by Sosie Frost
Josie was generally optimistic, but even she questioned me as we reached her apartment. I locked the door while she squealed some bullshit chastisement. I wasn’t listening. As long as I had her safe, as long as I had her in my arms, she could call me every name in the book and I’d still teach her more and dirtier profanity.
“Are you out of your mind?” Josie collapsed against the wall. “Maddox, you can’t act like this! If Nolan decides to press charges—”
I didn’t let her finish. She was already pinned to the wall. Something inside me snapped.
When I was in jail I counted the hours until I saw her, and when I was with her I memorized every blessed second I held her in my arms. She had kicked me out the other night, and part of my mind shredded itself. It was forged together now, glued with testosterone and stitched with adrenaline.
I kissed her, silenced her every protest of my lips and captured her within my arms. That didn’t mean she quieted. Her mew of indignation treaded a thin line between anger and submission.
I missed her submission.
Josie was always beautiful, but she destroyed me when she turned feisty. That’s when her almond eyes turned vibrant, a dancing darkness. Her lips, pouty and full, begged to be kissed.
I needed her, and I wouldn’t rest until I knew she was mine. I’d give my life to know she wasn’t hurt, scared, or trapped with that fucking bastard who wanted her as a prize, not because she was the most amazing woman in the world.
And so I kissed her until she softened in my hands.
Then I took control.
She fit with me. Or I crowded around her. I never knew the answer to that.
Josie was tiny. I was big.
She surrendered. I took.
My girl wanted. I delivered.
Her lips trembled. Why was she so afraid? I planned to give her body more pleasure than she could handle. I broke the kiss, but my nip to her neck silenced her next argument. I bit exactly where I knew she was vulnerable. Her groan was music, her hushed breath just a prelude to what I’d awaken in her desire.
“You can’t…” Josie shuddered as my attention trailed down. Her eyes closed. I knelt before her. “Maddox, we have to talk.”
“Later.” My fingers worked quickly, unbuttoning her jeans. They trembled too. I ignored it. The only thing that mattered was how goddamned much I ached to see her, taste her, feel her. “We can talk later. Let me have you now.”
“But we can’t do this.”
What stopped us? I was done denying myself.
But she hid from me. Still. The fire and trial and prison were damning enough, but even now, even when I was free…she pushed me away.
No more. I planned to prove exactly what she was missing. I’d win her back with the flick of my tongue, nibble of my lips, and thrust of my cock.
I unzipped her jeans. White panties peeked from beneath. The denim was easy to shed, but that flimsy cotton barrier stilled my hands.
In that moment, I hated panties. I hated them on her, hated that she had them, hated that they hid her sexy little slit from my eyes. The material shredded between my fingers, and Josie gasped as I immediately seized those petals for my own.
I knelt between her legs, forcing her thighs apart with greedy fingers and savoring the sweet slickness betraying her true desire. The swell of her legs crested into the most beautiful pussy I had the privilege of tasting, nibbling, touching. And she knew it too. Or should have known it. I hated authority, disavowed myself of most laws, and surrendered to no man. But for Josie?
I would’ve stayed on my knees, pleasured her for hours, showed her exactly how much I loved her and what I’d do to please her.
And I started right then.
Her gasp startled us both. I thought I hurt her, but immediately her knees buckled and her fingers tangled in my hair. She pulled me closer to that hot, honeyed slit, and I obeyed every arch of her hips to savor her more of her pussy. My tongue slipped within and massaged the sensitive nub.
I drove her wild. I had countless times before. I knew where to touch, how to kiss, what to do to straddle her on the edge of pain and pleasure until she begged for release I may or may not have given.
“Maddox…” That breathy warning nearly burst the seam in my jeans. Her orgasm always seemed to surprise her, as if she couldn’t believe I made her feel such delirious intensity. “Wait…maybe…”
Wait? Like hell. Why wait when she was this close?
She bucked over my mouth, wetted my tongue, and tightened arouund the finger I slipped within that tight fucking slit. She was going to come for me, and I’d take every beautiful shudder that wracked her body.
I curled my lips over her clit and gave it a quick and fierce suckle—less romance and more strict demand. She nearly collapsed, and I drove her into the wall. She wasn’t giving in, and I wasn’t losing my spot between the legs of a goddamned goddess.
“Oh…God…”
I would have encouraged her, but that would've meant pulling my lips from her pulsing clit. It wasn’t going to happen. I withdrew my finger from her pussy if only to use both hands to support her hips, to pin her between the wall and my lapping tongue. She’d be embarrassed later, remembering the sounds and slapping and obscene grunts I made while eating her whole.
She’d touch herself then too. Hell, tonight? I’d stay in that bed and she could finish herself off on my thick, hungry cock.
Her orgasm chased the air from her lungs in a wavering groan. She bucked, but her clit wasn’t getting away from my mouth, even if I had to nip to keep her where I could savor and swallow every drop of cream. Josie didn’t have a candy shop anymore, but all that reserved sweetness tucked inside her womb. I gobbled her, licked her, suckled everything I could taste.
And I still wanted more.
