by Lily Danes
Maddie raised her eyes, meeting Gabe’s gaze while her lips continued to move and her tongue circled the tip.
He fisted a hand in her hair. His hips rocked, and he barely restrained himself from thrusting into her mouth.
With a muffled oath, Gabe pushed her away and slammed a hand against the faucet, shutting off the now cool water. He hauled Maddie to her feet and kissed her. With both hands on her ass, he dragged her against his body. The tip of his cock brushed her sensitive clit. Maddie rose on tiptoes and positioned him at her entrance.
Gabe ripped his mouth from hers. “Not here. I can’t fuck you the way I want in a shower.” He urged her out of the stall and followed her. As soon as they were clear of the slippery surface, he lifted and carried her into the bedroom, then tossed her onto the mattress.
He left the room and hurried to the laundry room. Going back, he took the stairs two at a time.
From the bed, Maddie squinted at him in confusion. Gabe held up his wallet.
“I swam with this in my hand after I kicked off the jeans, because I didn’t want to lose my ID. I forgot there was a more important thing in here.” He dropped the condom on the bedside table and lay beside her, stroking her skin. Even that brief separation had been too long. “It can wait. Didn’t I say something about licking you until you forgot your own name?”
He tried to move down her body, but Maddie stopped him. “I need you inside me. Now.”
That was all he needed to hear. Gabe ripped open the foil wrapper and slipped the condom on.
She watched, mesmerized, as it unrolled over his length.
Then he was on top of her, his still damp body covering hers and his cock nudging her slick core. She opened her legs to him, and he placed himself at her entrance. “Say it again.”
It took her a second to understand, but she didn’t hesitate to repeat her answer. “I need you.”
The three words lodged deep within him, somewhere dangerously near his heart.
He eased a single inch inside. “Again.”
Maddie tightened her muscles around the tip of his cock, as if trying to torment him as much as he was her. “I need you,” she whispered. Another inch. Her body reshaped around him.
He could have stayed there all night, hearing her say those words over and over again, but she was done waiting.
“I need you,” she growled one last time. With both hands on his ass, she pulled him deep into her body.
He took a second to adjust as her tight heat wrapped around him. He’d swim every damn ocean and walk hundreds of cold miles if this was his final destination.
Maddie bit his shoulder, and his tether snapped. He no longer bothered with control. Neither of them wanted that. Gabe’s hips rocked against hers. With every stroke he buried himself completely within her.
He pushed himself onto his knees with a groan, hauling her with him until her back was arched, her hips a foot above the mattress. The new position let him sink deeper into her body, and his hips picked up speed. Maddie’s head lolled back as he drove into her, his fingers digging into her skin.
“Touch yourself,” Gabe said, the words thick. “Show me how you make yourself come.”
She obeyed, the tips of her fingers brushing against his cock as he thrust, till all he knew was her body. Her touch. The sound of their skin meeting again and again and the scent that filled the room, his need and hers mingled together.
Her cries grew louder.
“That’s it. Let it go. Let it all go.” His voice was strained as his own release approached.
Her fingers drew one more circle over her clit, then she fell over the edge. Maddie screamed as pleasure overtook her body, and he gripped her hips to hold her in place.
Another thrust, then Gabe emptied himself with a shout. He collapsed on top of her, breathing heavily.
Only when he began to soften did he withdraw. He pulled away long enough to take off the condom, then he was back at her side. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, wanting every inch of her body against his.
Maddie curled into him with her head on his shoulder. She drew small circles on his chest, and Gabe sighed at her touch.
Neither tried to find words. There’d be time for that later.
For now, all that mattered was they were together, and he was alive. He didn’t think he had ever felt so alive.
They could figure out the rest in the morning.
Gabe protested when Maddie tried to slip away in the early hours. “No,” he grumbled, his voice still rough with sleep. With his arms tight around her, he drew her into the warmth of the bed, fitting her back to his chest.
She wiggled her gorgeous ass, and he groaned. “Don’t tease me.”
They didn’t have any condoms left. Maddie didn’t keep any, and he wasn’t about to run into town to pick up the rest of his box. They’d only had the one he’d carried in his wallet, but once hadn’t been enough. Once with Maddie could never be enough.
He was always hard when he first woke up, but with Maddie pressed up against him, he could probably break steel with his dick.
Maddie stretched one hand backwards, sliding it between their bodies to stroke him. “Who’s the tease?”
Gabe choked. “You’re the one who…oh god, Maddie.”
Her fingers continued to trace him. “You’re showing me this big, gorgeous cock, and you can’t even fuck me with it. Tease,” she confirmed.
He heard the smile in her voice and gave her shoulder a gentle nip. “If I’d known this was coming, I’d have carried the whole damn box with me yesterday and probably drowned before I gave them up. You’re the one who’s unprepared. Why don’t you have any?”
Maddie ran her fingers over the tip, and he bit back a groan.
“I didn’t need them.”
“A woman should be prepared,” Gabe murmured against her skin.
“I didn’t need them,” she repeated.
