Chapter Six
Maddie
My body feltlike I'd literally been fucked into submission. I couldn't move, and the most complete feeling of exhaustion made every muscle exquisitely ache. With my head buried in the pillow, I listened to Eric ease himself off the bed and then lean down next to me.
"Maddie?" he whispered, sounding like he was worried he might have been too much for me.
But nothing about our time together had been too much. Most men I'd been with tended to be too gentle, too timid when they got me into bed. It was the reason I stopped dating them because I couldn't imagine a possible future with any man who couldn't rule me in the bedroom.
Eric definitely didn't have that problem. His every touch and movement held me captive and made me want more of him. Every time he rammed his cock into me made my body come alive more and more, and for one of the first times in my life, I could imagine a future with a man like him.
Not that I'd thought about anything like that yet. I'd only been working for him for a few days, and I wasn't a fool. I knew what was happening between us was nothing more than physical. Eric Pierce could have any woman he wanted. He had the looks, the brains, the reputation, and the money.
And I had no doubt that he'd had lots of women before me lying next to him in this very bed.
So no matter how much my mind might want to entertain ideas of us doing this forever, I knew it was more likely that this was only temporary.
Very temporary.
"Maddie? You okay?"
I looked at him through a veil of my hair and saw real concern in his eyes. It made me feel wanted more than just for my body.
Pushing my hair off my face, I smiled. "I'm good. What about you?"
He blew the air out of his lungs and grinned. "I'm definitely good. That was incredible."
"We're pretty good together," I said, instantly hating that I'd said it that way.
We weren't together in any real way, so why had I phrased it like that? Damnit! I shouldn’t have said something so ridiculous.
Eric's expression darkened, but then he forced a smile. "Not too shabby at all."
Great.
People said that when they had a decent slice of pie or someone did an okay job on hemming a pair of pants. To hear sex described like that was like the kiss of death. And here I'd thought it had been life-changing.
What a fool I could be sometimes.
I closed my eyes and let my hair fall back over my face to hide my disappointment. I needed to remember that ridiculous girlish fantasies had no place between us. I was his employee, and no matter how much he seemed into me when we were naked together, that's all I was.
"As soon as I can move my legs, I'll go to my room."
The way those words came out made it sound like I was sulking. Christ, I should just shut my mouth and slink away before I made a complete fool of myself.
"It's okay, Maddie. You can stay as long as you want."
More tepid words. How could two people who were so incredibly hot together when they were naked be so awful after the sex was over?
I lay there silently counting the minutes before I could leave and not look like I was running away. I could almost feel the awkwardness growing between us, like someone placing brick upon brick as they built a wall right there in the center of the bed. When I finally did leave, Eric and I exchanged strained pleasantries and I quickly dressed before I hurried to my room at the back of the house.
The place where I belonged.
Throwing myself onto my twin bed that suddenly seemed so tiny after my time in Eric's king-size bed, I covered my eyes and tried to forget the entire episode with him. What was I thinking? We're pretty good together? Why didn't I just ask him how long it would be before he planned to ask for my hand?
It would have had the same effect.
Nothing like saying the exact thing that would terrify a single man, Maddie. Way to go. For an encore, do you plan to start picking out new furniture and showing him your paint choices for when you redecorate his home to your liking too?