I blow the dust off the top after unloading all the magazines and other junk from on top of it, but Maddox doesn’t seem to mind.
He’s cuing up the video from the suite that I took and sending the file to himself.
“I just need a good internet connection and also make a couple of calls,” he says again, and I nod.
“Call whoever you need to, I’ll get this thing fired up.” I assure him, wondering how I could’ve let the place become such a mess.
Every way I look I see something else I need to pick up or clear away.
I thought I was neat and tidy. One minute of Maddox in my apartment and I feel like a slob.
Maddox sets to work, not even blinking at the surroundings, and I realize it must be true what he keeps trying to tell me, that he only sees me but I can’t quite get my head around all of that still somehow.
I’m having trouble starting the computer, remembering in a moment of cold horror that there’s a reason it sits here covered in my crap… it is crap.
Hoping for the best but stifling a groan, I notice Maddox’s agitation grow as he seems to have trouble getting through on the phone to his own legal team as well.
“Milo! Milos Bartos!” he shouts into my phone, growling as it sounds like he’s put on hold again until the call drops, but Maddox isn’t a quitter. He takes a few deep breaths and smiling at me with a wink once he’s collected himself, he tries again.
Unfortunately, it’s always the same result. He’s either cut off or whoever he’s talking to doesn’t understand what he’s trying to say.
After a few tense minutes of this, my heart is in my throat when he moves up behind me, leaning in close and kissing my neck.
“At least we’ll have the files uploaded. I can always email Milo about it, he can call me back. It must be the middle of the night there, probably got his housekeeper out of bed,” he says with a chuckle.
“What is it?” he asks, turning me in my chair to face him.
“I don’t know. This computer, I thought it worked,” I whisper, and Maddox takes me by the elbows, transplanting me from the computer chair to the lounge chair.
“It’ll be alright, let me have a look,” he says calmly. But after a few minutes and hearing him muttering to himself, I can tell it’s far from okay.
Maddox clears his throat, tries the phone again, then the computer and then the phone again before sliding the chair back, throwing his head back and sighing loudly.
“Nothing is working,” he says aloud, an observation. As if he’s working through things in his mind as opposed to giving up like other people would.
Like I already have in my own mind.
I hope this doesn’t mean everything’s off between us.
“Are you mad with me?” I finally ask, after several minutes of silence and after Maddox has pinched the space between his eyes for so long I think he’ll never stop.
“No, no!’ he reassures me, focusing again and holding his hands out, beckoning me over and I sit on his lap as he hugs me tight.
“No, Jasmine. I’m just thinking. In a bit of a jam but that doesn’t mean much, something always happens to make things clear again. If we can’t get through to Milo and his team right now, we’ll just have to try again later,” he says, and I shift myself on his lap, straddling him and smiling when I hear his tell-tale growl as I feel his hardness riding up between my legs.
“We could mess up my bedroom,” I suggest, and have to laugh when his eyes scan my apartment again, cocking his brow with the question, ‘mess it up… in here?’
I feel more at home than ever as Maddox’s hands start to find their way to his favorite places, cupping my chest and squeezing it in his huge hands as he groans with pleasure.
I hook my arms around his neck, grinding down on him as I rotate my hips that he works his way towards, gripping them hard as he starts to help me push myself up and down against his instant rock hardness that’s straining through his brand new suit pants.
“I don’t want to get our clothes-” I start to say, but he dismisses it with a low sound, grabbing my ass with both hands and spreading me open under my own clothes, making me gasp.
Making me crave him inside me once again.
“I already told you,” he murmurs. “I like you better without clothes on.”
It feels like my whole apartment disappears, everything I felt in myself, in my life that wasn’t good enough for Maddox is suddenly made clear again once I feel his yearning for me.
He really does want me, and I sure as hell really want him.
“No matter what happens, promise me you’ll be mine. Promise me you’ll wait if you have to,” he growls, and I feel my head pumping in time with my hips, but I also feel a stab of fear.
