Chapter 22
Chapter twenty-two
Maia
“On second thought, open your door,” he said abruptly, and I furrowed my eyebrows. A few seconds later, I heard footsteps outside my door before three lazy knocks.
I froze. “Blaine.”
“Open. Your. Door,” he said, voice warm and smug like he was already picturing the expression on my face.
I padded over, heart pounding, and peeked through the peephole. Sure enough, there he was, leaning casually against the doorframe in a dark button-up, sleeves rolled to his forearms, like it was normal for him to pop up like this.
I opened the door a sliver. “What are you doing here?”
He smirked. “You didn’t call, so I got in my car and drove. I have take-out on the way as we speak.”
“This is not how normal people work.”
“Good thing I’m not normal. You’d be the first to know that fact, Sunshine.” He smiled his billion-dollar smile, and I held the door still as he looked me up and down through the crack. “Are you going to let me in?”
I hesitated.
Mostly because I knew the second I let him in, I’d let him get closer than I was ready for.
Closer to the truth. Closer to what was still sitting beneath my sink. Closer to me.
But he was already here. And part of me… the dumb, lonely, exhausted part, wanted him here.
I stepped back.
The door creaked open, and Blaine stepped inside like he’d been here a hundred times before. His eyes fully gazing over my attire, and I immediately felt small with the flimsy shorts I just so happened to wear tonight.
I watched as he walked, filling up the room with his overwhelming presence before he sat on my couch, manspreading his legs enough to make the cushions look smaller under him.
Obviously he just came from the office, so it's expected that his work clothes will be a little more disheveled than normal.
But that paired with his musky mahogany scent… Oh, I wanted to jump him.
He patted his thighs twice, a silent invitation to make myself comfortable, I suppose. I went over silently, straddling his lap as I tried to ignore the fluttering in my lower stomach. His hands slowly caressed my thighs, his eyes never leaving mine as I rested my hands against his chest.
“Tell Daddy what's wrong,” he murmured.
I could only roll my eyes. “You’re insufferable…” I groaned before I shrugged softly, feeling his abs through his shirt mindlessly. “Just had a long day.”
“A long day, huh?” he repeated, his voice all-knowing as his thumbs dragged lazy circles against the inside of my thighs.
I nodded, pretending I didn’t notice the way his gaze dropped to my lips… then lower.
“You know… it's not hard to see that something’s digging into that pretty little head of yours and making you shut me out.” My lips parted, but no words came out.
“You know you can tell me… if something’s going on.
” His eyes reached mine again, and by the tone of his voice, it was almost as if he knew exactly what had happened already.
“I know,” I breathed. “I know that.”
“Then you’ll tell me?” he asked.
I shook my head, my eyes averting from his.
Feeling his finger under my chin, I remained still as he turned me back to face him, awaiting my answer.
“I can’t.” My voice cracked again.
“Why not?”
“Because if I do… then everything’s real. My past, my present, my fucked future.” I wiped a fallen tear, shaking my head as he listened patiently. “I won’t be able to pretend everything’s okay.”
He didn’t speak right away. Just watched me with those dark, all-consuming eyes like he was memorizing every fractured inch of me.
Then, softly, “Who says you have to pretend with me?”
I could only look at him. “Pretending is how this—” I pointed between us “—works. It's the only way I can justify being okay experiencing actual luxury before I’m reminded who I am… and where I came from.”
“You think I won’t love every piece of you? The past included?” he said, tilting his head slightly. “You think I’ll run if I see the whole picture?”
“I think you’ll look at me differently,” I whispered. “I think you’ll stop seeing… whatever it is you see when you look at me.”
His grip on my thighs tightened. Not painful but firm, grounding even. Like he wanted to anchor me to him, keep me from drifting too far into the dark.
He didn’t flinch. “I asked you to marry me, Ms. Dalton.”
My brows lifted. “After our one-night stand…”
He shrugged, like it was obvious. “And yet I still asked. You want to know why, Sunshine?”
I looped my arms around his neck, my heart pounding in my chest. “Tell me why, Romeo.”
His voice dropped lower. “Because you could show me the worst parts of yourself, and I’d still crawl back begging for more.
There is nothing you could confess… no secret, no sin that would make me walk away.
I don’t commit. I never have. But I spent one night with you and wanted a fucking ring on your finger. ”
I tilted my head playfully in thought. “If I recall vividly, it’s because I gave you the best ride of your life.”
