When he finally released her lips, he placed several more sweet kisses around her mouth before drawing back.
She opened her eyes to watch his expression. God, he was gorgeous. At least, what she could see of him, which was mostly just his eyes. A deep blue that mesmerized. The tanned skin she could barely glimpse spoke of time spent in the sun. The wrinkles at the corners of his eyes let her know he was smiling without lowering her gaze.
Chapter 4
Maddie’s mind was spinning as he smiled broader and kissed her again. Her senses were overwhelmed. She leaned into him as he held her closer, her hands coming to his waist. His entire body was rock hard, and she wished she were bold enough to lower her palm to his cock to see if it was also stiff.
The man was wicked with his mouth and tongue, and her focus shifted to the way her clit throbbed against the lace of her thong—the thong Clara had insisted she should wear under the full skirt of her dress, stating that Maddie might as well feel as sexy down below as the corset made her feel up above. No one could possibly know what she was wearing under the dress of course, since the gold taffeta skirt was full and heavy and long.
Clara… That woman had known this would happen tonight. Damn her and her secrets. Or perhaps Maddie would end up thanking her best friend. The two of them had been closer than sisters since kindergarten. They had even gone to the same college and then started working for Jacoby Advertising when they graduated.
In all the years Maddie and Clara had known each other, Clara had never arranged anything this conniving. In addition, Maddie couldn’t begin to imagine when on earth she had met this man who obviously knew who she was and therefore had to also be familiar with Clara.
The Phantom’s tongue slid sensuously across hers over and over, driving her arousal higher by the second. She felt scandalous making out in a crowded bar, one she frequented often. She knew the owner, Mike, the bartender, Owen, and most of the staff. They were going to razz her mercilessly the next time she came in.
She didn’t care.
The Phantom moaned into her mouth as he released her lips again. “I’ve wanted to do that for a damn long time,” he murmured, his voice deep. “I’ve imagined how you would taste so many times. Even under the syrupy sweetness of that nasty drink you prefer, I can taste you.”
She leaned her head back a few inches to meet his deep blue gaze. “Are you going to tell me how you know me?”
He shook his head. “Nope. I’m enjoying this too much. Let’s keep the mystery a bit longer.”
“You know my friend, Clara, right?”
He nodded. “Indeed.”
“And that’s all I get? I’m kind of embarrassed that I can’t place you from anywhere.”
He wiggled his brows above the mask. “Don’t be. I’m not surprised.”
She slid her hands around to his chest. “So, you know me well enough to easily spot me in a crowd, and I can’t place you. Interesting. Unnerving.”
He smiled. “And so damn much fun.”
“Can’t say I’ve ever reacted this strongly to a man whose name I don’t know and face I have not seen,” she half joked.
His hands slid down to her ass and cupped it. “So, you’re affected by me.”
She chuckled. “That’s an understatement. I’ve been affected by you from the moment I saw you hours ago.” She flushed. She wasn’t usually this forward. At least not lately. She’d crashed and burned too many times to maintain her confidence.
She wanted more from this Phantom, however. If this mystery man suggested they go back to his place to have sex, she would say yes in a heartbeat. Somehow she didn’t think a night of sex with this particular man would be remotely boring.
Part of her got the feeling this man had wanted her for a long time. She just couldn’t remember how or when or where she’d met him. It was maddening.
His hands slid up and down her back again. “I like that you’re reacting to me the same way you did last time I saw you, even though you don’t realize I’m the same person.” He smirked, his eyes dancing cockily.
She widened her gaze. “Seriously? That’s just crazy. How would you know how my body responded to you previously?” She searched his face, intrigued. Confused. Nervous. Aroused. So many feelings all warring with one another.
Maddie could only remember one time in her life when she’d responded to a man like this before, and it certainly wasn’t this man. Besides, she knew that previous occurrence had gotten embellished in her mind over time, inflated into some romanticized dream.
“Mmm” was his only response. Then he kissed her again, forcing her pulse rate to increase. Every time he set his lips on hers, she melted further under his spell.
“Were you chewing gum?” she asked against his mouth. “You taste like spearmint, my favorite flavor.”
“I know,” he murmured in return against her mouth. “And considering you only drink amaretto sours, I assumed you wouldn’t enjoy my beer breath.”
She jerked back, eyes wider. “You know spearmint is my favorite flavor?”
He nodded, wiggling his brows again.
She shuddered. “’Kay, this just keeps getting weirder.”
All he did was chuckle.
“When are you going to take off the mask?” She reached up to cup his neck, admiring the warmth and strength.
“Not yet.”
“Will it be before or after we have sex?” she asked, pulling every damn ounce of courage she had to make that declaration, believing that this time, with this man, really could be different.
He groaned, his fingers gripping her back. “Jesus, Maddie, you’re killing me.”
Her heart pounded. She licked her lips again, deciding to get even bolder. “Never mind. I don’t need to see your face before you slide into me. I’m so aroused already, it will just add to the mystery. Please tell me you live nearby.” She wanted to get out of here now. She wanted things she’d never wanted before. Not like this anyway.
