On the Job (6 page)

He thrust, popping her ass with his pelvis. His satisfied male grunts rang in her ears. He drove the full length of his cock into her repeatedly, holding her hips and buttocks in his hands, preventing her from moving.

It was possession, pure and simple.

She was so aroused at being the focused target of Walker's lust that she longed to touch herself. Her clit burned, well stimulated by the indirect pressure of Walker's thick, long, thrusting cock. She couldn't remove her hand, though, without crashing toward the vanity. He stormed behind her, and her position was made even more tenuous by the fact that she perched on four-inch heels.

The burn grew untenably sharp as he continued to fuck her, faster now. This was what Walker called “teaching her the hard way.” Through a haze of lust, she distantly realized he was fucking her with the sole intent of personal satisfaction. He was punishing her for not giving him the promise he sought. She watched him in the mirror as he observed himself fucking her. A slight snarl shaped his firm mouth as he stared at his cock pistoning in and out of her pussy.

Suddenly he glanced up and caught her staring.

“Do you want to watch, too, Madeline?” he rasped as he continued to pump.

She didn't speak, but maybe he saw her answer in her eyes and her vividly red cheeks. He sheathed himself until his balls pressed tight against her. He placed both hands on her ribs and lifted her torso. His feet shifted behind her and Madeline followed suit. He pushed her down again until her hands braced against the door that led to the bathroom. They both panted as they examined the vision of themselves in the mirror. Walker was behind her, impaled in her flesh. She was bent at the waist, her hands bracing her against the door.

He began to pump again. She moaned in arousal at the sight of his cock sliding out of her body. He looked too large for her, but nevertheless, she took him.

And she loved every minute of it.

“Do you see that?” Walker asked quietly behind her as he fucked her nice and hard. The door she leaned against rattled in its frame. “That's my pussy. Your pussy was made for this cock.”

“No,” she whimpered, even as she watched, spellbound, at the sight of herself being taken so thoroughly.

Walker responded to her defiance by lifting his hand and smacking her bottom. He paused, just the first few inches of his cock embedded in her. A high-pitched whining sound vibrated her throat when he spanked her again. Not softly. It smarted. She stared at the long stalk of his cock protruding from her pussy and resisted an urge to beg. He spanked her bottom several more times. His face looked fierce and even a little fearsome in the reflection. She felt his cock pop up in the tight hold of her vagina every time he smacked her.

“This” . . .
smack . . .
“pussy” . . .
smack
... “is” . . .
smack
. . . “mine.”

He thrust rapidly, swatting her every time their skin whapped together. It was too much. Her pale bottom grew pink. Madeline drowned in sharp, slamming waves of pleasure.

Her eyes sprung wide when he spanked her even harder than he had previously. She felt his cock swell high and hard in her, making her wince.

“Say it,” he seethed.

“This pussy is yours,” she gasped.

As if to reward her for her submission, he reached around and rubbed her clit vigorously. A cry leapt out of her throat as orgasm crashed into her. He gave a satisfied growl and began fucking her fast and forcefully, nearly knocking her off her heels in his fury of need.

He held her tight against him as he came. She felt him leap at her core. The harsh grunts and groans of release that tore from his throat hurt her for some reason. She knew he wasn't in pain, but it sounded as if he was.

Slowly, the tension drained out of his taut muscles. He stared down at their joined bodies while he panted, trying to regain his breath. Madeline became acutely aware of where they were—in a small, seven-by-seven-foot powder room.

In Tony's lodge.

They hadn't even bothered to quiet themselves. There at the end, they'd been going at it like two animals in heat. Chances were they'd been overheard, if not by Tony or the Margraves, then by someone on Tony's or Walker's staffs.

The fact that she'd been so involved in the moment, so overwhelmed by Walker, made her whimper in distress. She took a step toward the door and straightened on shaky legs, moaning at the sensation of Walker's still-formidable erection sliding from her body.

