Fuck. Madison burned him. No matter how hard or insatiably he took her, the need always came back twice as strong.

  Wordlessly, he found the new box of condoms and tore into it as she yanked down his pants, like she hadn’t touched him in months rather than hours.

  After that, they didn’t talk. Tomorrow, the sun would come up, and reality would intrude. She would be expected to appear in the classroom for the final days of the school year with her pint-sized pupils, and he had a personal security firm that expected him to take on Trees’s work while the guy honeymooned with Laila. Matt could feel the clock creeping closer to the hour they had to part. A panic he didn’t understand surged. He pinned her to the bed, clutching her like he’d never let her go while he wedged himself between her thighs and drove deep without stopping and without mercy.

  When he was submerged inside her, he finally breathed. Madison was his again. Right now, he couldn’t imagine a time she wouldn’t be. It was crazy, but his heart insisted she belonged to him forever. His head was screaming that, if he didn’t back off and get his shit together, she could end up as miserable and broken as his dad’s parade of women.

  Then pleasure overrode everything. Matt had no sense of time passing, only the searing pleasure threatening to break him. Sweat poured off his body as her pleading filled his ears.

  “Matt. Matt! Please…”

  “No.” This might well be his last chance to imprint himself on her before responsibility took her away. He wanted this moment to last as long as he could. “Look at me.”

  Her eyes fluttered open, dilated and wild and reverent. She latched onto him as he filled her with strong, steady strokes that had her clawing his back and keening out his name again.

  Seeing her drown in desire filled him with a now too-familiar deviant thrill. After this much sex, he should be sated for days—or at least a few hours. But with Madison, he burned endlessly.

  Matt withdrew, earning him a mew of protest, before he urged her onto her hands and knees. In one stroke, he embedded himself inside her, eliciting a wall-rattling groan. She clawed the bedding and tightened on him and urged him to go harder.

  As he tangled his fingers in her hair and tugged, he leaned over her back and found her ear. “Tell me you love the feel of me inside you, fucking you deep.”

  Her breath shuddered. “Yes. Oh, my god, yes… I love it. More. Always more…”

  Matt drove her until she screamed out in throaty ecstasy. He followed with a climax so devastating he wondered if he’d ever be right again. Physically, he felt sated. Emotionally, he still churned and burned…and feared he’d never have enough of Madison.

  Together, they collapsed to the rumpled sheets, panting.

  She pressed a hand to her rapidly rising and falling chest. “That was…”

  “Consuming,” he finished, stealing one more kiss because he couldn’t help himself.

  “Incredibly.”

  Silence reigned until they caught their breath. Matt disposed of the condom, then paused beside the elegant pedestal that held the coffeemaker. “Want a cup?”

  She turned and stared at the clock. “It’s almost midnight? When did that happen? I have to be at work by eight.”

  Fuck. He would have sworn it was barely nine when he’d last looked. “That’s a no?”

  “I can’t. Come back to bed?” She held out her arms to him.

  He hesitated, then backed away. “You need sleep. I have to let you. I can take the loveseat.”

  “I won’t sleep without you.”

  And he wouldn’t sleep without her. He was starting to wonder if he could breathe without her.

  He was trekking a fucking dangerous path.

  “Let me take a quick shower. Then I’ll join you.”

  Madison looked bereft but nodded.

  Shutting the door between them felt horribly wrong. He closed his eyes and wondered what the fuck to do. All these years he’d assumed he was nothing like his father. He had never enjoyed bending a woman to his will. He’d never needed to toy with one, much less own her. He had never felt the need to ensure her every thought was about him. That her heart beat only for him. He’d never understood Dad when the man found a new girlfriend and claimed the “feeling” had hit. He’d merely looked at the man with repugnance. God knows how many women over the years he’d tried to warn away.

  Now look at him, questioning who he was and what would happen if he kept this fist-like grip on the beautiful kindergarten teacher in the next room. How long before he destroyed her?

