Sweet Seduction (9 page)

He loved every part of this woman, even now when she was hogging all the Sweet Temptation cookies. He’d intertwined their fingers so he could hold her hand down over her head and use his free hand to tickle the backs of her knees, her secret spot.

Paige giggled and tried to buck him off. “Stop, stop, stop!”

“Are you gonna be nice and share?”

She finished chewing what was in her mouth and shook her head, blowing a raspberry at him.

His brows winged and he ran his fingertips under her knees again. When she snorted by accident, both of them stopped. Paige’s eyes widened as her cheeks turned bright red but Felix just busted out laughing and let her go.

She kicked at him. “It’s not funny! Shut up!”

For as long as he’d known her, Felix had
never
heard her snort and it had to be the most adorable thing he’d ever witnessed in his life. She went to climb out of the fort they’d built in the living room but he pulled her back into his lap, trying desperately to stop laughing at her. “Oh baby, I’m not laughing…at you…I swear…”

Paige punched him in the shoulder and he started all over again.

“Asshole.”

He kissed her forehead and bit his lip to keep from grinning. “Stop pouting.”

She didn’t.

“
Cada parte é fermoso para min, mesmo as máis embaraçosas.”
Felix chuckled against her hair.

Paige looked up at him with a tiny frown. “What does that mean?”

He framed her face in his hands and kissed her softly on the lips. “Each part is beautiful to me, even the most embarrassing ones.”

Her lips twitched. “Suck up.”

Grinning wide, he nodded. “Yes, now share the cookies.”

Nose scrunching, she shook her head. “Nope. Make me.”

His head cocked as he trailed his gaze from her face to the apex of her thighs. Paige shook her head again, backing up and almost taking out the pillow wall of their fort. “Unh-unh Felix. Not again.”

He smirked. “Yes,
again.”

Then he was on her before she could take off.

It was their last night. Over the past week and a half, Felix had shown her in at least a hundred different ways how much he loved her and every time she melted. When she’d suggested building a fort in the middle of the living room and watching Disney all day she thought he’d laugh at her but he didn’t. If anything, his eyes lit up like a little kid’s and he’d ran through the house collecting blankets and pillows to construct their mini castle.

They’d also pigged out on snacks, had several snow ball fights and sock skated on the hardwood floors through the cabin. Every single minute of it had been amazing and every single time he’d made her smile or laugh, Paige felt herself falling deeper and deeper in love. She sighed as she traced Felix’s lips with a fingertip while he slept peacefully. He didn’t wake up, just gripped her around the waist and pulled her closer to his body before settling down again. He looked so content. Inside, she knew his ease was due to the past two weeks, so did she really want this to end? She loved him. Even if she’d never uttered the words out loud, she
loved
him. Every. Part. Of. Him. From his goofy sense of humor to the way he looked at her, the way he interacted with Abby and Liam, the way he loved Lena, the way he adored and respected his parents, his loyalty to Archer’s friendship and every other aspect of this man was pure.

Was she willing to give all of that up out of the fear that she’d lose herself in her feelings?

Too restless to sleep, Paige kissed his forehead and managed to slip out of his arms. She found a pair of jeans and a sweater to put on along with boots and her parka. Maybe a walk would clear her head.

Paige made her way around the cabin and into the backyard, staring out at the mountain tops and frozen lake in the distance as her head started to process exactly how much had happened between her and Felix during their vacation.

She almost felt like calling Lena and thanking her for being Satan incarnate because it had finally made her realize something. Out of all the years Felix had been chasing her, he’d never tried to control or change her. There were never any lies or manipulations used. He never held back on his feelings and even after ten years he’d remained celibate just to prove how much he wanted to be with her so exactly what was she running from?

Paige slapped a hand against her forehead. “Stupid, you can be so damn stupid.”

Felix had been the one to help her study for her exams when she went through veterinary school, always pushing her to do better right along with Lena. When she’d graduated he’d been the one screaming the loudest because her parents—who didn’t approve of her choice of a career goal, since her father hadn’t picked it—hadn’t been there and he’d seen how much it hurt her. The day she got her first job as a vet tech he’d brought her lunch from Grayson’s and made sure she was eating right. And when she’d started scouting locations for her own office, he’d helped until they found one.

Felix had never tried to control her. All he’d ever done was support her and she’d spent so much time afraid that she’d lose herself that she was close to losing him. Even when she pushed him away he just got closer, never once giving up on her.

“I can be such a dumbass sometimes, Jesus.” So lost in her thoughts she didn’t hear the footsteps behind her until they got closer.

Paige spun around but one booted foot slipped and she lost her balance. She was going down before she knew it. She put her hands out, waiting for an impact that never came.

That’s when she heard his chuckle, felt it rumble through his chest as his strong arms held her just a few seconds from breaking something important.