Gabe sat up, moving away from her hand. His cock twitched in protest, but it could fucking wait. “Hold on. Are you saying…?”
“That you’re the first one since Charlie? Yes.”
He sputtered a bit. “But that’s been, what, four years?”
“Don’t look so shocked. It’s been longer than that for you.”
“Because I was in prison, and Tiny and I didn’t feel that way about each other.”
She lowered her eyes, then drew the blanket toward her chin to cover herself.
“Oh, Maddie.” He wrapped his arms tight around her. “There’s nothing wrong with it. I’m just surprised.”
She relaxed into his touch. “You might have been in prison, but I imprisoned myself. After Charlie, I made my life so small. I planned for the future, but that didn’t involve other people. Just savings accounts and IRAs.”
Gabe smacked down the stupid male pride that was pleased to learn he’d been the first man to make her come in years. That was about him and his ego, not Maddie. She never should have been alone that long. Men would have lined up to be with her if she made even the slightest effort. Someday, Gabe vowed, he was going to find her ex and plant his fist in the other man’s face.
Gabe took a long breath, nervous about her next answer. “Why me, Maddie?”
Maddie slithered across his body. Her breasts pressed into his chest, and she wrapped her thighs around his still hard cock, squeezing lightly. “Well, this sure helped.”
He grabbed her hips and repositioned her away from the danger zone. It was too tempting to have her wet heat so close. A primitive part of his brain whispered that, with a single thrust, he could be deep inside her and damn the consequences.
But a louder part was disappointed she hadn’t really answered him.
Oblivious, Maddie kissed him once, light and quick, then swung off him and climbed out of bed. “I need to shower,” she said, “then I have to go into work and pretend I’m very sad about your death and that I didn’t have the best sex of my life last night. Tonight, you’re going to te
ll me how you defied death, and…” She made a disappointed moue as she looked at his cock. “Hold that thought. I’ll come home prepared, I promise.”
Best ever, huh? Gabe lay back with a grin and planned how he could one-up himself that evening.
Chapter Twenty-One
For the first time in three years, Oliver didn’t greet her with a smile when she arrived at work.
He didn’t hear her come in, and she needed to stand in his doorway and clear her throat before he noticed her.
It didn’t look like he’d slept. He still wore the same clothes as the day before, he hadn’t shaved, and his eyes were bloodshot and rimmed in purple. “Maddie,” he murmured. “I’m so sorry.”
Her heart stopped.
“I know I interrupted something the other day. Between you and Gabe. And now…” He waved his hand, encompassing everything. Her. The office. “It was my fault. I should have known after the other accident that we had to be more careful with the equipment.”
She released her breath. If Gabe had truly been dead, she might have also blamed him, but all things considered, she was feeling rather magnanimous at the moment. “It wasn’t you. The equipment was examined right away, and Josh found nothing. They don’t know what caused the explosion yet.”
He shook his head, refusing to take comfort in her words. “You don’t need to be here. I can handle—”
“The local press, insurance forms, re-routed shipments, and lost cargo? Sure you can. After you’ve slept eight hours.” When he looked doubtful, she lowered her eyes and spoke in a quiet, broken voice. “And I could use the distraction.”
Oliver hurried to her and gathered her into a gentle hug. “Of course. I understand. But you shouldn’t be alone. It doesn’t look like you got much more sleep than I did.”
She turned her laugh into a delicate cough at the last minute. “I don’t mind. The quiet’s kind of nice. If it makes you feel better, I’ll only work for a few hours.”
“It does. Are you sure?”
Maddie shooed him out the door. He was reluctant, but even he couldn’t deny how tired he was.
As soon as Oliver left, Maddie locked the door behind him and began to pace. The night before, she and Gabe had been too distracted to talk about the fact that someone was trying to kill him. At least he promised to stay hidden in her house until they resolved this. He hadn’t even fought her on that point.
“I can’t do this if I’m dead,” he told her, then bent his head between her legs an hour before dawn.
No, she hadn’t slept much.
But she felt wide awake and ready to figure this out. The local press and insurance companies could wait.
The explosion happened on the dock, as did the runaway crane the other week. That implied one of the workers was involved. She scanned a list of employees, though her mind rebelled at the prospect. She knew all these guys. Knew their families. It didn’t seem possible.
In the end, it was just a list of names. She couldn’t accuse any of them without a reason. Their files didn’t contain much more information. One of the men had filed for bankruptcy a couple years back, and another was having his wages garnished for child support. She put a star by their names. Men who needed money were prone to do all kinds of things.
They weren’t the only people with access to the ships and machinery. Anyone in town could drop by, and often did, to say hi to friends on the way to their own boats, or to bring lunch to a husband who forgot his. “Really should have gotten those security cameras working, Oliver,” she muttered.
There were also all the ships going in and out. Most were Hastings ships, run by Hastings employees, but not all.
And there’d been a lot more ships coming in recently. Extra ones appearing when they weren’t supposed to. Cargo showing up at weird times. Almost as if someone was trying to confuse the reports.
Maddie needed to get her hands on the recent records, but those were kept at the shipping office. Then again, she still had a key. Perhaps she could sneak by that evening.
