“You’re just saying that.” I started walking down the hall, but he wrapped his hand around my arm so I stopped and turned.
“Do you really think I waste my time flattering people for no good reason? Do you think that would serve me well?” As his eyes grew darker, seeming to bore inside me, words escaped my lips. “It’s like picking stocks, Bailey. You can spend hours, days, weeks agonizing over your choices and doubting yourself every step of the way. If you do that enough, you’ll talk yourself out of ever doing anything. Or you can analyze and predict, make your choices, and then ride the waves. Sometimes you’ll make the wrong choice but there comes a time when you have to trust that you know what you’re doing.”
As if taking his own advice, he moved closer to me, his hand on my arm growing warmer, almost searing into my flesh. His face drew nearer to mine at an agonizingly slow pace, so much so that I wondered if I was imagining it. Subconsciously, though, my body prepared. My lips parted slightly without my thinking about it. My toes curled; my stomach knotted in anticipation. My mouth watered. I could smell his cologne now, could feel the warmth of his entire body, sensing some kind of electric charge, like lightning was ready to jump from him to me. My breath caught in my throat as every fiber of every muscle tightened, ready to be pummeled.
When his lips met mine, my eyes closed, making me focus on the sensation of his warm mouth. He was gentle at first, his lips brushing mine like a feather, but then they grew hard, as if he could no longer hold himself back. Like a horse at a race, once the gate opened, he charged forward.
Now I was completely in his arms. How had mine wrapped around him without my knowledge? My fingernails were digging into his back through the soft t-shirt over his frame as his mouth possessed mine.
Not just my mouth.
My everything.
When he released me, I could barely breathe. My mouth still watered and my lips felt bruised from his crushing kiss. Yet I wanted more.
So much more.
Which meant I needed to walk away. I wasn’t ready for this.
Moving my hands from his back to his chest, I left them pressed against his body as if ready to push him away at a moment’s notice. “Sweet dreams, Maddox.”
My lips wouldn’t curl up in a smile. It was like they’d forgotten how. But I could feel my eyes smoldering, giving away the fire he’d ignited inside my body.
And if I didn’t go to my bedroom right this second, I wouldn’t win the battle, much less the war I was fighting with my heart.
“Sweet dreams, Bailey.”
As I closed the door, he was the last thing I saw.
* * *
I couldn’t sleep. Maddox had seen to that. Visions of him swirled through my brain while my body replayed the sensations aroused by the kiss.
Replayed them over and over and over.
Finally, I couldn’t ignore my cravings any longer. And any resistance I’d put up had long since dissolved.
I was a woman with needs and only Maddox could satisfy them.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, I questioned myself one last time but picked myself up as if there had been no reluctance at all.
When I opened the door, I halfway expected to see him standing there, looking debonair and absolutely gorgeous, anything and everything I desired. Instead, outside my room was quiet and almost completely dark, the tiny lights that had shone on the floor the night before nowhere to be seen. I tiptoed along the path toward his door, feeling relief to see a little light shining out from underneath it.
If he’d lit a fire, that might have been what I was seeing. But I was hoping against hope that he wasn’t asleep.
I rapped on the door lightly—enough that, if he were awake, he’d know what he was hearing but, if he were asleep, it wouldn’t awaken him. I’d forgotten that he’d heard me yelling through the doors last night, so he was either a light sleeper or often stayed up fairly late.
“Come in.”
Gulping down a deep breath, I found hidden reserves buried deep inside, ones I’d forgotten I had. You don’t spend years of your childhood dodging predators without learning how to push through fear.
I opened the door, slowly at first. I don’t know what I’d expected to see.
But what I did see took my breath away. Maddox was lying in bed, sheet down to his waist, a hardcover book in one hand. His musculature made me almost want to cry. As beautiful as a sculpture, seeming as smooth as marble, his body made me want to touch it all over, feel that sinew and flesh with my fingertips, burning it into my sense memory.
