Page 85 of Mad As Hell

Once I’d finished towel-drying my hair so it wasn’t dripping down my back, I tossed that towel in the hamper. I hesitated by the door before pulling it open, unsure of what I’d see.

Ryan was perched on the edge of my bed, phone in hand, tapping out a message. He hit send and turned off the screen before setting it down, his blue eyes dark and fathomless as he stared at me.

I worried my lower lip between my teeth, trying to figure out what to say.

“What do you need?” The rough, gravelly tone in his voice betrayed how stressed he was. His hands hung limply between his spread legs as he looked up at me.

Too tired to keep up the fight, I padded forward barefoot until I stood between his legs.

His head tipped back, and he looked up at me while one hand settled lightly on my hip. “Maddie?”

“You,” I answered softly, reaching out to run my fingers through his soft hair. The dark blonde was almost brown at the roots, fading to a perfectly sunkissed paleness at the tips. Women paid hundreds for what God and nature had blessed him with. “I just need you.”

It was kind of freeing to admit that. To acknowledge what my soul still craved. It was a hunger that would never go away, even if I wanted it to.

His eyes closed, his features tightening. “Maddie…”

My fingers trailed down to his jaw, scratching against the stubble left over from a long day. My head tilted as I watched him, his throat worked as the hand not on me flexed at his side. There was something seriously sexy about a muscular forearm contracting.

His eyes snapped open. “Baby, I think we need to talk about what happened.”

I shook my head. “I don’t want to talk about it. I lived it. That was enough.”

He released a frustrated growl. “I’m trying here, Maddie.”

My eyes narrowed. I could still feel the ghost of Adam’s touch on my skin. I wanted it gone and replaced with something else. Someone else.

Not giving myself time to overthink, I lifted a leg and straddled him before easing down onto his lap.

“Fuck,” he breathed with a soft groan. “You’re not fighting fair, baby.”

I looped my arms loosely around his neck. “Maybe I don’t want to fight at all.” I rocked my hips against him, my bare pussy finding the friction I needed against the hardening length in his jeans. I gasped as my nerve endings flared to life. Heat suffused my body, warming me from the inside.

His hands landed on my hips and tightened. “Maddie, stop.”

I paused, arching a brow. “You don’t want this?”

He snorted. “Of course I want this.”

I smiled and ground against him again with a soft moan.

The hands on my hips stilled me before I could repeat the motion. “No, Madison.”

The bite in his tone made me stop instantly. All at once, this was too much. His eyes were peering into mine too intensely. He was seeing too much.

Using my hands on his shoulders as leverage, I tried pushing off. Instead, he rolled us, laying me flat on my back against the mattress while he loomed over me. His arms caged me in. Unable to bear the humiliation of rejection, I looked away.

“Look at me,” he demanded softly.

When I didn’t respond, a hand went to my throat and forced my chin up. “Madison,” he growled, the warning note in his tone making me finally lift my eyes.

The corner of his mouth kicked up as his thumb rubbed under my chin. “Good girl, baby.”

Fuck, if those three words didn’t still send my ovaries into overdrive.

“I’m not fucking you tonight,” Ryan informed me, his blunt tone softened by the affection in his eyes. “I’m not sure exactly what happened, but I don’t think sex is the answer.”

“Since when?” The bratty comment slipped out before I could sensor it.

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