“What’s going to happen?” I ask him, stopping suddenly and holding my eyes to his in a question. “How much danger are you really in, Maddox?”
The sudden pounding of fists on my front door makes me stifle a scream, and Maddox’s eyes narrow as his jaw sets hard.
“Just promise me, Jasmine,” he says.
“I promise, Maddox,” I gasp into his ear, holding him so tight I can’t feel my own arms anymore. “I love you and I’ll do anything to be with you, I’m yours forever.”
The familiar gruff voice, Sloane, from behind the door seals our fate.
“Open up, Jasmine… Maddox… There’s no way out. We just wanna talk, honest.”
Maddox reaches into his jacket pocket, but changes his mind about something, instead he nods his head, letting me know it’s over.
We can’t win this part of the fight.
“Let ‘em in,” he mumbles. “Otherwise they’ll break it down.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Maddox
Jasmine cautiously lets herself up off me but is too scared to open her own front door, jumping out of her skin when they pound on it again.
“I’ll get it,” I growl, and with one hand a fist, I use my other to swing the door of her apartment open, ready to clock anyone who dares to frighten her again.
The faces that greet me aren’t unkind though, there’s no guns drawn, just a couple of flashlights and some very relieved looking guys in suits.
Bad, cheap suits.
“Mr. Maddox Mapleton? Boy, we’re glad we’ve finally found you. Are you alright? Are you hurt?”
I’m taken aback, and moving further out into the hall, I’m hoping to have my arrest shielded from Jasmine. I don’t want her to see things get ugly.
“No, I’m not hurt,” I growl. “Just get this over with and leave the girl out of it. I’ll have to represent myself until my legal team-” I start to inform him, but Sloane cuts me off.
“Uh… Mr. Mapleton, what are you talking about? We’re not here to arrest you. We’ve been looking for you all day. We had reason to suspect foul play when we couldn’t find you at your office this morning. Can we come in? There’s a lot to discuss.”
I feel my jaw dropping and for the first time in my life, I’m lost for words.
I step back and with one hand held out to the inside of Jasmine’s apartment, they all file in past me, until it’s clear that three of four’s company and six is a crowd.
“We’ll wait out here, sir,” says one of the last few suits.
Having heard everything I have so far from inside, Jasmine comes to my side and puts her arm around my waist, making me feel a lot easier and calmer straight away.
“I’d ask you to sit, but,” she says as they all notice the lack of space and empty chairs.
“We’ll keep this brief,” Sloane says, his weary face showing signs of life as his eyes soften. His creased mouth curling into a half smile.
“Uh, Agent Sloane Mr. Maddox. I’m with I.R.S. criminal investigation. These are agents Sutton and Wilcox, from the FBI’s Criminal Cyber Response and Services Branch,” he says, hitching his hands to his hips as if he’s about to give his post-match overview to his team.
But my face is only a big fat qu
estion. I’m a lawyer, all day.
“Good for you,” I spit, adding. “So?” I say with raised brows when I get no reply.
“Mr. Mapleton, we’ve been investigating your law firm and more importantly, your business partner, a Mr. James Hunter for some months now… were you aware of any unusual financial activities on his behalf within your organization?”
My eyes narrow, and I lean in over Sloane, who’s a stick insect compared to my frame. The two feds, they can handle themselves, but I don’t like where this is going.
I don’t like knowing I’ve been spied on.
“You’re not in any trouble, Mr. Mapleton. Quite the opposite. We’re just glad you’re alright, after this morning, when we couldn’t find you. When Ms. Tate went missing too… we got worried. Hunter’s up to his neck and we thought maybe-”
“Why are you here again, Agent Sloane?” I say loudly, cutting him off and raising my voice to a near shout.
“If it’s not to arrest me, is it to tell me you’ve been spying on me and my business for months?”
Sloane shifts on his feet, glancing at the others, who decide it might be warmer outside after all.
