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.”