by Mazzy King
I did say I wanted her, after all.
Panting, she pulls back just slightly. “Come with me.”
Taking me by the hand, she leads me across the living room toward the other bedroom, the master. Inside, she shuts the door, then pulls me close again.
Between deep, slow kisses, I murmur, “Is this a good idea? With Lexi close by?”
“We’ll just have to be very, very quiet,” she whispers, her hands sliding under my shirt.Her touch makes me shiver. “Challenge accepted…” Then something occurs to me. “I don’t have any protection.”
“I don’t, either.” She leans away from me. “I told you I trust you. I’ve been tested regularly in the years I was with my ex, and I’m good. I’m on birth control.”
“I’m good too. I got tested before I deployed and haven’t been with anyone since.” Being with someone unprotected is something I’ve never done before, but with Roxie, it feels right. I know in my gut I can trust her, and more than that…I want to mark her as mine, as deeply and intimately as a man can claim a woman.
Our mouths meet again in a searing kiss as we strip off our clothes. Being quiet will be a delicious challenge, and I have some ideas on how I can test her control.
I run my hands over her body. It’s petite and curvy, her waist tight and nipping in over rounded hips and a delectable ass. Her breasts are full and soft, her skin warm as I pull her against me.
“Let’s see how quiet you can be,” I murmur against her mouth as I lay her on her back.
Her satiny legs draw up around me as I trail kisses from her mouth down her throat to the space between her breasts. Then I skim my lips over to one nipple, teasing it with the tip of my tongue until it hardens there, and I suckle it slowly. She sighs, arching her back. I run my mouth to her other nipple to repeat the action, pulling another soft sigh from her.
I trail my mouth down her flat belly, stopping to tease her navel and smiling at her giggle. But then as I dip lower, her giggling trails off into more sighs and murmurs lost beneath the storm outside.
I kiss over her fleshy mound. She keeps herself waxed with a trimmed landing strip, allowing me to see her beautiful pussy with its puffy lips and sweet scent. I waste no time helping myself, sliding the tip of my tongue through her already wet slit. She shivers and moans quietly.
“Ah-ah,” I tease, lifting my head. “Quiet, remember?” I return my mouth to her flesh, eating her slowly, tasting every inch of her. Her thick juice is sweet and heady, and I love the way she rolls her hips in time to my licks.
I trail my tongue up to her clit and suckle as her body tenses up tight beneath me. Suddenly she yanks the pillow under her head up and over her face as her body convulses. A triumphant smile tugs at my lips as I make out her faint, muffled cry of pleasure.
I slide up her body and pull the pillow off her face to find her panting and kiss her. “That was cheating.”
“You’re amazing at that,” she murmurs. Then she pushes me flat on my back. “Okay, hot shot. Now it’s your turn.”
My little arrogant smirk disappears as her mouth envelopes me. “Fuck.”
She makes an “uh-uh” noise with me still in her mouth, and it vibrates around my cock, making me grit my teeth with pleasure. I slip a hand into her glossy dark hair, holding tight as she proceeds to practically swallow me whole. Her mouth is snug and warm and wet, and it doesn’t take long before I feel a warning tingle at the base of my cock.
“Gonna come,” I pant, tugging her hair gently.
She stays where she is, her meaning clear, and despite my best efforts I can’t contain a low grunt of pleasure as I come in her mouth, down her throat with a hard throb of my cock. She pushes herself up toward me and rests on my chest while I slowly come down.
“I guess we both fail, huh?” she whispers.
“We still have one more test,” I say. To my surprise, my cock hardens again, ready for her, to be buried inside her warmth. “I want to see you on top of me.”
“Then it’s going to be impossible for me to be quiet,” Roxie says, but she’s already reaching down between us, grasping me and guiding me to her opening. She’s soaking wet and tight as a fist as I slowly make my way inside, grasping her hips. “Oh, god, Maddox,” she gasps into my mouth.
I clench my teeth. She’s heaven. Tight, wet heaven.
