“How could you have missed six months’ worth of e-mails offering you a job?” she said with a snicker.
Allen poked her shoulder, scowling playfully. “Hush, you. I just did, okay? I mean, who the hell expects a job offer to be contained in an e-mail with the subject line, ‘Call Us Today!’” He rolled his eyes. “I’ve teased Beatrice about that endlessly. She should have known I would think it was spam.”
“Who is Beatrice?”
Allen grinned. “Sidri’s personal assistant. She’s this tiny old woman, even tinier than you, but she’s a force to be reckoned with. Sid told me that the day Beatrice found my resume, that little old lady hauled ass across the office and dragged her and Tatum bodily out of a shareholders’ meeting.” He paused, glanced around the opulent kitchen—though Amber noted the way he carefully avoided looking at the pantry, as if some memory were attached to that door. Interesting.
“Beatrice’s son is an architect,” he said with a small smile. “He’s the one who designed this house, as a matter of fact. And he’s the one who is renovating the townhomes that we just bought. His name is Maddox.”
“Maddox? That’s an interesting name.”
Allen laughed. “I think Beatrice had a crush on Mel Gibson growing up. Her favorite movie is Mad Max.”
Amber laughed heartily. “Oh, that’s priceless. Mad Max to Maddox?”
He grinned. “Yep. Don’t tell him I told you, though. He absolutely hates that movie—and Mel Gibson.” Then he bit his lip, thinking about something. His brown eyes were serious as he said, “Amber…Maddox is a Dom. But, you won’t need to worry about him. Maddox is gay. He’ll never do anything to make you uncomfortable, all right?”
Blushing furiously, Amber nodded and changed the subject. When she was stuffed to the gills, Allen led her to a downstairs bedroom. “Bathroom is through there,” he said, indicating a door on the other side of the room. “I doubt there’re any clothes here that will fit you. You’re a bit smaller than Sidri. But we’ll pick up some stuff for you tomorrow, if that’s okay.”
She shook her head, gripping his hand in thanks. “That’s all right. I did get most of my clothes before I took off. I’ll be fine.” Her throat closed, and she looked up at him with watery blue eyes. “I can’t thank you enough, Allen. I can’t believe you’re here, alive, and that you’re so willing to help me. I had no right to ask any of this from you. I just…”
“Hush.” He palmed her cheek, kissed her forehead affectionately. “Don’t worry about it. About anything. I’m glad you came. Glad I finally have my baby sister back in my life. Once we get your father and that bastard, Wes, out of the picture, we’ll be able to get back to the business of living. Okay?”
She nodded, overcome with emotion, and threw her arms around his neck for a fierce hug. Wiping her cheeks, she stepped away from him, gave him a smile, and watched as he closed the door and left her alone. Glancing around the room, she seated herself on the bed with a deep sigh.
The wheels were in motion. Nothing she could do now but go along for the ride. Hopefully, she’d made the right decision, coming here. She would hate herself forever if her presence in Allen’s life brought any of his demons back from his past. She couldn’t stand the thought of hurting him, of being the impetus behind any more pain being thrust upon him. Making a silent vow to leave before allowing anything like that to happen, she went to the bathroom to get ready for bed.
It would be all right. Had to be all right. Sidri and Tatum were powerful people, and her brother still loved her, even after all these years. The three of them would be able to help her get out of this mess, help her get back on her feet. Maybe someday, she’d be able to return the favor.
That thought in mind, she curled up and went to sleep, wondering what tomorrow would hold.
Chapter 3
Maddox Henley bit and licked his way down his submissive’s quivering chest, thinking, You’re mine, Riley. At last, you’re mine.
Humming his approval of the hot, heavy muscle beneath his lips, Maddox kissed his way across Riley’s hard chest, fucking loving the way the man shivered and groaned underneath him. He ran his tongue around one tight brown nipple, nipped it, earning a gasp and a curse. Reaching up, he ran both hands down Riley’s arms from wrists to armpits, continuing down across his pecs to circle his six-pack abs. Opening his mouth as wide as it would go, he took a bite out of that silky soft skin.
