His nostrils flared. “No matter what, you’re mine. Repeat it.”

  “I’m yours, no matter what.”

  Madison thought the assurance would soothe him. Instead, it seemed to unleash his inner beast. He turned and grabbed a small flogger with thick, soft falls. He raised it. She held her breath. She squeezed her eyes shut and whimpered. It was going to sting. It was going to hurt.

  Instead, he lowered it between her legs in a soft strike, the thick leather strands more like a caress than a slap. It sent fire blazing through her veins.

  “Matt!” She arched up.

  He shoved her back to the mattress. “Take it.”

  Then he repeated the swat, the thump of the buttery-soft skin a supple torment as he made contact with her most sensitive flesh again and again and again. She gasped. Blood rushed. Sensation swamped. She fought for breath and sanity as he slowly unraveled her. The ache between her legs turned ferocious, wresting away her restraint. Her flesh sizzled—a thousand degrees of longing and need. A burning desire to give herself over to him completely had her gasping and begging him with a silent plea.

  “Tell me,” he demanded.

  “I need to come.”

  “No.”

  “What?” God, she didn’t think she could hold back, especially after he sent the flogger thudding across the mound of her pussy again, the falls fondling her precisely where she ached.

  “Promise me,” he snarled out, pausing his rhythmic strikes against her throbbing sex. “Promise me that pussy is always mine.”

  “I did,” she gasped. “It is.”

  “For-fucking-ever, Madison. Tell me this pussy is mine forever. That you’re mine forever.”

  “Yes,” she vowed. “Forever.”

  He tossed the flogger onto the mattress. Then he knelt on the floor between her thighs, dragged her to the edge of the bed, and inhaled a deep breath. “That’s right. If you ever forget, I will remind you by denying this pretty pussy until you beg for forgiveness and my cock. Are we clear?”

  “Yes, Matt. I won’t forget. Just…please. Please!”

  “Tell me you trust me.”

  She was almost startled to realize she did—implicitly.

  When she’d first met him years ago, Madison had been hopeful…but gun-shy. She’d asked herself a dozen times, if she hadn’t been used and abandoned by other guys, would she have reached out to Matt more, tried harder, been more understanding of his hesitation after their first magical weekend together? Probably. But from the minute she’d knocked on his window after leaving Todd and the DC machine behind, Matt had been rock-solid. Her protector. Her lover. Her Dom. Her everything. He’d filled the cracks others had left in her heart with the love she felt pouring off him every single day.

  “I trust you.”

  “No matter what?” he demanded.

  “No matter what.”

  He rewarded her with a rough thumb across her clit, followed by his tongue as he fitted a pair of thick fingers inside her and prodded against her internal walls in exactly the spot designed to send her soaring.

  “Oh. Oh. Oh!” she panted. “Matt. Please. I need more. I need…”

  “Tell me.”

  “I just… I’m coming apart.” She shook her head as sensations zipped and rolled through her body fast, hot, and destructive. “I can’t stop it.”

  “You can’t. Only I can. Because you need me.”

  “Yes,” she groaned. “Inside me. So hard it hurts. So deep I can’t breathe.”

  “That’s right,” he crooned.

  Then he rewarded her by suctioning her clit into his mouth again until she was poised, breath held, right on the edge.

  “Matt!” The sensation was right there, but she couldn’t seem to fall into bliss.

  “Don’t come.”

  Madison clenched every muscle to stave off the need, but she feared she was doomed to disappoint him. Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes. “Why?”

  “You trust me, remember? Never forget that.”

  She breathed hard and rough to regain control of her body. But that devious thumb of his brushed and rubbed her sensitive nub, keeping her precisely on the edge until her toes curled, her hips jolted, her breathing faltered, and her tears fell unimpeded.

  “God, your agony is fucking pretty. All that suffering because you trust I’ll make it perfect for you.” He licked the inside of her thigh. “Yes…”

  “Please,” she whimpered. “Please.”

  He shook his head. “It’s all about trust.”

