CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
MADDOX
A soft chuckle escapes me before I push us toward the cushioned headrest across from us so her back doesn’t suffer. And once we land, I line myself up and drive inside her.
It takes about thirty seconds to get my bearings, and her sultry moans don’t help matters, nor does her heat, spasming around my length.
“Christ, I’ve never felt anything … not like … so tight and wet.” I’m reduced to gibberish and nearly blind from ecstasy.
I shift us slightly so the jet near her lower back hits right at her ass, and she loses it, clamping down on my dick, which propels me to drape her legs over my bent elbows, piston my hips, and inform her things are changing.
“I’m moving you in here.”
“No, you’re not.” She balks, her lashes fluttering as she attempts to battle the sensations to form a rebuttal. “I cannot live at La Lune Noire.”
I pause my rhythm and slowly swirl her clit, knowing the lack of adequate friction will rankle her.
“You can, and you will. I’ll give you your own suite.
Or maybe not. The penthouse would be better.
You’d have me, Mercy, and all my brothers.
” To sell my final point, I plunge into her with a punishing thrust. “That’s your goddamn inner circle. ”
She whimpers, muttering nonsensical musings, like more and harder and feels so good, while dragging her nails down my arms to etch me with streaks of her ire. “We have these nice moments, and then you open your fucking mouth and remind me how unhinged you are.”
The sting on my soaked flesh only enlivens me. It’s a testament to how much she’s in this. Tessa is peeved but indifferent when she doesn’t care. Passionate when she does.
“You didn’t seem to fucking mind when I had that unhinged mouth on your pretty shaved pussy.”
Pretty is the understatement of the century. Smooth and pink, wet and responsive. A divine delicacy.
“I just told you I was going to fix things with my family. That won’t work if I’m living here,” she snipes, gripping my shoulders and climbing me like a wicked spider monkey—either to deepen my position inside her or to drown me.
I’m up for either.
It takes everything in me to tamp down the laugh bubbling up in my throat as she knocks me backward into the middle of the hot tub.
Water sloshes, the center floor jet gusts up between our legs, and my balance falters when she rocks her hips and groans like a thunderclap, creating the perfect storm.
We dunk beneath the surface, clinging to one another in a heap of tangled limbs while never losing our rhythm.
My girl is voracious, even when she’s seething.
Maybe more so. She gyrates her hips, and I plunge into her, pressing my foot against the hot-tub wall to secure one vicious thrust after another. Hydro-aerobics at its finest.
Her hair drifts and sways and sparkles from the moonlight, and she coils herself around me like I’m her life preserver.
It steals my breath far more than being submerged, but it also fuels my frustration.
After about twenty or thirty seconds, I push off the bottom, and we breach the surface.
The splish-splosh of us reemerging is nearly deafening as we both suck in air and wipe the beads of our dip away.
“Interesting.” I smirk to really goad her, even though my retort is dead serious. “Earlier, you said you live your life on your terms and keep your door open for them. But apparently, you’ll slam the door in my face, sacrifice something undeniably great, and put yourself in danger in the process.”
She halts her movements, her inner walls pulsating around my shaft and her blues both savage and imploring. “You can’t use it conveniently. Either there’s no issue for me or there is. You don’t get to just fling the danger angle when it suits you.”
Everything that comes out of her mouth holds this profound weight to it, like she’s unveiling who she is, one word at a time. She’s terrified of being manipulated.
“You want the truth, Tess?” I trump her refusal to move, stand with her wrapped around me, and drive deeper inside her to emphasize my point.
“I’m doing my damnedest to keep you out of it.
But I won’t be careless. If they find out, they are the kind of people who would hunt you down.
I want you here for several reasons, but that is one of them.
We can worry about your mother’s reaction later.
I think she’d be more upset, attending your funeral. ”
That’s harsh, but necessary.
“This … this is …” she stammers, unable to manage her objection because she’s too wrecked by every caress, but I hear it anyway.
“Don’t you fucking dare tell me this is a mistake,” I grit out as I guide us back to the edge for leverage, raking my teeth over her thrashing pulse point and pinching her nipple to deliver the jolt of pain she yearns for.
“You couldn’t tell me you didn’t want me before I kissed you. Can you really do it after tonight?”
A jagged breath stutters out of her as she arches into my slow pumps. “I’m not saying I don’t want you. And it’s not just my family. I’m an employee. Once this gets out, there’s no going back. And then if it doesn’t work—”
“Why wouldn’t it work?”
“Sometimes, things don’t work.”
I pick up my pace to the tempo that seems to be her undoing and swirl her clit. “Does it feel like this isn’t working?”
She purrs from my touch, her hooded eyes colliding with mine. “We argue about everything.”
“And we both love it.” I smile, folding her in half against the side, a waterfall of the Jacuzzi cascading off me as I freeze, playing her game and denying her what she craves. “I’d rather annoy you than do anything.”
That wins me a melodic dose of her laughter, better than any song I’ve ever heard.
“This isn’t who you are. Have you ever even had a girlfriend?”
“Only you.” I wink, and she rolls her eyes. “Isn’t that a testament to my certainty now? I don’t jump into things.”
“Relationships are complicated. Even more so because you’re”—she flaps her hand in front of me and the rooftop terrace—“you. And this is your home. It’s not reality.
I don’t know how to be this person, to turn my back on my family.
You can’t just show up at my parents’ home, tell me the guy I offed was a Mafia prince whose family is seeking retribution, call me your queen, and decide that we should be together. This day feels like an acid trip.”
“A really good acid trip.” I nudge her wet nose with mine. “You said you wanted me.”
Her resolve is weakening, but she still goes down swinging. “I said a lot of things.”
“But you said you wanted me. Say it again, and I’ll give you everything you need.” A growl escapes me as I battle the urge to move. “Say it because you know no one could ever fill this sweet cunt the way I am.”
She bites her lip, barely hanging on but searching for justification. “You told me I should fight to make things work with my family.”
“I also told you I’d fight for this. You’re worth going to war for, baby girl.” I spin us so I’m sitting and she’s straddling my lap, though I hold her up so only my tip is inside her and she can’t sink down on me. “But if you want control, take it.”
“I’m not promising anything.” She hesitates, noting that I’m still not budging, her body wiggling and writhing with need. “But I really do want you now. Please let me move.”
My response is silent, brutal, demanding.
Releasing her so she can bounce and swivel, I piston my hips, plunging into her with all I am.
Fucking bare. She grinds her clit against me, and I squeeze her breasts and tweak her nipples with ruthless pinches that have her gasping.
The bubbling water even revolts, fleeing over the sides.
It’s raw and primal and so goddamn real. Everything my little Nightmare craves.
She glistens with hope, hunger, and frustration because she senses me crashing through every barrier she pitches.
Still, she can’t resist this, and the sight of her so zealous has me tipping over the precipice with her.
Her erotic screams echo around the city, as I predicted.
Droplets of our hot-tub soiree litter our skin, and our fervent grunts harmonize with the tinkling jets.
My balls draw up, a zapping current racing up my spine and down my limbs. And as streams of my cum shoot inside her and she grips me tighter, her nails biting crescent moons into my flesh, a possessive beast clamors within me.
Mine.
Fuck, I want to mark every inch of her. And I want her to mark every inch of me. It’s the first time I’ve seen a future with anyone. Unfortunately, I’m not sure how we’ll survive all that lies ahead, but I’m not going to share that.
Nestling her quaking body in my arms, I bury my face in her hair. “You’re such a good girl, Tess. I’ll take care of everything.”