47. Sophie
47
Sophie
I sauntered into the kitchen, my bare feet silent on the cold floor. Last night’s memory of Chavez’s pleas and whimpers from the live camera feed from the Midnights basement echoed in my mind, giving me a macabre sense of peace. A shiver of dark delight skittered down my spine as I poured a cup of coffee.
I watched Maverick on the terrace, a god only in joggers, thumb swiping over the screen of his phone. The sight of him like that—his body bathed in a golden glow that cast shadows over the contours of his muscles—it was enough to make me sigh.
I slid the glass door open, my coffee forgotten. The crisp air nipped at my skin, but the fire he ignited within me promised all the warmth I’d ever need. He looked up—and holy fuck, the look he gave me suggested he knew exactly the effect he had on me, and damn him, he basked in it.
His rugged sex appeal was a physical force, pulling at my core with every movement he made. The stubble on his jaw gave him that dangerous edge. Memories of how those strong hands had explored every inch of my skin, sending waves of pleasure crashing over me, flooded my brain.
“Enjoying the view?” Maverick’s voice broke into my thoughts. That grin, oh that mischievous grin, widened across his face and made my heart stutter.
The black slip I’d packed for our Vegas trip clung to my body, chilling my skin further. It was sheer silk—a tease—and I knew it drove him wild. He watched me, that predatory look in his eyes making me weak in the knees. But I kept my distance, wandering across the terrace and leaning against the railing—the very one he’d once bent me over—with casual defiance.
“Leaving me alone in bed? That’s a sin I don’t easily forgive,” I chided playfully, cocking an eyebrow at him.
His laugh, low and husky, danced along my nerves. He pocketed his phone and rose to his full, imposing height. “Baby, if I’d stayed, we wouldn’t have made it out of that bed for hours,” he said, taking a deliberate step toward me.
“Promises, promises,” I threw back, arousal zipping through me as he closed the distance between us, each step measured and sure. I let my head fall back just enough for my bedridden hair to fall over the ledge and whip around me.
“Careful,” I warned, though my voice betrayed the excitement building within me. “One more step and I might not let you go back to work.”
“Is that a threat or a promise, Soph?” His voice was a velvet growl.
“Guess you’ll have to find out,” I replied, my tone light even as my pulse raced. This man, this infuriatingly sexy man, knew exactly what he did to me. And fuck if I didn’t love him for it.
He stepped closer anyway, until he was right in front of me. He planted his hands on the railing behind me, the sunrise doing absolute wonders for his eyes. Ugh. It wasn’t fair to look the way he did. “I’ve got movers heading to your apartment to collect your things.”
My brows shot up. The old Sophie would have balked at his high-handedness, but now? Now, I reveled in the control he wielded, the way he ensured our lives became irrevocably entwined. The way I couldn’t resist and craved him taking control.
“There better be a method to your madness, babe,” I said, the words dipped in acid and honey. “You’re commandeering my apartment now? What’s next, Mav? Are you going to pick out my underwear for the day, too?”
He leaned closer, that wolfish grin never leaving his face, but his eyes were dark, intense—a storm brewing beneath the calm surface. “Hmm, not a bad idea. But I prefer when you’re not wearing any.” His gaze dropped pointedly, searing hot trails over my skin.
I hummed, and as much as I wanted him to take me back to bed… “Okay, Mr. Mastermind. What about Chavez?”
“Ah, I’ve been thinking of letting him stew a little longer. Maybe have Paulie terrorize him a bit.”
I rolled my lips as I considered this. “Or…” my voice trailed off as I looked over my shoulder at the city, the morning sun ascending over the high-rises, making their windows glitter.
“Do you have something else in mind?” Maverick pressed a kiss to my jaw.
“How do you think he’d react if you put some of those rebels in there with him?”
He pulled back and regarded me. “Let them stew together?”
My own devious grin spread. “Exactly. A man who killed Eddie Reyes and believes in your father’s cause only to be stuck in a small, dark room with men who still support a dead man. It’ll be Chavez’s version of hell’s waiting room.”
“God, you’re diabolic. I fucking love it.” He kissed me once but didn’t deepen it. “I fear I’ve corrupted you.” Was that remorse I heard in his voice?
My smile faded as I leveled with him. “You’ve met your match, darling.” I pushed his chest hard enough for him to take a step back so I could sashay past him.
“Where are you going?”
I winked at him over my shoulder as I slid the door open. “To shower. You can join me, or I can use one of those toys in your top drawer. Your choice, but I’m getting off either way. You sure know how to turn a girl on with talk of revenge and power plays.”
He followed me. “Only because I know what makes my queen tick.” He caught me by the waist just inside the door, hauling me back into him. His hands moved down to my thighs, fingertips teasing the hem of my slip. I sagged against him.
“Keep this up, and I might have to reconsider leaving home at all today,” I breathed out.
“Is that so?” He chuckled, the sound vibrating against my neck as he placed a possessive kiss just below my ear. “Guess I’ll have to make it worth your while then.”