  “I know. I know…but⁠—”

  “No buts. Total trust. Give it to me, and I’ll reward you.”

  His strokes on her clit slowed, alternately timed with the press-rub of his fingers on her front wall until the agony reached a crescendo of rushed breaths, twisting spine, and pounding heart whooshing between her ears, drowning out everything except Matt.

  “Yes!” She tossed back her head as he heaped pleasure on her that tore her apart piece by agonizing piece. It was as awful as it was wonderful, and Madison had no idea how she would survive if he didn’t let her come soon. “Oh, god…”

  “You mean ‘oh, Matt.’” He brushed away tears rolling down her temples before he lifted his busy hand from her pussy and plunged his drenched fingers into her mouth.

  She didn’t fight him, just begged him to end her suffering with an imploring moan.

  He shoved down his pants, then lifted her to the middle of the bed, covered her with his body, and aligned his crest with her empty, clenching opening. He drilled her with his unblinking stare. “Look at me.”

  Madison wrapped her legs around him, her gaze tangling with his until she felt so lost in him that, despite the fact their bodies weren’t joined yet, she didn’t know where she ended and he began. “Matt…”

  “You can come when I count to three. One…” He rubbed his hard, velvet cock against her distended clit, ramping up any minor cooldown she’d managed to achieve. “Two.” He repeated the action, forcing her to keen out her need and cling to the edge of searing pleasure. “Three!”

  Matt shoved every inch of his cock inside her in one brutal thrust. It stretched and burned and barraged her—and it was everything she needed to soar into the stratosphere, beyond mere bliss, to a place where ecstasy redefined everything she thought she knew about herself, this man, and the connection they shared.

  As she convulsed around him, he fucked her through the orgasm—hard, ruthless, all gritted teeth, growls, and demanding stares—then shuddered with a curse and spilled his hot seed deep into her body. It was beyond anything she’d ever fantasized about.

  He utterly ruined her.

  As she floated down and tried to catch her breath, he slowed, then stilled, panting in her neck while he gripped her hips and rooted even deeper inside her like he never wanted to leave. Her smile had to be loopy by the time she found the strength to lift her heavy-as-hell arms.

  Before she could curl them around his neck, he jerked back—from her embrace, from her body, from her personal space—and reached for his pants. “Get dressed.”

  At his terse command, the weightless, bubbly joy she’d been feeling oozed out. Dread rushed back. “Are we leaving? Already?”

  He yanked up his zipper. “Yes.”

  Madison didn’t understand. They still had hours to be alone. Why was he cutting their precious time together so short. “I don’t understand. Where are we going?”

  “Trust.” He raised a rebuking brow at her. “Remember? You promised to give it to me no matter what.”

  “But—”

  “Get dressed.” He swallowed, regret shadowing his expression. “This wasn’t supposed to happen.”

  “Sex?”

  Matt shook his head as he tossed his shirt over his head, then yanked it down his hard body.

  Madison tried not to notice that it clung like a second skin, but the sight of him so male and strong and determined melted her. Then her brain shifted from pleasure to the here-and-now, and his meaning registered. “We’re here together to spend time. We negotiated with Todd for this. Why wouldn’t we have sex?”

  “Because there are other things happening and—” He seemed to get a hold of himself, reining in his temper. Then he shut his mouth and slid on his shoes. “Put your goddamn clothes on. I just came here to retrieve something. Then we’re leaving.”

  Madison stared at him, trying to understand and shove back her unease. Matt was even more distant than he had been in the Uber. His gray stare had gone from stormy to frosty in a snap. She didn’t like it.

  “What if I don’t want to? What if I want to stay here in bed with you?”

  “Not an option. Let’s go.”

  He dismissed her then, flipping on the purple light overhead before he headed to the far side of the room and wedged himself into a closet. Confused, Madison scrambled to her feet and shimmied into everything but her tank, which was still in the next room, while Matt accessed a wall safe. His wide back blocked her from seeing exactly what he was doing.

  Whatever he’d grabbed, he shoved it in his pocket, then turned to her with dispassionate eyes. “Where’s your shirt?”

