by Lia Lee
It was interesting to hear Maddie referred to in such a way. Perhaps it was because Alex had only ever known her casually at the club and between the sheets in his hotel room. He would certainly have thought of her as single minded, but he would have also said she was incredibly giving and honest in her reactions. Although, perhaps those traits had nothing to do with her business acumen.
“Shall we get down to business?” Alex asked pointedly.
Corrigan made a gesture with his hand. “Of course.”
The waiter arrived to take their drink orders, and Alex had never been so relieved to be interrupted in his life.
***
IN MADDIE’S OPINION, there was only one thing to be done when everything seemed to be going to hell. She was wearing her favorite dress and a pair of great heels. Her hair looked good, and her makeup was perfect. So Alex had other plans. So she was pregnant and therefore couldn’t consume any alcohol. That did not mean she couldn’t have fun, and most importantly, it didn’t mean that she couldn’t dance with her friends.
“Mwah!” Maddie leaned in to give her friend Danika an air kiss on her cheek.
Club Twining was full of partiers tonight, but Maddie’s friends had secured a prime table in view of the dance floor and the bar. Danika sat with Chelsea and Bess. The four of them often went out together. In fact, they had been with her the night she had met Alex six long weeks ago.
“Maddie!” Danika gushed. “Girlfriend, you look hot! What’s the occasion?”
“Alex is back in town.” Maddie decided just to dive in. “I found his pic on the celebrity blog and stopped by his hotel before I came here.”
Chelsea’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Whoa! That was a bold decision on your part. I thought the two of you decided to leave it casual.”
“Maddie leaves things casual with any guy,” Bess snorted. She took a long swig of her cocktail. “In fact, I think Maddie is the consummate love-them-for-one-night kind of girl.”
Maddie couldn’t argue with her friend’s accurate assessment. She just wondered what everyone would say when she dropped her next bomb. “Actually, Alex and I are going to hang out this week.”
“Excuse me?” Danika whipped around, black curls flying. “Did you just say you’re hanging out with him this week? What does that even mean?”
“Yeah,” Bess agreed. “Jason Jacobs has that big record release party this week. You were the one who found him in that dive down in the Village. You have to be there!”
“Right,” Maddie murmured. Shit. She had totally forgotten that party. She affected a completely nonchalant shrug. “Maybe I’ll take Alex with me.”
Chelsea began to laugh. “Oh boy, the girl has it bad! Not that I can blame you, Mads. That guy is hot. And the two of you were scorching out there on the dance floor. The chemistry was practically explosive. I think the whole club got a hard on just watching the two of you flirt.”
“That’s a little bit of an exaggeration.” Maddie couldn’t help but laugh. “I do like him, though.”
“Monogamy doesn’t really fit with the scene, you know?” Danika reminded her.
Maddie swallowed back a huge lump in her throat. “Yeah, I do know.”
“So what about Farah Rocket and Ty Rhodes?” Bess asked eagerly. She waved her manicured nails at Maddie. “I know Ty has a contract with your label, but the rumor is that he promised Farah he would cut a single with her for her next record. That’s going to put the guys in legal into straight jackets trying to work through all that red tape!”
Why didn’t this conversation interest Maddie? She felt oddly removed from the details and wondered why. A dozen yards away she heard the thump and beat of the music. It called to her. Perhaps she just needed something familiar, or maybe she needed to forget. Either way, there was only one activity she was interested in at the moment.
“I’m going to dance,” she told her friends.
Without waiting for anyone else to offer to come along, Maddie strode boldly out onto the floor. She nudged her way between the couples and groups and closed her eyes. The high energy techno music seeped slowly into her soul. She let the beat thrum in time with her heart and stopped trying to fight what came naturally. Soon her arms began to move and her hips slowly gyrated to the rhythm.
Her brain stopped spinning, and she forgot for a moment that she was in the middle of what could most definitely be considered a crisis. She let her body move with the music and stopped trying to fight whatever urges came over her.