“Fuck, Maddox,” Riley groaned, back arching off the bed. “Jesus Christ.”
Maddox chuckled, continued exploring Riley’s hard stomach with teeth and tongue, dipping into his bellybutton just to taste the softness of the skin he found there. Riley’s treasure trail pointed toward his erection enticingly, inspiring Maddox to run his tongue down the length of that silky line of fur. He avoided the straining evidence of his lover’s arousal, making his way down the man’s side to lick and suck his way around his hip, down one hard, tense thigh. He worked his way up the inside of his leg as the muscle quivered beneath his lips, then reared back and took Riley’s pulsing shaft down his throat in one long gulp.
Riley shouted, hips lifting clean off the bed as the handcuffs clanged against the metal headboard. Maddox hummed around the cock in his mouth, reveling in his lover’s inability to escape the pleasure being offered him. Riley was his to fuck, his to Dominate, for as long as those cuffs kept him trapped.
And if he had his way, Riley would never find a way to escape.
Maddox bobbed his head, taking that thick, heavy shaft down his throat repeatedly, sucking for all he was worth. Riley’s pre-cum coated his tongue, clear evidence the man loved being sucked off. His pulsing cock was silky smooth, so long and so fat it filled his mouth deliciously. Growling, Maddox let the vibration of his voice intensify his lover’s pleasure as he tried his best to suck the man’s soul right out of his body.
When Riley was panting, writhing uncontrollably, he pulled off with a satisfied pop. Murmuring his appreciation, Maddox reached for a condom, wrapping his achingly hard dick in latex before rising to his knees and kneeling between his lover’s splayed thighs. With a hand beneath each knee, he pushed the man wide open, tucked his erection against Riley’s quivering hole, and began working his way inside.
God, he’d been waiting for this. Fantasizing about this. Riley was six feet of solid male muscle, a former soldier, without an ounce of fat on his body. Maddox had lusted after him since the day they met, almost a year ago now. And now, finally, after a solid year of wanting, he was claiming Riley for his own.
Scorching heat surrounded his cock as he finally broke through Riley’s initial resistance. Moaning, Maddox bit back a curse as Riley’s muscles tried to squeeze the life out of his dick. He kept at it, pushing his way inside that achingly hot tunnel with tiny, insistent thrusts, forcing the man to accept his penetration. His possession. He planned to own Riley’s ass, make him come like a goddamned bottle rocket, so the man would never consider going back to women, ever again.
Panting now, Maddox finally managed to push past that last ring of resistance, finally toppled all of Riley’s inner barriers. With a moan of pure ecstasy, he sank all the way inside, going balls-deep in an instant. The silky, smooth walls of Riley’s chute surrounded him with a furnace’s worth of heat, his whole body quivering as he fought to accept Maddox’s possession. With a hard shudder, he released the man’s thighs and leaned forward, holding himself up in a push-up stance as he studied Riley’s lust-filled eyes.
“You’re mine,” Maddox grated, gritting his teeth as Riley shuddered beneath him.
“Y-yours,” Riley panted, eyes wild as he glanced down to where their bodies were joined. He licked his lips, tossing his head back as he groaned again. “For fuck’s sake, Maddox. Fuck me. Fuck me. Please.”
No way could Maddox resist a plea like that. Taking a deep breath, holding back the need to come by sheer force of willpower, he started rocking his hips, taking Riley’s sweet ass with long, hard thrusts. Riley convulsed, his legs wrap
ping around Maddox’s waist as his fingers wrapped around the chain keeping the handcuffs secured to the bed. With his arms stretched over his head, pinned in place, Maddox had unencumbered access to his body. He took advantage even as his hips began to kick harder, faster. He ran both hands up and down Riley’s hard chest, loving the way the man shuddered and cried out every time Maddox sank into him.
