Though the sun had peeked above the horizon mere minutes ago, the heat of the July morning was already soaring. The air in the bedroom hung as humid as the swamp itself. Sweat rolled down his back as he shoved into her again, this stroke more insistent than his last. Tingles spread. Need choked him.

  No matter how much he had of her, it was never enough.

  She gasped, her big eyes pleading. He wrapped his fingers around her jaw and squeezed gently. As if he’d given her precisely what she craved, her lashes fluttered shut with a whimper. A pretty flush climbed up her chest and bloomed across her cheeks as she lost herself to him.

  Fuck, every day she got more beautiful. After nearly two weeks of spending every waking moment with her, on her, fucking her, whispering to her, laughing with her, embracing her, doing his goddamn best to be the air her heart breathed and the food her soul devoured, he wasn’t less interested in Madison; he was more obsessed. He couldn’t stay away. He couldn’t stop touching her, wanting her, and demanding every part of herself she would give him. And he wasn’t kidding himself; he would never get over her. Hell, he didn’t want to.

  One thing Matt never did? Talk about the future. Madison wanted him. She had feelings for him, deep ones; he knew that. But after everything she’d been through, would she really leave her vicious husband for a single-minded Dominant aching to tie her down in more ways than one? He was afraid to ask. Worse, the more he avoided the subject, the more fixated he got. And the more he demanded her submission.

  Like now.

  “Look at me,” he growled.

  Madison complied, blinking up at him for his approval. Her instant obedience and naked need were like imbibing a half dozen shots of whiskey. Everything about her fucking intoxicated him.

  “Good. Plant your feet flat. Tilt your hips up. Take all of me.”

  Again, no hesitation, just soft obedience delivered with a welcoming moan.

  They were so in sync. He could be as dirty and demanding as his heart desired. She always yielded, crying out his name as she utterly surrendered. Afterward, she was all smiles of contentment, soft glances filled with trust, and needy kisses dripping sweetness before she fell asleep in his arms. Making her happy made him happy. Almost overnight, she’d become the thing he treasured most in the world. He’d move heaven and burn down every fucking thing on this earth to keep her safe.

  After nearly two weeks of silence in her divorce negotiations, he feared he might have to.

  “Yes, honey. You know just how to please me…”

  And he’d dedicated himself to learning her in return. He’d never been more in tune with another human being. Despite his worries, he’d also never been happier. He didn’t give a fuck that every part of his body felt wrung inside out, bone sore, and replete beyond exhaustion. He still couldn’t get enough of her. Even in the quiet moments where they did nothing more than breathe together, they flowed. She brought calm to his frayed edges. He lent safety to her jagged fears. When even a wall parted them, Madison sought him out with a steadying touch. When he couldn’t see her and know that she was safe, he felt his world tilt off its axis, sliding him into free fall.

  He was in love with her. He wanted to shout it.

  He didn’t.

  Madison had only agreed to be his for as long as he protected her. What would happen when the Pershings responded to her demand for a divorce and the bubble of their seclusion burst? Matt feared the answer.

  And with powerful people like the senator, no news wasn’t necessarily good news.

  Worry gave Matt’s thrusts a possessive urgency. So did the sense of a ticking clock in his head telling him their time together was running out. Besides, he was wearing the last condom in their stash.

  Jack had come to replenish their food supplies every four days or so, but he hadn’t been by in a while. If he didn’t show soon, Matt wasn’t convinced he could quit Madison cold turkey. If he failed, she would leave here pregnant.

  The thought injected his lust-saturated bloodstream with another excruciating thrill.

  Madison keened, and he rose onto his knees, grabbing her hips for leverage, and slammed inside her again. He glanced down her body. When he caught sight of her nipples, so red and beyond swollen, all rational thought left his head.

  She loved it when he clamped them. Yesterday, he’d gone half-insane with her pleasure, applying a pair with alligator teeth, fastening them tight and praising her torment before removing them, licking her burning tips mercilessly, and sucking them to add to her exquisite torture. Her desperate cries had driven him to bury himself inside her half the night.

