Three Days

by Ariadne Wayne

  I’d been about to say that I wasn’t after anything. Instead I groaned, about to explode if she kept going.

  She slid my boxers down just far enough to expose me, growling again.

  “Maddy,” I whispered. She ran her tongue over my length before taking as much in her mouth as she could. I moaned, running my fingers through her hair as she began to move up and down. I knew I should stop her, but I couldn’t—it felt better than anything had in a long time. She had me under her spell as I watched that gorgeous woman work her magic.

  I fought the urge that threatened to overwhelm me as her tongue flicked over, under, all around until I couldn’t hold back any longer and let go, hearing her swallow, feeling her tongue slide over me one last time before she joined me back on the pillows.

  “Well?” she asked, the smugness radiating from her.

  “I might just keep you on,” I said, nodding. “Though, before anything else, you need to brush your teeth.”

  “Is that right?” She cocked an eyebrow, propping herself up on the pillow to look at me.

  “Morning breath. Combined with blow job breath, probably not the best.” I grinned, and she giggled, moving closer. “After all, you did just give me a blow job without us kissing first. We’re not really doing things in the right order.”

  Maddy leaned over, grazing my lips with hers. “Who says there’s a right order?”

  I flipped her over onto her back, deepening the kiss, her soft body reacting to mine. It had been so long since I’d had that warmth beside me, and she wanted me, really wanted me.

  Her lips parted, her breathing growing heavy as I ran my hand up her thigh, and she pushed at her shorts, dropping them to her ankles, giggling, then pulling me down for another kiss.

  “Touch me,” she whispered. I didn’t need any other invitation, pushing my fingers into her, my thumb grazing her clit. “Andrew.”

  “Maddy.” With my other hand, I pushed up her top to see those breasts, the nipples that had teased me every day with those tank tops she wore. I’d wondered if she owned a bra, she never seemed to wear one. She moaned as I ran my tongue over a nipple, sucking it gently into my mouth.

  “I like you like this,” I said, my fingers growing wet as she thrust against my hand.

  “Like what?” Her breathing was laboured, her eyes heavy as I grew closer to making her come.

  “This. No bullshit and bravado. Just you.”

  “Bullshit and …” She threw her head back, quivering as her body took her over the top.

  “Just you, Maddy. Just you,” I whispered. Her nipple had beaded from my attentions, and I went back to licking it, loving it.

  “Shit,” I said. I put my head on her chest, not wanting to meet her eyes.

  “What is it?”

  “I don’t have any condoms.” I looked back up at her with the most innocent look I could muster.

  “Oh, you are kidding.”

  I shook my head. “To be fair, I didn’t think that the hot girl I met on the stairs three days ago would end up in my bed. At least not this soon.”

  She rolled her eyes, sliding out from under me and pulling her shirt down, her pants up. “Fine. I’ll go and get some and then we’ll see if I’m still in the mood when I get back.”

  When she was gone, I buried my face in the sheet where she’d been. Her scent was still there, and I closed my eyes, wondering if that was the closest I was going to get to being with her. What an idiot.

  A few moments passed, and when I heard the door, I sat up, only to be hit in the face with a handful of condoms. Maddy stood beside the bed, pouting. She stripped off her top and pants, climbing back into bed, naked.

  “You had better make this worth my while now.”

  She fixed her gaze on me, those eyes that had so much emotion that belied her attitude.

  “Pretty sure I can make it worth it,” I murmured, slipping my arm across her. I kissed her, finding her tongue with mine. “You’re cold.”

  “Because you made me get out of bed.”

  “We could have just not had sex.” I pulled her closer, sliding my fingers back into her. “Now, where were we?”

  “At the point where you were making this worth it?” She winked, and I laughed, shaking my head.

  I spread her legs, moving between them. “You know, if I was a total bitch, I would tell you that my last boyfriend was a god at eating pussy,” she muttered.

  I took a deep breath, cocking an eyebrow. “Just as well you’re not a total bitch then.”

