We made it back to his house after dinner with his family and long after the sun had set, and now we’re making up for lost time.
He captures my mouth again as I work to unbutton my shorts and shove them and my underwear down my legs. His hands lift my shirt from my head, and he pinches the back of my bra to release it from my body before he lifts me and carries me over to the bed.
Standing back, he shoves his own shorts and underwear down, and then he climbs over me, making my breath catch.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes. I’m more than okay,” I say, staring up at him, pushing his hair from his face.
“Fuck, I love you, Penelope.”
“I love you, too, Maddox.”
“I want everything with you.” He kisses my lips. “And I mean that.” His mouth climbs down my neck before finding my nipple and sucking it between his lips. “Tonight changed everything, Pen.”
“I want that, too. And I just want to feel close to you right now. Make love to me, please.”
Lifting his head again, we lock eyes as Maddox slides inside me, pumping his hips in a slow rhythm that has my limbs tingling and my nails scratching his back.
“I’ll never get enough of this, of you,” he whispers before kissing me softly, and then his hips do a dance that my entire body can’t get enough of.
We barely speak as we reconnect physically, reinforcing everything we discussed earlier.
This man is my future. He’s my person. He broke down my walls and forced me to see that I do deserve love and that he’s the man I’ve been waiting for to show me that. He welcomed me into his family, he let me cry and share my past with him, and he’s holding me together as I push past my fears.
He’s everything I need, and I can’t believe he’s mine.
“I’m gonna come, Pen,” he announces as his thrusts pick up speed. And just hearing him say those words has my own orgasm teetering on the brink.
“Me, too. Fuck, Maddox.”
“God, I love you,” he groans as he reaches between us and rubs my clit, and I pop off like a bottle rocket right alongside him, clinging to him like the lifeline he is—my lifeline.
I’m so fucking happy that I cry—but this time, they’re tears of joy.
Jacob helped me discover the girl I was, but Maddox helped me find her again. And now is the time for me to just be happy—to accept my past and be hopeful for my future with a man who showed me how to live again and embrace the fear of falling in love.
Chapter23
Penelope
“What is that?” I lift my head, my hand scrubbing my face as my eyes adjust to the light coming through the windows. A phone ringing in the distance pulls me out of my haze, and I leap out of bed to go fetch it.
We came home from Texas last night, and this morning, Maddox has to report to training camp. I won’t be able to talk to him for at least five days since the coaches want the players completely focused on the game and nothing else. It’s a small sacrifice to pay before we can come clean about our relationship, but I know it will be worth it in the end.
As of right now, though, I’m pretty sure I’ve only had three hours of sleep between the flight and Maddox fucking me the second we arrived at my place. Now add in the fact that my phone is ringing off the hook, and the way this day is starting is pissing me off.
“Motherfucker!” I shout as I stub my toe on the corner of my bed in pursuit of my purse, which I finally locate after my phone’s done ringing. I pull it from its confines and stare down at it, which makes my stomach drop instantly. “Holy shit!”
“What’s going on, Pen?” Maddox leans up in bed, rubbing his eyes.
“I have thirty missed calls.” Scrolling down the screen, I see all of the girls have called me, along with Charles and Liam, more than five times each.
“Okay...”
“Something must be going on.” I open a text from Charlotte and click on the link, and I’m presented with a picture of Maddox and me from the other night—the night when he held me in the bleachers as I confessed my entire past to him—and there’s an article accompanying it.
Looks like Maddox Taylor isn’t as focused on his new season as a Bolt as the team wants you to believe, because this weekend, he was caught back in his hometown of Newberry Springs, Texas, getting up close and personal with Penelope Klein, the PR rep the Bolts hired to build excitement for the upcoming season. All summer, we’ve seen stories of Taylor and the Los Angeles Bolts attending charity functions and running drills, preparing for another season of football while giving back to the community. But it seems he had other interests as well, and perhaps Miss Klein and Edelman PR have some explaining to do about preferential treatment of their clients.