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"What happened?" Percia frowned as Evie all but galloped past her sister in the hallway that led to the main room.
"Man can't hold his liquor," She could feel King's fury bearing down behind her, so ducked down the next passage she came upon, hoping it was a shortcut to either the kitchen or outside. This house was such a big stupid maze, it rivalled the Paris sewer system. She focused on the door at the end of the hall and tried the handle. Damn. Locked.
King's long, finely kept, piano playing fingers, pressed against the frame over her head. "Nice try," he sneered into her hair.
She closed her eyes and turned, keenly aware of her near nakedness to his full state of dress. It was painfully similar to their first encounter. She pulled out the sheer triangular scarf, an unused part of her dancer's veil, from where she had tucked it discretely into her skirt and handed it to him with a smile.
He grabbed it and glared at her. "You're pretty proud of yourself, aren't you?"
"I told you to keep your hands off me. You wouldn't listen."
He uselessly wiped the material over his crotch and upper thighs. "God, you're such a bitch. If these pants are ruined, you're going to owe me for them too."
She crossed her arms over her breasts, keeping her hands flat so they covered more skin, and looked up at him. "I don't owe you anything, King. I cancelled my seat to Iceland well before the cutoff date. You need to stop blowing up my phone about that."
He straightened and crumpled the veil between his fingers. "You knew I wouldn't get the discounts if you pulled out."
"Why doesn't your girlfriend cover your losses? "
"I already told you she isn't my girlfriend."
"Oh, fuck buddy, my mistake."
"Can you stop being so dramatic and selfish for five seconds?"
"Says the man who cheated on me the entire time we were together."
"When are you going to stop beating that delusional poor me drum? You were cheated on. Your heart was broken. You were devastated because you found us fucking on your couch. You never bring up the fact that I was with her because you were such a lousy lay?"
She stepped back as if he'd slapped her. It was one thing to suspect he had that kind of ugly opinion of her skill, but entirely another to hear him actually say it out loud.
"You run around like the perky titted girl next door, but it's all just to cover up that your pussy's a dead fuck."
She had her hand up to slap the vicious look off his face when Maddox loomed into her view. He planted his big body between her and King.
"Bathroom's that way, asshole. Ms. Pennyworth, you're needed in the kitchen." He had her whirled around and tucked into his muscular side, walking back down the hall before she could even put her hand down. She didn't dare look up at him. Of all the offbeat encounters they'd had these past few months, this was by far the most humiliating. God what he must be thinking. It was bad enough he was here at the party, watching her slink around like some kind of last-minute knock off belly dancer, but to hear King's degrading slur, she pursed her lips and inwardly screamed. Life was not treating her well. In fact, it was being downright nasty these days these days.
She opened her mouth to say something, anything in the awkward quiet between them but decided against it. What could she say right now anyway to break the unsettling tension? She kept her eyes straight ahead and her lips firmly closed until they reached the serving kitchen.
"I gotta get back. Don't leave tonight without me."
It was all he said before he turned and marched down the hall.
Half an hour went by, less than 30 minutes really, but it felt like an everlasting eternity having to go back and forth from the kitchen to the party with the rest of the pre-dinner drinks. She gave King and his cold sneers a wide berth the entire time, opting to keep her eyes on Maddox and his comforting presence, though comfortable with each other was not what they were right now. The polar opposite actually. Every time their eyes caught each other's, one of them looked away.
"Evelyn-Anne Pennyworth!"
Evie blinked at the pair of fingers snapping beneath her nose. "Percia stop it." She batted at her sister's hand.
"That's the last drink tray so you're free. Now tell me what happened with King." Her sister handed off a tray of steaming dinner food to the server dressed like a French maid.
"Just stupid shit. I'll fill you in later. Right now, I'm going home to take a bath and forget this night ever happened."
"Ya good luck with that." Percia looked purposefully at the service entrance door to where Maddox's big body filled the door frame.
"You ready to go?" He didn't wait for an answer, just turned to indicate he was waiting for her to walk by.
"Guess so," she twisted her mouth at her sister's wide smile.
