Life happened, and so did love. Why fight a natural thing?
“May I?”
Maddox turned toward the sweet, soft voice, instantly captivated by Joss’s soulful green eyes. He went from semi-hard to rock-hard so fast, he fought off a groan. “Yes, of course. Please, help yourself.” He gave her a gentle smile, hoping to hide the carnal thoughts racing through his mind, those of bending her over and thrusting himself deep inside her sexy, lush body until she was quivering her release. He cleared his throat. “Are you enjoying the party?”
“Very much so, thank you.” She smiled, scooping up the burger onto the bun on her plate. “You have a lovely home.”
The smile she gave him was so fake, it narrowed Maddox’s eyes. He craved the realness he’d seen in her before. That’s what had captured his thoughts over the last goddamn year. That’s what was in his head every time his lips touched another woman. Their smiles weren’t honest like hers. She’d appeared to hide nothing of herself, bared everything as if she didn’t owe the world a damn thing. That transparency had mindfucked him.
He stared at her now, noting how she squeezed her plate tightly, knuckles turning white, telling him that she was doing her best not to shake. Another thing that had made his restraint even more difficult. She didn’t hide how much she still wanted him. Her desire was there in her rosy cheeks and her parted lips and her deep breaths.
“So…um…thanks for the burger…and for the party.” She lifted her head, and her light eyes met his.
The energy pinging between them was like a punch to his chest. His muscles tensed, breath halted. The softness, the yearning, the ache he so desperately felt, too, all crossed her expression, hardening him to steel. For a year, he’d forced himself to believe that he’d imagined this potent energy between them. That it was inconceivable to think their connection held this much power. Yet there it was, right there in front of him. Tangible. Intense. Real. His nostrils flared as he inhaled the sweet scent that had haunted him.
“Oh, shit,” she gasped, breaking eye contact.
Without saying anything more, but not needing to because her subsequent silence spoke volumes about her desires, she scrambled away.
Maddox clenched his jaw muscles, watching the way she stiffly walked away. Fuck, he understood the need coursing through her. The same urgency pulsed through him. Could he trust her? He’d read the reports and the glowing recommendations she’d received. She didn’t seem flaky or a woman out to screw over her superior.
Even if he could breathe again, the spell she’d cast over him wasn’t broken. The addiction ran wildly out of control in the same way it had when he’d first met her on that dance floor. That’s when he knew an undeniable truth.
This girl didn’t only make him want to break his rules.
She made him want to abolish them.
Chapter 2
In desperate need of an escape and to breathe air that was far away from Maddox, Joss left the partygoers behind and strode along a lighted pathway next to the outdoor bar that led somewhere. Truth be told, it didn’t matter where it led. Anywhere was better than being near Maddox’s pulsing energy that made her mind a damn circus.
An hour. That’s all it had taken for her to do what she’d sworn she wouldn’t do—melt in his goddamn presence. She’d let herself feel all the passion he embodied and allowed herself to remember the way he’d made her feel that night at the bar. Sexy. Desirable. Alive.
Dear God, she wanted to experience all of it again. Over and over until she was sweaty, exhausted, and completely satisfied.
As she strode along the pathway, the chill of the breeze created goose bumps on her arms, and she hugged herself, rubbing them away. The voices behind her grew quieter, the relief she’d been looking for. She needed to think. She needed to put Maddox behind her. She needed to look at him like her lieutenant, not the man who’d given her the hottest night of her life. One she simply couldn’t forget.
He seemed to be capable of that, always seeming so professional, so why couldn’t she?
Careful not to slip on the rocky ground in her two-inch heels, she recalled how much she’d changed after that night in the bar. She hadn’t been the same because she missed the way Maddox had made her feel, which made her regret agreeing to the one-night stand plan. Even if she didn’t want a relationship, she for sure wanted to bone him again.
