CHAPTER TEN: HUGH MADDOX
I just can’t wait anymore. Better to know where you stand, is what my dad always said. You can always file someone’s reaction, good or bad, under “Good to know.” Whatever happens next is going to be good to know.
“I’m having a really hard time not coming over there and kissing you,” I say, watching her face for any twitch or tell that will show me that I’m overstepping and she’s about to run screaming into the hills.
“You don’t say,” she says, a beautiful flush creeping out of her collar onto her throat and cheeks.
“Oh, I do say. But here’s the thing. This is not a normal situation. You don’t owe me anything, even though I’ve sheltered you, fed you, made you laugh, listened to your stories...hey, am I forgetting anything?”
“You gave me some whiskey.”
“Thanks, I also gave you some whiskey. Oh, and I’m also about to give you the story of a lifetime. But still, I uphold, that you might not owe me anything. Maybe not even a kiss. But I think I’ve earned it. I don’t really want to just come over there and take it, though.” Actually, that’s exactly what I want to do, but I’m enjoying this more, and now the blush has spread to her whole face and she’s biting her lower lip in a way that is making me insane.
“What do you want, then? What do you suggest?”
“I suggest that you come over here.” I rap on the tabletop with my knuckles. “And then you kiss me. That way I’ll know you want it as much as I do. Or I can pretend.” There we go. Whatever happens next will be Good To Know.
Sam pushes back her chair and stands up. She swivels over to me like she’s in a movie that an ex-boyfriend is watching, leans over, runs her fingers through my hair, and kisses me softly. It’s enough to satisfy our agreement, so I start to pull away. She tightens her grip in my hair and holds me still, forcing my lips open and darting her tongue in and out once. Then she lets go, steps back, folds her arms, winks, and says, “This better be a good story.”
I’m so hard that I’m trembling. I’m sure she can see it. Hell, she probably felt it. If she had sat in my lap I probably would have exploded, leaving a smoking crater where my table used to be.
Time to keep my word. I’m about to show her something that I have never showed anyone.
“You can’t record any of this, okay?” I say when I get to the door.
“Of course, Hugh.” Hearing her say my name gives me a nice little shiver. I want to hear it again.
I take a key out of my pocket and unlock the door. Taking a deep breath, I open the door, step through, and turn on the light. Then I stand aside and let her in.
She walks through the door and takes a few moments to walk to the opposite wall where my middleweight belt is hanging. She turns back and looks at me. “I knew it was you,” she says. “Right away I knew that you were familiar, but I finally figured it out.”
“When?”
She looks down, then looks up at me with upturned eyes without raising her head. “Last night when I saw you out on the deck with the bag.”
I swallow hard. The hair on my neck stands up. I suddenly feel like I am nothing but the real estate between my legs. “You saw that, huh? What exactly did you see?”
“You. You were working pretty hard.” She turns back to the belt. “Do you ever wear it?”
“Ha! Yep, I put it on every time I’m out in the woods. When you and Jarom showed up it was an off day.”
“Hugh?”
“Yes?”
“You know what I’m going to ask you, don’t you?”
“Probably. Most people probably have the same questions for me.”
She nods. I can still taste the kiss on my lips. Her waist is so tiny I know I could get both of my hands around it. Her curves make me wish I knew how to paint. Knowing that she came from the city makes me want to renounce everything I’m doing out here and go back with her, but there’s just no way. There’s just too much darkness and rot inside of me to go back.
Unless this helps. Unless it’s finally time to really talk about it.
“Why did you leave New York? What are you doing out here in the middle of nowhere with a giant beard and an ax?”
I run my hands through my beard, which is only an inch long. “This is definitely not a giant beard, but I grew it so I could keep my face warm out here. The other question is more complicated. Why don’t you look around a little more? I’m going to get us a bottle of wine.”
“Okay. Hurry back.”
“Believe me, I will. This isn’t easy for me, but I’m going to tell you what I can. The wine will certainly help.”
Upstairs I get a bottle of white off the rack and think of Andrew. I ask myself if he will care if I spill my guts to her. I think he would probably tell me to do it. I open the wine and pound a glass of it down quickly before taking our glasses downstairs.
When I get there, Sam is in front of a photo that my dad blew up until it was half the size of the wall. It shows me, Andrew, my coach Xavier, and two of my cornermen, minutes after I knocked out Gerard Seamus, a stone cold assassin from Brussels. It had been a brutal fight with a vicious finish. After he pounded on me for two rounds I managed to kick his head nearly into the rafters. He had been my toughest fight. I took his belt, his fame, and the spoils of war that came with it.
“I bet this was an exciting day,” she says.
“The excitement faded fast,” I say. “The next day I was in the gym with Andrew, helping him get ready for his own fight. His first.” I hand her a glass and fill it, then refill my own. I nod to a chair. “Have a seat. Let’s go before I change my mind.”
“I will. On one condition.”
“Anything.”
Sam sets down her glass and leans back against the wall. She toys with the hem of her nightgown for a moment before sliding it up a couple of inches, showing me a glimpse of her red panties. Then she slips a finger beneath the waistband and pulls them down a couple of inches, exposing her shaved self to me.
“Show me what you can do. You’ve got a minute and then I’m turning on my recorder and we’re getting down to business. So you better get down to this business while you can.”
Where has this little vixen come from? I knew as I moved towards her that this was going to be the shortest minute of my life. Better to make the most of it.
I get on my knees in front of her and pull the nightgown up at the same time I pull her panties down around her knees with my other hand. I see her blushing, and it makes me even harder.
Then I push her thighs apart with my wrists and spread her gently with my fingers. Running my tongue up and down the outer lips, I feel her growing wet on my tongue. The heat of her nearly drives me over the edge. I flick her clitoris lightly with the tip of my tongue and squeeze her ass with one hand, waiting for her to react. She shudders and grabs the back of my head with both hands, pushing me closer, holding me tight against her. When I put the tip of one finger inside her she moans. That’s when I pull back and get to my feet.
“I believe that we should honor our contracts,” I say. “And your minute is up.”
“You bastard.” Her chest is heaving. As if I’m a magnet, her hips are still reaching for me reflexively, looking for the delicious pressure I had brought to bear on her. “You have to finish what you started.”
“I didn’t start it, lady,” I say. “I believe this was your condition, and I met it. Passed with flying colors too, I’d say, from the look on your face and your panting. Shameless little thing, aren’t you?”
“Not usually,” she says, pulling her panties up and her nightgown down. “Today it’s looking that way though, isn’t it? Jesus, what did you do to me?”
“Trade secret. Unfortunately, as much as I like using my tongue on you, it’s time to use it to talk.”
She whines deep in her throat, a sexy feline noise. I want to go back to her, grab her, bend her over whatever I can find and satisfy us both. But this sweet torment is going to teach her a lesson.
“Do we have to?”
“Yes. You made the rules. I’m just keeping them. Now take out your recorder or notepad or whatever it is you’re going to do this with and let’s get going.”
She licks her lips and looks me up and down. I can tell we’ll get back to it soon enough. I can wait.
There’s also the fact that I really do want to get a few things off my chest before I pull her onto it.