Healing Mr. Ashford

🔞Chapter Nine: Oral🔞

NATALIA GEORGETTE

I woke to the faint sound of the curtains moving with the morning breeze, and for a few seconds, I forgot where I was. Then I felt the warmth beside me, and every memory from the night before came rushing back so quickly that I had to close my eyes again.

God.

I turned my head and found Maximo already awake, watching me with that irritatingly satisfied smile.

"Good morning."

I pulled the sheet higher. "Don't."

"Don't what?"

"Look at me like that."

His smile widened. "I'm only looking."

"That's worse."

He laughed quietly, and something inside me softened before I could stop it. I hated how easy it was with him. There was no carefulness, no pretending, no measuring every word the way I had learned to do with Ethan.

By the time we went downstairs for breakfast, I had almost convinced myself that last night hadn't changed anything.

Almost.

We sat across from each other while the morning slowly came alive outside the windows. Maximo reached over and stole a grape from my plate, just as he was about to pop it into his mouth.

"That's mine," I protested, giving him an offended look.

"You weren't eating it," he countered smoothly.

"I was going to."

Maximo didn't answer right away. Instead, he leaned across the table, his eyes locked onto mine. Before I could ask what he was doing, his fingers gently caught my chin, guiding my jaw down, so my lips parted slightly.

He leaned in closer and kissed me, but instead of a normal kiss, he expertly pushed the grape from his mouth into mine. I tried to pull back in surprise, but his grip on my jaw tightened just enough to keep my mouth closed, leaving me with no choice but to chew and swallow it.

"Disgusting!" I gasped, glaring at him the moment he let go. Maximo leaned back slightly, a dark, teasing smirk playing on his lips.

"After you moaned my name last night, you still find me disgusting?" He simply arched a single eyebrow at me, completely unbothered by my glare.

Oh this brute!

We walk through the winding paths of Sintra, climbing one stone staircase after another until my legs started to feel heavier with every step. I tried to keep up with Maximo, but he was walking like we had all the time in the world and my feet weren't slowly dying.

"Slow down. My feet hurt."

He stopped immediately and looked back at me.

"Oh. Sorry, Doctor."

Before I could protest, he turned around and crouched slightly.

"What are you doing?" He didn't answer.

A second later, he lifted me into his arms, one arm beneath my knees and the other supporting my back.

"Maximo!"

I instinctively wrapped my arms around his neck as he continued walking as though carrying a grown woman up a staircase was the most normal thing in the world.

"Put me down."

"You said your feet hurt."

"I didn't mean carry me!"

"You should've been more specific."

I buried my face against his shoulder when I noticed a few tourists looking our way. The heat rushed straight to my cheeks, and I suddenly wished the stone walls would open up and swallow me whole.

"Why are you covering your face?"

"Someone might see us!"

"So what?"

I lifted my head and glared at him. "Maximo."

"They don't even know us."

"That doesn't make it less embarrassing."

He looked down at me, amusement dancing in his eyes.

"I don't know. It feels sweet carrying you like this."

My stomach fluttered at the way he said it, so casually, as though he hadn't just turned my entire face hot, then his mouth curved into that infuriating smile.

"I might want to carry you this way later."

I narrowed my eyes.

He leaned slightly closer.

"Maybe straight to the bed."

My face burned even hotter because of what he said.

"Shut up!"

He laughed under his breath, the sound low and warm against my ear, and I could feel the quiet amusement in the way his chest moved beneath me. He didn't even try to hide how much he was enjoying my embarrassment, which only made my face burn hotter.

"Why? You don't like the idea?"

I refused to answer and hid my face against his shoulder again.

"Hmph."

His chest moved with another quiet laugh, and even without looking at him, I could feel the smile against his lips.

Damn him.

The worst part was that I was smiling too.

After lunch, we headed to Monserrate Palace.

The gardens were quieter than I expected, surrounded by towering trees and winding paths that seemed to disappear around every corner. Maximo walked beside me, occasionally pointing things out whenever he noticed me staring. The old stone walls were covered in moss and greenery, flowers spilled over the edges of the paths, and every turn seemed to reveal another beautiful corner. It was nothing like the places I was used to seeing in Masbate, and for the first time since arriving in Portugal, I felt like I could actually breathe.

"Wow. Beautiful."

Maximo glanced at me, amusement already settling in his eyes. "You've said that five times now."

"Because it's beautiful."

"You said the same thing about the last garden."

"Then maybe Portugal has too many beautiful places."

"Yes, but we both know your favorite place is in my arms."

