Chapter 14
#STAYORGO
MADDOX
The hot squeeze of Adrian’s body was a drugging lure, tempting me far off the path I’d sworn to take—the one that would keep me away from the temptation of him. Keep things professional.
Keep me fucking sane.
“Please.”
His broken voice was catnip. I wanted to crack his impossibly perfect veneer wide open, learn every facet of the man I’d glimpsed beneath. Because that man—the real Adrian—was warm, and funny, and endlessly fascinating. And he’d crawled under my walls despite my best efforts to keep him out.
I gripped the back of his neck while I drove into him from behind. The taut muscles of his back and shoulders bunched as his large hands gripped the sheets.
Why did it feel so good? Why was this guy, of all the people I’d hooked up with over the years, the one who made me lose control?
He should have been nobody to me. Nothing. Quick as a blink, he’d be leaving Legacy, and I’d be a speck in his rearview mirror as he sped the hell away. Falling for him was a trap I knew to avoid.
But here I was.
I’d reached for the forbidden fruit hanging full and juicy from a high branch like I was new at this. Like I hadn’t already learned my lesson. Like I didn’t know what it felt like to be left behind… and to lose a part of myself in the process.
Adrian reached back and clutched my hand, pulling me out of my dark thoughts. He wove our fingers together and held tight, forcing me to focus on the present. “Gonna make me come, Maddie,” he breathed. “Fuck, you feel good.”
I moved our joined hands under his chest as I leaned down, pressing the front of my body along his hot back. My hips continued to roll, slower now, as I held him tight. My nose brushed the back of his ear.
“You going to come for me, pretty boy?” I murmured, smiling against my will at the joy I felt in hearing him lose control.
“Fucking asshole.” He let out a gasp as I hit just the right spot. “Oh god. Right there.”
With his face in the sheets, he moved his other hand to his cock and began stroking.
I focused on keeping him on the knife’s edge. “Feel so fucking incredible. Tight. Hot. Fuck.” I hadn’t meant to say it out loud, to give him the satisfaction of knowing what he was doing to me, but I also couldn’t be bothered censoring myself.
Being inside him was intoxicating. I wanted more, needed more. I didn’t want it to end. Ever. And the idea that this could be my last time with him, should be my last time with him, made me even more desperate.
Adrian’s fingers tightened around mine. He pressed our joined hands against the center of his chest and held them there, and I clenched my teeth against the conflicting feelings I was having.
Raw possession. This man is mine.
The pull of my impending orgasm. It feels so fucking good.
And the deceptive temptation to imagine these feelings could last. It’s just sex, Sullivan. Stop imagining more.
But I couldn’t stop. Because now that I had him, I imagined what it would be like to keep him. To slip back into his body whenever I wanted. To hear him break apart. To provoke him and tease him and accept him until his mask fell away for good.
“Come for me, dammit,” I growled.
I needed this to be over. I needed to run. To get as far away from this temptation as possible. To reinforce my walls, build them deeper and higher, and keep these dangerous fantasies at bay.
I let go of his hand and moved my fingers to his hole, where I traced the edges of his sensitive rim, tugging the taut skin where our bodies connected.
That was all it took. His surprised cry vibrated from his body into my chest, setting off my own release and throwing all of my previous thoughts into the wind like scattered confetti shot from a cannon.
I moved my hand back around to grasp his cock, and his warm release coated both of our fingers as I thrust deep inside of him one last time.
Adrian’s body shuddered as he bit off murmured curses into the sheets. He was sweaty, rumpled, utterly undone, and there was nothing I wanted more than to gather him in my arms and hold him.
My throat burned I wanted that so much.
Still, I began mentally preparing my excuses.
“It’s okay, you know,” he said softly. “I won’t hold you to your promise. You can go.”
I hadn’t even climbed off him yet, although I’d slipped out of him already as he’d shifted and straightened his legs. My damp chest was still pressed against his back.
“Not leaving,” I said, annoyed that he thought so poorly of me.
Yes, I recognized the hypocrisy. But I’d be damned if I was going to give him the satisfaction of finding me that predictable.
The easy rumble of his laugh annoyed me even more. “Okay then. Stay.”
“Don’t need your permission,” I said peevishly, shoving away from him against my gut-clenching need to stay as close to him as possible. “Need I remind you, you already invited me to stay? Ordered me to, even?”
