Wrapping my arms around him, I hug him close while we both catch our breaths. I’m not sure how long we lie like that, making a mess on the mats but simply content to embrace while the beating of our hearts steadies before falling into step with one another.
Eventually, Caid untucks his face from my neck, lifting his upper body to peer down at me. The little light that fills theroom allows me to see the depths of those gorgeous pale-green eyes, and my breath catches when I find a lot more emotion in them than I anticipated. I can point out some, already feeling them myself: contentment, affection, adoration, and tenderness, to name a few.
There’s something big floating in those green depths, too, but I refuse to give it a name. I’m not delirious enough to believe what my eyes might be seeing, afraid it could be nothing more than a trick of the dim light.
Instead, I smile up at the man and whisper, “I’d say this session went incredibly well, wouldn’t you?”
Caiden chokes on his sudden laugh, hanging his head as he mutters, “Jesus Christ.”
My laugh slips out before I can stop it, and Caiden groans loudly when I clench around him, his body dropping until his chest is pressed snugly against mine, his elbows buried in the mats on either side of my head. Peering down at me, he suggests, “How about we clean up and go home? You took enough shots, right?”
I nod. “Should have plenty for both the spank bank and wherever you’re posting them.”
Caid shuts his eyes as though he’s praying for patience, but his twitching lips betray him. It takes him a moment before he can say, “Wait there. I’ll get you something to clean up the mess. There’s a restroom just to the left over there.”
He points in the direction of said restroom, and I nod dutifully, only to gasp when Caid pulls free. I’m suddenly bereft, feeling empty the moment Caid is free, and I pout up at him as he holds his hand out to help me off the mats.
Grinning cheekily, Caid promises, “Trust me, that was tougher on me than you.”
“Hardly,” I grumble, taking his hand and ignoring the mess between my legs and on the mat. There’s certainly a lot ofit, and I bite my lip to hide the satisfaction I can feel building in my chest. I couldn’t say why I love being made a mess of by these men, but I can’t deny that it makes me hot and bothered, something about being so thoroughly marked by them setting my bones on fire.
“Whatever you’re thinking, I’m going to need you to stop, because I have no problem keeping you here for hours on end,” Caid warns.
My smirk is instant, and I argue, “What makes you think I’d have a problem with that?”
I’ll be damned if Caid’s eyes don’t darken with a new wave of lust and, before I can do a damned thing about it, I’m on the mats again and Caid is already inside me. I’m gasping and clawing at his back, the sudden full feeling stealing my air and sanity.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you, Blue,” he growls in my ear right before he starts fucking me all over again, our combined juices acting as lube to make the process smoother, hotter, and far beyond anything I ever expected out of Caiden Miller.
I’m an absolute goner for it, for him, and there’s no point denying it. Not that I even would. I’m already falling into the deep end of my emotions for these men, and for the first time since Toby emotionally scarred me, it doesn’t terrify me to let these men in. I’m not scared to get hurt by them because something in the dark corners of my soul tells me they would never do anything to intentionally beat the shit out of my heart.
Those thoughts linger an hour later as we leave the gym, both of us thoroughly disheveled and sated. I’ve been screwed six ways to Sunday, I’m pretty sure I’m walking as though I’ve ridden a horse bareback all day, and there’s no doubt I’ll need a shower when we get home. Despite the efforts I made in the restroom to clean up, Caiden made sure to mark me both inside and out, but you won’t hear a single complaint from me.
That thought makes me smile over at the man as he locks the front doors, the warm afternoon sunlight shifting to something softer now, gold coating the parking lot behind us. My legs still feel alarmingly unreliable despite lying almost comatose on the mats for ten minutes, and I eye Caid for a long moment before he realizes I’m staring.
He flashes me a smile, that cheeky one that almost has me jumping his bones all over again, and I swallow hard. My stomach is in a never-ending state of training for the Olympics, constantly suffering backflips, and I narrow my eyes at the blond-haired devil.
“You okay, Blue?” he asks, eyeing me as though he knows exactly what kind of effect he has on me, even if his cheeks carry a faint hue of pink.
Since I can’t let him have the upper hand, I raise an eyebrow and bluntly answer, “No. I’m pretty sure you’ve rearranged my internal organs.”
His laugh nearly kills him where he stands, a funny little wheeze rattling out of his chest, and I consider us even when he starts coughing in surprise. “Maddie.”
“What?” I answer innocently, crossing my arms over my chest. “I was being vulnerable with you. Don’t shame me.”
“You’re insane,” he laughs, still coughing slightly, and I flash him a victorious grin.
“And yet, you’re still into me,” I point out, winking over at him as he steps toward me.
He uncrosses my arms and claims my hand, linking our fingers instantly, and confesses, “Tragically obsessed, Blue.”
The way he says it makes it sound automatic, like he didn’t even have to think about the words before they slipped free. There’s no teasing, no flirting, just raw honesty. It makes me swallow hard as he leads me to his car, walking us to the passenger side before he opens my door for me and allows me toclaim my seat. Not because it’s scary, but because I feel the same, and it’s such a surreal situation when those feelings expand to fit four men in my heart.
The ride back to the apartment is warm and sleepy, filled with a comforting kind of silence that only seems to exist after growing close with someone. One of Caid’s hands stays resting on my thigh most of the way home, his thumb brushing lazy patterns over my skin with every stop we make at the lights.
And every single time, my thoughts scatter and my brain leaves the chat. I’d be embarrassed had I not suffered worse and grown a tolerance. Instead, I embrace the crazy feelings and hope for the damned best.
When we make it upstairs with a quick wave to Tanner, still too early for Callie’s shift to begin, Caid immediately disappears to the kitchen while I kick off my shoes and hang my camera bag and purse on the hooks beside the front door.
