Chapter 29
TWENTY-NINE
You’re mine now, Maddy. Slater’s not here to save you. And you’re going to give me exactly what I want.
“Shit,” she breathed into the silent room while her heart thudded her ribs with bruising force.
Skin crawling, she got out of bed and stumbled for the door in the darkness.
The dogs jumped down and followed her to the bathroom, their little nails tapping on the floor. She shut the door in their faces, went straight to the shower to turn the water on high, and stripped off her T-shirt.
The pressure of the hot water beating on her head and shoulders helped clear her mind. Water had always soothed her, ever since she was a toddler. Which made the method of torture she’d undergone twice as cruel.
She blocked that thought and let the hot stream flow over her, washing away the fear and sweat. When she was calm, she got out, toweled off and put Lachlan’s shirt back on.
After brushing her teeth to get the metallic taste out of her mouth and drinking a glass of water, she opened the door and jumped when she saw Lachlan’s silhouette standing in the hall.
“You scared me,” she gasped out, putting a hand to her chest.
“Sorry. You okay?”
She thought about making up some excuse for showering in the middle of the night, about how her long nap had thrown off her internal clock. But there was no point in pretending everything was fine. He would see right through her if she lied. She was tired of pretending anyway.
“Bit better now.”
“What happened?”
“Just a bad dream.” He was so close. Right there in front of her, big and strong and protective. She curled her toes against the hardwood, resisting the urge to walk over and burrow into his arms.
He made the decision for her, closing the distance to pull her into a hug. She bit back a groan at the feel of his solid arms wrapped around her, the hard length of his body touching her from chest to thigh.
He nuzzled the top of her head. So achingly sweet and patient with her and her quirks. “Want to talk about it?”
“No.” Sort of. But she was afraid of the consequences if she did.
His exhalation was warm against her scalp. “Maddy. I’m worried about you, and I hate not knowing what’s going on. Please talk to me.”
She pressed her face into his shirt. “I can’t. Not yet.”
He increased the pressure of his hold. “I…lost someone I loved because I didn’t know what was really going on or how bad it was. I don’t want that to ever happen again.”
The raw honesty behind his words and the guts it must have taken to say them made her look up at him. “Your wife.”
Surprise flashed across his face in the dim light filtering into the hall from the downstairs windows. “Yes.” She saw the pain in his eyes. Wanted to ease it immediately. Wanted to escape her situation and what was happening in her head.
Taking his bearded face in her hands, she raised up on her toes to kiss him.
Lachlan reached up to slide a hand in the back of her hair, his other arm keeping her pulled flush to him.
Arousal shot through her when he eased his tongue between her lips. She followed his lead, testing and caressing while her heart raced and the rush of blood in her head made her dizzy.
She instinctively pushed closer. Tighter. Wanting more, an ache building between her thighs.
She was twenty-seven. She wanted to experience real physical intimacy, and it had to be with Lachlan. Because she trusted him and had never felt this way in her life.
He turned them and crowded her against the wall. One hand cupped the back of her skull, the fingertips of the other gliding along her jaw, down her neck while he kissed her senseless.
She’d thought she knew what passion was, that she’d experienced it before.
Not even close. With Lachlan her brain shut off completely and her body took over. There were no thoughts, only physical need and an increasing desperation for more of this magic. Everywhere he touched set her skin on fire.
His mouth found the edge of her jaw. The side of her neck, his beard pricking her sensually, building the layers of sensation while his tongue found a sensitive spot where her neck and shoulder joined.
She dug her fingers into his back, gasped as her body lit up like the circuitry on a motherboard.
“Maddy,” he groaned flicking his tongue against her skin.
She nodded, unsure whether she was supposed to answer. The heat and molten sensation building between her thighs made it impossible to talk.
His hand moved to her hip, curved around her rear to squeeze as he lifted her, wedging his hips between her thighs as he pinned her to the wall with his weight.
This time there was no controlling the moan that slipped free, the way her hips rolled into him, seeking relief from the ache between them.
Abruptly he broke the kiss. Stared at her for a single, searing moment before letting her slide down the wall until her bare feet touched the cool floor. He grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the open door to his bedroom, swinging it mostly shut with his foot on the way through.
Maddy was swept toward the wide bed set against the far wall. A moment later she was on her back on the rumpled bedding. Lachlan towered over her as he stood at the edge of it and peeled his shirt over his head.
She sat up, hungry to touch the contoured landscape of his torso that she’d only fantasized about until now. His skin was hot to the touch, all that power and restraint humming beneath her fingertips.
He took hold of her shoulders, leaned in to kiss her as he laid her back down and lowered himself on top of her. She moaned into his mouth when his weight blanketed her, the hard ridge of his erection trapped in his pajama pants pressed against the throbbing ache between her legs.
His teeth caught her lower lip, nipped gently, tongue gliding across it as he reached for the bottom of her shirt and slowly drew it up her body. Maddy curved her back and raised her arms to help him, her nipples beading tight as they were exposed to his gaze and the cool air of his bedroom.
He cupped a breast in his big hand, thumb gliding across the distended peak, sending sparks through her. “What do you want, sweetheart?”
“I want to feel safe again,” she whispered without thinking.
“You’re safe with me. Always. But what do you want right now?”
The rumors were true. Consent was sexy.
But it was so hard to think with him on top of her, and his mouth, hands, and body doing delicious things to her. She wanted his touch between her legs, soothing the fire he’d started.
She had to tell him the whole truth though. It wouldn’t be right otherwise.
“I don’t know, except that I don’t want you to stop,” she whispered in a rush, clinging to his broad shoulders. “And also, just so you know… I’ve never done this before.”