Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 77292 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77292 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
My pleasure didn’t matter.
All I cared about was pouring myself into her.
I’m in love.
With this flawless woman.
We lie there for several minutes, gazing into each other’s eyes.
She finally breaks the tension with a light giggle.
I brush her cheek. “What is it?”
She shakes her head. “Nothing. I was just… I can’t believe you love me back.”
“How couldn’t I?”
“We’ve known each other for a little over a week.” She wrinkles her nose. “It doesn’t make any sense. People need to know each other for longer than a week to declare their love for each other. It’s not as if we’re a fairytale prince and princess, wed after one kiss.”
I sit up. “Alissa… You’re right. It doesn’t make sense. But nothing in this world does, when you think about it. Innocent people die young while evil people make it into old age. Terrible things happen every day, and there’s nothing that anyone can do about it. We try to make sense of things, place them in little boxes and pretend that they’ll stay there. But it’s all nonsense. All of it. Our world is governed by chaos.” I cup her cheeks. “But if there’s one thing in the world that does make sense, it’s you and me. Together. I knew it from the moment you walked into my shop.”
She smiles, her eyes glistening. “Maddox, you’re such a beautiful soul.”
“So are you, baby.”
I kiss her on the lips.
No tongues, no teeth. Just love.
She breaks the kiss and widens her eyes. “Damn it. My dress. It’s going to get wrinkled.”
“You can wear another dress if you’d like.”
She shakes her head. “It has to be that one. It’s… It’s a very meaningful dress to me. I wore it the night of my master’s recital at Northwestern. It was the last time I truly felt like an artist. The last time I truly felt my soul touch the divine… At least, until I met you.”
Warmth floods my cheeks. “Then we’ll steam it.”
“I don’t have a steamer.”
“You have a shower, don’t you?”
She narrows her eyes. “I think you’re aware.”
Right. We fucked in there Sunday night.
I spring off the bed and snatch her pink gown off the floor. I grab a hanger from her coat closet. I take it into Alissa’s bathroom and hang the dress off the rod for the shower curtain. Then I turn the shower on to its hottest setting and shut the door.
Pretty soon the bathroom is steaming up.
Alissa knocks. “Can I come in and grab my makeup? Just want to touch up a few things.”
“Of course.” I open the door.
She walks inside the steamy bathroom but then stops.
Her eyes widen, and her lip trembles.
She’s still for a solid thirty seconds before I finally wave a hand in front of her face.
“Alissa?”
She blinks. “Sorry. Just… I was just thinking about something that happened.”
“Something bad?”
She swallows. “It wasn’t good. An old memory.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“No. Not right now.” She grabs my hand. “I don’t want to ruin this moment between us.”
Alissa now knows most of my history, but I don’t know nearly as much about her past.
It’s not the first time I’ve seen that distant look in her eyes.
Something about this bathroom, the steam… It triggered her.
But I don’t want to pry.
I asked her if she wanted to talk about it, and she declined.
So that’s that.
Alissa takes her makeup out of the bathroom since the mirror is fogged up and closes the door behind her. She has a full-length standing mirror in her bedroom, so she uses that to adjust her makeup. About fifteen minutes later, her dress is as good as new, and she slips back into it.
A shame. I didn’t mind her just walking around naked.
But she still looks fantastic. I can see why she chose this dress.
Once I’ve run a brush through my hair, I offer her my arm.
She takes it.
We descend the staircase of her apartment building.
Tumbling back down the rabbit hole—this time intentionally—and hoping we don’t meet a pit of vipers.
26
ALISSA
I keep pushing that memory of my mother out of my brain. I will not allow her to ruin the most beautiful day of my life. The day Maddox Hathaway told me he loves me.
I didn’t even mean to declare my feelings. I was in an orgasmic haze.
But I’m glad I did. I meant every word.
Then there I was, lying there, completely nude, vulnerable as a baby bird.
And he swooped down and told me he loved me too.
My first thought was that he was just being polite. Humoring me.
He wouldn’t be the first man to tell a woman he loved her just to fuck her.
But I could tell his words were sincere.
Everything about Maddox is sincere.
It’s one of the reasons why I love him.
We’re walking to the Aces Underground entrance from the parking garage.
I should feel wary, concerned about what will happen to Maddox and me when we descend the mirrored staircase into the club.