16. Maverick
16
Maverick
I t was cold outside, but the sky was clear. The stars twinkled above as I turned on the gas fire pit, grateful for the excuse to share a blanket with Sophie. She was watching me intently as I settled in beside her, refilled wine glass in hand.
“To be clear, by no means is what I’m about to tell you true. I have yet to get to the bottom of it and obtain proof. But, essentially, there were rumors that your father was wanting to expand into human trafficking. Long story short, it didn’t sit right with my father, and he put a hit out on yours.” I held my breath, gauging her reaction. This was the worst of it—the truth of why he had been killed.
Her dark eyes misted over, and oddly enough, it made my heart twist in my chest. “No,” she whispered. “I’m telling you right now that’s not true. My father was a lot of things, and yes, I see now that he was hiding a drug cartel from me, but he would never have engaged in trafficking. It would’ve put a target on his daughters’ backs. He abhorred any kind of child abuse or abuse toward women.”
For the sake of her feelings, I wanted to believe her. But the reality was, I didn’t know who or what to believe at this point. “I’ll find out the truth, Sophie.”
She blinked, as if realizing who she was talking to, and those tears in her eyes disappeared. “ Promise me. ”
“I promise you, I will get you the truth. Then, vengeance will be yours. Okay?”
She sighed, pausing for a moment before unfolding her legs from under the blanket and rising to her feet. She paced across the terrace, pausing at the railing and looking out over the city. I let her have a moment before I joined her.
“I have no real reason to trust you or believe you, but I’m choosing to. Don’t you dare let me down, Maverick, or I swear to God, I’ll serve your own balls to you on a silver platter.”
Laughing, I tapped my glass against hers and took a sip. “I have absolutely no doubt, Detective.”
Sophie’s hair fluttered in the cool breeze. She took a deep breath before saying, “I’m not going to lie. That was a lot more than I expected to hear, but I always suspected there was more to the story. And more so, I think I knew he was involved in some fucked-up shit. What I didn’t expect is to still want to be here with you, even if we’re on opposite sides of the law.” My stupid fucking heart flipped at the last sentence. “Like calls to like or some shit like that,” she added quietly.
I grabbed both of our glasses and set them on the railing. I felt the need to self-destruct, seeing as she seemed to accept what I feared she wouldn’t. But now that she had, I was afraid she’d find another reason to run for the hills. “I told you before that I’m not a good man. I mean it. Just because I’ve been honest with you doesn’t mean I’m some knight in shining armor.”
Sophie rolled her eyes. “I’m not some princess in need of saving, Mav, but I do appreciate your honesty.”
“I should terrify you,” I grumbled.
She snorted. “You think because you’re some six-foot-something brooding asshole with tattoos that you’re scary ?”
I boxed her in, pressing her into to the railing. My hand found her throat, applying just enough pressure to make her eyes widen, and I loomed over her, pushing her until her back was arched over the railing and her head was upside down.
“I could kill you in the blink of an eye,” I growled.
She gasped, her throat working against my hand. The wind whipped her long hair all around, and her hands white-knuckled the railing like a life support.
“But I’m also a different kind of scary, Sophie. I’m the kind of scary that makes your heart race, your pussy drip, and your mind question everything.” My blood heated with lust, when I saw the battle raging in her eyes, somewhere between revulsion and arousal.
I leaned over her, my free hand braced on the railing beside hers. Her feet lifted off the ground, a small shriek escaping her throat.
Death. She was terrified of it, right? Her life had been surrounded by it. Her father. Her job. Now me.
But I didn’t fear death. I feared living. I feared feeling too much, especially with her around, because she made me feel alive. Scared and alive, much like she was feeling right now.
“What’s more terrifying than my control, Sophie, is your desire. The way you can’t resist me, even when you try to fight it. That’s the kind of scary I am.” My grip on her throat tightened just enough to make her gasp for air.
She tried to speak, but her voice was weak, her pulse hammering against my palm. “You’re right. I can’t fight it. It’s like… a drug.”
I leaned in so close our lips nearly touched. My voice was low and gravelly, filled with longing and a hint of a warning. “Do you really want to be with me, Sophie?” I asked, barely able to choke out the words as the force of the wind swirled around us. “Do you know what you’re getting yourself into? I’ll swallow you whole, and you’ll fucking love it.”
