Maddox rolled his eyes. “You’d be the one in my way, thief.”
“Spy,” Lake corrected him. “He’s a spy now.”
Rowan gasped. “Why, pup, you’re gonna make me cry.”
Lake bared his teeth and flicked his tail.
“Welp. Guess I better head to the kitchen. I have some baking to do.” I smiled at Maddox, hoping it wasn’t as wobbly as it felt. “Can’t send my knights away tomorrow without a bounty of muffins.”
“There’s only one muffin I want right now.” He took my hand in his and held me like I was this delicate, precious thing, then placed a kiss to my middle knuckle. “If he’ll have me.”
“Always,” I said, voice cracking.
With a playful gleam in his eyes, he scooped me off my feet and threw me over his shoulder.
“No,” I whined, kicking my feet. “I’m not a sack of potatoes. I’m not.”
“You are.” He gently swatted my butt. “And as I said before, sack of potatoes do not speak. They don’t kick their feet like spoiled children either.”
I laughed as he carried me from the dining room and toward the staircase. Tears welled in my eyes though. I loved him so much it scared me. Loved all of them; my men and my knights.
Once in the room, Maddox laid me on the bed and hovered over me, resting both arms on each side of my head. Black hair fell in his face, and dark lashes surrounded eyes as blue and mysterious as the sea. They spoke wonders then, however, saying so much with no words at all. Saying he loved me. That he was worried.
“Hey, big guy.” I traced the sharp line of his jaw. “What’s on your mind?”
“You.” Maddox rested his face in the crease of my neck. “And how deeply I love you.”
A pang hit my chest. “I love you too.”
He didn’t show this side often. This vulnerability. He always stayed strong, being a rock for everyone else to lean on. But as our lips met, I felt him surrender in a way he rarely did.
We undressed each other, kissing in between the tugging of our clothing. Soft sighs joined the creaks of the bed as he prepared me for sex, using one finger, then two. I stared up at him as he settled between my legs, feeling so many things at once. Arousal. Love. And a desperation to hold on to him and never let go.
The sex was unrushed. Maddox drove himself into me, slow but deep, cupping my cheek and staring at me so intently I wondered what he saw.
Was he memorizing my face like I often did to him and my other men? Noting the faint line of freckles on my cheek and tracing the curve of my eyebrow. Pressing the pad of his thumb to my lips before kissing me.
“I love the softness of your skin.” Maddox trailed his lips up my throat and to my ear, rocking into me. “And how your body clings to mine.”
He snapped his hips with more vigor and kissed my neck. I gripped his back and groaned, loving the way his muscles moved beneath my palms with every hard thrust. Loved the soft grunts under his breath and the sensation of his calloused fingertips as they dug into my hips.
“More.” I dug my nails into his ass cheeks, encouraging him harder. Faster.
Maddox braced one arm on the wall behind us and railed me into oblivion. A string of sounds left me as he fucked me so good I thought of nothing but the feel of him inside me. The stiffness of his cock. The rippling muscles of his torso and the roughness of his kisses. The graze of his teeth along my throat.
As he hit my sweet spot, I whimpered and rolled my hips up.
“Gods.” He dropped his head to my shoulder with a soft groan. Not an easy feat. The stoic captain often held back his moans.
A blinding pleasure crashed into me, so intense I couldn’t even make a sound. My mouth opened in a silent cry as my body convulsed, hips jerking.
“Evan.” Maddox grabbed my throat and turned his face into the side of my neck. “Gods. I…”
His cock swelled, and he came hard, biting my skin to keep from crying out. While hot as fuck, it told me he’d needed the release. That he’d been wound tight. With worry over me, probably.
“That’s it, big guy.” I lifted my hips off the bed and met his thrusts. “Give me everything you have.”
He didn’t disappoint. My captain always had alot,and I loved milking every last drop from him.
