite the fact that she’d forgiven him. She was willing to try again. She’d give him another chance. But she’d be a fool to make herself utterly vulnerable to him. Not yet.

“Tell me about you,” she said quietly. “What makes you who you are, Max?”

“That’s a loaded question.”

She shrugged. “Maybe. But it shouldn’t be a difficult question. It shouldn’t cause you any issue to answer.”

She could picture his brows knitting as he pondered the best way to answer. He paused for a moment, his fingers tangled in her hair, the comb still in his hand. Then he began combing again. Long, steady strokes. Infinitely gentle.

“I made my fortune at a young age. For me it was necessity, not so much desire. It wasn’t that I craved fine things. Or even money. For me money wasn’t about the luxuries it could provide, but the necessities and what I could give to my mother and my sister.

“I wanted my mother not to have to worry. I wanted her to have the same lifestyle she had when she was married to my stepfather. I wanted my sister to go to the best schools and have all she needed.”

“How did you do all that? You make it sound so simple.”

He tugged at one particularly difficult tangle and then carefully worked out the snarl.

“I worked my ass off. Two, sometimes three jobs. Every penny I made at first was saved to buy my first property. I sold it for a ten-thousand-dollar profit and you’d have thought I hung the moon. I used all of it to make my next investment and with the second sale, I made a whopping six-figure profit. Part of it was luck. Being in the right place at the right time, but just as much of it was determination to succeed. Failure simply wasn’t an option.”

That she could believe. She couldn’t imagine Max failing at anything he set his mind to. To hear his story only confirmed what she already knew. Max was driven. He was ruthless when he had to be.

She shivered with sudden realization. He’d made it clear that she was his current ambition. And if his past was anything to go by, she didn’t have a chance in hell of resisting him.

But then she didn’t really want to.