Chapter 7 #2
At the end of the day, it didn’t matter.
Maddox was the real star, and everyone knew it.
He was quiet as we drove to his cabin. It was a comfortable quiet, the kind I’d had to teach myself to enjoy as of late. Normally, I’d chatter, but I’d been chattering his head off all day, and even I had reached my limit.
So instead, I sought his big meaty thigh out with one hand and gave it a few pointed rubs.
“Iven,” Maddox’s voice was a low warning. A warning I ignored.
“Just touching you,” I hummed, hand creeping up higher.
“Iven,” he repeated, rougher this time.
That did not deter me. I liked poking the bear.
He was a very sexy bear. All gruff, serious, and talented.
Besides, I wanted to congratulate him on our win.
His win, really. The most I’d done was manage a reindeer tail and some of the fur texture.
It’d been fun to contribute, even if it’d taken me seriously goddamn hours to do whatever mediocre work I’d accomplished.
Maddox had asked if I wanted to work on more, and I’d declined. Which meant my job for half the day had been keeping him company as I sat on his overturned crate—he’d turned it over for me to make a chair, the giant sweetheart.
“I think you should get your reward now,” I purred, hand sliding up another inch, now creeping into the crease between his thighs. His nostrils flared. One hand very pointedly left the steering wheel, big scratchy fingers wrapping around my wrist as he pulled it up and away.
“At home,” he growled softly. “Touching me when I’m driving is dangerous.”
“Okay, fine.” I grinned, not at all put off. “Then I’ll touch myself.”
The noise Maddox made was barely human. He didn’t stop me, though, and he gave me my hand back. Which ended up being very useful as I wiggled my hips down a little to get comfortable, popped the button on my pants, and slid my hand inside.
It was a bluff.
Or it had been?
Except now that Maddox was panting beside me, eyes wide and on the road, obviously listening for movement—I could admit I was pretty fucking hard.
The first contact with my aching dick made me sigh—which in turn, made Maddox groan.
“Iven,” he said my name again, softer this time. “It’s a five-minute drive.”
“Mhm.”
“Fuck.”
My tip was already tacky, so I played with it a little. It was easier, really, than trying to jerk off, considering the fact that I was still tucked inside my pants. It felt good, too—a tease of what was to come.
“You know what’s hot?” I hummed, rubbing my thumb through the sticky liquid at my slit. Maddox was so quiet, I swear to god he could hear it. He grunted, knuckles strangling the steering wheel. “The way your nostrils flare when you’re turned on.”
The car went over a bump as we took the turn onto his long, winding driveway. I gasped, hips jerking up because the movement had made my balls buzz, and fuck, was that nice.
“You know what’s also hot?” I husked out, more breathless.
We were almost home. Maddox’s home. Not my home. Though lately, I’d been over there so often that’s what it had started to feel like. Our lives began to blur together.
We’d been living inside each other’s pockets.
Maddox had a lot of pockets, and plenty of room for me—he’d made that clear from the get-go.
I appreciated the lack of games. I appreciated feeling…
appreciated. I’d never had a relationship like that before.
Where my chatter was welcome, my bad habits were “cute,” and my partner enjoyed my eccentricity to the utmost degree.
I’d talk out loud, for example, and rather than telling me it was a bad habit, Maddox would tune in like I was a particularly riveting talk show.
Sometimes, he’d even weigh in on monologues, which was… fun to say the least.
Mostly, he just listened. Like he enjoyed me, because he did.
I never felt like I wasn’t enough. Nor did I feel like I had to shove myself in a box to be appreciated. We fit. Like shoes in a shoebox. Like we were made for one another, and we simply hadn’t known.
I was past the point in my life where I was interested in what-ifs.
Maddox was a sure bet if I’d ever seen one. Warm, patient, steady. As reliable as a shovel when the worst of the snow hit, and just as sturdy.
Maddox and I were too content to try to be anything else now that we were together.
Maybe one day, his home would be my home, too?
Or we’d build something closer to town. Closer to the shop. Something with bigger doors, probably. Something with room for bookshelves, a sturdier dining table, and a workshop where I could watch Maddox create.
Yeah.
I had no doubt that’s what we’d do.
Maddox would want to make our home with his bare hands. And I’d want to watch that too.
“Mm?” Maddox grunted, hoping to get me to talk again, no doubt.
Apparently, I wasn’t out of words after all.
“How you looked today,” I said, forcing my hands deeper as the cabin came into view.
It was tricky to get the angle right, but I managed, wrapping my fingers around my length and jerking it roughly.
Rough enough, the sound could be heard over the crunch of the snow beneath the tires.
His nostrils flared again.
I grinned.
When we parked, Maddox didn’t rush. As always, he took his sweet time exiting the truck, moving around back, and pausing outside my door. He pulled it open, his pale eyes dragging over my body with a heat I felt all the way down to my toes.
My hand was still down my pants. Which was…god. I felt naughty. Like I’d been caught doing something I shouldn’t. Probably because I had.
He glared at my hand, still cupping my dick. His brow twitched. I pulled my hand out, following the silent command.
I really was a little shit—unable to wait till we got home. Getting him riled up because I could. Teasing and taunting and—Oh.
He yanked me out of the car like I weighed nothing.
