by J. S. Scott
“What are you thinking about?” he asked in a low, seductive voice.
Maddie opened her eyes and stared at him. “You,” she answered honestly.
His eyes grew intense and his grip tightened around her body. “If you don’t stop looking at me like that, I’m taking you into the house, stripping you naked and fucking you until you beg me to stop. And then I’ll do it all over again,” he warned hoarsely.
She let that masculine warning slide over her, loving his intensity. Right now, there was nothing she wanted more than to call him on his threat. But she knew he’d follow through. “Simon’s wedding reception,” she reminded him. “Put me down.”
He lowered her to the ground, keeping her gown around her legs so she was decent. “I don’t want to let go.” He guided her feet to the floor, but kept his arms around her.
Maddie didn’t need Sam to explain because she knew exactly how he felt. Being together again was almost like a dream that she didn’t want to end. They had always fit together like two puzzle pieces that locked into place when they were together, so natural that it was almost frightening. “I think I need that drink you were talking about.” She need something; anything to make herself loosen her hold on Sam.
“What do you want?” he questioned, releasing his hold on her with a pained expression.
You. Inside me. Now.
“I’m not familiar with drinks. You choose.” She smoothed the wrinkles from her dress as she licked her dry lips.
He put a hand on the small of her back, leading her to an elegant vacant table. After seating her with manners that any mother would be proud of, she watched him walk toward the bar, so parched, her tongue was sticking to the roof of her mouth. Sam had always done that to her. One look, one touch, one kiss…and she was captivated.
“Hello,” a low baritone said casually above her.
Craning her neck, she saw the same man who had winked at her earlier during the ceremony, a broad smile on his charming face. And he was a charmer. Maddie was certain of that. He looked like the type of guy who could get himself out of any sticky situation, even if caught red-handed. “Hi,” she answered cautiously.
“Max Hamilton. I wanted to meet you.” He held out a friendly hand.
Maddie clasped it. “Maddie Reynolds. Nice to meet you, Mr. Hamilton.”
“Please, call me Max,” he said suavely, pulling his hand from hers and seating himself across from her. “Dr. Reynolds? Kara and Simon speak highly of you.”
“Call me Maddie.” She searched his face, looking into his gold-green eyes, checking for any signs of malice. There were none. She wasn’t sure why Sam had been so hostile about this man. He seemed pretty harmless and very friendly. There was something about his smile that she liked, something about him that she liked.
“Beautiful wedding,” he commented casually, his lips curling up in a small grin.
“Beautiful couple,” Maddie added, returning his smile.
“You and Kara both look lovely, Maddie.”
She cocked her head and looked at him, wondering why a guy like him wasn’t with a woman. He was ruggedly handsome and, she knew, loaded. “I take it you didn’t bring a date. I didn’t see you with anyone.” He had been sitting next to an older gentleman and a woman old enough to be his grandmother, during the ceremony.
He shook his head slowly, his auburn hair bright in the candlelit room. “No. I was married. I lost her two years ago.”
“I’m sorry.” Maddie suddenly wished she hadn’t asked. His face grew pensive and sad.
“What about you? No husband? No boyfriend? Are you and Sam an item? You looked pretty friendly a while ago,” he observed, his voice amused.
“I don’t know,” she answered truthfully.
“Would you have dinner with me, Maddie?” he asked, his expression earnest.
There was something in his eyes, something in his voice that made her want to say yes. Maybe it was the emptiness she saw in his expression or a loneliness she sensed behind his rather mysterious exterior. “Yes. Of course, that would be lovely.” It was only dinner, so she had no reason to refuse.
“Give me your number.” He pulled out his cell.
She rattled it off, finishing just as Sam stepped back to the table with their drinks.
Max smiled, depositing his cell back into his pocket and standing. “Sam. How are you?”
Sam’s face was like stone, his expression grim. “I was fine until you started hitting on my woman,” he answered gruffly as he plopped the drinks on the table and faced Max.
“Jesus. Don’t go caveman on me, Sam. I was just introducing myself.” Max took a step, as though he were ready to face off with Sam.
“Did you give him your phone number?” Sam growled, shooting Maddie a disapproving look.
“Sit down, Sam. Max, it was nice meeting you.” She smiled at Max and gave Sam a warning look.
“You too, Maddie.” Max shook her hand again and leaned down beside her ear to ask in a low, concerned voice, “You okay? He looks pissed off.”
She rolled her eyes. “He usually does. I’m fine.”
“I’ll talk to you later.” Max walked away, Sam giving him a belligerent look that said he would be willing to go rounds with him as he left.
Sam’s eyes bored into Max’s back, his fists clenched. He sat and knocked back half of his drink before he spoke. “You are not going anywhere with him.” His fingers clenched around the glass, his eyes furious.
Maddie glanced at him and took a sip of the creamy white drink he had brought for her. “Umm…that’s good. What is it?”
“White Russian,” he answered briskly. “Did you hear me, Madeline?”
“I’m ignoring you until you do something other than give me orders. I don’t like it.” She took a larger sip of her drink, enjoying the smooth taste on her tongue.
