“You think I haven’t dreamed about taking you like this?” he rasps. “Watching you fall apart for me. Seeing what you look like bent over the throne you rule from.”
He thrusts into me again—deeper this time, angle brutal, possession written in every stroke.
“Fuck,” I gasp, head dropping forward. “Maddox…God you feel so good.”
“Say it again.” His palm smacks my ass, a sharp bite that makes me whimper and my second orgasm climb higher. “Say who you belong to.”
“You,” I choke out. “I’m all yours.”
“That’s right.” His hand fists in my hair, tugging just enough to make me feel it. “My smart-mouth boss. My ice queen. My fucking addiction.”
The rhythm builds. Maddox pounds into me, breath ragged, skin slapping against skin, filthy praise pouring from his lips like a litany.
“So wet for me. So fucking tight. I could stay buried in you all night and still want more.”
I’m already there—right at the edge, heat coiled tight in mybelly. His hand slips between my thighs, fingers finding that spot, rubbing fast and relentless.
“You gonna come again for me, Sloane? Gonna soak my cock while I ruin you?”
I break.
The orgasm tears through me like fire, shaking every inch of my body. My moan rips out of me, half sob, half plea.
Maddox thrusts twice more, then spills into me with a hoarse shout, hips grinding deep like he never wants to leave.
For a moment, there’s nothing but the sound of our ragged breathing.
We collapse onto the couch in a tangle of limbs, hearts pounding, skin damp. His arm bands tight around my waist and anchors me against the broad wall of his chest.
For the first time in years, I feel…safe. Not alone.
His breath slows against my hair. I let my eyes drift shut, lulled by the steady thud of his heart.
But I can’t let myself fall too far.
I never could.
So I speak.
“I have a question for you. Something I’ve been wondering.”
His smile is faint but there. “Okay, shoot.”
“At the hospital visit, why were you hesitant at first?” I ask softly. “With the kids. You looked like you wanted to run.”
His body stiffens just enough to notice.
“Because I haven’t had any role models in my life on how to act with kids,” he says, voice quiet but steady. “I mean, I had my mom for a while, but how to act like a man but gentle with little ones? I have no idea.”
Emotion swells in my throat.
“I didn’t want to walk in there and have one of them see me like I saw my dad when I was seven. I know I got my temper from him, but thankfully I didn’t get his addiction. But still, I justdon’t know how to be. All I know is that I didn’t want to be that.”
“But you weren’t,” I whisper. “You weren’t that guy.”
“No,” he says. “Because of you.”
He presses a kiss to my temple.