Chapter Seven

Maddox stood just outside the back entrance of the shop, unable to fully comprehend what Cadence had revealed. He wasn’t at fault. It seemed too bloody good to be true. Too damned neat of an explanation.

He lowered his head into his hands and exhaled, trying to calm his heart and mind. What in God’s name was he supposed to do with her news... with the fact she was here to bring him home? Except, he had no home. He’d left it behind.

Cadence had been the one to agree to move to Scotland, to Edinburgh. Yes, her career as a writer was more flexible than his, but damn it, she was leaving her parents, her friends... everything to be with him. With only the promise that once the season was over, he’d buy a house in Holland Springs.

That and his vow to be faithful to her were the only promises he’d kept. Yet, here she was—beautiful and vulnerable. Trusting him to mark her with his ink while she’d marked his soul and heart without ever fully knowing how much.

He’d always been hers, ever since that night he’d come home to find Jude’s little sister all grown up at the age of eighteen and looking at him like he’d hung the moon and stars. He’d denied himself, though. Denied himself any woman until enough time had passed and he could be sure Cadence was positive about him.

Four years’ worth of celibacy had been worth it.

She was worth it.

“But in the end, you failed her,” he reminded himself.

“You have a second chance,” Cadence said from behind him.

He turned, taking in the lovely vision she made. She was truly the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, ever had the pleasure to kiss and touch, to make his. He loved her from the top of her silky, brown head down to her painted toes. She favored varying hues of blue because she said his eyes were constantly changing to match his mood.

He loved that about her. Liked how she didn’t mince words over whom and what she liked.

“I don’t know if I can.”

Her face fell, but then her chin turned stubborn. “I didn’t travel here for nothing.”

“I’m shocked you traveled here at all. How did you find me?”

She tipped her nose in the air a little. “I’m a Romanov... there are resources available to me.”

Of course she’d used her family to find him. “Damn it, woman. If I’d wanted to be found, I would have texted you.”

“Good grief.” She rolled her eyes and huffed. “I Googled you. Reed’s Tattoo came up fourth, right after your website, Instagram account, and Facebook page.”

He rolled his shoulders, attempting to ease the tension residing there. “God bless social media.” Cadence’s arm shot out, her balled fist connecting with his bicep. It didn’t hurt as much as it was annoying.

“Dang it.” She shook out her hand. “Why do you still have to be so fricking built?”

“It would take a lot longer than four months to get rid of...” He let his words trail away when she gave him a baleful glare.

“You’re just going to keep doing this, huh? Keep punishing yourself and me for what actually didn’t happen.” She sliced her hands through the air. “I can’t believe I came all this way. I used the last of my savings to pay for my hotel room, my plane ticket, my cab, and on that Warner guy so he would call in sick.”

“Are you saying it wasn’t a fluke?” he asked, grabbing her hands and bringing them to his lips. He kissed her knuckles, savoring the taste of her skin. “You planned this?”

“I said I Googled you, Maddox. Stop not listening to me and open your ears,” she said as her hazel eyes filled with tears of frustration and sadness. “I’m here because I love you, and I was tired of waiting for you to come to your senses. Let the guilt go; it has no place inside of you. You are innocent of everything but leaving me and breaking my heart.”

A lump the size of a boulder formed in his throat. “I didn’t want to leave, but I had to. I couldn’t make you chose. You didn’t need to choose.”

“I know, but it doesn’t make the hurt go away. Only you can do that by coming home.”

He honestly didn’t know why he was fighting her. It would be so easy to give in and sweep Cadence off her feet. Take her back to his apartment and spend the rest of the day and night making love to her. Hear her throaty cries, see the way her entire body flushed pink moments before she orgasmed. Feel how she gripped his hair when he drank his fill of the sweetness between her thighs.

His cock grew hard, letting him know his body agreed with his line of thinking.

“We waited for so long. You were so patient and stupid about it, thinking I needed time to make sure you were the man for me,” she said. “Here’s the thing, Maddox. This is your last chance with me. I won’t chase you again. I refuse, and—”

He covered her mouth with his, a simple kiss meant to assuage the hurt, but then everything changed. His hands were in her hair, her arms wrapped around his neck, and he was pressing her against the brick wall.

She let out a cry of pain.

“Fuck me. Your tattoo. I’m sorry.” He spun them around, putting his back to the wall, and started kissing her all over again, mindful of her shoulder. Their tongues rubbed together, curled and played until he was nearly mindless. She was his again.

She wrapped a curvy leg around his waist. He grabbed her thigh, keeping it there while he began to move slowly against her.

“Come back to my apartment, my love,” he said, blazing a wet path down the slender column of her throat.

“Yes,” she moaned. “Yes. Yes. Yes.”

“Sure you don’t want to finish filming?” he asked, teasing the corner of her mouth.

Cadence practically growled at him. “Stop asking stupid questions.”

He’d take that as a no, and then he’d take her back to his apartment. Later, he would deal with Finn. He would make him pay.

***

Cadence barely got her clothes off before Maddox was at her side, fussing over the tattoo he’d given her. Once he was satisfied her skin wouldn’t rot off, his big hands came around and cupped her breasts, massaging them.

Her head fell back against his hard, broad chest as sensation after sensation turned her into a puddle. “Don’t stop touching me like that.” She loved it when he touched her. When he caressed and kissed her like he was doing now.