From time to time, she’d wondered if maybe it’d been the one-night-stand fantasy that had caused her mild obsession with him, but she knew that couldn’t be true. She still felt drawn to him in ways she couldn’t explain—an entire year later. Every night in those quiet moments before sleep took her, she thought of him…his touch…his passion…his rawness.
She rubbed her arms again, warming her skin, knowing he’d ruined her for any other man. No one compared. Sure, she’d tried to go on a couple of double dates with Emilia and Troy and Troy’s firefighter buddies, but none of them had that something special that Maddox possessed. No one even came close.
Now, like some punishment, she had to be near him when all she wanted to do was forget him. Her career mattered, she reminded herself firmly. She had to get past this. She had put all her focus into finishing at the top of her class, both in university while she’d obtained her criminal justice degree and in the police academy to stand out from the rest. She couldn’t fuck this up. Nor could she allow a sex scandal with her lieutenant to crumble her dreams of making detective in a few years. The last thing she needed was Maddox requesting that she transfer because of her inability to stop ogling him.
She heaved a long sigh when she discovered that the path stopped at a bench with a perfect view of Elliott Bay. The bright half moon lit up the sky, making the water glisten like black glass. She heaved an even longer sigh and dropped down onto the bench, staring out into the peaceful night. Off in the distance, lights sparkled off a couple of boats. Right as she glanced up to the starry sky, the sudden crack of a branch caused her to glance left.
Maddox stood at the end of the pathway a few feet from her, his hands shoved into the pockets of his pants. He wore a plain white T-shirt and jeans, but nothing about him was plain. His strong biceps, thick forearms, and powerful thighs standing out in the pale moonlight were all she could see.
Warmth began to flow rapidly through her veins, her nipples tightening into taut buds. She squeezed her thighs together, feeding pleasure to her clit. This was what he did to her. That simply. What no one else had done to her this past year. He harnessed something powerful that spoke to her on every level. He had the on/off switch, and she was basically just along for the ride.
He stared at her for a long time before addressing her. “Why did you leave? Is everything okay?”
God, she didn’t want to have to say it. Her heart began to race, and her palms grew sweaty. “Listen, I’m sorry I looked at you that way,” she said, lifting her chin and holding his stare. “I know it was wrong. It won’t happen again.”
He paused. Then, “You think I don’t like when you look at me like that?”
She swallowed deeply at his implication and in response to the low tenor of his voice. The same warm, sensual tone she’d thought of every night since she’d first heard him speak. Her mind began to spin, her body yearning for him to come closer. “Do you?”
“Of course, I do,” he murmured. “It tempts me to do things I shouldn’t.”
She blinked in surprise, butterflies filling her belly. “To be honest, that’s not what I expected you to say.”
“What did you expect?”
“For you to agree that this is wrong.”
“This is wrong,” he confirmed, beginning to approach her. Like a hunter stalking his prey, he closed in with large, unhurried strides. She rose, and the heat of his body encased her. “I’m aware of how complicated this is. I know that, professionally, I shouldn’t touch you. It’s incredibly risky. I also don’t fucking care. Do you?”
She stared into the warmth of his eyes, instantly dra
wn in. “I thought you didn’t come back for seconds?”
His left eyebrow arched. “Are you saying no?”
She considered him. The risks were real and true. Unavoidable. Yet with him close, being the guy she remembered from the club, wanting her in the way he wanted her before, those risks seemed small in comparison to the reward. “I want you,” she whispered.
The side of his mouth curved, and he pressed the strength of his body against hers, letting her discover his erection. “It can only be tonight. One more taste to cure the hunger.”
“Yes, only tonight, like a dream,” she echoed his concerns, knowing the roadblocks between them. She, his subordinate. He, her superior.
“That’s right, sugar,” he murmured, sliding his hand across her lower back, pulling her into him, nice and close. “Like a filthy, dirty dream.” He tilted his head down to her, his warm breath brushing across her lips. “A dream where the good girl wants to make some bad decisions.”