  The thoughts haunted him as he showered, soaped up, and dried off.

  As he opened the door to the steamy room, Madison lay curled on her side, facing him, waiting and completely bare. By the bedside light, he saw the evidence of his touch all over her body—love bites, whisker burns, faint bruises. She was visibly swollen—lips, nipples, pussy—as she met his stare with heavy lids, looking exhausted…yet still wordlessly pleading for more.

  Matt couldn’t resist. Tomorrow-him would worry about the ramifications of giving in tonight.

  He slid into bed beside her and took her in his arms. Automatically, she rolled into him and laid her head on his chest.

  “You smell clean,” she murmured.

  “You smell like sex, and it’s making me hard again.” Something that shouldn’t be physically possible.

  “Sorry not sorry.”

  He laughed and closed his eyes, trying not to think about the fact she was naked. That was fucking difficult with her soft satin skin brushing over every hypersensitive inch of him with every breath. “Sleep, honey.”

  “I’d rather have you.”

  He burned for her, too, but… “Without rest, you’ll be exhausted.”

  As he flipped off the bedside light, she sighed and cuddled closer. “But you want more. You’re putting me first?”

  “I always will.”

  She softened against him. “I believe that. And if you knew me, you’d understand that’s a miracle.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “My relationship with my dad is great, so I don’t have daddy issues or anything. But every other man in my life…” She shook her head. “Liars, players, users. Before you, I’d given up on finding anyone.”

  Matt’s throat tightened. He’d never taken any woman seriously because he’d refused to run the risk of one leaving him, like his mother left his father. And he’d been secure in the knowledge that he wasn’t a controlling bastard, like his father—until now. Where the fuck did that leave him? He didn’t want to ruin Madison’s psyche. She was fragile. But she scared him on every level.

  He had to tread carefully.

  “You’re beautiful, sweet, and special. Never let anyone make you feel like less.”

  Against his chest, he felt her smile. “It’s at least a little bit my fault. I trust too much. I get attached too fast. I lose myself, and I don’t see the pitfalls until it’s too late.”

  Her admission drove home the fact that he was all wrong for her. Dangerous. Toxic. Bad. He should back off.

  Matt wasn’t sure he could.

  She sighed. “And we’ve gone about everything backward. Sex before talking. Tell me how you are in relationships?”

  “I can’t say. I’ve never really been attached.”

  “Seriously? Why not? You’re amazing.”

  How did he explain this without opening up about the subject he never discussed? “It’s complicated.”

  She brushed a hand down his chest before settling it over his heart. “I won’t be able to sleep until you tell me. Maybe I can help.”

  No one could. “It’s stuff that happened a million years ago.”

  “But if it’s bothering you, it’s not a million years ago for you.”

  True. Avoiding the truth had never helped much. Would unburdening?

  Matt shuttled out a harsh breath and rolled to his back. “Did you notice the tattoo on my ribs?”

  “And still I rise,” she quoted. “What made you choose that?”

  “I got it the day after I turned eighteen. It was the ninth anniversary of my mother leaving.”

  “She left you the day after you turned nine?”

  “Yep. She packed a suitcase, took half the money in the bank, and one of the cars. She never looked back. One day she threw a football birthday party for me, even baked the cake herself. The next day, she was gone.” Matt would never forget the teary look in her eyes when she’d said she loved him, brushed her hand over his hair, kissed his cheek, said she was sorry…and disappeared. “I never heard from her again.”

  She gasped. “And you have no idea why?”

  “No, I do. My father… He’s a horrible, manipulative bastard. In fact, shitty fathers were something One-Mile and I bonded over as kids. Most everyone who came into our lives ended up leaving a teary, emotional wreck. I got the tattoo to remind myself that, despite all the crap with my parents and stuff, I won’t let it bring me down.”

  Madison didn’t say anything for a long moment. “Thank you for sharing that with me. It sounds like your childhood wasn’t easy.”

