Beyond Broken (The Bay Boys #3) (43 page)

“Yes.”

Before her brain could process that, her jaw hung open and she blurted out, “Was she out of her flipping
mind
?”

Caleb lips twitched.
 
“Arguably.”

Puzzle pieces were starting to come together.
 
“Did you…care about her?”
 
For some reason, she couldn’t bring herself to say ‘love.’

Caleb tilted his chin down.
 
“I thought I did.”

She swallowed hard.
 
His mother, his aunt, his high school girlfriend, and now this girlfriend…

Maddie wondered how in the world he’d managed to stay sane and not hate the entire world.
 
He’d suffered pain, betrayal, loss.
 
He was so unbelievably strong that it boggled her mind.

And then—damn her hormones—she burst into tears.
 
They weren’t soft, trickling tears either, but ugly ones.
 
Really ugly ones.
 
Poor Caleb looked like she slapped him in the face and she probably would’ve found his expression hilarious if she didn’t feel so devastated.

She fell face first into his shirt.
 
“I-I’m sorry.
 
I c-can’t…” but she couldn’t say anything more.

Maddie felt his hand come around to cup the back of her head.
 
“What’s wrong?”

Everything
, she wanted to say.

“I-I’m just u-upset,” she hiccuped through her sobs.

“That I cared about my ex-girlfriend?” he asked, tone incredulous.

“N-no,” she said, lifting off his shirt, which she’d thoroughly soaked with her tears.
 
Taking deep breaths to try and calm herself down but failing, wondered how to explain everything that was running through her head.
 
So, she went for honesty.
 
“You’ve been through so much, Caleb.
 
And I h-hate your mother for not taking care of you, and your aunt for
abusing
you, and Charlotte flipping Callahan for telling everyone about it, and your ex-girlfriend for cheating.
 
It makes me s-sick to my stomach just thinking about it all, about how they treated you!
 
Because you’re such a great man.
 
Y-you’re strong and loyal and you endured it all even though you didn’t deserve
any
of it.”

Caleb’s voice was ragged and Maddie could see the way he chose his words carefully.
 
“I don’t want your pity.
 
I don’t want you thinking that I was a victim, Maddie.”

“But you
were
,” she whispered, staring straight into his eyes as she wiped away the tears staining her cheek.
 
“And there’s nothing wrong with that.
 
You were a victim of other people’s selfishness and viciousness.
 
It doesn’t change the way I see you.
 
Nothing
will.
 
And I don’t pity you, Caleb.
 
I admire you.”

“How can you say that?” he rasped.
 
“After how I’ve treated you?
 
All the ugly things I’ve said to you?”

“Because I know you, Caleb,” she murmured, sniffling, pressing her body closer.
 
“I feel like I’ve known you my whole life.
 
And I know that deep down, you
do
care about me.”

All his breath left him and Maddie marveled that she’d just been talking about the people of Teotihuacan only twenty minutes ago.

Caleb leaned his head back against the couch, looking up towards the ceiling, exposing the column of his neck.
 
“I tried to push you away, Maddie,” he admitted softly, blowing out a tired breath.
 
“But after a while, I realized that I didn’t want to anymore.”

She stared at the smooth skin of his neck, at the way his Adam’s apple bobbed when he swallowed, at his five o’clock shadow that caused the marks around her breasts and between her thighs.
 
And she loved him so much that she wanted to cry all over again.

Leaning forward slowly, she pressed her lips to his neck and listened to his breath hitch.
 
But he didn’t stop her.
 
He let her explore his skin, nibble on his earlobe, and suck softly at the space just below it.
 
She tasted the saltiness of his skin from his long day at work and she
loved
the way he tasted.
 
Caleb shifted under her, pressing his groin between her legs, and he groaned.

She wanted to give him everything.
 
She wanted to be everything that he needed and wanted and desired.

Maddie moved her head so she could suck on his bottom lip and when she met his eyes, she saw his lust.
 
She let it feed her own.

“Tonight, I want you to show me what you like,” she whispered.
 
She was going for it.
 
There was no time to be shy now.

His eyes widened slightly, lips parting.
 
Even as he shook his head, there was no denying the way his hips ground more needfully into her.
 
“You need to rest.
 
You’re still sore from—”

“It isn’t anything I can’t handle,” she told him.
 
“I want this.”

She was wearing him down, not that it was taking much.

“You know how stubborn I can be.
 
You may as well give in now and save some time,” she teased.

He made a sound in the back of his throat.
 
“Maddie…I don’t know…”

“Please,” she whispered, dragging her lips over his lightly.
 
His eyelids closed and when he opened them again, his eyes were dazed and unfocused.
 
And she realized that
she
was seducing
him
.
 
And it felt exactly like it did when he had tied her up last night and
she’d
still driven him crazy.
 
“Please, Caleb.”

He shuddered.
 
“Are you sure?”

“I’ve never been more sure.”

THIRTY-EIGHT

Caleb trailed the end of the rope over Maddie’s exposed breasts and she felt her breath quicken, the rapid thundering of her heart visible under her flushed skin.
 
The thin, white rope that he’d brought into her room only a few moments before wasn’t as rough as she expected, but the sensation was still startling.
 
Even more startling was Caleb’s reaction to it.
 
He seemed quieter—which wasn’t saying much since he wasn’t exactly a talker—but when Maddie
really
looked at him, she could see that he looked as affected as she was

His eyes held an alertness and a raptness that she’d never seen before.
 
She shivered; he looked like he wanted to
devour
her.
 
She’d never felt so desired in her entire life.