“Ride me, baby,” I whisper back, guiding her hips. “Ride me nice and slow.”
Roxie braces her hands on my chest and obeys, rolling her hips in a delicious rhythm that makes my toes curl. Outside, the storm rages a little louder, as if to give us a little more cover to enjoy each other.
My hands are everywhere—cupping her breasts, toying with her nipples, stroking her skin, teasing her clit with my thumb. She’s trying hard to keep her cries at bay, but the little gushes of juice spurting from her with every stroke of my cock deep inside her tells me she’s as mindless with pleasure as I am.
“Come for me, Roxie,” I murmur, sinking my teeth gently into the side of her neck. “Come all over my dick.”
She whimpers back softly in my ear, then bears down on me, grinding hard and deep until a moment later when I feel her pussy clench tight around my cock and pulse as she moans in my ear.
“Fuck, yeah,” I groan as I explode inside her, filling her with my seed. “Shit, baby. You’re amazing…”
“I’m ready for the next round whenever you are,” she pants back.
“Then I hope you don’t plan on getting too much sleep tonight.” I kiss her shoulder, her neck, then her waiting mouth.
We clean up a little, then cuddle up tight together in her bed. The storm rages on, but there’s nothing but peace in my heart tonight.
5
Roxie
Forty-three.
It’s been forty-three days since the day I got rear-ended. Since the day Maddox was there for me. Since the day…I fell in love with him.
We’ve been together every day for forty-three days. And somehow, each day is better than the last.
My car was fixed a long time ago, and unless I have an important meeting or need to leave work early, he still drives me and Lexi every day. Every day at five, my heart starts doing complicated floor routines, because I know I’ll be seeing him, and nothing makes me happier. Except seeing him with Lexi.
She idolizes him. Adores him. Loves him. The best part is that I know the feeling is mutual. Seeing them together as they play games or run around the backyard or on Saturday mornings when it’s cereal time and he does a silly “It’s cereal time!” song and dance for her brings me a level of joy I never thought was attainable.
It feels like we’re a family.
My work at the design studio has been steady. I’ve run the daily to-dos and helped keep everyone organized and on schedule in a way that often results in unexpected lattes on my desk or packs of Skittles, my favorite candy, with big pink “THANK YOU!!!!!” sticky notes on them. Yesterday, when a design consultant was unexpectedly ill before her appointment, I took it over for her, guiding the client effortlessly through the process, providing her with all the information I’ve heard the design consultants say dozens of times. And since I work with the vendors, I’m well-versed on different types of components, appliances, carpeting, carpet padding, you name it, which helps me help the client make an even more informed decision. It all just rolled off my tongue so easily, and the client, a nervous first-time builder with a deployed husband handling the home design on her own, seemed to be grateful for the guidance. Best of all, I earned Sunny’s impressed approval.
“I’ve got some plans for you,” was all she said, tapping her chin and giving me an enigmatic smile. “I’m out of the office tomorrow, but let’s meet on Monday. I need the weekend to put something together for you.”
An offer? My heart lifted with excitement and keeps doing it every time I think about it now, but I’m trying not to get my hopes up. But to say I’m looking forward to Monday for the first time in my entire life is an understatement.
Fridays are pizza-and-dinosaur-nugget nights, and we all pile in the living room while Maddox finds a family-friendly movie. He’s stayed here every single night since the night we made feverish, quiet love in my bed while the storm raged. He only goes back to his side to get clean clothes.
Maybe one day, we’ll have one bigger place…for all of us.
“What’s that smile for?” he asks in my ear, kissing my cheek as the opening credits of Trolls plays.
I shrug, still smiling. “I’m just…really happy. Really, really happy.”
He gives me a slow, sexy grin. “That makes me really, really happy. Means I’ve been doing my job right.”
“And what’s your job?” I tease, but I’m only half-kidding. We haven’t had the talk yet.
