CHAPTER THIRTEEN

LUKE

We finished dinner in relative silence. 

Maddy sat, eating her food and drinking her wine in probably a nervous but excited and mind-racing silence. 

Mine was an uncomfortable silence, wondering what I had just allowed and gotten myself into.  

I could tell Maddy was pleased but didn't want to rub it in my face, which I appreciated. She knew this was difficult for me. 

Difficult but not impossible. 

Yes, the idea of sharing my sweet Maddy with another man made me uncomfortable. Doubly so that it was this particular man.

If Maddy had tried to be sneaky or dishonest, or go about this any other way than being completely straight with me, it might have been a dealbreaker. 

But she was honest with me and I had to give her credit for that. 

This whole thing gave me an uncomfortable, sick feeling in my stomach but I absolutely trusted Maddy. My trust in her was the only thing that allowed this to happen. I got no pleasure out of seeing another man touch her. 

I decided to try looking at this as the ultimate test of trust. If we got through this, our relationship could survive anything. And hopefully this would be the only time we had to go through this. 

I thought back to the couple I hooked up with back in tech school. It was a party school so crazy sexual escapades were pretty commonplace, although that truly was the only time I joined in.

After we did our thing and the girl went off to take a bath, her boyfriend and I talked for a bit while drinking beers and smoking joints. 

"So how often do you find other girls to bring back home?" I asked him. 

"Never," he replied with a lazy smirk. "Lexi is the only one for me." 

I must have looked surprised because he laughed at my expression. 

"I mean she offered it when we first opened up," he said. "To keep things fair and all but I just have no desire to fuck other girls, man." 

"So no offense but what exactly do you get out of this?" I asked. 

He nodded toward the slightly ajar bathroom door where we could see peeks of his naked girlfriend filling up the bathtub. 

"I get to see her cum harder than I thought was humanly possible. I get to watch her have the ride of her life even if it's on another cock. Keeping her happy is all that matters to me. Know why?"

"'Cause you love her?"

"Well yeah. You know why, though?"

I shook my head slowly. 

"'Cause I know for a fact that she'll always come home to me. When shit hits the fan, that girl is by my side at a moment's notice. Come hell or high water, she is always there for me. You realize how rare that is? That's why I love her. And that's why it's a small price to pay to give her as many cocks as she wants."

His words stuck with me but I had shrugged them off at the time, thinking there was no way he could be so naive. She was surely cheating on him with dozens of others behind his back and he was just talking out of his ass to make himself feel better. 

I made his girlfriend cum several times and halfway expected her to call me back for more. But the call never came and my ego took a small hit, although I got over it quickly. 

Looking back on it now, maybe there was something to what he said. 

Maddy and I were both tipsy by the time dinner was over. I had nearly a whole bottle of expensive wine to cope with the new realization that she wanted someone other than me. She however, was probably trying to calm her nerves. 

Our waiter signed the dinner voucher and said gratuity was included so we didn't have to pay a dime. Still, I pulled a handful of bills out of my wallet without counting them and dropped them on the table. 

"Oh wait. Better have some for the cab," I muttered, grabbing a twenty that fluttered to the ground. 

"Here let me get that for you, sir." The waiter gracefully picked up the bill with a white-gloved hand and returned it to me. "Although that won't be necessary. Your car is waiting outside to take you to your hotel." 

"Our car?" I asked.

"Hotel?" Maddy parroted.  

He smiled graciously at us. 

"Yes, Mr. Ignacio Calderon has arranged everything for you." 

We walked out in a daze to the front of the restaurant and sure enough saw a luxurious limousine waiting for us. 

"I guess this is happening tonight," I muttered with a squeeze of Maddy's fingers. "Good thing I'm drunk." 

She squeezed my hand back but said nothing, just pulled me with her into the back seat. 

Once inside, she made me drink from the chilled bottles of water in there. I didn't really want to sober up. I would've preferred this to be all a dream but I took the water anyway. 

The partition was up between us and the driver and we rode in more silence. 

"You can change your mind about this at any point," Maddy said softly. "Remember I'm only doing this with your permission."

"Have you changed your mind?" I asked more than a little brusquely. 

"No." 

"Then I haven't either."

The limo drove for another fifteen minutes before coming to a stop. Maddy's door opened and the driver took her hand to help her out. 

When I stepped out, we stood in front of what looked like a miniature castle surrounded by vineyards on all sides. It was several stories tall and made of ancient looking bricks complete with triangular windows that looked like arrow slits.

Holding hands, we marched together up the stone steps to the lobby. It was a huge, comfortable room with a tall fireplace and various animal heads mounted on the brick walls. Bearskin rugs covered the polished wooden floors and a friendly, attractive young woman smiled patiently at us from the front desk.

"Names?" she asked. 

"Uh," I began. "Lucas Pine and Maddy Peters." 

She typed for a bit in front of her computer monitor before sliding over a small envelope with a smile. 

"You have the luxury tower suite for the next two nights. Enjoy your stay!" she said cheerily. 

Maddy and I stepped into a sleek, modern elevator and rode in silence all the way to the top floor. 

I felt like I was in a dream. None of this felt real. Even though everything happening was as real it could get, I clung to the hope that I was still dreaming. 

With a soft ding, the elevator doors opened directly into our suite.

Maddy let out a gasp and I had to admit I was impressed. 

We had to be at the very top of the tower in this miniature castle and the whole room went along with the medieval theme. Only this felt like medieval royalty.

A massive king-sized bed with dark oak posts sat across from a roaring fire in the fireplace. Underneath it was a large, Persian rug that looked like a museum relic. An antique-looking liquor cabinet held various bottles of alcohol and their accompanying glasses.

Maddy walked to the wall on the opposite side of the room and threw open the windows which were much bigger than the arrow slits I saw earlier. Our tower overlooked acres of rolling hills and vineyards. 

I walked up behind her and snaked my arms around her delicately curving waist. She wore the dress that he gave her and I couldn't wait to take it off. 

As much as I hated to admit it, she did look amazing in it. I closed my eyes and dropped soft, trailing kisses along the back of her neck. 

Maybe he wouldn't come here tonight. Maybe I could just close my eyes and pretend we were back at her apartment. Just us. Together. 

She turned around in my arms and raised herself on tiptoes to kiss me fully and deeply. I felt how her lips trembled slightly. She was nervous about this too but still didn't want to stop. 

We slowly shuffled toward the bed, still kissing as the mattress hit the back of my legs and I sat down heavily. 

Her skin was heating up and her lips grew steadier as climbed on to straddle me. 

My hands dove under her skirt to caress her warm, soft thighs as she moaned and sighed into my mouth. 

No sooner had I hiked the skirt up to her waist and began pulling the dress over her head, we both heard the elevator ding. 

Maddy gasped and I yanked my hands out from under her dress as if we were teenagers caught by our parents. 

I shouldn't have been surprised at who came out of the elevator but my heart crashed against my ribs all the same.    

We both watched, our bodies frozen in place as Nacio took long confident strides across the room and poured himself a glass of whiskey from the liquor cabinet. 

He eased himself into the armchair in the corner and placed his whiskey tumbler on his knee. 

"Well don't stop on my account," he said with a grin.