Chapter 26
I felt a light kiss on my forehead and slowly opened my eyes to see Maddox smiling down at me. I could smell strong coffee and something with bacon on it. Rubbing my eyes, I sat up in the bed and smiled back at him.
“I smell coffee, and bacon,” I said, looking at him expectantly.
He handed me a paper cup and a small white paper sack.
I took a sip of the caffeinated elixir. It tasted amazing, and I was starving again.
I set the cup on the nightstand and opened the bag.
I pulled out a wrapped sandwich. I opened the paper and revealed an egg, bacon, and cheese bagel sandwich.
I smiled at him again and puckered my lips.
Leaning over, he pressed his lips to mine.
“So, I really hate to puncture our bubble, but one of us needs to call Ronan. He is waiting at the compound to find out how you want to proceed after meeting with Alexander. Plus, you know he has all sorts of scenarios running through his head, and at this point some of those are very accurate. I am not telling you what to do; that is not my place. I am simply saying that one of us should give him a rundown about what you are thinking going forward on the Xavier matter.”
I was chewing and thinking about what I wanted to do.
I didn’t want my bubble popped and now I was sort of pissy.
I looked at Maddox and took another bite of the sandwich.
He didn’t say anything. He wasn’t going to, and I knew that.
He said what he needed to say. The rest was up to me.
I knew if I told him that neither of us was going to call Ronan and we were going to stay in this room, he wouldn’t argue.
He was right though. I finished my sandwich and took a few sips of coffee.
“I will let you call Ronan. I don’t want to tell him about us over the phone. It’s something that I need to do in person. I’m also a horrible liar, and don’t want to lie to him. I can’t take a gamble on him asking me anything over the phone.”
“Okay, so what do you want me to say to him?” He asked, wanting me to set parameters.
“I want you to tell him that I am going to have Bonnie set up a meeting with the heads. I need to converse with them and explain what I want to do going forward. Tell him that I would like both Scott and Alexander to recite their version of events for all five of us starting the day after the initial meeting. Then the five of us will convene and make a decision. I don’t think I want anyone to know what I think until this is over.
Besides you, obviously, because you already know. ”
“Okay.”
Maddox picked up his phone from the nightstand.
I got up from the bed and went into the bathroom to take a shower.
I turned on the water and adjusted the temperature.
Pulling the tee over my head, I stepped into the stall.
I let the scalding water wash over my skin.
Grabbing a washcloth, I added some soap, when I heard Maddox enter the bathroom.
“What did he say?” I hollered over the sound of the running water.
“He said he was going to kick my fucking teeth in,” he responded as he entered the shower stall.
“Are you fucking serious? What happened?” This was going to get tedious.
“He answered the phone, and I started to tell him about you wanting to set up a meeting with the other leaders. That you then would have Alexander and Scott retell their version of events for all five in one sitting. He initially attempted to interrupt me; finally, he stopped talking long enough to hear what you wanted done.” Maddox grabbed the washcloth from me and started washing my shoulders and back.
“So, at what point did he tell you he was going to kick your teeth in?” I asked, wondering when everything went south.
“Well, when I finished talking, he asked me where we were. I told him that we were in Detroit. Then he asked why we were here, and I said because I took you to dinner last night. Then he proceeded to ask if dinner was last night, then why were we still in Detroit. I told him that the rest was none of his business. That is when he said he was going to kick my fucking teeth in.”
I turned to face him, and he just smiled.
I rolled my eyes and finished rinsing off the soap.
I’m glad he could be so cavalier about this.
I hated knowing I was going to hurt Ronan.
Opening the door and stepping out of the shower, I picked up my towel and wrapped it around myself.
I exited the bathroom to get clothes from my suitcase.
I was sliding on my underwear when Maddox emerged from the bathroom.
“You’re mad,” he said, standing there, his wet skin glistening under the light, his naked form unapologetically confident.
“I’m not mad; I’m irritated.”
“It’s basically the same thing,” he said flatly as he leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed. I grabbed my bra from the suitcase and began putting it on.