“Amongst several other things… that was a contributing factor, yes,” he smirked.
I smacked his chest lightly as he leaned forward to kiss my shoulder.
He didn’t pull away after. Instead, his lips lingered there, soft at first, then firmer. Warmer. I felt his mouth part against my skin just enough to graze teeth before he trailed down, leaving a heat that made my toes curl beneath me.
“Blaine…” I warned softly, but it came out more of a breath than a sound.
“Mm?” His mouth was already at my collarbone now, his hands sliding up the hem of my pajama top until his thumbs brushed the curve just beneath my breasts.
“I don’t want your pretend smiles, Maia. I want this.” He tightened his hands on my ribcage, pulling me flush against him so I could feel just how badly he meant that. His thumbs pressed into my skin, branding me as I whimpered against his lips.
“I want everything that makes you you. Your past, your secrets, your tears, everything… I don’t want the version of you that has to survive for everyone else,” he murmured, dragging his mouth along my jaw.
“I want the one that breaks for me when the door closes. The one who cries in the shower. The one whose smile could light up a room, but whose jokes would clear it.”
I rolled my eyes, watching as he placed another kiss on my chest.
“You’re such an ass,” I muttered, my voice softer than I meant it to be.
“And yet,” he murmured against my skin, “you’re still sitting here, letting me get under yours.”
“You talk a dangerous talk for a man that doesn’t commit, Mr. Porter…”
He smirked, his breath hot as it fanned over the swell of my breast. “Maybe I’m making an exception.”
His thumbs stroked upward, brushing the edge of my top before slipping beneath, his thumbs grazing the sensitive tips of my breasts. “Maybe you’re the exception.”
My breath hitched, my fingers curling into the fabric at his shoulders. “You shouldn’t say things like that.”
He didn’t answer or respond, just tugged at my nipples as if my words insulted him.
Before I could even whine or protest, he caught my mouth with his, the kiss starting slow, possessive, deliberate… hungry, before his tongue slid against mine, pulling a muffled whimper from my throat.
His hands cupped my ass now, pulling me hard against him until I felt the thick, aching proof of what I was doing to him. He swallowed my gasp, his tongue stroking deep, claiming every corner of my mouth like he owned it. And as pathetic as it sounds, I wanted him to.
“Feel that, Sunshine?” he breathed huskily against my lips, my body trembling as he grinded against me. “That’s what you do to me.”
I could barely think, let alone speak. He didn’t even give me the chance.
He kept me straddled over him, tugging my pajama shorts down my hips until they were bunched and stretched at my knees. His palms dragged up my bare thighs, spreading them wide over his lap.
I clung to him, my fingers digging into his shirt, the scent of his cologne wrapping around me like a chokehold.
“Blaine—” I tried again, but it came out wrecked when his thumb brushed the damp fabric between my legs.
“God, look at you,” he breathed, his eyes devouring every inch. “I want you to let me ruin the idea of any other man for you.” His voice was so low I felt it in my chest. His thumb pressed harder, circling slowly, purposefully.
“You’d let me, wouldn’t you?” he murmured, voice dropping to something darker. “Let me fuck the memory of anyone else right out of you? Let me drag you under until you couldn’t tell where I end and you start?”
My head fell forward against his shoulder, a sound catching in my throat as his thumb pressed harder. He caught my chin in his free hand, forcing me to look back at him.
“Eyes on me, Sunshine.” The command was low, lethal, his finger still moving in maddening circles over the thin barrier.
My breath hitched, my lashes fluttering as I fought the urge to close my eyes.
“Blaine…” I breathed, but it was useless… he wasn’t going to let me hide from him.
“That’s it,” he murmured, his fingers slipping beneath the soaked fabric now, dragging against bare, desperate skin. My hips jerked involuntarily, a small gasp sounding from me.
“I—” Whatever I was going to say died when he pressed two fingers against me, sliding just enough to make my thighs tremble. His free hand gripped my jaw, holding me still, forcing me to drink in his dark and hungry gaze.
“What was that, Sunshine?”
My nails dug into his shirt, my chest rising and falling rapidly. “Please,” I whispered, my voice almost breaking.
He smiled like he’d just won. “That’s more like it.”
I didn’t know when it happened… maybe between the way he latched his hands around my waist or the way he growled against my ear, but suddenly I was no longer in his lap.
