by Laurie Roma
Her head lifted as he gave the voice command to unlock her door and walked inside as soon as it opened. Carrying her, he strode into the living room area, over to the large sofa. The room was decorated with a combination of pale-gold and rich cream, as most of the VIP suites were. He sat down, holding her firmly when she would have moved off his lap.
“How are you feeling?”
“Fine,” she said softly. “I’m fine.” She finally looked up at him and saw him staring at her with an intense expression that made her pulse speed up. Remembering the aftermath of the last time they’d kissed made her want to move away from him, but her desire for him was stronger than self-preservation.
Titling her head back, he met her halfway so their lips touched. It was a soft kiss, sweet and simple. He brushed his lips against hers, once, twice, then took it deeper with a low growl of hunger. She opened for him, parting her lips to welcome his tongue inside to duel with hers.
Wanting to run her hands through his hair, she raised her arms, but the stupid bandages wrapped around her hands made that impossible. Before she knew what was happening, Maddox picked her up and set her aside on the couch. She looked up and saw that he was already on his feet, ready to bolt from the room.
Mya sighed.
Stars, it was happening all over again.
He was going to leave her, and this time, she might just kill him.
***
CHAPTER EIGHT
“Did I do something wrong?”
“No,” Maddox said tightly.
That made Mya’s shoulders slump. He was sure acting like she had. Giving up, she said, “Go ahead and run. I know you want to.”
Maddox scowled down at her. “I don’t run from anything.”
Her laugh sounded bitter. “You did last time you kissed me, and you look ready to do it again right now.”
“You’re injured, I should let you rest,” Maddox stated, though, even he could admit that the excuse sounded weak.
She leaned back against the pillows and waved him away with her bandaged hands. “Yeah, whatever. I’ll rest. Just go. I just wished I knew what I’m doing to make you Adaro males run.” She shook her head and smiled wryly. “Oh, right. You don’t run. You just walk away…very quickly. If you dislike kissing me so much then why did you do it again?”
Maddox stared down at Mya in disbelief. Not like kissing her? Was she crazy? She did look tired, and her hands were wrapped in bandages, but that wasn’t the real reason he needed to get the hell away from her. Every time he touched her, his body responded with a vengeance. He was hot, hard and aching. He’d been seconds away from ripping her clothes off so he could take her right there on the couch, but that wasn’t what she needed right now.
He didn’t seem to have any control when it came to Mya, and that was something he wasn’t used to. Instead of giving into his desire, he’d wanted to leave before he scared the hell out of her. Maddox could tell Mya wasn’t very experienced, and he didn’t want to rush her into anything even though staying away from her was becoming impossible.
Maddox sat down on the couch again, but made sure he wasn’t touching her. “I want you, Mya. Make no mistake about that.”
“So, you kiss me, then leave because you want me?” She sighed. “I don’t understand you at all.”
He wanted to laugh at the baffled confusion on her face. “Mya, I’m trying not to rush things. We’ve been…courting you.”
Her eyes widened. “Courting me? We? You mean…why haven’t any of you said anything? I thought you didn’t like kissing me…and when Daimon and Tavius…I’ve been feeling so damn guilty!”
“What in all the worlds would you feel guilty about? Most of your elites are paired with more than one male. A multiple relationship shouldn’t be shocking to you.”
“Yes, but the men make it clear that they are interested in pursuing a relationship together with a woman. You, Daimon and Tavius are never together.”
Maddox saw the error in what they’d been doing then. They’d each wanted to allow her to get comfortable around them in their own way. Daimon wanted to be useful by helping her with her shop since that was one of his talents. Tavius had been flirting with her, keeping her slightly off balance as he enjoyed his game of seduction.
And Maddox…well, he’d taken a more straightforward approached. Or at least he thought he had. They’d been careful not to be around her at the same time, but he’d never considered that she would have felt as if she would have to chose between them.
“We’ve obviously been going about this all wrong,” he admitted.
“I don’t know what to think. After you and Daimon kissed me, I—”
“Daimon kissed you?” Maddox smiled. He thought Tavius would have been the one to kiss her first, since he had already made his intentions clear. Daimon usually took longer to express his interest in a female, but there was something about Mya that had captivated all three of them. He knew neither of his brothers would claim her before he did, but it warmed his heart to know that Daimon wanted her just as much as he did.
Mya blushed. “He did yesterday.” Then she frowned. “Don’t you three talk?”
“We do, but we’ve all been so busy with work, we haven’t seen each other much over the last few days. That’s partly why we have been taking turns being with you during the day.”
“I don’t understand.”
“New Vega is a large vessel, and we each have many duties to see to every day. Daimon wanted to spend time with you, but he is most pleased when he feels useful, so he has been helping you around your store. When he leaves to see to other duties, Tavius came by to see if you needed anything.”
“And what about you, Maddox?” she asked softly.
He hesitated for a second, then decided to tell her the truth. “You might not have seen me, but I’ve been around, watching over you.”
“That’s…kind of creepy. So, you were stalking me on the security feed instead of just coming to see me in person?”
