Maddox lowered his pizza and stared into her eyes intently. The seconds drew on as his brows furrowed. Her body heated, both under the powerful command of his regard and in all the things he wasn’t saying out loud but she could hear anyway.
“But who am I to say,” she added quickly to break the silence, realizing she was making things a little too emotional. “I’m nowhere near perfect, so I’m probably not the best judge of someone’s character anyway.”
He didn’t reply, instead he gathered up his last piece of pizza. He ate the entire slice in silence before he grabbed his napkin, wiping his hands, looking at her again. “You’re wrong, you know.”
“Wrong?”
He pushed his plate away and stared at her with those stern eyes. “You’re the perfect you. The only you in this world. It doesn’t get more perfect than that.”
“Oh, you’d better be careful,” she said seriously, “I might start thinking you’re capable of being loving.”
He barked out a laugh then leaned away. “You’re right. You’re a terrible judge of character.”
Chapter 9
The next morning, Maddox awoke with a jolt. Fully aware that something was different, he snapped his eyes open and turned his head on the pillow. Joss lay next to him, snoring softly. The sun beamed through the window, casting a warm glow onto her bare thigh sticking out of the dark gray duvet. Apparently, after he’d taken her again last night, he’d fallen asleep.
That never happened. Women never stayed the night. Ever. He made sure of it. He stared at her, his gut twisting as he realized how many rules he was unconsciously breaking with her. She crashed through indestructible walls with very little effort, and without him even realizing she was doing it, and he didn’t know how she fucking did that. Last night, he’d outright refused to go to dinner with her, and yet, somehow, she’d outsmarted him and basically dragged him there, making him feel like an idiot if he didn’t follow.
Now, as she slept peacefully, her hair curtaining her face and her cheeks rosy, his mind churned. She lay there like a sleeping beauty for him to wake with a single kiss. He couldn’t help but ask himself: What is it about you? Over and over again, he pondered the question, never getting a solid answer on why she captivated him so much.
He sighed, and that stirred her, causing her to rub her face into the pillow and open her eyes.
She blinked twice. Then, “Hi.”
“Good morning,” he said, voice tight. His head spun. What in the hell was going on with him? Last night he’d enjoyed going for pizza with her. He liked listening to her speak and watching her smile. Most of all, he liked waking up next to her. And that was a problem.
He turned onto his side and stared into the gorgeous depths of her soulful eyes, wondering how she possessed the powers she did. What sort of trickery was she using to get him to respond to her in the ways she wanted, without him even thinking about putting up his shields to stop her?
She slowly lifted her head off the pillow, giving him a measured look. “Is everything all right?” she asked, her eyes searching his intently.
Her hair was a mess, sticking up wildly, and somehow, she looked more beautiful than ever. “You confuse me.”
She considered him carefully for a good few seconds before she laughed easily, rolling onto her back. “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”
He wasn’t laughing, far from it. “I don’t know,” he answered honestly, trying to find solid ground again. He wasn’t supposed to enjoy her this much. He was supposed to curb his hunger for her, not fall further, wanting even more of her than she’d originally offered.
Her smile remained when she tucked her hand between her face and the pillow, eyes even twinkling. “Well, Mr. Serious, if you don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing, then what do you know?”
“I know that I’m surprised I didn’t ask you to leave last night.” He hesitated, letting that truth sink in. He pushed the blanket farther down his torso, his skin flushing hot. “To be perfectly frank with you, I can’t decide if your presence weakens me, or if you’re smarter than me because you’re crafty and getting me to do stuff I wouldn’t normally do.”
She burst out laughing and gave that sparkling smile he was growing fond of before replying. “Let’s call it a little bit of both and leave it at that.” She pushed against him, sending him onto his back as she climbed onto his lap. Her hair flowed around her face, her bare breasts dangling deliciously in his face, all stealing the thoughts from his mind. “You need to calm down and stop being so serious. Let’s stop thinking and stay focused on what really matters.”
