by Nikki Winter
“Carmen...” Maikao warned in a low voice.
“I know, I know!” She waved her hands. “The mission is to keep them apart. I—”
Her words stopped when the band started up, playing a slow melody that had couples stepping out onto the dance floor with one another.
Maikao’s head snapped up just in time to see Eli leading Addie, his Addie, right onto that very floor. She floated into his arms like she fucking belonged there and he saw red.
“Mak! Wait!” Carmen grabbed his arm to stop him. “You can’t go Cro-Magnon right now. If you piss her off, you’ll fuck up everything.”
“Look at how goddamn close he’s holding her.”
“You set the tone for this! You didn’t want to be outright about your feelings. What do you expect?”
“I didn’t tell her because it wouldn’t do any good. She’d only run,” he growled, seeing the way she smiled up into Eli’s grinning face. The bastard leaned down to whisper something in her ear and she laughed.
“Fuck. This.”
Carmen jumped in front of him. “No! You let them dance.”
“Are you crazy?!”
“Hear me out,” She held up her hands. “Let them dance for now and then make your move.”
He frowned. “Why the hell would I do that?”
“Because I know Addie. She looks like she’s enjoying herself but if I had to take a true guess, I’d say she’s forcing it. Right now she’s feeling awkward and uncomfortable with the way they’re dancing.”
The music changed to an upbeat Latin tempo and Eli swung Addison out before bringing her back into his body, their hips melding.
“That looks uncomfortable and awkward to you?” Maikao was going to beat the shit out of Eli. Then he was taking Addie over his goddamn knee. She had to know that with every twist and turn her thighs were on clear display.
“Listen to me,” Carmen stared up at him. “If you do what you want to do, you’ll ruin everything.”
His jaw worked as he stared at the pair, noticing the way Eli’s hands were beginning to drift. When the other man actually managed to get a handful of Addison’s ass, he was done. “Fuck it. I don’t care. He’s touching her. Nobody touches her.” He ignored Carmen’s attempts to stop him and bulldozed through the crowd, not giving a good goddamn about anything or anyone, but his woman being in the arms of another man.
“Addison.”
Her name was called with such authority that for a moment she felt as if she’d gotten caught doing something wrong. Her head snapped up and she could see Maikao just a few feet away, murder in his eyes.
She immediately let go of Eli, who glanced down at her in confusion. They’d been enjoying themselves. Things were a little on the awkward side at first, but once Eli started moving, they just seemed to fall into place. The man danced wonderfully—which was a surprise because one would never guess it from looking at him.
Even with that being so, she hadn’t felt right with the way he’d held her in the beginning. The only time she’d ever really melded with anyone during a slow song was with Mak. The way his hands felt on her was...natural. Eli’s gaze moved from her to Mak’s furious expression and his hands dropped from her waist.
“Something wrong?”
Maikao’s eyes never left her face. He walked closer and grabbed her hand. “You and I need to talk. Now.”
Her brows lowered. “I am not—”
“Two ways, Addie. You come on your own or I carry you out. Which one will it be?” He cut her off.
“Mak, what’s up with you? She’s in the middle of—”
Maikao’s head swung in Eli’s direction so fast that for the first time since she’d met him, the other man actually backed away from his own friend. “Stay. Out. Of. It.” He tugged at Addison’s hand. “Let’s go.”
Mouthing “I’m sorry” over her shoulder to Eli, she tried to keep up with Maikao’s long legged strides as he left the ballroom and led them down a dim corridor, his fingers never releasing her own.
He finally let her go.
Addison rounded on him. “Mak, what the fuck was that?”
“What the fuck was that?” He roared back, then shook his hips in a way that would’ve been funny if she weren’t so goddamned pissed. “What the fuck was that shit?”
“We were dancing!”
“Oh, you were dry-humping in a room full of onlookers with your ass practically hanging out!”
“Carmen did this to my dress, you asshole, and you’re the one who told me to show up with my goddamn legs out!”
