No Excuses

by Nikky Kaye

  “Kickass bed.”

  He shrugged. “Bobbie went through a Pinterest phase. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings, so I kept it.”

  I couldn’t take my eyes off it. It was so… raw. With a jolt I realized that the metal details on the edges were big metal eyebolts, screwed in tight, with carabineer clips hanging from them. That was the moment that my shyness threatened to derail us.

  “Gage, I’m not really—uh, well—”

  He cradled my chin, tilting my face up to him. “Not really what?”

  “Sexy?”

  He actually laughed out loud. The embarrassment flooding me was probably how he’d felt moments before in the game room.

  “I beg to differ,” he said.

  Blushing furiously, I lowered my gaze to the gleaming hardwood floor. “Seriously. I know you think I’m—well, okay, all that crazy stuff in the office was just wild. It was me being silly. I don’t have a lot of experience with the…” I trailed off when he peeled off his shirt. It was so easy for him to distract me.

  “With what?”

  “Um, the basics.”

  “Basics?”

  “You know, getting naked and putting Tab A into Slot B.”

  He hummed, snaking his arms around me to unzip the back of my skirt. It fell around my ankles in a small dark puddle. He reached for the opening of his pants.

  “If you think we’re working with tabs and slots, then we have a problem.” With a restrained sigh, he eased his “tab” out of his fly.

  “Fuck, Gage, I don’t know what I’m doing!” My eyebrows felt like they were near my hairline. After he lifted my arms like I was a doll and tugged off my sweater, he traced his finger across the crease in my forehead.

  “I have full confidence in you, Madeline.”

  His gaze drank in my cream-colored bra. I hugged myself, goosebumps spreading across my upper arms. He smoothed over them with his palms, as though calming an agitated animal. Twice, three times he ran his hands over me then pulled me close.

  My heart thumped so hard he likely felt it echo against him.

  “You weren’t this shy in the office earlier,” he noticed out loud. I squirmed as his hands trailed up and down her back.

  “That was different,” I mumbled, my breath bouncing off his bare chest. “This is your home. It feels more—I don’t know, intimate.”

  His semi nudged between us, looking for attention. I let out a little gasp as the glistening tip of his cock painted my belly just above the waistband of my panties.

  “Make no mistake about it, Madeline. This is more. I want more, and this is it. I need to be inside you, and I need you to give yourself over to me. Can you do that, sweetheart?”

  My lips trembled until he nipped them. “You’re the boss,” I said shakily, closing my eyes. I hated making decisions, and this was a big one. Maybe it had already been made for me, which I honestly wouldn’t have a problem with.

  “Right now I’m not your boss. I’m just me.”

  “Just him” was intimidating enough, what with the BDSM bed and vintage Nintendo.

  “And Madeline, I really, really want you.” He thrust his hips against me, to make his point. His point was hot, hard, and throbbing.

  “I-I want you too.” It was foolish to try to deny it. I would let myself be his and think about it in the morning—or maybe the next week. I could only hope that I would be enough for him.

  Gently he unhooked my bra and pulled it off me. “You’re so beautiful.” He bent to take one of my aching nipples in my mouth, soothing the heat and fanning the flames at the same time.

  “Yes!” I hissed, my hands going to his hair as he switched to the other side. He suckled and nibbled, teased and tugged until I thought I was going to scream. Just when I was about to cry “enough!” his lips made their way up my chest and neck again, landing in the tiny crease underneath my ear lobe.

  “You have to say the words, Maddie.” His voice was husky and close.

  I looked into his eyes, reading his urgency and heartfelt sincerity.

  Gage might be a demanding sonofabitch, but when he went after what he wanted, he usually got it. And at that moment, I was his singular goal. That intensity of focus made me want to run away, but then I might not be able to come back.

  “Please. Please take me, Gage. I want all of you.” I was hot all over from desire and supplication.

  The words “make love to me” flashed through my mind, startling me into sudden silence. Was that what I truly wanted? Was I falling in love with him?