Josie didn’t protest until I laid her on the ground. Then her eyes widened. I kicked her legs apart and aimed for my belt. The jingle slammed her back to reality, and she stared as my zipper drove down and cock popped out.
Hard.
Desperate.
I stared at her tight, tasty, soaking wet slit. She was soon to get a lot messier.
Her hand rose as I fisted my cock. It might have stilled my motions if it weren’t trembling. Josie could hardly hold herself upright, but she gasped as if she had no idea what I planned with a throbbing dick aimed for her spread legs.
“Wait.”
Now her voice shifted. She pulled herself up, edging her body away from me.
What the hell?
“You want this too,” I rasped. “Don’t pretend.”
“I do.” She nodded, too quick, almost panicking. “But Maddox…we…you can’t…”
Goddamn it.
Fucking Nolan must have scared the piss out of her.
I didn’t need my woman to tell me no. I was a better man than that. I didn’t want to cause her distress. I meant to be the one who comforted her. Fixed her.
Kept her safe.
I’d jerk it in the shower and have plenty of time to lose myself in her later. I tucked back in my jeans, ignoring the discomfort of a rock hard cock and unyielding denim.
I helped Josie to her feet, handing her a shred of cotton that had been her panties. She took them, but backed out of the room, aiming for the first pair of yoga pants she could find. The bright pink clashed with a blouse, but she never looked so goddamned beautiful.
“Why?” I asked. “What’s wrong? It’s me, Sweets.”
Josie still sweated. She rubbed her forehead, tucking the bouncing curls behind her ears with a thick headband. She took a deep breath with closed eyes that only puffed her lips for a kiss.
Did she have any idea what she did to me?
“I can’t do this with you,” she said. “Not now. Things are complicated.”
“No, they aren’t.”
She wasn’t getting away. She tried to hide in the kitchen, but I refused to get bumped for fucking cookies again.
“This is you and me, Sweets. W
e gotta talk.”
“Not now.”
“Yes, now.” I held my arms out. “Why are you fighting me on this? Christ, I just want to feel you. I gotta know you’re okay.”
“I’m fine, Maddox. Everything is fine.”
“It’s not, or you wouldn’t be pushing me away.”
She didn’t meet my gaze. “I shouldn’t have to push you away. You should respect my wishes.”
“If I understood them, I would! You’re not making any goddamned sense. I’m back. I’m here. I’m offering to give everything to you. I want the life, the family, you, a baby. Didn’t you…miss me at all?” My voice hardened. “Didn’t you love me?”
“Don’t you dare.” Josie’s whisper punctuated with a pointed finger. “Don’t accuse me of being anything less than faithful or devoted. You have no idea the problems you’ve caused—”
“Because you won’t tell me. Let me be a part of this.”
Her arms crossed, but it only perked her chest up. “A part of what? This town? This nightmare?”
I tensed. “What nightmare?”
“All of this. Granddad is sick. We lost all the money from the insurance because of him.”
“His medical bills?”
“His gambling, Maddox.” She covered her mouth with a hitched breath. “Don’t tell anyone. Please. They know, but everyone is pretending it’s the medical bills. I didn’t even know he took the money until most of it was gone—”
“Hey.” I shrugged. “I know Matthias. He taught me everything I knew about electrical work…and enough about the horses at the track. I’d never say a damn thing.”
“We have nothing to rebuild. I lost everything. My shop. My future.” Her lip trembled. “You.”
“You didn’t lose me.”
“I lost you first.”
“Bullshit. I was always there for you. I loved you. Still do, Sweets. Why the hell did you push me away? Why didn’t you come to visit me? Give me a single fucking word while I was in prison?”
She didn’t answer.
And then I knew.
Sure as hell, like someone punched me in the gut and kicked me in the balls just to be sure I was down for the count.
“You think I did it.”
Josie’s eyes widened. She didn’t have to say shit. The shock stole my erection, shriveled my pride.
“You think I burned your fucking store down?”
She panicked, unable to speak, rushing for me when I turned for the door.
“Son of a bitch.” I nearly kicked the kitchen table. Figured that’d scare her more. I settled for slamming a palm against the wall. She jumped.
And a cascade of papers fell from her table.
The way she flinched, I’d have thought they were images of her as a centerfold. I batted her hand away, bending down to grab the oversize sheets of paper, an arm span wide.
“Maddox—”
“What are these?” I knew electrical plans, but these were general building construction blueprints. “Are these…for a rebuild?”
“It’s a long story…”
No, it wasn’t. It was a very short story, and I got it as soon as I saw the dates stamped on the fucking plans.
“These were created before the fire,” I said.
“I know, it’s—”
“Nolan Rhys.” I spat the name on the corner of the documents. “He had an engineer draw up plans for your store a week before the fire?”
Josie stilled. She tried to avoid my gaze. “The night of the fire he offered to buy the property from me. I don’t remember much after the dinner.”
“Why?”
“It was…I don’t know. Fuzzy. I must have hit my head in the shop.”
“What do you remember?”
“Maddox—”
My voice hardened. “What do you remember?”
She sighed, shrugging her shoulders. “Nolan wanted to take me to dinner to offer on the property. We ate, I told him unequivocally no, he ordered a drink just to show we had no bad feelings, and then…I got the call. I think. I know I went to the shop, and I know you pulled me out, but I can’t remember anything clearly after the drink or before the hospital.”
