for stimulation as she felt. “Touch me.”
She cried out when he did what she’d hoped he would and rubbed her clit with his thumb. Her pussy clamped tight over his cock and his finger, trying to tug him deeper.
“Your pussy is always greedy for cock,” he said to her. “You know that?”
“Yes!” she agreed. “Fuck it.”
“Fuck what, baby?” He continued to thrust into her slowly, the added stimulation of his finger driving her mad.
“Inside,” she panted.
“Inside where?”
God, he was such a tease. “My pussy. Fuck it hard, Adam. I can’t stand it anymore.”
“You know I love it when you get so worked up you forget to be proper.”
“Please. I need to be fucked.” She fisted a hand in his thick jet-black hair. “Now.”
“I can’t take you hard when we’re like this,” he said, his hips moving oh so slowly as he forced his cock and his finger deeper.
“Then how? I need it. Please.”
He pulled out, and she sucked in a sob of torment. “I’ll have to turn you around to fuck you hard when we’re in such a small space.”
She didn’t resist when he forced her to face the wall. She opened her legs eagerly, delighted when he didn’t waste any time and claimed her pussy with a hard, deep thrust. His long, calloused fingers—guitarist fingers—dug into her hips as he pounded into her, rubbing that itch deep inside that was never satisfied with gentle lovemaking. She needed to feel him. Hard. Deep. Until it almost hurt, but not quite. Only Adam knew how to give her exactly what she needed. His thumbs massaged her always eager back entrance until she thought she might die if he didn’t fuck her ass next. He knew how much she liked being taken in her forbidden place. He always did right by her there as well.
He didn’t give her the extra she wanted, though. His fingers shifted to her clit, rubbing her most sensitive spot rapidly until she came with a cry of release. He then shuddered behind her as he let go, grabbing her tits to pull her upright and tight against him as he spent himself inside her with several gasping jerks. He massaged her breasts as he slowly thrust into her for several moments after he finished.
“You wanted more, didn’t you?” he asked, watching her in the mirror.
“That was perfect,” she said.
“You didn’t want me to fuck your ass?” He kissed her ear, grinning knowingly. “The only thing greedier for cock than your pussy is your tight little hole.”
He slapped her flank, and her ass tightened with need. Yes, she wanted him inside her there. Even now.
“Well,” she said, her cheeks pink. “Maybe a little. You know I love it.”
“I have set up a little something for you to enjoy at the sex club tomorrow night. But until then, no anal.”
She didn’t know whether to be excited about the upcoming experience at the club or disappointed that she had to wait for butt sex.
“None?” she asked. “Not even a finger? A plug? Nothing?”
He laughed, obviously finding her desperation amusing. “Not until tomorrow night.”
“Did anyone ever tell you that it’s not nice to tease?” she asked, reaching between her legs to rake her fingernails over his balls and then caress him where his body was still joined with hers.
He tensed and released a huff of breath against her neck.
“I don’t think you’ll feel that way after tomorrow night,” he said, churning his hips to burrow deeper. He was slowly growing soft inside her, but seemed content to stay buried within. “You’re in for a surprise.”
“Another one?” she asked.
The devious grin she caught in the mirror made her belly quiver.
“The best one.”
God, she couldn’t wait to see what he had in store for her.
When Madison and Adam exited the dressing room moments later, the clerk produced a slow clap, shaking her head at them as if she’d caught a pair of naughty children playing doctor in her closet. Madison buried her face in Adam’s upper arm, her cheeks so hot that his leather felt icy against them.
“You do turn good girls bad, Adam Taylor,” the woman commented with a throaty chuckle. “I should have never doubted your skill.”
Adam wrapped an arm around Madison’s lower back. “She’s just a little bad, Phaedra,” he said. “She’s been working hard at turning me good.”
Phaedra laughed hysterically. “She definitely has her work cut out for her there,” she said. “Personally, I don’t think she stands a chance. You’re better off finding someone who likes you for who you are, not the person she thinks you should be.”
Madison stiffened and lifted her head to stare the woman down. “I love him for who he is on the inside. That tender part of him that he doesn’t let most people see.”
Phaedra shook her head at her. “He really has you fooled, doesn’t he?” Her brown-eyed gaze shifted to Adam. “Let me know when you get bored with her Pollyanna bullshit, baby. You know it will never be enough for you.”
Adam kissed Madison’s temple and whispered close to her ear, “Go wait for me outside.”
“What?” Narrowing her eyes, she looked up at him. Her hurt for being insulted by Phaedra was rapidly replaced by utter confusion. And a touch of suspicion. “Why?”