It didn’t take long for her to garner attention. She felt a large male presence near her, and soon a set of large hands bracketed her hips. Her impromptu dance partner gyrated with her. His hips moved in time with hers. He was far too tentative for her taste, but Maddie wasn’t going to be picky tonight. She slung her arms around the stranger’s neck and let him whirl her around for a moment. She dipped low and felt sweat bead on her skin as she danced. The lights were so hot as they flashed overhead. The bodies around her were sweating too, and the massive room was filled with the scents and sounds of humans crushed together in a moment of insanity.
Maddie lifted her hands over her head and began to hum with the music. She knew this song. In fact, she knew the DJ. She’d helped him get on with her label. That was the way of things here in New York. Now she was dipping and swaying to his music as someone else layered their own beat over the top of his in some bastardized remix.
Suddenly, her partner placed his hands on her belly. Maddie abruptly stopped moving. She opened her eyes and took a step back. The man she was dancing with stopped as well. He was good looking in a muted sort of way. He wore typical club clothes, and his expression was more of a leer than a smile. She didn’t have to wonder what he wanted from her. It was written all over his face.
What she never could have predicted was her reaction. Everything inside her began to shrink away, and she reflexively put her hand over her mouth.
“I’m going to be sick,” she managed to say moments before she vomited all over her shoes.
Chapter Four
Maddie waited in the hotel lounge at Trump Tower and wondered if she was making the right decision or the wrong one. After the scene she’d made at the club the night before, she wasn’t sure if she should be going out in public at all. What she had discovered was that morning sickness did not always take place in the morning, nor was it at all predictable. Since the debacle of the night before, which had resulted in a pair of her favorite heels being completely ruined, she had been sick four more times. Each time, there was almost no warning. Something would just inexplicably set her off. What if it happened at dinner tonight? She could hardly stand the thought of being humiliated that much, especially in front of Alex.
She actually slid off her barstool with every intention of fleeing the scene before something awful happened. Then she saw Alex come striding through the lounge’s arched entryway, and she froze in place. Good God the man was handsome!
He had all of that incredibly wavy dark hair framing his swarthy face. Then there were those brooding dark eyes that made her want to cozy up to him and coax him to tell her all of his secrets. His suit was tailored to perfection. This time the fabric was gray and reeked of money and taste. He was freshly shaven and smelled divine. In fact, she could smell him more acutely than she ever had before, and it was really affecting her. Ugh! Stupid pregnancy hormones!
“Maddie.” He took her hand and lifted it to his lips. She tried to suppress the little shudder that went through her system. The look of triumph in his eyes suggested he knew exactly how he affected her. “You look breathtaking.”
“Thank you,” she managed to say.
She’d actually gone to a lot of trouble choosing her clothing for the evening. The crushed velvet fabric of her dress was midnight blue. The color flattered her complexion and enhanced the wow factor of her hair. At least Chelsea and Bess had assured her that it did when they’d convinced her to buy the dress. The skirt ended just above her knees and fl
ashed a generous amount of her muscular thigh when she sat. She liked feeling sexy, and she’d picked a pair of stilettos that helped her accomplish just that. Shockingly, even those five inch spikes only brought her within kissing distance of Alex’s generous mouth.
“Shall we?” He held out his arm. “My car is waiting just outside.”
She placed her fingers against his sleeve and took a deep breath. Hopefully this would not be a mistake. He was looking at her as though he could somehow sense her reticence. She flashed him a brilliant smile to try and disarm him, but still felt a little off balance.
Out of the lounge, and toward the front door of the hotel. They were nearly through the entrance when she spotted a man she’d seen hanging about last night when they’d chatted as well. The short, squat, balding man was staring at her as though he wanted nothing more than to rip off her head. It was very disturbing.
She leaned in closer to Alex. “Do you know that guy?” She tried to make a surreptitious gesture to the ugly little bald guy.
