“I very much would mind.” Hazel’s voice broke through the actress’s lust. The poor woman giggled, then danced back to the safety of her group.
“I’m ready to go,” she announced and walked to her curtained-off booth to grab her purse. I walked with her in case she needed some assistance. When I pushed back the curtain, hands gripped my shirt and threw me into the padded couch. I gathered the power within me, readying myself to unleash hell on whoever attacked me, until Hazel’s soft features came into view in the dim lights. Her body straddled my hips, as something tangled around my wrists, stretching them away like I’d be crucified.
“Hazel?” I peered at my restraints and vines with thick green leaves sprouted from a plant in the corner of the booth.
One eyebrow rose at the woman being a tad dramatic on top of me.
“Hazel,” I whispered as she leaned down, bringing her sinful body closer to me. Her breasts pressed against my chest and I felt her hardened nipples tease me. My muscles flexed against the vines, wanting to free my hands and touch her. I knew something heavy drove whatever emotions filled her right now. Maybe the alcohol took away the fight in her or maybe her jealousy from seeing someone else touch me. I shouldn’t touch her. I should tell her to stop, but she’d always been a temptation I couldn’t resist.
Her parted lips were inches from mine, and I struggled against the vines, wishing to grip the back of her neck and crush her lips against mine. I needed her and the evidence pressed against my jeans between her straddled legs. Her hips circled over me, and I wanted to die.
“Hazel.” I growled this time, needing something, or nothing at all. Her lips, her words, damnit I’d take anything right now.
Her nails raked my stretched arms, and my hips lifted toward her instinctually. I growled as her lips neared mine, one more inch and I’d be in heaven. She pulled back, her little circles slowed, and I hated to use my powers like this but she left me no choice.
I took away some of the air in the room, and the vines began to wither, along with Hazel taking one gasp of deep breath. As soon as the vines were loosened, I filled the booth with air again and lunged for her. My hands gripped her body and neck and pulled her closer. I was a starving man, and she’d laid a glorious feast before me. Hell, I’d been tortured, and never gave in, turns out all they would have needed was Hazel to near kiss me and I’d give the enemy anything they wanted.
Our lips violently clashed, sealing my life to hers.
I’d never be able to go back to a life where Hazel wasn’t mine.
Chapter Eighteen
Hazel
“Maddox,” I moaned against his lips. The need in me surged and there was nothing I wouldn’t do for his hands on me, his tongue tasting me with every kiss. We were explosive, and I feared what our powers were doing outside this booth. His fingers dug into my skin, holding me close as he devoured me, making me forget every touch I’d ever had before him.
“My Hazel,” he snarled and lifted his jean-covered hardness against my sex. I cried out softly, feeling like a goddess for unleashing this man on me where he’d worship every single inch of me, inside and out.
“We should stop.” My breathless voice did not stop his lips from moving from my mouth to my collarbone, then to the swell of my breast. Sugar snaps, how would I ever peel myself away from this man? I thought he had power over me before, that was nothing compared to our matched desire for each other.
I’d seen him with Giselle earlier and knew he didn’t want her. I’d gotten jealous, but I also felt a surge of confidence within me. Maddox wanted me and only me. I didn’t want to analyze how I knew it. I just wanted to see how far I could take this with him. Would he want me? Would he fight for me? Would he leave me after I let him have me?
The thought sobered me slightly. Fear worked its way through my system.
“Maddox, we have to stop.” I pulled away from his tantalizing touch.
“OK.” He took a deep breath and released his hands from me, giving us some needed space before we tore apart the booth.
“I don’t regret what just happened, but I just don’t think it should happen here. And well . . . maybe we should take things slower?” He’d come back into my life like a damn tornado, and despite where his nickname came from, I didn’t want him to fuck things up like the storm itself.
“Give me a minute, and we’ll go.” He attempted to free up space in his jeans, but there was no more room with that monster in there. I stared at it, my bottom lip curled between my teeth to stop myself from wetting my lips.
“Hazel, if you want to leave, you need to stop staring.”
I averted my gaze. After a few minutes, he declared we were good to go and we left without being noticed. We walked side by side. The high from the alcohol had seeped away when Maddox killed my vines earlier. I grew nervous with every step toward our hotel. He hadn’t said anything, but I sensed the tension in his shoulders. Would I let him have me tonight, or would it be better if I turned him down? Too many emotions rattled through my brain from our situation. I wanted him sexually, of course I did. He wasn’t the boy from my teenage dreams I thought I’d marry. He’d turned into a man I wanted to restrain and lick his massive muscles only to have him break past my powers and ravage me.
The first few times I tried to be with a man after the Jarrod situation, I broke down and couldn’t. After a year of therapy, helping with my PTSD, I was able to kiss and even let a man caress my neck. Eventually, I didn’t screw everything with a pulse, but the lovers I did have all respected me and earned my trust. We would part amicably, and no one was with me for the fame.
Maddox wanted more than sex. He didn’t need to say it for me to know the truth. Maddox didn’t come back into my life to only protect me. While I knew he’d be satisfied with that, he wanted more. The unsaid truth scared me the most.
“Excuse me, do you have some spare change?”
Maddox’s sudden hand against my chest stopped me from walking into someone asking for change. I’d been so caught in my thoughts, my awareness of the surroundings had faltered.
“No.” Maddox spoke clearly and dragged me nicely around the man with long strides.
“Come with me, then?” The man looked a little worse for wear, and while I felt bad for him, he also raised alarms in my head.
