Once Upon A Half-Time 2(148)

“You balance me. I corrupt you.”

Josie leaned close, her kiss encouraging me to do more than just corrupt her. “Maybe I like it.”

“You’re the type of girl a guy like me preys on.”

“Maybe I like that too.” Josie smiled, timid and playful. “Or maybe I’m the one stalking you?”

Her hands moved low, unbuttoning my jeans and wiggling the zipper down. Her eyes flashed with mischief. A quick shimmy of her hips, and her pajama bottoms kicked away. Her smooth hips, just plump enough for a squeeze in my palm, settled over my lap.

Nothing got me harder than this woman. And no woman was harder to refuse than the one offering her body, her innocence, her life to me.

“You promised me everything before,” Josie whispered. “Love. Happiness.”

I strained to touch that heat between her legs. She did it for me, rubbing her slickness against my cock. She groaned as she lowered her body over mine and accepted me inside her trembling slit.

Bare. The only way I wanted to feel her.

“You promised me a family.” Her words faded as she ground her hips, filling herself with all of me. “Is that…what you still want?”

My grip tightened on her, but I didn’t dare move her myself, didn’t slam her against me like every instinct in my body demanded of me.

“More than anything,” I said.

“Good.” She met my gaze. “Then this morning was the last time I take my pill.”

Holy Christ.

Josie shuddered, her words lost in the ripple of pleasure that tightened her core. She leaned over me, arms behind my neck, body pressed into mine. I was completely encased in sweet perfection.

I had this amazing woman for my own for years, and I never took her gently. Never felt how our bodies melded, how the heat passed between us, how consuming the innocent pressure of her lips against mine could be.

Gentle. Loving.

Mine.

I longed for her tender touch. When I met her, I was hardened, jaded, and cracked. She didn’t put me together, she made me new. Not a man fragile and fierce, but someone confident and protected from my own instincts.

Had I followed them, had I let myself wallow in blood, I’d have lost her long ago.

Never again.

This was my second chance. My last opportunity to save her, keep her, make her mine forever.

She bumped against me, chasing shivers only to create more. My fingers tightened against her hips as she rocked, and every gentle swell of her body onto mine wrapped me in pleasure.

“I need more of you…” I whispered.

“You have me.”

“I want to touch you…”

Her voice wavered. “You’re touching me.”

“Taste you…”

Her lips found mine, and her tongue swirled wicked delight. “Taste me.”

“Come in you…”

“Please.”

“Make a baby?”

Josie’s body tensed, and she buried her head in my shoulder, squeezing my muscles, holding me, forcing her hips down to take more and more of everything I could give.

“Maddox…” She came, beautifully, quaking in my arms as she took her pleasure and asked for mine as well.

I grunted, grasping her waist until the tingling erupted through me. I held her body, her back, pinning her against my chest as my hips instinctively bucked.

Once.

Twice.

Enough times to earn her squeal and ensure every jet of my pleasure completely coated her core.

She heaved frantic breaths against me, letting me hold her as the aftershocks of passion ripped through my body and pumped more into her. She dizzied me with tiny kisses, gentle promises against my shoulder, my neck, and finally my lips.

I stared at this beautiful woman, this amazing creature who pledged her life to me. I’d make sure she always knew how much I loved her. She’d never have cause to doubt me again.

“I swear, Sweets…” I brushed her cheek with my hand. “I’ll never keep another secret from you. You’ll know everything.”

Her gaze lowered. Quickly. Almost embarrassed.

“Just know that I love you, okay?” She whispered. “And everything I did or will do is because I love you.”

“Nothing you do will ever change how I feel, Josie.”

Her lip trembled. I kissed it away and let her rest against my chest, held in my arms and safe.

Why did it feel like she didn’t believe me?





15





Josie





Secrets.

Maddox had too many to count, and so many more I wished I hadn’t learned. His past. His family. How he earned money. What he did to survive after his parents were jailed and his foster family nearly beat him to death. He made a life from any scraps he could find, and when he returned home hardened by circumstance, the town turned on him.