“I wasn’t stalking you. I was making sure you were safe while I took care of other work. It’s called multi-tasking.”
Mya thought that was just semantics, but she didn’t say it. Anyone else would have been pissed about what he’d done, but Mya was used to being watched over. Actually, she thought what he’d done was a little sweet even if it was sort of strange.
Maddox sighed. “You confuse me, Mya. I shouldn’t want you this way so soon. I thought to give you time to decide how you feel about us, but I can’t be around you and not touch you. I leave because if I stay, I’m going to take you and make you mine.”
There was a heartbeat of silence before Mya whispered, “But what if that’s what I want, too?”
His chest tightened with some foreign emotion. He could see that she was nervous as she waited for his reaction, and he felt the imaginary tethers holding his control in place snap. Jerking her to him, he slammed his mouth down on hers, taking her lips with a brutality that stunned him.
Maddox wanted to devour her, consume her. He was drowning with the desperate need to have her, and he wanted to take her deep into the dark depths so she would never be free of him. He stood, never taking his mouth from hers as he carried her into the bedroom. Laying her down on the bed, he covered her smaller body with his. Aware of his strength, he made sure not to press his full weight on her.
She pulled her mouth away from his, panting as she said, “We have to take these bandages off.”
“No. You still need to heal.”
“I’m fine,” she argued. “I want to touch you.”
“Consider this your punishment for injuring yourself.” It made him angry again just thinking about it. “You will not do anything so foolish in the future.”
Mya stared up at him incredulously. “Seriously? You want to fight about this now?”
“We aren’t fighting. I’m telling you that you won’t do anything to injure yourself,” he growled. “I won’t have it.”
“You have g
“Those gloves you wear are complete crap. We will find something else to wear so you won’t hurt your hands anymore.”
“Fine. Can we get back to kissing now?”
Mya’s heart fluttered as he leaned down and kissed her again. It felt so good kissing him she could barely think of anything else. She wanted to touch, to taste, to feel every inch of him, but she didn’t know what to do so she was content to follow his lead…for now. Her head swam as the passion built inside of her, and she thought that if this was a dream, she never wanted to wake.
No, she wanted to live in this moment forever.
Maddox wanted her, and so did his brothers. That was something she would have to worry about later. Right now, she was solely focused on the massive male doing his best to kiss her breathless. She moaned as her body heated, and the sound of his answering groan made her giddy with feminine power.
One of her shoes fell to the floor, so she kicked the other one off and heard it land on the ground with a thunk. Wrapping her legs around his, she arched up against him, feeling the steel-hard spike of his desire press against her core. Anticipation tingled along her skin like an electrical current as she thought about what it would be like to have him inside her. He felt so big, she worried she wouldn’t be able to take his full length into her body, but she was determined to try.
Maddox pulled away from her lips, his hot mouth trailing down to her neck. A whimper of need escaped her parted lips as he nipped at her earlobe with his fangs. He was so pleased by the sound, he immediately repeated the action. She tried to grab onto him, but her bandaged hands slid off his shoulders. He sucked and nipped at her neck, hard enough to sting, but not enough to break the skin with his fangs. When she reached for him again, he grabbed both of her hands in one of his and raised them over her head.
“You’re driving me crazy! I want to touch you,” she pleaded.
“Not yet. Keep them here,” he demanded.
Maddox was determined to make Mya his. To seal her to him with passion and pleasure so thoughts of any males in her past were wiped away. Thinking about that, he plastered his body against hers again. Slamming his lips down on hers again, he ravaged her mouth. He kept kissing her until he couldn’t hold back any longer.
He needed to claim her now.
Unable to bear anything between them any longer, he rolled off of her to jerk his boots from his feet. They needed to get naked. He would drive them both to a quick, hard climax, then he would take his time getting to know every inch of her body after he’d taken the edge off his lust for her.
Mya had a few seconds to collect herself while he was in the process of removing his shirt. She was momentarily distracted by the sight of his muscular chest. Massively built with thick, corded muscles, he was damn impressive. “Umm…Maddox?”
The anxiety in her tone must have signaled that something was wrong, because he paused while reaching for the waistband of his pants.
“Maybe this would be a good time to tell you that I haven’t done this before.”
His eyes went wide. “You’re a…?”
Uh oh. That wasn’t a good sign if he couldn’t even say the word. Sitting up, she hurried to explain. “I just didn’t want you to expect, well, you know. I don’t know if I’m any good at all of this. And if I did something wrong or you wanted…crap, I’m saying this all wrong. I just thought I’d tell you, because I figured you might notice when—”
“Oh, yeah. I think I’d notice.”
His dry tone made her blush, despite telling herself she had absolutely nothing to be embarrassed about. Still, he was sitting next to her, staring at her like she was some alien creature he’d never seen before. Flattering, it was not. She looked down and began to trace the subtle pattern on the pale-gold bedspread with her finger.
Maddox gently cupped her face, and his thumbs rubbed her cheeks slowly. He could see the worry in her beautiful gray eyes as she watched him. She bit at her lower lip in a nervous gesture, and his gaze dropped down, mesmerized by the sight. He wanted to bite that lush lip, then soothe the sting away with his tongue, but he held back.