“You can open your eyes, sweetheart. I got you.”

She did, very slowly and felt herself being righted until her feet were firmly back on the ground.

“What’re you doing out here? You almost ruined your pretty face.” One big hand came up to cup her cheek and wipe a snowflake away. That’s when an acute sense of déjà vu hit her hard in the gut.

Grabbing that hand, she stared Felix straight in the eyes when she whispered, “I love you.”

He blinked and blinked again. Then he shook his head. “I’m sorry. Could you repeat that? I think I zoned out for a second and heard the wrong thing.”

She grabbed the front of his leather bomber and pulled him in close. “I. Love. You. And I know we had this stupid agreement and I’ve been really slow and running for no reason but I just realized exactly how much you mean to me and I don’t think I can give that up for—”

Paige’s words were cut off when Felix leaned down and pressed his lips to hers, slipping his tongue inside and kissing her until she was breathless.

He pulled back and stared down at her with so much love that any chance of drawing in a normal breath was out the window. Felix didn’t speak for a long time then he said, “When I woke up and you were gone I thought you’d ran.”

She shook her head so hard that her hood came off. “No, I didn’t. I can’t. I’m tired of running. I kept believing that loving you would somehow change me and it has.” Running her thumb over his bottom lip, she smiled. “For the better. I can stop being scared that I’m going to wake up some day and think that I gave up everything I love just to satisfy you because I realize I’m so much stronger than that. I’m
not
my mother.”

“And I’m not your father.”

She cocked her head. “That was never my fear. I was scared that I would give up who I am because I thought that’s what you wanted, not necessarily because you remind me of him. I kept panicking because I’d feel so much love hit me just staring at you that it’d make my head spin for a minute and the intensity of that is what frightened me. When you love a person the way I love you it’s mind boggling because you realize you’d do almost
anything
just to get them to keep on loving you in return. I didn’t wanna repeat the cycle.”

He pulled her closer and hugged her tight. “I love you without conditions,
batimentos cardíacos.”

She pulled back and looked up at him. “You never did tell me what that means.”

Giving her a lopsided grin, he placed her hand over his heart and whispered, “Heartbeat. It means heartbeat.”

The backs of her eyes burned and she had to blink a few times to stave off the tears that had gathered. Unable to say anything else, she just whispered back, “Marry me?”

Sweet Seduction

Three years later…

“Felix, we’re supposed to be cutting the cake,” Paige panted against her husband’s chest as his strong hands ran down her sides to grip her ass and pull her tighter to him.

“I have the sweet I want right here.” He sucked her earlobe between his lips and tugged, causing her thighs to clench.

“Oh
that’s
just
nasty.
Respect the fresh pastries people!” A voice called from the kitchen doorway.

Paige looked over Felix’s shoulder to see Lena making a beeline for the cake. She wasn’t surprised since her friend had an obsession with anything that came from Sweet Temptations. Lena had even managed to invite the owner Bianca Halima and her family along with Archer’s friend Victory Graham. Then there was Dexter Franklin who Archer
also
knew along with his wife and children.

The amount of kids everyone had was damn hard to keep up with but somehow Paige had managed. She was keeping a particularly close eye on the one they called Bailey. There was something a little…off in the way that girl stared at everyone. Laughing, Paige managed to pry her husband’s hands off of her and got out of his grasp. “We were just about to cut it,
honest.”

Lena’s brows winged. “Lies.”

Paige snorted as two more women came through the swinging doors. “The kids are getting mighty cranky, and I don’t know if anybody but me noticed, but that Liam’s a screamer,” Brianna Halima—Bianca’s older sister announced.

“I noticed it, being that I live with it every day.” Lena sighed.

Brianna gave Lena a pat on the head along with a pitying look. “And we feel so sorry for you.”

“Considering the fact that my children are in the process of plotting to take over the world, I have no sympathy for others,” Bianca stated.

They all stopped talking long enough to stare over at Felix who happened to be the lone male in the room at the moment. Paige wanted to yell for him to run and never look back but she had a feeling they’d just chase him down and hog tie him like they’d apparently done Victory years ago. That story had been an…interesting one.

“Uh…I’m just gonna see what Archer is up to on the grill.” Then he
did
run, leaving Paige with the crazy females who seemed nice enough when they weren’t slap fighting or insulting one another.

“There’s something about the males in Damon and being able to wear a pair of Levi’s…” Bianca murmured, staring at Felix as he made his escape.

Paige threw a dish cloth at her. “Eyes off my man’s bits or the cake won’t be all that’s cut.”

She just shrugged. “I have people eyeing Evan’s bits on a regular. Why should you be exempt from mutual husband ogling?”

Paige started to open her mouth but Lena beat her to it. “Because she knows what to do to turn your face orange for a month.”