He fisted his hands, afraid if he touched her, he wouldn’t be able to stop. “What matters?”
She gave him a sexy grin and purred, “Getting each other off, of course.” She lifted her hips and found his morning wood and rubbed her warm and wet folds against him. Back and forth, she slid her damp sex from the base to tip, until he awakened, growing harder for her.
The tease was enough to remove his hesitations. With a groan, he slid his hands up her back, as she sealed her mouth across his, teasing him with her perfect taste.
“I know where we stand, Maddox,” she whispered against his mouth, “and I know that waking up next to you this morning doesn’t mean that I get to leave my toothbrush here.” She rubbed her clit against his hard shaft and moaned, hot desire filling her eyes.
When she moved away, he watched as the little vixen reached for the condom he’d left on the bedside table, along with the two already opened wrappers from the night before. Playfully and with that sexy smile of hers, she opened the foil and quickly sheathed his cock in the latex. He groaned as she slid her hand over him, but soon, that pleasure was nothing compared to when she held onto his cock like she owned him and lowered down, slowly taking him in.
He grasped her hip, stopping her, using his other hand to cup her nape. “You want to fuck me, sweetheart?” he asked her.
She fought against his grip on her hip, rose a little, then swallowed him up again, her long hair curtaining her face, trailing along her breasts. “Please,” she breathed.
Lost in those eyes, he slid his hand across her face, bringing her mouth back to his, and tangled his tongue with hers. He kissed her until she was breathless, then he said, “Go on then, darlin’. Show me what you’ve got.”
Letting her control things for now, he released her, laying his head back onto the pillow, watching her bounce atop him. She grabbed the headboard, holding onto that as she worked herself over him, taking him in deeply. He groaned when she arched her back, shoving her breasts out to him.
He took her up on her offer and massaged each breast, a perfect handful with taut nipples, great for pinching. She began moaning, so he squeezed harder and harder until she dropped forward, her breath raspy by his ear. She placed her head into his neck and shifted her hips back and forth, and his hands came to her hips. Forward and backward, she rocked against him, harder and faster, until her inner walls hugged him tightly. In the pulsating grip of his shaft, he sensed her climax. Doing what he could to help, he assisted her, shifting her even faster now. His cock slapped the inside of her channel until she was gasping with pleasure, and he was moaning against her slick heat strangling him.
“Fuck, you’re tight and wet,” he growled, pinching his eyes shut as her pleasure brought his higher, flexing all his muscles. He dug his fingers into her hips and continued bouncing her atop him, feeling her wet pussy get wetter by the second until her slick juices spread out between them.
“Maddox,” she gasped, straightening up, her hands coming to his chest. Her back angled, chin pointed to the ceiling. She rocked her hips, back and forth, her moans growing louder and louder. “Oh fuck, oh fuck,” she whimpered.
Christ, he wanted her to get there too because her tight cunt drove him to places he never wanted to return from. Damn sure that he’d never get enough of her, he gripped her thighs and gave her the leverage she needed, and rocked her hard, ignoring th
e burning of his muscles. Over and over again, he helped her fuck him with force and speed. He slapped her ass hard, again and again, until she no longer rocked her hips.
“Give me what I want,” he ordered with a bite to his voice, latching on to her nipple and sucking it deeply into his mouth.
She froze.
He saw the early quivers, the pink flushing over her chest. He heard the hitch of her breath before her high-pitched scream blasted through the air, and he’d had all the teasing he could stand. He grabbed her in his arms, flipped her onto her belly then reentered her from behind.
Those screams never stopped as he pinned her beneath him with one hand pressing against her shoulder blades. Urgent now to finish, he pounded into her. Wet, sucking noises filled the air until those sounds got louder, and he felt her inner walls clamp against his shaft like a vise grip, forcing him to thrust harder and grunt against the burn in his muscles. Sweat slicked his skin as he shut his eyes, focusing on his pleasure as he felt hers rise.