“With the one guy who’s very good at being bad.” She knew his thing. After this, he’d bail again. Too many complications stood between them. Too many risks. Even now, voices from the party carried through the air, screaming danger at her. Anyone could catch them. At any minute. Her career would be tarnished as the gossip of them together spread.
Though the thought of being caught titillated her in the same way she’d been excited at the nightclub. Again, in Maddox’s presence, she felt awakened and alive. Her blood pulsed. Her heart hammered in her ears. Her body ached to be claimed by him.
He dragged his mouth back over hers and whispered against her lips, “I’ve thought about touching you for the last week. I’ve thought about bending you over and taking what I want.”
“Then take me.”
He didn’t need further invitation, his lips sealed across hers. It didn’t matter that anyone could catch them. Or that he was her superior. She wanted him for tonight. She wanted to feel what she’d felt a year ago.
At first, his kiss was sweet, gentle even, lightly teasing. His tongue slid against her bottom lip until she opened for him. His mouth brushed against hers, his hands soft on her face. She moaned, a needy sound she didn’t recognize, and pressed herself against the length of his body. A low growl rose from his throat as he cupped her nape and yanked her closer, deepening the kiss. His tongue dove into her mouth, stroking with a perfect rhythm, causing heat to flare. She wasn’t thinking consequences when his hand left her face, traveling to her bottom where he ground her up against him. Her body instantly remembered him, her nipples puckering in anticipation, her sex becoming drenched.
She moaned again, the sound raw with desperation.
He grunted, low and deep, and then backed way, resting his forehead against hers, breathless. “I can’t do this right. It’s going to be quick and hard.”
The air brushed across her overly sensitive skin, making her yearn for his rough touches. “Maddox,” she whispered, not even recognizing the heady desire she heard echoing in her voice. “Please…”
He leaned away then and looked at her. His brows drew together as he cupped her face. “I like hearing you beg, sweetheart. Do it again.”
“Fuck me. Please.”
The side of his mouth arched in that sexy way it did. Eyes locked on her, he reached into his back pocket. The energy he tossed out into the world caused her clit to throb. No one had ever wanted her like this. Like he was starved for her. He looked so damn desperate to consume her; he made her want him just as much.
Her inner muscles clenched in anticipation as she watched him free himself and apply the condom. She was reduced to a panting mess of need before she was back in his arms. He lifted her slightly, carrying her behind a tree and into the shadows. She gathered her dress, lifting it over her hips, desperate for him to take her away. He pushed his jeans and boxer briefs down to his knees and removed her panties, quickly bunching them into a ball in his hands.
“You can’t be loud,” he told her, assisting her to lean against a boulder she hadn’t known was there until she felt the large rock beneath her bare bottom. He grasped her leg and added, “We don’t want trouble.”
That was the only warning he gave before he tucked her thigh across his hip and entered her, right to the hilt.
She gasped, shocked at how he filled her. It’d been a long year since she’d taken a lover, and Maddox was so very deliciously hard inside her. She wrapped her arms around his neck, holding herself tightly to him. Every time he shifted his hips forward, she quietly gasped, and when he withdrew, her inner muscles squeezed to keep him deep inside.
“Christ, you’re tight.” He grunted, low and deep, shifting her leg higher onto his arm, his lips sealing over hers again.
Each swipe of his tongue deepened the kiss more until all her thoughts fled her mind, and all that remained was him and her, and the crackling heat between them. He pumped his cock, slowly at first, then faster and faster until her breath grew raspy. His skin never slapped against hers, the only sound was the faint sucking noise of his body entering hers, but she didn’t need the force of his body banging against hers.
His cock was enough. All she needed. God, he was perfect inside her. Owning her. Taking her. Possessing her.
Pressure and weight filled her lower body. She broke off the kiss and dropped her head back, the warm air brushing across her face as he moved faster now. It all became too much, too intense. His body against hers flooded her with an unnatural heat, making her tumble into sensations only he could bring.