That fucking bastard.
It wasn’t the fire that stole her memory—it was Nolan and whatever the hell he put in her wine.
She had no idea, and no one at the hospital thought to check…
Fuck!
Had it not been for the fire, Josie would have spent the night passed out on his mattress.
And then I would have been put in jail for murder.
“What?” She bit her lip. She pulled the plans from my hand before I tore them to shreds. “Maddox, of course I knew you were innocent. You’d never hurt me, no matter what the town says. I know you. I trust you. I—”
She silenced, but those unspoken words weren’t enough to ease the churning, gut-aching rage that threatened to rend through my sanity.
Nolan.
This confirmed it. No more hunches. No more suspicions.
He wanted her. He nearly stole her. And, when she refused him, he destroyed her store, her life, her future. And he framed me for it.
She knew it too. Hell, only one reason she would have those plans. She stepped away from me, her eyes wide with hesitance.
“Nolan Rhys torched your shop?” I asked.
She swallowed. “I’m going to prove that he did.”
“And then what?”
“I’m going to put him in jail.”
That wasn’t enough. It wouldn’t be enough. I turned, stalking to the door.
Josie called for me to stay. Her hands wrapped over my bicep, pulling me back. “What are you going to do?”
Like she had to ask. Like she hadn’t already figured it out.
“I told you. I’m getting revenge on the son of a bitch who hurt you.”
“How?”
I didn’t answer. Josie stepped before me, preventing me from leaving.
“Maddox…how?”
What I should have done before the bastard tried to ruin her.
“I’m going to find Nolan, and I’m going to kill him.”
7
Josie
Saint Christie wasn’t a dangerous town, but in the past year, I’d dealt with arsonists who ruined lives, villains who threatened to kill, and heroes who vowed to murder.
This was what happened when people were denied desserts. Chocolate made everyone happy—cookies, cakes, ice creams, candies. Give a person a sweet in both hands and they couldn’t hold a weapon. My new motto. World peace and spun sugar.
Nolan emailed, asking for a second chance to talk with me. He chose the location—one of Saint Christie’s little bistros. It was the nicer of the two, though some in the town insisted the local Subway shouldn’t count as an artisan restaurant.
No way was I actually eating with him, but Nolan ordered a salad for me before I arrived. He waved me to my seat, grinning as though he weren’t the one responsible for my lost store, love, and life.
“Thanks for coming, Josie,” he said. “I hope I’m not inconveniencing you.”
I didn’t answer. He knew my schedule. Part-time work at the newspaper was the best I could get. Apparently, lunch on the city’s tab was a perk of being a mayor. Nolan ordered us iced tea. I sipped my water instead, my own form of silent protest. It wasn’t very effective.
“Josie, I want to apologize for my behavior a few days ago. I lost my temper, and it was…a stressful moment while I was organizing the campaign. Your cookies were the hit of the event.”
Usually cookie complements won me over. Not today. I said nothing. He expected it.
Or he preferred it.
At least we’d be done with this quickly and quietly, before Maddox knew I snuck out to lunch with the man he planned to kill.
I wasn’t doing Nolan any favors. He didn’t deserve my protection, but I wasn’t losing Maddox to any more jail time. I refused to compromise the only thing I wanted more than my store,
my life, or another night with Maddox.
Justice.
I wanted Nolan to live, to face the judge, and to suffer, humiliated and ashamed, as the newspaper published his crimes to the entirety of the town.
He slid the folder across the table. His eyebrows were blonde, but thick. They gave him that insistent look as I delayed opening the offer.
“It’s generous.” Nolan grew impatient. “Please.”
I flipped the pages open and read through the appraisals. Then I eyed the sales number.
“This is more than the land is worth,” I said.
“It’s the same amount I offered you the night you lost the store.”
I closed the folder. “I don’t remember that night.”
He nodded. “I do. You looked lovely.”
Creeper. “I’m not interested, no matter how good an offer for a vacant lot.”
“I know it’s hard to part with the property, but…just take as long as you need to consider it.”
Ten seconds did it. I counted them silently. “No.”
“This deal would be in your best interests, Josie.”
“How would you know what’s in my best interests?”
“Because I know the kind of girl you are.” He smiled like it’d make a damn difference. “You’re too sweet for this world. Wholesome. I know you’ve been…led down the wrong path, and you’ve done some things you will regret in time—”
“What will I regret?”
“You’re so innocent, even after your…experiences with a man like Maddox.”
Nolan had an odd obsession with my bedroom, and an even worse fixation on the only man I ever invited inside.
“We’re done here,” I said.
“You don’t understand the world.” Nolan’s voice hardened. “It isn’t all chocolates and gumdrops.”
Maddox used to say the same thing, and I wasn’t about to be condescended for it.
“This world is built on hard work and sacrifice.” I shook, but it was frustration that claimed me, not fear. “This world is nights spent baking until three AM just to make a twenty dollar profit the next morning. It’s inventory and accounting, chiseling sugar from the walls and floor, health inspections and permits.”
