21. Sophie
21
Sophie
I blinked back tears. Stood stock still, stuck in shock and confusion.
The front door clicking shut as Maverick left set me into motion.
Here he was, reassuring me in ways I didn’t deserve, for no other reason than that he liked me. Wanted, at the bare minimum, a night to see if we were compatible. To see if our one night together was more than just pent-up sexual tension. To see if there was really something here.
And I just stood there?
After weeks of being a solemn bitch?
Fuck , I was an idiot.
I rushed into the kitchen, blabbering to my mother in Spanish about having to go but that I’d see her later, and hurriedly grabbed my things before stumbling out the front door. Maverick was just opening his car door down the street when I came running out.
“Mav, wait!” I cried. He paused, and there I saw it. The hurt. It sucked the air from my lungs. This man—dangerous and powerful as he was—was hurt because of me.
I jogged to him until I was mere feet from him, but it could have been miles for how breathless I was. What good all that running had been doing for me.
“I want to come with you. I’m sorry. I’m just… I’m not used to this. People in my life tend to bail when they find out I’m not all sunshine and butterflies. I’m scared to get hurt.” There. I put it out in the open. The ball was in his court now.
He blinked those dark blue eyes at me, illuminated by the street lights overhead, much like the first night we met. Then he took a step toward me, then another, and when his scent wrapped around me like a security blanket, all my thoughts went out the window. A breeze slipped between us, cool against my skin—until he erased it with his touch, warm and sure as his fingers traced my jaw before cupping my cheek.
“Detective, only a moron would see only sunshine and butterflies when they look at you. You are equal parts light and dark. You light up a room while simultaneously darkening the shadows in it. You’re charismatic, but you’re also deeply passionate and enigmatic. Lawful yet vengeful. To let other people make you feel like you’re less than any of that is a shame. And I’m only seeing the tip of the iceberg. I can only imagine how much more amazing you are the more layers I peel back,” he confessed softly.
I let out a half-laugh, half-sob at his words. Without kissing me, he guided me around the passenger side of the car.
“Thank you—” He cut me off by pinning me to the side of the car and slanting his lips over mine. A noise of surprise got trapped in my throat as his tongue met mine, tasting of sin and desire. One hand tangled in the hair at the nape of my neck and the other curled around my throat, pressing just enough to make my breaths come out harsher.
“Twenty,” he breathed between suffocating kisses.
“Wh-what?” I stammered, struggling to focus on anything outside of the heat pooling between my legs, the friction of his hips against mine.
“Twenty days. That’s twenty punishments you owe me. Starting now.”
Oh. Whimpering, I wondered how he was going to punish me in public. He held my head still against the car. My every muscle tightened in anticipation.
It didn’t take long to find out what he planned.
Keeping one hand on my throat, his other trailed down my breasts, tugging my taut nipples in a way that made my back arch. I’d barely come up for air from the delicious way he was kissing me, consuming me, claiming me when his fingers slipped under my dress, beneath my lace panties, and right over my clit.
I groaned, right in the middle of the sidewalk, and it sounded straight-up pornographic. Maverick smiled wickedly against my lips. “Oh, how I missed your sounds,” he growled. He missed me. Ugh. With his fingers moving in circles, he played me like a fiddle, making my body sing. One, then two fingers inserted in me, his thumb keeping the pressure on my clit, his mouth never giving me a break, and it was too much—way too much. I squirmed, the walls of my pussy quivering with my impending orgasm, my body and mind and soul chasing that high—
And suddenly he was gone. He stepped back, and I huffed in disappointment, gasping for air and tingling in all my sensitive places.
“Maverick,” I breathed. “What the fuck?”
The grin he gave me was salacious and sadistic. “Get in the car, Sophie.”
“But—”
“Get. In.” His voice had taken on that commanding tone that settled low in my belly, turning me on even more. Suddenly I knew that depriving me of an orgasm was my punishment, and an effective one at that.
I flipped him off before dropping into the leather seat of his all-black Aston Martin. He closed the door and rounded the front, looking mouthwateringly hot.
“You said you weren’t cruel,” I grumbled as he put his seat belt on.
Maverick chuckled darkly and started the ignition, the engine purring to life and nearly sending me spiraling into oblivion. “I did say I was ruthless, though, and honestly, Sophie? You’ve driven me to the brink.”
I blinked as he pulled smoothly out of the tight space and sped off, too damn fast for a residential neighborhood.
“Cat got your tongue, Detective?”
“Nope, but I’d give you a ticket for speeding if you were in my jurisdiction.”
