Chapter 19
Ellie
My cheeks are burning with embarrassment.
That was Mason’s voice I just heard at Maddox’s front door.
My boss. Who now knows I just slept with his brother.
Forced him to break his vow of celibacy.
Oh, fuckadoodle. Does he think I’m some kind of sexual predator now?
I know how protective he can be about his baby brother.
The front door closes and I groan, pulling the sheet over my head.
“No need to hide, baby. They’re gone,” Maddox’s deep, soothing voice fills the room, but it’s not enough. I’m still embarrassed.
“Do they know I’m here?”
He crawls onto the bed, fingers twisting in the soft cotton sheets as he slowly pulls them down to reveal my face. But he doesn’t stop there. The silky cotton glides effortlessly over my body, surprisingly sensual even in my state of acute humiliation.
“Your purse was on the floor, so yeah, they know.”
“God,” I groan, throwing my arm over my face. This is a nightmare.
Maddox lies beside me, a wall of solid, reassuring warmth. “Why are you embarrassed, Ellie?” he asks, a gentle tease in his tone. “Are you ashamed of what we did? Do you regret it?” He runs his fingertips over my arm as he speaks, making me tingle.
“No. You know I don’t. But he’s my boss, Maddox. I have to go to work with him, and now, now…he knows I just re-deflowered you.”
He lets out a loud, raucous laugh that makes me melt like butter. “He’s also my brother. Just a regular guy who is well aware that grown adults have sex.”
Gently, he pries my arm away from my eyes. I’m exposed and still upset, but his incredibly handsome face is a great distraction. “You don’t have sex though. Not usually anyway. What if he thinks I, I don’t know, pressured you somehow.”
He laughs again and shakes his head. “Despite the re-deflowering, you did not pressure me in any way. Nobody else is going to think that, either. My celibacy was a choice. One Mason didn’t fully understand, to be honest. He’ll probably be relieved that I’m not any longer.”
I bite my lip. I really don’t regret what happened, but there’s no getting away from the fact that it’s complicated.
Maddox is my friend. He’s my boss’s brother.
He’s a recovering addict. And I have my own very messed up history that I’ll need to tell him about soon enough.
Plus, he gave up his celibacy for me. There’s a lot to unpack there.
He gazes at me, his brown eyes intense. He knows me well enough to understand the doubts and fears that are creeping in.
“Ellie, I do not regret having sex with you. That was also a choice, and you can’t exactly say we rushed into it, can you?”
“I guess not, given that it’s been six months since we first saw each other again.”
“Exactly, and in that time we’ve gotten to know each other pretty well, I think.
Cared for each other even before the sex.
Celibacy was a choice, and having sex with you was also a choice.
One I made after a lot of thought about the possible implications for both me and you.
And Mason knows me well enough to get that.
I also know that no matter what happens between us, neither him or Elijah will treat you any differently when it comes to your job. ”
Mason and Elijah don’t strike me as the types to let personal relationships affect their business.
They’re too shrewd and professional. Still, hearing him say that does calm me a little.
I realize, though, that I’m more hung up on the other stuff he just said.
“So, how long have you been thinking about having sex with me?”
He screws one eye closed, considering his answer. “Full disclosure?”
“Always.”
“If we discount the entire night we spent together in Marrakech, then it was only from the very first time I saw you again in Mason’s office,” he says, sheepish.
Lordy, I adore how effortlessly he moves between dominant sex god to shy boy in the space of a few minutes. He is a complicated man, and I wouldn’t have him any other way. “You’ve been thinking about it for that long?” I let out an excited giggle.
“Yeah.”
“Me too,” I admit, filled with the kind of joy that makes me forget that my boss, whom I greatly respect and admire, just discovered I’m having sex with his brother.
“Yeah?” he asks, eyes sparkling with the same kind of happiness. “Well, I guess that makes sense, seeing as how you were only interested in my body back in Marrakech.”
“I was not,” I squeal in protest.
He arches an amused eyebrow. “No?”
Trapping my teeth between my lips, I let my eyes wander over his incredible physique.
“Well, maybe just a little. I mean, it’s not an awful body.
But then I got to know you, and…” Well, then I wondered how such a stunningly gorgeous guy was also blessed with such a kind heart and such a wise soul.
But that feels too much to admit to right now.
