Page 78 of Wretched Heart
When I shift position on the overstuffed love seat, I have pins and needles in one of my arms. I’ve been sitting in the same position for too long, locked away in the room I’ve claimed as my reading nook. And while I’ve been absorbed in my latest book, the shadows around me have been absorbed into darkness.
I’ve kept away from the office, leaving it to Reid and Mace to ensure all the paperwork for today’s deal was ready to go. Hunter and Ash left this morning for Las Vegas, and I try not to think about what’s happening there. I’ve told Hunter’s brothers that I don’t want updates. I don’t want to hear anything until it’s all over.
My sleep shorts and camisole are thin, and I wrap a throw around my shoulders as I curl my legs beneath me. I’m eager to retreat back into my fictional world where a cruel life can be snuffed out in a single paragraph, while love takes up entire chapters. Complicated, endless love.
My eyes are drooping when the creak of door hinges startles me awake. My breath catches against a lump lodgedin my throat. I’m expecting a report from one of Hunter’s brothers, but when the door opens, it’s the man himself.
He approaches without saying a word, and picks me up so he can set me on his lap as he steals my seat. I curl into his chest and let his muscular arms capture me.
“It’s done,” he says. “Hugo’s body will be discovered tomorrow morning when the woman he’s spending the night with will wake to find him unresponsive. An accidental overdose.”
Hunter’s words float inside my brain for a second before I’m ready to absorb them. Hugo is dead. Something sharp and cold stabs at my chest, and ice pumps through my veins. Just as quickly, it melts away as an unstoppable, penetrating heat rises up through my body, making my skin tingle.
“Maddie?” When I don’t answer, Hunter puts a finger under my chin and lifts my gaze. Anxiety lines his face. “Talk to me. Tell me what you’re feeling.”
I go to speak, but there’s no air in my lungs. I can’t find room in my chest for anything except my emotions – lots of emotions, and all of them conflicting. I sit up and as I straddle Hunter, the throw slides off my shoulders and drops to the floor. My husband runs his hands over my bare arms, easing the goosebumps that prick my skin. Calming me. Anchoring me.
I take a breath. “I’m relieved it’s over. I’m nervous about what comes next. I’m angry it had to come to this at all, that Hugo wasn’t a brother I could have loved and worked with.” I suck in more air. “I feel bad that you had to get involved in my family’s shit. I’m also grateful.” I pause to kiss him before continuing. “I’m scared for Jen and Becks, and I’m worried how they’re going to cope. I’m excited to help them try. And I’m just so joyful that I can express how I feelbecause Ifeelso much, Hunter. You gave me that. You gave me everything.”
When I crush my mouth against his, Hunter’s tongue tangles with mine. And as we kiss, I fall deeper and deeper into a whirlpool of emotions. I groan when I have to pause for breath.
“I need to keep hold of these feelings. I want to feel alive,” I demand as I slide a hand down to where our bodies fit together. I rub my palm along the ridge of his erection. “Make me feel alive.”
“That I can do,” he promises as he pulls my camisole over my head.
As I lean back and rest my hands on his knees, Hunter’s gaze roams over my semi-naked body. When I see his eyes dilate, my nipples harden.
He smiles. “So I can get a reaction from you without touching you,” he says, recalling the scene in my book from the night before.
I open my legs wider and rub my clit against the ridge of Hunter’s cock trapped in his pants. My thin pajama shorts are soaked through. “You are touching me.”
Hunter palms my breasts and rubs delicate circles around my nipples with his thumbs. When my back arches, he pinches hard. My hips buck and I yelp.
“I don’t think you want gentle tonight, wife.”
“No, I don’t,” I gasp. “Do you think you can fuck me hard enough to make me scream?”
“You know I can,” he says and pinches my nipples again.
The mix of pleasure and pain sets off a trail of sparks down my spine that ignite my core before whooshing back up through my body to pound against my eardrums. I release a stuttered breath as I grind against him.
Hunter doesn’t let up as he moves lower to tug my shorts sharply to the side. I lift my ass so he can slide his hand between my legs. Heat pools in my core as he plunges two fingers inside me. He flicks his thumb against my clit and my inner muscles clench, but he withdraws too soon. His fingers go straight to his mouth and he sucks them clean.
“You’re more than ready for me, little bird,” he murmurs.
He shifts forward so he’s perched on the edge of the chair, then sets me down so I’m standing in front of him. When he pulls down my shorts, I’m completely naked while he’s still in his suit as he takes hold of my hips to bring me closer. His mouth centers on my pussy, and he draws his tongue from my soaking wet entrance and up to my clit. I bite down on my lip, preparing for the next assault on that sensitive bundle of nerves, but he simply kisses it softly.
“Sorry, but there’s no time for sucking on your clit,” he says, looking up at me as he licks me one last time. “I need my cock buried in you. Now.”
“I don’t think you are sorry.”
He laughs and his warm breath makes my insides flutter. “I don’t think you’re sorry either,” he says as he stands up and walks around me. “I want you to kneel on the chair and brace yourself.”
As I clamber onto the deep cushions, I hear Hunter pulling down his zipper. I glance back and watch as he pushes his pants and his boxers down to his thighs. He’s not getting undressed. I’m going to be fucked by the man in the suit who would kill for me. Who did kill for me.
“My cock is so fucking hard for you, Maddie,” he groans as he strokes himself from root to tip.
The smooth head glistens as it disappears between mylegs. Hunter rubs himself along the crack of my ass, past my soaking wet entrance and over my clit. I rub against him, desperate for the friction that makes my pussy quiver, but he pulls back. I feel pressure at my entrance, and he stretches me enough to take the head of his cock. His hands move to my hips. His fingers dig into my flesh. His grip tightens.
