“Fair enough. Boundaries should be respected. How about this? Do some reading online. There’s a wealth of information on all the subjects I mention and ways to help ease that discomfort. You deserve to enjoy yourself and enjoy that hot, young man of yours.”
Could it be that simple? Some practical answers to helping her body along and then going for what she wanted?
Take something for herself?
Take Max.
Damn, that had such an exciting sound she couldn’t imagine saying no. If only life wasn’t so complicated by her history with her dead husband, by being a single mother with children who deserved to be her priority.
And still, she couldn’t deny, against her better judgment, she wanted Max.
* * *
Eyes growing heavy, Max forced himself to concentrate on the content on his tablet. As he sat on his bed against the overstuffed pillows, sleep tugged at him.
Stretching out, he readjusted. Propped his head in his hand. He needed to learn just a little bit more.
Max had never backed down from a challenge yet. After today, he wanted to ensure that he could be more helpful to Natalie. Which was why he’d spent the last two hours reading articles about dog training.
Max was a self-taught hacker—it had launched his cybercareer. He possessed a confidence that, given enough reading and research, he could figure anything out. It was a useful trait in his line of work. It probably was why he was so successful at his job. His need to know and understand things drove him to keep pressing on in spite of hitting brick wall after brick wall in investigating this maverick cybercreep.
A knock reinvigorated him, causing him to snap his attention from screen to door.
“Come in.” As the words left his mouth, he hoped it was Natalie.
Sure enough, as if some magic prayer had been answered, she appeared at the threshold.
Damn.
Her damp hair fell in waves, adding to the feminine softness in her features. As she held up the phone that allowed her to listen to her children, her green eyes were filled with hope. And something else. Something he was sure was also present in his hungry gaze.
A faint smile played on her lips as she pulled innocently on her loose yellow sundress. Stepping all the way into his room, she shut the door behind her. Took a deep sigh and stared at him.
He took in the sight of her. From the damp hair and bare feet, it was clear she had just showered. She had come to him renewed, that electricity stronger than ever before.
She shut the door and leaned back against it. “I’ve been doing some reading myself.”
Where was she going with this? “Reading is good.”
“Informational reading,” she said with extra emphasis, biting her bottom lip.
“Okay.” What was he missing?
“On our issue.”
“What issue might that be?” He placed his tablet on the bedside table and sat on the edge of the mattress.
“This is embarrassing to say—” she scrunched her nose and braced her shoulders, creamy shoulders bare with just the straps of her sundress “—so I’m going to spill it all really quickly and I need you not to interrupt so I can just get it out there. All right?”
He nodded, staying silent, curious as hell as to what she was going to reveal. She looked so serious and intense.
And nervous.
The last thing he wanted was for her to feel apprehensive around him.
“Clearly you had to have noticed that when we had sex, there was some discomfort. We talked about abstinence being an issue. You’re also, um, I don’t want to sound disloyal, but there’s a size issue, too.”
Size? His brain went on stun for a moment, not sure he’d heard her correctly; then he thought back to their night together, needing to go slow, to give her time to adjust and realized, holy hell, she’d been more than a little uncomfortable.