“My cousin,” Alex murmured. “Why?”
“Because I’ve caught him watching me more than once now, and I don’t understand why.” She cocked her head, trying to read Alex’s poker face and getting nowhere. “Is he upset that I’m going with you tonight?”
“Yuri is upset about a lot of things,” Alex said noncommittally. “I wouldn’t take it personally.”
“Okay.” She did not feel better. “Have you told him about us or about me?”
“Nothing more than he needs to know.” Alex made a gesture, and a bellboy jumped into action in order to open the back door of the limo for them. Alex helped her into the car. “I told him that I had a companion for dinner tonight and that he was free to visit the topless bars that are his favorite haunt while he is in New York.”
“Classy guy,” Maddie muttered. “It’s hard to believe he’s related to you.”
“On my mother’s side,” Alex clarified, as if that somehow explained everything.
Maddie allowed herself to be helped into the limo and settled on the far side of the backseat. The partition was up between the front and the back, and it seemed as though the two of them were going to have some privacy. Should she tell him there was a possibility she was going to need a barf bag before the night was through?
Then Alex got in and closed the door. He sat with his body angled toward hers and raised an eyebrow at the amount of space between them. “Are you deliberately keeping yourself way over there?”
“Why? Was there somewhere else that you wanted from me?” she teased. “I mean, we didn’t really discuss what this getting to know each other stuff was going to look like. I was thinking dinner, conversation, some emails, maybe share scrapbooks or something.”
Alex threw his head back and laughed. He seemed to relax if it was just the two of them. She liked this much better than the stiffness he showed out in public. What was up with that anyway?
He winked at her and then deliberately scooted to the center of the seat. Maddie gave a mock gasp of horror and pretended to shrink toward the other door. “Why, Mr. Alex, whatever are you doing?” She laid on her best West Texas accent and batted her eyelashes for effect.
“The accent is cute,” he told her.
Cute. Okay. She pursed her lips and wondered where to go from here. Then she noticed that the open collar of his shirt was a bit crooked. Feeling brave and maybe just a bit reckless, she moved toward him in the close confines of the car. Maddie straddled his lap and leaned in close. She could feel the surprise in every line of his body. Then she began to gently press his collar back into place with her fingertips.
“It was crooked,” she explained breathlessly.
***
ALEX WAS RENDERED mute by Maddie’s sheer closeness. Her curvy body was straddling his. Her skirt had risen to the tops of her thighs, and he couldn’t stop his hands from settling on the warm, hard length of those muscular legs of hers. She was supple, and she smelled heavenly. He gazed up into her golden brown eyes and wondered if he was about to make a huge mistake.
The heat of her was intoxicating. Her position put her crotch just above his. His cock grew thick and hard as he soaked up the warmth of her nearness. It was difficult not to think how easy it would be to slip his shaft inside her pussy and feel her in another way entirely. There was no doubt in his mind that this woman would ride him to completion with enthusiasm and unarguable talent.
“What are you doing?” he growled. “My collar is fixed. Did you have another task in mind?”
She leaned in even closer. Her lips brushed his jawline before traveling up to his ear. Then she licked his earlobe. He shuddered in response. It had been six weeks since he’d lain with this woman, and he could not imagine wanting anyone else this badly.
“I thought it would be easier to talk if we were—you know—closer.” She sucked on his earlobe and then gently placed a line of kisses down his neck. She pressed her palms against his chest, and he felt her nails scoring his dress shirt.
“You’re making me too crazy to converse,” he admitted.
She drew back quickly. “Am I?”
The innocence in her expression made him laugh. “Coy now, are you? I don’t remember you being shy or retiring when I met you last time.”
“Then you want me to open your fly and suck your cock until you come in my mouth?”
The blatant challenge left him struggling to breathe. The only words on his lips were “hell” and “yes,” but he needed to be smart about this. Maddie was claiming to be pregnant with his child. He believed her, and yet he needed to keep a clear head as they decided what to do about this situation.