“I told you to show up as my date with your goddamn legs out. Not to show up with your goddamn legs out and play crotch rub with Eli all night!”
“You knew!” Addison pointed at him. “You knew I wanted to date him!”
“Well, you’re not going to.” Maikao waved a hand. “So call it a night on your little seduction plan because that will happen over my dead body!”
She gripped her hair on each side, tugging at it. “Argh! I don’t get you! Why in the hell do you give a shit who I date and who I don’t date? It’s not like it would affect you if we went out a few times and it didn’t work out. People do it every day and still remain friends.”
“Oh, it would affect me.” He snarled, backing her into a darker corner.
“How?” Addison threw up her hands. “How would it affect you?”
“Because,” Maikao’s voice suddenly dropped lower. So did his lids as he pinned her in by placing a hand on either side of her head. “The only goddamn man you’ll be dating from now until the good Lord himself smites me is me.”
She didn’t have time to process that. Not with the way he leaned his head down and fastened his lips onto her own. Addison gasped, raising her hands to push him away...at first. But her arms ended up wound around his neck, pulling him closer; her nipples hardening on the contact of his tongue slipping into her mouth.
A low guttural groan rumbled up from his chest, causing the hairs on the back of her neck to stand up as he deepened the kiss. Addison ran her fingers through his hair, heat building in her lower belly. Maikao cupped her face with his hands, framing it, his thumbs caressing her cheeks and the sensation of her nipples beginning to rub across his tux shirt made her thighs quiver.
It didn’t matter that someone could catch them at any moment or that this was her best friend. All she knew was the way he was making her feel. Right now her skin was hot and tight, the confines of clothes starting to irritate her. Addison writhed against Maikao as his hands went from her face to her shoulders, gliding effortlessly down to slide over both halves of her ass and squeeze.
She moaned and he nibbled her bottom lip, wringing a whimper out of her. Maikao shoved a thigh between her legs, pushing her further against the wall. Addison shuddered as he fastened his mouth to her collarbone and bit down hard enough to mark her but not hard enough to hurt.
Feeling his ever-hardening cock brush against her caused her clit to swell, her pussy flooding. Trying to breathe normally, she hooked a leg around his waist and cupped him through his slacks, her groan becoming loud as she felt how big he’d gotten. She rubbed him, and a sound between a groan and a grunt left his throat.
Maikao gripped her hands and pinned them above her head, their eyes meeting right before he slanted his mouth over hers once again. That’s when she realized she wanted this man more than anything and that scared the shit out of her. But before Addison could let her fears cause her to pull away, he yanked up her dress and palmed her through her thong.
“Jesus...” he whispered hotly against her ear. “You’re so fucking wet already.” Playing around the outer edges of her panties, he ran his middle finger right around where her clit was, teasing her.
“Mak…” Addison gasped.
Taking his fingertips, he nudged aside her panties and rolled them over her nubbin. Her breath snagged as he stroked the swollen folds of her labia. She moaned, wanting him to finally give her what she needed.
&nbs
p; He was playing her like a finely tuned instrument, his fingers circling and dipping but never plunging in. When she was twisting her hips frantically, her hands getting free to clutch his shoulders, nails biting into his jacket—then he finally relented and swiftly thrust two digits inside of her aching canal. Addison cried out and he covered her mouth with his once again, his hand moving faster, his thumb encircling her clit.
Tears of pleasure crested her eyelids, her breaths coming out in a short, stilted staccato rhythm, her need to come far greater than her modesty at this point. She rocked against his hand, her mouth going dry.
“Mak...”
“Oh God, Addie,” He murmured. “I don’t know how much more I can take. Do you know how bad I want to fuck you against this wall right now?”
Her breath stopped.
“Maybe I shouldn’t fuck you, hmm?” Mak asked. “Maybe just the head? Would you like that? For me to slip it in for a few seconds?”