She tossed her dress down over her legs and bent to retrieve her thong, which was twisted around her ankles. He just stared at her with slow-burning, blue-green eyes when she turned to face him.

“Why are you trying to humiliate me?” she asked in a choked voice.

His rapid breathing paused. He looked so beautiful standing there with his jeans shucked down around his knees, exposing his long, muscular thighs, his sated cock still stretching the latex of the condom.

His chest moved again as he inhaled slowly.

“It's not humiliating to admit the obvious, Madeline.”

Anger clutched at her throat. “You had your chance, Walker. You walked away.”

A muscle in his rigid cheek twitched. “I was twenty-two years old. And I came back.”

“That doesn't give you the right to me.”

Her heart caught in her breast when he reached out and touched her cheek. It amazed her . . . frightened her a little, even, to see the raw emotion in his handsome face.

“Nature gave me that right, Madeline.” He seemed a little heart sore with his answer, but it was his certainty that left her breathless.

Her mouth opened, closed and then opened again. She looked wildly around the tiny room, feeling as if she'd never seen it until that moment.

She lunged toward the door, pulling up short when he grasped her hand.

“I told you I'd make it up to you, but you have to give me a chance. I'm going to be installing some equipment down by the lake perimeter tonight, but we'll be finished by eleven or so. I want you to meet me at midnight down by the gazebo in the gardens. I want to talk to you, Madeline,” he added when she dared to glance back at him.

She thought he'd try and stop her when she fled, but he didn't. The hallway was shadowed and silent. When she neared the grand staircase, she heard the sound of Tony's and Hal's voices emanating from the terrace. Something about their casual banter made her suspect they hadn't heard Walker's and her wild coupling. She raced up the stairs toward her private suite like the devil was snapping his teeth at her high heels.

S
he told Tony she wasn't feeling well when he tapped on her suite door at around eleven thirty that night. She'd showered and put on a sapphire blue low-cut nightgown. When Tony entered, she greeted him while lying in bed reading a book, the sheet pulled up to her chest. She suspected he'd drunk his fill with the Margraves after she'd excused herself earlier. His tread was steady enough, but there was a telling glassiness to his brown eyes. He'd been drinking more lately—ever since he'd become involved in this business of convincing the senate that U.S. banks were at high risk—and it concerned Madeline.

“I'm sorry you're not feeling well,” he consoled as he sat at the edge of her bed.

“I just have a headache from spending so much time in the sun today.”

“I think you're angry with me, for asking Walker and his crew to the lodge.”

She sighed when she saw his downcast eyes. “I'm not angry, Tony. I just think it's an inconvenience and a waste of time.”

“But I need Walker,” Tony exclaimed. “Above and beyond his help in protecting you until we figure out the identity of this shooter. He's going to make the Aspen Lodge impenetrable, and he'll do the same to my house in Half Moon Bay. He's the best, Maddie. I won't have you harmed. I'd die if something happened to you because of something I—”

“
You
have nothing to do with this!” Madeline exclaimed.

He winced. “You don't know that. I've had nutcases threaten me before. It's inevitable, owning a company like Hallas Technologies. Walker can keep you safe. I know he can.”

Madeline interrupted him before he started to once again list Walker's list of honors, accomplishments and commendations, one of them awarded by a former president. She'd heard the list already four or five times today.

“I resent being trapped here at the lodge,” she said.

“It's only until the police and Walker investigate the shooting a little more. Abigail would shoot me herself if I let you go after what happened,” Tony said earnestly, referring to Madeline's mother. While he talked, he idly grabbed the edge of her sheet and drew it down to her waist. Madeline pulled back on the fabric, but he held firm.

“Let me look at you, at least, since you won't let me touch,” he muttered as his eyes roved over her bare shoulders and chest. “You're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen.”

“Tony, you're drunk,” she said in exasperation.

