by Lia Lee
He laughed and tucked into the squid over risotto. Maddie ate her fish soup and about as much of the ham as she could get. They talked, they laughed, and finally—finally—Alex began to loosen up a bit. There were more courses. Wine flowed, and finally there were tiny, sugar-coated doughnuts called fritule, which Maddie could not get enough of.
“You’re not what I expected,” Maddie finally admitted when they had stopped eating simply because neither of them had any more room to take another bite.
***
ALEX WONDERED IF that was good or bad. He wasn’t what she expected, which begged a question. “What did you expect?”
“At dinner the other night, with your friends in New York,” she began. “You were very formal. I would have called you stiff.”
“Those were not friends.”
She frowned. “Then why go out with them?”
“I had to convince the senator and his State Department compatriot that I was not on a mission to overthrow the Russian government,” Alex said blandly.
“Oh my God!” Her eyebrows drew together in consternation. “You mean that all of your mother’s machinations and scheming has left you standing there holding the bag?”
“Holding the bag?” He was almost certain it was an idiom, but he had no clue what she meant.
“I was referring to the fact that your mother schemes and you pay the price for her attempts to—” Maddie looked at a loss. “—do whatever it is she does, I guess.”
“Is that not the way the world works?” he chided gently. “Don’t you sometimes have to mop up the mess when one of your clients does something stupid?”
She snorted and looked longingly at the remaining fritule. “Sorry, but that’s not my department. The record label has PR people for that. But I understand what you’re getting at.”
She was looking upon him with more kindness and perhaps empathy than she had up to this point.
“I just want a chance to know you,” Alex said, surprised at how true that statement really was. “I was drawn to you from the beginning because of your vivacity and that wild streak you aren’t afraid to display to whomever you meet.”
“I refuse to apologize for being me,” she told him firmly. “And if someone thinks I should, they can just go to hell.”
“I get the feeling someone in your past thought you should be apologetic.” He wondered where that insight had come from. Usually he was not so free with his opinions regarding other people’s motivations.
“My sister.” Maddie gave a hard nod. “Well, my older sister.”
“Ah.”
“You don’t have siblings, though.”
“No, but I have plenty of cousins.” He grimaced. “You met one of them in New York.”
Maddie sat back in her seat and rolled her eyes. “The little rat that called your mother? Yes. He would be a pain. My sister is a little bossier, I think. She gets an idea into her head of how something happened and nothing can sway her. Nothing.”
“So she accused you of wrongdoing,” Alex mused. “And she used that wild streak of yours as the reason for her accusation.”
“Correct.” There was a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. “And you get extra points for all this paying attention you’ve been doing!”
“And what can I do with these extra points you speak of?” Alex realized that he was flirting. He was actually flirting. How extraordinary!
“Well.” She leaned forward in her seat, her tone growing sultry. “I suppose you’ll have to come up with a prize that interests you.”
Alex stood up. It was very much time to get back to the house.
Chapter Twelve
Maddie stood on the balcony overlooking the ocean and wondered if she was about to make another mistake. Although, how was it a mistake to sleep with the father of the baby she was already carrying? From a moral and ethical perspective, it was a headache-inducing conundrum.
“There you are.” Alex walked up behind her and slipped his arm around her waist. He smelled faintly of the sweet wine he had been drinking. “Will you come inside?”
The sun had already set. The sky was the color of purple twilight. Dusk seemed to fall quickly in this part of the world.
She turned in his arms and gazed up into his unreadable dark eyes. Standing on tiptoe, she pressed a long, hot kiss to his lips.
If he was surprised, he didn’t show it. This was the man who had commanded her so forcefully on the dance floor the night they met. He cupped the back of her head in his hand and angled her neck so that he might deepen the contact. Taking utter possession of the kiss, he made her senses reel and her head swim.
Maddie whimpered and twined her arms around his neck in order to keep herself from falling down. Her knees were like jelly, and she thought her heart might beat its way out of her chest. Alex tasted so good. The kiss was making her hot, and she squirmed against him, wanting more.
He broke the contact, nipping her lower lip as he retreated. “I need you, Maddie. Right now. I want to be inside you.”
She nodded because her words just wouldn’t come. Everything inside her was screaming yes, and the tiny part of her rational mind that might wonder if this was a good decision to be making seemed to be silenced by the emphatic need that took her over.
Alex put one arm beneath her legs and lifted her effortlessly off the ground. He didn’t go far. There were two chaise lounges tucked beneath the overhang. The fabric felt cool beneath her skin when he set her down. It felt as though everything within her was on fire.
“It’s really too bad you didn’t put on one of those new dresses,” he mused. “I think I’m going to like having instant access to all of your skin.”
Maddie grinned. “And to think you wondered why I wanted those dresses.”
“I will never doubt your motives again,” he said with a flourish. “But for now these pants must go.”
He hooked his thumbs in the waistband of her yoga pants and drew them down her legs with agonizing slowness. She was trembling by the time he actually removed them and tossed them aside. Her feet were bare. Alex gently cupped the arches of her feet in each hand and began to slide his palms back up the insides of her legs. He paid particular attention to her calves and the insides of her knees. She felt so incredibly sensitive there. Her skin quivered at the touch, and when he finally reached her inner thighs, her legs fell open of their own volition.
