Authors: Emma Hart
Truth.
“So it’s staying on.”
I groan and she laughs quietly, touching a hand to my cheek. She presses her lips against mine, hot and sweet, and I groan again.
“Do that again, and it won't be fucking staying on, Maddie.”
She grins and turns, bending over to take her shoes from under the bed. I watch her as she slips each foot into the black heels, the material of her dress barely covering her ass when she's bent over like that. A scrap of silky black material peeks out from under it, and my dick jumps to attention.
Okay, No one said the dress
had
to come off.
“Braden,” she says in a no nonsense voice.
“Maddie,” I reply innocently, taking in the view as she straightens.
“You know what I'm going to say-”
“I'm ready.” I stand and move towards her. “But you,” I mutter, running my hands down her sides. “Need to avoid bending over tonight.” I tug her dress down.
“And why is that?” Her voice is breathy.
“Because only one person will be seeing that tiny scrap of material you call underwear tonight, and he won't be seeing it in public.” I tilt my hips towards her, and she inhales sharply. “Deal?”
“Deal,” she agrees, stepping away from me. Her green eyes flicker down to my pants. “And put that thing away.”
I smirk. “'That thing' agrees, but only because he knows he'll be out later.”
The twitch of her lips gives away her amusement. “Stop it.” She grabs a small black purse from the side and walks over to the door. “Are you coming?”
“If I'm not already,” I mutter. “I will be later.”
~
In the VIP viewing area for the Sirens of TI show, I realize this must be Aston's idea. He's the only one who would plan this – and since only Ryan and I aren't single, I know all the guys would have agreed. Kay would have agreed, leaving Megan to chaperone her. Of course, I'd be here since it's my birthday weekend, so by default so would Maddie, Ryan and Lila.
And I know exactly what the sneaky little fucker is doing.
Send Braden to a sexy show and remind him he's sexing Maddie, not falling for her. Too fucking late, dude.
Too fucking late.
Maddie looks down and smiles as if she can sense my annoyance. Ryan nudges me.
“Aston's a fuckin' joker, right?”
“You're tellin' me,” I mumble.
He shifts. “I dunno how I'm gonna get through this without dragging Lila back to the room.”
I don't intend to get through this. Dragging Maddie back to our room sounds promising already. Very promising.
“Right,” I agree, rubbing my face as the show starts.
Several incredibly hot girls run across the stage in the bare minimum of clothing. Is it wrong I'm imagining Maddie as one of those Sirens? Shit. I have this bad.
I shift in the seat as the girls begin to prance around the stage, grinding their bodies. Y'know what? I'm not even sure what they're doing. It's kinda blurry because they all look like Maddie to me.
Fuck this shit.
Maddie's mouth opens and closes, and she casts her eyes downwards. A quick glance to the other side of me shows Lila in the same position and Ryan shaking his head. I nudge Ryan and tilt my head towards the door. He nods once and leans into Lila.
“Angel, we're going,” I say in Maddie's ear.
“Thank god,” she mutters, taking my hand and standing with me.
We follow Lila and Ryan out into the foyer and both of the girls sigh with relief.
“That was a live porn show,” Lila says, unimpressed. “I'm not a prude, but Jesus Christ. How can they stand that?”
“He probably booked it before I started dating Maddie.” I kiss the side of her head. “I probably would have enjoyed it before this.”
Ryan's eyes meet mine, and he nods, ever so slightly. He gets it. He knows it's over. He winks.
“Well, baby,” he says, turning to Lila. “Shall we get an early night? It was late last night, and we do have to drive back tomorrow.”
“Sure.” She kisses his cheek and turns to us. “You two sleep well.” She winks at Maddie, and they walk into the elevator behind them, disappearing behind the doors.
“What about us?” I run my nose down Maddie's cheek. “Shall we get an 'early night'?”
She pulls back, a smirk on those lips I love. “I'm sure your early night isn't the same as mine.”
“Hell no it isn't.” I reach behind me to the wall and press the elevator button, turning her with me. The doors ping open and we get in to the empty elevator.
I run my hand around her side, my fingers smoothing the material of the tight dress she's wearing. She shivers, turning her body into mine and resting her hand on my chest, her fingers splayed.
“I'm pretty sure our early night is running on the same schedule, now, Angel.” I trail my lips down her earlobe and walk with her as the doors open on our floor.
She slides her hand round my back into the back pocket of my jeans and pulls out the room card, turning so she faces me fully. She slides the card through the lock behind her back and nudges the door open.
She walks backwards into the room, slipping the card onto the dresser in the corner. Maddie flicks her shoes off as she walks and turns, reaching behind for the zipper on her dress. I swallow and shut the door.
She pulls the zipper down and reveals her smooth skin beneath the bright material. I slide my shoes off and cross the room, undoing the buttons of my shirt.
My lips find her hot, bare skin, and I wrestle the zipper from her grip. I put a hand on her hip, and pull the zipper down, my lips trailing after it across her skin. Her hand clasps mine on her hip and I slide them round her stomach, straightening up.
I pull one side of the dress down, kissing along her bare shoulder. She turns her face into me and takes her arm from the dress. I take my hand from her hip and do the same to the other side, leaving her to roll it down her body.
I spin her, my eyes roaming down her black lacy underwear. Her eyes clash with mine. I explode.
I grab her against me and push her back against the bed, my lips melding with hers. The decorative pillows fall off the bed with the force of our fall. Maddie nips at my bottom lip and slides my shirt down my arms, leaving it to fall to the floor. Her legs hook around my waist and as I stroke her sides and probe at her skin with my fingertips she whimpers and pushes her hips into me. I undo my jeans and boxers, letting my hand glide up her leg to the satin underwear covering her.