“Anyway. It’s your fault. Can you really blame a girl? Look at you.”
He shakes his head. “Can’t. Too busy looking at you.” He pulls the cover all the way off me, his hungry gaze raking over my skin. I’ve been with plenty of guys who’ve appreciated my curves, but none have ever made me feel as beautiful and desired as Maddox does.
His lips travel over my collarbone, distracting me from answering and from thinking.
From doing anything other than feeling. Already, my body is lighting up at his touch, my pussy aching to be filled by him again.
I’m not usually this needy, but goddess, I haven’t had orgasms like that for the longest time.
In fact, ever. And we were very rudely interrupted just as we were both about to reach one.
“You’re so fucking beautiful, El,” he groans against my skin, mouth moving lower, skilled fingers sliding down between my legs and through my slick folds.
I run my hands through his hair. “Mad,” his name comes out on a whimper.
“I know, baby.” His mouth joins his fingers, licking and kissing. Soothing my flesh, sensitive and swollen after all the sex we’ve been having. But I still crave more. “I know you’re sore, but you taste far too fucking sweet for me to resist you.”
“Then don’t stop,” I plead, rocking my hips against his sinfully delicious lips. He is a magician, nay, a wizard—one of the highest order with that mouth. He’s definitely made of magic. I swear I’m seeing stars, my toes curling in the sheets as he works me over.
What’s even better is that he seems to enjoy it as much as I do.
He’s not just doing it because it’s on the checklist of what a good lover should do, like it is with some men.
He genuinely loves it. The appreciative noises he makes when he indulges, like he’s dining on the finest cuisine, are enough to make a girl feel like a goddess.
Not to mention, no guy has ever come in his shorts eating me out before.
It all feels far too good to be true, but I focus on enjoying this while it lasts.
I can overthink it later, when I’m not teetering on the edge of yet another mind-blowing orgasm.
Maddox licks and sucks, over and over, relentless and skillful. Knowing always exactly what I need and when I need it. I almost stop breathing when I come, my climax washing over me in a slow, undulating wave that has my entire body trembling.
He pushes up, wiping his beard with the back of his hand while groaning with satisfaction. The sight alone would be enough to drive a girl to madness, which is the likely explanation for why I blurt out, “God, I love you.”
I want to reel those words back in so fast, even if they are kind-of true. I meant them because I do love him. I love him as a friend, and I’ve started to realize that I love him as so much more. But I never dreamed anything would come of it.
Now here we are, and I’ve spent hours in bed with my friend, having the most spectacular sex of my entire life.
So I do love him, but I also want him, and…
fucksticks, I really don’t know. My brain is fried.
Short circuited by the devil kneeling between my legs.
Does he feel the same? Am I actually in love with him? Or is it just the sex talking?
Dammit, Ellie, what the hell is wrong with you—it was only a couple of orgasms, girl! Except of course it wasn’t. It was a lot of orgasms, and it’s Maddox. “I mean like …” I babble, my cheeks growing redder by the second. “Like because we’re friends. It was the orgasm, it made me say that—”
He silences me with a kiss, a gentle pressure of his lips on mine. I taste myself on him. Both of us on him, actually. It melts my core. Damn, I really need to get a hold of myself. “It’s okay, El,” he finally says, his voice warm and reassuring. “This feels intense for me too.”
I place my hands on his cheeks and stare into his dark eyes.
How can one person make another feel so safe and so seen?
I’ve never felt so utterly cherished as I do with him.
Like he witnesses every part of my soul.
But talk of souls would be too much, too soon.
I need to slow this down, keep it light, for my own sanity if nothing else.
“Very intense. You are very skilled, sir.”
He grins—devilish and irresistible. “Told you I’d still remember what to do.”
“Remember? I think you could teach a masterclass in cunnilingus.”
That makes him laugh, a deep booming sound that echoes of the walls. I love his laugh. “Maybe if the restaurant doesn’t work out, huh?”
He settles between my thighs, the crown of his thick cock nudging at my entrance. “Can I fuck you again? Or is too much?”
I adore how considerate he is, although I have a feeling there’s no such thing as too much when it comes to him.
UTI and not being able to sit down comfortably tomorrow be damned, I want him again.
I drape my legs around him, sinking my heels into the firm muscles of his fine ass, urging him on.
“No, it’s not. Please fuck me again, Mad. ”