“I know, right? Thank f**k I’m here to deal with these things.”

“How about we go upstairs and I take my shirt and bra off, would that ease your mind?”

“I’d definitely feel a lot better if you did that, yes.”

“Well, alrighty then. Race you.” I jumped to my feet, barreling up the stairs, giggling. Mal’s arm came around me from behind, lifting me off my feet, pulling me back up against his chest.

“I win,” he said, and carried me into the apartment where we both won, big-time.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Fingers were playing with me. Clever fingers.

My alarm hadn’t gone off for work yet. It was just before dawn. Sleep, however, wasn’t an option with him stirring me up the way he was. Since when was Mal a morning person? Answer, since he wanted sex.

God bless him for his base desires.

I lay on my stomach with him beside me, the hardness and heat of his body a wonderful thing to wake up to. Ever so gently, he stroked me between my legs. He trailed his knuckles softly back and forth along the seam of my sex. Everything low in me tensed in approval. I arched my pelvis, giving him better access to my pussy. We’d dragged my mattress out into the living room, away from the destruction of my wooden bed frame, and gone at it again last night.

“You awake?” he asked, voice husky from sleep.

“No.”

He trailed kisses down my spine, making me get all quivery. The graze of his stubble made for a delicious tactile sensory whatever. Yeah, I was still half asleep.

“Okay, don’t mind me. I just need something. Shouldn’t take too long … I’ll try not to disturb you.”

“Mm, thanks.”

His hard-on prodded my thigh. Then a strong hand slid beneath my hips, lifting. “Up,” he said, sliding the soft bulk of a pillow under me. “This is sweet. Anne, really, your ass looks great raised up like this.”

Wet fingers slid around my clit, turning me on like nobody’s business. He circled and stroked and tickled in turn, touching me just right. My thigh muscles tensed, knees digging into the bed. Damn, the man knew what he was doing. I clutched at the sheets, already breathing hard. It would be futile to try and express exactly how much I enjoyed having him touch me. Especially when my brain had shut down for the duration. I moaned in disappointment when he took to kneading my butt cheeks instead, trailing his fingers up and down my thighs.

“Wider,” he murmured, pushing my legs farther apart. The mattress shifted beneath me as he moved into place. From behind wasn’t my favorite position, but I had no doubt Mal could make it work. The man had skills.

There was the crinkle of a condom wrapper as he changed over to teasing me one-handed. Even just one of his hands was pretty damn good. Then the broad head of his c**k nudged my sex. I squeezed my eyes shut, pushed back against him, groaning as he slid into me. With his c**k filling me, there was no room for thought. I could only feel.

So damn good.

The way he gripped my ass, his fingers digging into my flesh, gave this tiny thrill of pain. He was truly a whole-body experience, quite possibly involving the astral plane. There were all the usual five senses and then something more I couldn’t begin to describe. Something addictive only he could give me. If my brain had been working, I would have been worried about this.

Big hands stroked over my back. Then the heat of his body covered me. Teeth nipped the lobe of my ear, stinging. My shoulders hitched and my muscles clenched.

“Ah, yeah. Fuck, that’s hot.” Mal pushed himself hard into me. Like he could get any deeper … as if. “You’re a lazy lay in the morning, Anne.”

“Hmm. I did all the work last night in the limousine.”

He chuckled, his chest moving against my back. Then he flexed his hips, pushing in, then drawing out, making every inch of me tremble. With his arms set on either side of me, he proceeded to f**k me leisurely into the mattress. My butt jiggled and it didn’t matter one iota. Not with Mal buried inside me. It seemed to take forever for him to pick up the pace. And he called me lazy. I needed more. Pushing my h*ps back against him, I urged him on. He got the message, moving faster, going harder. Sweat dripped off of him, onto me.

Gray noise filled my ears and white light filled my head. So damn close I could taste it. The sublime knot of tension drew tighter, but it wasn’t quite enough.

Yes.

YES.

But no. Shit. Damn it.

Mal ground himself against me, groaning. His c**k jerked deep inside me.