“Always so generous,” I quipped, my laughter lightening the dark turn our conversation had taken. But even as we bantered, a part of me relished the thought of our enemies squirming. We were a team, united in love and retribution, and nothing—absolutely nothing—could stand in our way now.
“Always, baby,” he promised, his lips brushing mine in a tantalizing tease. “Now, not so fast, woman. We eat first, then I’ll do whatever you want me to do to you.”
***
After breakfast, a newfound, almost foreign energy coursed through my veins. Like answering my body’s needs for more than just sex renewed my confidence and made me feel fulfilled in a whole new way. It would be a lifelong struggle, but at least eating three meals a day was a step in the right direction in feeling more like myself.
Wednesday had joined us, drinking cream and eating more food than I would’ve expected a kitten to eat. But she happily licked her paws while we put the dishes away. Then she jumped off the counter and attacked her toy mice and launched herself off the furniture. Her energy made us both laugh.
With a playful sway in my hips, I sauntered down the hallway. I could feel his eyes on me, but I didn’t look back at him.
“Time’s ticking, Detective,” Maverick said nonchalantly, a note of mirth in his voice that brought a grin to my face. “The movers will be here before you know it.”
“Not a detective any more,” I called over my shoulder, thinking about the resignation email sitting in my drafts. I’d hit send once I cleared out my office.
Once in the bedroom, I slid open the top drawer of his dresser, where he stashed his collection of pleasure and pain. But as I peered in to view my options, I paused, my fingers hovering in midair. Nestled among the whips, vibrators, ropes, and other goodies, was a smattering of photographs—dozens and dozens of them, a visual story of me and my everyday life. I blinked, the images registering slowly. There I was, laughing over coffee with Callie, jogging down the streets of Newark, on dates with men who were not Maverick, drinking in a bar, sitting in my work vehicle on stakeouts, interviewing suspects… each a stolen moment from my life.
“Those are quite the collector’s items,” Maverick drawled from the doorway.
I turned towards him, a mix of bewilderment and curiosity churning within me. He filled the threshold as he casually leaned against the door frame with his arms crossed.
“I wondered when you’d find them,” he admitted.
“Tell me,” I whispered.
He pushed off from the door frame and came closer, his hands sliding into his pockets as if restraining himself. I hated it. “It was right after we met,” he started, his voice carrying an edge of vulnerability. “I couldn’t help myself; I became obsessed with capturing you—every fact, every expression, every interaction. All under the guise that I was convinced you suddenly showed up in my life to take your family’s empire back.”
My throat tightened, but not out of fear. I traced some of the photos with my fingers, lifting a few of them and seeing myself from a third person’s view. I could understand how someone could grow increasingly obsessed from afar just by seeing another person live candidly.
“I mean, you knew I had my men on you. You just didn’t know about this.”
It was an odd sense of being cherished, however twisted the method. I was careful to school my features and noted the flicker of nerves that danced behind his own stoic facade. Like he was afraid this would be the thing to send me running for the hills.
Fuck that. Not this time. Not again. I was in this for the long haul now.
“Say something. Please,” he pleaded, that mask slipping.
“I’ve always felt that what we had was an intense, raw connection. But really, obsession is a two-way street,” I said coolly, retrieving my phone from the nightstand on my side of the bed. I pulled up the familiar app, the one that had gotten a lot of use early on and then again this week as I watched his every move while I lay in a hotel room bed.
He asked, “What’s that?” with a hint of amusement in his tone as he peered at the display over my shoulder.
“A little something I’ve kept up my sleeve.” With a smirk, I handed him my phone so he could look at the blinking dot—the location of his phone. “I guess you could say I also had a vested interest in knowing where you were, especially after you stopped tailing me.”
Maverick’s eyebrows lifted in surprise, a rare sight that made my heart skip a beat. “This is how you crashed my date?”
“Guilty,” I confessed without remorse, the word "date" feeling like vinegar.
He chuckled, tossing my phone on the bed. “Quite the pair, aren’t we?”
I cleared my throat before perching on the edge of the bed, finally feeling like everything was out in the open between us. “Any other secrets you’d like to divulge while we’re talking?”
Slowly, Maverick shook his head, his features softening until there was something disarmingly tender in his demeanor. “Can’t think of anything. I’m just happy you’re here.”
Happy that I’m here.
“I love you,” I told him.
“I love you, too.”
“Come here,” I murmured, my idea of rough, kinky sex forgotten as my heart was consumed with adoration. He did as I said—a feeling of intoxicating power slithering through me—and closed the space between us with a few purposeful strides. There was no domineering between us. Today, we were simply Maverick and Sophie, loving and open.
Maverick pushed my shoulders back so I was flat on the bed. He climbed over me, eyes never leaving my face as his hands planted on either side of my head before his lips met mine in a fiery kiss, hungry and insatiable. His tongue slid against mine, and I moaned into his mouth, arching into his touch when he shifted to thread his fingers into my hair, cup my face in his hands. His cock was hard and throbbing against my clit, making my hips roll up toward him, searching for more.