Sophie’s hands left the railing to curl into my shirt, tugging slightly, as if I wasn’t the only thing preventing both of us from plummeting to our deaths. Her eyes held a new kind of glow. “Yes,” she whispered. “I want to be with you. I want you to swallow me whole. I want to feel every inch of you against me.”
Magic words.
I righted her abruptly, my hands moving to the sides of her neck. The second her feet touched the ground, she fell against me. Her hair was windswept and tangled, her eyes crazed and wild with lust, her chest heaved. Her chaos was utterly fucking breathtaking.
Grasping the back of her neck, I crushed my lips to hers. The fire that had been simmering between us since we first met exploded. With everything out in the open now, there was nothing holding us back.
Our tongues met, and we moaned simultaneously, on the same wavelength as our bodies moved in perfect harmony. I gripped her hips, moving her against my already hard cock. Her fingers entwined in my hair, trailed down my cheeks, touching me everywhere and lighting me up in ways I didn’t know were possible.
Suddenly she tore her mouth from mine. “I want you, Maverick. Don’t make me wait any longer.”
Grinning wickedly, I rose to my feet and threw her over my shoulder. “Baby, you have no idea what’s in store for you.”
“Mav, there’s no need to act like a caveman! I’m going to let you fuck me regardless!” There was laughter in her voice as she hung upside down.
I snickered and slapped her ass as I carried her inside and down the hall toward my bedroom. I set her on her feet and kicked the door shut behind us. Moonlight slashed across the room, catching the rise and fall of her chest, the way her pulse fluttered at her throat. I let my fingers drag up, over the soft fabric of her dress, tracing the strap before yanking it down, baring more of her to me. I wasn’t patient. Not tonight.
“Take your dress off,” I commanded.
She swallowed, jutting her chin out defiantly. “You don’t want to do it?”
I raised an eyebrow, mentally tallying the number of times she’d talked back to me in the short time I’d known her. “Trust me, baby, I will gladly do it, but I want you to do it.”
“Why?” she breathed.
“Because I told you to.”
At that, she smirked. “You’re used to getting your way, are you?”
This fucking woman. “Yes. And right now, I’m counting how many times I’m going to punish you for defying me.”
Sophie’s face flushed, but the threat seemed to get her moving. Shaking hands pulled on the tie around her waist until it came completely loose and fell open. She pushed the garment off her shoulders without breaking eye contact. Her hair fell in a disheveled mess around her shoulders.
My eyes dipped to admire her body for the first time. She was toned, slender but curvy in the right places. Tan, creamy skin, clad only in stockings, a garter, and a matching black bra. A fucking sight to behold.
“Sophie, you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen,” I murmured, reaching out with one hand to trace her collarbone. Goosebumps skittered down her body, her breath hitching. I stepped into her space, my hand moving to tip her chin up. Claiming her lips and ravaging her with my tongue, I kissed her until we were both breathless.
“Mav,” she sighed against my mouth. “I need you to touch me.”
I pulled back. Her eyes were so dark, so full of need, that it made my dick pulse painfully in my pants. Fuck.
“You want to come again?” She nodded. “Do you want me to fuck you with my fingers, my tongue, or my cock? Tell me, Sophie, how do you want me?”
She squirmed, pressing her tits against my chest so I could feel her nipples pebble, the piercings winking at me through the thin lace of her bra. “I don’t—I don’t care.” Her hands clawed at my shoulders while she licked my neck, sending bolts of desire through me. Jesus , this woman was fucking feral.
“Get on your knees and fucking beg for it, Sophie.”
She didn’t so much as hesitate, dropping to her knees and looking up at me with pleading eyes. “Maverick, please make me come. I’ve never wanted someone the way I want you. Please.”
Music to my ears.
So perfectly submissive.
I gripped a handful of her hair, forcing her head back while I undid my belt with my other hand. My cock sprang free, red and angry and heavy with my desire for her. “You can come after you suck my dick. Open.”
Sophie obeyed, sticking out her tongue. I stared at her for a moment— fucking perfect —before leaning over, gripping her chin, and spitting into her waiting mouth.