I went mute as the enormity of my emotions took away my ability to do anything.
“Are you having nightmares again?”
I’d toyed with the idea of just stripping off my clothes right then and there, but I suddenly felt naked already. What would I have to offer this man that he hadn’t already had? He was a decade older than I, far more successful than I could ever be, owned more than I ever would.
I was just one of his lowly customer service workers, one of thousands of women who worshipped him when, just days ago, I’d despised him. What the hell was happening to me?
“Bailey, are you all right?”
Desperation does funny things to a person. It makes you skew your view of the world, causing you to see everything in black and white. And so, right now, Maddox had gone from enemy to knight. Being cooped up with him for just a day had caused me to look at him in a new light.
If I was smart, I’d tell him to never mind. I’d run to my room and do whatever it took to make myself fall asleep and forget this man.
But I couldn’t. I wanted him.
Needed him.
No one else would do. Nothing else would do.
When I found my voice, it was far too quiet. “No, I’m not okay.”
He sat up, and that only made it worse. His muscles were highlighted even further by the dimmed lighting in the room. “What’s wrong?”
Taking two steps closer, I paused again. Even though he’d kissed me earlier, I expected him to toss me out of his room. Maddox Steel wasn’t the kind of man to let a woman make the moves. He’d take me when he was damned good and ready—and, I suspected, that would be after he’d completely fucked over my mind.
I knew where this was going—and yet I felt helpless to resist.
My mouth engaged before my brain could control anything else.
“The kiss earlier…”
When he cocked his head, I half expected him to smile. It was as if it was underneath the expression he wore right now. But there was no amusement on his face, no twinkle in his eyes. All I could see was a smoldering desire mirroring what was inside me.
But why? Where did it come from?
As he placed his book on the nightstand, I realized that none of those questions mattered—at least, not to my body.
I took another tentative step forward as he stood. Suddenly, he seemed to tower over me. I wanted to take him in from head to toe, but my peripheral vision registered the rest of him. He was wearing light gray pants. They were loose around him, and I wasn’t going to ogle his body, much as I wanted to.
His eyes were locked on mine as he took another step closer toward me. Unlike my moves, his weren’t tentative at all. Even though he approached me like one might a feral cat—so as not to scare me off—he moved with intent.
“Yes? What about the kiss?”
“Did you mean it?”
He closed the gap but still didn’t touch me. Although he was near enough that I could feel his body heat, my muscles began to tremble as if I’d been thrown out in the cold with nothing but the thin clothes I had on.
“It happened. Did you think it was a mistake?”
I swallowed, marveling at how I’d never felt this unsure about anything in my life before. “But did you mean it?”
When his hands touched my arms, I thought the heat would sear through my skin, leaving nothing left of me but ashes. Somehow, it felt cleansing.
“I thought
you’d know at least that much about me now, Bailey.”
I swallowed a mouthful of saliva, biting down on my lower lip to keep it from trembling, forcing myself to look in his steely blue eyes.
They owned me.
“I never do anything half-assed. When I move, it is with intention. It’s the only way to live life.”
Was it his words or the way he’d said them that made my lips part as if gravity were pulling on the lower one? It was hard to draw the air down into my lungs, as if his presence created a vacuum.
“But you came in here for something. What was it?”
Somehow, his words—his damned philosophy, even—emboldened me…helped me find whatever it was I needed to push through.
“I came here for you.”
“Meaning?”
A small breath escaped my lips as I tried to find the words. I could never be as eloquent as this man, but maybe I didn’t need to be. He must have seen something in my heart, something that spoke to him, and if I couldn’t be open with him now, I would never figure out how. “I didn’t have a nightmare tonight. I’m not afraid. Not like last night.” Oh, I was afraid—of the feelings stirring inside me, of how this man had completely captivated me in such a short time.
How I’d fallen so far. This would be like sleeping with the enemy.
But I could no longer resist.