“I didn’t want him to hear it over the phone. He deserved the decency of hearing it from me—in person. You were smiling; you got pleasure from his pain. That is slightly irritating.”
I fished out a pair of green shorts and a black tank top from the suitcase. When I turned back around, Maddox was standing directly in front of me. I looked up at him.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.” His tone was lower and apologetic.
“That isn’t why I did what I did. I’m not a liar either, in case you hadn’t noticed.
I answered his questions until I knew for a fact that you wouldn’t want me to.
Then I told him he overstepped. Getting mad at me isn’t really fair. ”
“So, you didn’t get any pleasure from him wanting to do you bodily harm?
” I asked, crossing my arms. Maddox held up his thumb and forefinger, holding them a few centimeters apart.
“Oh, just a little bit huh?” He widened the gap and broadened his smile at the same time.
“You’re an ass,” I said, slapping him on the chest.
“In his mind he just lost a game. The problem is he was the only one playing it. He was so focused on what I was doing that he was driving himself crazy. He acted like I was competing with him when none of that was happening. He was watching me and the whole time I was blocking him out and absorbing everything about you. So, to him I just won; and he isn’t really wrong about that.
Besides, he can’t hurt me, and he knows it. That part really pisses him off.”
I rolled my eyes and put my shorts on. “Are you going to get dressed or are you gonna just be naked today?”
“You can be naked with me,” he said, giving me serious pause.
“As tempting as that sounds—because it really does. We have things to do, don’t we?” I asked hoping he could make the rest of the world go away.
“Well, you are the boss; we don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.”
“You are an extremely bad influence,” I said as I grabbed him by his beard and pulled his lips to mine.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and deepened the kiss.
I felt his strong hands squeeze my ass. I began tugging on his lower lip with my teeth as he lifted me in the air.
I wrapped my legs around his waist, and he sat on the edge of the bed with me straddling him.
He picked up the phone on the bedside table and pressed a button.
“Hi, this is room 306. We are supposed to be checking out in an hour. Would we be able to get a late checkout?” There was a pause.
I was tugging on his earlobe when he started talking again.
“We are not leaving this room for the next three hours so if you need to charge me for a second night the card is on file. Tell housekeeping to skip us; I want no one knocking on the door unless the place is on fire.”
He hung the phone up and placed a hand on the back of my neck. He blazed a trail from my lips to my neck as he undid my bra and threw it on the floor. He scooted further onto the bed, pulling his lips away from my skin.
“Stand up.”
I stood up on the bed directly in front of him.
Grabbing the waistband of my shorts and panties, he yanked them down.
I lifted one foot and stepped out and then the other.
He tossed them to the floor and looked up at me.
He ran his hands slowly up the inside of my legs.
I felt his fingers stroke me, and I put my head back.
“Look at me, I want to see how badly you want me; I want to see your eyes begging me to get you off.”
I looked into his eyes and let myself go.
His fingers were magical and within seconds my legs were buckling; he caught me as I collapsed.
I had never felt so attractive in my life; he just looked at me like he was starving and wanted to devour me.
That is exactly what he did for the next two and a half hours.
And when it was over, reality crept in, demanding my attention.
* * *
“We have to get in touch with Bonnie and the rest of the leaders to set up a day and time,” I said to Maddox once he got into the driver’s seat after loading the luggage into the vehicle.
“We can call now from my phone and just feed it into the car speakers,” he suggested. “That way you aren’t talking to a bunch of new people for the first time, but you can still hear everything that is being said and chime in if you would like.”
“That sounds like a good plan. Then we’ll know where to go from there once everything is confirmed.”
Maddox plugged his phone into the car and dialed a number I obviously didn’t know. The name Oscar popped up on the screen on the dashboard.
“This is Oscar.” A man’s voice came over the speakers.
“It’s Maddox, Joslyn would like to bring the five together to discuss some things. It’s going to be a few-day thing. Will a week from today work for you?”