He slips an arm around my shoulder, balancing his plate on his other thigh. “Being the man in your life who keeps you really, really happy.” He clears his throat, then glances at me. “The only man in your life. Because you’re the only woman in my life, and I want to keep it that way.”
My heart catches. “You do?”
“Yes,” he says seriously. “More than anything. What do you want, Rox?”
“You,” I say simply, lifting a shoulder. “I just want you. And this. For…always.”
His jaw tightens a little as emotion surges in his eyes. He draws me closer with a gentle fingertip under my chin. “Then you have me. And this. For always.”
His lips are tender, sweet. If Lexi wasn’t sitting on the floor, laughing at the movie and eating chicken nuggets, I would climb in his lap right now.
The three little words I’ve been wanting to say but have been too scared to say bubble into my mouth, but I hold them back. I want to tell him when we’re alone, when we’re in each other’s arms. And I want him to tell me the same, tell me what I already know to be true.
Tonight. After tonight, things will be different.
I lean my head on his shoulder.
We’re halfway through the movie when someone suddenly pounds on my door, startling all of us. I jerk upright, my heart pounding.
“Mommy?” Lexi says uncertainly.
“Stay here,” Maddox says calmly, and gets up to check the peephole. He glances at me with a frown. “It’s some guy in a suit.”
I’m totally baffled until I hear, “Roxie, open up.”
My heart drops.
“Daddy!” Lexi says.
I look to Maddox. “Sam.”
His face is impassive. “Okay. You want me to open up? I don’t think he called first.”
I check my phone to be sure. Sometimes I leave it on vibrate, the way I have it at work, and forget to change it back. No missed calls or texts from him.
But he is Lexi’s father, and she’s already getting up from the floor.
I stand too and walk over to the door. Maddox backs up, his face still impassive. I’ve told him a lot about my relationship with Sam. He’s a narcissist who almost destroyed my sense of self. He was never physically abusive and never overtly verbally abusive, but the constant gaslighting, the constant lying, the way I questioned everything including my own sanity, was like I had a collar on tight around my neck and he was the one who held the leash. For years.
I hate seeing him. I hate hearing his voice. I want to be rid of him forever, but we share a daughter, and that will never happen.
So, I take a deep breath, lift my chin, and open the door.
It looks like he’s come from the office, or maybe happy hour afterward. But he’s in his usual designer suit, cufflinks flashing, shoes shining. He’s a handsome, shiny package, and rotten to the core inside.
He smirks at me before I can say a single word. “Just wanted to drop in and see what’s going on.”
“Excuse me?” I snap.
“You know how social workers will make unplanned calls. If you want me to take you seriously as my daughter’s primary caregiver, then I wanted to see what a normal Friday night looks like for you.” He glances around, a sneer on his lips.
All of this before one single word of greeting to his daughter.
“Primary caregiver?” I say, struggling to keep my voice steady. “I’m her mother.”
“For now,” he says mildly. “Hello, Alexis.”
Most little girls go running to their fathers when they see them. Lexi does with Maddox every day. And yet, she stands back now, shy, as if waiting to be invited.
“Come here,” Sam adds, holding out a hand. “Let me look at you.”
He kneels down and looks her over, and even has the audacity to check her hair—like he’s looking for lice.
All of that, and not a hug for her.
My heart breaks—for my daughter.
Sam straightens and finally addresses Maddox, as if he’s just seeing him for the first time. “And who might you be?”
I glance at Maddox.
His face is stoic as he scans Sam. “Maddox Brassard.”
In contrast to Sam’s suit that no doubt cost more than this entire duplex’s monthly rent combined, Maddox wears a snug, heather-gray T-shirt with ARMY printed across the front and jeans, what he changed into after taking off his motor-oil-stained work shirt and pants.
“Army, huh?” Sam says. He looks at me. “You sure are slumming it these days, aren’t you, Rox?”
“How dare you,” I say, my voice shaking.
Sam only chuckles and turns back to Maddox. “So, you’re the new bedfellow? I see she hasn’t made any bones about having you around my daughter.”
