4. Lennon
LENNON
Five Months Ago
“P lease,” I beg softly... so softly, it’s barely an echo of a whisper caught in the night. It hangs there between us, beaten and battered by the years and distance I asked him to give me. And now, I’m asking for more. “Maddox...”
No sooner does his name fall like a plea from my lips before he seals his mouth over mine. Strong, warm hands cup the back of my neck and angle my head as he steals my breath from my lungs and swallows the whimper that’s ripped from my throat with the first delicious taste.
God. I’ve waited a million lifetimes for this.
I dig my fingers into his hair, and Maddox pulls back. A fire behind his eyes burns brighter than a towering inferno as he seems to hold himself back. Every muscle locked like it’s taking all his strength.
“The ring comes off,” he growls, and ohmygod ... It’s like those angry words have a direct line to the hypersensitive nerve endings in my body. My pussy clenches, and my nipples peak, and my mind goes dark.
What ring?
I’m not sure I know my own name right now, I’m so tied up in him.
“Lennon...” he warns, and it snaps me out of my sex-starved stupor.
I rip the diamond from my finger and drop it to the table, not caring where it falls.
Not now.
Not here.
Not with him.
Maddox’s brilliant blue eyes deepen and darken, full of a lust I know is matched in mine, and that’s it. That’s the only warning I get before his mouth is back on mine. Demanding and dominating. Controlling me in a way no one ever has. And I let him. I give in and give myself over to him.
His tongue pushes into my mouth, and he swallows my desperate moan, meeting it with his own guttural growl. Fuck. This is happening. It’s not a dream I’m going to wake from alone in a cold sweat.
My body tenses, and Maddox drags his teeth over my earlobe. “Relax, Lennon. You’re safe. I’ve got you.”
His voice, deep and dark, calms my suddenly frantic nerves, and I momentarily forget... Who we are. Why we can’t happen. A strong arm wraps around me, lifting me from his lap and lies me down on the couch beneath him. Maddox towers over me before sliding to the floor on his knees. “I’m gonna need you to relax, baby.”
“How am I supposed to relax when you’re looking at me like that?”
“How am I looking at you?” I’m not sure if it’s the wicked grin on his beautiful face or the devil in his dark eyes or the unspoken promise in his words, but my God, it’s intoxicating, and I want him more than I’ve ever wanted anything before.
His big hands possessively slide up my legs until confident fingers find their way between the silk of my dress and my bare skin. His rough touch against my thighs stoke the already burning fire, and my breath catches in my throat with each new touch until I’m positive I’ll hyperventilate before the night’s over.
Maddox licks and sucks every inch of my neck as his hands continue their exploration. My body doesn’t know whether it’s coming or going as anticipation courses along every inch of my hypersensitive skin, and I forget how to breathe.
I’m suddenly blissfully ignorant of every reason this shouldn’t happen, and there are many... Instead, I focus on him. On his hot breath and warm fingers. On his weight and his body. On the way I’ve always felt with him.
Safe.
Protected.
Wanted.
It’s a heady sensation and not something I’ve experienced before.
“Tell me you want this.” One hand slides possessively around my throat, and his thumb presses down on my thrumming pulse as he tilts my face to his. “I need your words, picolla principessa.” He kisses the corner of my mouth before dragging my lip between his teeth and biting down.
And holy hell... that earlier spark of electricity fires and crackles between us, lighting my body up in ways I didn’t know possible.
“Please, Maddox. Yes. I want this.” I wrap my fingers around his wrist and hold him there. I hold his eyes for what feels like a lifetime... one of many I’m positive I’ve had with this man, but in reality, it’s one single second frozen in time. Over before it started. Kind of like us.
But this moment... It’s one of those moments I know, with unquestionable certainty, I’ll never recover from. But I’d rather spend one night in his arms and live a lifetime broken than spend that same lifetime never feeling this... with him .
I lean over and wrap my arms around his neck as I press my lips to his and suck his tongue into my mouth. “I want you. Right here. Right now. I want this. Us. No regrets.”
His pupils blow wide with need, and a delicious, guttural groan works its way up his throat.
“Do those words work for you?” I whisper against his lips.
We both know this is it.
This is all we get.
This night.
This weekend.
The question is will he take it.
Maddox’s eyes shudder closed, and I worry I’m losing him.
Damn it... My next words are going to either win me the battle or lose me the war.
“Maddox...” I sit up so we’re face-to-face and pull my dress over my head. The white and blue silk falls to the floor, and I watch his chest shake from the strain of holding back as he gets his very first look at me without my clothes. Yay for my expensive lingerie addiction. Thank you, La Perla. “I can’t give you forever. But I can give you what no man has ever had. I can give you me. Please take it. I want it to be you.”
His face shifts as he tries to decipher my words before I watch delicious possessiveness wash over him when he finally understands their meaning.
“How?” he growls.