"Have fun." Percia nudged her and waved at Maddox.
Not likely. She walked through the exit to find Maddox's truck parked directly on the service exit pathway.
"Seriously?" She watched him open the passenger side door.
"Yup. I didn't want you to take off." He waited for her to climb in, which wasn't easy in her current dress code. Managing not to give anyone who might be watching a crotch shot, she wriggled into the seat and tugged on her seat belt as he rounded the car and got in.
Without saying a single word, he drove down the path and out of the main laneway. Here they were again with another round of silent awkwardness hanging between them. It was going to drive her crazy, and by the time he turned the truck down a dead-end circular suburbia street, she was ready to blurt out any kind of nonsense to break the quiet tension.
Instead, she peered at the line of cookie cutter homes. "Is this where you live?"
He looked at her. "All this time driving, and you never thought to ask where I was taking you?"
"Well... I—" she looked at the white brick, cottage style houses, all with cute box size porches trimmed with smart green detail. "Cute houses."
"Uh huh." He pulled into the last driveway in the row and got out. In seconds he opened her door and waited while she slid from her high perch.
"This is a nice neighbourhood." The matching green and white shutters on all the windows, and the wooden rails that framed every porch, were adorable.
"That really what you want to talk about, Evie?"
"Well..." her voice died away. Now was the time to say everything that had been on her mind, everything she'd been mulling over and the decisions she'd made over the past few days. Not to mention King's mortifying case of verbal diarrhea. Figures words would fail her when she needed them the most. She gave him a sideways look. "I want to explain about... what King said."
"I don't need an explanation. The guy's an asshole."
"Well... ya I guess."
"You guess?" His jaw tightened.
"Well... you already know about my—problem, and his opinion isn't exactly... wrong, you know?" She inwardly cringed. Could she sound any more like an idiot?
"I'll tell you what I know. First of all, that guy's shit opinion is his problem. Not yours." He got out of the truck and came around to her door. After he opened it and held out his hand, she took it. "Second of all. I know exactly what we're going to do about it." He closed the door with one hand and kept her fingers entwined with his in his other.
"Which is?"
"We're going inside and locking the door. Then you're going to tell me every way you like to fuck; then I'm going to give it to you every way you like it." He strode into the house, tugging her dumbfounded body behind him.
She opened and closed her mouth, like a confused fish while he swiftly opened the front door, hustled them inside.
"What do you think?" He pushed the door closed and locked it with a definitive clunk.
She blinked when he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the surface. "I think, I don't know if I like you like this.
He smirked. "You don't have to like it. You just have to come here and fuck me." He reached out and tugged on the tassel that hung between her breasts. "No more bullshit." He wrapped his other hand around the back of her head and swept her up in a searing kiss. Illicit desire welled up and overflowed inside of her before it washed tingles of sexual electricity throughout her system.
She half sighed; half moaned while fingers pressed into his chest muscles as she feverishly kissed him back. All thought of why they should or shouldn't get together melted from her mind, as did King, Angus, or whoever else, the only thing she could think about was the feel of Maddox's firm determined mouth on hers, his strong fingers holding her still for his sweet and stormy onslaught. She held onto him and yielded to the flutters of heat that pooled between her legs. A growl rumbled in his chest before he deepened the kiss, his fingers tightening around the tassel as he licked past her lips and stroked her tongue with his.
God. This man. Everything about him did it for her. A breath caught in her throat when he held onto her hips and turned her around and pressed her against the door. He pulled her half-naked body up to his, kissing her over and over until she became breathless and dizzy and utterly compliant between his hands.
"Do you know how hard it was watching you wiggle around in this get-up all night?" He stopped kissing her and spoke against her mouth, a fiercely possessive undercurrent coursed between them. "I wanted to strangle him, with my bare hands. Abandon all discipline and choke him right down to the ground." He pressed his face into the small of her neck as his hands fitted around her ass and held her closer into him.
Hot moisture flooded her silk panties in response.
"Let me take you to my bedroom."
She swayed as he rubbed her body against his. "Your room?"
"Yes, to my bed. I want to feel your body beneath me. I want you to teach my body how to please yours... inside my bed."