  It had been so long since I’d gone down on a woman, and I was not about to waste this opportunity. For her, or for me. The way she started thrusting towards me, gasping and raking my scalp? I was pretty sure she wasn’t hating it.

  “Not … fair …” she muttered between breaths, pulling my hair.

  I laughed against her skin, kissing her thighs before returning to the scene of my crime. At the risk of sounding cocky, some skills are never lost. This was kind of like riding a bicycle.

  After a while of lavishing attention on every part of her I could see, I raised my head. “Want to tell your last boyfriend that he’s not the only game in town? And I claim this part.”

  Maddy laughed. “I’m sorry. I was just pissed at having to stop just to get condoms. Mum didn’t even notice me coming and going, she was watching some soap opera.”

  “I think I can forgive you. Although, I do feel naughty. I’m defiling you while your mother watches television downstairs.”

  She looked thoughtful. “I like that word. Defiling. Can you do it some more?”

  I sat up, picking up a condom packet.

  “Why, I would love to defile you, Miss Jones.”

  She grinned, that devilish grin that I just wanted to kiss off her face.

  “Would you like to do the honours?” I handed her the condom, and she laughed as she opened it. Her fingernails were painted a vibrant red and I had this sudden urge to have them scratching down my back.

  With one swift move she rolled it on, then lay back and beckoned me forward. She didn’t have to ask twice as I moved just as quickly, making her gasp as I took her, driving in deep to claim the rest of her body.

  “Come here,” I whispered, pulling out and sitting up, beckoning her toward me this time. She straddled me, joining us at the hip, wrapping those gorgeous, long legs around me. If this wasn’t heaven, it was pretty damn close.

  Our gaze locked, and something happened. My stomach felt as if there were butterflies battling to get out as the spontaneous sex turned into more. I didn’t want to ever come. I wanted her to stay hooked around me, needing the contact with her.

  She raised a hand, touching her palm to the side of my face as we moved together. A simple gesture, but I wanted as much skin on skin as I could get.

  Maddy was beautiful, perfect—mine.

  She leaned back so I could kiss her breasts, and I ran my lips over them, touching as much of her as I could. I couldn’t get enough.

  “Are you always like this?” she asked, grinning like the damn Cheshire cat. Every little thing she did just drove me further and further into the madness that was screwing someone I’d only just met.

  “It’s been a while. I’m making the most of it while it lasts.” I kissed her, finding her tongue with mine, my senses in overload. Feeling her, smelling her, tasting her—I couldn’t hold on any longer, pulling her hard and rough against me as I let go.

  “Keep doing that and it’ll last, I think I could do this a lot” she said, giggling as I collapsed onto her, resting my arms on her shoulders.

  “You’re naughty, Miss Jones,” I said, grazing her lips with my own.

  “If I am, so are you,” she said.

  We gently untangled our limbs, and I left her lying in bed while I disposed of the condom. Whatever had happened, whatever this was, it felt more right than anything had in forever.

  I slid back into bed, turning to face her.

  “So, what is this?” I asked, running
my fingers through the tangled blonde curls falling over my face as she wriggled back to spoon.

  She shrugged. “I don’t know. Friends with benefits?”

  “I don’t know if we’ve known each other long enough to be friends yet.”

  Maddy rolled over wearing a grin so big it lit the room. “I guess we just skipped to the benefits part. Now we can work on the friends bit.”

  For probably the first time in my life, I had absolutely no idea what to say.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Maddy lay in bed next to me, her hair tousled from all the rolling around we’d done. She looked so sweet as she slept, and I closed my eyes to listen to her breathing, slow and steady.

  Rowan had been away for the weekend, visiting her parents, so Charlie and I went crazy, making up for the secrecy we normally surrounded our relationship in.

  We had sex in every room in the place, except for Rowan’s. When we were finished, we collapsed on my bed, sweaty and panting, Charlie’s hair all over the place.

