by Claire Adams
Nick contemplated my words. “Just don’t expect too much from her.”
“I won’t; I’ll take it as it comes.” I threw my empty bottle in the recycling bin. I still had another hour before Everly arrived, so I took a seat beside Abby and watched awful children’s videos with her until it was time to leave.
“Is Everly at the house?” Abby asked as I said goodbye to Nick.
“She will be soon. I’ll save you some dinner.” I kissed her cheek, and she hugged me. I knew one day I was going to have to explain this to Abby, but surely when she was older, she’d understand.
I returned home and did a thorough check on the kitchen and dining room. Everything was immaculate as always, and I found myself killing time by checking the silverware.
A knock on the door startled me, and I dropped two forks onto the ground.
“Calm down,” I told myself and placed them in the sink to be washed later. Why was I so nervous?
I brushed my hands off on my pair of comfortable jeans and rushed toward the door as she knocked. Each of my heartbeats was faster than the previous. This woman was going to be the death of me one day. Sweet, slow death.
“I’m early, I know,” Everly said, and she pushed past me into my house. She had two arms full of grocery bags, and I raised my eyebrows. “I couldn’t remember if you had anything I needed, so I just decided to buy everything. Don’t worry; you’re getting billed for it.”
“Good to know.” I followed her into the kitchen. “What’s on the menu for tonight?”
“I thought we’d go with veal with mushroom lasagna and sauce perigord.” She began setting the ingredients on the counter. My eyebrows raised.
“We’re getting a little fancy tonight,” I said and glanced through everything. She picked only the highest quality ingredients, and in my head, I calculated at least 200 dollars’ worth of food for what might create four servings. Nick was going to eat very well later.
“I’ve shown you the general basics,” she said. “Plus, I’ve had a veal craving all weekend. It’s really not that difficult.” She knotted an apron around her blouse and pants and ran a few fingers through her hair before tying it up. She seemed happier, more relaxed, as she ran around my kitchen. It dawned on me that she moved as if she’s always lived in this kitchen.
I stifled a laughed. Cooking veal was certainly not an easy skill, but Everly seemed fairly confident in her ability.
“How has your day been?” I asked.
She walked to the sink and scrubbed her hands. “Long,” she said, but there wasn’t a single frown on her face. “Belle got a little sick at kindergarten, and Lacey had me pick her up and stay with her until she got home from work.” She pulled a towel from the drawer, and after she had dried her hands, she tossed it over her shoulder.
“Is she feeling better?”
“Well,” Everly took out some seasonings for the veal and started prepping the lasagna. “Between us, Maddox, I suspect a certain boy that Belle has a crush on said something not so kind to her, and she faked being sick to go home.”
I laughed. “She’s only five, isn’t she? She’s already crushing on boys?” I wasn’t ready for that with Abby. The way she tended to get carried away with things, I couldn’t image how it would be when those things were boy-related. I cringed.
“It’s crazy, isn’t it? When I was her age I was playing with trading cards and telling everyone I was part cat,” she said.
“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” I muttered. She grinned, and set everything up on the counter.
“All kids are weird. Just wait, a few years and yours might end being part horse.” She focused our attention on the food and began telling me what everything was for.
I listened closely as she went through the process, seasoning this, washing that, and chopping and dicing vegetables. I pretended that I had no idea how to hold a knife, and she placed her hand on top of mine and showed me.
Her warmth electrified me, and I leaned into her. She hesitated, her breath hitching as she pulled her hand from mine.
“I think I got it,” I said and expertly sliced a tomato as she turned to regain her composure. Her blush was contagious, it seemed.
The rest of cooking dinner was similar, and it seemed our bodies were never more than a foot apart. Everly was just as desperate for intimacy as I was, or at least that’s what I told myself. By the time our plates were ready to be brought into the dining room, I was flushed with desire and having trouble focusing.
“Where’s Abby?” she asked as we took our seats.
