A Virgin for His Prize(30)
Before today.
Today, Maxwell brought Romi into his private sanctuary without hesitation.
She seemed to realize the enormity of it when they stepped over the threshold into his office. She stopped and drew in a shocked breath. “You are in here.”
“I am indeed.”
“No, I know.” She rolled her eyes. “You’re so droll. I mean, I can see you in this room. I thought your apartment was so much your home, but this? This is like a glimpse at your heart.”
“You are assuming on that heart thing again.”
She shook her head, not even cracking a smile. “Thank you for bringing me here.”
“It was part of your deal.”
“No, sex was my deal. That could have happened in a guest room.”
He winced.
Her eyes narrowed. “That’s where you take your lovers, isn’t it?”
He shrugged. She’d guessed. There was no point in confirming it.
“You know if I do marry you, we’ll be buying all new furniture for those rooms, right?”
“Whatever you want.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s not how things work with you. I may not have gotten the full meal, but the taste I had was not a man who gave his partner whatever she wanted.”
“On the contrary, I am very good at determining what it is you really want and giving it.”
“You were a year ago, that’s for sure.” Her blue eyes glowed with remembered passion.
CHAPTER SEVEN
ROMI GAZED AT him with nothing less than adoration. “Other men aren’t like you.”
“You tested this theory?” Maxwell demanded even as he basked unashamedly in her evident approval of his sexual prowess.
“You know I didn’t.”
“Then how do you know?”
She blushed. “I just do.”
He found her innocence charming when the same in other women had acted as a huge red flag for Maxwell.
He stopped in the middle of his office, and brushed his hand along her heated cheek. “Yes, but how, sweet little Romi?”
“I may be a virgin, but that doesn’t mean I’ve never done anything with other guys.”
“Like?” he pressed, wondering if she realized they were engaged in foreplay.
She rolled her expressive eyes. “I’ve kissed other men.”
“And on the basis of kissing alone…” He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers, taking advantage of her surprised gasp for a small taste before lifting his head. “You have determined I am unique?”
She blinked up at him.
He smiled.
“You’re starting now, aren’t you?” she asked.
“I began in the living room.”
She looked like she was realigning her thoughts based on his claim and then she nodded. “Like I said. No one like you.”
“Did you do more than kiss with other men?” he asked, allowing his breath to caress her lips.
Her pupils dilated, her expression going dreamy. “Hmmm?”
“Other men,” he reminded her. “Your experience with them.”
“Some touching.”
“Here?” he asked, brushing along her back.
“What? I don’t…” She swayed toward him. “Maybe? I think so.”
He liked this proof she could not think clearly from the simple touches. His own libido was already in overdrive.
“What about here?” he asked as he cupped her nape and ran his thumb down to her pulse point.
She moaned, leaning into a kiss he kept brief by necessity. They would make it to the bedroom.
“No one ever took over like you do.” Her words weren’t an answer to his teasing.
But they were exactly what Maxwell wanted to hear. “And no one ever made you feel like I did, either.”
“Not even close.” Her desire to be near him screamed from every line of her willing body.
He shook his head at his own stupidity and her stubbornness. They could have had this for the last year. “Yet you broke it off with me.”
“Because you offered a definitive ending date.”
“And that wasn’t something you wanted.” She was really hung up on that concept.
He needed to remember that.
“No.”
He didn’t point out he was offering something very different this time. She knew it.
Just as he knew that ultimately, she would agree to marry him.
The draw between them was irresistible. He’d provided a way for them to meet, to connect, but one way or another, they would have come together again. It had been inevitable.
One day she might even admit that.
He forced himself to step back, to create physical space between them. He wanted her surrender, but if he accepted too early, they weren’t going to make it the steps it would take to go from his office to his bedroom.