“It's true,” he said simply. He looked sad as he met her gaze. “I wish I'd had the sense to realize it when you were in my bed.”

She smiled and shook her head when she saw his expression. “But you
didn't
believe it when I was in your bed, Tony. That's the whole point. There was always something just a little more beautiful, a little more desirable in the corner of your eye.”

“I was a fool. There was no one more beautiful, Maddie, just more willing. It was childish of me, to think I wanted a woman to submit to my every whim. You always kept me in line.”

“You only think you want me because I never
did
submit to your every whim. If I would have, you would have gotten over me quick enough, as well.”

He shook his head soberly. “It was—is—my ultimate fantasy to imagine you submitting, Maddie. Just a little.” He gave her an imploring look. “When are you going to marry me? We're not getting any younger.”

“Yes, we'll have to pick out our cemetery plots any day now,” she chided with a smile, even though she was concerned about the moroseness of Tony's mood.

He looked so crestfallen that Madeline held her protest in her throat when he casually moved aside a band of satin, baring one of her breasts. He stared at it as he spoke distractedly. “I came to a weird realization while I was watching you and Walker sitting side by side this evening.”

Her breath froze in her lungs. “
What
. . . what do you mean?” she asked after a moment.

“You used to have a thing for Walker, years back. It used to make me insane with jealousy, seeing the way you two looked at each other. I don't know why I'd forgotten . . .” He trailed off as he touched her nipple with a fingertip. Maddie exhaled and rapidly moved the gown back over her nipple. It didn't surprise her that Tony had forgotten their youthful love triangle. Affairs of the heart for Tony were as common as casual conversations about the weather.

“We were kids, Tony. It was a long time ago. Why don't you go to bed? You promised to take me out on the boat tomorrow.”

Tony glanced up at her with dark shining eyes. “You'll always love me, won't you, Maddie? No matter how stupid I am?”

She sighed. He must be drunker than she'd thought. She pushed back a dark curl off his forehead.

“Always. Because you've always been there for me, Tony, you and your mom and dad.”

He gave her such a sweet smile she didn't turn away when he softly kissed her on the mouth. After he'd left her room, she glanced at her bedside clock. It was ten until twelve. There was just enough time for her to throw on some clothes and meet Walker. She thought of him waiting for her there in the shadow-shrouded gardens. He'd said he wanted to talk. He'd said he wanted to make it up to her.

She wanted him to try more than she cared to admit.

You've always been there for me, Tony
.

Her spine stiffened at the thought. Walker hadn't been there for her when she needed him. All she'd gotten from him was some phone calls, which she'd ignored. He'd said his good-byes, although Madeline refused to reciprocate. She'd rushed out of his arms, not wanting to hear Walker's promises and soothing words. She recalled perfectly the evening she'd gone to his Incline Village apartment and knocked at the door. Some thin, fraying remnant of hope had remained.

It'd evaporated when she heard the hollow quality of her knock. Walker's tiny apartment where they'd shared hours upon hours of joy and rapture was empty.

She shut out the lamp and curled on her side. Her indecision caused a pain of sorts in her belly that she tried to alleviate by pulling up her knees until she rested in a fetal position. Her brain seemed ablaze, making sleep impossible.

The glowing numerals on the bedside clock read 12:17 when she heard her bedroom door click open. She clamped her eyelids shut. It might have been Tony returning to woo her, but it wasn't. Madeline just knew somehow.

His tall shadow loomed over the bed.

“Are you awake?” he asked quietly.

“Yes,” she whispered.

He tossed back the sheet. His arms slid beneath her, and Madeline rolled toward him as he lifted, hitting his chest with a thud. His scent—clean, spicy soap and the fresh odor of the pine forest—filtered into her nose. She inhaled deeply. He paused next to the bed.

“Are you going to scream?”

“No,” she whispered.

His hands moved slightly on the back of her thigh and along her ribs, feeling the skimpiness of her gown. “Do you have a robe?”