  “Damn you’re sexy,” I whispered, tugging a lock of her hair gently.

  “I don’t feel it. I just want to sleep now.”

  I shook my head. “No stamina. That’s your problem.”

  She rolled her eyes at me. “Whatever. Let’s get some sleep. We’ll have to tidy up tomorrow. Rowan will be back.”

  Now we were lying face to face, and I kissed her gently. “Let’s tell her,” I said.

  Charlie sighed. “We can’t. You know we can’t.”

  “She’s got to find out sometime.”

  “I know.” She pouted. “We will tell her, just not yet.”

  And those big blue eyes sucked me in again as she snuggled up close to me. I would have done anything she told me to.

  “Ready to go?” Maddy’s voice broke through my daydream, and I turned to see her watching me.

  “You were asleep a second ago.”

  She ran her finger down my chest. “Call it a power nap. Now I’m refreshed.”

  I groaned, shaking my head. “Do you ever stop?”

  Maddy laughed. “Never.”

  ~

  “What happened to your wife?” It’s such an innocent question. Maddy had no idea what she was prying open with it.

  “Why do you ask?”

  “That DVD the other day. You said it belonged to your wife. You referred to her in the past tense. Did you get divorced?”

  I raised an eyebrow. “How I ended up inside. It all leads back to her.”

  Her eyes widened, and her mouth hung open, but she still clung to me. “Did you kill her?”

  “Oh dear God, Maddy, no. She died, but it was an asthma attack. I tried to get her to the hospital in time …” I stopped, unable to continue that sentence, the thought of Charlie in my arms still so fresh after all this time.

  Maddy’s eyes filled with tears. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “What happened after that?”

  I couldn’t speak for a moment, opening and closing my mouth a couple of times. Trying to find the words to explain to her what I’d done.

  She kissed my chest softly, warm tears dropping onto my skin and rolling down my side. “Sorry,” she whispered.

  “Don’t be sorry. If we’re going to keep doing this whatever we’re doing, I need to tell you.” I sucked in a deep breath, closing my eyes to centre myself before opening them again. “I felt so lost without Charlie, so I tried to turn to my old friend Rowan. She’d had a crush on me for years and I got it into my head that Charlie would want me to move on with her.”

  Maddy looked up at me, her eyes full of sorrow.

  “I became so obsessed with it all. Rowan was in love with someone else, she married him, had a baby with him, and I still couldn’t see past my own nose. Her husband told me to leave her alone and I flipped, kidnapped her and held her captive for three days until we got found. That’s what I went to prison for.”

  I closed my eyes as Maddy stroked my cheek. “That must have been awful for you and her,” she said softly.

  “I lost my two best friends. I got so lost. A lot of it is a blur. I remember being desperate for Rowan to see things my way, and I couldn’t see anything else. When the police found us, it was as if I woke up and came back to reality.”

  Opening my eyes, all I could see now was Maddy. “I was broken. I can’t say I’m over it all now, but I’m a long way from where I was three years ago.” I stroked her hair, feeling her gentle kisses on my chest. “You wouldn’t have wanted to know me then, but all of this made me grow up.”

  She looked up at me again, that cheeky grin of hers lighting up her face. “I’m glad one of us is.”

  I laughed, squeezing her tight, breathing in that heady spicy fragrance. On anyone else it would have driven me mad; on Maddy, it was intoxicating.

  Three days, and I was crazy about this girl. Blindsided by her attentions, I was happier than I felt I had any right to be. The mixed emotions swirled around, the combination of excitement over starting something new and guilt for needing to move on.

  “She would understand,” Maddy whispered the words I needed to hear as if on cue.

  “Are you going to let me sleep tonight? I think I need to get some rest before going job hunting tomorrow,” I said, trying to change the subject.

  Maddy winked at me. “I think I can let you get a few hours. Don’t be surprised if you wake up to me helping myself.”

  If nothing else, she made me laugh, made me feel good about myself. Which was more than I had in longer than I could remember. I could very easily fall in love with her.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Three Days.

