Chapter Five
Maddox
I wake up, a warm, soft body lying in the crook of my arm and cuddling against my body.
It takes a few seconds for me to remember what’s going on, and once I do, I let out a long breath and talk to myself.
I knew what I was getting into with Gabby.
She was honest before we had sex, and everything in me wanted to be her first. It wasn’t sex with a virgin that was throwing me off balance nor is it her age.
No, it’s the intensity of our connection that has my head spinning.
For a man who decided I was finished with relationships, I want more with Gabby.
And no one else. Closing my eyes, I turn my head and breathe in the strawberry scent clinging to her hair, and my dick perks up.
It is way more than morning wood where even my hand would do.
I want to feel her tight walls around me again. I want to come, knowing we’re in sync.
Since I know she’ll be sore, I carefully move my shoulder, letting her head come to rest on a pillow.
I turn and look at her peaceful expression.
She’s so damned pretty, her makeup-free face and creamy complexion another thing I find appealing about her.
The women I used to sleep with woke up before me to fix themselves before I got a glimpse of the real person beneath the heavy coverage.
Until Gabby, I never realized how much I prefer the natural look, or how hard it could make me.
Her eyelids open, her long lashes fluttering as awareness hits her, and she looks at me with trepidation in her gaze. She’s silent, assessing me. I have no doubt she wonders where my head is after last night.
“Morning, beautiful.” I have no intention of leaving her hanging. I’m in this, willing to see where this relationship takes us, though I’m well aware she could still end up changing her mind and going home to her reality at any point in time.
A happy smile lifts her lips. “Good morning.”
“How did you sleep?” I ask.
“Fantastic.” She lifts her arms over her head and stretches, causing the covers to fall and her bare breasts to reveal themselves. “Oops!” She reaches for the top sheet, and I stop her.
“Nope. I like looking at you.”
“You do?” Her cheeks flush pink.
I prop myself up on one elbow, lean over and press my mouth to hers, taking my time and enjoying, my tongue sliding against hers. She moans, hooking her arm around my neck.
“No regrets?” she asks, breaking the kiss.
I cock an eyebrow. “Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” I lean back against the pillows, and she curls up against me.
“I wasn’t the one who had issues with us to begin with.”
Aah. She doesn’t want to face me, still worried I’ll change my mind. “Look at me.”
She sighs and pushes herself to a sitting position. “Yes?”
Reaching out, I slide a piece of hair off her forehead and tuck it behind her ear.
“One, we discussed that last night. Two, once I make up my mind, I don’t change it without good reason, and three?
You waited for the right man to give your virginity to.
” I cup her chin in my hand. “Am I still that right man?”
She nods. “No regrets.”
“Good. Me, neither. Now, give me another kiss, we’ll shower, and I’ll take you out for breakfast.”
She leans forward on her knees and crawls toward me, arching her back and kissing me with everything in her. I groan and pull her against me, her curvy body coming to rest on top of me.
“What happened to the shower?” she asks, wriggling her hips and grinding her sex into my hard cock.
I cup her ass cheeks in my hands and squeeze. “Are you feeling up for a second round, or are you sore? I can draw a bath—”
Her eyes soften. “Look at this new side of you. I had no idea you could be…sweet.”
“What can I say? You bring out that dormant side of me.”
Her eyes open wide, and she scrambles to a sitting position, her wet sex covering my lower abdomen and I think I’ll explode.
“Dormant means you were softer at one point and then you changed. What did Wall Street do to you?” she asks, obviously determined to talk.
Having a conversation is the last thing I want to do, but I resign myself to being horny and uncomfortable while we talk. “More like what did the women in that world do to me?”
Gabby wrinkles her nose. “What was her name?”
“Felicia. But it started before her. My parents are good people. Dad’s an electrician and Mom stayed home with me and my younger brother.
We didn’t have a lot but we had enough. And we were happy.
But I got a scholarship to Columbia and then got my MBA.
Before I knew it, I was on Wall Street and mingling with people I never thought I’d meet.
Not given how I’d grown up.” And that is a mouthful more than I ever planned to reveal.
“People like me? My family? Preston?” she asks.
I sigh. “You’re nothing like them.”
“But you thought I was. When you met me at the bar, right? Tell me. I won’t be angry.”
