Page 97 of Yours, Forever

I put my arms over his shoulders. "What are you doing?"

He nuzzled on my neck, tiny bites on my earlobe. I closed my eyes and sighed. His fingers twitched on the curves of my waist, digging into my soft flesh. He didn't answer right away, and I let him take his time, his mouth all over my sensitive skin. Eventually, he nibbled on my jaw, on the way to speak right into my ear.

"I'm contemplating the fact that I'm buying a house with my wife. That I'm happy about it. Excited. That I'm alone with youin this office, and I immediately got a splendid idea." His hands wandered. "I can imagine it too clearly. Your hands on the wall there, above the screen. No one can see us fucking, with the window polarized as it is… But you could seethem. Bite your lip as I pound you—"

"Oh my god! Max! Eva! What?!"

We scrambled apart. Ale watched us with eyes wide open and a slack mouth.

"What in hell is going on?" Daniel appeared out of nowhere.

Instead of thewhat the fuckI expected to hear from him, his eyes lit up.

Ale got into the tiny office, Daniel right behind. She turned on the light and closed the door, the four of us barely fitting in the room. Max and I blinked away the surprise of the bright ceiling light; he pulled me to him in very much the same way Daniel did with Ale. Two men acting on some sort of protective instinct, an intimate gesture, or simply to make enough room for the four of us, I didn't know.

Still, I remained close to Max, happy to feel his proximity now that we'd been caught by Ale and Daniel. They were the only people in Laguna Island who didn't expect us to already be getting frisky in private spaces.

"How long has this been going on?" Ale asked.

"Definethis," Max said.

"Please, we're all adults." She frowned. "We all know what Daniel and I saw."

Daniel for once had more of a smile in place. "They don't actually owe us an explanation, Ale. Though I'm glad to have it. The paperwork I caught at Town Hall makes more sense now."

"I'll make you a deal," I said. "You can ask a few questions and we'll ask some. I want to know about that paperwork."

"That's a generous deal, darling. I'm pretty sure he's referring to the inspector looking up any pending permits on theVenturelli house… soon to be the Errázuriz Medina house, if things go well."

"That's correct." Daniel arched an eyebrow. "Janet mentioned it and I looked up the papers. You can imagine my shock. I came here to talk to Eva about it."

"What the fuck?" Ale exclaimed in Max's and my general direction. "I thought this was fake? Aren't you going to get divorced in two years?"

"Not fake-fake," Max said.

"We're just… keeping each other company. Being good friends… with benefits," I added.

Ale shook her head. "I didn't believe it, when Meg came to tell you Daniel wanted to talk with you, and she caught you necking. Necking!" She snorted. "That's what she said. I came to see for myself, ready to correct Meg… and look at us now."

"What did you want to know about it, Daniel?" Max's voice sounded like he asked what kind of weather he preferred, sunny or rainy.

His fingers caressed the round over my hip where his hand rested. Ale's eyes zeroed in on it.

Daniel lifted a shoulder in a half shrug. "I wanted to know if Eva was aware. Check if there were any other developments I should keep an eye out for."

"She's aware and no more developments for a bit." Max cocked his head. "Unless there are more calls from my father or his team, or anyone suspicious visits, things are calm on that front."

"You're buying a house together." Ale's tone implied a mild accusation, and plenty of worry.

"I like how that sounds," Max said.

I shook my head, as if I could dismiss her worries that way. "My house right now is too small for us and all his suits. With a bigger house, we'll be more comfortable and, if one of his friends visits in the next few years, we have a place for them to stay."

"Do you hear how that sounds?" Ale asked. "Sounds like you guys are married for real. Like things are getting messy with the arrangement."

"We're adults, Ale," I assured her. "We get to make things messy if we want to, but we're not. We need more space. Max happens to be really privileged and we can afford to move to a bigger place, so we will."

Because fuck. My. Heart.