Kiss and Tell (7 page)

Rage had a stronghold on him. There was no more being calm. No more brushing it off. No more laughing about it and letting it go. Maikao parked his truck and was out within seconds. Walking through the lobby of Addison’s apartment building, he hit the button for the elevator and waited impatiently for it to come down.

“Eli has officially made his move...”
Carmen’s words rang in his head as the muscles in his jaw worked. Maikao gripped the back of his neck, closing his eyes. She’d called him as soon as she could, reaching him right after his shift at the firehouse. Today had been a long one, his mind solely on Addison, the look on her face days ago as she’d left him and Carmen behind.

He’d known what she thought and figured showing up at her place unannounced would earn him no more than a slit in his throat. That hadn’t stopped him from calling during his break and after second shift right before bed, leaving message after message along with texts. Not one of them had been answered.

So when Carmen told him that Eli had shown up at the hospital Addison worked at, asking her to dinner and she’d accepted...something inside him snapped. The last bit of control he’d carefully kept leashed these past few months had managed to unchain itself and there was no going back.

Addison was pushing him. She had to know that after what happened at the charity ball he was in no mood to play games anymore and yet, she was still attempting to. Oh, Maikao had a game for her. It involved putting her over his knee and reddening her ass until he was good and ready to stop.

The elevator dinged, finally indicating that it had arrived. As the doors parted, Makaio caught a glimpse of someone standing in the corner of the small confined space. He looked up and his heart skipped. Addison stood there, furiously typing something in on her phone, bottom lip caught beneath her teeth, long legs crossed over one another.

His eyes roved the strapless summer dress she’d chosen to wear. The tiered skirt flaring out about her hips, the light floral pattern perfectly correlating with the wedge sandals on her feet, hair pulled back in a bun, rope earrings dangling from her delicate ears. The only makeup on her beautiful face consisted of a little eyeliner and some gloss.

He shouldn’t have felt so goddamned jealous that she’d put all this work in for Eli, being that it probably didn’t take her more than a half an hour. But knowing that the special scent of magnolias and rosewater would’ve been teasing his best friend’s senses, her creamy brown skin catching just the right lighting to make her appear like she was glowing, her plump lips parting in smiles just too intimate for Maikao’s peace of mind—oh, well, that just didn’t sit right with him. That didn’t sit right with him
at all.

So he took great pleasure in stepping into the elevator, snatching her phone from her hands and pinning her in on either side with his arms as she gasped in surprise. “Going somewhere, Addie?”

Her eyes widened. “What’re you doing here, Mak?” She attempted to reach around him. “Give me back my phone.”

He held himself out of reach, and then hit the button for the elevator to go all the way up to the twenty-fifth floor. “I don’t think so. Seems to me you don’t know what to do with a phone. When you learn, you can have it back.”

“Mak, I’m not playing this game with you.”

Eyes narrowing, he leaned in and hissed. “
This
game? Oh, no, Addie, you won’t play
this
game. Maybe because you’re having too much fun playing your own.” His hand slammed down on the metal wall near her, causing her to jump. “Almost two fucking weeks of me pulling my goddamn hair out, pacing, jumping through hoops trying to get you to talk to me and you’re going out with
Eli?
Are you out of your mind?”

She growled. “Carmen.”

“Yes,
Carmen.
But do you know what I’m more so worried about right now? The fact that you assumed I’d sit back and let this continue.”

A snarl twisted her lips. “You are
not
my father. You don’t have a say in what I do and don’t do.”

“Being that I have anything
but
fatherly feelings for you, I can agree. However, Addie, I very well do have
much
say in you dating other people.”

“Oh, I get it.” Her voice dropped dangerously low. “So because your he-man act almost had you fucking me up against a wall not too long ago, you think you have some claim on me.”

“
Exactly,”
Maikao confirmed.

Eyes narrowing, Addison spoke through clenched teeth. “Survivor’s intuition should be telling you that it would be a good idea for you to hit the first floor button and get as far away from me as possible.”

He grinned. A big, cheesy, shit-eating grin. “I’m a firefighter, sweetheart. In case you forgot, I have little to no survivor’s intuition, being that I risk my life every day.” Stooping down so that they were now eye to eye, he whispered, “I could very well hit the first floor button and leave but then I’d be depriving myself of something.”

Her gaze held the question that he knew she wouldn’t allow to leave her mouth so he reached over and hit the stop button before pressing her firmly into the elevator wall. “I’ve got you cornered, Addie and I’ll be damned if I let this chance slip by again.”

