Chapter 11
Bridger
I pace back and forth across the hotel room, my head tilting every so often to look at the door that connects my room to Maggie’s. It’s fucking torture knowing she’s lying just on the other side, nothing more than that door and probably a flimsy pair of panties separating us. I know her resistance isn’t what’s separating us because I remember the need in her voice as she called out to me last night as I was walking out of my house. She could be mine for the taking if I just knock on that door and let her know I’m willing.
Except I’m not.
Because as much as I suspect sex with Mags would probably ruin me for any other, I’m too much of a chicken shit pansy to act on it. I’m too insulated in my little cocoon of protection, hiding behind a whip, a sex club, and whatever desperate female is willing to suck my dick without so much as a thank you after. It’s all I know, and it’s comfort to me.
Maggie Waylon is the opposite of comfort.
She’s intrigue, danger, and possibly redemption wrapped up in one killer, sexy package that makes my dick act on its own accord. Just like now… half hard ever since I imagined her in panties on the other side of the door.
“Fuck,” I mutter as I stop my pacing and flop down on the bed. I put my hands behind my head and stare at the ceiling, trying to think of something else.
Does no good.
Maggie’s face flashes before me, eyes closed, chewing on her knuckle… on the verge of orgasm.
Goddamn her.
I should just go over there, open the door, and fuck her. Get it out of my system. It’s probably not as great as I’ve built it up in my mind anyway.
Except that’s not true, and I know it’s not true because the minute my mouth touched hers last night, it was a kiss that completely disturbed me as much as it compelled me. Those feelings were too intense to forget. The thought of just that kiss has my dick getting harder as much as it causes anxiety to rocket through me, and perhaps I just need a hot shower where I can jack off once… maybe twice… and then I’ll be able to let her go from my mind for at least a good night’s sleep.
A soft knock sounds at the connecting door. Even as a zing of adrenaline spikes through me, my cock goes fully hard and presses painfully at the zipper of my jeans.
I should ignore it. She’ll think I’ve already gone to sleep and leave me alone.
“It’s open,” my traitorous voice says loud enough to carry to her.
Goddamn her.
The door pushes open, and Maggie sticks her head in just enough to look at me. “Did I wake you up?”
“Nah,” I say as I push off the bed to stand up. “What’s up?”
Maggie’s gaze drops to the floor as she steps in before looking up at me with uncertainty. “Um… I was thinking… this might all be over soon if Kyle’s close to taking the club down, and I’m trying to figure out what I should do after.”
She steps in further and closes the door, looking utterly gorgeous in the stupid pajamas I bought her that are white fleece with a sushi print on them. They’re a little too tight which yeah… I have shitty judgment when it comes to women’s sizing, but I can’t help but admire the way the soft material molds to her ass or how her fantastically big tits push against the button-up top so that it gaps a little bit to show me a peek of cleavage.
My dick, which is also enjoying the view, jumps in my pants.
“So,” she says slowly as she walks to the edge of the bed I’d just vacated and sits down. I take a step back and sit on the other bed, facing her. “I don’t want to impose on your hospitality any longer than necessary. Hopefully, this will all go down quickly with Zeke, so I need to come up with a plan for Belle and me.”
“You’re not any imposition,” I say quickly, and then mentally kick myself in the ass. Of course she’s an imposition. She’s driving me fucking nuts in my desire of her.
She gives a soft laugh, and it’s like a punch to the gut. I’ve never been swayed by a woman’s laugh before.
Never.
“Well,” she says, still chuckling, “you’ve clearly not been around a two-year-old. You’ll be begging us to leave.”
“I wouldn’t,” I say softly. But then, with a slight cough, I say, “I mean… it’s not like you have to leave the minute he’s arrested.”
She nods with a smile. “Yeah… I’ve thought about going back to my parents, but I don’t know that they really want me there.”
“I’m sure they do,” I say, even though based on what little interaction I had with them and what I heard of Maggie on the phone, it’s probably not true.
“Maybe I could come here to stay with Aunt Gayle until I get on my feet,” she posits.
“Could be a good choice,” I agree, even though my stomach cramps at the thought.
What. The. Fuck?
“Or,” she says carefully. “You could give me a job, and I could stay in Jackson.”
My heart leaps with a joy that feels foreign and invasive, and I immediately quash it. I force myself to lie. “I don’t have any bartending or waitressing openings right now.”
Her eyes drop to the floor, and she nervously plucks at the blanket on the bed. When she looks back up to me, she says, “No. I mean, maybe at your sex club, you could give me a job. I’m sure it’s way better money than waitressing or bartending.”
“What?” I growl in disbelief, coming to stand from the bed where I hover over her.
She swallows hard but pushes past my obvious anger. “I’m sure I’d be good at… well, whatever it is the girls there do. I mean… if there’s one thing I’ve learned over these last several years is that my body is at least good for something. It doesn’t mean that much to me, really—my body that is—and I could provide for a really good life for Belle, you know?”