  He wanted those hard tips again now—but his biological imperative urged him to stay inside her and pound away for at least half an eternity.

  Unfortunately, he couldn’t. Though he should be satisfied and utterly spent, here he was on the verge of orgasm again, each successively more explosive than the last. Thankfully, he’d learned Madison’s body well. She was seconds from falling apart, too. A half dozen thrusts, and she would utterly surrender herself to him again.

  The realization dumped more desire into his veins.

  “You’re going to come,” he ground out, plucking her nipple.

  Feverishly, she nodded.

  “Tell me.”

  “I’m going to come,” she gasped. “For you.”

  “Do it. I need you, honey. So fucking bad.” His voice cracked as he lunged deep inside her again. “Now!”

  She dissolved. He’d broken down the dam shielding her emotions from him days ago. She’d admitted as much on her knees, eyes filled with need. Now, he was so dialed into her—so one with her—that he felt the moment rapture took over and tore open her heart. The headiness of it hurtled him over the edge and left him spilling more than his release inside her with a hoarse cry.

  Panting filled the air as her lashes left her flushed cheeks, fluttering open to reveal her eyes drowning in unshed tears.

  He saw love all over her face.

  His heart jolted. The answering words leapt to his tongue. He swallowed them down.

  The hopelessness of their situation was a battering ram. Not only did he doubt she was ready to think of their future, until she was free of Todd Pershing, anything or anyone she valued would be used by these ruthless bastards as a cudgel against her. They would hammer away concession after concession, keeping her entangled in their web. To spare the people she cared about, she would let them. So he shouldn’t tell Madison how he felt. He couldn’t hope they had a future. And no matter how much he’d love to, he couldn’t recklessly take her bare and risk planting his baby in her womb.

  In fact, that day might never come.

  Still, he refused to risk hurting her fragile heart again.

  “Honey…” He brushed her damp hair from her face and tucked the strand into the sagging knot of long hair atop her head.

  Her eyes softened with answering tenderness, but he wasn’t blind. The hint of disappointment she tried to hide with a smile was a stab in the chest. “Hmm. That was better than breakfast.”

  “I don’t manage much eating when you’re around.” He nuzzled her neck as he reached to release her wrists from the padded cuffs.

  “Are you complaining?”

  “Not even a little.”

  Slowly, he withdrew from her body. Madison tensed. She was sore; he knew it. Despite that, she’d awakened him with the sun, her mouth on his cock, her eyes begging him. He’d felt her desperation, like he was her only tether to reality and she feared losing her grip.

  They couldn’t go on this way. He had a job. She missed her father. This wasn’t real life, and every minute they holed up here together only slid him deeper into obsession. Perversely, he never wanted their seclusion to end. If their weekend three years ago had been amazing, their last twelve days had been transformative. He would never be the same again.

  “I’ll make the last couple of eggs,” she said as he reluctantly unclipped her other wrist.

  He shook his head, stood on wobbly legs, and discarded the condom. “Let me take care of you first.”

  She smiled wryly. “I think you just did.”

  Matt sent her a dimpled grin, then grappled around for his cowboy hat and slid it on. “Thank you, ma’am. It ’twernt nothing.”

  Madison giggled while he worked his arms under her and lifted her against his chest. Automatically, she curled her arm around his neck, her gaze clinging every bit as much as her hold. “Matt?”

  “Shh. I got you, honey.” He padded across the hall and into the bathroom, then settled her bare feet on the varnished wooden floors in front of the clawfoot tub and turned on the water. “Stay here.”

  “Okay,” she sighed happily.

  As the water warmed, he dashed to the kitchen and prowled through the cabinets, finding what he needed. When he rushed back, she was setting the stopper in the old-fashioned tub. He threw in some olive oil, sliced open a couple of vanilla beans, then tossed in some lavender epsom salts he found in a container on a shelf.

  After testing the water, he held out his hand. “Step in.”

  She placed her fingers on his and obeyed, sinking in with a moan. “Oh, that feels great.”