“That’s too bad. I’d expect worse, like cuffing me to the backseat.”
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
“Where you’re concerned, absolutely.” Then, as he pulled onto a main road, he floored it. I held on tight to the leather seat under my thighs.
“Jesus, Mav.”
“No, baby, not Jesus. Just you and me.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Did you just roll your eyes at me?”
“No,” I snarled, then snapped my mouth shut. “Wait. I’m sorry—”
“Back up to twenty. Actually, make that twenty-one for flipping me off.”
Shit.
Then his hand was sliding up my thigh. A single finger hooked under my already damp panties and pulled until they tore. I gasped. He wasted no time gathering my arousal on his fingertips before working my clit again. I grasped the center console with one hand and the side of the door with the other.
“So wet for me, aren’t you, baby?” he purred, and I blushed from my head all the way to my toes. “Such a good fucking girl. So responsive.” I moaned from his praise, wanting to please him. My lost orgasm rose from the dead, rushing toward me, making my toes curl and my pulse go haywire. Inexplicably, he pulled his hand away, licking one finger at a time.
Tears pricked my stupid eyes before I blinked them away, huffing as I threw myself back in the seat.
“I could eat you for a full meal every day. You taste so sweet. Do you know that?”
No response.
“Sophie,” Maverick said my name slowly. “I asked you a question.”
“No,” I whispered. “I don’t know that.”
He hummed, then returned his hand between my thighs. And around and around we went, me trying to ride his hand to completion and him not allowing me to get there. By the time we parked, I was flustered, overheated, and angry .
I chose to go with him and this was his punishment?
He claimed he wasn’t cruel but I disagreed. This was cruel. I would much rather suffer from being spanked twenty times than be deprived of an orgasm twenty times.
Well, actually, it was only seven times, but still.
“You’re being awfully quiet for someone who was just screaming my name in the car,” Maverick taunted as he leaned against the back wall of the elevator, the quiet whir of machinery filling the silence.
I refused to feed into his childish behavior and instead faced forward, balling my hands under my folded arms. My jaw was set, my legs trembling from being on the edge of release for the last half hour, and my eyes burned with frustration.
That I was so whiny and desperate for him was humiliating, and he fucking soaked it up.
Yet, I knew that I would cave to him again the moment he put his hands on me, because I needed to come, and I needed it to be him.
Ugh, I made myself cringe sometimes.
“You’re not talking to me now?”
“I’m choosing my words carefully,” I grumbled. “Don’t want to add onto my punishments.”
“Ah, so you’re throwing a tantrum?”
I was about to whirl on him when the doors opened onto the short, T-shaped hallway, a penthouse on each end. I stomped to his on the right, waiting for him to unlock the door.
“We’re not going in until you look at me,” he said in that low, gravelly tone.
Reluctantly, my eyes swung to his. “Happy?”
He gave me an adorable smile that made it hard to stay mad. “No, you’re being a brat.”
I bristled. That meant—
“Don’t worry, babe, I won’t count this,” he reassured me as he kissed my forehead, unlocked the door, and set my bag down just inside. When he turned back to me, the door still ajar, his shoulders dipped—just slightly, like the weight of something unspoken had settled there. He exhaled, slow and measured, running a hand along the doorframe before finally speaking. “I know you didn’t ask for this. If this isn’t what you’re into—”
Sighing, I shook my head and brushed past him. I may have been upset, but I wasn’t going to call it quits now just because I didn’t get my way. “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m just horny.”
Maverick barked out a wildly infectious laugh as he followed me inside. “There she is. I missed that smile. So damn beautiful.”
I nearly melted. That kind of admiration, those kinds of compliments… it could make any girl lose her mind. It warmed me from the inside out and reminded me why I’d walked away from him to begin with: my feelings were growing too fast.
“You like that, don’t you?”
I blinked to bring myself back to the moment. “What?”
“You like the praise as much as you like being punished.” I bit my lip and nodded, then remembered that I wasn’t allowed to bite my lip and released it from my teeth. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.” He grabbed my throat and yanked me against him, pressing his length against my stomach. We both moaned at the contact, and my eyelids fluttered. “Feel what you do to me, baby? How much I want you? God, I was so fucking tempted to pull over and fuck you in the car. Have that sweet pussy gripping my cock again. Is that what you want?”
I gulped, and felt his fingers squeeze harder just like they did outside my mother’s house. “Yes. I want you.” My voice sounded all wrong, raspy underneath the pressure of his hand.
