Landlord Wars(50)

He grinned and pulled me toward him at the same time he slid down the back of the couch until he lay flat, and my body tumbled over the abs I wasn’t brave enough yet to investigate. But I was doing a thorough investigation of his mouth.

He slid his hand up the nape of my neck and tangled it in my hair, holding me in place. “You’re not an especially large person. More cute and compact.” He kissed me softly.

I wasn’t compact. I was average height and had a nice layer of fat on my belly from all the chocolate consumption, but I wasn’t about to point it out.

The kissing and light stroking continued, leaving me lax with sexual brain fog. Max was the best kisser. There, I’d said it. But not to his face, because he was still LD, and that shit would go to his head.

He ran his hands up and down my sides, slipping his palms beneath my top to the bare skin at my waist, but not any farther. He wasn’t trying for more, and it was refreshing, if frustrating. Because the same couldn’t be said for my gutter mind.

I sensed my hair mussed in some places, but his seductive, tender kisses left me feeling beautiful. “This wasn’t what I’d planned to do tonight. I was supposed to be studying the proposal.” I was still getting used to the idea of kissing Max and not killing him. Though the kissing part was becoming more natural by the second.

He slid his warm hand back and forth over my chocolate baby belly. “Would you rather get back to the proposal?” He shifted slightly, and I felt just how excited he was, even though his actions were slow and controlled.

Chills ran down my spine. He knew exactly what he was doing. “Not even a little, but I probably should. Today is the one night I gave myself to thoroughly review it.”

Proposal or more kissing? Why was the universe putting these sorts of decisions in front of me? I was a weak, sexually frustrated woman who would like nothing more than to take this further. But I was also a breadwinner and supposedly responsible.

He sighed, mimicking my mental turmoil. “I suppose I should let you get to it. Unless you’d rather do other things?”

I laughed. “Stop encouraging me!”

“I would never do such a thing,” he said and slid his hand around my waist to my ass, where it rested possessively.

I lifted my eyebrow.

“Just making sure you don’t fall off the couch,” he said with a smile that wasn’t the least bit innocent.

His hands were large and warm, and they felt exactly right owning my rear.

“Why don’t I walk you back?” he suggested.

“I live downstairs.”

He sat up and adjusted me until I was square on his lap again and not using him like a lounge. “I wouldn’t want you to fall after all that chocolate.”

“Chocolate drunk—that would be a first. Though not improbable, considering my obsession.” I felt high right now, but it had more to do with the kisses.

In the end, and after a few more lingering kisses, I got up and used the bathroom. And saw what I looked like in the mirror.

“Shit.” I looked like I’d just had wild sex, with my face flushed, lips chapped, and my hair every which way, and we hadn’t even gotten past first base.

I quickly smoothed down the locks, wishing for the thousandth time in my life I had Elise’s hair, and returned to the kitchen where Max was waiting, composed and only slightly ruffled. Which made him look hot as hell and had me questioning my decision to leave.

I shook my head sharply and walked past him. “Better get going or I won’t.”

He snickered behind me, but he walked me to the apartment. The two of us snuck glances every now and then, and my face flushed every time. I was going to have to pinch myself once I got home.

At the door he leaned down and kissed me on the lips. “I’ll call you tomorrow?”

“Okay,” I said and reluctantly opened the door. I glanced back one last time and smiled before closing it behind me.

With my back to the entryway wall, I slid until my butt hit the hardwood, my legs like jello. I breathed in and out and tried to calm my heart.

Max Burrows was my boyfriend. My boyfriend. He knew about my family, and he still wanted to date me. How was this reality?





Chapter Twenty-Three





Sophia





“What do you think?” Victor asked.

We’d just received a new shipment of designer plants for display, and I was logging in the fiddle-leaf figs. “Everyone wants these, so we’ll have to fight to keep the display plants in the store.”

Victor nodded. “That’s my feeling too, which is why I have a distributor who’s close and can deliver new plants within twenty-four hours. But I was referring to the business proposal. Have you had a chance to look it over?”

After the impromptu make-out session with Max, my brain had been mush. I’d lain on my bed for a moment and ended up falling asleep and not waking until the next morning. “Not yet, and I need to work on the Bane mansion design this evening.”

Victor looked around the busy shop and frowned. “Should we hire another designer? It’s not healthy to work every night, Sophia. That’s not what I want for you if you take over the business.”

I wanted to say I had it all under control, but Victor was right. Even though we’d caught up these last few months on backlog projects, new ones were coming in faster than we could handle. “I think we should consider it. Even if we only hire someone to take my mocks and put them into digital drawings.”