  She didn’t want to answer that. She didn’t want to be a good girl. She wanted to rebel until he cracked and told her what was going on. “Matt⁠—”

  “Trust, goddamn it!”

  When he stomped past her, tears stung Madison’s eyes like acid. The hot drops fell down her cheeks.

  She tried to calm herself. He’d asked for—no, demanded—trust for a reason. Something was going on. Probably something with Todd. Of course Matt was on edge. They were playing a lethal game of chicken with some of the most powerful people in the country. It had to be fraying his composure.

  Trust. She would extend it to him. After all, she owed him that much, since he’d come to DC to try to save her. But she owed him even more, because he was the other half of her soul.

  Resolved, she made her way to the apartment door, then retrieved her shirt and slid it over her head.

  Matt watched her with a shuttered expression, then took one last look around the place. “You got everything?”

  “Yes.”

  A few buttons on his phone later, they stood wordlessly on the street corner, waiting for their ride.

  “Talk to me. Is something going on?” she asked again.

  He didn’t answer for a long minute. Foreboding gouged her belly again.

  “Unfortunately, I have to see Toddhole’s smug, annoying-ass face every day,” he finally drawled.

  But that wasn’t new, and now that their moments of intimacy were over, his mood seemed even blacker. The observation led her back to her original conclusion.

  Something was wrong.

  Madison withdrew into her own thoughts. Todd had said or done something to dismay Matt. He must have. That was the only explanation.

  “I thought you said you were going to shock me down to my pretty toes today,” she reminded.

  Just then, their Uber pulled around the corner and stopped at the curb. Matt turned, his weighty stare full of more rage and something she couldn’t put her finger on. “That’s coming. Get in.”

  With those ominous words, he jerked open the back door and urged her inside, then climbed behind her, touching her only with his stare. The ride back to the apartment felt so tense, Madison was almost afraid to breathe too loud. At least a dozen times she opened her mouth to soften the mood. Every time, she took one look at his forbidding face and closed it.

  Minutes later, they arrived at Todd’s apartment, riding up the elevator in terrible silence. Matt ushered her inside. Todd was waiting, along with a leggy brunette who wore a white cold-shoulder crop top that both hugged and revealed perfect breasts. Since the woman’s nipples poked the soft cotton, Madison bet she wasn’t wearing anything as trivial as a bra. The smooth expanse of her abs whittled down to a tiny waist, then jutted out to lush hips and the kind of juicy ass designed to make a man drool. Minuscule denim shorts gaped below her belly button and hugged her sleek thighs. Four-inch wedges made her legs look miles long.

  Madison’s stare bounced up to the woman’s face. Dark, almond-shaped eyes stared back at her with open curiosity. Then her pillowy lips curled up when she caught sight of Matt.

  With a lurch of her heart, Madison looked on. How did these two know each other?

  More disquiet filled her, which only grew worse when Todd smiled with supreme satisfaction. “You’re back early.”

  “I’m ready to get on with this.” Matt sounded bored, but he was taut and he gave off a wrathful, angry vibe.

  “Excellent. I’ve procured what you’ve requested.” He shoved the Hispanic beauty toward Matt. “And in case you’re wondering, she’s still a virgin. You’re welcome.”

  Madison whirled to Matt, frowning as more foreboding gripped her. “Who is this?”

  “Graciela.” He let out a rough breath, then sidled up to the brunette and slipped his arm around her waist, palming its curve intimately. “My new girlfriend.”

  Then as if to underscore his words, he nuzzled her neck. The woman blinked before her eyes fluttered shut.

  Madison’s world stopped. “G-girlfriend? But you…” She turned a blazing glare Todd’s way. “You manipulative bastard. What did you do?”

  He laughed and gestured back at Matt. “He’ll be happy to explain.”

  “Todd made me a deal, honey. I told you he offered me eight million dollars to leave you. Last night, he offered to sweeten the pot.” Matt skimmed a hand down Graciela’s ass, then patted it like he owned her. “I accepted.”

