That One Summer: A Collection of Steamy Contemporary Romance

Chapter 11

Ciara stared at herreflection in the bathroom mirror after putting the washcloth aside. The week had flown by a lot faster than she’d expected. Mainly because this trip had represented something different. She and Maddox had spent as much time together outside the bedroom as they had inside.

That was something a lot different than she was used to. But she didn’t regret a moment of it. In fact, she wanted more time. Unfortunately, it was something she didn’t have. As her time with Maddox came to a close, she had to decide if she wanted to try to pursue something outside of Nosy Be with him or if she wanted to stick to their original plan.

“You look very deep in thought.”

She looked up when Maddox spoke, a sheepish smile on her face. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay. I know what you’re thinking about. It’s been on my mind, too,” he admitted as he stepped further into the bathroom. “Sometimes, the hardest decisions in life involve figuring out what you want. Especially something of this magnitude.”

He wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed a kiss to one of her shoulders. “What do you want?”

He pressed closer to her, his words husking out with his warm breath on the back of her neck.

She practically melted into a puddle on the cool tile of his bathroom. Each of the rooms at the resort was full of opulence and modern elegance, but it paled in comparison to the distraction that he created. Every ounce of her focus had been required to keep herself upright and seemingly in control of her own body.

His intoxicating words wrapped themselves around her, a warm cradle. She fought the urge to succumb to them, to blurt out her every wish, every fear, and soul to him. But she pulled back, forcing herself to stay in command of herself and the heady situation.

If she couldn’t have what she wanted, she’d have what she needed right now. And that was Maddox.

He’d agreed to play this game by her rules. The fine line of control and concession was a greased tightrope under her feet. But he’d pushed her out of her comfort zone with daredevil pursuits. She had done her best to give as good as she’d received. It was almost a battle to see who could push the other the farthest before they crumbled.

She turned, and his warmth seared the tips of her breasts mere millimeters from his chest. “I want to be in charge tonight.”

He nodded, face grim, nostrils flared. Euphoria surged inside her, robbing her limbs of their structure until she stepped backward out of the bathroom to his bedroom. Each step taking them closer to the brink. She didn’t stop until her legs pressed against the edge of the mattress.

Maddox stayed where she’d directed him. His limbs twitched as she reached for the hem of her dress and slowly worked it upward. His palms curled into white-knuckled fists.

Ciara slid the cool fabric over her head. The slow glide was torturous on her sensitized skin, which prickled under his heated stare until every tiny hair stood on end. She unclasped her bra, releasing aching breasts, and tossed it on top of the dress.

“Fuck...”Maddox hissed, his gunmetal stare heating every inch of her.

Ciara felt his gaze slide over her nipples as if he’d touched her with those slightly calloused hands. Her knees buckled. She could almost feel his mouth on her breasts, his bold tongue laving and lashing. In denying him, she denied herself, but the reward would be worth the wait.

She reached for the band of her underwear with trembling fingers and hooked her thumbs into the waistband, pushing them to the floor in one swoop. Every second she tortured him, she tormented herself. The need to see him naked, touch him, clawed at her, stifling the breath in her lungs until her head buzzed with lack of oxygen.

He teetered towards her, rocking on the balls of his feet.

“Beautiful,” he rasped.

His chest rose and fell, his fingers clenching and unclenching at his sides, and Ciara guessed she didn’t have long to enjoy the power trip. But it was worth it. Any scrap of command she held over the scorching chemistry between them kept her grounded, reminding her that this was a game. No feelings allowed.

With a slight smile, she steadied herself on one of the simple posts of the contemporary four-poster bed and removed one sandal and then another, her challenging glare pinning him to the spot.

The muscles of his jaw bunched as he lost the battle to meet her eyes and flicked his gaze over her nakedness.

“What do you want?” His sexy voice held an almost desperate edge.

Ciara exhaled. He was still with her. His reactions matched her own.

“I want you naked.”

She’d barely finished speaking before he’d heeled off his shoes and reached behind him to tug his shirt up and over his head. He tossed it away, his other hand tugging at the button fly of his shorts, and with rapid, jerky movements, pushed his shorts and tight cotton boxers down his muscular thighs, kicking them away.