Trouble. She was in
so
much trouble right now. She should’ve known that when Eli asked her out, it wouldn’t end well, but that extremely rebellious part of her psyche just refused to give in. She’d been texting Carmen when he showed up, her friend trying to convince her that her date with Eli was a bad idea. Addison licked her lips and shot a glance towards the elevator control panel. “Start up the elevator, Mak.”

“Why?” he taunted, his hazel eyes glittering down at her. “Am I making you nervous?”

Yes. Yes, he was. But she would
never
admit that. “No,” she lied smoothly. “I just think you should be aware of the attention you might draw.”

Smirking, Maikao replied, “How soon we forget. This building is not only older but I know for a fact that there have been
several
times during the week that everyone here has had to use the stairs because it’s gone out. Try again, sweetheart.”

Goddammit, he was right. She glared. “I just don’t understand what you want from me.”

“It’s quite simple, Addie.” His gaze was on her lips. “You. I just want
you.”

Eyes closing, Addison leaned her head back onto the wall. “You don’t want
me,
Mak. You just don’t want anyone
else
to want me.”

“I don’t want anyone else to want you because
I
want you.” Those hazel irises darkened. “You think I’d be nipping at your heels like some lost puppy if I didn’t?”

“You’re just doing this because—”

“Don’t. Analyze. Me. And don’t try to compartmentalize my feelings for you because you’re too goddamned afraid to admit that you feel the same,” he cut in, pressing his forehead to hers. “I wanted you from the first moment I saw you and I’ve spent entirely too much time running from it rather than facing it because I was trying to make sure
you
were comfortable with what was about to change between us.”

“You don’t have to worry about that because
nothing
is changing between us.” She shook her head. “You’ve fucked your way through New Mexico but the moment I show any interest in someone else, you lose your mind? Be honest, Mak. You’re terrified that if things go further with Eli than you anticipated, you won’t have your go-to girl anymore.”

Maikao snorted. “You’re so good at that.”

“Good at what?”

“Lying to yourself. You’d rather believe what you’re saying than accept the fact that you’re in love with me.”

“Hey! Fuck y—”

He’d spun her around to face the wall so fast that all Addison could do was slap her hands against it and try to push back. He didn’t relent, keeping her pinned there with one hand. “Mak...” she warned in a low voice.

“Quiet,” Maikao ordered, grabbing the bottom of her sundress, lifting it above her thighs and tucking it into the strapless back. “I’ve always warned you that mouth of yours would get you into trouble.”

“Mak, what the hell are you doing?!” She could feel the cool kiss of the AC suddenly blow over her now-bared behind.

“Teaching you a lesson on what happens when you decide obstinacy is better than compliance.” His palm came down on the right ass cheek and Addison yelped.

“See,” Maikao continued in that controlled voice. “I don’t think you’ve grasped it yet—” His palm smacked the other cheek and she went up on her tiptoes, trying to escape the next swat. “That you belong to me.” More swats followed in quick succession. “But you’ll understand soon enough.”

Addison braced herself for the next smack, confused as to why she hadn’t killed him yet
and
why the seat of her panties suddenly felt so goddamned wet. Heat radiated up her spine as blood rushed straight to her clit. When Maikao ran his hand over her flesh, she jumped, and he shushed her by doing no more than massaging what had to be the reddened areas of her ass.

Just when she got comfortable with his caresses, briefly forgetting that her best friend had just finished spanking her, he swatted her a few more times and Addison’s forehead hit the wall, her eyes slamming closed. The worst part of all? Instead of attempting to claw his eyes out, she moaned and arched backwards, asking with her body for more.

Don’t come in your pants. Don’t come in your pants. Do
not
come in your pants!
Those were the only thoughts playing tug-a-war with Maikao’s mind as he heard Addison suck in a breath before she exhaled on a moan. His cock was so hard that it hurt, the abrasion of his boxers irritating the sensitive head. But when she pushed back into his hand, as though she were
asking
for him to smack her ass, his mind went blank; its only focus on the need to join his body with hers.

Maikao gripped her around the shoulders and spun her back to face him, the image of how she looked pushing back into his caress and causing him to briefly feel dizzy, he was so aroused. When she tried putting her hands between them, he simply held them behind her back with one of his own, holding her tightly enough that she couldn’t escape. He lowered his head and fastened his mouth to hers, the taste of Addison invading his senses and nudging him just that much closer to the edge. He wanted to fall head first over that edge—with her.