I gave him an offended look, but I couldn't hold it for long. He laughed and reached for my hand, his fingers slipping naturally between mine as we continued walking. I looked down at our joined hands for a second longer than I meant to. There was something almost painfully sweet about it, especially because I had spent so many years imagining what it would feel like to hold his hand and had somehow never imagined that, when it finally happened, it would feel this easy.

We wandered through the gardens without rushing. Whenever we reached a particularly beautiful spot, Maximo would stop and pull out his phone.

"Stand there."

"Why?"

"Because the background is pretty."

I raised an eyebrow. "The background?"

He gave me a look. "Just stand there, Doctor."

I laughed but did what he said. He took several pictures, asking me to turn slightly or move closer to the flowers. At one point, he lowered his phone and simply stared at the screen with a small smile.

"What?"

"You look happy."

The words caught me off guard. I looked away, pretending to fix my hair even though it didn't need fixing. I didn't know why that simple observation affected me so much. Maybe because I had almost forgotten what happiness felt like when it wasn't something I had to force.

"Your turn," I said, taking his phone from him.

He leaned against one of the old stone walls while I took a few pictures. I made him move twice because he kept standing in the worst possible light, and he laughed the entire time.

"You're very demanding."

"You hired the wrong photographer."

We took a few selfies afterward, though I immediately complained when he tried taking another.

"That's enough." I said.

We continued deeper into the gardens until the crowd slowly thinned. The voices of other tourists became distant, replaced by the quiet rustling of leaves and the soft crunch of gravel beneath our shoes. We passed through an old stone arch and found ourselves in a secluded corner surrounded by trees and weathered walls.

I glanced around. "There's barely anyone here."

"That's what I like about it."

Something in his voice made me turn toward him. He was looking at me again, but there was something different in his eyes this time.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like you want to eat me."

The corner of his mouth lifted. "Because I really want to."

Heat rushed straight to my face.

"Maximo."

He stepped closer, and the sudden loss of distance made my breath catch. I should have said something clever. Instead, I stood there feeling that familiar pull I had been trying so hard not to name since the moment he walked back into my life.

His hand settled lightly at my waist before he leaned down and kissed me.

The kiss was slow at first, almost teasing, but it didn't stay that way for long. My fingers curled around the front of his shirt as I pulled him closer, and for a few seconds, the rest of the garden disappeared. There was no Ethan, no broken engagement, no questions about what would happen when we returned to the Philippines. There was only Maximo, his warmth, his familiar smile against my lips, and the terrifying realization that I could get used to this far too easily.

When we finally pulled apart, I kept my eyes closed for a second, trying to settle the warmth spreading through me.

Maximo smiled.

"Still think I'm disgusting?"

I opened my eyes and gave him a look. "Very."

His smile widened. "Liar."

After he said that, he guided me into a corner.

"Max, what are you doing?" I whispered, scolding him because someone might hear us.

He was already kneeling in front of me now, holding the hem of the dress I was wearing.

"Shhh," was his only reply as he slipped his hand inside my panties.

"You're wet," he whispered to me. I tried to look at him, but my vision was already blurring, and I couldn't help but to bite my lower lip.

Pleasure was slowly taking over my mind. My eyes rolled back and my back arched the moment I felt his tongue on my intimacy. I instinctively pulled his hair to guide him closer while soft moans escaped my lips.

Shit!

I wanted to shout all the pleasure I had inside me.

"Ahh... Maximo..." He pried my thighs even wider apart. I could feel his tongue playing against me, and I couldn't stop it. It felt like I was about to c*m.

"Max..." I moaned, quickly covering my mouth because someone might hear me. His tongue was now playing with my c**t, making me lean harder against the stone wall. My dress was probably getting dirty, but I didn't care anymore because I was completely carried away by the sheer pleasure his tongue was giving me.

"Ahh!" I moaned again when I felt his tongue enter my p*ssy. My grip tightened in his hair. His playful movements sent an electrifying tingle through my entire body.

He held me close, his movements deep and rhythmic. I arched my back even more against the stone wall, feeling the rough grit of the rock against my shoulders. I felt one of my legs being lifted onto his shoulder, allowing him to get even closer to me.

"Ohh Max, s**t!"

I couldn't hold back my moans from the sheer pleasure he was bringing me. Every sensation sent pulses of electricity straight to my lower abdomen. Without realizing it, I was already moving with him because I knew I was so close to the edge... The pace grew faster and faster. I could feel his mounting intensity as he held me firmly, until my mind went completely blank. I lost all sense of my surroundings, entirely consumed by the delicious waves of electricity surging through me. It felt like a current or a wave crawling up into my stomach and rushing down my thighs.

I felt completely overwhelmed by the connection we shared. He caught my weight when my strength completely gave out when I felt him sucking every bit of my release.