Closing my eyes, I drew in a long, deep breath, marveling at Maddox’s patience. When I blew the air out from between my lips, I stared into the two deep blue pools that had me mesmerized. “I came in here ready to strip myself naked.”
To offer him my body? As if I were a sacrifice?
No, it was more than that.
“Your kiss wasn’t enough. I want more.”
He cocked a dark brown eyebrow, squinting an eye as if he’d discovered all my secrets.
But he didn’t say another word. Instead, the hard man in front of me seemed to soften, moving one of his hands off my arm to gently cup my cheek. Stroking my jawline, he drank me in much like I’d stared at the paintings in the hallway the night before.
Except I was no work of art.
Tilting my head up as though I were a commodity he was considering purchasing, he then brought his face close to mine. I could all but feel the molecules between us sparking and jumping, magnetic and alive, while he and I hardly moved, like chess pieces in contemplation.
My eyes fixed on his, now seeming to be a darker blue melded with the saucers his pupils were becoming. “Are you sure that’s what you want?” I nodded slightly, but his voice cut through the air like a sword. “You won’t be able to take it back.”
As if an evil demon had possessed my body, my mouth spoke without my consent. “I don’t want to.”
And then, as though we were in one of the old movies Maddox seemed to worship, he swept me off my feet. The way he did it made me feel as light as a rose petal, but inside me was a hurricane, ready to rip me apart. When he placed me on the bed, he lay next to me, stroking my arm with his hand. Before I could roll onto my side, he brought his face close to mine, consuming me with a kiss that was even more powerful than the one he’d buried me in earlier.
My body responded immediately, as if I’d been fasting for weeks and was being offered a piece of bread. Every nerve stood at attention, every tiny hair perked up, every fiber tingled. And I kissed him back like it was the last thing I’d ever do in this life. Savoring the way he tasted, I nibbled at his lips and drank him in as if he were a delectable dessert, mine for the taking.
He reacted by holding me close, making me feel safe once again. During the past two weeks, the world had been a scary place, but his touch gave me a security that went deep. Had I ever felt this protected, this loved?
My hands had been jammed in between us with my fingertips touching his firm pecs, but I slid my left hand up his chest to his neck, caressing the skin there before moving farther up to his jawline. The whiskers poking out scratched at my hand, but I kept moving until I could run my fingers through his hair.
We continued kissing as if we’d never enjoyed doing it before. Every nerve in my body was now alive and on fire, anticipating his touch. Our lips pressed hard against each other as if we’d been denied the pleasures of the flesh for far too long. It was then that I felt the stirring of his erection against me, and my body took over, turning off the logical part of my brain. Instantly, my pussy grew wet with desire, ready to take him in, and my pelvis pressed against him, letting him know that I would be ready whenever he was.
I realized then just how much we were operating on instinct, how the two of us were like a machine designed to do this very thing. His hands slid down my back and he cupped my ass, squeezing the cheeks and pressing me even closer to him.
Oh, God. I couldn’t measure his girth, but he would be more than enough to satisfy me. I was already starting to feel close and he’d hardly even touched me. My breathing had grown deeper but I felt like I couldn’t pull enough air into my lungs. My fingers tightened against his scalp and chest, as I tried to tell myself to relax.
That was impossible.
He moved his lips to my neck, kissing it, and, as his lips made a trail toward my collarbone, my nipples grew hard, aching for his touch there. As if he knew exactly what I wanted, he kept moving his lips toward the very top of my sternum.
I was impatient, though. Moving my hands, wiggling around to get a little loose and making him move his arms in the process, I grabbed the bottom hem of my nightshirt so I could pull it over my head. He had to let go of me with both his hands and his lips but he understood what I was doing and assisted with the process.
It was then that we picked up some speed.
