I swallowed the truth. “I had to do what was best for me.”
“I’ve never been what’s best for you,” he said. “But, Sweets, you know I tried.”
“We can’t be together.”
“Why?” He moved closer, his scent enveloping me in every spiced danger I recognized from my mistakes in the past.
Were they mistakes?
“I have to go,” I said.
“Stop fucking running from me!” He took my hand, gripping as I tugged. “You love me.”
And because of that, I couldn’t save him. “I’m leaving.”
“You love me, Josie!” Maddox’s eyes flared with a dark, explosive threat. “I’ll prove that you can’t live without me.”
Maddox silenced my protests with the harsh bite of his lips.
Every time I tried to run, he followed.
Anytime I fell, he caught me.
And whenever I denied my desire for him, he dominated my body until I had no choice but to obey.
My heart shredded itself. Every resistance in my mind faded until only delirious fantasies of him, for him, because of him remained.
“I’m gonna remind you what it means to be loved by me.” Maddox’s words rumbled, threatening and wild. “You’ll count every bite. Hide every bruise. Ignore every ache. By the time I’m done with you, you’re gonna remember how much you love to be taken by me.”
I’d never forgotten, but I lived for the lesson. Problem was it was wrong.
He led me to the bed and ignored me when I broke his kiss to warn him to think clearly, rationally. But nothing was rational with Maddox. He existed in moments of passion. His touch was rough. His kiss too intense. Nights with him were raw and demanding, and most mornings began with an embrace wilder than the night before.
He was wrong for me.
I fell onto the bed.
He wanted too much from me.
My shirt pulled off.
His strength should have frightened me. He was too powerful, straining with muscle, fierce from a life chiseled from the streets. He was rough. He was feral.
Dominating.
But he desired more than a submissive body tethered to a bed, begging for mercy. He wanted me. From the first time we touched to the last time we parted, I met every one of Maddox’s demands with the same intensity. My pleasure was his and his mine. Long ago, we spent night after night twisting in the sheets, just loving each other and damning the consequences. We were once lovers. Partners.
And we had almost become a family. I regretted never sharing that precious moment with him when we created a life.
“Say it again.” Maddox ripped my bra off. My breasts bounced as his weight shifted over me. “Tell me you love me.”
I couldn’t say it, not because it wasn’t true, but because it was more of a mistake to give him that false hope than it was to shed my clothing and inhibitions. I bit my lip and stayed silent
And Maddox took it as a challenge.
“You’ll scream it soon enough, Sweets.” He ripped down the zipper on my jeans. “There’s no reason to deny it.”
“We shouldn’t be doing this.”
“We never should have stopped.”
Maddox stared at my panties. The delicate pink highlighted the cinnamon brown of my skin. It was pretty. Cute. Easily cast off.
His jacket tangled with his shirt on the floor. His muscle strained, already sweating as he fought his urges. He always lost, and I never cared before. His hands brushed over my tummy, too preoccupied with a little crest between my legs to worry about his own zipper or the bulge straining his jeans.
I gripped the comforter as Maddox made his move. His eyes narrowed, watching as I trembled as his hand dragged low. The pale tip of his index finger dipped within the dark petals of my slit.
“Say you love me.” Maddox teased me with a flick of my swollen clit. “I’ll play this game with you, Sweets…because I know I’ll win.”
I wetted. Slickened. Silenced back a mew that would have revealed everything. But I stayed quiet and knew his brand of delicious torture was only beginning.
Maddox dug his hands into my hips and hauled me to the edge of the bed. My legs dropped off the mattress, but he took my ankles and pushed them up. The most secret parts of me exposed to him, but he already owned those places. That familiarity would be my undoing. I knew what he wanted, and I couldn’t surrender to his plan.
Nothing prepared me for the moment his lips pressed between my legs and centered on my clit.
One lick, one flick of his tongue, and I was lost. The heat of his mouth teased my trembling nub. His tongue flattened and licked. I groaned. Of course I was wetter than ever before. Maddox laughed and devoured me, sampling the sweet honey that slickened my folds.
This was too much. Too good. Too fast.