Ciara’s mouth had forgotten how to make saliva. His body was a magnificent display of long, lean muscles encased in golden skin, and it stole her ability to think. Her eyes followed the length of his body down to the base of his spectacular manhood.

Her brain shut down completely. Maddox, a specimen of male perfection in his prime, was entirely at her disposal.

Awareness returned, and the slight chill of the dimly lit room countered the fire raging inside her. Her nipples pebbled, and moisture gathered between her thighs. She pressed them together to ease the hollow ache inside.

He rolled on the balls of his feet, every muscle tense as if he was forcing himself to stay away from her at the distance she’d set.

“What do you want?”

More desperation, mimicking the same thing firing along every nerve ending in her body.

“I...” Him. She wanted him. “What do you want?”

His stare burned into hers. “Everything.” His voice was a low rumble. “I want all of you.”

As if slapped, she sobered. His stark declaration was about more than the moment they were in. She still wasn’t sure she give him that. There was too much on the line. What if she let him in, and then he realized the pressures of her everyday life were too much? This was the one thing in her life that was truly hers. That was no exaggeration by any means. But they had a bit more time left in their secluded paradise before they had to let the real world intrude. They could deal with that then.

The floor solidified under her feet, and resolve returned. “I want you to fuck me.”

In two long strides, he reached her. His mouth crashed to hers. Guided by her tug to the back of his neck. She moaned. The relief so overwhelming that if he hadn’t banded his arms around her waist, she’d have collapsed to the floor. Her fingers tunneled through the silky strands of his hair, and she parted her lips, welcoming the surge of his powerful tongue with one of her own. Her hands roamed, glorying in the smooth fragrance of skin stretched over hard planes of taut muscle, every inch of him a tactile feast for her fingertips.

He slotted one thick thigh between her legs, the taut skin of his chest grazing her nipples as he pressed closer. Ciara rubbed her wet sex on his leg, the friction sublime but not nearly enough. She tore her mouth from his, her head spinning with an oxygen-deprived head rush.

“Now, Maddox. Now.”

She reached between them, her hand circling his hard length, the satiny skin sliding over the steel beneath as she worked him from root to tip.

He stared, his chest working furiously, mouth swollen, and eyes heavy-lidded.

She wanted him inside her.

Yesterday.

With a grunt, he lifted her, depositing her in the center of the bed and following her down. But rather than settling himself between her spread thighs, as she craved, he dipped his head to her breast, his mouth covering her nipple, sucking her inside the moist warmth.

Ciara cried out, her flash of disappointment banished by sublime pleasure. Better than she’d imagined when this scenario had run through her mind. The fantasy a poor relation to reality. His cheeks hollowed as he drew more of her flesh inside, his tongue flicking the nub erect and then his teeth scraping with just a bite of pain—enough to shoot sensation to her core in a prelude to the spasms she hoped would soon follow.

As if he’d seen this arc of sensation, he spread her thighs wider with his knees, his fingers finding her slick center, homing in on her clit with pinpoint accuracy and the perfect amount of pressure.

She whimpered, her fingers frantic in his hair as he abandoned one nipple in favor of the second. There was no reprieve from his relentless barrage. His tongue laved. His fingers swirled and plunged. Ciara forgot to breathe as coils of rapture wrapped around her from the inside out.

His dark lashes fluttered open, his stare finding hers as his mouth curled around her breast.

“Maddox...”

She was close, so close.

She wanted him inside her, but she wouldn’t make it.

He growled—a feral noise from the back of his cultured throat as if encouraging her over the edge. Ciara latched on to the dark swirls of his irises as his mouth and fingers continued to drag every drop of bliss from her strung-out body.

Her orgasm blindsided her, slamming her back into the mattress with a ragged cry. The spasms rocked her. Maddox kept her thighs spread with his, his hand working furiously and his mouth relentless at her breast.

She shoved at him, the pleasure too intense. But he’d drained her of any strength she possessed, and her hands flailed uselessly at his shoulders as he abandoned her clit but continued to suckle at her sensitive nipple.

“Stop...please.” She lay boneless, her head swimming.

He pulled back, releasing her from his wicked mouth and pursing his swollen lips to blow a stream of air over her wet, puckered nipple. He smiled. A predatory kind of smile. She’d have clawed back command of the situation if she’d had any energy. But she could only watch as he crawled over her. His lips grazed a path from her ribs across her belly and to the tops of her thighs.