He pressed me against the wall of the foyer, crushing me with a devastatingly intense kiss. Then my legs were hooked around his hips, ankles crossed above his ass. My pussy was bared to the friction of his zipper, and all I could do was let my head fall back against the wall and enjoy the feel of his fingertips against my pulse point.
Before I knew what was happening, he was inside me, filling me completely.
“Eyes on me, baby. Don’t fucking look away,” he growled, and I submitted, giving him what he wanted. His gaze was hungry, searing, downright erotic. The sight sent me over the cliff I’d been sitting on for what felt like an eternity.
Stars swirled in my vision, the edges blackening as his hand squeezed just a tad harder. It intensified my orgasm as it overtook me, racking my body. He continued to thrust into me, his grip loose just enough for me to suck in a grateful breath, enough to lengthen the pulsing release that was still shuddering through me at mach speed.
Pretty sure I was sky high for a moment before I came back into my body.
His hand skated over my breasts before yanking the top of my dress down to release them. Maverick leaned down to suck on them, play with them, tantalize them while I held on for my fucking life.
My next release was unexpected, cresting without notice and taking my breath with it. He went with me, cursing and murmuring my name like a goddamn prayer.
He slowly set my legs down before straightening. I examined him while we both caught our breath, taking in his disheveled appearance. It was so fucking attractive. His hair—normally tousled—was styled back, probably since it was longer than the last time I’d seen him. And his stubble that I had just noticed because my skin felt sensitive from it. Paired with him in a suit…
He was every woman’s wet dream.
“Feel better?” he asked with a knowing smirk.
Leaning back against the wall, I said, “Much. You?”
“Yes. I’ve pretty much only thought of you the last three weeks,” he admitted, his smile turning sheepish as he tucked himself back into his pants.
My face warmed. “I tried not to think of you, but truthfully, I failed every day.” He opened his mouth to respond but I added, “Your hair looks really good this way.”
That made him still. He tugged a hand through his hair, almost self-consciously, before saying, “Really? I have an appointment to get it trimmed in a few days. It’s a little too long.”
I twisted my lips. “I disagree. Don’t get me wrong, you’re hot either way, but this? I don’t know, babe, but I think I like it better?”
The blue in his eyes was a little brighter as he tilted his head to the side. “Okay. I’ll wait a little longer, then maintain this length?”
He was asking me what I wanted. Like my opinion mattered. Be still, my heart.
I stepped forward and pressed a soft kiss to the side of his throat. “Yeah. Do that.” This conversation was so… normal, despite the sex we’d just had, despite us not being in a relationship of any kind.
Or maybe we would be in a relationship after this.
I had no idea what was in store.
“Why do you sound so surprised?” I wondered as I meandered into the kitchen to grab a glass of water.
He chuckled. “I don’t normally get complimented, I guess.”
“You don’t? Mav, you’re the most attractive person I’ve ever seen. Women probably throw themselves at you.” I opened his refrigerator to find it full of healthy foods—no surprise, I mean, the man was built like a freaking god—and spotted a glass container filled with grapes and another filled with strawberries. I pulled both out and set them on the counter, the quiet clink breaking the silence. As I reached for the knife, I caught the slow drag of his fingers along the marble countertop—unhurried, thoughtful. When I looked up, he was leaning against the island, watching me. Or rather, watching my hands, like he was trying to decipher something in the way I moved.
“Normally, sure, but I haven’t really paid much attention to them the last few months. And they don’t throw compliments around.”
“Hmmm,” I responded thoughtfully and busied myself with slicing the fruit and filling our glasses with water, all while ignoring the feeling of his cum dripping down my thighs. “You mean they don’t scream, oh my God, Maverick, you have such a big dick, please don’t stop ?” I fake moaned at the end to really sell the joke, and he laughed freely and shook his head.
I loved being able to tear his guarded walls down.
“Just you, baby.”
Jesus, don’t say that to me unless you want me to fall for you. The thought had my heart pounding in my chest. Nope, not thinking about that.
“Well, Mav, I think that’s a shame, because I have no problem complimenting you. Like how I think you’re incredibly handsome and fantastic at fucking.”
He chuckled again, and there was something about making this man, full of darkness and secrets I couldn’t begin to comprehend, lighten up and laugh that made me want to know everything about him. Made my heart do a stupid little pitter-patter in my chest.
“Now relax and eat something,” I said as I patted his shoulder.
But the look on his face as I placed the fruit and water in front of two bar stools, as I unbuttoned another button on his shirt and guided him to sit, I realized that this man didn’t seem to have anyone in his life offering him praise of any kind. Everyone needs a little praise every once and a while. Whether or not he’d ever admit it, it was clear that he craved it as much as I did.