My belly flew somewhere south. Or down? Away.
As Maddox slung me up over his shoulder, potato-sack style, and walked me to the front door.
My face was in his belly, and god, what a place to be.
I nuzzled against it, and Maddox huffed at me as he got the front door open.
It was warm inside. It always was.
Cozy.
And yet my pulse was racing as Maddox deliberately locked the door behind us then walked me down the hall to his bedroom.
Brutus raised his head from the rug to watch us but didn’t otherwise react.
He was used to our chaos by now, and Penelope had come by to take him on a walk only a few hours ago, so I had no doubt he was too tired to deal with us.
The bed was as rumpled as it’d been when we’d left it that morning.
We’d parted ways early, as I’d had a few things I needed to do at the shop first thing.
We weren’t parting ways now. My back met the mattress for only a moment before Maddox was on the move again, flipping me over onto my belly—a position that I had privately decided was my favorite after the first time he’d eaten me out.
His hands fanned over my ass, thumbs in my crack, big fingers digging in tight enough to sting. If there was one thing I’d learned about Maddox Fuller since we’d begun dating, it was that he was an ass man. Jesus.
“Color?” Maddox said, like he always did.
“Green. Obviously. Are you ready for your reward no-Ow!” A ragged moan was torn out of my mouth as Maddox’s hand left my ass, then came back with a sharp smack. Oh Jesus. Fuck. Fuck. What?
Why did I like that?
Because wow—I…
Another smack.
Before he could ask, I gasped out, “Green, ohmygod.”
Maddox made a pleased sound. “Do you know why I’m spanking you?
” he asked, the pressure of the seat of my pants only heightening the sensation.
It scratched a little. The fabric. And it dampened the actual swat of his hands—which was a serious shame, but a blessing too.
The sting went away quickly, even if the scratch did not.
“I…” I shuddered, trying to get my brain to stop thinking about how big his hands felt on my ass. “I was…I teased you.”
“You did.” Maddox slapped my ass again, and I whimpered, arching up into it. He made a pleased sound, rubbing the sore cheek a little before jerking my pants and underwear down to my knees. The cool air on my ass made me shudder. “But that isn’t why you’re being punished.”
I whimpered, shuffling my knees apart as far as I could despite being restrained.
Maddox reached up for my glasses, pulling them free and gently setting them on the nightstand before his hands were back on my feverish skin.
Blunt fingers slid down my crease, rubbing back and forth, from the top of my ass all the way to my balls.
He’d press a little extra hard against my hole on every pass to feel it twitch.
“Then why am I—” I gasped, only to realize what I’d done wrong halfway through my sentence. “Because I did something dangerous.” That’s what he’d said in the car.
“Correct.”
Fuck, he was perfect. Not mad at me for the game I was playing, but angry because I could’ve hurt us both by distracting him when he had our lives in his hands.
“I’m sorry,” I said, actually meaning it. “I wanted to…”
“Rile me up,” he finished, voice gravelly soft, flat, and yet buzzing with amusement.
“Yes.”
“You haven’t had enough attention today,” Maddox filled in the blanks. He peeled back my layers and saw the gooey center beneath. “I was too focused on the ice.”
“No—that’s not…” It sounded so selfish like that. And it wasn’t something I’d consciously felt, or meant to do.
“Iven,” Maddox purred softly. “I don’t mind.” It was a different tone of voice, softer than before. It felt like he’d reached inside my chest and curled one of those big, gentle hands right around my beating heart. “I’ll give you all the attention you want.”
And then he proceeded to do what he’d promised. With his tongue, and his teeth, and his hands. Those big, capable, delightful hands. And then, when my hole was loose and twitchy and slick, his cock, too.
Filling me up in a way no one and nothing ever had.
Surrounded by him, full of him, delighted by him—it was no wonder that I’d given up on my quest for revenge. Because there was no room for pettiness in my life when I could use that energy to love Maddox.
He echoed the sentiment, if the huffs against my ear were any indicator, hot breath tickling as he fucked me over and over and over again.
Our victory was sweaty and sticky in the best possible way.
I was left changed because of it, long after it had ended, my head resting on Maddox’s chest, leg slung over his thick thigh as his fingers played with my hair.
His cock was soft, nestled in lube-sticky white curls.
My hand rubbed his belly, enjoying the give of it as he played with my hair lazily.
He was blurry without my glasses.
I didn’t mind.
There was something special about this, too.
The intimacy of the quiet, the stars above, the crackle of the fireplace in the living room echoing down the hallway.
“I’m so glad I messaged you,” I told him softly, nuzzling his pillowy pec with my nose. He twitched a little, disturbed by my mustache, and I grinned.
“Mm,” Maddox agreed, scratching behind my ears and sending sparks through my body. My hole twitched. My smile widened. Then he surprised me, his voice quiet as he bent low to press a kiss to my temple. “And how do you feel about revenge now?” he asked softly, lips skimming my skin.
I laughed, eyes crinkling at the corners. “I’d honestly forgotten,” I admitted.
Maddox laughed. I felt it rumble through his body, lighting us both up as we dissolved into giggles. Outside, the sky had opened up, snow drifting down in feathery flutters. But I was warm. So warm.
And I had the Heart2Heart app to thank for that.