His hand suddenly slapped over her mouth, silencing the moans she didn’t know were spilling out.
She lifted her head, finding his dark eyes pinned on her. “Fuck, how I want to make you scream,” he growled.
His captivating eyes. His sculpted, sexy mouth. The intensity on his face. The pressure of his palm against her lips, forcing her silence. The thickness of his cock, filling her perfectly. His low and heavy breaths, consuming her. The voices carrying on the wind, reminding her of the danger of being caught…they all drove her higher. Until she couldn’t take anymore.
“Oh, God, yes,” she whispered beneath his hand, her inner muscles quivering.
His gaze smoldered. “Do that again, sweetheart.”
The choice to convulse around him didn’t belong to her, but she obliged naturally. She squeezed his shaft, climbing the cliff of euphoria. Everything about him drove her higher and higher. The way he looked at her, watched her with those hungry eyes. The way he held her like she wouldn’t break, stretching her leg high so he could get as deep as he wanted. The way he filled her, taking her with abandon as if he couldn’t get enough of her.
All those reasons pushed her closer to the edge, but it was his growl that sounded an awful lot like possession that sent her free falling. To be wanted so vocally gave her all she’d been missing. At whatever he saw on her face, his cock grew harder and bigger inside her. Tears leaked from her eyes as he pumped his hips a little faster now, a bit more out of control. His fingers tightened into a fist in her hair, his teeth bit his bottom lip, and when he thrust forward and groaned, giving a deep shudder, spilling himself inside her, she unraveled. She bucked and jerked against him until she rode out every single second of her climax.
Some time later, her mind returned to her, and she began to catch her breath.
“Even sweeter than I remembered, sugar,” he murmured, slowly kissing her mouth until she found the strength to kiss him back. Only then did he slide his mouth from hers, gently placing butterfly kisses on her neck as she heard him zip up his pants.
Then she looked at him.
In the darkness, she watched him lift her panties. “Goddamn perfect.” He brought the lace to his nose and inhaled deeply. She should be embarrassed, but his low moan of approval left no room for shame. “A small gift to remember you by, yes?”
She nodded, speechless.
He gave her that sexy half smile. Then, he was gone, as if her second taste of Maddox Hunt had all been
a dream that she’d imagined while sitting on the bench staring out at the dark water.
Chapter 3
Maddox woke the following morning on edge. As his morning continued at work, things only got worse. From his spot behind his desk in his small office, Maddox glanced at the clock on his computer monitor: 11:00 a.m. He sighed. This day had begun to annoy him. Seconds felt like minutes. Minutes felt like hours. While Saturday shifts went hand-in-hand with a cop’s life, Maddox wanted to be anywhere but there. So far, all he’d done was reports, and all he wanted to do was Joss—in every dirty way he’d been thinking about since he’d gotten another taste of her.
Last night, he’d taken another bite of the forbidden fruit. He’d done so in hopes that he’d appease his hunger. Only problem? Touching her again made the fire for her burn even brighter. She hadn’t been as good as he remembered. She’d been better. The way her body surrendered to him, heated for him so intently, responded to him so beautifully, caused him to want her again. And again. And again…until he extinguished the inferno between them.
He’d dug himself into a hole. Joss was an addiction he craved to feed, not cure. And that was a fucking problem.
“Hunt.”
Maddox glanced up, and his back straightened like a steel rod as Chief of Police, Eric Dalton, entered his office. He froze in his seat as rapid thoughts blasted through his mind. Part of him knew he had this coming. He’d touched someone he shouldn’t, and the chief would call him out on it. The stronger part of him said that Joss would never report him. She had far more to lose than he did, including her reputation. Maddox’s job was already established. Sure, the scandal would be a blow to his career for a little while, but he’d recover. Joss? It wouldn’t be so easy to repair the damage.
Heartbreaker (Filthy Dirty Love #1) Page 3