"I want that too."
He immediately grasped both of her hands and raised them over her head. He held them in place with one hand then used the other to unclip her halter top and unfasten the single button that held her skirt together. When the material fell open, he pushed everything down and aside until she stood naked, only in her panties and heels that put her at the perfect height for him.
"Fuck. I have waited so long to see you like this again." He drew back and stared down at her. "Naked just for me."
She inhaled a shaky breath. This was way more intense and brazenly intimate than when she'd been drunk.
"Don't move." He slid his fingers around the outside of her breast before he cupped them and continued to trace down across her tummy and inside of her underwear.
"Maddox?" She held onto his shoulders as he pressed his finger between her swollen split.
"Shhhh. I've been a good boy, and you're already so wet and ready for me."
She closed her eyes and swallowed as he thumbed around her opening then across her waiting nub. Whimpers and mewls rushed through her throat, as he caressed and fondled her, experimented with his touch and her conceding reaction.
"Be still." He went down on one knee, cooing against her skin, and holding her in place when she squirmed from the barrage of sensations he rained down on her most intimate place. His thumb continued petting, brushing, and making love to her until she undulated and chased his fingers with her hips. "That's it. Just let your body show me what you like." He tugged her panties down to her thighs.
"Oh, sweet Jesus, Maddox!" She dug her fingers into his shoulders as he pressed just the tip of his tongue to her clit before he licked a long lap all the way around before taking a slow pull between his lips.
A despairing moan erupted from her throat.
He nibbled her, separated her, and darted maddening kisses around her opening then her core. She couldn't take this. In seconds, she was moaning and clutching and straining for more, anything, everything, all her girl parts begging him for release.
She squirmed and bucked, her insides straining toward panic. "I—" she pushed against him. "Can't—do this."
"Hmm, your body is telling me different." Maddox gripped her ass and pulled her forward, his mouth relentless as he held her still. He lowered his head, and her body heightened into a frenzy as he slid his tongue inside of her while thumbing her clit in circles. He lifted her leg over his shoulder before he pressed her harder into the door.
"Ooooh..." she gasped then screamed his name.
He growled against her pulsing center, the vibration piquing her over the edge in a blind fury of pounding sensation. Her nails sank into the skin at the base of his neck. Her frantic enjoyment would definitely leave a scar.
It took long moments before she could finally relax her fingers and exhale in a series of hot, shaky breaths.
Maddox grunted low and pulled his tongue from within her body. "I'm not done with you yet." He stood up and un-tucked his shirt from his pants, wasting no time shedding his shirt and pulling down his zipper. "Take me out." He crowded her back into the door, his mouth hot on hers. Evie pushed his pants down and took out his hard length, enjoying the steely force between her palms.
"Stroke me," he commanded against her lips. "Just keep your hands all over me."
Evie indulged herself in this prize and pumped his beautiful hard length until her fingers slid over his tight balls.
"Fuck, baby." Maddox gripped the base of her neck with one hand before using the other one to bring her naked hips to meet his. "I want to be inside of you."
"I want that, too. I'm protected. And I'm clean." Her voice was breathy and strained as she continued to stroke him, drawing him close so he could settle himself between her naked thighs.
"The Navy makes sure we're clean." He bucked himself between her legs, and her body wept in response, instinctively readying her to accept him. "Take me," he growled into her mouth, thrusting himself from her hands to her entrance.
Pleasure burst through her feminine core and gripped her already sensitive flesh as she parted and brought Maddox between her thighs. She raised her knee and looped her ankle around his waist as he thrust himself eagerly into her.
"Oh, God, Jason—" Her head fell back at the exquisite pleasure that pained through her untried body. It had been so long, so very long since she'd felt a man within her. She wriggled her hips and panted into his ear then stilled as he pressed into her further until he was deeply rooted.
"Ah, fuck," he groaned at her ear, his hardness twitching inside of her.
Nothing in this world felt like or compared to this. Maddox. Rock hard and deep. Evie closed her eyes and savored the way he held himself against her, waited for her to adjust, then pressed into her mound with alluring pressure against her g-spot.
