by Hannah Ford
“Please,” I groaned. “Madden, please.”
He growled low in his throat and flicked his finger over my clit. Light exploded behind my eyes and I opened my mouth to scream, but nothing came out. Madden thrust inside me and lay his body over mine, holding me still when I wanted to thrash around the bed.
His hips jerked and every time he drove in, it sent my climax soaring higher. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t see. All I could do was feel. It was too much but he still wrung more from me. Just when I thought I had nothing left, he hooked his arms under my knees and spread me wide open, then dug his fingers into the bed next to my shoulder and lifted up.
His face was only inches from mine. No part of his body touched me now except for his cock. I could see it sliding in and out, glistening with my release. His lips pulled back and I saw his teeth were clenched. Low growls echoed in his chest and he picked up his speed.
I could feel myself building again and was helpless to stop it. This time I would surely split apart into a million pieces. Madden pounded into me now, rocking my body and the bed. I needed to touch him, to ground myself before I broke open.
I slid my hands behind his neck and pulled his face the rest of the way down. His lips crashed over mine, his tongue stroking boldly in the same rhythm as his cock.
There was no teasing now. I spiraled upwards again and when my climax hit, I screamed into his mouth. His hips moved at a punishing speed, driving me higher, until his body froze. This time I swallowed his shout as he pulsed inside of me.
It took minutes for the fissures of pleasure to stop. Every time I thought I was done, Madden would shift and tiny aftershocks raced through me. I’d tighten around him and he’d groan and rock his hips slowly, and it would happen again.
Finally, when I couldn’t feel my limbs anymore, Madden slid out and eased my legs back down to the bed.
The bed eased as he moved off of it.
He disappeared for a few minutes, then was back, pulling the covers down and lifting me into place. He slid in beside me and lay on his back, still breathing heavy.
I had no words and neither did he. I didn’t know if it was simply the languid feeling now seeping into my body that made this time different, or if it really was. Madden reached over and took my hand, threaded his fingers with mine. I wanted to ask him if he felt it too, but exhaustion crawled through my body and my eyelids grew heavy.
The last thing I remember before I fell asleep was Madden wrapping his arms around me and pulling me against his body. Feather-light kisses reigned over my forehead and I knew that I had never felt so safe and so protected in all my life.
Chapter 3
When I stumbled out of bed long after the sun had come up, Madden sat at the desk beside the picture window in the suite, working on his laptop. Instead of his usual suit, he had on dark grey silk bottoms and a black t-shirt.
From behind I could see his hair was disheveled and my fingers itched to run through it like I’d done last night. I tightened the tie on my robe and moved toward the table, already set with a silver coffeepot and a plate of pastries.
Mornings with Madden were unpredictable, as I’d learned this weekend. I had no idea which version of him would greet me today. Last night had felt different, more intimate, but it might have meant nothing but sex to him.
Everything from the night before seemed like it had been a dream, even the intrusion of Jacob and the fight between him and Madden.
But my throat was still sore and achy, so I knew it had been all too real.
I filled my cup and added some cream and sugar.
Just as I was picking out a pastry, arms came around me from behind. Madden pulled me back against his chest and ran his lips over the exposed skin on my neck. An immediate wash of goose bumps rushed over me and I moaned softly.
“Good morning,” he said between kisses. “Did you sleep well?”
I could hear the smile in his voice. He knew he’d exhausted me last night, since I’d slept so late.
“I think that was the deepest sleep of my life,” I grinned.
His dark chuckle turned my blood to warm honey. Don’t get used to this, a voice in my head warned, but I already knew that I very easily could. “Aren’t you working today?”
“A little. Here, I want you to see something.” He handed me his phone with a site already loaded.
Prince Charming saves his Princess.
There were several dark pictures of Madden cradling me to his chest as we left my motel room. So there had been a paparazzo taking pictures last night when Madden rescued me, just as I’d thought.
Further down the screen, there were more links to where the story had been shared. It seemed as if everyone was talking about it.
“You know what I think,” Madden said, pressing his lips against the side of my neck.
“That this is exactly the kind of story you’d hoped for?” I asked. “A story that the media would jump all over and forget…forget about anything else…” My voice faded as his hands touched my skin.
He pushed my robe off my shoulder then nipped at my bare skin. His silk covered erection pressed against my lower back. “I think we should give them what they want.” His hands followed the path of my hips momentarily and then he slid the robe off my arms. He cupped my breasts and flicked his thumbs over my nipples.
My knees went weak and heat built between my legs.
“What do who want?” I’d forgotten what we were talking about.
One hand slid down my stomach and pulled the tie free and the robe fell to the floor. I pressed my hands flat on the glass top of the table and arched back. He was intoxicating and addictive and I craved his touch, even after overindulging in it last night. Already I couldn't get enough of him.
“This. The fairy tale,” Madden said in a low, seductive voice. “They want to see a real life Cinderella, so let’s show them one. I’d like to take you to breakfast, show you off to everyone. Give them what they want.”