  Was he serious? His face said so.

  Betrayal cleaved her heart in two. “But you said you turned it down. You said you loved me. You said⁠—”

  “I said a lot of things, but the truth is, I knew if I maneuvered the situation, Todd would pay me handsomely to go away. I’d rather kick back than live by my gun for the rest of my life, so I bided my time and played you just right…” He shrugged. “I became your lover and protector, pouring the act on until Todd decided he couldn’t take it anymore and chose to reclaim his wife…for the right price. And you fell right into my trap, surrendering your body, heart, and will to me—and driving your husband insane with jealousy.”

  “No.” Madison couldn’t breathe. “No. You’re lying.”

  He had to be.

  “I’m not. You have a naive little heart that wants to believe every fairy tale any man ever whispered in your ear. It’s why you got fucked and ghosted so often. You’re looking for forever. Honey, guys like me just want pussy. I enjoyed yours, but this one is going to be an upgrade.” He dragged his lips over Graciela’s collarbones.

  His every word and gesture stabbed her with pain, duplicity, and despair. Had she really fallen for some elaborate scheme?

  “Even better, no man has touched Graciela’s pussy. I don’t have to look at her and know she’s spread her legs for anyone else—especially this asshole.” He pointed to Todd. “She’s all mine until I’m ready to move on.”

  “That’s disgusting. You don’t own her. That’s”—she shook her head—“not like you.”

  “Oh, it’s exactly like me. Why do you think I banged almost a hundred women while we were apart? Stop being clingy and ridiculous. It’s over.”

  He twisted the knife deeper with every word. Madison felt her chest buckle and tried to hold back a sob. “But you told me you love me. You said you wanted to mar⁠—”

  “I don’t love you.” He glared down at her until she swore she was shriveling under his disdain. “I never have. Let go.”

  When he cast a pointed glance down at his arm, she followed suit, shocked to realize she was clutching him like a desperate little girl. He wasn’t just ripping out her heart but her sense of security, her future.

  Her soul.

  “I trusted you. You told me to.”

  “You’ve really got to stop believing everything you hear, honey.”

  Todd laughed long and loud. The sound echoed in her ears and made her stomach churn as Matt turned away, headed down the hall, paused to talk to Ethan at his bedroom door, then appeared again with his duffel.

  Matt was leaving? With this woman? Right now? It didn’t seem possible. This had to be some mistake, some ploy. Something. After everything, it didn’t seem possible that he would say such horrible things and walk out on her.

  Madison scrambled for something to say or do. Then she remembered their silent language. She found his stare on her, seeming to dissect her, then grazed her fingertips over her temple. I’m thinking of you.

  He blinked, looked away, and curled Graciela against his side again as if he didn’t understand or care at all.

  His rejection stunned Madison mute. Oh, god…

  “We’re out of here,” Matt told Todd. “Nice doing business with you.”

  “Oh, it’s been a pleasure,” her husband assured as he followed Matt to the entrance. Then he spit in Matt’s face. “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”

  Before Matt could retaliate, Todd slammed the slab between them. The sound rang in her ears like a death knell, telling Madison that Matt and all hope for their love was gone. He’d lied. He’d deceived her. He’d used her. He’d given her up for money and a more beautiful woman.

  He was just like every other man.

  Madison no longer cared where she was or that she was probably giving Todd supreme satisfaction. She fell to her knees, sobbing for all she’d lost, especially her hope for a future and a father for her unborn baby.

  Moments later, Nash lifted her to her feet and wrapped her in his comforting arms. She wilted against him, no longer having the will to go on. She didn’t even stop to ask why or how he was in Todd’s apartment, helping her gather up the pieces of her shattered heart. She didn’t care. And when her knees buckled, her vision closed in, and darkness came for her, she welcomed it.

  August 17

  Eleven agonizing days later, Matt stole through the muggy night toward the rendezvous point, utilizing the private entrance on the side of the retail building and ascending the stairs. Ethan waited, tense and alert, by the enclosed front door.