  “Good.” He watched her close her eyes as peace settled across her beautiful face. “Soak for about twenty minutes.”

  When he turned to leave, Madison grabbed his hand. “Don’t go.”

  “I won’t be far. I was just going to start some breakfast. There’s a can of biscuits in the fridge to go with those eggs.”

  “Talk to me. Please.”

  Matt couldn’t refuse her anything. “About what?”

  “Anything.”

  “Okay.” Naked, he sank to the floor beside the tub and took her hand. “Got a subject in mind?”

  “Um…what did you want to be when you grew up? Rock star? Astronaut?” She pushed her finger under the brim of his hat, tilting it back on his head. “Cowboy?”

  “I wanted to play hockey. I lived for winters, and I loved skating. I was big for my age, fast, and competitive.”

  She gaped, looking pleasantly surprised. “I didn’t know you could ice skate. That’s something I’ve never even tried. Not a lot of call for that growing up here. Gator wrestling, maybe…”

  Matt shuddered. “Pass.”

  “Same.” She laughed.

  “So, what did you want to be?” he asked, enjoying the frivolous conversation, like they didn’t have a care in the world, soothing. “A model? An actress? An influencer?”

  “God, no. I don’t like people gawking at me. It’s one reason I dreaded all the stuffy events the Pershings dragged me to, especially while Todd and I were engaged. I felt like a doll on constant display. I was scrutinized and judged. I knew some people thought I wasn’t good enough for Winston Pershing’s golden-boy grandson because I hadn’t come from a blue-blood family or gone to the right schools. Heck, a few even suggested my accent made me unacceptable.”

  “They’re assholes. You barely have one. Besides, I think yours is sexy.”

  She flushed while she splashed warm water all over her body until she glistened in the morning sun. “You think most of me is sexy.”

  “No. I think all of you is sexy, honey. Everything about you.” He curled his hand around her nape and brought her in for a kiss. “Every single thing.”

  “Hmm. You might be biased.”

  “Oh, well.” He shrugged. “What did you want to be?”

  “A teacher. I love kids.” She sighed. “I miss the classroom. Winston insisted I stop teaching shortly after Todd and I got engaged. He said I would be a better ambassador for education. What he meant was that I should suck the asses of rich people who cared about shaping education to fit their agendas so they would donate to his campaign.”

  Matt scowled. “He wasn’t up for re-election that year.”

  “He hasn’t had to actively campaign since I’ve known him. But politicians are always running for re-election. I’d love it if he lost this November, but polls say he’s leading by ten points. Not as far ahead as past cycles, but I doubt he’s in any danger of going down. That’s another reason he’s so powerful. He’ll probably die in that seat, and he knows it.”

  “Don’t lose hope. The election is months away. Anything could happen.”

  “No, it can’t.” Her expression begged him not to placate her. “I’m scared.”

  He squeezed her hand, wishing he could whisk her away from the danger and keep her forever. “You’ll get through this.”

  She bit her lip. “I’ve been trying so hard not to think about what’s happening with the negotiations, but it’s taking so long…”

  “Don’t borrow trouble.” But hadn’t he been thinking the same thing?

  “You don’t know Winston like I do. If he’s dragging his feet, he’s got some shady strategy to minimize the damage and swing public perception in his favor. I keep trying to imagine what, but I’m not devious like that.”

  Matt didn’t know anyone who operated at that political level, and it worried him. Still, he wanted to put her at ease. “You don’t know what’s going on. We need to wait and see what the senator comes back with.”

  “No” She shook her head, fixing the knot of her hair into a loose bun when it fell around her shoulders. “We need to proactively mitigate whatever weaknesses we have now. I’ve been mentally shoving this worry aside. I’d rather be with you and forget the rest of the world, but I can’t afford to avoid this. It’s too dangerous.”

  As much as Matt ached to take all her problems from her shoulders, he feared she was right.

  Deep in thought, he reached for the bar of homemade soap nearby. “Stand.”