“Swallow,” I ordered darkly. Her throat bobbed, a soft moan slipping from her lips as she obeyed, her pupils blown wide. “Good girl.”
Straightening, I guided her mouth around my length, inhaling sharply at the way her warm wetness enveloped me. Her lashes fluttered as I hit the back of her throat, a precious fucking mess already.
“So fucking pretty with my cock in your mouth. My perfect little slut.” She moaned, the vibrations rapturous as she took me in deeper, bobbing back and forth and adding her hand to cup my balls. Her eyes watered, tears beginning to stream down her face. “ Fuck , Sophie, just like that.” The sensations were so fucking erotic, downright addicting, that I had to pull her away. I wasn’t ready to come yet.
“Such a good girl, taking my dick like that. Now it’s your turn. On the bed, ass at the edge.” She gave me a bashful smile, scrambling to her feet and climbing onto the bed. Following my instructions and turning me on in ways she had no idea about. I shifted to stand between her legs, hands pressing her knees apart. “I’m going to let you come now.”
Whimpering, she mouthed, “Please.”
Sinking to my knees, I wasted no time, eating her out like it was my last fucking meal, circling her clit before moving to penetrate her with my tongue. Her back bowed off the bed, crying out as I dipped two fingers into her and attacked her clit again. She was coming within moments, but I kept up the pace until she was pushing my head away and begging to catch her breath.
That wasn’t how I operated.
Standing and gripping her thighs, still in those sexy-as-all-hell stockings, I flipped her over. Ran my palm over the curve of her hip as I unbuttoned my shirt and discarded it to the floor. My pants followed seconds later.
“Before I take you, Sophie, I need to know your safe word,” I told her, staring hungrily at her puckered asshole and pretty pink pussy up in the air, dripping and ready for me. I was practically shaking with my restraint.
“My… safe word?” She glanced over her shoulder at me, black hair mussed around her face and mascara smudged. Such a pretty little mess for me.
I pushed three fingers into her pussy, relishing how she pushed her hips back into me. “Yes, your safe word. Tell me what it is so I know when you’ve reached your limit.”
She hesitated, continuing to rock back into my hand.
I withdrew, knowing I was seconds from losing my control. I distracted myself for only a brief moment by grabbing a condom and rolling it on. “Goddammit, Sophie. Just fucking give me anything so I can fuck you.”
“Mercy. My safe word is mercy,” she mumbled, dropping her head as I notched myself against her cunt.
I smiled to myself, recalling our conversation from just a few nights ago. When I told her I wasn’t built for mercy. That was the last of my self-control.
I pushed all the way in, giving her only a second to adjust to my size before I unleashed myself. Holding her hips, I pounded into her relentlessly, my head falling back as pure fucking ecstasy washed over me.
Weeks of pent-up tension.
Weeks of dying to know what she would feel like.
Weeks of trying to forget about her.
It had all led to this moment, and Jesus Christ, it exceeded every expectation I’d had.
She was so… “ Wet, ” I muttered aloud. “Your pussy is so fucking wet and tight for me.” Her cunt squeezed my cock so tightly my head spun.
“I feel so fucking full, Mav,” she breathed.
I slid a hand around to rub her clit. She unraveled, clenching around me as she came again, but I didn’t let up. I kept going, obsessed with every second of me fucking her. Appreciating her perfect body, how tightly her pussy gripped.
With one hand soaked from her arousal, I circled my thumb over her puckered hole before pressing it inside. She convulsed, but made no move to stop me. I used my other hand to alternate between gripping her throat and pulling her hair, needing to touch her everywhere and not knowing what I wanted more. I just knew I wanted—no, needed her.
Moaning her name, I thrust harder, harder than I’d ever fucked a woman in my life. The sound of her pants and whimpers had an intense orgasm building at the base of my spine, building and spreading down my legs. I could sense it, how this orgasm was going to fucking destroy me. It would ruin fucking anyone else for me.
Everything would be different after having a taste of Sophie fucking Reyes.
And when I came while roaring her name, I knew I’d been right. The orgasm ripped through me, goddamn fucking wrecked me. I nearly blacked out as I rested my chest against her back, skin to skin.
I waited to catch my breath.
Waited to return to a state that felt somewhat normal.
I never did.