“I want you so fucking bad,” he breathed, his facial hair leaving my skin sensitive in the best way. I wanted my whole body on fire from it, so I could remember these moments long into the evening. “I need you. I’ve always needed you.” His mouth trailed down my throat, stubble scraping. My eyes rolled back as electric shivers raced through me, flooded my core and pooled between my thighs.
“Then take me,” I begged, my hands finding purchase in his hair. “Show me how much you need me.”
With a desperate growl, Maverick rolled so I was straddling his hips. He grasped at the hem of my slip, so I pulled it over my head, tossing it behind me carelessly as the hunger in his eyes became ravenous. He groaned in appreciation, running his hands up my thighs.
“You’re so fucking beautiful,” he breathed.
“You’re not so bad yourself,” I teased.
Maverick grabbed the back of my neck to pull me down, his lips trailing a searing path down my throat. His hot breath sent goosebumps down my skin, making me pant. He chuckled, clearly enjoying every second of my undoing.
“So impatient,” he purred, his tongue flicking over my pulse point before sucking hard enough to leave a mark. This man and his need to brand me.
I pulled out of his embrace, scrambling off of him to crawl up to the pillows. He rolled and grabbed my ankles, flipping me onto my back. In seconds his mouth was closing over my clit, and my entire body shivered in response. My back arched, my toes curled, my thighs quivered. He tongue-fucked me, adding his fingers in as my orgasm started to crest, taking me over the edge.
Then he was above me, his mouth closing over one nipple, sucking and nibbling, my piercing making me ultra-sensitive. He teased and tormented until I was writhing.
“Please, baby,” I moaned. “I need you inside me now.”
I felt his grin against my mouth when he kissed me. “As you wish.”
And then he was inside me, and we were no longer Sophie and Maverick, but two people becoming one. Gentle kisses and whispers of adoration, names murmured in worship, and a slow, rapturous torture until we were both lost to our own pleasure.
***
It was dark outside, but the warm glow of the bathroom lights reflected off the black silk that hugged my body like a second skin. The dress hung low in the back, thin spaghetti straps holding it up and accentuating my curves.
Maverick stood behind me, his presence commanding in the reflection of the mirror as his eyes swept over me adoringly. With his midnight gaze locked on mine, I was both Eve and the serpent, ready to sin with him until the end of time.
He looked at me like he had the first day we met—hungry, desperate, and full of desire. But now there was something more, something deeper. Love. It shone in his eyes, solidifying everything we had been through together.
I reached up to touch his face, tracing the lines of stress and worry that had haunted him for so long. “I love you,” I whispered. The words were heavy with meaning, promise, commitment.
He smiled, twirling a finger in the air to indicate I should turn. I did, and met his eyes again in the mirror. “Don’t move.” He went back into the bedroom as though we had all the time in the world. When he reappeared, he was holding several black velvet boxes. My heart began to race when I realized what they were.
“Maverick,” I warned.
“You left these behind,” he said casually, setting them on the counter and opening one of the long ones to reveal the glittering necklace I’d picked out in Vegas. “Lift your hair.” I reached up and pulled my hair off my shoulders so he could put the necklace on. It had a teardrop pendant that matched the earrings he presented next. I put those on. Then, he revealed the tennis bracelet. It was heavy when he attached the clasp around my wrist, and part of me felt guilty at how I’d disregarded his money when I picked them out.
He didn’t give me any more time to overthink my actions, though.
“Bend over,” he growled. “Hands on the counter.”
“Yes, sir.” I bent over obediently, my hands splayed across the cool marble vanity. My curled hair fell over my shoulders as he lifted the long hem of my dress, flipping it over my hips and revealing my bare skin. I couldn’t wear underwear with this dress, and judging by the heady look on his face, he was pleased with my decision.
“Arch your back for me,” he commanded, his voice a low rumble that made my insides quiver. My legs spread without being asked, not knowing where he was going with this but ready for him regardless. He held a rose-petal anal plug like a sacred offering up for my approval, and I felt a surge of anticipation. I dipped my chin so he’d know I was okay with it.
“Such a perfect flower for my little whore.” He pulled a bottle of lube out of one of the bathroom drawers, coating the silicone before returning his attention to my bare backside.
His touch was reverent, gentle, as he pressed it against me, and then he filled me with it. A gasp escaped my lips at the delicious stretch, the sensation teetering between pleasure and pain that took my breath away as I adjusted.
“Good fucking girl, baby. Look at you, taking it like a pro,” he praised, his fingertips tracing the edges of the petals and brushing over my flesh. I pushed back against him, suddenly wishing his dick was inside my ass instead of the plug. “Wear this tonight. Every second, every breath, remember it’s me inside you.”
“Like I could forget,” I rasped, the weight inside me evident in every movement.
He chuckled as he pressed a kiss to my neck and pulled me upright, the change in position forcing the breath from my lungs. “You’ll be rewarded for behaving tonight.”
I couldn’t wait for this night to be over.