Stress ran through Madison’s body, jittering along her veins, filling her with unused energy. She banged around her kitchen, shoving pots and pans back and slipping out the cupcake tins. All her ingredients were ready for her gluten-free, super-fudgy devil’s food cupcakes. All she had to do was scoop and bake. Frustration continued to simmer in her body as she moved around. Despite her fun dinner with Lea and Alec and a great time watching the game together, her traitorous mind kept drifting back to Pierce, wondering how he was doing. Was he stressed out? Excited? Watching between his fingers during the most stressful moments? Her disloyal brain decided to punish her by filling the owner’s box with women wearing tight-fitting, barely there outfits, pouring his beer, flirting outrageously with him, and feeding him nibbles from their hands while trying to show off their plastic-surgeon-enhanced assets. It made her want to scream. And her lioness watched, smug, in her dark corner, as Madison tried to fight down surges of jealousy and anger.
Rather than give her lioness, Lea, and Alec the satisfaction of watching her have a meltdown, she’d indulged in deep-fried stress relief while watching the game. None of that mattered. By the end of the match, she was both emotionally exhausted and angry all over again. It didn’t help that she could still smell his musky, spicy scent, could still see his icy blue eyes and rugged features.
He wasn’t before her or with her. For all she knew, he was out having an orgy on his massive estate in celebration of a job well done on the first day of para-football. Rips opened up in her heart at the thought that he would dismiss his desire for her so easily in the face of such vacuous offerings as the football groupies.
Over and over again, she reminded herself that she had no mark on him, no claim in the least. It didn’t matter though. Her body knew different, stupid, emotional things. Her skin craved his touch, those roughened hands all over her body soothing away her aches and pain from the attack. She could feel the touch of his lips on hers, leaving small tingles in their wake, the phantom of his tongue in her mouth, rough and so sweet and seductive, teasing her teeth and tracing delicate patterns on the roof of her mouth.
Pierce. Pierce. Pierce. She could feel him everywhere, even when he was nowhere near her. It infuriated her, but most of all it made her feel helpless, unworthy. Those fissures in her chest cracked open wider, attacking her lungs and making breathing painful.
She paused in her actions and bent over the center island to take a moment, willing herself to feel anything but vulnerable. Fury shook through her once again. Her lioness had been thrilled to be saved by such a powerful mate and man. To Madison her sense of independence had gotten bruised. For a year, she had been tied down helping her mother take care of her father. Now that he had recovered she thought she was going to start a new, independent phase of her life, but all of that had fallen apart in the face of an angry Pierce. She hadn’t been able to break free and fight for herself, which made her question her own self worth. Her calm demeanor was shaken to its core. At home, in her bed alone, she couldn’t escape the ghosts that haunted her thoughts. How could she be strong if she had to depend on other people to prop her up and save her from danger?
Besides, what did she have to offer a well-traveled man like Pierce McKinney when she still lived at home with her parents? She worked as her father’s assistant, which gave her a chance to keep an eye on him and make sure he didn’t overstrain himself, but once he was fully recovered he wouldn’t need her. Then what? Where would she work? How would she make a living? Her sense of pride took another hit. She tried to breathe past it as her demons reared up, poking her with tridents tipped with stinging points. Madison took her time as she tried to work through the suffocating fog that encircled her once again.
Before her father’s heart attack she’d had an apartment and a job working in a dress boutique in the affluent district of Pines Ville. Despite the banality of having to pay bills on time, she worked enough hours to get at least a little extra for herself and take care of her cat, Zoe. It had been her slice of heaven. She wasn’t some spoiled rich girl living off the fat of her family. Madison Weston was her own person. She even had a membership at a private club to explore her sexual desires when she was between boyfriends. All that mattered to her was that she had an actual life, something beyond her childhood and the people she’d grown up with. Nothing was being handed to her on a silver platter because of her name and connections.
But she had given all that up when her family had needed her. Now she was just another heiress living in her family’s guesthouse on the allowance her grandmother’s inheritance gave her.
Tears formed in her eyes as the pain increased and her heart became a stone, a lump of heaviness that sat in her rib cage. Her breathing became labored as the urge to curl up into the fetal position crawled along her limbs. She didn’t want to live at her parents’. She wanted to live in her own apartment again, to pay her own bills, and to have her own job. She wanted to feel like she had a life of her own.
And then there were the issues of romance. Taking a date back to her parents’ mansion didn’t encourage romance. Her suitors all had dollar signs in their eyes. Besides, she didn’t feel comfortable even thinking about having sex in the vicinity of her parents. Sure, there was a decent amount of yardage between the guesthouse and the main house, but that didn’t mean her mom or dad couldn’t stop by at any moment—something that they liked to do. They didn’t even call before coming in, just, Hi! How ya doing? Want to do this, that, or the other thing with me?