He’d stripped himself of his shirt when he’d entered the room, exposing those rippling, smooth muscles and black tattoos, but his jeans—held up by that maddening black leather belt—still hung on his hips.
 
His erection was prominent and he shifted it in his jeans as he trailed the rope over her naked body.

Caleb walked around her body to tease the rope over her back and ass.
 
She held her breath when he cupped her backside, kneading the flesh, as though he couldn’t help himself, and moaned when he unexpectedly nipped her neck with his teeth.

One word to describe Caleb when he was like this: intense.

It rolled off him in waves, making her both excited and wary.
 
Even as her body responded to his appreciative and erotic touch, she honestly had no idea what to expect.

Her knees almost buckled when he inserted a finger into her from behind, feeling only a slight twinge from her soreness before it gave way to pleasure.

“Already soaking, princess,” he murmured into her ear, goosebumps breaking over her flesh.
 
The sensitivity that she’d experienced all day felt amplified and she felt like she was already on the verge of coming.
 
He brought his finger up to her lips.
 
“Taste how sweet you are.”

She wrapped her lips around his finger and he muffled a groan as her tongue lapped at it.
 
She tasted her juices…and it made her feel deliciously naughty.
 
She protested when he drew his finger away, coming to stand in front of her once again.

“Don’t worry, princess,” he rumbled, his voice past the point of gravelly.
 
“I’ll give you something else to suck soon.”

Her lips parted and a gush of wetness flooded her pussy when she imagined sucking the hardened, thick length between Caleb’s thighs.
 
She’d never given a blowjob before, but her enthusiasm and curiosity made her eager.
 
Already, her mouth was watering for it.

“Kneel down,” he ordered, his fists tightening over the thin rope.
 
Maddie immediately did as he asked, her knees digging into the soft carpet as she knelt in from of him.
 
Her eyes darted to his erection, which seemed to pulse in his jeans.

She watched as he retrieved the other ropes, of identical type and length, off the bed and then eyed her position on the floor.

“If it ever becomes too much,” he started, “or if you want to stop, then please tell me.
 
I won’t be upset.
 
Far from it.
 
I just want you to be comfortable, Maddie.”

She swallowed and nodded.
 
Caleb watched her for a few more moments, like he was waiting for her to speak up and back out, before crouching down next to her left side.
 
The rope felt cool against her skin as he wrapped it around her upper thigh a few times before knotting it and then continuing to wrap it around her ankle just below.
 
He was quick, efficient, and Maddie tried not to think about how many women he’d practiced these knots with.

He’s mine right now
, she thought.

He did the same to her right leg until her thighs were bound to her ankles.
 
It was surprisingly restrictive and it felt odd not being able to stretch out her legs or move from her position.
 
Her butt was planted right on the balls of her feet and the rope tightened slightly whenever she fidgeted.
 
Maddeningly frustrating…yet erotic.

Next, he asked her to cross her arms behind her back, her hands grasping the opposite space just above her elbow crease, which forced her to arch her back, pushing out her breasts even more.
 
Caleb wrapped the third rope he’d brought just under them and threaded it around the back and secured her arms into place so that she couldn’t move them either.

Caleb checked the ropes, asked her if anything was too tight, and when she shook her head, then he finally relaxed.
 
His darkened eyes hungrily roamed over her body and she felt like a present, a plaything, and she found that idea…arousing.
 
Her breasts were practically pouting for attention; every breath she took made the sensitive undersides rub against the rope.

Caleb swallowed so hard that Maddie heard it.
 
He rasped, “This is a common frog tie.
 
The first time I saw you, I fantasized that I tied you up like this…and your hair,” Maddie gasped when he gently pulled a section of hair over her shoulder and tickled it over one of her pebbled nipples, “was brushing your tits and you were sucking my cock so sweetly, like you never wanted me to take it away from you.
 
And trust me, princess…I wouldn’t
ever
take it away from you.”

Maddie’s breaths were positively
ragged
after he told her that.
 
He’d wanted this?
 
From the very first time he’d seen her in the garage?

“I jacked off to that fantasy for months,” he continued and Maddie swore that her juices were wetting the carpet, she was
that
turned on.
 
“But that fantasy
pales
in comparison to actually seeing you like this.”

“Unbutton your jeans, Caleb,” Maddie pleaded, her voice hoarse.
 
She squirmed in the ropes, but every move she made seemed to make them tighter, making her more crazed.
 
“
Now!
”

Caleb cursed low under his breath.
 
He dragged over her reading armchair that she’d placed in the corner of her bedroom and sank down into it.
 
He unbelted, unbuttoned, and unzipped, and when he pulled his pulsing, ready cock out, Maddie tried to squeeze her thighs together but then remembered that she couldn’t.

“Come here and get what you want, princess,” he said, his hand lazily stroking the length of him and Maddie almost climaxed on the spot.

Then she realized that he’d purposefully placed his chair a few feet away.
 
In the position she was in, she’d have a hard time maneuvering herself over to him.
 
A part of her was thrilled at the games he liked to play.
 
The other part wanted revenge.
 
And she would get it.

Carefully, she inched her knees forward and every movement made her breasts bounce and tremble.
 
Caleb’s eyes were glued to them and he groaned every time she advanced towards him, running a palm down his face in anticipation.

What seemed like decades later, she finally reached him.
 
He opened his knees wider, his jean covered thighs brushed the sides of her breasts as she knelt between his legs.

Maddie didn’t care that she’d never done this before.
 
She didn’t care that she was tied up, or that Caleb had just made her put on a show for him, or that she’d have to deep clean the carpet tomorrow because she was
soaking
it.
 
She only cared about the man sitting in that chair, with his beautiful cock that she just
needed
.