Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 77292 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77292 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
I hand him the towel. “But that’s a whole other story. One for another time. Feel free to use my body wash and shampoo. And turn on the fan. Otherwise the mirror will fog up.”
He looks me up and down slowly but then turns and walks into the bathroom, giving me a great view of his sculpted arse.
He closes the bathroom door halfway, allowing a slit of light to peek out from the doorway.
I sit down on the edge of my bed and cover my head with my hands.
I’ll have to eventually tell Maddox about my mother. About what she did that day I was supposed to leave for university.
But it’s the one thing I’d rather discuss less than the severed head we dug up this evening.
“Alissa?”
I walk up to the door and speak through the crack. “Yeah?”
“Oh, for Christ’s sake, just come in here. Is this soap or shampoo?”
I crack a small smile as I walk inside. “Did you read the label?”
He pushes a small bottle with an opaque white liquid inside against the glass door of my shower. “It’s unlabeled.”
I narrow my eyes. “That’s strange. I don’t think I own anything that isn’t labeled.” I scratch my chin. “I had a friend pass through a few weeks ago. Maybe she left it in.” I point to the shelf in the back corner of the shower. “But all of my body wash and shampoo is on that shelf. Use whatever you need.”
“Whatever I need?” He raises an eyebrow.
I cross my arms. “I mean, within reason.”
He grins slightly and then starts to work a dollop of shampoo into a lather through his dark hair. He turns around, giving me another view of his beautiful backside.
My God, his body is bloody perfect.
And I’m suddenly feeling very unsafe outside of the shower.
“Maddox?”
“Yeah?” he growls.
“Would you mind if I… If I joined you?”
“I thought we said sex was off the table for the night.”
I bite my lip. “I know… I was just… I would feel safer if I were in the shower with you.”
He gestures to the unoccupied space in the shower. “Plenty of room, baby.”
I smile. “I thought there might be.”
I strip off the sweatpants and hoodie I’m wearing. How different my world was when I put these clothes on. I changed out of my formal clothes when I got home from the club and was already changed by the time Maddox showed up. I knew something was up with May’s suspension with the club, but I figured all I would discover was some shady business practices on Rouge’s part. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d be digging up a body.
Or at least, body parts.
But I can put that on the back burner for right now. All I need to focus on for the next fifteen minutes or so is getting all the dirt and grime off my body, all of this horrible night off my body.
And maybe get my body onto another body.
Maddox said no sex.
I’m not one hundred percent sure he meant that, but I’ll respect it if he does. That doesn’t mean we can’t hold each other, let the warm water wash the horrors of the night off of us.
I remove my panties quickly and then step into the shower.
Maddox cracks a smile. “I was hoping you’d end up joining me in here.”
I cock my head. “Were you? I thought we agreed we weren’t going to do anything tonight.”
He shrugs. “Any situation can be improved by adding a naked lady.”
I punch his chest. “That’s all I am to you? A naked lady?”
“No, Alissa.” He wraps his arms around me. “You’re so much more than that.”
And he crushes his mouth to mine.
It’s a fierce kiss. A kiss of aggression. Or desperation. Of need to leave the mortal world and all its injustices behind, if only for an instant.
I return it, letting him invade me with his tongue, to take what he needs.
We kiss and kiss and kiss as the hot water pelts us, creates a protective shield between us and the world that allowed May to die so cruelly.
He finally breaks the kiss, his eyes slightly sullen as he looks down. “Sorry.”
I tip his chin up and look him in the eyes. “Never apologize for kissing me like that, Maddox Hathaway.”
“But we said no messing around.”
I bat my eyes. “I don’t recall making a promise in writing.”
“Fuck, Alissa.” He runs his hands over the small of my back, sending a tingling chill through me. “Are you sure?”
“With you, I’m always sure.”
He kisses me again.
And it makes the last kiss look like the kind a kid would give his grandmother in church.
It’s like he’s fucking me with his mouth. Devouring me. Taking what he must.
And I’m doing the same to him.
Our tongues, teeth, and lips clash almost violently. Something about the water brings out the jungle in us, as if we’re the survivors of a plane crash kissing under a waterfall on a deserted island. He slides his hand between my legs.