Then there would be a barrage of questions about why she was home in the first place, why she didn’t go out, which then led to questions about when she was going to find a nice young man to settle down with. Finally, the topic of grandkids would come up and comments about how she was not getting any younger.
Madison dragged a stool over and sank down on it. The fog began to lift and the pain began to recede, but her issues continued to weigh upon her. Silk and fire brushed against her leg, followed by the gentle flick of a small sandpaper tongue. Madison smiled and reached down to scoop Zoe up. The ball of white and gray fur with bright blue eyes scrambled until she was settled and comfortable in Madison’s arms. A deep purring began. The vibrations pushed past Madison’s shirt and deep into her heart until she felt soothed and comforted. Madison ran her palm over the vibrating little bundle of fur in her arms, allowing the comfort the animal offered to seep into her until her doubts receded and she could think clearly again.
She was thirty-two and therefore required to be tied down to a family and a man rather than be single. It hurt that her mother believed this should be her fate. No matter how many talks they had, her mother continued to push eligible shifters in her direction. Madison wanted to have a say in her own life. Everyone’s opinion mattered, but it was her life that would be affected.
Who she was looking for she didn’t know, but she didn’t feel comfortable opening her heart yet—not when she had nothing to offer a possible partner. She didn’t have her own money anymore, nor did she have anything to give sexually. It had been a year since she’d even thought of her body’s need. She hadn’t been to Shadows, the private club, in more than twelve months. Madison didn’t know what she wanted as far as sex was concerned. She hadn’t even indulged in her favorite erotic authors.
Now that she was free from her father’s health issues, she found herself with time on her hands. With free time came thoughts, and thoughts led to notions, which led to ideas. But she had no clue how to implement them.
“What do you think I should do, huh, kitten?” She scratched behind Zoe’s ears and listened to the cat purr loudly in approval. The heat of the room pressed against her clothes and she let out a sigh. If she didn’t bake something, all her prep work would be for naught and she’d have nothing to bring into the office for her farewell. As of Friday, her father’s normal personal assistant would take over all of her duties and Madison would truly be out of a job.
Madison placed Zoe on the floor, washed her hands, and got to work scooping the batter out of the bowls and into the baking cups. The rich, fudgy chocolate perfume drifted up to her. The delicious aroma made her cares seem smaller. As she focused on her task, her thoughts swirled around her mind.
She could look around town on her lunch break for job openings. She did have some experience with customers, ringing up sales, stocking, and ordering things. She knew the current computer programs and could work with Mac and Windows, as well as Linux. Her resume was complete and up to date, and personal assistant experience only added to her skills.
She would look over the bachelor auction too, she decided, but only look. And she would go to Shadows, update her profile, get a few books, and check out some things that she was interested in.
Alec and Lea would be overjoyed at that last thought. She frowned. Madison would never hear the end of it. With another sigh, she finished up with the batter and then slid the pans into the oven. She cleaned up and headed to the bathroom. Despite all the mixing she’d done, she could still smell Pierce’s tiger musk on her. Just being aware of it jarred her sense of equilibrium. A hint of that delicious, spicy scent made heat pool in her gut and slip into her core. She groaned as her walls flexed. The skin of her inner thighs tingled as her breasts became heavy and tight. Her nipples puckered and began to pulse.
She groaned. Not now. Zoe leapt up on the bed and nudged her head against Madison’s shoulder.
“Smell Pierce, huh?” she asked.
Zoe flopped onto her back and wriggled around on the bed. The purring grew louder. Traitor.
Her phone rang and she rolled over and grabbed the receiver. “Hello?”
“Madison?” Pierce’s rough voice slithered through the speaker. The muscles in her legs quivered as her knees turned to gelatin. The prickles in her inner thighs and her lower back grew as spikes of heat increased. Liquid fire filled her vagina as her face flared hot.
Despite the distance, that rich British tone felt so close, as if he was in the room with her. She could feel the humidity of his breath against the delicate shell of her ear and her cheek. Sparks danced on her sensitive skin and trailed down her neck.
Madison swallowed. “Y-y-yes?” Disgust filled her at her stuttering. Why did she lose her cool around this man? Was it because he actually did scare her that badly?
Pierce made an indistinguishable sound that she didn’t understand. “I just wanted to see if you were all right. How are you? Shaken up?”
That rough tenor in his voice smoothed over her like warm satin. She shivered at the sensation as her nipples tightened. Every word seemed to have another meaning. Each syllable was weighted with a little something extra that she couldn’t define. Or maybe she was going insane. She shook her head while she reached out to pet Zoe, who had moseyed up to her side and rubbed herself against her.