He turned and glanced at me over his shoulder, his quirked-up lips finding amusement in something I couldn’t identify. “Easy, tiger. You’re very welcome to stay. I’d like you to. But don’t do it because you promised. Don’t do it for me. If you want to go, go.”
His ass cheeks were ruddy from the hard fucking, and I couldn’t resist the urge to make them even redder. So I slapped his ass, hard. “Shut the fuck up and get in the shower. You’re covered in jizz.”
Adrian’s easy laugh followed me into the bathroom. I started the water and wet a cloth before reaching out to wash off the front of him while we waited for the water to warm.
“You taking care of me, Maddox?” he teased, allowing me full access without reaching for the cloth.
I focused on the tightening of his abs as I moved down his happy trail. His flaccid cock hung down his thigh, still plenty thick and sticky at the tip. I imagined kneeling down and taking it in my mouth.
“I’ll take that as a no,” he said.
I glanced up at him, blinking away my wayward thoughts. “’S’only right. After all, I’m the one who caused the mess.” I shot him a wink that made him roll his eyes and let out another laugh.
“Mm, but maybe you’re the one who needs taking care of,” he suggested. “Ever consider that?”
Once we were under the spray, I closed my eyes and tried getting a hold of myself.
But Adrian’s easy acceptance of my presence, his casual intimacy, especially his recent words about taking care of me stirred up memories I’d buried.
Memories of Michael leaving. The contrast between the two men was impossible to ignore.
“I can’t do this anymore, Maddox. The grief, the responsibility with Maya, the business. It’s too much. I need a break. Hell, I deserve a break. It’s a lot.”
“Hey,” Adrian said softly, all traces of amusement gone from his voice. “What’s happening right now? You look a million miles away.”
I opened my eyes and saw his furrowed eyebrows, the sincerity and concern in his eyes. Adrian’s large hands cupped my face, and he’d tilted my face toward his.
“Sorry,” I said, clearing my throat. “Just remembered something I need to do at the store.”
His face froze. “Yeah, fine. I understand.”
I reached for his hips and pulled him closer. “That’s not what I meant. Will you fucking stop? I’m not leaving. I told you.”
Even if I should.
“And I told you—” he said hotly.
Instead of repeating the same conversation yet again, I leaned forward and took his mouth in a hard kiss. The slick flesh of his hips and ass fit my hands perfectly, and I slid a knee between his to widen his stance so I could reach down and fondle him while we kissed.
By the time we finished washing and dried off, we were both starving.
Adrian tossed me a pair of lounge pants and a hoodie while he pulled on a similar combo. “There are some prepared meals in the fridge. Can’t promise they’re any good, but let’s see what we have.”
We found a baked pasta dish and a bag of salad to go with it. As soon as Adrian slid the pasta into the oven, I realized I needed to at least edit enough of our day’s shoot to get him something to post.
“Shit, let me get my laptop,” I said. “I forgot you’d need to make a post tonight.”
He watched me as I retrieved my gear bag and set up my laptop on the kitchen island. “I still have several of the other videos you’ve sent that I could post instead.”
I shook my head and focused on the screen. “No, it’s fine. I’ll edit while we wait for the food.”
Adrian moved around behind me to peer over my shoulder. “How’s it looking?”
I caught the scent of his face lotion and realized that the only reason I could identify it was because I’d been with him when he’d stepped out of the shower.
The memory of him with a towel wrapped around his waist, emphasizing his rounded ass, flooded my veins with heat. It annoyed me how distracting he was.
“Good,” I grunted, not looking away from the screen. “Should edit together nicely.”
Adrian leaned closer, ostensibly to get a better view of the laptop. His shoulder bumped mine as he pointed at the screen. “Can you rewind that part? I want to see how the lighting turned out at that overlook.”
I clicked back, watching the footage of him and Nate standing by the overlook. In the frame, they looked good together—two attractive men against a winter wonderland backdrop. Exactly what we’d planned.
“Huh,” Adrian murmured.
“What?”
“Nothing. It’s just…” He shifted closer, studying the screen. I stopped breathing, if only to keep the scent of him from filling my nostrils. “Keep going. Let me see the rest.”
I scrolled through more clips, growing increasingly unnerved as a pattern became obvious.
Every shot of Adrian was perfectly framed, catching him in the best light, highlighting the way the winter air had flushed his cheeks.
The shots of Nate, on the other hand, were…
functional. Adequate. Like an afterthought.
Shit.
“Interesting,” Adrian said, his voice carefully neutral.
“What’s interesting?” I asked, though I already knew I was fucked.