A few seconds later, Jasmine has cleared some room and we three are sat round her kitchen table, the sound and smell of the coffee pot filling the small apartment.
“I’ll keep it brief,” Sloane says, looking like his day’s been ten times longer than my own.
They’ve been watching Hunter, the firm for months? That’s news to me.
“The warrant this morning was to seize Hunter’s files and hard drives, to bring you up to speed on the final stages of our investigation. We had to act fast once we realized how soon Hunter planned to abscond once he’d framed you.”
“So, you knew he was in the process of setting me up?” I ask dryly.
“Oh, absolutely, we let him go as far as process and common sense would allow, he’s incriminated himself every step of the way, Mr. Mapleton, and we understand you are innocent in all of this.”
I feel Jasmine’s hand in mine under the table and I grip it firmly to my own, wanting to kiss it, to kiss her but counting the moments instead until we can be alone again.
“What exactly was he up to?” I have to ask. “I had a fair idea, but trying to pin down exactly what he was doing… we got some video confession from Hunter and Jasmine’s boss earlier today, at the hotel… is she involved too?” I ask, wanting to join the dots now.
“Ms. Singleton? Oh yes, up to her neck. So is half your board, I’m afraid, Mr. Mapleton. We only wanted to find you to make sure you were safe. Once they realized we were onto them, there was no telling what they’d do. We’ll give you a full briefing as charges are laid out,” Sloane says, sitting back with some satisfaction and eyeing the coffee pot.
“I’ll get it,” Jasmine says softly, and serves us all up some very strong, hot coffee, which is just what my nerves don’t need but it looks like Sloane has been dying for, for hours.
“The charges will range from tax evasion, fraud and money laundering,” Sloane says after taking a long slurp of scolding coffee.
“You’re clean, Mr. Mapleton, we know this much. It was Hunter’s intention to pin it all on you though, have you arrested and then plant himself as head of the whole company.”
“Nice… real nice,” Jasmine says dryly.
“I have a legal team in Europe, Greece,” I tell Sloane, feeling a little better once he tells me he wasn’t aware of my own investigation I’ve been carrying out.
“I’ll put you in touch with Milo as soon as I can get a hold of him,” I muse aloud, suddenly remembering my phone, laptop and everything else I’ve left behind but grateful I managed to keep the most valuable thing close at hand.
Having found Jasmine was the best distraction, and one that canceled out everything else. I let my hand rest on her thigh under the table as we make eyes at each other.
Sloane is smarter than he looks, and within a few moments and some more brief explanation and apologies, he realizes it’s time to leave Mr. Mapleton alone now.
“They have your things at the hotel still, your suite,” Sloane says, pausing at the door before he leaves.
“I think we’ll be fine here for tonight,” I tell him, looking at Jasmine. “But you will keep in touch, won’t you,” I tell him, closing the door and bolting it, turning to Jasmine.
“Now. Where were we?” I say, unzipping my pants as she stifles a little squeal of delight.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Jasmine
“So the whole time they were looking for you, to protect you… not to arrest you?” I ask absently in between his kisses.
His lips are on mine, then anywhere on my body he can reach before bringing his lips back to mine again.
“Uh huh, they were looking for you too y’know,” he groans, and I delicately slip out of my insanely expensive outfit as quickly as I can before he tears it off me.
I thought I’d die from embarrassment if Maddox saw my apartment, but now I can’t wait for him to take me in it.
On my bed, in my chair… on the kitchen table, in the shower.
My mind’s racing as I wonder if one night with him here is enough. But I’m also excited because I know it’s not just going to be one night.
I know it’s going to be every night from now on with Maddox, no matter where we are, we’ll always be together.
Once I’m undressed, he scoops me up in his arms again and ducks down, avoiding the low ceiling and doorway as he carries me through to my bedroom.
“You’re kidding me?” he says with a grin, his lip curling up in time with his brow as he realizes I only have a single bed.