“Fine, but I don’t think that you really called me to check up on me. What do you want?” Her tone was still breathy with a bit of huskiness. The heat continued to climb until her face was enflamed. Even her ears prickled with it.
“Come now, I can’t check in on you after you’ve been attacked by a stumbling, slovenly, drunken bear shifter, intent on making you purr?” Pierce teased.
His tone was smooth, low, and heated. It warmed her from her throat down to her stomach. It was as if she’d drunk an old Scotch, aged perfectly. Her nipples and clit pulsed, making her aware of her sex and of how long it had been since she’d had a man. Annoyed at her body’s reactions, she pushed away some of the building arousal and focused on the situation and ending this call.
“Lions don’t purr,” she shot back. “And don’t think you can make me either.”
It was a ridiculous comeback and yet she grabbed onto her anger like a life raft, focused on it, and let it grow. Madison refused to allow Pierce to take control and set the rules. It was just a damn phone call. She wouldn’t let all the work and calm she’d built up during baking start to erode just because he had spoken to her. Nor would she allow herself to get sentimental, just because he wanted to make sure she was OK.
“Trying to tell yourself that you and I don’t mesh? Let me tell you something; I could smell your mating heat, taste it on my tongue. I bet your panties are damp for me right now,” his voice grew quieter, darker, rougher. It was almost as if it had turned into physical sensation that could touch her, caress her.
She could feel his fingers sifting through her hair, trailing over her face and down her neck to tease the dip at her collarbone. That ghostly stroke slipped down to circle her breasts. Heated spirals worked their way up to her tightened tips, filling them with fire and pulses of need.
“I can’t help but wonder why you keep denying that you want me,” he murmured. She pressed her ear to the phone, straining to hear him. “What is it that you think I’ll do to you, hmm?”
The question sounded naughty, and it filled Madison with delicious threads of fire. A rumble of sound brushed against her ear. The noise seemed as if it had come deep within his chest. It was almost a purr.
“You think you know what I want? What I need?” Madison tried to ignore the tightening of her skin and the tendrils of need that coiled into her stomach. She lay back on the bed to listen as clouds of steam billowed out of the bathroom and Zoe curled up on a spot on the other side of the bed.
“Oh, I know, all right,” he grumbled, his tenor intensified. “You want me to tie you down, fuck you senseless. You need me to take you against the wall, on the floor and every available surface. You, Madison Weston, want me to dominate you, force you to heel and make you come for me, over and over again until you pass out from the pleasure of it all.”
Her vaginal walls fluttered as her panties became soaked with desires. She swallowed as he uttered fantasies and dreams she’d never considered.
“No, I don’t,” she denied quietly, hoping, praying it wasn’t true. The swathe of arousal fogged her thoughts and increased her desire. “Besides, you’re not man enough for me.” Madison figured that using her annoyance as a buffer would help her ignore her body’s responses.
“Not just man enough, sweetheart,” he answered, “tiger enough. Which makes me more than enough. No lion could compare to me. Do you want me to blindfold you? Fuck you with my tongue and then my fingers? Make you beg for my cock? Or perhaps you’d like me to bring in another partner for your pleasure. But make no mistake: you’ll only need me—ever.”
Her legs trembled as her pussy grew heavier and her clit became more insistent. “It all boils down to sex for you, doesn’t it?”
His answer was a deep, rich chuckle filled with midnight cries and dark urges. Madison shuddered. There was nothing else to say or do as far as she was concerned. How could she truly counter his notions? It only emphasized her need to visit Shadows and try some of the things he suggested, even if she wasn’t doing any of those things with him.
“With you…?” he paused.
She hung on that gap, waiting for his answer. The moment stretched on and the silence grew until she wondered if he really was thinking about her question seriously.
“Not everything,” he continued, at last. “But the fantasy of sex with you does keep my mind and my hands active at night. I can’t help but get aroused when around you. You push buttons in me that I never knew existed and make me think of things that I’d never considered before.”
His words tickled her brain. Before she could stop herself she asked, “And what buttons and things have you never considered before?”
The question came out in a rush. It was awkward and made her cringe inside just hearing it, and yet she refused to repeat or rephrase it. He couldn’t induce her to continue her humiliation.
Again he chuckled, only this time it was lighter and less sexual in nature. “You really want to know? Have dinner with me.”
She blinked and sat up, jostling Zoe, who let out a yawn, got up, circled, and settled back down.
“Dinner? Only dinner?” She would have laughed if the offer wasn’t so damn tempting.
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