I stroke the sensitive area through the material and she clenches her legs, pulling me in closer to her. I meet her eyes as my hands travel up her body to her bra, my fingers dipping inside the cups to tease her. Goose-pimples erupt on her skin and I kiss her bottom lip softly.
“Braden,” she whispers, her breathing heavy.
“Maddie,” I whisper back, my lips caressing her jaw.
“Please.” Her hands stroke my back. “Please.”
I kiss her again, harder, and reach for the condom packet I put under the pillow earlier. I slip it on without looking and after sliding her underwear down her legs, I push into her. She grips my back tightly and moves with me, sweat glistening against her skin.
One of my hands holds the small of her back as we move together, and I know, right now, is the exact moment I fall the rest of the way in love with Maddie Stevens.
The urge to rip down the multicolored poster on the wall is almost stifling. It feels.... wrong.... to have it up there. Especially since it should be coming down anyway. After all....
Challenge complete.
I'm pretty sure he's in love with me, and we definitely had sex. Very good sex. Done. I should be laughing with the girls, drinking a celebratory bottle of whatever we want and remembering all the times. Instead, I'm remembering every touch of his skin on mine, every whispered word and how he held me so closely, how he looked at me as if I'm the only girl in the world.
To him, I could be.
The problem.... He's pretty much the only guy in the world. And I never planned on that, so I'm pretty screwed.
I never planned on him being so different to Pearce. I never planned on everything I thought I knew about him, all my pre-conceived notions about how he should act being stripped away and leaving him completely bare like a blank canvas. He took that blank canvas and painted it into something so beautiful, all without realizing it.
He also destroyed every idea I had about love. Three weeks. That's all it took for me to fall in love with Braden Carter. How did it change so quickly? He's gone from nothing to everything.
Like Pearce did for Abbi.
At what point do I start losing myself the way she did? At what point am I in too deep?
Am I already in too deep?
Braden is not Pearce.
Goddamn my asshole of a brother! I clench my fist and punch the pillow instead of ripping down the poster like I want to. I want to rip it into a thousand pieces and yell at the girls. I want to yell at them that it's over, the game is over and I lost. I lost because the loser falls in love, and I did that.
How can I do what they expect and not hurt myself in the process?
I can't.
I have a week to figure out how to explain that I fell in love with the person I was definitely not supposed to.
Shit.
The dorm door bangs open, announcing the girls back from their Starbucks run.
“Update,” Megan demands, handing me my coffee and muffin. So what if I had one earlier. I totally get the comfort food thing now.
I settle onto my bed. “Same as it was last weekend,” I lie.
“Really?” Lila's eyebrows shoot up. “You guys didn't have sex?”
I shake my head. “No sex. Almost, but not quite.”
“Interesting,” Megan mumbles, kneeling next to me and tracing her finger down the poster. “He's in love with you.”
I drink my coffee to hide the crazy stop-start thing my heart just did. Yeah, I suspected it, but hearing his lifelong best friend say it is a little different.
“You think?” I look around the room.
“Oh yeah,” Kay agrees. “That guy has gone three weeks without sex, Maddie. He's fuckin' head over heels for you, baby girl.”
I smile. “Mission half accomplished, then.” Mission accomplished.
“Now just the other half.” Megan sits back down.
“Seven days,” Lila says softly. “Can you do it?”
I look at her. Her dark eyes are focused on me and full of questions. “I can do it.”
“And you're not in love with him?”
“Not even close.” Lies.
~
I sweep my hair up, securing it with a band, and yawn as I lean against the wall near the main campus doors. Meet me here at eight a.m., he said. Damn eight a.m. I yawn again and look up, smoothing my hair.
He's casually leaning against a tree across the sidewalk, his bright blue eyes trained on me. His hands are in his pockets, and his lips are curled up slightly. Damn. He is gorgeous – there's no doubt about it.
And he's mine,
a little voice in my head reminds me.
I fold my arms across my chest and stare him down, letting my hair hang over my shoulder. His eyebrow quirks, and I fight my smile. Him and his silly games. From one game to another
....
Braden straightens and walks towards me. When he reaches me he looks down, sweeping some stray hair from my eyes.
“Good morning, Angel,” he says softly.
“Is it? I don't see a coffee in your hand,” I tease.
He smirks and leans in, touching his lips against mine. I stand on tiptoes, and my body presses against his as I kiss him back. I taste chocolate chips.
“You've already been to Starbucks,” I accuse, narrowing my eyes.
He chuckles. “You've turned me into an addict.”
“Where's my coffee?”
“In Starbucks,” he replies. “Let's sit in instead of standing out here.”
I nod. “I can't believe you got me up at this time and didn't have coffee in your hand immediately.”
“Hey, you.” He sweeps an arm around my waist and pulls me against him. “You're grumpy before you get your coffee, aren't you?” He's grinning.
“You should know this.” I trail my finger up his chest. “Didn't you discover that the last two days?”
“Mmm.” He sucks my bottom lip between his teeth. “And what a weekend it was.”
I halfheartedly slap his arm. “I want my coffee.” I pout.
He kisses me again and tucks me into his side. “Come on then, grumpy.”
I settle my arm around his waist and poke his side. “I'm not grumpy.”
“You're always grumpy.” He kisses my head.
“Psssh.” I shake my head, and he laughs.
Braden reaches for the door and shoves it open. The smell of coffee hits me full force, and I breathe it in, sighing in happiness.