“At my friend Nick’s,” I said. “He offers a pretty competitive rate for daycare. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to learn anything if she was here. She’d be trying to do all the cooking herself, and she’d most likely outshine me as a student. She loves cooking.”
Everly laughed. “Belle went through the same thing.”
We took our bites at the same time and sighed in pleasure. It was delicious.
“This might be the best yet,” I said.
“Think you could recreate it yourself?” she asked, her teasing tone a clear joke. I laughed, fighting the temptation to tell her that I’ve created dishes similar to this hundreds of times.
“Maybe a few more lessons,” I said. “So my mother has just not stopped asking about you. Did you really have to be so amazing at dinner and make her fall in love with you?”
“Was I supposed to be an awful person and make her hate me?” she asked. “Because I could have done that. Easily.” Her soft laughter was refreshing.
“I can’t imagine anyone hating you,” I said. She bit the inside of her cheek and stuffed a bite of lasagna in her mouth.
“Thanks, I guess?”
We finished the rest of our meal with pleasant small talk. I picked up her plate along with mine, and she followed me into the kitchen.
“So, I’ve been meaning to ask, do you just hide all signs of Abby in the house?” Everly glanced around the kitchen. “You don’t even have chocolate milk.”
“Abby’s been pretty spoiled when it comes to food,” I admitted. “She likes coconut milk mixed with melted semisweet chocolate, which we keep at Nick’s. As for the rest of the house, well, I have the housekeeper to thank for that.”
“Could you show me around?” Everly asked. “Like, upstairs? I just want to see how the spoiled daughter of a billionaire lives her life.”
I smiled and offered her my hand. “I can do that.”
I pulled her across the living room toward the grand staircase.
“How many rooms total do you have?” she asked.
“Ten or so.”
“And one kid’s room?”
“There’s only one kid here,” I said. We walked into another living area just above the stairs, where two desks and a chair hugged the wall and faced a giant television.
“Oh my God,” Everly whispered. “You have two living rooms.”
“Don’t try and keep count,” I joked.
I showed her Abby’s room, which had been decorated for a little princess.
“My mother did all the decorations,” I said as Everly brushed her fingers against a glittery, pink wall. A blue bed with a sheer, pink canopy above it was pushed into a corner alcove, on a two-step platform. The walls were lined with real diamond statues, and a giant unicorn stuffed animal lay in the middle of the room.
“I could have guessed,” She muttered, turning in a circle to take it all in.
The next stop was my room, and I stayed near the door as she spent her time browsing my things. The master bedroom was a series of three connected rooms, the first a sitting area, the second a bathroom suite with a closet the size of my kitchen, and the last a bedroom with a king-sized bed.
“Three living rooms.” She sprawled across a couch in front of a fireplace.
“Three that you’ve seen,” I said. She grinned, and I showed her the bathroom next, receiving an expected gasp as she walked inside the closet. I kept my suits neat and
organized, with the back wall reserved for the plethora of shoes meant for several different occasions.
“This is bigger than my apartment.” She did another spin when we entered the bedroom. She glanced inside a corner door, where my office waited.
“Your apartment isn’t that small.” I offered the words to be polite, and she shot me a glare. I leaned against the door leading to the bathroom, waiting for this tour to end.
“Wait,” Everly said as her head popped into my office. It was fairly small, and from what I remembered, only had a single desk and a shelf of pictures. “Is this you?”
I groaned. I didn’t exactly have the best time during puberty. “No,” I tried, but she had already disappeared into the room. I followed her, shutting the door behind me to keep her from escaping, and raced her to the very unflattering picture of me as a child.
“You can’t hide this!” she yelled as she held it up. “Oh, Maddox. How unfortunate.”
“Give me that,” I ordered and tried grabbing it from her. I was behind her, her small frame between my arms, when she turned and fell into me. My breath hitched, the warmth of her skin pressed so tightly against mine doing unkind things to me.