Addison’s back arched as he bit the tendon of her left shoulder, saying, “Then again, if I give you just the head I’ll want to sink every inch in. Do you know how good your pussy feels squeezing my fingers right now? How many times I’ve thought about dropping to my knees and sucking on your clit until you’re wrung dry and your voice is hoarse?”
“Oh...fuck...” She rode his hand harder.
“Or I could start with your nipples first. I remember the first time I accidentally noticed how thick they were. You were wearing this tight little ribbed tank top and all I could think of was how good they’d feel on my tongue.”
“Mak...Mak...”
He tugged down the top to her dress, causing her breasts to bounce free and his appreciative husky murmur right before he leaned down and sucked a nipple into his mouth pushed her over the edge. Addison came hard. Maikao once again covered her mouth with his own, catching every sound that left her.
His dick was so hard that it hurt. He wanted her bad enough that he didn’t care where they were; he just wanted to alternate between fucking her and making love to her. Maikao watched the way Addison’s eyes slammed shut, tears leaking out the corners and down her cheeks as she came, her mouth parting on one final silent cry as she continued to ride his hand.
He licked his lips, determined to get everything out of her that he could. When she floated back down, he removed his hand from beneath her dress and went to kiss her again but heard voices coming down the hallway. Fixing her gown, he quickly pulled back and stuffed his hands into his pockets.
Suddenly, Addie looked up at him with huge eyes, the realization of what they’d just done apparently sinking in. “Oh. My. God.”
“Addie—”
“No.” She shook her head and somehow managed to get out of his grasp and around him. “Why...how could you...”
“Just stop and listen to me for a moment, sweetheart.”
But she didn’t, she ran as far as her feet would carry her, never once looking back, even as he called her name.
Chapter Four
“Is there a reason Mak keeps calling me every day? Not that I have a problem with it...that voice of his just—”
“Ma!” Addison whined.
Selena McClain’s lips twitched as she stared at her only child across the table of one of their favorite restaurants. She blinked innocently. “What? I was just going to say—”
“Something that would cause me to curl into a ball and black out,” Addison interrupted, brows winging.
Pouting, Selena sat back, “I never get to have any fun.”
“Not at my expense, no.”
Her mother’s manicured nails drummed against the table. “So...”
“I don’t wanna talk about it.”
“Oh, why not?”
“Because it’s...it’s...”
“Sexual?” Selena supplied, leaning forward.
Addison shuddered. “Do not use that word with me.”
“Sweetheart, if you think that’s bad—”
“Ma!”
Rolling her eyes, Selena sat back once again. “I know for a fact that Carmen talks to Angelina about this stuff all the time,” she said, mentioning the mother-daughter pair that had attached themselves to Selena and Addison so long ago. When Addison made a best friend, so had her mother. Angelina Sanchez’s story was more than a little similar to Selena’s.
Both had ended up teen mothers at the ages of sixteen with little to no help from Addison and Carmen’s fathers before both boys stopped trying altogether. With parents who were devoutly religious they found themselves sent away to “schools” where they could quietly have their baby girls and place them up for adoption. Both refused, both fled, later ending up in Santa Fe.
By day, Selena worked as a restaurant hostess, and by night, Angelina worked as a hotel concierge. The mothers had been having a difficult time trying to figure out how they’d be able to keep their girls on regular schedules and keep an eye on them. That issue was solved when Carmen and Addison befriended one another. Effective almost immediately, Selena kept the girls overnight while Angelina worked; giving Angelina the opportunity to make sure they were well fed, taken care of and doing well in school while Selena worked during the day.
Almost sixteen years later and all four were still together, their bonds strong. Selena and Angelina had even pushed one another to go back to school, both obtaining degrees in their respective interests. Selena now owned a small boutique and Angelina, a spa. Once a year they took a vacation together, coming back with plenty of pictures, gifts and stories that made Addison feel like she was the mother. Carmen, as usual, encouraged the bad behavior.
“Carmen and Aunt Angie have a...special relationship.” Addison waved a hand between herself and her mother. “Us? Not so much.”
