Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

Will

" F avourite film?"

"The Longest Ride."

"Wolf of Wall St."

"Favourite book?"

"I don't read a lot. I'd have to think about it. What about you?" I asked.

"Easy, Daisy Jones & The Six."

"Okay, I heard of that. Maddy read it and loved it. Maybe mine would be Misery."

"As in the film?"

"Yeah. When I was about fifteen, I read this old copy that Mrs Powell had on her bookcase. It was almost falling apart, but I loved it. Couldn't put it down."

"Longest relationship?" Maya asked making me wince inwardly.

"Two months. It was with Maddy's mum." I held my breath, but she was still smiling. "You?"

"Eighteen months and he cheated on me pretty much the whole time. Right next question." She took a few seconds to think and then asked, "Biggest regret?"

"Easy," I sighed, feeling the familiar pull in my chest. "Thinking that I couldn't be a father to Maddy."

Her eyes softened as she watched me carefully. "But you did a good job."

It was more a statement than a question, so I smiled and nodded. "Yours?"

"That's even easier than my favourite book. Letting Peter Carson take my virginity on my fifteenth birthday. It was awful. It took less than three minutes, he yelled out ‘mother fucker' as he came and then told the whole school that I'd begged him for it."

"Sounds like a real charmer." I raised a brow, wondering how anyone could treat her as anything but a princess. "I hope you got your revenge somehow."

Maya giggled. "When we were eighteen, I let him think he had another chance, so enticed him to the college theatre hall for sex. I got him on stage and stripped him down to nothing, and then Morgan turned on the stage lights while Loretta marched in with most of the sixth form singing ‘ Oops!... I Did it Again '. It was brilliant."

We both started to laugh loudly, and the guy behind the counter of the cafe we were in tutted and turned up the sound on the TV. We had been in there for a couple of hours after the bar across the road had got a little too noisy to hear each other. Now, after endless cups of coffee, two pieces of chocolate cake, and a few rounds of twenty questions, it was almost time for us to say goodbye. Maya had already called an Uber, and I needed to head for the minibus home.

Bizarre as the feeling was, I wasn't sure that I was ready, and staring down at the mug of coffee in front of me, I felt my stomach roll with anxiety.

"I need to go to the bathroom," Maya said.

As she pushed up from her chair, I wanted to grab her hand and pull her back down, or at the very least, beg her to let me go with her and wait outside the ladies.

"I'll be two minutes."

I nodded. "I'll be waiting."

And I would. I'd sit around for hours waiting for her if she asked me to.

"You know I'm closing up soon," the guy behind the counter yelled, his eyes still on the TV in the corner.

"Yep, we're going soon." The idea that we had a few minutes less made me look toward the door to the toilets and will it to open.

After another couple of minutes of me acting like a stupid preteen with a crush, the door swung open. A vision of pure sexiness appeared. She sashayed back to our table, grinning like she didn't have a care in the world, and I began to wonder if I'd imagined our connection.

"Okay?" I asked, looking up at her as she pulled out her chair.

She nodded and smiled brightly. "They have the most amazing hand lotion," she said, planting her perfect arse back on the seat. "I took a picture of it to see if I can find it online." She thrust her hand across the table and waved it in front of me. "Smell."

I gave a quiet chuckle as I caught hold of her fingers and brought them up to my nose. "Nice." It smelled flowery and clean. Although, it wasn't the aroma that I'd remember of my time with Maya. That would be her perfume. It was feminine yet heady and sensual, everything that I would recall every time I thought about her. "What's your perfume?"

"My perfume?"

"Yeah, your perfume." I didn't let go of her hand, but kept her fingers entwined in mine. "I like it much more than I like your new favourite hand lotion."

"It's my going out with the girls when I want to feel badass perfume."

"It must be a pretty big bottle to get all that on the label."

Maya giggled. "Chanel No. 5. That's what it's called."

I nodded. "I've heard of it. My friend Sam bought some for his wife a couple of years back."

"It's expensive so either he's a great husband, or he did something really bad," she replied, arching her eyebrows.

I laughed and lifted her hand. "He gave her wedding dress away to some kids for a jumble sale." I ran my thumb over the knuckle of her ring finger. "It was a two-thousand pound dress eighteen years ago, and she wanted their daughter to wear it for her wedding someday." I shrugged. "So, it was the perfume or a horrendously expensive designer bag."

Maya crossed her legs and leaned her body closer to me over the yellowing Formica table. I got another whiff of her perfume, and I felt myself get hard. I'd been on the edge of it all night, just watching her and listening to her sultry voice, but knowing that our time would soon be up, playful flirting and easy chat no longer seemed enough. I had a need for something more. Something important. Something bigger. A raw, basic need that I knew could become all-consuming and overpowering. Yet all we'd done was talk. My fingers on hers was the most contact that we'd had, yet I knew sex with Maya would be earth-shattering.

"I need to get going soon," I sighed placing her hand between both of mine. "When does your Uber get here?"

She looked down at her phone lying face up on the table and clicked on the screen bringing it to life. She groaned.

"He's two minutes away."

"Two minutes?" The sudden feeling of breathlessness alarmed me. "You sure?"

She nodded and gave me a small shrug. We'd had nowhere near long enough. Three hours couldn't possibly see me through the rest of my life. I knew I'd be craving her by the time I got on the bus, never mind the next day or the next. I knew after just three hours that Maya was the sort of woman that even a lifetime wasn't long enough.

"Can I see you again?" I blurted out, panicking that our two minutes was almost up.

She blinked. "You live over an hour away, almost two."

"We could meet halfway," I offered, conscious that I sounded desperate.

