by Sienna Parks
“You seriously not going after her?”
“Why would I?”
“Because you’ve been in love with her since you were five.”
“I’m not… not anymore. It’s been fourteen years.”
“You trying to convince me, or you? If you don’t go after her right now, I will kick your ass up and down this ranch.”
I’m in the house in a matter of seconds, but she’s already gone. I run out front to see her opening the door to her truck. “A.B.!”
She turns to face me, her cheeks wet with tears. My heart is beating harder than a horse in heat. “Maddox. I didn’t mean to make this week any harder for you. And about earlier… with Rae.”
“Stop talking.”
“She was exhausted and upset. And she needed someone to talk to about her granddaddy. I wasn’t trying to step on anyone’s toes.” I stride toward her, my mind made up.
“I said stop talking, A.B.” I close the distance between us, pushing her against the door of the truck; the sound of slamming metal echoing into the night sky. My lips find hers; desperate for the taste of her. I wrap my arm around her waist, my other hand pushing her dress up around her waist as our tongues tangle in a blaze of desire. “Wrap your legs around me.” My words are a plea and a command. I hoist her up and press her back against the truck as her legs snake around me, her pussy grinding against my groin as her hands find their way to my hair; pulling me closer.
“Oh God, Mad. You feel so…” She groans as I thrust my hips, my lips finding her neck – kissing, caressing, soft and hard at the same time. I can’t get enough of her.
“Tell me you want me, Annabeth.”
“I want you.” She pulls my head up, biting my lip, before plunging her tongue into my mouth.
“I want to fuck you so badly.”
“Then do it.” I slide my hand between us, pushing aside the scrap of lace that covers her sweet spot, before running my fingers down the length of her folds.
“Holy shit. You’re already wet for me.” I devour her mouth, trying not to come in my pants at the feel of her warm, wet pussy, grinding against my hand. “I need you tonight.”
She grasps my face in her hands, pushing me away. “You’re grieving. Maybe we shouldn’t… I don’t want you to regret this in the mornin’.” She holds my gaze, searching my eyes for reassurance.
“I’ve always wanted you, A.B. I never stopped wanting you. Stay with me tonight. Let me show you just how badly I want you.” Her lips crash down on mine, her legs gripping my waist for purchase as she continues to rock back and forth against my hand.
“Take me to bed, Maddox.”
Chapter Ten
ANNABETH
“Please, take me to bed!”
I don’t even recognize my own voice – thick with desire, begging for release. Outside in the open air, I can’t stop myself from writhing against his hand, imagining how amazing it will feel to replace his fingers with his tongue.
He doesn’t set me down, instead, clutching my pussy as he strides with confident purpose to the house. My heart is hammering in my chest, filling my ears with the pulsing rhythm. The house is silent as we find our way to his room, the door quickly locked behind us. His kiss is sensual, but urgent. I make short work of pushing his jacket over his shoulders, before he throws me down on the bed. He lifts his fingers to his mouth, sucking the evidence of my arousal. “Goddammit! You taste so fucking good, A.B.” He grabs my legs, pulling me to the edge of the bed, before dropping to his knees. His fingers curl around the sides of my panties, sliding them down my legs and discarding them on the floor. I open my legs, hungry for his gaze.
He dips his head, taking one long languorous lick, before inhaling my scent. “It’s always been you, A.B.” Without another word, his lips descend, his tongue circling my clit with expert precision.
“Oh God, Maddox. I’ve missed your touch.” The intensity of his kiss against my pussy has me clawing at the sheets, begging for more. “Don’t stop!” His groan of satisfaction sends a delicious, toe-curling shudder through my body. I rip my dress over my head, desperate to feel his skin on mine, and he doesn’t disappoint. Continuing a punishing rhythm, his hands travel up my stomach, finding their way to my bra, making short work of unsnapping the catch.
As I writhe on his face, naked and vulnerable, I know this is different. Sex between us was always good when we were young, but this Maddox – his touch is one of sheer perfection. Eliciting noises I’ve never made before. I thought being with him again would feel familiar, like coming home, but it’s not. My brain scatters as he rips an orgasm from my body, claiming it as his own. “Yes! Oh fuck!” I can feel him smile on my thigh.