“I need to speak to Phaedra in private.” He didn’t look at Madison. His cold gaze was fixed on the woman who was suddenly clutching to her chest the cream-colored jacket that matched Madison’s leather pants.
“But—”
“Go.”
“Adam?”
His gaze softened when he looked at her. He lifted a hand to touch her cheek and stroked her skin lightly with his fingertips. “It’s okay, baby. Just do what I ask, please.”
She still didn’t want to leave him alone with this woman who seemed to know him and was obviously interested in him as something more than a regular customer, but she did as Adam asked and went outside. She did not, however, take her eyes off him as she stood outside the store, staring in through the windows. She couldn’t hear what he was saying, but he was obviously very angry as he yelled at Phaedra, gesticulating aggressively—one arm swinging out toward the door Madison had just exited, the other curled inward as he patted his chest and then pointed at Phaedra, who winced as if he’d slapped her.
Madison strained her ears, but couldn’t hear over the traffic sounds behind her. So she tried to read his lips. It appeared that Adam’s every other word was fuck, but she couldn’t be sure. Why had he sent her outside to wait? She would have liked to hear him cuss out Phaedra. Madison reached for the door handle and pulled it open, catching the tail end of Adam’s tirade.
“—better if no one besides her gives me a fucking chance!”
A ringer behind the counter bonged to announce someone had entered the store, and Adam turned his head to look at Madison.
“I told you to wait outside,” he said, his tone still harsh from anger.
“I’m not waiting outside,” she said and stubbornly crossed her arms over her chest. “You should trust me enough to hear what you have to say.”
“She’s right,” Phaedra said. “Has she ever even seen this side of you?”
Madison had seen it plenty in the early days of his treatment, but he’d let go of his anger once he’d opened up to her and trusted her with his real feelings. Or maybe all this time he’d been burying his anger for her benefit.
“This isn’t me anymore,” Adam said to Phaedra.
“It looks like you and it sounds like you and it acts like you, so who exactly is it supposed to be, Adam?” Phaedra asked.
“Fuck off, Phaedra,” Adam said. He shoved past Madison on his way out of the store.
Madison started to go after him, but Phaedra’s warning stopped her.
“You can’t leave with those pants unless you pay for them.”
She could have jerked off the pants and gone outside in her underwear, but instead she dug a credit card out of her
small purse and extended it toward the woman.
“Charge them for me.”
Phaedra took the card from her hand. “And the jacket?”
“Yeah, whatever.”
“And a black T-shirt.” It wasn’t a question.
Madison hurried out of the store and searched for Adam. She spotted him near the end of the building. His back to the road, he had his forearm pressed against the bricks and was staring down at the cracked asphalt between his boots. His right hand was clenched into a fist, and every line of his body was hard with tension. Madison took a steadying breath and strode in his direction. When she touched his shoulder, his body jolted as if she’d stabbed him.
“Give me a minute,” he said. “I need to cool down.”
“Why are you so upset? Talk to me.”
He shook his head slightly. “I don’t want a counseling session right now, Miss Fairbanks.”
“Talking to me doesn’t mean we’re having a session, Adam. Besides . . .” she said, her chest suddenly tight and achy. She took a deep breath and forced the words out. “I’m not a counselor anymore.”
His head jerked around, and he stared at her with wide gray eyes. “What do you mean?”
“I got fired this morning.”
“What?” He shifted and took her shoulders in his palms. “What happened? Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
She shrugged. “I don’t think I’ve fully digested it yet,” she said. “It was a shock. And I didn’t want my problem to ruin our weekend together.”
“Madison, baby, you can tell me anything. Anything.”
“The way you tell me anything? Or the way you send me outside when you have something to say that you don’t want me to hear?”
His gaze shifted to her forehead, and a muscle in his jaw twitched. “I was pissed. I don’t like you to see me like that.”
“Adam, I need to see you like that. I need to see all of you. I love you.”
“I try so hard not to be that guy anymore, but sometimes . . .” He shook his head. “Tell me what happened with your job.”
There was no use in hiding the details from him. “Someone reported me for having an affair with a client. And my boss, well, she seemed to think I’d form a habit of it.”
“So it’s my fault you got fired.” He scowled, his fingers curling into her shoulders.
She shook her head. “Of course it isn’t. I could say I should have been more careful—not let you get close, kept my legs shut—but I don’t regret sleeping with you, and I don’t regret falling in love with you.”
“But someday you might.”