He held her open, kissing first one thigh and then the other before staring at her sex with uninhibited candor and blowing cool air over her wet lips.

“Maddox...” He’d completely disarmed her. And he still hadn’t given her what she’d asked for.

This was her game.

Herrules.

He kissed one thigh again with a lazy smile and then climbed from the bed. His muscular ass flexed as he strode to the nightstand. Amazed that she had any hormones left, Ciara licked her lips. The clench of his buttocks and the jut of his thick, proud cock were enough to create an impressive second wind.

What was happening to her? She needed to show him she was still in control here. But she craved him inside her as much as she enjoyed her power over their liaison. She focused on him, compelling her breathing into a deep, regular pattern.

He returned to the bedside, his bold gaze on her as he tore open a condom packet with his teeth and rolled the latex down his length with practiced, single-handed skill.

“Come here.”

He held out his hand, and Ciara moved to the edge of the bed before him. He pushed her back until she rested on her elbows and then leaned over her, cupping her face in both hands and kissing her with a passion that stole her sanity and sent fresh spasms through her pelvis. Pulling back, he splayed his large hands on her thighs. Slowly easing her open. His gaze darted between her face and her exposed sex.

The way he looked at her... As if he was seconds away from devouring her whole. And that was precisely how she felt. Consumed. His stare alone took her there.

“I’m going to fuck you now. That’s what you want?”

She nodded her blood boiling, any snarky retort lost behind her paralyzed tongue. If she’d thought considerate and caring Maddox was hot, this determined, focused man scorched the flesh from her bones.

Ciara lay back, shifting her hips to the edge of the bed. He leaned over her, jaw rigid, and locked his arms either side of her head. He looked between their bodies, his bottom lip caught between his teeth. He gripped the base of his magnificent cock with one hand and angled the tip at her entrance. Slowly his gaze locked with hers, and with the scent of sex wafting between them, carried on a wave of body heat, he pushed inside her.

“Maddox—”

His mouth stole her words, his kiss searing as he stretched her, working his way into the hilt. She whimpered, her nails raking his flanks and her calves pressed to his glorious backside, encouraging him all the way in.

Pulling back from the kiss, he removed her hands from his back, and his fingers slotted between hers as he pressed their joined hands into the mattress beside her head. Staring down at her, he began to move. Slowly at first, letting her body grow accustomed to him. But then he clenched his jaw and picked up the pace.

Ciara closed her eyes—and then jerked them open again, unwilling to miss one second of seeing him stretched above her, his face contorted with pleasure and beads of sweat gathering at his hairline. This time he’d come. She’d make him come.

With every pummeling stroke, he shunted her on the bed, the edge of the mattress providing a landing place for the force of his thrusts.

“Ciara...” His eyes widened, nostrils flaring.

“What do you want?” she asked.

She saw the battle in him and knew she’d give him anything at that moment. Just for the thrill of witnessing his loss of control. The knowledge that she took him there.

He released her hands. “Touch your nipples.”

Another command. But she complied, too delirious to care about power play. Her fingers plucked at her breasts, twisting and rolling. Maddox watched, jaw hardening, and a strangled groan rumbled up from his chest.

His hips jerked in a relentless pounding that pushed her closer and closer. When he reached one hand between them and pressed his thumb down on her clit, she exploded, every muscle in her body rigid as her internal muscles clung to his pistoning cock.

Maddox roared, his head thrown back, neck taut, his hips slamming home one last time.

“Fuck... Ciara...”

He ground against her as his breathing slowed, forcing the last ripples of pleasure from her core.

After long, delirious seconds, he dropped a chaste kiss on her mouth.

Ciara sighed as he gripped the base of the condom and withdrew, the slide of him over sensitized tissue bordering on uncomfortable. She watched him saunter to the en-suite bathroom, his gait a little unsteady. Pride filled her over the fact that he was just as off-kilter as she was.

Maddox returned to the room with a washcloth in his hand. After taking care of her, he tossed it aside before crawling next to her. He pulled her into his embrace and pressed a kiss to her temple.

As much as she wanted to stay awake and figure out the thoughts racing through her mind, slumber lured her under.