I hadn’t even realized I’d been holding myself tense until I collapsed facedown on the mattress. Made it kind of hard to breathe. I turned my head to the side, concentrated on catching my breath, on letting go of the ache. I’d almost gotten there, a first for the position.

Never mind, I just needed to think happy thoughts. Good thoughts. You couldn’t win every time.

Mal pulled out of me and fell onto the bed at my side. Outside, birds were singing. The faint hum of traffic came from not too far away. Nate was clumping around in the apartment next door.

“Anne?”

“Yes?” I rolled onto my back.

Mal was busy pulling off the used condom and tying a knot in it. Then he rolled off the mattress and walked into the bathroom.

“What, Mal?”

The toilet flushed. He walked back out, face carefully blank. We’d only been sleeping together for approximately five minutes and this felt weird. Like all relationships didn’t have their average sex moments. But did he know? I couldn’t tell. Maybe he was about to ask about breakfast or comment on the weather.

I pulled up the sheet, covering myself. “What’s wrong?”

“Is something wrong there?” he asked, tipping his chin.

“What, with me? No.”

“You sure about that?”

“Yes.” Mostly.

He knelt at the end of the mattress, watching me. “We need to talk.”

“Okay.”

“You won’t need this.” He grabbed the sheet, pulling it down, exposing me.

Right, fine. I started to sit up, needing to be in more of a position of power. The big ape grabbed my ankles, dragging me down. My back bounced on the bed, teeth clattering.

“Hey!” I squeaked.

“Let me explain what I mean by ‘talk. ‘”

His hands moved up my legs, spreading them wide. Cool as can be, he lay flat on his stomach, face level with my sex.

“Mal.”

“I’m not talking to you,” he said, fingers gently folding back the lips of my sex.

“You’re not?”

“No. You had your chance to communicate with me and you chose not to. You let this relationship down. Feel bad, Anne.” His breath tickled my still-sensitive pussy. It made feeling bad damn hard, frankly. Impossible when he flicked my cl*twith the tip of his tongue. My h*ps shot off the mattress but his hands were there, holding me down. “Hello, Anne’s clitoris. It’s me, Malcolm, your lord and master.”

“Oh, god, no.” I covered my face with my hands. “Please don’t.”

“Shh. This is a private conversation.” He brushed hot, feverish kisses up and down the lips of my sex. My stomach tensed so hard it hurt. “Look at you all pretty, pink, and excited. Don’t worry, I’ll look after you.”

“If you don’t stop talking to my va**na I’m going to kill you.” I put a hand down, trying to cover myself. The bastard slapped it. Hard too. I would get him back for that later.

“You’re beautiful, Anne’s pussy. Just beautiful. And I’m not mean like her. I’m on your side and I love you very much because you feel f**king amazing wrapped around my dick.”

“Malcolm, I mean it. You’re ruining o**l s*x for me forever. Cut it out.”

“Bullshit. You’re dripping wet. We’ll never get these sheets clean.”

“Oh, god.” My back bowed as he dragged his tongue up the center of me, finishing with a flourish at the top. I saw stars. “Too much.”

“Not even close.”

I whimpered.

He laughed.

His mouth covered my clitoris and his tongue went to god damn town on me. I writhed, out of control, but it made no difference. Hands banded around my thighs, holding me to him. There was no escaping the terrible, all-consuming overwhelming pleasure. He sucked, flicked his tongue, and generally unleashed an unsurpassed wealth of oral talent upon my unsuspecting sex.

The bastard.

Who even knew teeth could be used like that?

I came in under a minute, crying his name. My heartbeat thundered through my head and my whole body shook. I lay sprawled across the mattress, letting the aftershocks have their way with me. Endorphins had pickled my mind. Tears slid down my face, the orgasm had hit me so hard, so fast. That had never happened before. Hurriedly, I brushed them away. My heart seemed suddenly too big for my chest. The orgasm had engorged it somehow. It couldn’t be healthy.