Madison shook her head. “No chance.”
His arms slid around her back, and he hugged her. “I’m so sorry, baby. Will you be able to find another job? I know how much you love your work and how much all the fuck-ups in the world need you. I know I’m not the only one you’ve saved.”
“I didn’t save you. Just helped you save yourself. And I’m sure everything will work out,” she said, more to soothe his fears than to state her true feelings. She’d probably never be able to get another job working with addicts. But Adam was worth any adversity. It was just a job—a job she’d worked hard to obtain, an important job, a fulfilling job, but still just a job. There were countless other jobs she could try, but he was the man she loved, and there was only one of him. “I love you.”
“I love you,” he said against her hair. “Do you want me to contact your boss? Maybe I can set things right.”
Madison was pretty sure Adam’s idea of setting things right would include a lot of yelling and swearing.
“No, it’ll be fine,” she said. “And I don’t want you to blame yourself for this.”
“How could I? It’s your fault.”
She jerked away and glared up at him in disbelief. He had to take at least a little credit for her ending up without a job.
“Maybe if you weren’t so damned sexy,” he said, “I could have kept my hands to myself.”
He slid those hands over the curve of her ass and crushed their lower bodies together.
“Maybe if you weren’t so damned sweet,” he said, “I could have kept my lips off you.”
He kissed her jaw. Her lips. The tip of her nose.
“Maybe if your heart wasn’t so big, I wouldn’t have been so tempted to win it for myself.”
He cradled the back of her head in one hand and pressed her face to the crook of his neck. She wrapped her arms around his waist and snuggled closer. He felt so good. So solid. So strong against her. She knew everything would be okay. There was a reason they’d met. She was sure it was so they could spend their lives together.
“So it is all your fault, Miss Fairbanks,” he murmured. “It’s your fault I fell in love with you.”
She smiled against his chest. “Well, when you put it that way . . . I’m happy to take the blame.”
Chapter Four
Torn with indecision, Adam fingered the ring in his pocket and stared in through the glass of the shop where Madison had gone to collect her purchases. He didn’t think the time was right to ask her to marry him. Not when she’d just dropped that bombshell on him. Even though she’d played down losing her job as if it wasn’t a big deal, he knew it was a big deal. Once her jobless situation had time to sink in, she was going to be devastated. And he wanted to be the one to hold her and kiss her tears away when she shattered.
Fuck.
When had he started having tender thoughts like those? Sometimes he couldn’t believe the syrupy bullshit that filtered through his mind and came out of his mouth.
This woman had him all sorts of out of his head. And though he’d responded to Phaedra’s words with anger, what she’d said about Madison not liking him for who he was had bothered him. The man Phaedra had once known was all sorts of wrong for the sweet counselor who owned his heart and he knew that, but he was a new man now. A good man.
Oh, who the fuck did he think he was kidding? Maybe only himself. Everyone around him still saw him the way he’d always been, and maybe they were the ones who were right about him. Maybe it was only a matter of time before he embraced his darkness again. And if that happened, he knew he couldn’t stay with Madison. He didn’t want to hurt her feelings, but he couldn’t drag her down into the darkness, into his pit of shit and misery. He wouldn’t be able to stand it if she started to hate him. He’d rather die than earn her hatred.
When Madison stepped out of the store wearing her sexy as sin leather pants, any thoughts of darkness were completely obliterated by her light. Maybe there was a place between his shadows and her radiance where they could exist together in harmony. He had to believe in her, in them. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t care where life took him. All paths led to death eventually, and he’d glimpsed his mortality more than once, so dying didn’t scare him. It never had. But losing her did. He couldn’t lose her. She was his light. His everything.
“So how do you know that woman, anyway?” Madison asked, trying to appear nonchalant, but looking like she was about to explode.
Adam tugged her closer and began to unsnap the mother-of-pearl fastenings of her cutesy pink and blue plaid shirt one by one. Her eyes widened, and she slapped a hand over her chest to halt his progress.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
Avoiding your question. “Helping you change,” he said.
“Here?”
“You can’t wear this shirt with those pants. It’s bad enough that you’re keeping the boots.” He moved his hands to the hem of her blouse and unsnapped it from the bottom up until the only snap holding it shut was the one under her dainty hand.
“Adam!”
“What?” He took her chin between his thumb and forefinger and kissed her. “I’m just trying to help.”
“Sure you are. I’ll be right back.” Clutching the front of her shirt closed with one hand, she raced back inside the store.
He chuckled and shook his head. She was still a good girl. And