I nod. “I did, at first. Then you showed up the next day with a job and towels for the guest bathroom and for mine. Next thing I knew, you were working in the mornings, painting in the afternoons, coming to the bar at night and helping out by clearing dirty glasses.” I shake my head and grin.
“Blew my initial perception of you out of the water.”
“I live to shock you,” she says wryly. “I take it you liked what you saw?”
I nod. “More than liked. I admired you. In one short week, you changed what I thought of you and I stopped fighting my desire.”
“Lucky me,” she whispers.
Finally, I think, we can move on from talking. I reach for her breast, and she arches backward. “Tell me about Felicia.”
I groan. “Seriously? We’re both naked, and you want to hear about my ex?”
She shakes her head. “I want to learn more about you.” She places a hand on my chest, over my heart.
I can’t deny her. And once I tell her everything, we can move on to better things.
“Okay. I met a woman at one of the fundraising events I went to on behalf of the firm. We dated and pretty much lived together. She looked good as my date and I convinced myself I cared for her but I know better now.”
“What changed?” Gabby asks, her gaze soft on mine.
“I hated the people I worked with, disliked the pretentiousness surrounding me. I’d already made enough money to put it in savings and do what would make me happy.
” I lift my shoulders in a shrug. “I didn’t know what that was at the time but I saw this house advertised.
It was rundown and needed renovations and it called to me. So I bought it and moved here.”
She looks around the bedroom that still needs massive painting and work. “I like it, too. I can envision the entire house when it’s finished. It’ll be a home.” Her lips curl up in a smile, and I want nothing more than to kiss her.
She pats my chest. “Go on. I want to hear it all.”
I roll my eyes. “You’re a bossy thing. Okay, fine.
I began the reno process. One night I met Zach and Remy at The Back Door and offered up my bartending services.
I worked evenings for a couple of months and enjoyed it.
Eventually, Remy had to go back to the city to the Manhattan bar, and they promoted me to manager.
” I shrug. “The casual, easy lifestyle works for me.”
“Thank you. I know you weren’t in the mood to revisit the past.”
“I don’t mind telling you.” And I don’t. She listens and understands me on a level that shocks me, given she comes from the world I’ve been so disillusioned with.
“How about that shower?”
She climbs off me, and a cool chill rushes over my skin.
“You go first. If we shower together, I’ll forget you need some time to recuperate before we go again.”
“Tonight,” she says, and my cock hardens at the promise in her words.
I nod. “Tonight,” I agree.
“I’m going to use the other bathroom. All my stuff is in there.” She walks out of the room naked, more comfortable with her nudity around me than I expect.
She’ll be at least twenty minutes in the shower, and I don’t want to tempt fate by us both using the hot water at the same time. I could use a cup of coffee. I rise to my feet and pull on my track pants, walking to the kitchen.
No sooner have I pulled out a K-cup than my doorbell rings. I’m not expecting company.
I stride to my door and look through the glass.
An older woman stands outside, leaning on a brightly decorated cane.
Her hair is blonde with light streaks of gray, and she wears long sleeves in ninety-degree weather, a pair of pressed slacks and sneakers, no doubt for better balance.
On the street behind her, a black Lincoln Town Car with a driver appears to idle.
I glance at her face. The moment I take in her emerald-green eyes, I know who she is and open the door. “You must be Gabby’s grandmother.”
“What gave me away?” she asks. “My good looks?”
I grin, liking this woman already. “Your eyes. Come in.” I have no doubt Gabby will want to see her grandmother. She was the first person mentioned when she listed who she could trust.
But what if she wants Gabby to return home? Will she be swayed by the woman she adores? A pang gnaws at my gut, but I push it aside. Gabby has the right to make her own choices, and I have to respect them. Even if somehow, I’ve done a one-eighty and want her to stay.
I grasp the older woman’s free arm and lead her to the kitchen. “Have a seat. Can I make you a cup of coffee?”
She lowers herself into a chair, leaning her cane against the table.
“No, thank you. The doctors are worried about my blood pressure and have me cutting back on caffeine. I’d sneak it but I can’t risk dying and leaving Gabriella alone with her parents.
It’s a pity my son turned into such a social climber.
” She tsks. “I see those wide eyes. You’re shocked.
Gabriella didn’t tell you about me? I say what I think. To anyone.”