That Night with You (22 page)

“
Changed how?”

He went to the cooktop and removed a
skillet from the cabinet below. “I was working at Parr and
Associates by then, and my father was retiring and leaving me the
business. She started wanting things. A car, jewelry, clothes, and
then one day she suggested we needed a house…something unique, and
she wanted me to build it. So I did.” He paused and looked around
the kitchen. “The only problem was, the more I gave her, the more
she wanted. It seemed like nothing was ever good
enough.”

Madison’s insides rolled with disgust.
“Probably one of those ultra-chic, size zero women who only wear
high heels, max out your credit cards, and could…never
mind.”

“
No, Ellen wasn’t that bad.
I would never have married her if she had been like
that.”

“
Then why did you marry
her?”

“
I thought we shared some
common interests, and Ellen seemed like the kind of woman who would
be there for me, but something was always missing.”

“
Like what?”

“
We never talked.” He
flipped on the gas burner and placed the skillet over the flame. “I
guess I never realized until I was married how important it was to
be able to talk to the person you share your life with. In the
beginning, you think marriage is about the sex, then about the
house or kids, but at the end of the day it’s about being able to
roll over in bed and have someone listen to all of your bullshit,
and sometimes laugh at your jokes.”

“
That sounds nice. The
talking part.”

He went back to her side and collected
the chicken on the countertop. “What about you? What’s your
heartache?”

“
My heartache?”

“
Who broke your heart?
That’s why you’re not married or engaged like your roommate, right?
So, let’s hear it? Who was stupid enough to let you get
away?”

She gripped her wineglass, grimacing.
“I didn’t have any heartache. Dating for me has always been akin to
having a tooth pulled. It’s painful, awkward, and leaves me
doubting myself for days if not weeks later. My roommate would
argue that I dated the wrong men; the kind I could never care
about.”

He sat back against the counter. “Why
did you do that?”

“
I don’t know. I never felt
I deserved a great guy. I always thought they wouldn’t want
me.”

“
And now, what do you
feel?”

She put her glass down on the metal
countertop. “You’re the only one I could ever…. The thought of
having sex with other guys I dated….” She ran her hands over her
arms. “I couldn’t do it.”

He carried the sliced up chicken
breast to the waiting skillet. “Is that why you ended up with me
that night, because you figured it would be better to have sex with
a stranger than a man you knew?” He obtained a bottle of olive oil,
stuffed with sprigs of rosemary, from the side of the cooktop and
drizzled a bit into the skillet.

“
Silly, huh?” She dipped
her head to the side, blushing.

The sizzle of sautéing chicken filled
the kitchen while Madison nervously grasped her glass. She waited
as he went to the sink and washed his hands.

“
Why didn’t you say
anything that night about being a virgin?” he finally demanded,
wiping his hands on a nearby towel.

“
I wanted to appear
sophisticated for you.” She motioned to him. “You seemed so
worldly, and I was like a…country bumpkin.”

He came up to her and took the
wineglass from her. After placing it on the counter, he dipped his
head in front of her. “Hardly a country bumpkin. You have a
sophistication all your own, Madison. Why can’t you see
that?”

“
I don’t have any
sophistication. I’m not one of those uber hot women men like you
drool over.”

“
How do you know what kind
of woman I drool over?” Shaking his head, he went back to the
chicken. “Maybe I want someone fresh, naïve, and uncomplicated,
like you.”

“
If you say so…Mr. Parr,”
she said with a sly grin.

“
I see I’m going to have my
work cut out for me with you,” he mused.

As she watched his long hands stir the
chicken, an idea came to mind. “You know my roommate is getting
married next week,” she began softly, “big church wedding and all.
I’m going to be a bridesmaid.”

“
So I’ve heard.”

“
Well, I was wondering…do
you want to be my date?”

“
That’s not a good idea,
Madison,” he stated in a cold voice. “I thought I explained that to
you. We need to separate our work life and private life, and that
includes being seen together after hours. People will get
suspicious. I can’t afford that right now.”

She had forgotten about this being
just about sex, but the way they had talked in his kitchen like a
regular couple had given her hope that maybe he had not meant
it.

Madison picked up her wine, more
confused than ever. A week ago she was only concerned with her
career; today she had entered into a relationship with a man who
was beginning to make her feel like an underpaid sex worker. Would
it always be like this with him? Or with time would his feelings
for her grow into something more? Perhaps they just needed time to
get to know each other. Anything was possible when two people cared
about each other. After all, fairy tales were based on fact,
weren’t they?

Chapter 11

Madison awoke to the bright sunlight
streaming in through the wide corner window and casting shadows
across the rumpled bedspread. As she stretched out her arms, the
soft cotton sheets caressed her naked body, but when she turned to
the side, she found that the bed was empty. Touching the pillow
Hayden had used, she smiled, and then the sound of running water
came from the bathroom.

Swinging her legs over the side of the
low bed, she stood and made her way to the half-open bathroom door.
The bathroom was done in white with pale beige marble countertops
and sleek, silver modern faucets. In the corner, a man’s round butt
and long legs could barely be seen behind the fog-covered door to
the shower stall. Inching closer, she let her eyes roam up his back
as the water cascaded over the ropelike muscles. A surge of warmth
erupted between her legs, making her want him all over again.
Reaching for the silver handle on the shower door, Madison ached to
touch him.

When she entered the shower, he
grabbed her and pulled her beneath the spray of hot water. Before
she could even get a “good morning” out, his lips were on her.
Pressing her backside into the tiled wall, his hands went to work,
roaming over her breasts, hips, and stomach. When his fingers
slipped between her legs, caressing her delicate folds, she
stiffened.

