Maximilian didn't warn her. He simply leaned in, closing the small, fragile distance between them as though it had been testing his patience for far too long, and kissed her.
It wasn't hurried. It wasn't uncertain. It was deliberate in a way that made her breath catch, slow enough for her to feel it, to realize it, and yet impossible to stop.
A soft sound escaped her, half a laugh, half something far more helpless, as his hand found her waist and drew her closer, guiding her onto his lap as if that was where she had always belonged. Catherine settled there easily, instinctively, her body folding into his without resistance, her arms slipping around his shoulders as her laughter softened into something quieter, warmer.
When she lifted her gaze to his, her eyes still held that brightness, but there was something else beneath it now, something softer, something that lingered.