My mind goes white with fury, and my blood pressure spikes to the point of dizziness. How dare she think she could just give her body to anyone, and how dare she fucking think it’s not worth anything? Without really knowing what I’m doing, I bend over and wrap my hand around a fistful of her fleece top, pulling her from the bed. Her eyes flare wide, and a small gasp of what might be fear pops out of her mouth.
I lean in, put my face right in front of hers, and grit out, “You are not working in a sex club.”
“Why not?” she asks with her head tilted but her chin lifted up, eyes flashing with stubborn defiance. “I’m good… I swear I am. I’ll please your customers.”
“You did not just fucking say that to me,” I practically spit out in disbelief, giving her a little shake from my hold on her shirt.
Maggie’s eyes burst with anger, turning from summer green to dark emerald, and she tries to dislodge my hold on her top by pushing against my chest. I don’t budge, and she makes a growl of frustration. “Why the hell would that even bother you, Bridger? For God’s sake, you deal in the sex business. It’s not like what I’m suggesting is weird or anything. It’s a way of life, right? You apparently hand out orgasms like party favors and make a good living from it, so what the hell is wrong with me doing it to try to provide for my daughter and me?”
She’s got a good fucking point. I struggle to find something reasonable to divert her from this path, but I’m coming up empty. I certainly can’t tell her she can’t do it because I couldn’t bear to see another man’s hands on her. So I hedge on a semi-truth as I release her from my grip. “I don’t pay the people who work in the club, Maggie. That would be prostitution under the law.”
“Oh,” she says softly as her head bows down and her body seems to deflate before me. She tugs on her pajama top to straighten it out.
“Perhaps it’s best you come back here to stay with your aunt,” I suggest, my stomach again twisting hard over the thought of her being so far away.
She nods absently without looking at me, turning toward the door that leads to her room. I want to reach out and snatch her back, my hand actually starting to reach toward her. But I go utterly still when she murmurs maybe more so to herself than to me, “Yeah… staying with Aunt Gayle would be good.”
I don’t say a word because I’m afraid if I open my mouth, it will be to beg her to stay with me, which is beyond insane. She reaches the door, hand on the knob, but before she turns it, she looks over her shoulder at me. “Bridger, it might be best if I just stay here with Gayle now. I think we’re relatively safe. I mean… my parents are packing up and leaving their house for a bit until this dies down, so that’s really the only way Zeke would learn about my aunt. So honestly… this is probably the safest place for Belle and me.”
“What?” I rasp out, my throat threatening to close on me.
“Yeah,” she says a little more confidently, her shoulders actually relaxing. “I think that’s probably the best thing. So maybe you can just give me a ride to Gayle’s house in the morning and head back to Jackson after.”
“Mags,” I say… and fuck… is that pleading in my voice? “You’ll be safer with me.”
She gives me a sad smile. Turning from the door, she pads over to me and places both hands on my chest. Looking up at me, those green eyes now bright and clear, she murmurs, “Bridger… I’ll never be able to thank you for everything you’ve done for me. You’re an amazing man, but—”
“Maggie… what’s really going on here?” I interrupt her, because this isn’t making sense to me.
“Nothing,” she says quickly and turns toward the door again. “I just… we should part ways now—”
I lunge at her, grabbing her by the shoulder and spinning her toward me. The movement is so fast she goes reeling and falls right into my chest. Not a hardship at all, but I take her upper arms to push her back just enough so I can look her directly in the eye.
“What’s going on?” I repeat more firmly.
“Noth—”
“Maggie,” I growl at her, one of my hands moving to slide my fingers along her jaw, curling around the back of her neck. I grip her gently. “Talk to me.
With a strength that surprises the shit out of me, Maggie pushes hard against my chest and steps back, dislodging my grip. Her eyes flash with anger as she blurts out, “I can’t be around you anymore, okay? So I just want you to take me to Aunt Gayle’s tomorrow and leave me there.”
It’s suddenly clear to me what this is all about, and guilt floods my entire system.
I can’t be around you anymore.
Because I walked out on her last night when she opened herself up to me and invited me into her bed… her body.
I rejected her, and she’s hurt by it.
“Maggie,” I say apologetically, and it’s apparently the wrong tone to take with her.
“Don’t you dare feel sorry for me,” she says furiously as she backs up two more steps toward the door. “I’ve survived far worse than you.”
That slices me deep, and there’s no way I can let her feel as if she’s not worthy of the likes of me. Hell, she should know it’s the opposite. I’m not worthy of the likes of her.
“Maggie… come here,” I order and reach a hand out to her.
She shakes her head quickly in denial. Takes another step backward to the door.