His fingers danced over my back, traced my spine before dipping lower. I widened my legs and he slid his hand between them.
I’d have promised him the moon right this second if he asked.
“After I give you what you need,” he murmured. “God, you’re always so ready for me,” he murmured before sliding two fingers deep inside me.
I clenched around his fingers and threw back my head. It should have felt cold, him working me like this with only a hand on my back and one between my legs, but when I tilted my head and met his gaze, all I saw was fire.
I waited for him to move his fingers faster, begged him to with soft moans, but he stopped instead. His fingers slid free and he took a step back. When I turned around, his eyes were almost black.
“Go stand in front of the window and put your hands on the glass,” he commanded. For one second I thought that we had devolved into the night he tied my hands, when he turned cold and methodical. When I met his stare, all doubt fled. His jaw was clenched tight and the muscle there pulsed. He stood rock still watching me, uneven breath lifting his chest. The ridges of his cock were outlined in the straining thin material of his lounge pants.
He vibrated with barely contained control, and that’s when I knew.
He wanted me as much as I wanted him—maybe more, if such a thing was possible. His nostrils flared and his body thrummed like a coiled wire full of electricity.
I walked to the expanse of windows and looked out. We were high enough and far away from any other building so that no one would get a show. No one except Madden.
I reached up as high as I could and laid my palms against the cool glass. Then I took two small steps outward and spread my legs enough so that he could get to the place where I craved his touch. I knew the inside of my thighs were slick, I could feel it.
His growl echoed in the room.
Then he was right behind me and somehow he’d taken off his bottoms in those few steps. He reached up and trailed his fingers over the back of my hand, down my ar
ms and then down my sides. I shivered at the rush of goose bumps.
“I can’t get enough of you,” he said, pressing his lips against my ear. “Those noises you make in the back of your throat when I do this…” he moved away from my ear, leaned down and ran his tongue along my spine, then nipped the skin right above my butt. “ Or when I do this…” he slid his hand up the inside of my thigh and brushed over the swollen folds between my legs; I moaned long and low and arched my ass higher, “drive me fucking insane.”
I let my head fall back, felt the tips of my hair brush my overly sensitive skin. “God,” I said between breaths. “I can’t take any more waiting.”
Madden surged upright and wrapped one arm around my waist, holding me securely against his body. He drove his fingers into me and I jerked, then moaned loudly. He was relentless, pounding them in and out, while I was helpless to do anything but feel the tension building like an inferno.
My head dropped back onto his shoulder and he pressed his cheek against mine. “Fall apart, Skylar. I’ve got you.” I don’t know if it was his words or what he was doing to my body, but it was all I needed. I crashed over the edge, clenching at his fingers while I burst apart inside.
“Madden.” His name ripped from my chest, rasping against the soreness in my throat. I gasped for air, sucking in quick breaths between the fissures of pleasure that would not stop. When they started to recede, I turned in his arms and dropped my hand between. He felt like velvet covered steel when I wrapped my fingers around him.
He gripped my shoulders and rocked his hips into my grip. He had taken care of me so well last night that I wanted to do something for him. Something that he had yet to ask for but that I could give him. I looked up and caught his gaze then sank down to my knees.
His eyes widened a fraction and a groan rumbled in his chest when I leaned forward and took him into my mouth. I slid my tongue over the hard ridges of his cock, moving him slowly in and out while getting used to the sheer size of him.
I felt his hands move to the back of my head and slide into my hair. He tightened his fingers gently and I stopped moving and allowed him to slide himself in and out of my mouth. Madden growled. I swirled my tongue in circles, flattening it just under the head of his cock. His legs shook and I ran my hands up the back of his thighs, until I could dig my nails into his ass.
“Fuck. Skylar. So good.” He increased his thrusts but let my hair go so that I could move freely. I looked up and saw that he had braced his hands on the window and his head hung down between his arms. His breathing was fast, labored and the muscles in his stomach jumped and tightened every time he moved his hips.
He grew harder and I could feel every vein and ridge throbbing along the length of him.
I concentrated on stroking that one spot each time he slid out. His legs shook and his breath came out in erratic bursts. When his body tensed, I dug my nails into his ass.
“Skylar,” he warned hoarsely.
I knew what he was saying and my answer was to take him in as deep as I possibly could and hold him there as he swelled and then pulsed in my mouth. His long, low groan echoed in the room and after a few seconds, he gave several more short thrusts. I wrapped my lips around him and drew out as much as I could before he dropped one arm and I felt his fingers stroking through my hair.
“That was…” he panted. “You didn’t have to do that.”
I slid his cock from my mouth and pressed a kiss to his hip. I looked up and met his gaze. The harsh lines around his face were softer now and the look in his eyes wasn’t anything I’d seen before. It sent a different kind of want through me.
“I wanted to do that. For you,” I told him, meaning it.
His eyes closed and he rested his head on his forearm.
“What am I going to do about you?” he said so low that I almost didn’t hear him.
But I did, and it made me wonder the same thing. What was he going to do next?