Even as she worked, she could hear Gabe whispering to her, insisting she was overlooking the most obvious candidate of all. Her boss.
Oliver’s office door was open. It wouldn’t hurt to look around a little. Then she could report back that she hadn’t found a thing.
His desk was orderly, and she didn’t find any papers that didn’t belong there. The same was true of the binders on his shelves, and she took the time to go through those one page at a time. The rest of the documents were kept in filing cabinets by her desk, and she’d already examined them all.
Next, she checked his computer, though she couldn’t imagine Oliver would tell her his password, then keep incriminating documents on a drive she could access at any time. His documents folder was huge, so she copied it onto a thumb drive to study later.
Her search took several hours. By the time she finished, she hadn’t found a drop of evidence Oliver was involved in questionable activities…and she’d worked the half-day she promised her boss. She could go home. Go back to Gabe.
Before leaving, Maddie confirmed that the pharmacy bag was in her purse. At least in that way, they could be safe.
Safe.
She strode back into Oliver’s office and lifted the seascape painting he kept behind his desk, revealing the safe. It was a modern one with digital numbers, and this time she didn’t have the six-digit code. It wasn’t his birthday, forwards or backwards. It wasn’t the machine’s default. It wasn’t his name spelled out on a number pad.
Flummoxed, she stepped back. What was important enough to Oliver that he might use it as his password? His siblings both had five-letter names. He didn’t have a pet. He didn’t follow any sports teams. She didn’t know what his favorite book was.
Come to think of it, she didn’t know much at all about Oliver Hastings.
She shook it off. That wasn’t true. He was kind and selfless. Be kind, she typed into the keypad.
Nothing.
She followed it up with be good, then be nice. She knew she was grasping at straws, but if there one thing she was certain of, it was that Oliver was a good man, one who truly believed in handing out second chances. Losing hope, she typed second. “Of course not,” she muttered.
Then the safe door swung open on chance.
“Ha!” she cried in triumph. “I do know him,” she said, then began rifling through the contents. She found several stock certificates, two thousand dollars cash, his passport, and a handgun. The last one surprised her, but plenty of people in town believed in their right to carry. She didn’t expect Oliver to be one of them, but at least the gun wasn’t loaded. The bullets were stored in a separate case, and it didn’t look like any of them had been used.
All in all, there was nothing unusual, except that all the items rested on top of a small black box.
She eased that out of the safe, then froze. Her name was on the lid of the box. “Maddie’s living expenses,” the label said. She only paused a moment before opening it.
It was filled with money.
Twenty packets of bills were stacked on top of each other. Each packet contained ten thousand dollars.
Why the hell did Oliver have two hundred thousand dollars in a box with her name on it?
She replaced the box in a hurry, making sure to put the other items back in the same location. She rehung the painting, tipping it a bit to make sure it was at the same crooked angle as before. Oliver would never know she was there.
Maddie hurried home. She spent the entire walk trying to find any reasonable explanation for the cash. Maybe it was an old documents box that just happened to have her name on it.
And a description of how she should use the money.
Maybe he would tell her to deposit it, and then he wouldn’t pay her for five years.
No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t find a believable reason for her name to be anywhere near that much money.
Unless Oliver wanted her to have it. Two hundred thousa
nd dollars would go a long way toward living expenses in an expensive city like Palo Alto.
And then, with Gabe presumed dead and Maddie safely in another city, everyone who suspected that Hastings Shipping was involved with illegal activities would be taken care of.
With each step closer to her house, Maddie grew more afraid she would need to say words she once believed impossible. When it came to Oliver Hastings, Gabe might be right.
The doorbell rang.
Gabe froze. He was preparing eggs in Maddie’s kitchen, wrapped in nothing but a towel. He wasn’t exactly fit for company.
Also, he was supposed to be dead.
The doorbell rang again, then someone knocked, insistent.
Gabe checked the wall clock. Just past noon. Maddie said she’d try to get home for lunch. Maybe she forgot her keys.
He turned off the heat on the stove, then crept into the living room. Before he could peer through the keyhole, a key slid into the lock.
He breathed out a sigh of relief. It just took her a moment to find them, that’s all.
Or someone else still had a set—a detail he remembered just as the door swung open to reveal Maddie’s former roommate.
Bree’s eyes widened. “Well. This is unexpected.”
Gabe looked over her shoulder, panicked. There were no houses on the other side of the street, so no neighbors might see him. Even if there were, Adam Rogers’ looming presence would have blocked their view.
“Uh, hi.” He raised the spatula he still held. “Do you want a late breakfast?”
To their credit, the Rogers siblings didn’t gawk or ask stupid questions. They stepped inside and closed the front door.
“I know Maddie doesn’t have enough ingredients in this house for a meal.” Bree held up a large bag. “I brought bagels. Thought she might need some grief carbs.” Her eyes scanned his body, registering each muscle. “Looks like she’s out of mourning.”
Gabe gestured at the towel. “I’d put on clothes, but I don’t have any.”
“Fine with me.” Bree’s expression was pure mischief.