“Maggie,” I warn in a low tone, making it clear she’s not getting through that door and to the safety of her own room.
We stare at each other a moment, each of us drawing our line in the sand. Her foot moves slightly to take another step away from me, and I lose all patience with the situation. I lunge once again at her in a move so fast, she shrieks in fear as my hands grasp her face. I pull her roughly toward me, bend my head, and slam my mouth down on hers. She makes a tiny sound of protest that fades into a soft moan before she slams herself into my body. Winding her arms around my neck, she goes to her tiptoes and opens her mouth to give me unfettered access to the sweetness of her tongue.
God, it’s just as good as the first time I kissed her. No, it’s better. It’s better because I never thought I’d have this opportunity again, and I know I should feel like a shit for playing with her feelings like this—for using her attraction to me against her to get something I’m desperately craving—but I can’t. I want this too much and fuck all the consequences.
I spin around and push her onto the bed where she lands with a jarring bounce. “Don’t move,” I order.
Maggie watches with half-mast eyes as I take my clothes off, her gaze roaming all over my naked body as each part is revealed and finally settling on my rock-hard cock standing straight up. I grab my wallet from my jeans, pull a condom out, and throw it on the bed beside her. She doesn’t even flinch or look at it, eyes still pinned on my dick.
Maggie licks her lips and a thrilling ripple of anticipation courses through me, making my skin prickle and my balls tingle.
Stepping to the bed, I reach a hand out and wrap it around the back of her neck again. I pull her from the bed into a standing position and lean down for a brief kiss. She sighs and goes lax, but I release her and she wobbles a bit.
Taking two steps backward, I sit down on the opposite bed, take my dick in hand, and start to stroke it. “Get undressed for me, Mags. Let me see that beautiful body.”
A quavering breath flutters out of her, but her fingers go immediately to her top and she unbuttons it slowly. My mouth waters as she reveals her breasts and drops the fleece shirt to the floor. Her hands go to the waistband of her pants, tucking her thumbs in. She bends over to push them off, stepping out of them carefully.
I grip my cock hard as I stare at her naked body, her curves and soft skin beckoning. Want to put my mouth to those nipples and rub my shaft all over that softly rounded belly that has faded stretch marks right across the bottom. Fuck… when had that ever turned me on? But it does for some reason, and I think it’s because she stands there proudly as a mother who bore a daughter and doesn’t give a fuck what it did to her body.
It’s a perfect imperfection in my mind.
“Come here,” I murmur. She obeys instantly, taking the few steps across the carpet to stand between my legs.
I release my cock, put my hands to her waist, and lift her so she’s straddling my lap. She immediately pushes down to rub her pussy on me, but I hold her tight. She squirms, uttering a moan of protest.
“Slow down,” I tell her, my fingers lightly brushing over her lower stomach… right over her scars, and then down between her legs. I push my fingers through the lips of her sex, feeling the slick wetness and she fucking purrs in satisfaction.
I can’t decide what I ultimately want to do to her, but I know first thing on my agenda is to get her off. Want to hear my name when she comes. I know my fingers can do the trick, but that’s already been done.
I drop my torso down to the bed, my hands gripping her thighs, and look up at her straddling over me. She looks down at me, her caramel-streaked hair falling over her shoulders but not hiding those magnificent tits peeking through. She’s stunning and for a few moments, she feels untouchable, and that makes me doubt.
Then, an immediate feeling of foreboding courses through me, and Maggie’s face morphs into hers.
She bounces harder and faster, and then she taunts me further by grabbing the ring swaying from the necklace in one hand and bringing it to her lips. Pushing it into her mouth, she sucks on it as she looks down at me in triumph before she spits it back out and pants, “You’re so fucking good, baby. I’ll never get tired of this cock, you know.”
My fingers dig into Maggie’s thighs, and I blink my eyes rapidly to dispel the memory. My eyes drop to her stomach to see the stretch marks. I start to get my bearings, and I know this is Mags, who’s been abused and tortured, just as I was once, and I know she’s not the same woman who destroyed me all those years ago. My stepmother never experienced the miracle of birth, and that’s only because she was too fucking selfish to share her body with another creature.
In my heart of hearts, I know Maggie isn’t her.
Still, her position on top of me causes anxiety to squeeze my chest so I slip my hands around the back of her thighs and pull on her. “Get up here,” I tell her gruffly. “Want you to ride my face.”
“Oh, God,” she mutters as she crawls her way up my body. My eyes drop to that pussy getting nearer and nearer. Saliva floods my mouth, and that’s something new. While I’m no stranger to handing out oral, I only do it for the benefit of the woman, never for me. It’s no different from me striking a nipple with a whip.
But for some insane reason, my tongue tingles with the need to taste her and to experience the flavors of this woman.
Maggie places her hands on the bed above my head and with the urging of my hands on her ass, I pull her down to my mouth.