Chapter 4
“You look stunning,” Madden said, watching me from over the rim of his glass.
He hadn’t stopped looking at me since we sat down. A permanent blush had taken up residence on my face.
“The dress is beautiful,” I told him. It had been one of the ones that he bought me at the resort and I didn’t have a chance to wear it. It was pale yellow with lace covering the chest and two layers of the softest cotton made up the knee length skirt. I’d tied a light silk scarf around my neck to hide the bruises and had pulled my hair back in a loose, messy ponytail that hung over one shoulder.
I felt like a princess in a twisted fairy tale. One who had no idea what was going on between her and her “Prince Charming.”
“I think we put on a good show, don’t you?” he said.
The flash of cameras as we stepped out of the limo had taken me by surprise. Madden swooped in and wrapped his arm around my waist and had kept his body between me and them as we went inside.
Without the threat of Jacob looming over me, though, it wasn’t so bad being in the spotlight. In fact, spending time with Madden was turning out to be amazing. And tonight, he’d told me that we were going back to his house. I wasn’t sure if this was part of our “engagement” story that was still all over the papers or not, but it felt so incredibly real.
This was only temporary, I kept telling myself. But lately, I was beginning to wonder if something that felt this incredible was meant to be only temporary.
We were soon seated at an elegant table away from everything else.
I glanced at Madden from under my eyelashes. I knew this couldn’t be anything permanent. He was Madden Cross. I was...nobody.
“Where did you go?” he asked, taking my hand and running his thumb over the outside of it.
A gave him a smile. “Just trying to process everything. The last four days have been sort of surreal. I’m not really sure if I’m sitting here with you or if it’s all in my imagination.”
“Judging by the noises you were making last night and again this morning, I’d say this is very real.” Something burned behind his eyes, something that made my pulse leap with a tiny bit of hope. Was it possible that he felt more than just an obligation based on a fake engagement?
“So what’s good to eat?” I asked, forcing air back into my lungs.
Madden’s gaze dropped to where my dress dipped down, revealing the tops of my breasts. When he looked back up, the hunger in his eyes sucked all the air from the room.
“You,” he said.
Desire coiled in my stomach. Eating dinner was pretty overrated. I pulled my hand free and picked the napkin off my lap.
“But the lobster crepes with lightly fried new potatoes is pretty good.” A smile lifted the corner of his lip up and I blinked. Was he teasing me? Okay then.
“Sounds perfect.” The waiter came and Madden ordered our meal. When he was gone, I picked up my mimosa. Apparently drinking in the daytime was acceptable if you had the money to excuse it. Growing up when my mother did it, everyone called her a drunk.
“So, real estate. Is that something your family does?” I realized that I knew nothing about Madden, aside from the fact that he owned a resort and an impressive building downtown. If we were going to be fake engaged, I should probably know a few things about him just in case.
His demeanor changed in an instant. Tension gripped his shoulders and his movements were stiff. All signs of the playful man from a minute ago disappeared. “It’s not important.”
“But what if a reporter asks? I know nothing about you.” I set my glass down and folded my hands on my lap. “I told you things about my past that no one else knows. I thought that’s what people do when they’re together. They share things about themselves.” My brow creased.
The temperature had dropped twenty degrees it seemed.
“You don’t need to know about my real estate business or my family.” Madden stared through me and then away from me.
“Okay. But I guess I’m just confused. Why do you need th
is elaborate scheme to overshadow some cheating rumor? College was years ago. Surely it’s not important now? You’re the Madden Cross. The one and only.”
Maybe I was poking at him a little, trying to get beneath the veneer, trying to pry beneath the shiny immaculate surface that was Madden Cross.
But I didn’t want to infuriate him.
“Don’t try and play games,” he warned, and the coldness in his voice told me I’d gone too far.
I held up my hands. Fine, if he didn’t want to talk, I wasn’t going to push. “Sorry. I was just trying to get to know you a little better.”
“You don’t need to know me,” he said matter-of-factly. “All you need to remember is that I’m paying you good money to do a job. Forty-eight extra hours is what I asked you for. That’s all.”
I couldn’t believe he’d so quickly turned on me.
I wanted to ask him about his promises to protect me, to make sure that Jacob would never hurt me again. If this was just a job and I was nothing but his employee, why did he promise me those things? Why did he toy with me?
The waiter arrived with our food and I kept my gaze on the table. I clenched my hands into fists to stop the shaking. Everything I thought was happening between us was not. It had been the thinking of a very naive and very stupid woman.
I was nothing more than a high-class hooker as far as he was concerned, even now. Even after everything that had gone on between us.
The waiter slipped away silently and I sat without moving. Madden picked up his fork and took a bite of his eggs benedict as if nothing were wrong. After his third bite he finally noticed I wasn’t eating.
“I thought you were hungry.”
Red-hot anger burst apart inside me. More at myself for thinking such foolish thoughts, but at Madden too, who made it seem like her really cared about me.
“You’re paying me for my presence, not to eat. Tomorrow I want my money first thing and then I never want to see you again.”