  “Try hard as fuck,” he admitted with a smile before sobering again. “I’ve never talked about it to anyone, except Pierce. He only knows because he visited his grandpa every summer and saw it all go down.”

  She caressed him again, curling against his side in the dark, and planted a kiss on his mouth so soft it nearly felled him.

  “Which makes you telling me even more special. I’m here for you. I hope you know that. Just like I hope you know you’re an amazing man.”

  But he wasn’t. Didn’t she see? This weekend had proved that. And he was conflicted as fuck.

  Tomorrow, he’d have to face that reality. But he still had tonight. He scooped Madison up in his arms, donned another condom, and utterly lost himself inside her one last time.

  The following morning, Matt kissed Madison against the side of her sedan like he would starve to death without her, dazing her too much to ask for the promises he knew she wanted. Then he settled his cowboy hat on his head and watched her drive away, scrubbing a hand down his face. He felt as if his fucking world was ending.

  After one last sweep of the suite where they’d spent the weekend lost in each other, he snapped a pic of the room so he could remember it exactly as it looked now—mussed bed with the robe’s terry cloth belt still tied to the headboard, towels strewn, and half-empty cups of coffee on the dresser. Then he shut the door behind him and headed to the parking lot.

  What the fuck was he going to do about Madison? As he climbed into his truck and left the inn, he felt her absence keenly, as if she’d taken his insides when she’d gone, leaving him hollow and raw.

  Though he’d sworn he would never be like his dad, she brought out every possessive, controlling, alpha-male tendency he’d never exhibited. She wasn’t merely shiny and new. That was a BS excuse. He didn’t know why, but with each passing hour, he’d only gotten more determined to keep her and more insistent on dominating her in bed.

  How long before that overwhelmed her?

  He’d love to believe he could moderate, make Madison his while keeping his freak flag in check. But Dad never had. That worried Matt like hell.

  “Hey, man. How was your weekend?” Zy greeted when he walked through the door of EM Security Management’s offices. “You look like hell warmed over.”

  Matt had never been jealous in his life. If some girl he took to bed had previously slept with a guy he knew, that was their business. If she crawled out of his bed and into someone else’s, that was on her. And by then, he was usually done with her, anyway.

  Madison was the exception. Matt hated knowing that Zy had once kissed her, stripped her bare, and used her body for his pleasure. It shouldn’t matter. That had been months ago, and Zy was completely in love with his wife. In all the time Matt had known the man, he had never expressed an ounce of interest in anyone but Tessa. But the knowledge that he had ever touched Madison burned.

  “Fine,” Matt managed not to growl. “You?”

  “Good.”

  “You hear from Trees?” he asked, more to distract himself than out of real curiosity. “Did he and Laila reach their destination?”

  Zy shrugged. “If he called me on his honeymoon to check in like I’m his daddy, I’d only rib him for not having enough to do, and he knows it.”

  Matt managed to smile. “Fair enough.”

  “Listen, have you decided if you’re going to join EM Security full time?”

  “Not yet.” Until this weekend, he’d been leaning toward yes. For Madison’s sake, he should probably rethink that.

  Zy clapped him on the shoulder. “C’mon. It would be great, man. We could use some fresh blood around here.”

  Matt cocked his head toward Kane Preston, the group’s loner, on the far side of the office. The former small-town Texas sheriff kept to himself and never caused problems. His ops were always squeaky clean and by the book. But Matt would bet money something more lurked under the guy’s controlled surface. “What’s with him?”

  “Don’t know.” Zy dropped his voice. “He’s nice, just doesn’t have any interest in…blending. Coffee?”

  Now that he wasn’t near Madison, he felt every calorie he’d burned this weekend and every quick carb he’d swapped for his usual protein to keep his body going. His stomach was like an empty hole, and if he poured the battery acid that passed for office brew down there, it would do damage. “Later. I’m going to order in some eggs from that diner on the corner. Want anything?”