No. That wasn’t true. She’d wanted a man like this once, a long time ago in a distant past that had become nothing but a figment of her imagination.
He swallowed, his eyes searching hers. “I have a hotel room.” His voice was gravelly.
She lifted a brow. “Did you plan to take me there even before we met tonight?” This entire situation was growing more mysterious by the second.
“I had hoped. Does that bother you?”
She flattened her palms on his chest. “Oddly no. Though I’m questioning my sanity. I’ve kinda been on a man strike lately. For a while, every time I hooked up with someone, I ended up feeling hollow. It seemed pointless. So I’ve been on a dating break.”
“I heard.” He grinned. “I was hoping you’d make an exception for me.”
“Clara told you?”
“Yes.”
Insanity. “Clara has never mentioned you a single time. Or your existence. She has never once told me there was a man interested in me.”
He smiled broader. “I asked her not to.”
Maddie slid her hands to his biceps and squeezed. “She’s my best friend. We don’t keep secrets.” At least I didn’t think we did.
“She kept this one. For me. For us really. I insisted.”
Maddie stared at him. Stunned. So damn confused. There was no logical explanation for this. “So, have I met you before? Or is it that you’ve just seen me?”
“You’ve met me.”
“More than once?”
“Yes.”
She shook her head. “Do I have amnesia?”
He chuckled. “Nope.”
“Aren’t you the slightest bit mad that I have no memory of us meeting?”
“Nope.”
“Well, I am.” She glanced down at his body. “You’re built and sexy and huge. I don’t see how I could have forgotten you.” And yet, she still had nothing. Not even a spark of anything that told her who he might be.
“You haven’t forgotten me,” he mused, his lips quirking.
She blinked.
“Let’s get out of here,” he proposed, and then he set his lips on her forehead and kissed her softly. “I’m so totally enjoying this game that I don’t want it to end yet, but I do want to wrap my lips around your nipples and suck them into my mouth, and I doubt you want me to do that here in this bar.”
She sucked in a sharp breath. “Call me crazy, but I want that too.”
He leaned back, cupping her face. He met her gaze. “Hold on to the mystery a while longer. It’s making you flush. I love it. I promise I will reveal my identity before my cock slides into you.”
She swallowed, unable to do anything but nod.
Chapter 5
Maddie should have felt more nervous as her mystery man led her down the long hallway of the hotel in silence. He held her hand, fingers threaded together. He had also set a palm on her back any time he hadn’t been holding her hand.
He had kissed her palm several times in the Uber, and then he had brushed her hair aside and set his lips on her neck in the elevator. Gentle. Endearing. Sweet.
He only released her long enough to use his keycard to open the door to the hotel room. The room was dark as she slid under his arm to enter, the only light coming from the window because the blinds were wide open. They were on the twelfth floor, so the thin beams across the carpet came mostly from the moon.
Maddie jumped as the door shut with a resounding snick. She gasped a moment later when her mystery date stepped behind her, slid his arms around her waist, and set his lips on her ear. “I’m going to peel this dress off you and then worship your entire body with my lips. Do you have any problem with that?”
“No,” she whispered. Perhaps her ardor had settled slightly during the trip from Corked and Tapped to the hotel, but she was suddenly fully aroused again.
“You have no idea how long I’ve waited to have you alone like this.” His mouth moved down her neck to her bare shoulder. Before she could respond, he continued, “Your skin is so soft.” He spread his fingers across her belly, making her wish she wasn’t wearing the tight corset that kept him from being about to touch the undersides of her breasts.
“I’m at such a disadvantage here,” she murmured. “You seem to know everything about me.”
“Mmm. Not everything. Not yet at least. I don’t know how your pussy will taste against my tongue.”
She sucked in a breath. Jesus. Well, at least there was that. She would be far more mortified if he told her they had actually had sex before. How could she not remember something that intimate? Apparently, they hadn’t even been alone before.
She spun around in his arms to face him, tipping her head back to meet his gaze. He was even larger standing next to her than he’d seemed sitting on that bar stool. Broader. Sexier. “You speak like you’ve been interested in me a while. Why did you wait so long to approach?”
“You weren’t ready. I wasn’t available.” Vague words. He cupped her face and kissed her again, shutting her up. It was becoming a pattern. And it worked. She lost her train of thought every time he set his lips on hers.
He released her face and reached for his neck to unfasten the black cape, letting it slide to the floor. As he continued to nibble on her lips, she set her hands on his chest and began to slide each button of his white dress shirt through the holes. She wanted to feel his skin against her hands.
She also wondered if she might recognize him if she could see his chest. Even if he kept the intricate mask on for a while longer, maybe she would know him by his body? It was a stretch, and since he didn’t stop her from removing his shirt, she doubted he was concerned.
He slid his hands into her hair and kept her mouth occupied while she worked her way from one button to the next. God, she was horny. Her gold skirt felt so heavy. Her breasts felt like they were going to pop free of the corset any second. It was a wonder her nipples weren’t showing. The back of the corset was laced from the bottom to the top. It had been tight all evening. Clara had cinched it for her before they left her apartment. But now… It was suffocating her.
