“Nothing would stop me from returning to you.”
“Maddox . . . I . . .”
I leaned down to kiss her into silence before she said something that didn’t need to be said right now. Pain in the lip be dammed.
“I’m here, and I feel the way I always did. No matter what, I’m not going anywhere. You don’t have to feel anything for me yet, and hell if you never do, I’ll survive. I’m not here to take over your world, Hazel, and ruin everything like my nickname’s sake. I’m here to compliment the life you’ve created, and I’ll wait as long as it takes. No expectations.”
Her head dropped and rested against my chest.
“I don’t know what I want.” She exhaled and her hands went to my back, pulling me in for a hug, bare skin against bare skin.
“You don’t need to figure it out right now.” She had suffered abandonment issues even before I had met her, from her parents’ death. My exit from her teen years only exacerbated the fear within.
We held each other in the shower until we relaxed. We cleaned ourselves, never pushing for sexual comfort as a reaction to the rush of adrenaline inside of us.
“No expectations, but can I hold you tonight?” I asked as we dried ourselves off. We used to sleep together as kids, for comfort, safety, and warmth. In the years of separation, I’d often dreamed of our time together when deserted in Earth’s hellholes looking for assholes.
“Yeah, let me spray in some conditioner, then I’ll be in.” She nodded without looking at me, and I walked into my room for some shorts. A body was a body to both of us, but I wasn’t going to push it. The two of us sleeping naked in a bed together would only lead to an explosive outcome. When Hazel and I finally do fuck, I wanted for it to be secluded enough so no casualties occurred when we unleashed ourselves and our powers.
Chapter Twenty
Hazel
I’d say that I couldn’t remember the last time I’d slept as good as I did last night, but that would be a bald-faced lie. I had always slept like the dead with Maddox next to me. Nothing had changed in our years apart. He still comforted me and made me feel like I was the only girl in his world.
Despite the perfect rest in his arms, I woke up before him, thinking about everything. I peered at Maddox’s sleeping face and mesmerized his familiar yet strange face. His star-shaped scar beneath his now swollen lip still made me smile, even with its awful family history. He’d been abused as a kid. His dad had burned the tip of a screwdriver and touched him with it on multiple parts of his young body, including his lip. Unfortunately, that wasn’t even the worst of the stories of his past. I’d always loved how strong he was regardless of his painful experiences. He suffered, and never grew jaded at the world. My ex-white knight.
I sighed and continued perusing his body, looking for signs of the man I used to know while attempting to understand the new him.
“I’m here to compliment the life you’ve created, and I’ll wait as long as it takes. No expectations.”He probably didn’t realize how hard those words had hit my soul. My old therapist used to drill into my head that true happiness comes from within, not from outside sources. When you love someone and want him or her in your life, you choose to let their happiness compliment yours. Love added to the joy existing within your soul, not its sole purpose.
He slept soundly and I watched his ab muscles flex with every breath. He really looked like a Viking—rough and massive. My gaze dipped down to his hardened dick peeking above the waistband of his shorts. I’d slept in the nude, since I usually did and he’d already seen me naked many times. I thought maybe he’d try to kiss me again or cop a feel or two but he simply crawled into bed and held me. We both fell asleep quickly.
I didn’t know why I had stepped into the shower with him. Was it the need to comfort him, my old friend, or something more? The confusion inside my head ate at my senses. I didn’t know which way was up, and what to do. He said he’d wait however long until I chose him, but what if I didn’t want that?
Caught up in my thoughts, I didn’t notice a pair of sea-blue eyes watching me.
“I wasn’t staring at you.”
My poor attempt to lie brought a smirk to his lips. Lips I wanted to kiss, and without the strength to resist him, I leaned in to taste what I wanted, trying not to hurt his injury as best as a I could.
“You know my will is only so strong when it comes to you, right?” he muttered against my mouth, and my answer came in the form of my fingers caressing his abs. Touching him chased the confusion away, and even though I wasn’t ready for sex with him, that didn’t mean we couldn’t play.
“Softening your armor for me?” His hand cupped my ass and pulled me closer, my leg lifting over his hips.
“Maybe a little. You said no expectations, right?” I had initiated this touch between us, but doubt lingered about it being the right decision.
“None.” He kissed me and kneaded my ass with his strong hands. I pushed away the uncertainty when it came to my emotions and gave in to the joy of living in this moment with him.
His lips were the sweetest ambrosia, and I reveled in the high of his touch. Over and over, we breathed in each other with every kiss and caress of our tongues. His hands were everywhere and yet teasing the exact spots I wanted them. I needed more of him and not gently.
“I’m not fragile, Maddox.” His hands had been soft and explorative but not fueled with desire like the type burning within me.
“I’ve been thinking about having you like this for so long. I want to savor this.” His mouth moved down my neck, leaving goosebumps in his wake.
“Savor harder and with more of you, please.” I wanted him to take me, use me, and make up for the past decade without him. He moaned against the swell of my small breasts, then wrapped his luscious lips around the tips. My back bowed, and my hands gripped him everywhere they could. His teeth nipped at me, and I moaned also, feeling sensations I’d never experienced before.
I pushed him back, taking lead for what I wanted and climbed over him. Instead of straddling his hips and rubbing against him, I turned my ass to his face, my eyes on his massive dick. With greedy hands, I pushed down his shorts and watched with a hungry gaze as he sprang free.