She dropped the picture as my hand slid to her waist, pressing into her as I’ve been wanted to do since I first saw her. My other hand slid up her back, and her mouth parted slightly as she took a deep breath.
“Maddox,” she whispered, and the only thing I wanted in that one moment was to taste my name on her lips.
Chapter Twenty
Everly
He kissed me, and I thought I was going to melt into a puddle at his feet. His hands roamed my body as if they were starving for me, and I kept a tight grip on his suit as I kissed back. Our tongues met, greedy and hungry, and I sprawled my hands across the thick muscles of his arms. Fingers swept through my hair, pulling at the nape and sending shivers down my spine. I wanted to drink all of this in, soak in the desire that had been plaguing me since I’ve met him, and let him bathe me in his own passion.
His legs started to push me until my ass hit his desk, and without breaking contact, he bent down and lifted me in the air. I sat on the desk and pulled at his tie, forcing it off.
“Shit, Everly,” he said, his voice husky and low. There was such a raw desire in it that it made my thighs squirm, leaving my panties damp. His waist fit in between my legs as he touched me everywhere.
I needed him to touch me everywhere.
My legs hooked around his hips, and he brought a hand on my thigh. I looked down. We both were still clothed, and it seemed as if he had the same thought at the same time.
“Come here.” His voice was but a whisper in my ear, low and raspy as he led me back into his room. I closed the door to his office behind me and watched as he slipped his suit off, and unbuckled his belt.
“Let me do that,” I offered, my hands getting busy to finish it. He unbuttoned my blouse, and his fingers skimmed my skin as he slid it off. His lips pressed against my collarbone, lowering until they were close to my breast. Fingers slid in between my pants and skin, and they pushed them down with such an urgency that my breath hitched.
“That took longer than I thought,” I said as I stood before him in a bra and panties. He chuckled and pushed me onto his bed. His hands were trembling ever so slightly, and there was something in his expression that came across as hesitation. But it was gone the moment I pulled at his pants, and soon we both were only in our undergarments, nearly naked and hot and desperate for one another.
I lay back on the bed and arched my back as he kneeled, pressing light kisses on my stomach and working his way lower.
“Maddox,” I breathed out as his lips came close to my thighs. A tongue slid just beneath my panties, and I gasped. I hadn’t been touched there in so long, and fire ripped through me like a boiling wave as my core ached with anticipation.
At first, he teased me. Running his tongue on the edge of my panties, flicking at the very top of me. Then he grew bolder, pressing his mouth against my entrance and running his tongue against it ever so slightly. I squirmed, my hips gyrating against the bed as his tongue repeated its motions.
I slipped the straps of my bra off as one of his hands crawled up my skin and started tracing circles just below my breasts. I unclasped it with one hand and removed it. I caught his eyes as he glanced at my exposed top, and I recognized the hunger within them. His hand cupped my breast, running a finger in a circle around my nipple.
I moaned, needing more.
His other hand pushed my panties aside, and he started licking me. One fluid motion at first. My hands gripped the bed sheets as I trembled beneath his mouth.
His licks became short flicks against my center, and then gradually returned flat against me. He went between the two as my breathing became more rough, more shallow and hungry with need.
I felt the very edge of release as his mouth continued moving between my legs. One hand squeezed my breast while the other held onto my hip, and I warned him that I was close.
His tongue worked harder until I was screaming, crying from the sudden release as my orgasm washed over me in waves.
He licked me one more time before removing my panties and climbing onto the bed to meet me.
“Do you want to taste yourself?” he asked. “It’s amazing.”
I pulled him into a kiss, tasting the sweet mixture of my own juices on his tongue. He pulled away after a moment and admired his view of my naked body.
“You’re beautiful,” he said and lowered his mouth to my breast. I was still covered in a wave of pleasure, but the sensation of his mouth on my nipple toppled me over.