The Phantom broke free as she slid his shirt down his arms. He chuckled at her and then went to work on the cuffs. She had forgotten the cuffs. “If anyone is getting tangled up in clothes, it’s going to be you. Not me.”
Her breath hitched and her face heated at the idea of him tangling her up in anything.
His eyes danced as he met her gaze again, and as he set his hands on her waist, he commented, “Does the idea of having your wrists trapped make you hot?”
She swallowed, embarrassed to have been so obvious. It wasn’t as if she had ever considered bondage before. Her sexual experiences were strictly vanilla. “No. I—”
He cut her off with his mouth again. As he devoured her, he wrapped his fingers around her wrists and pulled them behind her body. Trapping both in one hand, he slid the other up her front to cup her breast.
She arched her chest, moaning into his mouth. A flood of arousal covered her thong.
He smiled against her lips and parted from her again. “Jesus, Maddie. You have me so hard. Every little whimper. Every little sound.” He gave a slight tug to her wrists.
She sucked in a breath.
He squeezed her breast. “I’m going to come in my pants. You’re so damn responsive.”
“I think it’s just you,” she whispered. “I mean, I have never been like this with a guy before.”
His eyes slid closed for a moment, and he set his forehead against hers. “You have no idea how that makes me feel.”
She swallowed. If he had any idea how she currently felt… She’d never been this aroused. Not even alone with her vibrator. No one-night stand or boyfriend or encounter had ever gotten her this hot. That’s why she’d stopped chasing that dream so hard. Sex frequently left her feeling like something was missing. Empty. Sometimes even regretful.
He stroked his thumb over her nipple through the lace of the corset, and she gasped. While he eased the rose out from between her breasts, he spoke again in a gravelly voice. “I want to strip this dress off you, tie you to the bed, and run my tongue over every inch of your body. Do you have a problem with that?”
She hesitated. She should object. She didn’t know this man. Tie me to the bed?
His hand slid up to her throat. “Your heart is racing.”
“I’ve never been tied up.”
His smile widened. “But you like the idea.”
“I think so.” Judging by my throbbing clit.
“Trust me. You’re going to come so many times, you won’t remember your name.”
She licked her lips. She wasn’t going to argue with that plan. Even if this night did fizzle out and turn into another one-night stand, at least she will have thrown caution to the wind and given it her all. This guy was different from the beginning. Or maybe she was just more attracted to him than she had been to anyone in recent history. Either way, she was all in for as long as it lasted.
“Challenge accepted.” She smiled at him. “And assuming I do, come, that is, what name should I scream?”
He laughed. “Call me anything you want. I’m not going to tell you who I am until I’ve made sure you’re mine.”
She flinched.
He smirked. “Don’t worry. I have it on good authority you won’t be disappointed.”
“Clara…?”
“Yes. Clara.”
“How the hell do I have no idea who you are? It’s freaking me out.”
He wiggled his brows. “I wasn’t sure how long I could keep my identity from you.”
“Did we meet in a bar or something? Was I drunk?”
He shook his head. “Nope.”
She searched his eyes. Nothing. She did not know this man. And yet…
He released her wrists and spun her around. After draping her hair over her shoulder, he untied the leather knot at the top of her corset. As soon as it was released, the entire thing fell open. Instinct made her reach up with both hands to hold it in pla
ce, covering her chest.
Her mystery lover set his lips on her shoulder and kissed a path to her ear. “Let it go, Maddie. Let it fall to the floor. Let me see you.”
She paused a moment and then thought fuck it. She deserved to be devoured.
As she released the front of the bodice, the entire gown fell to the floor, leaving her in nothing but the white lace thong.
The Phantom set his hands on her hips and then smoothed them up her body to cup her breasts from behind. He moaned against her as he weighed them.
For about a second, she worried about the bait and switch. After all, the corset had made her look far more endowed than she was. But he didn’t react, and apparently he’d seen her before without the corset, so she let it go and blew out a breath.
“So fucking perfect,” he murmured. “Every inch of you.”
She whimpered.
He guided her to the bed and then released her breasts to turn her around so he could lift her by her hips and set her on the mattress.
She stared at him in the dim light. He was magnificent. Several tattoos covered his chest and biceps. She wasn’t surprised. They suited him. She couldn’t tell what they were, but if she were lucky, she might get to explore them later. Maybe they would give her a clue about his identity if she could see them better. Had she ever seen his naked chest before?
With the black pants hugging his cock and the silver mask that covered the top half of his face, he was enticing. Godlike. “That mask is so unique, but the Phantom’s mask covered one side of his face. Not the top half. Did you know that?” she teased.
He smirked. “I’m well aware. It was intentional. Though I hadn’t imagined I would get away with it so thoroughly.”
“You realize I feel rather stupid, right?” She scooted back.
“Don’t. It’s not your fault. I swear.” His expression was so earnest, it calmed her.
Chapter 6
Maddie (Corked and Tapped Book 8) Page 2