“You’re going to wake the whole town if you don’t keep it down.” My cheeks flush with embarrassment, and I’m about to apologize when he stands up and begins unbuttoning his shirt. “Mmmm… guess I’ll have to keep that pretty little mouth of yours quiet somehow.” The sly grin that spreads across his face is sexy as hell. I’m lost for words as I drink in the sight of him.
He drops his shirt to the floor and flicks open the fly on his pants, giving me just a hint of his boxers. My breath is hot and heavy as I look him up and down. He’s… stunning – not the sweet boy-next-door I left behind all those years ago. The man standing before me, wiping my arousal from his chin with a wry smile, is rugged, strong, and toned. The corded muscles of his arms make my mouth water. His shoulders are broad, his abdomen taut and tantalizing. His skin is tanned, a smattering of dark blond hair on his chest, and a sexy happy trail leading to where I want to be.
“How do you plan on doing that, cowboy?”
“I can think of a few ways.” His pants fall to his feet, my jaw dropping as he slowly pushes his boxer shorts off and steps toward the bed. Holy shit! He hasn’t just grown in height since the last time I saw him. His cock is… “You’re staring, A.B.” Delight dances in his eyes, a glint that I haven’t seen in a very long time.
“Sorry. You’re just so… huge! I mean, I always thought you were impressive, but fuck me!”
He crawls onto the bed, stalking me like a panther. Raining feather light kisses up my legs, stomach, my breasts, and finally up my neck; his lips ghost a kiss on my ear. “I plan to. Hard. And all… night… long. You ready to be fucked by me, darlin’? I’m not the boy you knew anymore.” He circles his hips, grinding his cock against my clit.
“I’ve been ready since the moment I saw you.” He bites down on my earlobe – he still knows how to make me squirm. I buck wildly, loving every second of it, my desire for him growing with every nibble and suck. He reaches for the nightstand, grabbing a condom from the drawer. “Let me.” I rip the foil with my teeth and slide my hand over his abs, like a washboard, following the trail until I can wrap my fist around his hard, thick shaft - steel encased in velvet soft skin. I work the length of him for a few moments before sliding the condom over the tip.
“Fuck! I’m gonna come before I get inside you if you keep touching me like that. Your body is so goddamn sexy, darlin’. Your curves are… I could ride you seven ways till Sunday and never tire of a single inch of you.” He envelops my nipple with his lips, his tongue flicking the tip into a hard point, before biting down just enough to send a shot of painful pleasure to my core, my back arching off the bed for more.
In one powerful thrust, he’s inside me, filling me, stretching me until I can’t take any more. Dropping his head to my chest, his breath is labored. “Hot damn. Your pussy is so tight.” I need to move, to feel him slide in and out, over and over until he’s shouting my name. All thought is gone as he starts to move; I’m completely lost to the sensations bombarding every nerve ending in my body. His hands roam my skin, his mouth fucking mine in time with his hips.
“Annabeth.”
My name is a whispered plea, a litany falling from his lips. Tears well in my eyes as I breathe him in. “Maddox.” My nails rake down his back, pulling him as close as two bodies can possibly be. “I need
you.”
“I got you, darlin’.” I cup his face in my palms, my tongue darting out to lick his bottom lip, gently biting down. He rides me with long, hard thrusts; the base of his cock hitting my clit at just the right angle to drive me wild. “I’ve always got you, A.B.”
His words are my ruin. Heat radiates from my core, coursing like an electrical current though every cell of my body. He grabs my hands from his face, slamming them down on the bed before capturing my mouth with his own, in an attempt to quiet the screams he knows are coming. My arms are pinned above my head as he hammers into me. I’m completely at his mercy, and I feel freer than ever before. I let myself fly… over the cliff, wrapped in his arms, freefalling into a sea of ecstasy.
“Fuck!”’ He crashes over the edge with me, bucking hard and fast as I bite down on his shoulder to stop myself from crying out. We ride out the aftershocks together, our bodies shivering with every wave of pleasure that rolls over us like a rampage of white horses. He pulls me up to the top of the bed, positioning himself beneath me, his arm tight around my shoulder.