  Luckily, he didn’t seem to notice my distraction. He hooked his forefinger under the elastic of my panties at my hip then traced its path down to my center.

  “You’re wet for me, aren’t you?”

  He slanted his mouth over mine at the same time his long, unrelenting finger pushed into me. Swallowing my gasp, he circled his finger around until I nearly buckled from the heady intrusion. I kneaded his shoulders like a kitten finding a resting spot. Thankfully, for my wobbly legs, his other arm was crooked around the small of my back, keeping me upright.

  “Is that good?”

  “So good,” I panted.

  I let out a small whine when he slipped his fingers out of my underwear, then licked them. Somehow, we’d moved toward the bed, our lower legs brushing against the mattress. The worn denim quilt cover reminded me of his tight ass in jeans—an endangered vision only seen fleetingly, like the spotting of a clean-shaven hipster dude.

  His hands firm on my shoulders, he pushed me down into the soft cloud on his bed.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  GAGE

  All Madeline wore was a blush and panties. She was breathtaking. I fervently wished I could see her in this outfit every fucking day. A new kind of casual Friday, maybe.

  “What are you leering at, sir?”

  “You, baby. I could eye fuck you all. Day. Long.” I kneeled on the bed beside her. “And remember, I’m not your boss here.”

  “Could have fooled me,” she muttered.

  “Ahem. I think I demonstrated my willingness to give up control earlier in my office, don’t you think?”

  She flushed scarlet. “I said I was sorry—”

  I bent down, my knee on the bed, and placed my hand over her mouth. “Stop. It was amazing. Well, almost amazing. I should return the favor.”

  Her eyes widened in alarm at the thought of me withholding her orgasm now. “But I won’t,” I reassured her. “There will be no stopping us now. No games, no baby steps, no slacking. I am all in, and I want you to give me everything you’ve got.”

  Her eyes fluttered shut, making me remove my hand so she could speak—but she didn’t. When she opened her eyes, they were nearly black with want. “I’ll try,” she promised hoarsely.

  “Do or do not. There is no try.”

  The laughter erupting from her chest made her body wobble in miraculous, wonderful ways. “You’re such a geek.”

  This wasn’t news to me, nor should it be to her after I showed her my playroom. I shrugged. “I’ve been accused of worse.” At the back of my bedside table, I found a small strip of condoms, which I tossed on the bed silently.

  She wriggled back on the bed as I approached her. I couldn’t tell if she was nervous or excited, or possibly both. Madeline Jones made my head spin—spontaneous one moment, shy the next.

  Shy Madeline let me peel her damp panties down her legs, but spontaneous Madeline announced I was still overdressed, before proceeding to remedy that fact.

  Shy Madeline burrowed her face into my neck when I teased her to the edge of orgasm, but spontaneous Madeline sucked my fingers clean.

  Shy Madeline left the condom to me, but spontaneous Madeline rolled me over and straddled me.

  “What do you want to do to me?” she asked.

  I smirked at her. “I love multiple choice tests.” My hands roamed over her, from the curves of her tits and ass to the sinuous line of her back and shoulders. Her breath came quick and sharp as I ou
tlined the possibilities with my fingertips.

  “No kinky stuff tonight, okay?”

  My hands froze near the perfection of her bellybutton. “Did I hurt you before?” Oh shit. My need for control and commitment had already fucked this up.

  “No. God, no!” She bent to kiss me then looked me straight in the eye. “I just need a good, old-fashioned fucking,” she told me.

  “Old-fashioned, huh? I thought you said no kink,” I teased her.

  I was divining at her entrance as she hovered above me. Her arms and thighs were shaking a little, but I doubted it was from fatigue. I gripped her hips—not to pull her down on me, but to reassure her.

  “I just want to be with you,” she said. But she still looked a little nervous.

  “We can stop if you want, Madeline.” God knew I didn’t want to, but I would. It was easier to live with blue balls than with bad decisions.

