All In (15 page)

“Baby girl—“

“No, no, don’t. Don’t fucking ‘baby girl’ me. You have no idea what you’ve done, do you?” she seethed. He stared at her wide-eyed. “You’re about to destroy the small shred of respect I have in this office. You. I don’t need you to rescue me.”

“Dammit, Cass. Yes, I know you think you can do this all on your own. You think you can just suck it up and deal with putting out a piece of shit. But hell if I’m going to let that happen. First of all, you’re not Phil’s boss. You don’t get to tell him what to do. I do. Second, I most certainly, as his boss, get to tell him that website is a piece of shit, and as COO, I will not allow it to see the light of day.”

“He’ll think I tattled on him,” she sunk down, defeat writing its way across her face.

“So.”

She glared at him. “So? Are you blind here? Seriously? He’s already making me miserable. He’s micromanaging my day. He’s changing my decisions behind my back. He’s trying his damnedest to make me look bad, and now? Now he gets to to add ‘Can’t stand up for herself’ to his litany of things I can’t do.”

He couldn’t handle it anymore. He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed. “No one in this office would ever accuse you, of all people, of not being able to stand up for herself. You earned your title, your majesty.”

Her strangled laugh rippled through his chest, and he suppressed the desire to pick her up in his arms and comfort her for the rest of the night.

“Let me deal with Phil. I’m actually glad I saw this now and not the day before the presentation. I needed to see this, and you know it.”

She sighed, and Maddox knew she was acquiescing to his logic.

“Keep working on the original design. Scrap what Phil has had you do so far.” He let her go, lifting her chin and lightly brushing her lips. “I’ll deal with the rest.”

F
rustrating man
.

She huffed to herself as she grabbed her purse and headed over to Lo’s office. “I’m leaving,” she announced, peeking around the corner.

“Did you check in with Phil. I mean, it’s five minutes early. He might need something in those five minutes,” Lo teased.

“I think he’s going to be a bit busy. He won’t notice. And I just need to get out of here.”

“You okay, hon?” Lo grabbed her own purse. If they were going to go down, they might has well go down together.

Cass relayed the website conversation, and Lo smiled.

“You’re okay with this?” she cried.

“Hell yeah! The asshole has had this coming for a long time. He’s been making us miserable, and karma is a righteous bitch. Besides, this isn’t Maddox protecting his girl, this is Maddox protecting his company. That design was shit, and Phil would’ve totally thrown you under the bus for it.” A Cheshire Cat grin spread across her face. “Think this deserves shots?”

Cass tried hard to suppress her own smile, but Lo was right. Phil deserved what he was about to get, and a little part of her wanted to revel in it. Okay, not just a little part—every single inch of her.

“Maybe…”

“There’s my vindictive little she-bitch.” Lo grabbed her arm and walked out the building to McCallan’s. Within ten minutes they’d done one celebratory tequila shot and were ordering up a second.

M: Where’d you go?

Shiiiit.

C: McCallan’s. With Lo. Meet us here?

M: I’ll pick you up outside.

C: K.

Her brain was a little fuzzy from downing two shots and a beer, but that didn’t mean she was oblivious to how he was white-knuckling the steering wheel of his car.

“Sorry,” she whispered as she sat down in the seat.

His brow furrowed, and he stepped on the gas.

Silence.

She stared down at her feet, because she was sure the swear words he mumbled under his breath meant they were pretty much going to die in a fiery car crash before she found out anything that was going on.

The lack of conversation between them became a suffocating balloon filling the physical space, serving to only increase an anxiety inflamed by alcohol.

She stepped inside the door, barely registering the soft click of the lock before she was swung around and thrown against it, Maddox’s bruising lips capturing her shocked gasp.

She knew she should be upset with him for not letting her deal with things her own way, and a part of her knew he was pissed that she didn’t come to him with her concerns. But all that went out the window when his fingers brushed over her hardened nipple as his teeth captured her bottom lip.

Cass couldn’t help herself. She needed him. Inside her. Now.

Not letting herself think, because thinking would mean talking, and talking would mean ruining this moment, she stroked her hand over his hardened length before unfastening his pants. She unbuttoned his shirt in record time, violently stripping off his clothes. Not to be outdone, Maddox jerked down her skirt and panties in one fluid motion and yanked her top over her head before claiming her mouth once again.

Maddox wasn’t playing gentle, and Cass wasn’t sure she minded angry sex. He nipped his way down from her earlobe to her shoulder, where his nipping was bordering on biting. A mixture of pleasure and pain flowed down to her center, her moans serving as his encouragement.

He lifted her leg up, wrapping it around his waist before plunging his fingers into her over and over. Her wet clit made sucking sounds as he thrust in and out, again and again. His thumb found her sensitive nub, and she cried out as she tumbled into bliss, but Maddox wasn’t close to done, because as soon as she cried out, his fingers were replaced by his hot, hard cock. Where the fuck had he found the condom? He was magic and-oh, hell…

Cass wrapped both legs around him and used what muscles she could to meet him thrust for thrust, using the wall as her last means of support. Maddox burrowed his head in the crook of her neck, and she was buoyed by the grunts and moans coming from the back of his throat. His hot breath came faster, she knew he was close, and she clenched her muscles around him.

“Fuck,” he cried, falling over the edge with one last thrust.

Panting, he lowered them both to the floor, her on top of him as if he protected her from the cold hardwood under his back.

“Mad…” she whispered. “We should-“

“Minute,” he grunted. “Need a minute.”