“You’re so beautiful,” he murmured.
He was looking at her pussy, and Maddie felt a moment’s shyness at being so exposed. Then Alex gently spread her folds with the fingers of one hand and used the other to stroke her with extreme gentleness. She moaned, and her head fell back to lie against the cushions of the lounge chair. The reclining position gave him easier access to her sex, and soon he was stroking her with skillful enthusiasm as he brought her to a quick and almost instant orgasm.
Maddie squeezed her eyes shut. The sensation overload was almost too much. She trembled as everything in her body clamped down. Her inner muscles clenched tight as though they were waiting for Alex’s penetration.
“Alex,” she gasped. “More! Please. I need more!”
He slid two fingers into her pussy and used them to spread her wide. The pressure set off another set of explosions inside her body. Maddie gasped and arched up off the chair as her sudden climax made her almost incoherent with rapid fire sensations of arousal.
Then just as she started to come down from her quick and dirty high, Alex stood up and unfastened the first few buttons of his shirt. Maddie’s eyes were drawn to the glimpse of his chest now visible. Then he pulled his dress shirt over his head, and she could not look away. The man was so gorgeous that she could barely think straight! There was a tiny dusting of hair just below his navel that arrowed down toward his groin as though it were pointing out the obvious.
Maddie had been attracted to him before, but that first night there had been no time for anything more than a cursory glance. Now as he unbuttoned and u
nzipped his pants, she was getting the full view of his male beauty and loving everything she saw.
Alex shoved his pants and underwear down over his hips. The tight nest of dark curls at the base of his cock beckoned to be stroked. She wanted to know the texture of him. She wanted to learn his taste. But apparently tonight she was only going to get a sampling of the mind numbing pleasure he could bring her when he chose.
She started to touch him as he moved to cover her body with his, but he gently set her hands away. “Not tonight. I’m going to fuck you, Maddie. I’m going to own this body, and you’re going to be mine. Tonight is for you.”
***
ALEX DID NOT trust himself to maintain control if Maddie touched him. He reached for her wide necked sweatshirt and pulled it over her head. She wasn’t wearing a bra. The sight of her full, rounded breasts filled him with hunger. He lowered his head and took one nipple into his mouth while he fondled the other with his hand.
She arched her back and pushed her breasts closer to his face. He sucked and licked until her nipple was elongated and swollen. She moaned and writhed beneath him, sinking her hands into his hair and scoring his scalp with her nails. His cock was so hard that he thought he might burst before he had a chance to fill her pretty pussy with his cum.
Her thighs were spread, and she was wet and ready for him. Kneeling between her legs, he positioned himself at her entrance. She was soaking wet for him. Alex felt a sense of power he’d never experienced before with such ferocity. This was his woman. And when he sank his shaft inside her warm channel, he knew that he was claiming her not just for tonight, but forever.
He bracketed her hips with his hands and began to move in and out of her body. She was supple and warm around him. He reveled in the fact that there was no barrier between them. No condom. There was nothing between him and this glorious woman. Her eyes were open, and their gazes met and held. Each thrust seemed to tie him more firmly to Maddie. It was strange. The primal desire to mate was overtaken by something deeper and more instinctual. He needed her. Each time he sank so deep that he felt his cock push all the way inside her, he knew this would be the last woman he would ever take to his bed.
The thought took hold and would not relent.
He increased his pace. She wrapped her legs around his waist and urged him on. The wild streak he had admired took full hold, and she began to move against him. Her hips arched, grinding his cock against her pelvic bone and bringing him the most excruciating pleasure he’d ever experienced. His body shook, his arms nearly collapsing as he continued to plunge in and out of her.
He felt the burn of his climax begin at the base of his spine. Tightness built in his chest, and liquid fire dripped down the backs of his legs until his whole body was convulsing with the need to come inside this woman. He thrust harder. The slapping sound of his skin meeting hers filled the air. There was nothing but the scent and feel of the woman beneath him.
Maddie’s keening wail raised the hair on the back of Alex’s neck. Her inner muscles tightened with such strength that he almost couldn’t move inside her. The pressure and friction was an agonizing form of pleasure. It felt so damn good, and yet he groaned as frissons of awareness gave him the sensation of being fractured in two. He could no longer hold back. He had to come inside her.
“Maddie!” he said in a hoarse whisper. “I’m coming.”
She grabbed hold of his arms and held on, her nails digging into his skin. Alex thrust hard and let go. Warm spurts of ejaculate filled Maddie’s body as he gave her everything he had. Convulsions made stars burst behind his closed eyelids. It was the most intense orgasm he’d ever experienced, and it was all because of Maddie.
***
MADDIE LOST TIME for a while. She was still reclining on the chaise lounge. Alex was lying on top of her with his head on her chest. She stroked the softness of his hair, sifting the strands through her fingers. She liked this moment right here. She liked how soft and approachable he was. Their clothes were in a heap on the floor, and they’d basically just made love on a balcony where anyone could have seen them. It was erotic and wild and exactly what she wanted the rest of her life to be like.