“It’ll be a tight fit,” I offer, trying not to laugh as we both collapse onto the familiar, soft warmth of my own bed.
The one place I’ve been looking forward to all day and the last place I would have expected Maddox Mapleton to turn up in, today or any other day.
Making life easier for us both, I position Maddox onto his back and peeling off the last of his suit, I almost feel like kneeling down and giving a prayer of thanks.
Using the gifts we were sent is the best form of gratitude I reason and wasting no time I straddle his perfectly hard body. I lean into him, pressing my whole body against his as his huge hands glide over me, settling on his favorite two handfuls and I lift myself just long enough to slide down onto his thick hard cock, ready and waiting for me with one slow movement.
“See,” I say, my stammering voice between shuddering gasps of breath.
“Who needs a double bed?” I ask, pressing my hands onto his rock hard chest as I throw my head back, pumping him as he helps lift me up and down with each stroke so he can squeeze my ass with those magical hands.
Maddox only groans and grunts, his low sounds and growls, his thrusting hips and strong hands telling me everything I want to hear without words. His thickness inside me swelling like never before as we both feel him filling me up from underneath, which has its desired effect in no time.
I’m settled into a rhythm, riding Maddox, when I suddenly feel the intense waves of my first climax pulsing through me.
My hands go from his chest to grab onto his, and locking eyes, we move and thrust until I can’t hold it any longer.
Maddox stays so hard inside me, and watches me with such devoted satisfaction as I climax on top of him, brushing my hair back as it subsides and groaning low, letting me know there’s plenty more where that came from.
“I want this forever,” I gasp later on, once we’ve worked our way through my apartment. Once he’s made me climax harder and stronger in every space available. Every place I imagined we could’ve done it in or on.
He’s being so quiet, not saying much. Not with words anyway.
I want to ask him if everything’s okay, but his constant smile, the light in his eyes tells me he’s never been happier. And I know I haven’t either, not ever.
My shower’s smaller than my bed, but we manage, a
nd after Maddox finally lets himself join me in my final, huge orgasm for the day we finally start to speak once we get our breath back.
“That was amazing,” I tell him, needing him to hold me up as my knees threaten to give out as he helps me back to bed.
“You’re amazing,” is all he says in reply, not taking his eyes off mine as he lifts me back into bed, somehow managing to cram himself in next to me and putting his arm around me.
“I wish it could be like this every day.” I muse aloud. “Okay, maybe not running from the feds every day, but you know what I mean,” I tell him, snorting as he laughs and then we both laugh harder.
“Do you really think we made a baby our first time? Did you feel it?” I ask him out of nowhere, maybe wanting to understand if such a thing is even real or possible or just my own romantic imagination.
“I know we did,” he says, matter of fact and kissing me on the forehead, he places a small velvet box on my chest.
“What’s this?” I ask, wondering where it came from, if one of my knick-knacks has fallen from a shelf into the bed.
“It’s what I want, for us,” he says cryptically and it doesn’t register until I pick up the box.
“Only open it if you’ll say yes. If you promise we can have this every day, Jasmine. I think it’s what you want too, but only open it if that’s the truth… if you’ll say yes.”
I feel cold all of a sudden, like I’m frozen on the spot, like I can’t move.
I try to look at Maddox, try to speak but I can’t. I can’t even take a breath.
But I know what I want to say, I know what I want before I even look inside the box.
“Yes,” I finally hear myself saying. “Yes, Maddox. You know the answer is always yes!” I squeal, hugging him around the neck and kissing his beautiful face, holding it next to mine.
“Open it,” he exclaims excitedly.
My hands tremble, but steady once I see the glimmering light inside. I’ve never seen a diamond before, not up close and without even asking I know it’s real and it’s freakin’ huge.
“My god, Maddox… how did you…?” I start to ask, but he’s taken it from the box and slipped it on my finger.
Her Innocent CEO: An Instalove Possessive Male Romance (A Man Who Knows What He Wants Book 191) Page 7