Unadulterated screams he’d never heard from her filled his ears, and those sweet, beautiful sounds drew him toward the edge. Fire burned in his body as he roared and blanketed her back, becoming hard as steel. The sound of her losing control, the scent of their sex, her damp, lush body beneath him, all drew up his balls. When she unraveled, thrashing against him and soaking him, he exploded, bucking and jerking, holding her tightly against him while his seed blasted into the condom.
By the time his climax released him, he’d collapsed onto her sweaty back, while her convulsing cunt continued to milk him, greedily draining every drop. Breathless, he slid off her onto his back, arms resting at his sides, legs sprawled out, while she lay face-first on the mattress, catching her breath.
Sometime later, she lifted her face off the bed. She looked well fucked with flushed cheeks and a perfect, satisfied smile. “Seriously, are you even real?” she asked with a soft laugh.
He chuckled, sliding her damp hair away from his face. “What?”
“Honestly,” she said, her head stuck to the mattress, apparently unable to move. “Emilia and I were joking that you were a Sex God, but I’m actually starting to think there might be some truth to that. I have never come so hard in my life. How in the hell do you do that?”
“I can do that because I care enough to take the time to understand how your body works,” he told her seriously. “But believe me, Joss, I could ask you the same question.”
“If I were real?” She laughed, and at his nod, she added, “What about me makes you wonder if I’m real?”
He paused. Then, “Everything.”
Emotion rushed into her eyes before it was gone in a flash. She slid off the bed and said, “You’ve got half an hour to get to work, and I have a busy day of errands ahead of me. I should probably go.” She fetched her clothing off the floor.
From his spot on the bed, he watched her round, sexy ass jiggle while she bent down and gathered her panties. Before, the distance was something he would’ve welcomed. Now, her running from him brought a sense of coldness he didn’t like. “Come here,” he said.
She turned to him, holding her clothes to her chest, and sat next to him on the bed. He started into her eyes, seeing that she had her emotions locked up tight. Not that he blamed her. He’d set up the rules, and he was the heartbreaker, after all. Regardless, he didn’t like it and intended to fix that coldness.
He sat up and slid his hand across her cheek, sealing his mouth over hers. While he’d started off kissing her slowly and sweetly, he soon threaded his hand in her hair, deepening the kiss until he felt her heavy breathing through her nose and sensed her body leaning into him.
Only then did he lean away, finding her eyes heated once again. “Now you can go,” he told her, regaining some of the control he’d just lost.
She chuckled softly and backed away. Her cheeks were flushed again, her lips puffy from his kiss. “Is it completely necessary to a) fuck me until I can’t walk and b) always send me off wanting more of you?”
“Absolutely, yes.” He grinned. “And I do it because a) I can and b) I want to.”
* * *
Later that morning, Joss had been doing laundry at home when a text pinged her cell phone: Meet me at Discovery Park at noon by the lighthouse. Since the park was twenty minutes from the station, she assumed Maddox had something else going on this afternoon, allowing for a longer lunch. Whatever the reason, she was glad for the interruption from chores she didn’t want to do anyway.
Once she tossed on a pair of jeans and a flowy, violet blouse and applied a little makeup, she drove the fifteen minutes to the park. When she reached the Visitor’s Center, she parked her car next to Maddox’s cherry-red Dodge Challenger with a black racing stripe on the hood before making the trek along the trail leading to the beach and the lighthouse.
By the time she reached the beach, her skin was flushed and sweaty, and she was only too glad that she’d worn her hair in a messy bun instead of putting in the curls she’d considered before leaving the house. But after this, she’d go back to chores, so why bother? That was the benefit of being with Maddox. She didn’t have to always impress him like she would a boyfriend, trying to look perfect for him. She knew she’d get sex again from Maddox, and she knew he was happy with her not having to worry about these things.