  She shook her head, biting her lip before she bent over to kiss me. With her mouth, she committed to me. Her lips parted and her breath mixed with mine. The taste of her, cinnamon and coffee and caramel, punched through all my neural receptors. I grew harder, aching to penetrate her blistering heat. We were both at the top of the tower and ready to jump together.

  Raising her head, she looked behind me. “Next time I’m going to tie you to that, sir.”

  Oh, fuck.

  “Next time, I’ll let you. But I don’t think we need the rope to keep us together tonight.

  Then she lowered herself on to me, taking every inch of me inside her until I felt as though we couldn’t be any closer. Holy Jesus, she felt amazing. She was so excruciatingly snug and hot that I had to close my eyes to regain some control.

  “Maddie, don’t move.”

  I was embarrassingly close to blowing my load, just at the feel and knowledge of being embedded within her. Her whimper forced my eyes open.

  “Gage, I need to move.” Her voice was tight, her mouth stretched a little at the corners.

  Ironically, her urgency stopped me dead, a panicky feeling rushing through me. “Am I hurting you?”

  “God, no. I’m so full, I feel like, ungh.” My eyes nearly crossed as she squeezed me. “Your tab is too big for my slot,” she complained.

  My cock swelled further at her words, which made her groan again. “Sorry.” I grinned, not really sorry at all. My hands still clamped onto her hips, I encouraged her to move, relatively certain now that I could hold out.

  She moaned with relief as she rose up a little and started weaving back and forth. “That feels better.”

  “Yeah?” I gritted out, realizing that I might have been prematurely convinced of my self-control.

  Her hair fell around her shoulders as she rode me, a flush crawling across her chest. Automatically my palms went up to meet her breasts, making her move a little faster.

  “Jesus, Gage, I’m too close,” she panted.

  Thank god, I wasn’t the only one poised on the edge here. There would be time for finesse later. I would make time. She’d said she wanted an old-fashioned fucking, and this would be over soon enough judging by the tightening in my balls.

  I slid my right hand down over her belly to where we were fused together, my thumb unerringly sliding over her clit.

  “Fuck!” She tossed her head from side to side. The lower lip she’d been chewing on earlier fell, her mouth open and breathing harshly. “I’m sorry! Oh god, I’m coming already!”

  As I felt her spasm around me, the knife of my own climax severed my control. “Fuck, Maddie!”

  I reached up for her and dragged her down to me, swallowing her gasps while stars exploded behind my eyes. And in my balls. And in my ass.

  There was a whole goddamn planetarium laser lightshow happening in my body.

  Her skin was hot as it pressed against mine, but my roving hands felt tiny bumps rising on her arms. She shivered, tumbling off me gracelessly onto the pillowy bed.

  “One sec.” I got up to remove the condom, and when I got back she was splayed out on her stomach and she’d put her head under a pillow.

  “What are you doing?” I asked her.

  “Need the cool side of the pillow,” she replied, her voice muffled a little.

  I pulled up one side, exposing her flushed face. “Is it working?”

  “Not really. I’m still hot. But then again, your junk is in my face,” she pointed out.

  I stood beside the bed, naked, and laughed. Hell, I had nothing to be ashamed of. She burrowed her head back under the pillow. Shy and spontaneous, that was Madeline.

  “Are you going to fall asleep on me?”

  The pillow flew off the bed as she pushed herself up on her hands and knees like a frightened cat. She looked stricken. “No! No, I’m sorry, I won’t fall asleep.” Her gaze flitted around the room. “In fact, I should get going.”

  “What? No, that’s not what I meant.” I picked up the pillow and threw it back on the bed. “Go ahead, fall asleep if you want. You had a hard day.”

  She lifted an eyebrow. “Really? That’s terrible, Gage.”

  “I’m not going to kick you out of bed for eating crackers.”

  She smiled then clutched her midsection as her stomach audibly gurgled.

  “Shit, I forgot to feed you!” I looked at the clock; it was close to nine. I’d lost all sense of time with her. Now I knew how my mother and sister felt every day, and it was unnerving to say the least.