  That was how long Charlie and I were married before she died in my arms. If I could turn back the clock and get her back, I would in a heartbeat. I’d always love her; never take her for granted. Without that as an option, I needed to move on with my life, somehow find happiness again.

  Three Days.

  Rowan had loved me her whole life and I knew it. I saw the puppy eyes, and the sulky looks whenever I got a girlfriend. She was one of my best friends, and I adored her. And I kept my biggest secret from her. When I lost the plot, I held her captive for three days, trying to convince her that she should be with me. As if that could ever make up for the loss of Charlie.

  Three Days.

  Maddy snorted and rolled over. I couldn’t help but smile at the sight of her sleeping peacefully, right where she wanted to be. Right where I wanted her to be. We met three days ago, and she’d already found her way into my bed. This should be too much, too fast, but it just felt good. Just to have her beside me in bed brought comfort.

  I lay on my back and stared at the ceiling. This emotional shit was so hard to get my head around. How fast was this going to progress if it was more than just friends with benefits? Was I overthinking it?

  Rolling over to watch Maddy sleep again, I wanted to hold her tight, lose myself in her again. We’d been in bed for I don’t know how many hours now, alternating between making love and sleeping, and I didn’t know if I wanted to get out again.

  ~

  A screech near my ear brought me back to life with a jolt. I must have fallen asleep again, and now Maddy was waking with a roar as she sat up in bed, clinging to the sheets, fear in her eyes.

  “Maddy?” I murmured, still sleepy.

  “Sorry,” she whispered, lying back down and pulling the blanket up again. “I had a nightmare.”

  I opened my arms and she rolled into them, snuggling up tight.

  “You okay?” I whispered, nuzzling her ear.

  “I dreamed of Dad. Last time he was here, the cops took ages to come and he hit Mum so many times.”

  “Baby.” I stroked her cheek with my hand, feeling so protective, so angry on her behalf.

  “She was so bruised. I’m so scared he’ll come one day and kill her, or me.”

  I tilted her face towards me with my fingers. Her eyes told me she believed what she was saying.

  “I’ll do what
ever I can to protect you—I hope you know that. This whatever-it-is we’ve started feels so good, and your mother has been great letting me stay here. I’m not about to let either of those things go in a hurry.”

  She smiled, lifting her hand to my face and running her thumb across my lips. “You’re a good man, Andrew Carmichael. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”

  “You don’t even know me.”

  “You didn’t kick me out of bed when you found me here, and you didn’t make a move on me. Therefore, you’re okay.”

  I cocked an eyebrow. “Right.”

  Her face lit up with that amazing smile, and I kissed her tenderly. “I have nightmares too,” I whispered.

  “What about?”

  “Rowan mostly. A lot of what I did is a blur, but in my dreams, I remember her screaming at me to let her go home.” I felt the tears building, and fought them. While I thought I was telling Maddy this to bring her some comfort that she wasn’t alone in her dreams, it just brought all those feelings I had when I woke to the surface.

  “Andrew,” she whispered, her gentle touch to my face bringing me the comfort I sought to give her.

  “I did such an awful thing, Maddy. You should run as far away from me as you can.”

  Maddy smiled, her fingers resting on my cheek. “I’m far from perfect. You’re not the only one who’s been in trouble with the law.”

  “Really?”

  “I acted out when things were bad at home. I shoplifted, and got caught. I was probably doing it to get attention for what was happening for Mum. The cops brought me home and they saw her, realised something was going on.”

  I sifted her hair through my fingers, listening to her speak. She’d clearly been through so much. Maybe we weren’t that different.

  “That’s when I got this.” She turned her back to me, and I spotted the faint line running down her back, where the skin was just a little lighter than the rest.

  “What is it?” The puckered flesh beneath my finger was tough to the touch in contrast to her smooth, soft skin. What had been done to her to create a scar like this lit a fire in my belly.