  “I’m good. Tessa cooks every morning.” He smiled. “Got to when you have kids to feed.”

  And just like that, Matt envied Zy again. The smiling bastard knew happiness with the woman he loved. Matt would never know what putting a ring on Madison’s finger and planting his seed in her belly would be like. The thought of tying her to him so irrevocably made him hard as fuck.

  He needed to downshift fast.

  “No doubt. Talk to you later.” Gritting his teeth, Matt made his way to Trees’s desk.

  After that conversation, the day seemed to last forever. He found himself sloughing off work and delving into Madison’s life. He felt like a creepy voyeur, but he couldn’t stop himself.

  In less than three minutes, he’d learned where she lived, where she’d gone to school, and everywhere she’d ever worked. Along with her social media footprint and social affiliations, he found a prom picture, some photos of her with the girls she’d come to Saturday’s wedding with, and snapshots of her with her dad. An obituary from the local paper for her mother jumped out at him. He hadn’t known; Madison had mentioned that her mother was gone. Then again, Marie Archer had died when Madison was a small child. It was possible she barely remembered the woman.

  The elementary school where she taught let out at half past three. He had to summon all his restraint not to hop in his truck and talk to her. He held back for two reasons. First, if he found her alone, he’d get her naked and spend the night inside her. A kindergarten classroom wasn’t the place for that. Second, what could he say, especially when he had no idea how to curb his twisted desires and be the man she deserved?

  But knowing she was out there, where he couldn’t touch her, made him half-insane.

  He was bargaining with himself, fighting impulses that had him climbing the walls, when his phone rang. He read the display and cursed.

  Albany County Detention Center.

  Wyoming. Only one person he knew in Laramie would call him from jail. What the fuck had his father done now?

  When he’d left home, Dad had promised to spend some time alone and work on himself. Matt suspected now that hadn’t lasted long.

  He jogged into the conference room and shut the door, so Zy and Kane couldn’t overhear. “Hello?”

  “Matt?” his dad croaked out. “Thank God you answered. I need your help. I’ve been arrested.”

  “Arrested?” Dad had been a fuckup for years, but he’d never had a run-in with the law. “For what—”

  “N-Nicole, my girlfriend…”

  Another one? So he hadn’t spent any time alone after Matt had gone to Louisiana, just jumped into another relationship, as usual. “Damn it, Dad. What happened?”

  “Don’t be that way. She was different and—”

  “If you two split up and she’s already gone, no. How did that land you in jail?”

  “She’s dead. The police think I killed her.”

  Matt froze. “What?”

  “I swear to God, I didn’t. She just went insane. I had no idea…”

  Bracing against the wall, Matt’s thoughts raced. “Can you tell me what happened?”

  “Not now. I’ll explain when you get here. I need you to bail me out, find a lawyer, and handle the cleanup.”

  “Cleanup?”

  “Nicole found the gun in my nightstand, and she…” Dad couldn’t finish the sentence. He broke down, weeping silent, grim tears.

  “She…pointed it at you? Did you wrestle her for it and—”

  “The gun didn’t go off by accident. She committed suicide.”

  Matt closed his eyes. “Oh, fuck.”

  “She’d threatened before. I didn’t really think she would do it.”

  Instead of berating his father that he should have taken Nicole seriously, Matt navigated his dad’s grief and got the information he needed to help. The next day, he was still trying to wrap his head around everything when he stepped off the plane in Denver. He missed Madison like hell. He hadn’t slept for shit without her, and he needed her so damn badly. He gave in and reached out.

  I had to fly home unexpectedly. My dad had an emergency. I’m not sure when I’ll be back.

  She answered right away.

  Oh, no. I hope everything is all right. Is there anything I can do to help?

  Nothing. I’ll let you know when I’m back in Lafayette.

  Even if it would be better for you if I didn’t, he thought.

  Okay. Don’t hesitate to ask if I can do anything.