Alex stirred. His fingers traced designs on her hip, and Maddie shivered at the decadent pleasure his touch created. Then he shifted position so he could look up at her. “We should go inside.”
“Probably,” she agreed. Neither of them made a move, and she smiled. “Although I’m just as happy to spend the night right here.”
“Very inappropriate.”
His murmur struck her as odd. “If you were going for appropriate, then we should have made our way primly to a bedroom and had sex behind locked doors.”
He snorted. “You do tend to bring out the beast in me.”
“Is that a bad thing?” Maddie was struggling to understand. It sounded as though she were being blamed for something. As if there were fault to place on someone’s shoulders for Alex breaking protocol.
He got to his feet and stretched. “It isn’t a bad thing as long as it doesn’t become a habit.”
He reached down and patted her cheek.
Maddie felt her jaw drop open. It was as though he were summarily dismissing her. She had fulfilled her purpose for the evening, and now he had to retreat back to the tiny box where he could exist in safety with his stupid manners and protocol.
Well, if that was what he wanted, then that was what he would get.
Maddie got up and gathered her clothing. She didn’t offer him one word or even a look as she turned on her heel and headed back to her bedroom. It had disappointed her initially to discover that she and Alex wouldn’t be sharing quarters. Now she figured it was just as well. She likely would have killed him before morning.
Chapter Thirteen
Alex had never experienced the silent treatment before, but he was almost certain that was what he was getting from Maddie at the moment. It had been two days since the two of them had shared hot, sweaty sex on the balcony. Since that night she had not spoken to him and had only met his gaze in the most cursory fashion. He had no idea how to break down this barrier she seemed to have erected between them. Unfortunately, protocol provided no answer when it came to this particular issue.
He paced from his bedroom to the first floor terrace. The wide sandstone space was dotted with comfortable furniture arranged to encourage intimate gatherings and conversation. How was it that he could be here on one side and Maddie could be on the opposite side and the two of them might as well have been in separate countries?
She had her laptop open and was enjoying her morning coffee while she caught up on correspondence. Or at least that was what he figured she was doing. He had absolutely no frame of reference for her activities. He didn’t know enough about her job to make a guess at what her tasks for the day might be.
“Here’s your breakfast, sir.” Ivan approached the table with a cart laden with Alex’s breakfast favorites.
Alex pursed his lips. He really didn’t want to sit here alone and eat once again. This would be the third morning of that.
Clearing his throat, he prepared to offer a truce of sorts.
“Would you like to join me for breakfast?” he called out to Maddie.
“Already ate,” was her response. She didn’t even look up from her laptop.
He took another breath to speak, but her phone rang. She picked up the call and began pacing in circles on the terrace. Alex had noticed that she often preferred to be moving while she spoke with clients.
“That’s great!” she said enthusiastically. “I told you that would work out for you! Thanks so much for letting me know. Yes, of course I will try to be there for your first walk down the red carpet!”
She hung up the phone and did what could only be described as a victory dance. She shook her backside, lifted her hands into the air, and spun in circles. Alex caught his breath at the picture she painted. The woman didn’t have an ounce of inhibition. It was so refreshing and yet frightening. Th
ere was so little room for a complete lack of propriety in his life.
“Good news?” Alex ventured.
She spun around. Her expression was beautiful. “Great news! One of my artists is up for a Grammy!”
Alex knew this was an American music award of some kind, although he knew very little about the music scene in general. He typically listened to classical composers if he listened to anything at all. Still, he could appreciate that Maddie’s hard work had resulted in this person being honored for their talent.
“So why don’t you come up and have something to celebrate?” he coaxed. “There is fritule on this tray.”
“It’s really no fair using those scrumptious little doughnuts against me,” she accused. “In fact, that’s pretty low.”
“So then I’ll just have Ivan throw the fritule over the railing and feed it to the birds to make up for my crime,” Alex replied, keeping his tone very serious.
“Don’t you dare!”
***
MADDIE WAS FEELING so buoyant that it was impossible to keep up the pretense of not talking to Alex for the moment. At least not for this moment. The long skirt of her dress glided against her legs as she headed up a short flight of stairs toward the table. The tank straps of the garment were just a little too big. And as usual, she wasn’t wearing a bra. Being this close to Alex was also drawing her nipples into hard little points.
She ignored what was probably already obvious and plopped down in a seat at the table. Crossing her legs at the knee, she began bouncing one bare foot with impatience.
“You’re all energy and fire this morning,” Alex commented mildly.
She made a face. “And you’re all lukewarm like usual.”
“Lukewarm, hmm?” He seemed to be truly contemplating her comment. “Is that really how you see me?”
“Oh, honey, there is no other possible way to see you.” She grabbed a round, sugar-crusted doughnut and popped it into her mouth. She chewed a moment then swallowed before finishing her thought. “You’re so wrapped up in protocol and propriety that it’s like you’re wearing underwear that’s strangling your balls.”