He urged my back toward the bed and then kissed me hard on the lips once more. It felt like some kind of assurance, of a message he was trying to communicate. Then he cupped one of my breasts, kneading the pebbly areola with his thumb, and I fought to keep my back from arching. My mouth, however, let out a heavy sigh of satisfaction. He took my other breast into his mouth, sucking at it as I wound my right hand through his hair. The fingers of my other hand dug into his shoulder blade as I struggled to keep myself from moaning.
I knew later I’d have no control whatsoever.
My pelvis continued pressing toward him, eager to receive the attention he was giving the upper half of my body. I slid my hand down his solid back, but I couldn’t reach his ass. It didn’t help that his lips were now moving down my stomach.
God, I didn’t know if I was ready for anything other than vanilla at the moment, but I didn’t want to stop him, either. My brain still wasn’t working. Otherwise, I might not have allowed myself to say what I said.
After I gulped a deep breath of air, forcing myself not to wriggle like a squirmy child, I said, “I need you to bury yourself inside me, Maddox.”
His lips paused just below my navel, and I wondered at first if I’d broken the mood. But when his tongue swirled over the flesh there before he crawled back up, I knew he understood what I needed. His lips crushed into mine as I ran my hands down to his waistband. As I slid my fingers underneath the soft fabric and ran them over his muscular ass, his hard-on dug into me while he sucked on my lower lip. “Your wish is my command, princess.”
His words were almost funny, but he pulled my pajama pants down before cupping the whole of my womanhood. Then, sneaking a finger out of the group, he touched me delicately before swirling his finger against my hardened clit. I gasped against his lips before he consumed me with another possessive kiss and spun his finger maddeningly, turning my brain into a soup of uncontrollable desire. Another desperate sound escaped my mouth as my pelvis tilted up into his finger and that was my entire world at the moment. The muscles in my calves and toes felt paralyzed as I began grinding against him, gulping air as if I would never breathe again. “Oh, God,” I cried as my brain exploded with satisfaction, rocketing my mind off the planet and into the stars, and I screamed his name, continuing to pulse against his finge
r as wave after wave of perfect pleasure shut out all else. He was a master with that damned digit of his, continuing to please my brain with a never-ending cascade of satisfaction.
Finally, the orgasm subsided, and he kissed my neck.
And then he rolled over onto his back.
Chapter Thirteen
My body was starting to cool, but I wasn’t ready to be done with this man. “Aren’t you going to…um, you know?”
I looked over at Maddox. His eyes were closed, and his gray pajama pants were still around his waist—but his erection was impossible to ignore. “It doesn’t feel right, Bailey. I’ll be okay.”
What the hell?
I rolled onto my side, touching his stubbly cheek, but he kept his eyes closed. Bringing my lips to his ear, I whispered, “I told you I wanted you inside me.”
He opened his eyes then, dark pools of desire denied. “But what you actually wanted was climax. Release. I gave you that.”
“No,” I said, searching his eyes. “I want you.”
“You don’t know what you’re asking.”
Maybe he was right, but my heart and the animal inside me didn’t care at the moment. And of all things I ever wanted to be, a selfish lover was at the bottom of the list. So I brought my lips to his, gently, and gave him the sweetest kiss I could. And although he kissed me back, he wasn’t moving.
It didn’t matter.
Sliding a hand down his sculpted chest and rock-hard abs, I caressed the flesh just above his waistband. Because he wasn’t objecting, I moved my hand underneath. I began consuming his lips, devouring the taste of him as I touched his cock, gliding my hand down his length. When I got to the tip of that beast, I swirled my index finger on the head. It was oozing, so I knew he wouldn’t be okay, no matter what he’d said.
When he continued to not object to my touch, I sat up a little, massaging his cock full on. I hadn’t been kidding. I wanted to feel him inside me, touching parts few ever had.
No, I needed him. But if he could wait, so could I. It didn’t mean I was going to let him have blue balls or get himself off later. I wanted to be the one making him feel as satisfied as he’d made me.
Quarantined with the Billionaire Page 11