"Is it good, Baby?" he whispered the question.
"Yes."
"How you like it?" He pressed into her again.
Pleasure vibrated down her legs. "Yes—yes!" She gripped his shoulders as her thighs tingled with weakness.
"Hold on to me." He pushed down again, and this time she lifted her soft thatch in response. Wanting. Encouraging. Alive for more of him."I'm going to give you exactly what you need."
Maddox drew back slightly and answered the soft way she kept pressing into him by driving his hips in a circle against her, pushing and pulling their bodies intimately together, his rough, masculine pubic hair massaging her hard nub, his strong hips demanding against her g-spot.
Hot moisture poured from her body, over his length, coating him with her essence.
Maddox growled. "That's it; that's what I like." He reached between them and searched out her damp slit before teasing her nub with his fingers, directly onto her please point.
"Jason!" A dangerous burst of sensation shot through her pussy. "Stop! No, don't; oh, my God, don't stop. Please don't stop!" He smiled and put his mouth on hers, catching her crazed protests and encouragements in a kiss that reduced her to moaning and pleading his name.
Her body took over and thrust against his. In seconds, she was riding him until he answered the rolling way she moved by holding her in place and riding her back. She strained against him, grinding on his hips. He lifted her other leg so she was spread and straddled around him as he humped her hard against the door.
"Fuck me, Kitten." He braced himself with one hand against the wall, balanced her with his thigh, and drove himself inside of her, once, twice then repeatedly until her pussy thrummed with an anxious will for release.
Maddox did not let up as she wiggled and pushed against him, wanting him but unravelling as their movements unified and rubbed in an ancient rhythm of friction and heat that was taking her to heights unknown. A desperate frenzy circled and spiraled through her body.
"Jason, I—oh, God." More of her heat flooded over his length as she whined his name and clawed at his skin.
Maddox thumbed her nipple until she arched into his hands; wanton and in heat, she writhed and reveled in her body's fearful delight. Her release was building and threatening to explode with a mixed of heightened enjoyment that kept coming then fading with maddening apprehension.
"Don't fight it," he said against her lips. "Just trust it. Trust me."
Ripples and waves of hot panic flashed through her hips, and she forced herself to stamp back her fears and let her body keep moving toward the tickling, demanding heights climbing inside of her. Her voice broke as she undulated beneath him, twisted herself against him. This was where she always lost the feeling, got so close then just went flat. She could not let that happen this time. Not with Maddox. God, please not with Maddox.
"I'm right here." He clenched his hand around her ass then slid the other palm between their bodies again. He massaged her bared clit, encouraging her to let go.
A burst of hot prickles sprang up against her skin as the fever inside of her climbed and pushed for release.
Desperate. She was so, so desperate.
Hot arcs of tingling heat clawed through her mound, mercilessly teasing her, demanding reprieve. "Jason!" She clutched at him and squealed when her mind dotted with dark spots and a horrible wash of heat rushed through her body and centered on her clit before it agonizingly paused then burst open and pulsed, exquisitely and excruciatingly, over and over, ruthlessly pushing heat in sizzling pulses through her shaking body. She moaned incoherently into Maddox's ear as another rush of heat overwhelmed her senses and threatened her pounding heart and mind to dizzying heights until a strange but unbearably familiar sense of blackness overcame her.
"Evie—honey?"
Evie opened her eyes and tried to focus on the blurred image above her. "What happened?" She glanced around the room then down at the couch where she lay. Naked.
Maddox smiled. "You passed out." He put his palm on her cheek.
"Oh, God," she struggled to sit up, the movement flooding her mind with immediate but blurry recall of what happened. She gripped a nearby blanket and wrestled it up to her throat. Horrible embarrassment swamped her consciousness.
"Easy." Maddox lifted the side of his mouth. "To be more specific, first you came like a son-of-a-bitch then you passed out."
Horrified heat surged through Evie's face." I...oh God." She swung her legs around and off the couch. The insides of her thighs rippled and tingled with aftershock reminders that she had just climaxed like she'd been in heat. Her inner muscles pulled upward as another intimate reminder.