The warm sun beamed down on her when she stared out at the water, and she smiled, breathing in the fresh air. Resting along the edge of Elliott Bay, the West Point Lighthouse stood proud, with the white tower and a small cottage tucked beside it. As pretty as the view was, nothing looked better than Maddox sitting on the rocks, staring out at Puget Sound. She felt the pull to go to him, the warm touch his closeness always brought. As she approached, she noticed they weren’t alone here, telling her sexy times would have to wait. Though she also wouldn’t put it past him to have sex with her, not giving a shit who saw them. But she did have some hard limits, and that was one of them.
When she reached the rocky edge and carefully began to step from rock to rock, she was glad for her flats. Maddox had yet to notice her, obviously lost in his thoughts, so she tapped her foot against the rock, saying, “Shouldn’t you be working?”
He glanced sideways, the sun warming the color of his eyes. “I have a meeting at headquarters this afternoon so I booked it a little early.” He gave his sexy half-smile. “And you don’t need to worry. I looked around. There’s not a cop in sight.”
“Lucky us.” She laughed, glancing at the water, taking in the view. Off in the distance, a sailboat glided by with a couple of people sunbathing on the deck. “I forgot how beautiful this place is. I haven’t been here since I was a kid.”
“My dad and I spent a lot of time here,” he said, drawing her attention back to him.
She stared into his commanding eyes, realizing she’d never asked an important question about his father, but could only assume. “I’m guessing your dad is a cop?”
“He was, yeah,” Maddox replied, leaning back on his hands. “John Hunt. He used to work with Eric, so you might have heard of him, though you were probably pretty little when they were beat cops together.”
The name sounded familiar, and she shouldn’t have been surprised. Cops bred cops. And Eric had been around a long time. “Maybe. Eric knows a lot of people.”
She began to study Maddox and noted a softness about him that she hadn’t seen all that much. He seemed thoughtful, gentle, even.
Before she could find out what was on his mind, he grabbed a plastic bag and held it up. “I picked us up some Thai on the way. Come, sit. We’d better dig in before it gets cold.”
“Lunch?” she said with a sly smile, carefully making her way to a flat rock next to him. “Dear God, you’d better watch out, someone might think this is a date.”
He snorted and offered his hand, assisting her to sit, and while she did, he added, “Like you said, O’Neil.” He reached into the bag, taking out the Thai paper boxes. “It can’t be a date if we both k
now it’s not a date.”
“I did say that, didn’t I?” She accepted the box and the chopsticks, then grinned at him. “I’m so wise.”
He chuckled. “Don’t get cocky now.”
“Don’t you worry, I’ll leave all that alpha cockiness to you.” She liked the way he laughed now, the sound coming easier than she remembered. She opened the box, discovering that he’d brought her chicken Pad Thai. Even more curious, she asked, “And just how did you know that Pad Thai is my favorite?”
He didn’t look at her, opening his box, revealing chicken and vegetables. “On your first day at the station, you brought your leftovers in for your lunch, so I went on the hunch that you enjoyed it.”
“Wait. You saw me reheating my lunch?”
“I did.” His mouth twitched.
She recalled back to that day. She thought she’d been alone. “I don’t remember seeing you in the lunchroom.”
“Of course, you don’t,” he said, scooping up some chicken with his chopsticks, giving her a knowing look. “I made sure you didn’t see me.”
She watched him eat and saw the little hint of a smile on his face. “You cannot say something like that and not tell me more. Were you looking at me a lot during that first week?”
He turned his head to her then, those warm eyes meeting hers again, causing butterflies to whip around her belly. “There wasn’t a time you entered a room that I didn’t see you.”
There wasn’t a time when I didn’t feel you she wanted to say but stopped herself. There were rules he’d put in place to ensure things didn’t get messy. And she’d agreed to them, welcomed them, even. Being with Maddox made sense if she kept things distant. Getting involved with a guy with clear commitment issues would only lead her to heartbreak. Nope, not going to happen.
No matter that she sensed the warmth from his admission spiral within, she couldn’t walk through that door, not even once. And lately, whether because of the sex they had or maybe this softening of Maddox, she found that door wanting to open so damn bad.
Heartbreaker (Filthy Dirty Love #1) Page 11