Something buzzed somewhere in the room. Maddox ignored it, totally focused on Riley’s gorgeous face. The man was sexy as fuck, what with that manly square jaw, those wide-set blue eyes. He had a five-o’clock shadow even early in the morning, making Maddox want to run his tongue through that soft stubble. Short brown hair, a wide forehead, and slightly clefted chin completed the man’s face perfectly. And that body. God, that body…
With a moan, Maddox started pounding into the man beneath him, reveling in the way Riley’s hot ass strangled his dick with every inward thrust. With copious amounts of lube smoothing the way, he could fuck his lover as hard and as fast as he wanted, snapping his hips back and forth repeatedly. The man was so hot inside, so achingly smooth, Maddox wanted to bury himself balls-deep and stay there forever.
Something buzzed again. Maddox snarled, bracing his hands on either side of Riley’s chest as he leaned forward, intensifying the angle of penetration. Riley shouted, having lost complete control of his vocal chords, moaning and gasping deliciously every time Maddox’ pelvic bone smacked against his balls. The man’s cock was rock-hard against his abdomen, leaking pre-cum like a sieve, making Maddox wish he could bend in half and lick it off while still fucking him as hard as he could. Riley was getting close, so close, and so was he, so close to blowing his wad deep inside that steaming hot ass…
Buzz. Buzz, buzz, buzz.
Cursing, Maddox looked around, searching for the noise. “What the fuck is that?”
“What…is what?” Riley panted, his lust-clouded eyes regarding Maddox questioningly.
Maddox gritted his teeth, pushed himself up…
And immediately woke.
With a tortured groan, Maddox squeezed his eyes shut. He was lying on his back, legs tangled in the thin sheet, his cock achingly hard and ready to burst. Darkness surrounded him, telling him it was still the deep of the night, which meant he’d slipped into the dream the moment he closed his eyes. Cursing, he wrapped a fist around his throbbing cock, reached for his phone—which was still buzzing incessantly—and put it to his ear.
“Since you just woke me from the best wet dream I’ve ever had,” he snarled into the receiver, “you better be a smoking hot guy ready to come over here and finish what I started.”
A deep, feminine chuckle echoed over the line. “Sorry, honey,” Sidri purred. “I don’t have the right equipment for you at the moment. But maybe, if you’re very, very good, we can talk about sending Tatum over there to suck you off one of these nights.”
“Jesus fuck,” he grated, picturing the towering blond man on his knees in front of Maddox, sucking for all he was worth. He’d played with Sid and Tatum before, knew just how amazing the man’s mouth could be. He gathered the pre-cum dripping from his dick with his thumb, started stroking himself. “Don’t tease me like that, Sid.”
Her feminine purr sent chills down his spine. “Why not? Just because Allen is our main focus at the moment doesn’t mean we won’t be open for play time in the future. Unless, of course, you’d rather have Riley chained to your bed.”
Cursing, Maddox sped up his hand job. “Fuck. How did you know I was dreaming about him?”
“Who else do you dream about, Maddie?” she said in that seductive whisper that could shoot lightning straight to his balls. “You need to hog-tie that man, drag him home, and fuck him senseless. Before both of you explode.”
“He’s not into guys,” Maddox growled, biting back another curse as his balls started drawing up.
“You don’t think so?” He could picture her holding the phone close to her ear, licking her lips as lust glazed her gorgeous green eyes. “I’ve seen the way he looks at you, Maddox. And I think we both know who’s better at reading people, don’t we?”
Maddox grunted, toes digging into the bed as he pulled faster, harder.
“Want me to guess what you were dreaming?” she purred huskily. “I bet I can. Riley, on his back, spread open wide beneath you. You, sinking your gorgeous cock balls-deep in that hot ass, riding him hard and fast. Riley, panting and moaning, loving how hard, how fast you’re fucking him. Did I wake you before the best part? Before Riley exploded all over both your stomachs? Before you released a river of cum deep inside him?”
Panting, muscles rigid, Maddox squeezed the head of his cock, took two more hard strokes, and threw back his head in a silent yell as cum boiled up out of his balls. Rope after rope of hot, sticky seed decorated his quivering stomach as he fought for air. Sidri could obviously tell he’d been jerking off, murmuring encouragement as he rode out the short, sharp orgasm. Making himself blow wasn’t nearly as satisfying as being buried inside a man’s hot ass as he did it, but for the moment, it was all he was going to get.