I rest my head on his chest, slick with sweat, his heartbeat slowly returning to normal. I lie, sated and silent for a while, enjoying the easy comfort of each other’s arms. I could fall asleep, happy in this cocoon, but I don’t know how he feels about what just happened. “Maddox, I want to explain…”
He rolls me beneath him, capturing my lips with a long, heartfelt kiss. “Not yet. Not tonight. Stay with me, darlin’. It’s been too long since it felt like…”
“Like coming home…” His eyes find mine, an understanding of how right this feels passing between us. Nothing else needs to be said – not right now. Tonight, the past doesn’t exist. The present pain that today brought with it – forgotten, as we lose ourselves in each other. The future – a worry for another day. In this moment, there is only the two of us, and a pleasure unlike anything else I’ve ever felt before.
We make love into the early hours of the morning, eventually drifting into an exhausted sleep, a tangle of limbs that fit together perfectly, like the pieces of a jigsaw.
I awake to the sound of banging on the door.
“Daddy! Daddy! Open the door. It’s me, Rae!” I’m disoriented, the sights and sounds around me – unfamiliar. I’m in Maddox’s bed. Naked. And his daughter is trying to get in. I scramble for a sheet to cover myself, when Mad jumps from the bed, grabbing his pants from last night. He practically falls over himself trying to pull them on.
“Coming, Sunshine. Give me two minutes.” He turns to me, gesturing at the bathroom.
“Hide. She can’t see you in my bed… naked.” His whisper is like a dagger after the amazing night we just shared, but logically I understand. “I’ve never had a woman in the house. Go. Quick.” I grab my clothes off the floor, clutching the bed sheet that’s wrapped around me like someone from a Greek tragedy. This is the first time I’ve had to hide in a man’s bathroom, and it stings that it’s Maddox.
I lock the door behind me, sliding to the cold tile floor, careful not to make any noise. Anxiously, I listen as he opens his bedroom door. “There’s my favorite girl. How are you this mornin’?”
“Hungry. Will you make me pancakes?”
“Sure! Where’s Pops?”
“Still in his room. He’s sad, Daddy.”
“I know, sweetheart. We all are.” It’s then that it hits me. I took advantage of Mad’s grief last night. If he had been in his right mind, he never would’ve let this happen. His voice is loud and clear as he heads out to the kitchen with Rae. “Pancakes then? That will take about TWENTY MINUTES!” Is he serious? He expects me to sit in here for twenty minutes until he can sneak me out? A sinking feeling settles in the pit of my stomach.
I quickly dress and soon realize I left my phone in the room, when I hear my ringtone blaring, Dirt On My Boots. I fumble with the lock, and run to grab it, stumbling over Mad’s suit jacket. I fall to the ground with the grace of an elephant, my head smashing into the corner of the nightstand. Grey spots appear in my vision. I probably have a concussion. I try to stand up, but my body doesn’t listen. The bedroom door flies open, and I can hear distant voices - a blur of white noise.
“Daddy. It’s Docor A.B. She’s bweeding on your fwoors.” I can feel her tiny hand poking my arm.
“Are you okay, Docor? Why are you in Daddy’s room? Did you get wost?” Maddox lifts me into his arms.
“Go grab the first aid kit from under the sink, Rae.” My eyes flutter open; blood dripping onto my eyelashes.
“Shit. You’re bleeding. What the hell did you do?”
“Ph… phone. Ringing. Tried to grab it. Fell.”
“Same old, A.B. Clumsy as a bull in a china shop.”
“I have the first aid kit! Can I be nurse? I can bandage Docor’s head.” I lift my hand to my head. The familiar metallic smell assaults my senses, and I manage to focus long enough to see my palm covered in blood.
“Shit! Oh… sorry! I shouldn’t cuss.”
“Daddy says cussing is for saiwors and idiots.” I can’t help but giggle at the sweet sound of her voice, but Maddox doesn’t find it so funny.
“Rae. Go and see if Pops is awake. If not, go play in your room and I’ll help Dr. Clark.”
“Did you come to check my cast, Docor?”
“Sure. I was looking for the restroom and I got lost. I’m sorry if I scared you.” Maddox seems irked by my white lie.
