Maddox

I opened the door. Between Tracy and I we got Sarge back into his room. I found his oxygen mask and she helped him put it on.

I watched Tracy handle Sarge. She’d only been here a few days, but she was at ease with Sarge. She knew just what he needed.

“There, that’s good.”

She took his blood pressure and checked his pulse. She nodded to me and then went off to get a glass of water for him.

“What were you thinking, old man?” I said.

“Damn Hawks on our property. What’s that about?” Sarge said. His voice was weak.

“I’m pretty sure it was one whose ass I kicked earlier this week.”

“On your own?” Sarge asked me. I knew what he was getting at and I didn’t want to hear it.

“Yeah, on my own.”

“You need the club, son. They can help.”

“They haven’t been able to so far.”

It was an old argument between us. Sarge thought the brothers could solve everything. I used to.

“You too should both calm down.”

It was Tracy. She had a first aid kit and pointed to Sarge’s chair.

“What?”

“Maddox, sit.”

She was a foot shorter than I was, but she was acting like I would follow her orders without question.

“I’m fine.”

“Really? You’re going to get your knuckle-dragging self in that chair, so I can clean those cuts.”

I heard Sarge laugh then it turned into a cough.

“And you. Ugh. Sarge, that was too much.”

“You needed me,” Sarge said and gave her a wink.

“I can see where your son gets his bullheadedness.”

I sat down, and Tracy perched herself on the footstool. She got out some alcohol. It stung.

When I’d heard the roar of the bikes and then her yell I’d got outside as fast as I could. For a minute, white flashes had filled my field of vision when I saw her on the ground.

“Controlling his temper was never one of Maddox’s skills,” Sarge said from his bed.

“I can see that.”

I watched Tracy. Her dark hair fell forward. Her hands held mine and she worked intently, dabbing the cuts I’d opened when my fists hit Jonesy in the face.

“You’re one to talk.”

“Anything I should know about what just happened?” Tracy asked me as she put a bandage on each knuckle. Bandages I knew I’d rip off when she wasn’t looking.

“Bad blood with The Hawks. They shot Olivia.”

“Which we can’t prove,” Sarge said.

I wanted to argue that point with him, but I couldn’t. He was right.

“You need to rest,” Tracy said. She stood up from the stool. I tried not to stare at her, but I was failing. I was failing at everything when it came to this woman. I’d hoped to chase her away today but instead she was here, in my house, on the third floor, in our lives. And damn it, because of it, she was in danger.

She pulled up Sarge’s covers. He had already dozed off. This was more excitement than he could take. I knew that.

Tracy gathered up the first aid box.

“You need to leave him be.”

She was ordering me around again. I stood up and followed her out and into the kitchen.

“Are you okay?” I didn’t see a sign of anything wrong on the outside, but the other night she’d been shaken up. Shocked. I wondered what she was hiding now.

“I didn’t think you gave a damn.”

I noticed she was covered in sand, now that I had a chance to really look at her. The pretty yellow dress she wore was not made for rolling around in sand and fending off Hawks, and it was ripped. I felt like dogshit for that tool.

“When I saw you out there...” I didn’t finish. I couldn’t.

I took a step forward toward her. She was quiet, and for a moment our eyes met.

“Close your eyes.”

I lifted my hand and brushed some of the sand away from her cheek. I was surprised she let me. Her skin was so soft. I was closer than I should be to her.

She opened her eyes and looked into mine again.

“I called off my wedding tonight.”

I had a feeling of relief. She wasn’t engaged. She was free. I could have her as mine. But that feeling was very quickly replaced with dread.

One, I had treated her like shit, on purpose, and two, I didn’t want to care for her like I knew I did.

“He wasn’t right for you anyway.”

“You didn’t even know him.”

“I know.”

“How?”

“Because you’re mine.”

She sucked in a breath of air and I lowered my head to hers. Our lips hovered close, a millimeter apart. I could see her breasts straining against the fabric of her dress. No woman had ever responded this way to me.

No woman made me lose control, ever. But I had none around Tracy.

I cupped her head in my hands and she tilted her head to meet mine. I had to bend down low to be face-to-face with her. I felt her strain upward to split the difference.

The kiss started softly. We’d been so explosive, so fast, in those first two kisses. This time I wanted to savor her lips.

She made a sweet sound again, a sigh. There was something about that the sound that touched me to my bones. I craved it. I chased it.

The kiss moved slowly, and her body swayed with its rhythm.

“I don’t want us to stop this time. I can’t stop anymore. You’re free right now? That better be the truth. Because if you say you aren’t free of him, I’ll call your fucking fiancé myself and tell him you’re not coming back.”

I felt a fierce possessiveness that I knew was dangerous, but it was there. I wanted her in my arms and nowhere else. I wanted her in my bed.

“I broke it off. Not because of you. I just…”

I stopped her words with my lips again. Whatever else she wanted to say, she could say. But later.

“Please, Maddox, I’m burning up for you.”

I wrapped my arms around her and lifted her off the floor. I loved containing her whole body. Sheltering it. Feeling it on me.

I carried her to her rooms and kicked the door closed behind us. There was no one in this part of the house to see or hear us. For the first time, I appreciated how empty things were.

I put her down and then set about getting her where I’d wanted her since the second I’d seen her.

I stepped behind her and moved her hair aside. The dress zipped down the back. I tugged it slowly down and gently touched the white skin of her shoulders and along her spine. I unhooked her bra while I was at it.

I slid my hands in the opening that the undone fabric provided. It fell forward. I turned Tracy around to look at her, barely holding on to the yellow dress. I kissed her neck and pulled the dress down, bra and all. It slid down an inch at a time, over her gorgeous breasts, her adorable stomach and hips, and to the floor.

“You’re fucking beautiful,” I said, and she seemed a little shy. I didn’t let her be shy though. She was stunning, and I wanted all of her in my hands, and on my tongue.

I kissed her breasts and then held each one in my palms. I pulled hard on her nipples and she moaned. I reached around and felt the roundness of her ass. She was tiny but curvy at the same time.

My exploration could have taken hours but neither of us could wait much longer. I pulled her forward as I sat down on her bed.

She straddled me, and I was hard as fuck. It was so good.

I hooked my hands at the juncture of her panties and slipped them off. She was finally completely naked.

She unzipped my jeans and freed me in one quick motion.

I produced protection and she knew just what to do with it. A growling noise came out of my throat as she wrapped her hand around me.

“Baby, I need you now,” I whispered in her ear. I pulled her down on the bed with me. And we rolled over. I kissed her again – every part her, from her sweet lips, to her thighs that were now open for me. There was no more waiting. No more interruption.

I slid in, slowly, inch by inch, and Tracy produced little moans each time I thrust in. I was learning about her, understanding her, feeling her response. I wanted her to enjoy each touch, so I took it slowly, at first. Our bodies instinctively moved together.

She was tight and hot. It wasn’t like this with any other woman I’d fucked, and maybe that was why. This was more than that. Her flesh was connected to mine but that was just the beginning of it.

Her hips undulated under me and I drove in deep and deeper. I wanted to be as close to her as I could.

But at some indefinable moment control became impossible, for both of us.

Her energy shifted from slowly writhing beneath me to a desperate clawing at my back. My thrusts were fast, urgent, animal. She held onto me and I felt my body explode into hers. My cock squeezed tight inside of her and her low moans had turned to near screams. The bed crashed into the wall with every pulse.

Her body and my body were one and I collapsed on her with the realization that this would not be the end. This would not be a onetime thing with Tracy Plumb.

This was something I’d kill to protect and die to have again.