Page 69 of His Secret Obsession
How has one tiny slip of a woman reduced me into a possessive, growly caveman?
Maddie tip-toes down the stairs, coming into view as she stands in front of me with a pensive look. My heart stumbles because Christ, she’s so beautiful like this. She’s wearing one of my t-shirts, no doubt pilfered from my closet when she thought I wasn’t looking. The black shirt is massive, swallowing her up and hiding the curves of her hips. She’s washed the make-up off her face, the wet tangles of her hair spilling down her back. I cherish these moments when she’s undone, moving around my home so casually. This is when I get the most genuine version of her, completely unguarded and at ease.
It's a part of her I get that no one else does.
“How did things go today at the festival?” I already know the answer. Based on the number of people milling around her booth today, I would say it went well. But I want to hear it from her own lips, and I also want to avoid talking about a certain elephant in the room.
She crosses her arms and frowns. “Good, until you came by and got all broody about Luke texting me.”
I sigh, running a hand through my hair. “Straight to business then?”
“So, it does bother you?” she asks, tilting her head at me.
I laugh, but it comes out sounding a little gruff. My fingernails scrape along the edges of the label wrapped around my beer bottle. “You know he wants you back, right?”
“And I told you that night in the restaurant that I’m not going back to him.”
I scoff. “You guys have four years’ worth of history.” My eyes slide back up to hers, watching the emotions filter through herexpressive eyes. She’s shaking her head like she wants to argue, and I lower my voice as I admit a painful truth. “And I can only give you a few stolen months. How am I supposed to compete with that?”
Maddie places a palm on her chest, her eyes crackling with fire. “I am not a competition.”
“I know that!” I shove my beer bottle onto the coffee table, and it connects with athud. My heart is going wild, my fingers shaking as the tumultuous emotions of the past few days well up inside me. Overwhelming me. I place my hand over my pounding heart. “But sometimes I wish he had never met you!”
I don’t mean to raise my voice at her, and I immediately regret it when Maddie flinches. I wince, making an effort to soften my tone. But I still sound a little crazed.
“Because then I could have you without feeling like the world’s worst brother! I could walk down the street with my arm around you and take you on a goddamn date without having to worry about one of the town busybodies telling him.” Pulse hammering, I lean back into the couch and shut my eyes. “Fuck, Maddie, it’s bad enough I’ll have to give you up. But if I have to watch you go back to him, I don’t know how I’ll get through that.” It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask her if we can still hide this when he comes back, but she deserves to be flaunted like the queen she is. Not hidden like a dirty secret. And maybe some part of me is afraid she still has feelings for him.
“Jax.”
A long moment of silence follows when I refuse to answer. Then I feel the inside of her thighs pressing against my legs, her arms wrapping around my neck. The scent of her vanilla shampoo fills my nose. Her body heat radiates against mine, and I instinctively plant a hand on each hip. My eyes open.
“Listen to me.” Her soft fingers grasp my chin, tilting my face up to hers. I lean forward, drawn to her like I always am.Our lips are mere inches from one another, our soft breaths mingling. “My relationship with Luke was already deteriorating long before he touched that girl. I already knew I was going to break up with him. I just hadn’t found the right time.”
I stare into her eyes, silently willing her words to be true. “Really?”
Her fingers shift through my hair, gently playing with the short strands before sliding down to graze along the scruff on my jaw. “Really. I don’t love him. And you don’t need to worry because you’re the one I’m crazy about. Not him.” She closes the distance between us, her soft lips melding into mine. Warmth spreads through my chest as our tongues tangle. She nips my bottom lip before pulling away, and I’m left staring at her with a dazed expression.
“You’re crazy about me?”
She nods, her cheeks flushing. Her soft gaze feels like it’s drilling straight down to my most inner thoughts, making me want to melt into the couch beneath her. “We may not have forever, but we have right now. If this is all the time we get, let’s make the most of it,” she says.
My heart feels like it’s about to careen out of control.
“Kiss me again,” I whisper.
She obliges me, letting me take control this time. It starts out as a gentle, tender brushing of lips before it deepens, gradually turning into something demanding and heated. I devour her mouth, my tongue flicking along the seams of her lips until she lets me in. A low rumble escapes my throat when her small hands slide down my chest and caress the erection tenting my sweatpants.
My cock jerks.
“Let me show you just how crazy I am for you,” she whispers into my ear, her teeth nipping the lobe. She kisses down my neck, sucking on the skin. My eyelids droop as I soak in thesensation of her warm mouth, her hair tickling along my arms, the slight weight of her body leaning into mine. When she pulls away, my hands immediately reach out for her.
“Baby…” But I trail off, finding myself speechless as she lowers herself onto her knees. Her hands grip the waistband of my sweatpants, and she stares up at me with a wicked grin. It sends a thrill straight down my spine to my thickening cock. Then she licks her lips, and I moan aloud. Heat pools in my groin. “Show me then.”
Maddie makes love to me that night, first with her mouth and then with the rest of her body. Afterwards, I wrap my arms around her waist as we lay on our sides and pull her back against my chest with her ass snuggled up to my groin. I watch her peaceful slumber for hours, unable to drift off myself.
A silent war wages inside me all night.
Do I betray my brother so I can keep the woman I love, or do I let the love of my life go?