“Okay,” she whispered, running her hand down his chest, settling her head on his shoulder. His fingers played with her hair as his breath settled into a normal pattern. As nervous as she was to talk to him, she couldn’t help herself from reveling in this moment. Yes, they were on the floor in a heap of post-orgasm bliss, but this was them, together. This was her enjoying the feel of his soft skin, the light brush of hair in the middle of his sculpted chest. His legs entwined with hers, the soft hair tickling her sensitive skin. She watched his chest rise and fall and knew she was done for. She loved this man.

She loved Maddox. She always had. It wasn’t easy to admit. She’d spent years thinking of him as a crush she could settle into a neat little spot in her heart, never a true threat to anything real. She’d pushed him away, thinking if he found someone real that she’d be fine. It didn’t matter how his touch made her feel. It didn’t matter that his protection and his smiles could make or break her day. No matter that he was the first person she wanted to call when things went good or bad or that his opinion mattered above all others. No matter that her heart skipped a beat when she caught his stare or that the world disappeared when he held her close. She thought none of it mattered.

She had pushed it all away thinking that he’d break her heart because he didn’t feel all those things back. And maybe he didn’t. Maybe he didn’t love her, and maybe this would all blow up in her face when he became bored like he always did. But it wouldn’t make a difference now. He was here, taking over her heart, ruining her for any other man. There was no other. It would only be Maddox, and others would be ghosts living in his shadow.

A tear slid down her cheek, and she tried to capture it before she wet his shoulder.

“Baby girl?” he whispered as she failed in her attempt. Maddox brushed his hand over her wet cheek.

“I’m okay.”

I’m just in love with you, idiot.

Maddox sat up, bringing her with him. His blue eyes bored into hers, a flurry of emotions assaulting her in that stare.

“I’m sorry.” He looked up at the ceiling, taking a deep breath.

“For what?”

“This. I just assaulted you without a word. I threw you up against that door and fucked you. I-“

Cass laughed, a good belly jiggler bordering on guffaw, and put a stop to what he was going to say next. “Maddox Paul, you can do that to me anytime. I’m not a glass doll, you know.”

A sheepish grin crossed his face as he pulled her close. “I don’t want to break you,” he whispered, and his grin was marred by worry. Cass knew he wasn’t just talking about fucking her hard and fast up against the wall.

She pushed him away and looked him in the eyes, her this-is-serious-business face making its appearance. “You are a stupid man, you know that? I like what we just did. I don’t know that I like where it came from, and we have some serious stuff to talk about, but you can make me come anytime you want, Mister, and that, I promise you, will not break me.”

Maddox placed both his hands on her face and pulled her into a deep kiss. “We need to get up off the floor,” he sighed as he pulled away.

“Well, I tried to tell you that before.” Cass smirked as they stood in all their naked glory.

“Are we eating something?” she asked, taking a step toward the kitchen. “I’m hungry.”

“Me, too,” Maddox growled, pulling her back to him and nibbling on her neck.

Dinner would have to wait.

* * *

T
he thing
about a few hours of hot sex post shots and beers is that one becomes ravenous for more than an orgasm. Cass finally put her foot down when, at 10pm, her stomach deciding eating itself was it’s only option.

“Food. Fuel. Water. Something,” she whined as she grabbed the t-shirt Maddox laid out for her. His lazy eyes never losing their lusty gaze as the top shimmied down her body. “No more orgasms until I’m fed, Mister. Aren’t you in the least bit hungry?” She shifted her feet a little. Her appetite was one of those things that triggered her body-shaming thoughts. She knew she was hungrier more often, and though she thought the lack of dinner mixed with sex-exertion made her growling stomach normal, his lack of appetite for anything more than her body made her wonder.

The responding growl from his own belly dispelled any doubts she had about herself. “That a good enough answer?” he laughed.

“Come,” she grabbed his hand and pulled him up off the bed. The ripple of his muscles as he stretched his naked body making her a little bit wet. He really was beautiful.

“If you keep looking at me that way, we might starve,” he teased as he threw on a pair of pajama pants.

“Well, you are one tasty morsel,” she teased right back, but walked out the bedroom door to the kitchen.

“You basically have enough to make spaghetti,” she sighed, grabbing the box of pasta and a jar of sauce out of his pantry. She checked the expiration dates, because she knew Maddox almost never cooked. She’d call it a guy thing, but she knew plenty of men that cooked for themselves. Maddox just rarely did.

“I’ll boil the water,” he said, grabbing a pot from the cabinet and filling it with water.

“Add some salt,” she handed him the shaker.

“What for?”

“It makes it boil faster, silly,” she laughed, keeping the next sentence about lowering boiling points to herself. She could be such a science nerd sometimes.

He chuckled and poured in some salt. Cass measured out the pasta and dropped it into the heating water.

“Shouldn’t you wait for it to boil?” he asked as Cass then handed him the jar of sauce to open.

“I’ve never been patient enough, and it still comes out just fine,” she smiled, taking the open jar from him and pouring it into a bowl. She covered the top before placing it in the microwave.

“Patience never seemed to be your weak point,” he hummed into her neck as he pulled her against him. “But it certainly is mine.” He reached down under her shirt and slid his fingers between her slit. In an instant she was soaked and pressing into his hands. “I love when you’re all domestic. So damn sexy.”

“Fuck,” she sighed, whimpering as he deftly stroked her. “Dinner,” she barely made out before another moan took it’s place.

“Come for me, baby,” he whispered into her ear before taking the lobe between his teeth and sucking. The sensation taking her over the edge into a sea of stars.

Cass clung to him, her body shaking post-orgasm, not wanting to let the moment go. Damn, he just owned her.

“Water. Boiling. Over,” she stumbled over the words as a loud hiss from the stovetop jarred them out of the moment.

Maddox leaned her against the counter as he grabbed a towel to mop up the mess of steaming and spitting water that had rolled over the top of the pot. Cass, on wobbling legs, turned the heat down before answering the beeping coming from the microwave.