“Hamilton is no good for you, Maddie. He’s never gotten over his late wife. He’d make you miserable,” he growled, tossing back the rest of his drink.
“He looks so lonely,” she answered sadly.
“He is and I’m sorry for his pain, but you aren’t the answer,” he said huskily. “You’re already taken by a man who needs you desperately. You’re mine, Sunshine. You always have been.”
She looked into Sam’s gorgeous eyes and fell into their depths, completely unable to deny that she belonged to him. His look was both forlorn and fierce, the two combining until she wanted to cling to him and try to make his pain go away. “You can’t just give me orders and expect me to blindly obey, Sam. I make my own decisions. I always have. I’m not the naïve young woman you once knew.” She sipped at her drink, watching him with total fascination.
She could see a fine mist of perspiration coating his face, his barely leashed emotions close to the surface. He stood and grasped her hand, pulling her to her feet.
“Let go dance.” It wasn’t a request. It was a statement.
Maddie sat her nearly empty glass on the table and followed him.
Chapter 7
Dancing with Sam was like making love on a dance floor. He touched, he caressed, he seduced, he whispered naughty things in her ear until her body was on fire and her panties were completely drenched. By the time they left the dance floor after several songs, Maddie was practically panting.
Kara cut her beautiful cake, tossed her bouquet which seemed to fly straight to Maddie, although she wasn’t even trying to catch it. Simon didn’t even bother to toss Kara’s garter; he took it off his new bride in private and stuffed it into Sam’s pocket with an evil grin. Surprisingly, Sam accepted it with a broad smile and a clap on the back to his younger brother, leaving a perplexed look on Simon’s face.
“Our duty is done. Let’s take a walk,” Sam said in a graveled voice as he stood next to her, both of them sipping another drink and watching people slowly leaving the reception.
Maddie didn’t ask where they were going. She didn’t care. Her hand slipped into his comfortably and she followed whereve
r he wanted to lead.
He walked slowly across the lawn, letting go of her hand and wrapping an arm around her waist as they started down a cobbled pathway, nodding to a Hudson security agent at the head of the path. “Nobody else comes down here tonight,” Sam instructed the agent in a low voice as he guided Maddie around the older man.
“Yes, Mr. Hudson. I’ll make sure they don’t,” the guard answered.
It was dark, probably unlit to keep guests away from areas where Sam didn’t want them. Maddie gasped in delight as they exited the path, the moonlight illuminating the private dock and the water from the bay, an amazing sight with its distant points of light and the beauty of the stars. “It’s beautiful. Is this your dock?”
“Yes. It’s mine and it’s private,” he answered ominously.
Maddie stepped onto the dock, careful that her heels didn’t catch in the slats. “So this is where you propositioned Kara?” she asked, trying not to sound jealous because Sam had once hit on her friend.
“It wasn’t Kara I wanted. I was drunk and probably envious of how happy Simon looked. I didn’t know how serious he was about her and had I not been drinking it never would have happened,” he answered, as he swung Maddie up in his arms. “Even if she had agreed, it still wouldn’t have happened. I was much too drunk to perform that night and once I was sober I wouldn’t have wanted to be with her. She’s not my type.”
She wanted to object to Sam carrying her, taking her weight, but he didn’t look in the least bit stressed, striding down the walkway to a structure further down the wooden dock. She wrapped her arms around his neck and put her head on his shoulder, knowing she could get used to this so very easily. Sam was such a hot alpha male who called to everything feminine inside her that she just wanted to melt into him, let him protect her for a while. “What is your type?” she questioned curiously.
“A petite, beautiful redhead who likes to tease,” he replied gruffly, reaching the structure and bolting up a set of stairs.
Maddie’s mouth opened in shock as he reached the top, pushing open a screen door with his shoulder. The upper floor was screened to keep bugs away, and one entire wall was made of glass, providing an awesome view of the water. “This is incredible,” she whispered as Sam lowered her feet to the ground.
Obviously, someone had been expecting him. The place was decorated in all-weather patio furniture, but there were candles lit on every table and a bottle of champagne sat on ice with two fluted glasses next to a huge, cushy double lounger.
“I spend a lot of time here. It’s quiet and peaceful,” Sam said casually, pulling his tuxedo jacket off and throwing it on a chair. “I like the water.”
“But you don’t have a boat?” Maddie asked him, noticing the absence of any vessel attached to the dock.
He shrugged as he flopped into the lounger. “Never needed one. I can be on the water right here.” He opened his arms to her. “Come here. I want to discuss your little comment about batteries, and how that’s affected me for the last few days.”
Maddie bit her lip nervously. Really, what Sam meant was that he wanted revenge, a reciprocation that would probably involve breath-stealing kisses and erotic torture.
She shot a quick glance at the door.
“Don’t even think about it. I can be up and catching you within seconds, especially in those shoes,” he commented reasonably, but with an underlying dangerous tone. “Either come to me or I’ll come get you.”
She sighed, knowing she didn’t really want to get away. Slipping her feet out of her shoes, she slid into the lounger and was immediately encircled by strong arms that held her tightly against an equally muscular chest. “You’re so bossy,” she told him in a disgruntled voice.
