Chapter 29
Twenty-Nine
Beckett
I’m seconds away from sleep.
The kind where your bones feel heavy and your mind shuts off before your eyes even close. I’ve earned this after two back-to-back shifts.
All I want is silence. Maybe six uninterrupted hours of unconsciousness.
I roll onto my side, adjust the pillow, and sigh into the quiet.
That’s when I hear… a sound.
I open one eye and stare at the ceiling.
There it is again.
Is that human?
A drawn-out cry vibrates through the floorboards, landing somewhere in the gray area between pain and something much more provocative. I sit up, squinting into the dark, wondering if I’m finally hallucinating from sleep deprivation.
There’s another moan, but it’s longer this time.
I rub a hand down my face and listen.
The next sound goes on and on and on and on.
Is she alright?
Is she crying for help?
There’s a beat of silence when I almost reach for my phone, but then the cries are quiet for a second, and I hear the buzzing.
No, not buzzing. That’s a goddamn engine.
Everything clicks into place.
I drop my head back against the pillow.
Fucking hell.
It’s that toy.
My dick twitches. I glare down at it in the dark.
Not helpful. Not helpful at all.
Closing my eyes, I try to focus on something else.
Paperwork.
Blood test results.
Blood. That usually does the trick.
Nope. Not tonight. Because now that I know what I’m listening to, all the blood in my body is heading south of my waist. I shift under the covers and try to adjust, but the fabric is too thin, and I’m too fucking turned on for a man who just wanted to die for six hours.
I kick the blanket off and throw my legs over the edge of the bed.
This is ridiculous.
I pull on sweats and trainers, but when I get to my front door, I force myself to breathe. She’s going to stop any second. She has to.
Her cries reach an ear-piercing pitch, and my cock throbs in a frantic, demanding rhythm. I look down at my crotch. “Stop that.”
With one final, jagged moan, the sound fades into blissful silence.
Thank fu—
BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.
I look down at the floor and shout, “You’re going to blow your back out!”
I swear to God, I hear a giggle.
This is psychological warfare, and it’s working. I can’t go down there like this. I’m still hard and I’m angry, and the two are becoming increasingly difficult to separate. I pace the hallway like a caged animal. This woman is going to be the end of me.
I give it two minutes. Two minutes to settle, that’s all I need. When I’m reasonably sure I can go down there without pitching a tent in my sweats, I swing the door open.
Think unsexy things. Don’t think about red hair, full lips, and loud moans.
Think… Ah, fuck it. I can’t even think straight.
When I reach her door, I take a second to press my forehead to the cool wood.
You’re a grown man, Lawson. Regulate yourself.
I raise my fist and knock hard enough to shake the frame.
Less than a minute later, the door swings open, and I immediately forget every clinical thought I’ve ever had.
She’s flushed. Her hair is messy and wild around her face, and she’s wrapped in a short satin robe that’s doing absolutely nothing to hide the nightdress beneath it. She blinks up at me and smiles.
“Hey, Doc. Everything okay?”
I try for a coherent sentence, but my brain has flatlined. The first thing out of my mouth is: “You’re vibrating.”
Her lips twitch. “Oh.” She fakes wide-eyed innocence. “You could hear that?”
Her eyes move from my face to my chest. Lower. And lower. Until they land exactly where I didn’t need them to. Her eyebrows lift. “You could hear that.”
Jesus Christ.
I take a slow, measured breath. I need to stay calm.
“If you could just vibrate a little quieter,” I say, my voice tight and strained. “That’d be great.”
She shrugs. “Can’t.”
My jaw tenses. “Why not?”
“Same reason you don’t stop running. You run when you’re stressed. I vibrate.”
I look at her—really look at her—because she’s glowing, and it’s impossible to turn away. She did this on purpose. She planned this because she knows I hear every damn thing through my floorboards.
This fucking woman.
I drag a hand through my hair. “You knew I could hear you,” I say, my voice dropping.
“I gathered. You did shout through the floor.”
I step back half a pace because being this close to her right now is a bad idea. Her smile shifts into something less playful. I feel like a mouse in a trap, just waiting for her to pounce. My gaze darts to her tongue as she licks her lips.
“Is that why you’re down here?” she asks. “Concerned neighborly welfare check?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
I should leave. That’s the smart call. Instead, I stay. “Because you knew I could hear you.”
Her head tilts. “Did I?”
“Yes.”
She doesn’t deny it. Stepping back into the apartment, she leaves the door wide open. “And?”
I follow her without thinking, letting the door click shut behind me. Up close, she’s even more beautiful. It takes everything I have not to trace the flush on her cheeks.
“You were loud,” I grind out.
“I know.”
“You didn’t try to stop.”
“No.”
“You wanted me to hear.”
Her eyes spark. There it is. The challenge. There’s always a challenge with Madison. She lifts a shoulder, causing the satin robe to slip. “Maybe.”