  I pulled on a pair of sweatpants and headed down to the kitchen. While I was rooting through the fridge for a makeshift dinner, she sauntered in wearing the shirt I’d discarded earlier—and only the shirt.

  “Madeline,” I groaned. She was going to kill me. It was a well-known fact that wearing his rumpled button-down shirt was Kryptonite for any man—even a paper billionaire.

  “What?” The little vixen tried to blink innocently. In one hand, she was holding my phone. “Your pants were vibrating.”

  “That’s what she said.”

  She rolled her eyes as she passed me the phone. Seven missed calls? The screen was full of text messages from Aaron.

  Where are you? Call me asap!

  “Somefing wong?” She’d somehow found an actual box of crackers in a cupboard and was munching happily on them.

  “Aaron’s blowing up my phone.” I frowned, already annoyed. “I asked him to do some mock-ups this weekend but he said he was taking the weekend off. Really, who takes the weekends off? I expect people to commit to their jobs. It’s not a fucking internship.”

  When I looked up, her eyes had narrowed into critical slits and she slammed the cracker box on the marble-topped island. The crumbs on the hardwood floor underneath her made me wince. My fingers itched to get the broom.

  “Present company excluded, of course.” It was a poor attempt to cover my ass, and I knew it, which made me grumpier.

  A man should not feel grumpy ten minutes after an orgasm, but somehow I’d managed to achieve it. Goddammit.

  Without even bothering to listen to the voice mails—there were four of them—I called Aaron.

  “Hey, wha—”

  “Dude, where have you been?”

  I straightened immediately at the panic in Aaron’s voice, my gaze snapping to Madeline. She must have heard his scream, because she too went on alert and moved closer to me.

  “I’m home now—”

  “Fuck, man, you gotta get here fast. There’s blood everywhere, and I don’t know what’s going on. They won’t tell me because I’m not family, and I can’t reach your mom.”

  “Blood?” Mine ran cold at Aaron’s words. “Where are you? What are you talking about?”

  I grabbed Madeline’s hand. She looked up at me with alarm. “What blood?”

  “I brought Bobbie to the ER. There was so much blood and she passed out. But they won’t let me go back with her and they won’t tell me anything.”

  My friend sounded like he was losing it. And god only knew what was wrong with my sister. I felt cla
mmy and spacy, flashing on memories of losing our father. I fucking hated hospitals.

  Madeline squeezed my hand then let go to fly up the stairs like a pale ghost. I followed behind her as she gathered her clothes. Partly in shock myself and with a hell of a lot more questions, I tried to focus on what needed to be done in that moment. Lists flew through my head, shuffling into mental files and put in order.

  “Okay, calm down. We’re coming. What hospital?”

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  MADDIE

  Since Gage had abandoned his car at the office, we had to call a cab to take us to the hospital. It was drizzling again, and that added to the demand of a Friday night made our taxi later than we’d wanted it. Then again, he’d wanted it to appear instantaneously, with the click of his fingers. But even Uber wasn’t working that quickly.

  The best I could do was to hold his hand in the back seat as he made phone call after phone call. Unfortunately, sitting at his right side meant that he had to let go in order to punch out numerous texts. So I smoothed my hand over his thigh instead in a vain attempt to calm him. He flashed me a tight but grateful smile, his square jaw clenching in the shadows.

  He was still on the phone when we pulled up at the Emergency Room entrance. In his distraction, he merely got his wallet out of his pocket and pushed it into my hand before bolting from the car. With a shrug, I pulled out some money and handed it to the driver, wishing him a good night.

  It seemed pretty obvious that the good part of my evening was over.

  Aaron was pacing in front of Gage when I walked into the triage area. His thick black hair was puffed out like a French poodle’s, and his light pink polo shirt had streaks of blood on it that looked almost like fingerprints. His dark skin was almost ashen gray, his deep chocolate eyes glittering.

  What the hell had happened? Had they been in a car crash?

  I was startled when Gage grabbed him and forced him down into a chair, but also relieved that he’d stopped the back and forth motion that was already making me dizzy.