Still not an invitation, Maddie. I remind myself as I walk into the neighboring bedroom. But I leave my door slightly ajar as well, just in case.
Sawyer
“Yes!” I yell in enthusiasm when Maddie ducks under my swinging arm. “That was an excellent dodge, Maddie.”
“Why, thank you.” She drops a little curtsy, but even her cynicism can’t mask the glow of pride emanating from her.
Every day I spend close to Maddie, I fall deeper. These sides of her that are soft and strong at the same time are pulling at my heartstrings in ways I didn’t know were humanly possible.
Sometimes I look at her, and there’s this tug in my chest that is so strong I’m almost surprised I’m still alive.
It’s the worst thing that could be happening because Harlow isn’t letting up.
With every passing hour, Maddie is more vulnerable, more reliant on me, more illusioned by my role as her savior. I try to grasp onto that indisputable knowledge as bricks to wall up the overflowing emotions every time she smiles at me or hits me with one of her smart-mouthed comebacks.
“I’m going to hit the shower.”
“You’ve earned it.” I grab a towel and toss it around my neck.
“Because you would have forbidden it had I not kicked your ass, Huckleberry?” She raises an eyebrow, and I cross my arms, scanning her top to bottom. She still hasn’t regulated her breath, her soft skin is covered in a sheen of sweat, and her usually meticulous hair is rebelling, little strands that escaped from her ponytail sticking to her forehead.
“You ducked and dove. You never even lifted a foot to try and kick me, let alone high enough to reach my ass.”
Maddie stares at me blankly for a few seconds, then makes a sudden move that’s somewhere between a round kick and a cha-cha dance while attempting a karate sound, almost falling over before fleeing to the shower in a fit of giggles.
“I have no idea what that was supposed to be!” I call after her, my lips stretched in a wide grin that I only allow myself because I know she can’t see it. I shake my head in amusement and drop onto the couch to mindlessly zip through the channels as I wait for Maddie to clear out of the bathroom.
The TV offers zero distraction, that sassy mouth and sly grin holding firm in the forefront of my mind, despite my best attempts to push them away.
This living arrangement will be the end of me. I’m going crazy from the sound of water running in the shower, thoughts of Maddie’s hands kneading and caressing all those soft peaks and valleys with her Orchid Silk shower gel plaguing me.
I can’t think of anything else, but Fjord’s been sending me updates from the outside. Harlow’s people are circling like vultures, waiting for a clue as to where we’re hiding. My sanity, or growing lack thereof, will have to take the backburner if I want to keep Maddie safe.
The bathroom door opens, and I stare intently at the screen. Whatever the game score was last night, I don’t see it. It’s just a bunch of letters and numbers I pretend to focus on.
“You done, Maddie?”
“Yep, it’s all yours,” she calls back, and I hear the door to her room close.
Good. The last thing I need is another post-shower bathrobe rendezvous like the one three nights ago. My control is hanging by a thread as it is.
I plug my burner into the power outlet next to the TV and pull my shirt off on the way to the shower, pushing back the memories of her milky skin pressed against mine and what they’re doing to the temperature of my blood.
A wave of orchid-scented steam hits me when I enter the bathroom, and I swerve back to the hallway, cursing under my breath. It’s such a distinctively Madeline smell, and it does nothing to calm the growing bulge in my sweats.
Mind over matter, Abernathy.
I take a deep breath and re-enter the washroom, inhaling the scent, fighting it as it starts to take over and cloud my mind, heat my blood.
You’re on a mission. She’s just a girl,I repeat as I drop my sweats.
Only she isn’tjusta girl. She’s Maddie, with the sly smile and smart, soft mouth that I shouldn’t know the taste of, silky eyes that harbor a sharp, penetrating gaze that seems to make me tell her things I’ve never felt compelled to tell anyone else.
No point fighting, I realize as I turn on the water and step under it, washing up quickly before pouring some of her soap onto my left hand and spreading it over my cock. I was probably going to beat one out once Maddie went to sleep, anyway, it might as well be in the shower.
My hand starts pumping, slowly at first, playing on speed and depth, imagining Maddie’s swift hacker fingers and puckered lips teasing me to make me even harder for her, before finding a steady rhythm and settling into it with long strokes, my hips starting to move as I picture myself making love to Maddie.
“You feel so good.” I can envision that wily grin spread across her face when I say that. It’s the sexiest thing in the whole world, that fucking grin.