From next door came banging on the wall. “I already knew Mal’s name, Anne. But thanks for the reminder.”

I used the last of my energy reserves to give the wall the finger. “Morning, Lauren.”

Distantly, there was laughter, male and female both. Our neighbors sucked.

“We need to kill them or move,” I said. “I’m open to either option.”

“You know, you talk tough,” said Mal, “but inside, you’re all soft and wet and really quite tasty.”

I choked back a laugh. “Glad you approve.”

Mal crawled up, pausing to wipe his mouth on the sheet. He laid his head on my shoulder, snuggling into me. That was good, I needed him near. The glut of emotions felt more manageable with him close, even if he was the cause of all the chaos.

“I think my legs are broken; they won’t work.” Not that I’d actually tried yet. My brain was too floaty for any movement.

He pressed a kiss to my cheek. “Next time, just tell me you need more.”

“You’re a monster,” I whispered.

“Okay.” He didn’t even sound the slightest bit perturbed.

“I mean it.”

“Mm-hm.”

“But the worst part is, I feel something for you,” I said, because fair was fair. Love was a stupid word. I’d heard it from various people and it rarely meant what you thought it did. Somewhere along the way, that word had turned into a pleasantry, not profound and weighty as it should have been. No, Love wasn’t what I felt. This was different, more complex. I couldn’t even think of a word for it. “I only feel it a tiny bit … probably just because of the great orgasm, so it’s not like it’s a big deal or anything. It’ll pass.”

With a sigh, he went up on one elbow and put an arm around me, pulling me up against him. When he rolled onto his back, I went too. I lay sprawled across him. There was no better thing. Apart from what he’d just done to me, of course. One hand stroked my back, while the other lay behind his head.

“A miniscule amount, really.” My thumb rubbed over his nipple, back and forth, back and forth. I seemed to have entered some stream-of-consciousness state and I didn’t have the energy to fight it. “You probably couldn’t even see it with a microscope.”

Another sigh from the man.

“Well, maybe one of those lab ones, but not a kid’s toy one. The magnification wouldn’t be–”

All of a sudden we rolled again and I was on the bottom with the weight of Mal’s body pushing me deep into the mattress.

“Hi,” I said, just a bit discombobulated by the abrupt change in position. He’d barely given my head to time to stop spinning from the previous shift.

“Been thinking.” He watched me, eyes intense. “Want you to do something for me.”

“Okay.”

“Need you to come on tour, least for a while. See what you can manage, okay?”

My engorged heart basically burst. My insides were officially a mess. “Need?”

“Yeah, need.” His forehead furrowed. “Things are happening and I know you’ve got questions but I need you to not ask them right now. I just … I need you with me. I deal with stuff better when you’re around.”

“Stuff like the other reason why you wanted me around that you wouldn’t admit to last night?”

Guilt slid across his face. “Yeah.”

“We’re going to have to talk about stuff eventually.”

“Yeah, we are. Yours and mine both.”

I froze beneath him, not answering. But he just patiently waited me out. The words were stuck inside my chest with the rest of the clutter. It was hard to find them. “You’re right. I know. And I’ll try and work something out about the tour.”

Work would survive. Reece owed me. He wasn’t going to like it, but he sure as hell owed me. Between Tara and the new guy, Alex, my shifts could be covered.

“Thanks.” He nodded, gave me a small mile. “And it’s okay about the feeling something thing. I get it.”

“You do?” What a relief, because I still wasn’t sure I did. I’d never even said anything close to resembling those words.

“Yeah. You don’t need to keep babbling about it.”

“I wasn’t babbling.”

“You were, but that’s okay.” His fingers toyed with my hair. “The timing isn’t great for me, pumpkin. I didn’t need shit getting any more complicated. But like I said last night, we see where this goes. Agreed?”

Sounded like a solid plan. “Yes.”

“You’re good for me. You take me any mood I come in. I don’t have to be always happy or on around you. You roll with any shit I say and give as good as you get. You don’t let me push you around if it doesn’t suit you and you haven’t asked me to buy you a f**king thing.”