“Rae, do as you’re told. Now.” She skips out of the door, none the wiser that I defiled her daddy last night. When he’s sure the coast is clear, he barks at me in hushed whispers.
“What the hell were you doing? I told you to hide in the bathroom. I only needed ten more minutes. Is that too much to ask?”
“I didn’t do it on purpose! My phone started ringing and I didn’t want Rae to hear it. I tripped over your jacket.”
“And then you lied to my daughter.”
“What did you want me to say to her, Mad? Your dad fucked me all night long, and licked me out until I couldn’t have driven home, even if I wanted to! I figured a little lie wouldn’t hurt considering the circumstances.” I’m suddenly pissed that he’s annoyed that I have a gash in my head from trying to use some kind of ninja stealth to avoid Rae. “I knew I shouldn’t have stayed.”
“Leaving is what you do best.”
“What the hell? You asked me to stay. I tried to do the right thing and leave last night. You were the one that came after me. You kissed me! You wouldn’t let me explain or apologize. Then you hide me like some dirty one-night stand!”
“Well if the shoe fits…”
“Fuck you, Maddox Hale.” I stand to brush past him, but my footing is a little shaky after the fall.
“Sit down. I need to look at your head.”
“I’m a doctor. I can look at my own damn head, thank you very much.” I grab the gauze from his hand and storm out the door with what little dignity I have left. As I reach my truck, Jax pulls into the driveway. Just what I need.
“Well, hello. You making house calls?” He wiggles his eyebrows suggestively, and it only serves to rile me further.
“This is all your fault you… ass! Stay and have a beer you said! It will be fine. You guys can be friends. Shows what you know. I’m just a tramp according to your best friend over there. He’s afraid I’ll taint his daughter somehow by breathing the same air. So, as he just told me – I’m doing what I do best – getting the hell out of here! Thanks a lot… friend.” I fire up my truck at the sight of Maddox storming toward me.
“You wait a goddamn minute, Annabeth! You can’t go storming off like that. You’re bleeding and had virtually no sleep. You’re in no fit state to drive.” Jax may as well have a bucket of popcorn and a soda right now. He’s enjoying the show.
“I’m fine. Leave me alone, Mad. You made your feelings perfectly clear.”
“What does that even mean?”
“Figure it out, Einstein.”
“I was l
ooking out for my kid. How is that a reflection on you? I didn’t mean what I said. Unless you didn’t know this already – my world doesn’t revolve around you anymore, A.B.” I know that’s true, and he should put Rae first, but my pride is hurt, and I have a feeling last night meant something completely different to me than it did to him. I peel out of the driveway, a cloud of gravel dust behind me. I can hear him shouting my name, but I can’t look back. I’m too afraid of what I’ll see.
I get through morning clinic, and hurry to Ellen’s to meet Lottie.
“You did what?!”
“Say it louder, Lottie. I don’t think the guy on the other side of the road heard that quite clearly enough.”
“Sorry. I just can’t believe it.” She leans in, as if it makes her anymore incognito. “You and Maddox Hale?”
“Yes.” My heart skips a beat as I remember how earth-shattering last night was. “It was… holy crap! That boy has learned some tricks since we were together.”
“Don’t ever tell Kirby I said this, but it’s clear in the way that Maddox walks - he knows how to satisfy a woman. Tell me everything. I want to live vicariously through you.”
“CharLottie Joanne Hollander. I’m shocked. You’re a happily married woman.” She shoots me a wry smile.
“I’m married, not dead!”
“You missed the point – he hid me in a bathroom, and then got mad at me for getting a concussion. He instigated what happened last night, and then threw everything in my face this mornin’ the minute he got annoyed. What a jackass.” Her face sobers, and I know I’m not going to like what she has to say.
“Yesterday was his dad’s funeral.”
“I know that. I was there.”
“Yeah, but you weren’t here when he was devastated that you’d gone without a word. Or when he had to give up riding. You didn’t see how cut up he was when Sam left, just like his momma did. He’s been through so much, and he’s trying to keep Rae safe, and his own heart. He loves you, A.B. It’s as plain as the nose on your face, but you’re not kids anymore, and he won’t let Rae close to you if he’s not sure you’re going to stick around.”