  Madison did, water dripping from her peachy-fair skin, making her look like a goddess. He smoothed a palm down her back and over her taut ass, loving her beckoning curves. He followed suit by foaming the soap, then palming his way over her shoulders, across her distended nipples, and down her flat abdomen.

  Fuck, he was already hard for her again. It shouldn’t be possible after this much sex, but one touch and he ached.

  He ignored his erection and focused on her, lifting her foot to the edge of the tub to gently clean her swollen pussy. She stiffened, letting out a little hiss.

  He slowed his touch. “Madison…”

  At the warning note in his voice, she shook her head as if to reassure him. “I’m fine.”

  He cocked a brow. “You need to tell me when you’re this sore.”

  “It doesn’t matter. I want you.”

  God, she really was made for him. “I want you, too, but not if I’m going to hurt you.”

  “The sting will be gone in a few hours.”

  He nuzzled her neck. “I think you’re lying to me. Maybe that pretty backside of yours needs a paddling. There are implements in Jack’s dungeon we haven’t tried yet…”

  “I didn’t think that was possible.”

  “Oh, it is. And maybe it’s time I violated that ass, too.” It would solve the condom situation, at least for a few hours.

  She closed her eyes, her body seeming to melt against him. “Matt…you’re distracting me.”

  Normally, that wouldn’t be a bad thing. Now? She was right; there was too much at stake. They had problems to solve.

  “Sorry. Tell me what you’re expecting Pershing to come back with?”

  Her sigh was a combination of reluctance and resolution. “In exchange for a divorce after the midterms, he’ll want a week or two of my time in the fall. The campaign stops at big, family-oriented community events were already in the works before I left. They’ll hit most of the donor dinners and galas without me, which is great. I might get roped into a speech or two geared at teachers’ organization or a ladies’ rally, probably just before the elections. In the past, I’ve accompanied Winston’s wife, Agatha, to those. But she does most of the talking. I mostly nod and smile.”

  That didn’t sound horrible. As long as she didn’t have to be alone with Todd, almost anything to gain her freedom was bearable. But Matt intended to make sure Madison was protected. “Anything else?”

  “I don’t know. I expect that Todd—not me—will be allowed to file quietly for divorce a couple of weeks after the elections. I’ll be blamed, of course. Don’t be surprised if they out you as my lover again, and I’m dragged through the mud as an unfaithful, gold-digging whore. But after the initial bomb of negative press, things should calm down. Winston and the rest of the family will probably vacation somewhere, pretending to lick their wounds after my ‘shocking betrayal.’ But then I’ll finally have a life around the New Year.” She shrugged. “At least that’s what I hope.”

  “What are you not telling me?” Because there was something; he heard it in her voice.

  She sat and rinsed the soap from her body with a sigh. “Todd is the wild card. Winston indulges him. I worry my husband will demand some punishment for what I’ve done. He has a vindictive streak, and the esteemed senator doesn’t take kindly to slights against the family, especially those aimed at his do-no-wrong grandson.”

  “He does know that Todd murdered his own cousin, right?”

  “Of course. On some level, I’ll bet he’s actually proud of that. Oh, angry that Todd did something that might tarnish the public’s perception of the family and jeopardize his re-election chances, but deep down, he relishes Todd’s ruthlessness. In fact, he feeds it, probably because he sees my husband in himself. His own son is passive. Roger follows orders, and he wouldn’t dare exercise an original thought, if he ever had one. Winston has nothing but contempt for him. But he loves that his ‘killer instinct’ lives on in Todd, so he rewards it.”

  “That’s twisted.”

  “That’s Winston Pershing.” She shrugged. “So there will be some emotional price tag for me wanting to leave the family, something most people will never see. But Todd will demand I pay in pain and humiliation. If Winston indulges that, God help me.”

  Son of a bitch. The weight of Madison’s bleak future looked so heavy on her slender shoulders, he feared it might break her. Yeah, he was supposed to let her soak her sore spots for twenty minutes, but the worry on her face told him that she needed his comfort now.