Page 89 of Messy Strokes (Wrecked Roommates)

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Maddie

It’s weird. My skin is buzzing, my heart won’t stop galloping in my chest, and my body is oh so aware of every tiny movement as we walk up the stairs in silence. Neither of us says a word, both anticipating what’s to come and the repercussions to follow if we go through with it.

Or at least, I am. Because the truth is simple.

This time, it isn’t casual sex. It isn’t even under the guise of casual sex. It’s so much more. And it could blow up in our faces all over again if we don’t play our cards carefully.

But I want this. Even though it’s selfish. Even though he deserves more. Even though he’s too good for me, and I’ll never be enough. I want him. Milo Anders. The wounded artist. The stubborn biker. The man who’s owned me since the first time we met.

I want all of him. The good. The bad. And the downright ugly. The problem is, I have no idea if he wants the same thing. Not if he knew what ugly lies I carried within me.

I can’t even blame him if he ever finds out the truth and turns me away.

It’s my own doing.

My own selfishness.

What’s the saying again? I shot myself in the foot? Except I didn’t shoot myself in the foot. I shot myself in the damn chest, but I’m too terrified to go to the hospital and deal with the fallout. Nope. Instead, I’ll continue to bleed out until there’s nothing left of me.

The stairs creak beneath our weight as he carries Penny’s car seat to the second floor while I trail behind, my heart beating faster and faster with every step.

Carefully, Milo unbuckles the nylon straps, and lays a still sleeping Penny in her crib, making sure she’s comfortable before he turns to face me. The floor creaks beneath his boots as he steps closer, his massive frame towering over me.

“Think you can be quiet?” he challenges.

I hook my finger in the waist of his pants and peek up at him. The hallway’s lack of light casts shadows across his face and makes him look even sexier. Darker. And more demanding than I’ve ever seen him. “I might be up for the challenge.”

“Good girl,” he growls, cupping my cheeks and tilting my head back without bothering to ask if I’m comfortable. And I love it. The way he isn’t afraid to demand what he wants and how he wants it. It’s freeing somehow. And when it’s combined with the way he’s looking at me right now? Like I’m precious. Like I’m his entire world. It makes me feel like the luckiest girl on Earth.

I bask in the attention, his sole focus on lil’ ol’ me, then I close my eyes and rise onto my tiptoes. “You should kiss me now.”

“There’s the bossy girl I fell for. Anything else you want from me?”

I lick my lips, noticing his mouth is only a breath from mine. Teasing me. Tempting me. But not giving in and putting us both out of our misery. Not yet.

“I can think of a few things,” I whisper.

“Like what?”

“Like your head between my thighs.”

His smirk turns wicked. “Good girl.”

He closes the last breath of distance between us, and I open my mouth instantly, our tongues dueling with each other as his hands slide down my hips, and he pulls me against him.

I’ve missed this. His hands on me. His hard cock pressing against my stomach. The taste of him on my tongue.

A soft moan slips out of me as his fingers dig into my thighs. Desperate. Greedy. He lifts me up, and I wrap my legs around his tight waist, and he carries me to his bedroom, careful to close the door quietly so it doesn’t wake up Penny in the other room. And for some reason, it makes me smile. His thoughtfulness. Even though she’s in the other room, he’s still thinking about her. Protecting her.

It only makes me want him more.

But when he reaches for the light switch, I dig my teeth into his bottom lip in silent warning.

He pauses.

“No light,” I order, trailing my lips down his scruffy jaw.

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