Page 9 of Gilded Bird

Thinking over last night, over the last few months of my life out on the road, I find no more guilt or shame over my supposed failure. We had a good life together for over twenty years. It may not have been a great love story, the way Maddox accused, but we loved each other through things, we were friends, and I hope one day, for Jameson, we will be again.

Sunset Springs was never meant to be permanent. I had traveled for a long time, not wanting to settle again the way I had before. Not wanting to give up my freedom. The truth is, I was never caged or tied down by anyone else but myself. I grew up in a loveless, broken home. This shame I feel, the same that sent me seeking something out on that extended road trip, is my fault, it is my own doing.

Everyone knew we were never in love. Not the kind of love that could last a lifetime. I settled for that. It was safe. Last night, there was nothing safe about what I felt with Maddox. It was wrong, I am sure of it. Being here now, I find myself wanting to see him, wanting to talk to him, to find out if he meant everything he said last night.

As if fate is picking a path for me, there is a knock at the door. Before I can get to the door, I hear his voice. I stop with my hand on the door, my breath shuddering out of me. “Mika, let me in baby,” he purrs, and I swear I can feel him pressed against the door. “We need to talk. Please, open up.”

Smiling, I know he means more than me opening the door. He means to open up to what he wants to give me. I am shaking as I press closer to the door. I close my eyes and nod because even if it’s just while he is here, and even if I have to keep this a secret, I want to feel what he made me feel last night again. With a trembling hand, I twist the handle and let him in.

Maddox stand there, rumpled in the same clothes I watched him tear off his perfect body last night. His eyes heat as they take me in, the robe I pulled on after my shower hiding nothing. That look in his eyes, that unbridled want, it makes me feel like a woman, like a goddess, and I wonder for a moment how long I missed it.

“God, you’re beautiful. Come here,” he rumbles before he steps inside, kicking the door closed with a crash behind him.

“Maddox,” I whimper as he yanks the sash of the robe, tearing it open.

“Baby,” he moans as his big, warm hands circle my waist, “that will be the last time I wake up without you beside me.”

Ignoring what those words make me feel, I let him lift me, winding my legs around him. He takes a few steps towards the bar cart near the French doors leading to the patio. A crash of glass excites me as he throws everything to the floor. I reach between us to pull at his belt, both of us moaning as my hands wrap around him.

“Later, I will spend hours on my knees between these legs, because you deserve that sort of worship. Now, I just need to feel you again.”

“Yes, yes, please,” I pant, spreading my thighs as he settles me atop the cool wood of the bar.

“Mika, baby,” he grunts as he grips the back of my neck and thrusts to sink inside of me.

“Oh, God,” I cry, falling back against the bar as he starts to pump into me.

Sex was never fun for me. Never spontaneous or wild. There was no passion or need to fuel it. Here, now, with Maddox, it is all those things. I cling to his powerful shoulders as I sit up, sealing my mouth to his. He grips my hips in his hands, thrusting into me tirelessly, telling me how good I feel, how perfect I am, and how badly he needs me. It makes the pleasure bigger, brighter, burning deep inside of me like a ball of light.

“Maddox, don’t stop,” I cry against his lips, moaning as his rough fingers find my clit, pinching it then rubbing away the pain.

“No, not till you come with me inside you, baby. I need to feel you come. I need to know I make you feel good. Give it to me. Come for me, choke my cock with this silky pussy. Show me how good I feel inside you.”

“Yes, yes,” I shout, twisting my hips to take his powerful thrusts, loving the sting of it. “I’m coming. I’m coming, don’t stop. Come inside me, please, I love how hot it feels when you…oh, yes, Maddox!”

Grunting, he pins me down and slams deep inside of me, jerking as he comes. I watch his face, the wildness of his eyes, the hunger that lights the pretty blue on fire. Jesus, he is a beautiful man. When did that happen? How did he grow up to be this sexual animal that hits all my sweet spots?

Panting breaths fill the room as we come down from the precipice. I smile into his shoulder as his cologne hits me. It’s the same cologne I gave him for his twenty-first birthday. I am shocked I can recall it, but more shocked it’s what he still uses. He nuzzles his face between my breasts then he laughs, and I can’t help it, with him buried inside me, I laugh too.

“That was hotter than any of my fantasies,” Maddox teases with a throaty chuckle.

Scooping me up, he walks down the hall, peeking in doors. I frown until he stops outside the bathroom. Heading in, he goes right for the beautiful shower with the waterfall showerhead. Grinning at me salaciously, he sets me down inside. Stepping back, he makes a show of stripping off his clothes, giving me some wiggles and hip thrusts.

Laughing, I shake my head at how silly he is. How light he makes everything feel. There is no guilt or fear right now. Not with him right here, doing everything he can to make me feel good. He steps into the show with me, taking my hands to lace our fingers together.

“This has definitely been in my fantasies,” he whispers before he starts up the shower, both of us stepping beneath the warm spray.

“Will you,” I stop, flushing as I bow my head. Then a bolt of bravery hits me, and I look back up at him. “Will you tell me about them?”

“Oh, baby, I plan to show them to you,” he hums, lowering his head to kiss me softly.

My body goes boneless as his tongue strokes my lips before I open for him. It’s a kiss unlike any I’ve ever had. Heat and hunger mix with softness and a gentleness I have never felt before. Pulling back, he smiles down at me, looking boyish for the first time since I saw him on the beach.

“Tell me, please,” I beg, running my hands up his muscled chest.

“Well, they started well before they should have, I have to admit. I wasn’t lying when I said I laid beneath you and wished I could have you. I mentioned that party before,” he starts, reaching past me to grab a bar of soap. He lathers up his huge hands and I just know he’s going to wash me with them and it’s going to feel amazing. “It was before that party. I was at the house one night, he was gone. You were making those cookies we love. Always made a mess whenever you baked, but you were so fucking cute.”

Closing my eyes as his hands indeed start soaping me up, I smile at the fondness in his tone. It worries me a little that I may have ever led him on. I would never have imagined something like this could happen between us. Between me and anyone, let alone this man who I knew as a boy.