“I’ve missed these beauties,” he said, letting go of her long enough to move in front of her. “You are a bonnie lass, Cadence.”

Goose bumps rose as he raked his gaze over her. The first time he’d seen her like this, she almost died of embarrassment and excitement. Maddox was so intense, so thorough, that it felt as though he could see inside to her very essence by the time they made love.

“Don’t be scared. I won’t be leaving you again,” he said roughly, mistaking the way she fell into her memories for hesitation. “I shouldn’t have broken my vows to you in the first place.”

“Maddox,” she said with a sigh. “Stop beating yourself up. If I had been in your shoes, I might have reacted the same way. You’re human.”

“Aye, but you’re my... mine,” he said, and she had to stop herself from frowning. Why wouldn’t he say—?

Then he kissed her again, and all thoughts slid away.

His hands coasted down the sides of her body, as if he were reacquainting himself with her curves. She responded in kind, sweeping her hands down, pulling his shirt up and over his head. Somehow, they barely broke their kiss.

Impossibly wide shoulders filled her vision, followed by a broad chest with dark hair—she’d always loved that about his body. He looked like a man to her, and not like the boys she’d gotten so used to seeing strutting around with bird chests.

His flat stomach contracted under her touch as she counted his eight-pack and bent her head to lick his nipple. A sense of urgency filled her when his hands touched her once more. Soon, she was ripping at his clothes and he was helping, toeing off his shoes and socks. Then she was in his arms, falling on the bed, laughing as she bounced and he gave her a look of pure, male pleasure.

No words were needed between the two at that moment.

She explored his body, kissed and licked almost every inch of him until he sat up and returned the favor. Just like always, he was concerned for her pleasure, for her comfort... for her ridiculously low tolerance for pain.

“The tattoo—you’re all right?” he asked, his beard brushing against her inner thigh.

“What tattoo?” She arched her brow and attempted to give him a sophisticated look, but her body melted into the mattress when his tongue found her clit. Her hips shot off the bed, her hands wound into his hair, and he feasted on her like a man who had been without sustenance for days.

He lifted his head, his blue eyes catching her gaze. His tongue darted out, licking his lips. “Not stopping until you come for me.” His head dipped. Once more, he had her crying out his name. Had her body tightening in on itself until she knew it was about to burst. Need, want, and desire twined together, binding her to him.

A finger entered her, then another, until her sex clenched and she couldn’t stop the wave of white-hot bliss from washing over her. His fingers curled, setting off another orgasm.

He crawled up her body, his large frame blocking out the light. His erection bobbed as he went, a drop of pre-come at the tip. She widened her legs, welcoming him into the cradle of her thighs as he balanced himself on his elbows.

“Put me in you,” he whispered.

With trembling hands, she guided his cock inside of her, the broad head an invasion she had no intention of stopping.

He thrust deep.

They both gasped at the rightness of it.

Finally, he was hers again.

His head dropped against her shoulder as he began to move, as he told her he loved her, how much he missed her, and how it felt to be inside of her.

“You’re so damn warm. Tight.” He rolled his hips. “Spread your legs a little. Ah, there. I can go deeper now. Shall I?”

She nodded, and he slid in the smallest of distances. “Oh.”

“You like that?”

“I like everything you do.”

He smiled against her throat. “Then you’re going to love this.” Picking up his pace, he began to thrust hard into her. Her breasts bounced against his chest, her hard nipples scraping along his skin. “I’m going to come in you. Give you a baby.”

She flamed hot at the idea.

“You’re even wetter now.” He lifted his head and slowed his thrusts. “It turns you on to think of such things?”

“Yes,” she admitted. It wasn’t like they hadn’t talked about kids. They had. They wanted them. Since she wasn’t on birth control, and neither of them had given condoms a second thought... She tightened her legs around him. “Come in me, Maddox.”

He groaned and began to move once more, hitting spots so sweet that she cried out his name. Again and again, he touched her there, until another orgasm made her see stars.

She reveled in hearing him shout her name, felt each hot spurt leave his body as she searched for his mouth. He gave it to her, their tongues tangling.

As he panted, his thrusts became slower until he stopped moving against her altogether.

She gazed up at him, love filling her more than she thought was possible. “I love you.”

“And I you.”

“Will you come back home with me?” she asked. The answer had to be yes. Especially after what they’d done and what he had said during sex.

He hesitated and her heart sank, but she refused to beg him to come home. She refused to plead her case one second longer.

“Never mind,” she said, wishing she could turn away from him, but his cock was still inside of her. Even after his orgasm, he was hard enough that she couldn’t ignore him.

“Let’s talk of our future later, my love.”

Later.

It was always later with him.

Why did he get to set the pace?

Why did he get to decide what was best for them without ever consulting her? She wasn’t a child. While she respected his decision to give her time, she was done.

“Fine,” she brightly said.

He touched her face. “Don’t be that way,” he said tenderly, and her heart flipped. “I only want to protect you.”

“Maybe I want to protect you, too.”

“From what?”

“Yourself,” she said. “Knowing you, as soon as I’m out of your system, you’ll focus on what Finn did to Jude and you, then go after him. I can’t let that happen.”

“Beautiful girl, you know me all too well.” He moved against her, his eyes closing. “Tomorrow, Cadence... worry about protecting me tomorrow. Today is for us. For this.”

Pushing away the building resentment, she gave herself over to him once more.