She doesn’t know it yet, but she chose the wrong night to test my restraint.
“You don’t get to do that.”
“Do what?”
“Push me, Madison.”
Her chin lifts. “You came down here.”
“Yes, to tell you to keep it down.”
“And instead you’re standing in my living room… still hard.”
Something in me snaps when her gaze drops again. Stepping forward, I crowd her space, and I love the satisfaction I feel when her breath stutters. “You don’t get to look at me like that and act surprised when I react.”
Her fingers curl into my T-shirt. “React how?” she whispers.
I laugh under my breath. “You really want me to say it?”
She swallows, but nods.
“I imagined you,” I say. “On your bed. Exactly as you sounded. Legs spread. That stupid toy in your hand while you pretended you were doing it only for yourself.”
Her breath catches.
“I imagined watching you,” I continue. “Standing there while you came apart, knowing I could make it worse the second I decided to.” Her pupils are blown wide. “So here’s the thing. If you step closer, I’m not stopping myself tonight.”
She steps closer, calling my bluff. Fuck. Then her fingers reach for the tie of her robe. She loosens the knot slowly, never breaking eye contact. The fabric parts, revealing satin that clings to her like a second skin.
“When I put my hand between my legs,” she starts, her voice breathy, “I thought about you watching me.”
The robe slips off her shoulders and pools on the floor. My eyes drag down her body. Her nipples are hard beneath the thin satin, and my cock throbs in response.
“Madison.”
She steps into me. “I pictured your hand there instead,” she whispers, “and I came so… fucking… hard.”
That’s it. That’s the end of my restraint.
My hand wraps around her throat just before her eyes go dark, and I crash my mouth into hers.
The kiss is messy—full of teeth and tongues and fuck-you energy.
My other hand slides down to cup her ass as I lift her around my waist, pressing her against the wall and grinding into her.
When she moans into my mouth, it’s over.
“Madison,” I rasp. “This is a bad idea.”
“It’s a terrible idea,” she pants. “Don’t you dare stop.”
Well, fuck me.
I carry her to the bedroom with uneven steps, but she’s still kissing and rocking against me like she can’t get close enough. When we reach the bed, I reluctantly set her down. She reaches for the hem of her nightdress, but I wrap my hand around her wrist. “Let me.”
Her pulse slams against my fingertips as she nods.
I pull the nightdress over her head, and my cock throbs painfully as I drink her in.
She’s bare and beautiful. I lower my mouth to her neck, kissing down to her collarbone before I suck one nipple into my mouth.
She gasps, tugging my hair, her nails scratching my scalp.
I groan and let my hand drift down between her thighs. She’s already soaked.
“Beckett,” she moans, and the sound of my name from her lips is enough to ruin me.
I guide her back to the bed and ease her down.
“Spread your legs, put your hands above your head, and don’t move a fucking inch.”
She obeys with a frantic nod.
Spreading her knees wider, I drop to mine because if I’m going to ruin us, I’m going to do it right.
I drag my tongue up her thigh. She shifts and tilts her hip toward my mouth, already restless.
Good.
I blow gently against her and watch her flinch.
“Don’t play with me,” she pants.
I glance up her body, hands gripping her thighs. “You started this the second you pressed that toy to your pussy, knowing I could hear.”
Her eyes narrow. “And you showed up with a hard-on, so don’t pretend you didn’t want this.”
Challenge accepted.
I groan and dive in.
There’s no more teasing. I wrap one arm around her hips to hold her still as she writhes beneath me. Her thighs try to close, but I spread them wider.
“Beckett,” she whimpers, back arching.
“Louder. Let the whole goddamn building know who’s making you come tonight.”
She lets out a strangled moan.
“Did you taste like this when you were touching yourself earlier?” I growl. “Were you dripping like this? Fuck.”
She tugs my hair hard and gasps as she clenches around my head. Her body’s trembling now, right on the edge.
I suck her clit into my mouth and flick my tongue fast until she’s panting curses and grabbing for the sheets.
“I’m—I’m gonna—”
She breaks.
Her hips jerk, and she cries out my name like she’s forgotten every other word.
I groan against her, licking her through it, letting her ride out every pulse and tremor.
When she finally goes still, I look up to see her flushed, her hair wild around her face.
I kiss my way up her body, my mouth dragging across her stomach, her ribs, her breasts.
Her hand catches my jaw. “Don’t think you’re in charge just because you made me come.”
I laugh under my breath, nipping her collarbone. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”
When I stand, I strip off my T-shirt, and her eyes rake over my chest.
I hook my thumbs into the waist of my sweats and drop them.
Chewing her bottom lip, she sits up and eyes my cock.
It twitches in response.
Her gaze drags up my body until it locks with mine.
“Beckett?” she says, reaching out to stroke me, once, then twice.
My eyes roll back in my head.
“Yeah?” I rasp.
“Don’t be gentle with me.”
Then she sucks me into her mouth, and I see fucking stars.