"Ya, honey, you did." Maddox gave her another smile as he crouched before her." They say the first time is the hardest."
Extreme mortification enveloped her. "I need to go—" She looked around the unfamiliar living room for her clothes. Her discarded belly dancer skirt and halter smirked at her from over by the front door; her killer pumps lay abandoned nearby, not to mention her scrap of a panty that peeked out from beneath Maddox's shirt.
"Oh, that's not gonna happen. There's no way I'll let you run away from this."
"Jason!" she yelped as he bent over and lifted her over his shoulder. "What are you doing?!"
"Taking you to my cave," he walked down a hall and into what was presumably his bedroom and dumped her into the centre of a king size bed. "And we aren't leaving until both of us pass out."
*****
Exhausted, Maddox rolled over and tucked Evie into his side. He should be ashamed of himself. He'd been an animal the moment she allowed him inside of her and chased after the ball-clenching heaven her body gave him, and not just once or twice. Three times his unchecked behavior had been unbecoming, and the mere thought of his actions was making him hard again. He was definitely not an officer or a gentleman tonight. A gentleman would have left her alone after the first time, especially since she had fainted, and definitely after the second, but he'd waited for her for so damned long he was determined to make her cum a third time. Then, his resolve slipped, and he'd let loose when her walls contracted around his stiff dick. His hips went rampant with a wildness he'd never known. He couldn't catch his breath and started growling like a beast, unable to pull out as he planned. He'd managed to before, but the last time he was too far gone, and stayed buried deep pulsing uncontrollably until she gripped him with her own multiple spasms. It was a good thing she was protected because he surely would have knocked her up from all that.
A satisfied chuckle purred in his chest. She'd let go with him. He'd learned how to make her cum.
I've never had an orgasm, Jason. Can you help me with that?
Her question from months ago, came to him in a satisfying rush.
"You do not have to look so pleased with yourself," Evie murmured, her breath against the hollow of his throat as she snuggled deep into him, sliding her knee up his thigh.
He grinned. "Ya. I do." The gentle brush of her skin, coming close to his nuts again, renewed their tightness.
She sighed and slid her hand over his chest to his neck. "That might leave a mark." She delicately traced where she had scratched him in her first blinding climax.
"Good. I can handle your scars."
Her muscles went still then slowly relax. "I guess you can." She inhaled and splayed her fingers on his muscles. "Which means you're going to deserve all the trouble I'll cause you."
He smirked and watched her hand slowly stroke him, felt her heartbeat's steady rhythm until she went heavy against him. He kissed the top of her sleeping head and stared up at his dark ceiling. It had been a while since he'd been with a woman, really been with her and not just fucked. It was practically customary for soldiers to blow off steam with a good-time girl, and he'd had his fill of that kind of meaningless sex in his life. He never brought any of those girls home and definitely not made love to them in his bed.
Maddox caressed Evie's arm then splayed his hand over her hip. He just had to figure out how to keep her here, the mother of all symbolic, victorious places. He was no stranger to hard work and had already fought like a son-of-a-bitch to win her over; he'd be damned if he let her go, or worse let someone else take her from him.
SEAL life had taught him to hold on to what he worked for. Man your position. Hold the line. Defend and protect. No, Evie was not getting away from him now. He lifted the side of his mouth and tucked her in further to him before he settled himself and closed his eyes.
In seconds, he opened them again. He listened for a long moment and assessed his surroundings. Evie was still tucked in beside him, the room quiet, save for her light and steady breathing. His dick was hard for her again, but he reached for his cell phone when it lit up with the faintest beep.
"Go for Maddox."
"Out front. Three minutes."
He silently slid from within the sheets, his movements so smooth as he slid his warm pillow in beside Evie that her breathing didn't even change. He picked up his go bag from its spot beside the door and walked into the living room, pulling on his clothes, and jamming his feet into his combat boots where they waited in the hall closet. In less than sixty seconds, from the HQ alert to the click of his front door closing, he treaded off his porch and into the black navy vehicle waiting at the end of his lane.
*****