“Why have you never been with a male before?”
She shrugged. “With my family watching over me, it wasn’t really possible.”
He frowned at that. “You want to have sex because you have freedom now?”
“No! I mean…yes and no. I’ve just I never found a man I was interested in enough to…to pursue that kind of relationship with. Until I met you and your brothers, I never wanted someone that way. I’ve been waiting to feel the zing people always talk about, and you make me… ”
“Feel a zing?”
Mya wondered if she should be offended by the amusement in his tone, but his slow, sexy smile distracted her. “I’m very particular about my shoes, why wouldn’t I be about this?” she asked defensively as she waved her hand to encompass the bed. “Stars, do we have to discuss this now? Can’t we just get on with it?”
“It?”
Was he trying to be obtuse? “You know, the sex. If we keep talking about this, I’m going to get more nervous, then I might freak out, and trust me, we don’t want that to happen. It could get ugly.”
“No, we don’t. Let’s focus on that zing I make you feel instead.”
Maddox was overcome by a surge of possessiveness. He would be her first. No other male had touched her. And no one would, besides his brothers. Ever. He imagined how beautiful she would be held between the three of them, but that would come later. Right now, he’d be the one to introduce her to lovemaking, and he’d enjoy every minute of it. Quickly rethinking his plan, he pulled her close enough to brush his lips against hers.
She blinked up at him. “Does that mean you still want to do it?”
He couldn’t help but laugh. “Yes, I do.”
“Good. That’s good. I was worried you wouldn’t. You know, with me being a…”
Gods, she was adorable. He finally understood the hesitation he’d felt from her before. She was innocent…far more than he’d realized, but that only made him want her more. He had never been with a virgin, but knowing that he would be her first filled him with pride. It was an honor he didn’t take lightly.
She would belong to him, in every way possible.
“Mya, there is no power in the universe that would stop me from having you. It just means we have to do things a little differently.”
“I don’t understand what you mean by that.”
He wasn’t about to tell her that he’d been seconds away from tearing her clothes off. Instead, he said, “If you hadn’t told me, I could have hurt you. We have to get you ready for me first.”
“I’m ready.”
“No, you aren’t. But you will be.” He reached for her hands and slowly began unwinding the bandages. Glancing up, he was glad to see the sparkle of humor replace her wariness.
“So, you’re finally ready to take these things off me?”
“I’m going to take everything off of you,” he promised darkly, and was pleased to see her answering blush. He loved seeing the rosy hue on her cheeks. “But first, I want to make sure you are healed.”
When the bandages were removed, Maddox could see her hands were back to normal. Giving a nod of approval, he tossed the bandages on the floor, then reached for her shirt. He kept his gaze on her as he pulled it up, only breaking their connection when he tugged it over her head. Tossing the shirt aside, he reached out and pulled her hands down when she instinctively moved to cover herself.
“No, don’t hide from me.”
She was sheer perfection. His mouth watered at the sight of her full breasts. He wanted to take her nipples into his mouth and suck them until she cried out, but simply brushed the back of his hands against the silky skin of the swell of her breasts instead.
He smiled when she shivered in response. Her breath caught as his lips came down to meet hers, and he was pleased when she immediately opened for him, even angling her head, trying to get closer. He gently pushed her back down on the bed as their tongues met, touching, tasting.
Moving lower, he kissed his way down her neck again, using his rough tongue to lave each of her nipples. He felt her shiver again when his fangs scrapped over the hard peaks, then he moved lower, kissing a trail down her flat stomach. Despite his frayed control, he removed her pants slowly, taking her pale-pink panties off with them.
When he was done, he looked down and simply stared at her naked body laid out before him. She had a body made for loving, and he couldn’t wait to touch every inch of her. And he would, with his hands and his mouth. Her waist was small, but her hips curved out slightly, creating a sexy contour to her body. His gaze lowered to her bare mound. He could see the proof of her desire for him glistening from between her thighs, and he growled low in his throat when she tried to close her legs to hide from him.
“Mine,” he snarled as he pulled her thighs apart wider so he could see her pussy.
“Maddox,” she gasped out.
Boldly reaching down to cup her, he ran one finger along the seam of her wet heat. “This is mine. Never hide yourself from me. Do you understand?”
Mya’s heart thudded in her chest, and her blood roared in her ears as his eyes met hers, blazing with a hunger that made it hard for her to breath. She gulped before nodding. When his eyes narrowed, she found the strength to say, “I understand.”
He grunted with satisfaction. “Now, I’m going to taste you. To lick up all your sweet juice until you come just from having my mouth on you. Then I’m going to do it again, until you are so desperate to have me inside you that you beg me to come to you.”
She didn’t think it was a good idea to tell him she was ready to beg now. Keeping silent, she watched as he slid off the bed to stand in front of her. Her eyes widened as he removed his pants and she saw his huge, hard cock jutting out from between his thighs. The mushroomed head was large and red, and the thick shaft seemed to pulse with life every time he breathed.
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