She didn't answer straight away, and my hopes rose. Then she immediately dashed them. "I know it's not far, Will, but I'm busy with work, you're busy with your bar and your daughter."

"Don't you think that after spending three hours together we owe it to all the effort that we put in so far to try?" Yep, I was pathetic.

"I'm not so sure we should if it's been such hard work for you." She grinned and pulled her hand from mine. "I really have to go."

I followed her gaze over my shoulder and saw a car parked outside. When the driver waved, I turned back to see Maya had one hand up while she grabbed her jacket from the back of the chair with the other.

"I guess that's it then." I stood and pulled a twenty from my wallet and threw it onto the table.

"Yeah, I guess so." She came around the table a reached up to kiss my cheek. "I had a great time. It was good getting to know you."

"Me too," I replied, inhaling her scent again. "Come on, I'll walk you out."

As we got to the exit the guy behind the counter barely looked away from the film he was watching, just managing a mumbled thanks as I opened the door. The temperature outside had dropped dramatically, and I dug my hands deep into my pockets as Maya shivered.

I should have hugged her to help stave off the cold, but touching her, even for a minute, scared me. I couldn't become addicted to her because who knew if I'd be able to touch her again or taste the sweetness that she had to offer. So, instead, I reached in front of her and opened the back door of the Prius.

"It really has been great," she said. "Although I can't believe I quit girls' night for a guy I met standing at a bar."

"And we didn't even have sex."

We both started laughing, and I felt a deep regret that we hadn't. Regret that was laced with pride that I hadn't been that bloke for once.

"It was a great night," she said, a cold, smooth palm cupping my cheek. "A really great night."

"I just wish it could last longer." I shrugged. "I guess that's life."

She looked up the street and then swung her gaze back to me. "You could come home with me." She sounded tentative, scared almost.

"Is that what you really want?"

"I know three hours isn't enough," she replied, wrapping her arms around her body. "And I know the idea of not seeing you again is making me feel a little weird." She rolled her eyes and sighed. "Shit, that sounds like I'm some sort of creepy person doesn't it. I mean… I have no idea what I mean."

My hand went to the back of her neck, and I pulled her to me. As her scent got stronger my heart gunned faster and the hand at my side tremored with anticipation. Leaning closer, my lips barely grazed hers as I whispered, "I understand totally. I don't want to think about this being it."

"But it's ridiculous. We don't know each other."

"I know that you like sexy perfume and have a soft spot for Nicholas Sparks' films. I know that you're beautiful, and that the idea of leaving now and not seeing you again makes me want to get in that car and go home with you."

"But?" Her lips turned into a small smile.

"But, I have Maddy to think of. She's on a sleepover, but it'd still feel wrong not being home if she needed me." I let out a long breath, wishing things could be different. "It's our thing we always have breakfast at a local cafe on Sunday morning, and I don't want to miss any until I absolutely have to."

Maya nodded, her nose brushing against mine, and the brief contact set my pulse into overdrive. Never had I felt such a need before, and never had I wanted to call my little girl and put off Sunday breakfast.

"I think I need to kiss you."

"I think I need you to kiss me," Maya said in a breathy whisper.

Her lips were soft and pillowy, and when they parted, I thought I might fall to my knees in gratitude. Our tongues touched, and she tasted of chocolate cream. She tasted sweet and hot, and full of sin—if only we had the time. My hands moved into her hair so that I could hold her in place. Now that I was tasting her, I wasn't letting her go easily. When she let out a little moan, I pushed her back against the car and she gripped at the front of my shirt, dragging me closer. Parting her legs, I pushed my thigh in between them and felt her thrust her hips. The hot, sexy, woman was getting herself off and I fucking loved it. It took me all my time not to flip open her jeans and do the job for her.

When I was hard to the point of bursting my trousers open, I heard a clearing of a throat and a voice from inside the car yelled, "Ah, c'mon on guys, I just got my car washed and waxed."

Maya and I both laughed, and even though it killed me to, I pulled my mouth away. Her lipstick was smudged, so I reached up with my thumb and rubbed at the side of her mouth. I grimaced.

"I think you may need to take a look yourself. I fear I might have made it worse."

Maya shook her head and swiped a hand across her mouth, following the line of her lips with her finger, rubbing as she did.

"Sorry."

"No, don't be." She ran a finger down my cheek. "It's proof that I've been thoroughly kissed."

"I'm sorry, miss, but we really need to get going," the uber driver complained.

"Go," I said, taking her hand and giving it a squeeze. "Before I jump in there with you and disappoint my daughter and make myself feel a whole load of guilt for the rest of my life."

"Okay, damn it," she said with a shake of her head. "Let me take your number." She tapped at her phone and then looked at me expectantly.

"Lady, please just get in or I'm going to have to go without you."

I leaned one hand on the car and looked inside toward the front. "Hey, big man, she'll be one minute, okay. So, stop yelling at us."

I didn't wait to hear his response but straightened up and reeled off my number to Maya. As she entered the numbers, the car started up, and my need to kick out his rear lights was great.

"What's yours?" I asked as Maya got into the car.

"I'll message you."

I had to be content with that because the driver started to pull away. "Don't forget."

"I won't."

I just managed to stand back to avoid being hit with the door as Maya pulled it shut and then waved at me through the window. As the car drove away from the pavement, she twisted in her seat and continued watching and waving from the window until she was just red lights way off in the distance.

Feeling deflated, I looked at my phone. I tried to tell myself it was to check the time but really it was to see if I'd had a message from Maya. There wasn't one, but I had ten minutes to get to the bus, so feeling annoyed, I set off at a jog with half of me hoping that I missed it.