“
Are you sore?”

“
A little,” she shyly
confessed.

“
I know just the thing for
that.” He turned away and opened the shower door, reaching to the
towel shelf to the right.

Madison admired his wide shoulders,
and on a whim raked her nails down his back all the way to his
round butt.

Slapping the door shut, Hayden groaned
and flipped her around, making her face the shower wall. “That was
bad, very bad, Madison.”

She backed her butt into him, feeling
his erection press against her. “What are you going to do about it?
Spank me?”

Holding her hands above her head, he
spread her legs apart with his foot and pressed his upper body into
her back, pinning her to the wall. “Maybe I should spank you. I
think you need a little discipline.”

Her breath caught in her throat; she
didn’t know if he was actually being serious or going along with
her joke. The grip of anxiety that swirled in her belly was both
alluring and a little scary.

“
I want you to keep your
hands above you,” he ordered in a husky voice.

He backed away from her, allowing the
full spray of the shower to hit her skin. She waited as the water
cascaded down her body until his fingers reached into her folds and
pinched her nub, hard.

Madison arched against him, removing
her hands from the wall.

Hayden put her hands back on the cool
tile. “No, baby. Keep your hands on the wall and don’t
move.”

She bit back her protests when his
fingers jutted into her. Madison surrendered to him and willed
herself not to move. Slowly she relaxed, and the more she let go,
the deeper he went. Soon, the discomfort dissipated and she became
aroused by his touch.

When he removed his fingers from her
folds, she opened her eyes in time to see a red foil condom packet
fall to the shower stall floor. Hayden reached between her legs,
spread her folds apart, and without warning, sank all the way
inside of her.

Madison grunted against the painful
force of his thrust; her insides burned from his violation.
“Christ, Hayden,” she groaned as she stretched to accept
him.

He mashed her into the wall. “Relax
for me,” he directed, pushing deeper. “I promise it won’t hurt for
long.”

She surrendered to him—suppressing the
urge to resist—and a strange thing happened. The discomfort of his
thrusting subsided, and an unyielding yearning began to build. The
heat from her loins spiraled upward, making her gasp from the
unexpected intensity.

“
There,” he softly said,
ramming into her with all his might. “You feel it now, don’t
you?”

She was unable to answer, and tried to
steady her body against the tide of sensations threatening to knock
her to the floor. Her knees buckled, and when the orgasm grabbed
her, she screamed with such abandon that the sound of her voice
startled her.

Limp in his arms, she had nothing left
as he rammed into her. He curled into her back and groaned loudly
when he came. Bracing their bodies against the wall, Hayden rested
his head on her shoulder as he caught his breath.

She spun around and kissed his lips as
the warm water trickled down her face. “That was
incredible.”

He kissed her again. “That was
fucking.”

“
I like
fucking.”

He chuckled into her cheek. “So do
I.”

Combing her hands through his dark,
wet hair, she smiled up at him. “I like this side of
you.”

“
What side?”

“
The rogue.” She wiped the
water from his face. “I thought you were such a cool and collected
gentleman, or at least that’s the way you present yourself at the
office.”

“
At the office, I’m your
boss.” His smile fell and he dropped the condom outside the shower
stall door. “We need to be discreet. I don’t want anyone at work
knowing about us. Especially not your office mate.”

“
I understand,” she assured
him, hiding her disappointment. “It wouldn’t be
professional.”

He held her close. “I need you to
remember what we’re about. Let’s keep it simple.”

She nodded, afraid to voice any
disagreement…afraid that he would go away. “Yes,
Hayden.”

“
During the day, we must be
all business,” he raised his dark eyebrows, “but at night, we can
play.” He turned her hips slightly so that warm water pulsated
against her butt. “Spread your legs and the water will take away
some of the sting.”

Hayden reached for a bar of soap in
the corner niche and lathered it in his hands. Tenderly bathing
her, he massaged the suds into her shoulders, back, and butt.
Madison closed her eyes as his hands worked over every inch of her
body. When he reached between her legs, gently washing her folds,
she clasped his shoulder, amazed at how the gesture felt even more
intimate than their night of heated lovemaking.

Suddenly, Madison didn’t care anymore
about what anyone thought of their being together. All that
mattered was that she held on to him for as long as possible.
Pleasing Hayden Parr had become her number one priority.

***

At the office, Madison was deep into
her design for the Martins, working on her computer as Adam sat
idly by at his desk, staring out the wide window. Since he had come
to the office, she had sensed something was off with his demeanor.
The usual talkative, confident man—who had liked to go on about his
life, accomplishments, and countless assets—was alarmingly
silent.

“
What happened after I left
you and Mr. Parr at the bar?” he finally uttered, breaking the
chilly mood in the room.

Madison hesitated as she moved the
mouse around on her pad. Remembering what Hayden had told her about
Adam and his ex-wife, she carefully planned her words. “Oh,
nothing. He brought me back to the building, and then I went
home.”

“
You drove home? After
drinking like we did?”

She looked up from her computer to
Adam, noting the perfectly made knot on his blue tie. For a second
she reflected back to fixing Hayden’s tie the morning they visited
the lot in Turtle Creek. “I wasn’t as trashed as you.”

Adam sat back in his chair, resting
his hands behind his head. “Kind of surprised the boss man let you
drive home, considering he was the one who encouraged us to do
those shots in the first place.”