“I always have been. You’re just noticing that now? Simon started accusing me of it from the time he could speak,” he retorted with laughter in his voice.
Actually, Sam’s take-charge manner was something that she had always admired about him, but now he took being authoritative to a whole new level. She supposed it had a lot to do with his success. “You’re different now,” she mused. He was cultivated and cultured, but she wasn’t so sure he had changed all that much on the inside. He was still as rough around the edges emotionally as he was back then. He just had learned to cover it in a bland, smooth exterior.
“Is that good or bad?” he asked, his hand sliding up and down her bare arm, leaving goose bumps on her flesh.
“Neither,” she answered, fairly certain that underneath the glitz and wealth, he was pretty much the same man. That fact was both terrifying and comforting.
“How have the new batteries been working out for you, Madeline?” he asked in a hoarse, low voice.
She snorted as she fingered his tie. “They were very…um…stimulating, thanks.”
“I had to fight with myself every night not to pound down the door of the guest bedroom, strip you naked and fuck you until you screamed with pleasure. I stroked myself off every night thinking about you pleasuring yourself.” His voice sounded desperate, and he pulled the tiny sleeve of her dress lower. “Then today, I had to try to hide my erection all afternoon and evening when I saw you in this fuck-me dress, especially once I knew your breasts were bare, just waiting to be touched by my fingers, my mouth.” The bodice started to slip as he inched the dress down further. His hand entered the bodice from the side, pushing his way between the material and her bare breast.
Maddie’s core flooded with heat, her nipples already hard and sensitive from his erotic words. She gasped as he cupped her breast possessively, lightly pinching her nipple. “Sam,” she murmured in a needy voice she barely recognized as her own.
He rolled her beneath him in a smooth maneuver that left her staring up at him longingly. Her breath hitched as she saw the hunger and need shining in those emerald eyes above her, a sight she had wanted to see for so very long from this one man, an erotic fantasy come true. “You’re mine, Madeline. You always have been and always will be. You might make me lose my fucking mind, but at least I’ll be happily insane.”
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Her whole being craved Sam Hudson, and only him. His domination aroused her, his scent enveloped her in carnal desire. “Then take me, Sam.” No more waiting, no more questioning; there was only this man for her. He had always been the only one.
“You’re going to marry me, Maddie. Promise me you will,” he demanded, his hands pulling the sleeves down her arms, lowering the top half of her dress until her breasts sprang free, leaving her arms trapped to her sides by the straps he had lowered.
“I’ll think about it,” she agreed, moaning as his mouth lowered to her breasts, his hands pushing them together so he could switch from one breast to the other easily. His mouth bit gently at one nipple, then suckled it erotically before switching to the other. Back and forth, over and over, until Maddie was out of her mind from the pleasurable torment.
“Promise,” he commanded, flicking her nipple with his tongue.
She undulated her hips, thrusting her core against his hard erection, needing friction, needing to be filled, needing all of him. “For God’s sake just fuck me. We can talk about everything else later,” she told him vehemently as she yanked her arms outward, tearing the small sleeves without an ounce of regret, in order to free her hands to be able to touch him.
Her hands speared through his curls, holding his head against her breast, urging him to give her more. Moving her trembling fingers down his back, she wrapped her legs around his waist and ground her pelvis against his groin, desperate.
Lifting his head from her breast, Sam took her mouth, a dominant claiming that had her moaning against his thrusting tongue and grinding her saturated pussy harder against his cock. His embrace was wild and rampant; his hands holding the back of her head, his desperate fingers making the clips in her hair fly away, keeping her still for his possession. Their tongues tangled in a hungry duel, both wild and untamed.
With a tormented, masculine groan, S
am came to his knees. He ripped off his tie and vest, tearing the buttons off without even taking the time to unfasten them. His shirt followed in the same manner, all of the discarded items hitting the floor without a care. Maddie sat up from her reclining position and Sam immediately grasped the zipper on the back of dress, lowered it and tugged the dress to her hips and then down her thighs as she lifted her ass for him to remove it.
“Christ, Maddie! You are the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen. Nothing even comes close,” he growled, standing to discard the rest of his clothing. His eyes never left her body as she reclined again. He stared blatantly as he removed his pants, socks and boxers, his eyes emanating liquid desire.
She gaped as she saw his cock standing erect and enormous against his ripped abs, her empty pussy clenching with need. Sam had a body that probably haunted every woman’s fantasies. Big, muscular and perfect. For her, he was the whole package, he was her Sam all over, including the intent, erotic look that he was shooting her from those intense eyes.
Always body conscious, she should have been embarrassed, but she wasn’t. Sam liked her curvy body and she was in excellent aerobic shape, working out several days a week. Seeing the look on his face, she didn’t regret a single curve at the moment. He obviously appreciated her rounded hips and larger than average breasts. He made her feel like a sex goddess, a very unusual and erotic feeling for her.
“Come,” she begged him, her arms reaching for him. She needed to feel his body against hers, filling her.
“No. You come first,” he told her wickedly, intentionally misunderstanding her meaning. “I’ve been dying to taste you and I will.”