“Lexi’s her daughter too,” Maddox replies. “And we’re just fine over here.”
“I’ll be the judge of that. I’ll need your social security number and date of birth to run a background check.”
“You’re out of line,” I snarl. I try never to raise my voice at him in front of Lexi, but I’m flabbergasted at his audacity. “You need to leave.”
“Stay out of this, Roxie,” Sam says, never taking his eyes off Maddox, who hasn’t even blinked, I’m pretty sure.
“This is my house.” I storm over. “Leave, Sam. You need to call first if you want to see Lexi.”
He finally shifts his gaze to me. “You were the one who decided to live with someone who got your apartment burned down. You endangered my daughter’s life. Now, you’re living in this dump of a place, feeding Alexis—what the hell are those? Chicken nuggets? I’ve told you before, I want her on a vegan diet.” He rolls his eyes. “You can barely keep yourself together, and I’m expected to believe you can care for our child? And on top of everything, you have her around this…” He gives Maddox a slow, sweeping glance, stopping at the tattoos on his arms. “This criminal.”
Maddox actually chuckles then.
“Criminal?” I exclaim. “Are you out of your mind? He’s a veteran! He’s a hero. Something you’re not!”
“I think it’s time to leave,” Maddox says quietly. “In fact, I know it’s time to leave.” He opens the door.
Sam steps over to him. Maddox is tall, but Sam is even a couple inches taller. “Roxie has always and will always belong to me. You should know that before you get in too deep. Although, I’m sure you already have.” He snaps his fingers. “Alexis, let’s go.”
She’s been silent the whole time, fully aware of the anger and tension filling the room. “Go where?”
“You’re coming with me.”
“You’re not taking my daughter!” I hiss.
“I am. I’ve had enough of this. You can expect to hear from my lawyer and a case worker on Monday.” He reaches around me for Lexi, snapping his fingers.
“No!” I grab his arm.
Then he shoves me—hard.
I stumble into the coffee table and fall backward over it. Lexi bursts into tears and screams for me.
And Maddox moves so fast, I freeze in shock.
He uses his forearm to pin Sam to the wall beside the door by his throat, bending his other arm back. “Touch her again, and I’ll break your arm.”
“Get off me,” Sam says in a choked voice. “Get off me!”
Maddox releases him and steps back. He looks totally calm—except for the rage in his eyes.
Sam straightens his tie, his face red. “Congratulations, that’s assault. I’m calling the cops and pressing charges.”
“I know cops too, pal. It’s called defense. You shoved her first. Try to take me down if you want—but you’re going first.”
Sam glares at him. “Alexis, get over here now.”
“No,” I scream, reaching for her.
She’s crying hysterically.
“Let her go,” Sam says between his teeth. “Or the cops really will get called here, and that will traumatize her. You can’t keep her from me. I’m her father.”
I don’t want to further traumatize her any more than I already have. Sobbing, I pull her into my arms and hug her…goodbye.
“Go with Daddy,” I say through my tears.
“Mommy,” she sobs.
I force a smile. “I’m okay. It’s all okay. I’m going to see you again real soon, baby. Go with Daddy. He hasn’t seen you for a while.”
“Alexis, now,” Sam says sharply.
Lexi looks at me, then at Maddox. His fists are balled at his sides, but his face is smooth. He winks at Lexi.
“It’s okay, munchkin. Go with your dad.”
She runs from me to Maddox, throwing her arms around his waist. He reaches down to hug her back, but Sam grabs her arm and wrenches her away.
“Don’t touch my daughter,” he hisses at Maddox, then looks at me. “You’re done. This is over. You’ll be lucky to get supervised visitation by the time my lawyers are done with you.”
Then he takes my daughter, and the door slams shut behind him.
I completely fall apart.
Maddox is there in an instant, scooping me into his arms and holding me tight. He says nothing while I scream into his chest. Sam is well-connected. He has a lot of money. If he says I’ll never see Lexi again…
He’s a master of gaslighting. He lies. He manipulates.