“Wow,” Selena murmured. “You give birth to a kid, breastfeed her, buy her the first bra she will ever wear and get a glimpse at all her naked before anyone else, yet she’s too afraid to discuss her sex life with you...that’s logical.”
“We are not discussing my nakedness...or anything else that has to do with my nakedness.”
Her mother chuckled. “Okay, fine. Let’s simply say, Mak did something inappropriate.” Yes, the woman did have the audacity to waggle her brows as she said that. “And it made you uncomfortable.”
Addison cleared her throat. “What he did was cause a scene...and other stuff.”
“Inappropriate stuff?”
“Yes,” Addison hissed.
Selena held up her hands.
Addison continued with her story. “It came from way left field.” That was so true, it wasn’t even funny. A week later and her head was still reeling from Mak’s kiss, his touch, his...everything. The man turned her body inside out, then right side up. Her stomach clenched every time she even thought about his wicked hands or that damn deliciously low voice.
“How so?”
“Because.” She swallowed to regain the moisture in her mouth. “He knew I wanted to date Eli and as soon as he saw us together—doing nothing more than sharing a friendly dance—he lost his mind.”
“Hmm,” Selena said.
Addison’s eyes narrowed. “What was that?”
“What was what?”
“That hmm. What does that mean?”
“Nothing.”
“Liar.”
“It doesn’t.”
“Ma!”
Selena threw up her hands. “It means that you refuse to see the obvious.”
“Which is what, exactly?”
Her mother leaned in. “That man loves you.”
Addison snorted. “Bull.”
“Why else would he cause a scene and do something inappropriate?”
“Stop saying it like that and he did it because he’s feeling territorial. He wanted to force me to acknowledge something that doesn’t really exist because he wants my mind off of Eli—who by the way, is what I want.”
“Is he? Or is he your way of coping with your fear of rejection?”
“Why
does everyone keep asking me that?”
“Because we know you.”
Jaw clenching, she sat back and looked away from Selena’s probing gaze. “Mak did what he did because he doesn’t want to lose me to his friend. He’s sabotaging something that he knows has the potential to grow. If Eli and I work out—”
“You won’t.”
“—Then it means he and I will stop being as close,” Addison continued, despite the interruption.
Her mother stared at her long and hard. “Let me ask you a question.”
“What?”
“If you were to see Mak out with, say...Carmen, how would you feel?”
Addison ignored the way her stomach dropped and shrugged. “I wouldn’t care.” Liar! You are such a liar! You’re lying to your mother on top of it!
Selena’s head cocked. “You wouldn’t be bothered the least bit?”
“Nope.” She shook her head. “I have no claims on Mak. He can date who he wants, how he wants, when he wants. They’re both consenting adults and although I doubt it would ever happen, they don’t have to explain anything to me.” Lie. Lie. Lie.
“All right, good thing you have that particular opinion.”
Her brows lowered. “Why do you say that?”
Shrugging, Selena answered, “Oh, no reason. I just see Mak and Carmen having lunch behind you.”
Addison froze, her hand tightening around her glass as she slowly turned her head. Sure enough, just across the room, there Carmen and Mak sat, heads pushed together as they looked over something on the table before smiling at one another.
“The ring is beautiful, Mak. But, uh...exactly how are you going to keep Addie from kicking you in the balls long enough to get it on her finger?”
Maikao looked at Carmen, waggling his brows. “All in the plans, my little Latin chef...all in the plans.”
She snorted and sat back. “Those plans better include a mouth guard and cup. I told you that Neanderthal bullshit wouldn’t go well.”
He sighed. “Yeah, you did.” Maikao had fucked up royally with the stunt he’d pulled a week ago. He still couldn’t explain why or how but seeing Addison that close to Eli, watching the two of them grin in one another’s faces like they shared some well-kept secret... The last shred of his control snapped. Knowing that he had no one to blame but himself didn’t help at all.