In the blink of an eye, I was face down into the couch cushion, ass up in the air as I slowly started to forget my own name. With his hands on my waist and his cock stretching me out feverishly, I truly didn’t seem to know where he began and where I ended.
His hips snapped forward, forcing a strangled cry from my throat. The couch bit into my knees, the cushion muffling my gasps as his grip on my waist turned bruising.
"There’s my good fucking girl.” He chuckled, the sound vibrating down my spine.
“Feel that, baby?” he growled, slamming into me again, the wet sound between us obscene.
I tried to brace against the couch, to do something to ground my floating head, but his hand came down between my shoulder blades, shoving me flat into the cushion until my ass was tilted high for him.
The position made me take him deeper, too deep, and my toes curled hard against the fabric.
Blaine laughed low in his throat, like my struggle was the best entertainment he’d had all week. “You hear yourself? Fuck, so desperate. Like you’ve been waiting all damn day for me to fuck you like this.”
I whimpered, my legs twitching, the feeling in my stomach pulling tighter with every stroke.
He leaned over me, his mouth brushing my ear. “You’re clenching so hard around me, baby.” His humiliating amusement only made me wetter. “What is it? Gonna come already?”
“Yes…” My voice cracked, but he didn’t slow.
“Mm, I can feel it. You’re right there.” His hand slipped between my legs, finding my swollen clit with cruel precision. “Let go for me.”
His pounding into me and his fingers working that sensitive spot had me spiraling too fast. My moan caught in my throat, my eyes squeezed shut, and my body gave way.
“There it is.” His tone was almost mocking, his pace never faltering as my orgasm crashed over me.
My legs went slack, my cheek pressing into the couch cushion as the last waves rolled through me. I whimpered, nails digging into the couch, trying to inch forward, but his hand shot to the back of my neck, holding me in place.
“Ah-ah. We’re not done. Still need to fuck every thought out of your pretty little head. Make sure there’s no room for anything but me.”
He pushed deeper, harder, and my entire body shuddered, the aftershocks tipping straight into another wave of unbearable pleasure.
I didn’t want to love it so much… but I did. God, I did. Every ruthless snap of his hips was pulling me farther from my own thoughts, emptying out the chaos in my head until there was nothing left but him, the burn, and the way he was using me.
The overstimulation hit fast and sharp, and I bit down on the cushion to keep from screaming. My body was already shivering, every nerve stretched thin, but he didn’t care. If anything, my trembling only seemed to spur him on.
“That’s it,” he murmured, leaning over me, his breath hot against my ear. “Just a little hole for me to fuck. That’s all you are right now, isn’t it?”
Heat flooded my face, humiliation tangling with a rush of pleasure so strong it made me dizzy. He laughed brutally as my core tightened at his words. He had such a dirty mouth.
“That’s my little baby.” His hand slid from my neck to my jaw, yanking my head back just enough for him to see my face, to watch the tears clinging to my lashes. “Look at you. Aw, you're so pretty,” he cooed, kissing my temples tenderly as a wide smile spread over my face.
“Yeah,” he murmured, his tone dipping low and warm like honey, even as his hips kept driving into me. “My pretty, fucked-out girl.” His thumb stroked over my cheekbone almost reverently, a sharp contrast to the punishing rhythm of his thrusts.
My face met the couch cushions again as his hand returned to the back of my neck, pinning me while he chased his own release. “Stay right there, Sunshine. Be good for Daddy.”
My body clenched tight around him before I could stop it. His low chuckle told me he’d felt it too.
Then his breathing grew ragged, thrusts becoming erratic, deeper, until with a guttural groan he pushed in to the hilt. His hips rolled once, twice, holding me flush against him as he spilled into me hot and deep, and the sound of his satisfaction vibrated down my spine.
He stayed there for a long moment, still inside me, his hand warm and heavy at the back of my neck.
My breathing slowed, my cheek sinking into the couch cushion as the noise in my head went silent.
No Felix. No past due notices. No Uncle Wes.
No gnawing weight of everything waiting for me outside this room.
I didn’t want reality to creep back in, remind me of my fate for the hundredth time, but slowly as my high died down, it did.
Blaine could fuck the noise out of me, strip me down until all that was in my mind was him… but the second he let go, the chaos would find its way back in. It always did.