I flatten my palms under his old West End t-shirt and drag my nails over his abs. “If it couldn’t be you, I didn’t want it to be anyone else.”
“Fuck, Lennon. You can’t tell me that,” he rasps and grips my face in his hand.
My body shakes under his touch. So utterly desperate for him, I’m ready to explode when his fingers slide along the edge of my panties. He teases me over the silk as he trails warm, wet kisses down my neck.
A needy moan spills past my lips.
I need more.
“Your skin is so fucking soft, principessa .” His words... his voice... the feel of his hands on me, they’re all too much. Heat pools in my belly with frantic anticipation. “Eyes on me, Lennon. Watch me. Stay with me.”
I hadn’t even realized I closed my eyes, but my God, when I open them, the look in his does me in. He pushes his fingers under the silk of my panties and hisses when they slide along the bare lips of my pussy.
“So fucking wet. Tell me this is for me.”
I nod and whimper and tremble as his thumb slides around my clit without making direct contact.
My legs shake as he teases me. So close but not enough.
“Maddox...”
“Shh...” he coos and finally presses a finger inside me.
Stretching me. Playing me until my body clenches around him and practically purrs from the overwhelming intense sensation.
“Fucking drenched for me, Lennon.” He pushes me back against the couch and drapes my legs over his shoulders, and I don’t have time to hesitate. Don’t have time to overthink. I’m immediately overwhelmed with a million sparks coming to life as I curl my fingers in the dark hair curling at the back of his neck and moan, long and without a care as he presses his face against the expensive silk of my panties. His tongue licks a long line up along the silk, and chills break out over my heated skin.
“Maddox,” I plead and beg, no longer sure what I’m asking for.
Just knowing whatever it is, he’ll give it to me.
“I’ve got you.” He inhales me one last time, then pushes the silk aside and flattens his tongue.
Oh. My. God.
“Please, please, please,” I beg, knowing exactly what I want now. I rock my hips against his face, knowing I’m going to have beard burn tomorrow to remind me that tonight is real. This is real. He ... is real. “I need ... I need more.”
Maddox growls against my sex as he does it again. And again . Tasting me. Teasing me. Soothing the ache and creating a whole new one until I’m writhing under him. Unsure of anything other than I want more.
More time. More of this. More Maddox.
Just more.
The orgasm teases in the distance, building powerful and beautiful.
A storm just out of reach but threatening destruction.
“For years, I’ve dreamed of you. The taste of your cunt. The feel of your body. What you’d sound like the first time you come on my tongue. My cock. Gonna need you to come for me, picolla principessa . Give me what no one’s ever had.”
I tremble and moan and drag his face back to my throbbing clit.
“That’s my girl,” he growls, and that’s it.
The sparks explode, raining down around us in a beautiful kaleidoscope of destruction.
His words.. .
The power of it all.
Threatening to burn the world around us until I can no longer think or speak.
I can only feel, and my God , I feel fucking everything.
I may only have tonight with Maddox Beneventi, but that’s all he’s going to need to eviscerate me. He fucks me with his fingers and his tongue and his words.
His brilliant blue eyes stay locked on mine as my juices coat his face.
And I have no doubt this image will stay with me forever.
He sucks my clit between his lips as I chase my orgasm, edging closer with each tease of his teeth. With every touch of his thick fingers inside me.
My knees shake, and my heels dig into his back.
Scoring his skin.
I tremble with each new stroke.
My body lighting up like it was made for his pleasure, and he plays it like he’s done so a thousand times. Teasing me, over and over . Stealing my breath and maybe another piece of my soul.
“Maddox... please,” I moan, desperate for more.
“Patience, Lennon. I’ve waited forever for this...”
He edges me. Teasing me over and over and over again. Each high closer than the one before but not close enough. Until my vision darkens around the edges, and I’m not sure I can take it anymore.
“Please... please... please ,” I plead and thrash, and damn if his eyes don’t light up, loving it.
“Please what?” His wicked grin is dark and delicious, and I want to lick myself off his face... so I do. I grab his face and lick his lips, then let him devour me. “Please make me come, my dark prince.”
Maddox pulls back, satisfied, then slaps my pussy, and I cry out, throbbing, practically crying, but not from pain... No... from pleasure. I’m on the edge of ecstasy.
So close but not enough.
Until... oh God , he finally scrapes his teeth over my throbbing clit, and the shower of sparks from earlier is nothing compared to now.
Color explodes behind my eyes.
Firing everywhere while I shatter and scream as he works me through my orgasm, refusing to stop until he’s wrung every last drop from my trembling body.
And when he stands like a golden fucking god and pulls his shirt over his head, with his wicked grin firmly in place on his handsome face, I know I’ve made a mistake. One night will never be enough to soothe the heartbreak standing in front of me. But I’ll be damned if that’s going to stop me from wringing every single second of happiness I can from what little time I have.
Maddox Beneventi is going to save my life or ruin it.
And I’m not sure I care which it is, so long as it’s him.