“Take these off.” I grabbed the top of his briefs and tugged. I could see his member very well, a solid bulge against his waist, but I needed more of it.
“Yes, ma’am.” He joked and shrugged them down. I wrapped a hand around it and he flinched, curling into my body. It was thick and long, and seemed perfect for my hand.
“Everly,” He moaned into my ear. “Do you want this?”
His hand guided his package toward my entrance, and I spread my legs. I had protection; I was wet, he was thick. We were ready. I told him as much. “Please,” I begged.
His hips moved against mine. His hard body pressed against soft skin that was covered in a flush from his warmth. He breathed hard next to my ear until his manhood was deep in my juices, and deep inside of me.
I cried, tilting my head back and clawing his skin as he pushed himself further into me. Once he was as deep as he could go, he stopped, and we both enjoyed a moment of intimacy.
“My world stopped the moment I saw you,” he said, breathless. His gray eyes were staring down at me, and his five o’ clock shadow was a light spread across a sharp jaw. “And I knew,” he continued. “That very moment I knew that I just needed to be inside of you. To know you.”
He started moving once again, slowly, as he told me his thoughts on our first meeting.
The words grew dirty, his thoughts turned to the things he wanted to do to me late at night, and this thrusts grew strong and quick. One hand grabbed my ass and held it tightly as he buried himself deep inside of me, and I felt the moment he came.
And I felt each burst afterwards, as he twitched inside of me.
We spent a moment just breathing when he finished, my head on his shoulder.
Lacey was going to kill me, I realized. I had just gone against everything she said. I was in way over my head, and absolutely crazy about a man who had lied to me, and had a child. I had just let him come inside me. I let him taste me, and then I tasted myself. I could have groaned, but I didn’t want him to think I regretted anything. In his arms, on his bed, on top of the wet spots where he had just made love to me, I felt safe.
His doorbell rang, and I froze.
“Shit.” He muttered and looked at me. “Let’s just stay here and ignore them.”
I curled into his neck. “You’re not going to hear me complain,” I said.
Another doorbell.
His muscles tensed, realizing it must have been important, and he stood. I realized we were both naked, and we hurried to slip on our clothes. I followed him down the stairs while trying to fix my hair in a pathetic attempt, and nearly bumped into him as he flung open the front door.
“Maddox.” A man stood on the other side with blond hair and blue eyes, and in his arms was the small body of a 3-year-old girl, her face red with fever and nose covered in snot. “She’s sick, has a fever, and threw up twice now.”
“Shit, come in, Nick.” Maddox ushered them inside. I stood in the corner and watched as Maddox took Abby in his arms. “What’s her temperature?”
“Over 101, last time I checked,” the man, Nick, said. He glanced at me, and I hugged my body self-consciously. The reality of what we had just done hit me without the security of Maddox’s arms. The stupidity of such an act. I couldn’t believe I’d had sex with him, especially when his daughter was one house over puking.
“Everly, this is Nick,” Maddox said, and I grabbed my purse from the counter.
“Nice to meet you. I’ll see you tomorrow, Maddox,” I said, as I rushed out the door.
His hands against my body, lips pressed on mine, inside of me. I forced the thoughts away and pressed my hand over my mouth as I slid behind my steering wheel and dropped my head against the headrest. What had I done?
Chapter Twenty-One
Maddox
The next morning, after a night of a home doctor visit and staying up with Abby as she turned and twisted each and every way in bed before waking up to puke on the floor, I lay in bed and spent a moment to myself. I glanced at the clock. Nearly 8 in the morning, which meant I had finally put Abby to rest in her bed and fell asleep myself maybe three hours prior. My bed felt bigger for some reason, and as my hands ran down the clean sheets, I couldn’t help but think about Everly. She had run off so quickly after Nick and Abby showed up, and I hadn’t had time to text or call her once. She had gotten home and sent me a quick text wishing Abby well, and then our communication had gone dark.