Then she kissed him, and every coherent thought in his head flew right out the window. There was nothing but the feel of her lips against his and the taste of her as her tongue swept inside his mouth to mate with his. She coaxed and cajoled, and he was powerless to stop her. He was dancing on the edge of sanity and about to lose his balance.
***
MADDIE COULD BARELY control herself. Straddling Alex had been a bad idea. She was so hot and wet that she was being almost completely overpowered by her need. The low ache in her womb was incredible. She’d never experienced anything like it. Her hips began to move almost of their own volition. She was dry humping this man as if she had no shame at all.
She lifted her fingers to his head and tangled them in his soft hair. Scoring his scalp with her nails, she heard him growl and knew that he liked it. She renewed her slow, languorous exploration of his mouth. She nipped his full lower lip and felt him shudder beneath her. His hands settled on her backside. When his fingers flexed into the flesh of her bottom, she could hardly hold back her moan of desire. She was so hot that he could have asked her to suck his cock and she would have without thinking twice.
“Maddie,” he said huskily. “Maddie. Stop.”
Wait. Stop?
Maddie drew back in surprise. The expression on his face had returned to the hard, unforgiving mask she had seen him wear multiple times in public. Then the limo stopped moving, and Maddie realized what was going on. They had arrived at their destination. She had been about to make a fool out of herself, and he was more concerned with getting to the dinner engagement on time. It was so very telling that Maddie felt a shot of shame from the roots of her hair to her toes.
She removed herself from his lap and straightened her dress. A quick glance up at the mirrored ceiling told her that her makeup was fine. Her hair was a little mussed, but looked sexy and tousled instead of straight up messy. In short, she was presentable.
“Maddie, I’m not trying to insult you.” There was something so hideously formal about his tone that she held up one hand to stop him from saying anything else.
“Call it a case of pregnancy stupidity.” She forced herself to be nonchalant. “I’m discovering that the hormone surges are responsible for a good number of reprehensible decisions on my part lately. Please think nothing of it.”
“M
addie, I don’t want you to think that I’m not interested,” he told her. “Because I am. It simply isn’t an appropriate time.”
She couldn’t help it. She snorted. “Yes, of course. An appropriate time. Because one would not want to be inappropriate at all. Ever.”
“That’s not what I—” He gave up with a sigh. “Never mind. Let’s get out and go join our party.”
“Yes please.” She had never felt more fake than she did at this moment, and for some reason that made her hate herself and Alex equally.
Maddie plastered a smile on her face and draped herself deliberately over Alex’s forearm. She smiled as she walked into the upscale New York restaurant and pretended that everything was just fine.
She had a bad feeling that this skill was about to become one of her most often utilized.
Chapter Five
Alex couldn’t figure out what was wrong with Maddie. He also couldn’t shake the feeling that it would have been a far better decision to tell Maddie he wanted nothing to do with her or the baby. He was not unaware of his mother’s aspirations for his future. The woman was mad for power. She had it in her head that Alex should be trying to put himself in competition with his cousin for the right of succession. Considering the direction the political winds were blowing in Russia at the moment, Alex couldn’t figure out why his mother thought that would be a benefit.
But here he was, in New York for business and trying to make a few political and social visits as well. Tonight they were dining with several members of a UN committee. The idea was simply to establish goodwill. It wasn’t as if it was a secret that Alex’s family wanted to depose the Russian president and return to a tsar and the Imperial Government. Alex was just hoping to dispel any rumors that there was an actual plot afoot.
“Ah, Alex! Welcome!” Senator Mackey warmly shook Alex’s hand. “Our table should be ready in just a moment. Care to introduce me to your companion?”
Alex smiled at the senator and his lovely—albeit much younger—wife. “Allow me to present Madison Castillo. She’s quite a prominent talent scout on the New York music scene.”