“If only Riley were there,” she said with a breathy chuckle. “Then he could bend over, use his tongue to lick you clean. No reason to be all sticky, when you have someone there to take care of it for you.”
“God, Sid. Tatum is right. You are sex incarnate.”
She laughed. “Damn straight. Better now? Or at least, not stuck with a hard-on and no one there to take care of it for you?”
He cursed again, trying to force air into his aching lungs. Shoulders heaving like a bellows, he used the sheet to wipe the cum from his belly before lying back and tossing an arm over his head. “Why are you calling me so late?” he asked finally. “Is everything okay? Tatum and Allen?”
“They’re fine. But, there is something I need your help with.”
He listened, growing more and more agitated as she outlined the predicament of Allen’s little sister, Amber. Maddox hadn’t known the man even had a sister, much less that she was in her early twenties. As Sidri described the girl’s situation, told him about how she’d been raped by the man she was being pressured to marry, and in her father’s house, no less…
“Fucking bastard,” he snarled quietly, viciously.
Sidri’s voice was grim. “You have no idea. That man is evil, pure and simple. We need to get Amber to a safe place, help her hide out for a few days while we press charges against that asshole her father wants her to marry. I offered her one of the townhouses, thinking it might not be a bad idea to have her surrounded by no-nonsense construction workers all day long. But they’ll be gone at night, so she’ll need protection. So, what do you say? You willing to play guard for a little while?”
“Of course,” he answered instantly, without the slightest hesitation. “No one is going to get to Amber. They’ll have to go through my dead body to harm her, I swear it.”
“That’s the Maddox I know and love,” she said, a grin in her voice. “I knew we could count on you.” She paused. “But…there is something else I need to tell you, before you see her in the flesh.”
“Uh, okay.” Sidri sounded uncomfortable, nervous, even. Sid was never nervous. “What’s up?”
She sighed deeply. “Amber is a sub, Maddox. A true sub, like Allen. And while I don’t know the details, I do know she is absolutely, totally, one hundred thousand percent—terrified of Doms.”
Maddox sat bolt upright, clutching the phone with both hands. “You’re shitting me.”
Her voice sounded tired, unhappy. “No, I’m afraid I’m not. She nearly had a panic attack, when she laid eyes on Tatum. And I won’t even go into detail about how she reacted to me.”
Maddox closed his eyes, chest aching. “Then you can’t bring her here,” he grated harshly. “You can’t, Sid. If she’s terrified of Tatum, of all people, what the hell do you think she’s going to do when she gets a load of me? You’ll be taking her out of the frying pan and into the fire. You can’t do that to h
er.” Or to me, he finished silently.
“We have no other choice at the moment,” Sidri said calmly. “Trust me, if there were any other place we could stash her where we knew she’d be safe, protected at all times, I would send her there. But we don’t, Maddox. All of our other properties are clearly in our names, and Robert Whitman is friends with some very powerful people. He can check all of them, without having to lift a finger himself. Amber won’t be safe anywhere that’s attached to us, not unless we surround the place with armed guards.”
“Then do that!” Maddox nearly shouted, rising to his feet to pace naked around his bedroom. “Fucking Christ, Sidri. Do you really think a girl like that is going to be happier here, with a guy like me, than she would surrounded by security guards? Think, for Christ’s sake.”
“I am thinking,” she said dangerously, her tone stopping him in his tracks instantly. “Don’t forget, Maddox, I can read you just as easily as I can read her. And believe me when I tell you this, you need this just as much as she does.”
“I can’t,” he whispered, squeezing the bridge of his nose. “Sid, I just can’t. You know…”
“I know you’ve been hiding from yourself for six years,” she cut him off, voice adamant. “I know you’ve been running from bad memories that have no bearing on the man you are today. You’ve lived in denial, Maddox, lived with half your soul left starving and bereft. Amber could be the one to change that for you. I know it. I feel it.”
Cursing like a sailor, Maddox collapsed back down on the bed. “Sidri…”
Angel Without Page 4
