Unconventional

I sighed grimly and looked down. It was the answer I expected, of course.

“And I’m preventing that from happening right now.”

Julian turned his head to look at me. He could see where I was going with this.

“No,” I said immediately. “That’s not… It’s not lik

e—”

“Yes it is and you know it.”

I felt like an asshole. A shameless, selfish asshole. Taking advantage of a man’s generosity was one thing. But to take food from the mouths of his family…

“Madison,” he said, his voice going hard and serious. “I need you to stop and look at me.”

It took me a while to look up. When I finally did, my lover’s expression wasn’t anger — it was understanding.

“You’re the one good thing I’ve got going right now,” said Julian. “I care about you. I need to help you. Just like I help them.”

“Maybe,” I croaked. “But—”

“But nothing,” he said firmly. “My sisters will be fine. Antonio too. Even my mother, who I’ll never forgive for drowning herself in her own misery.” His expression went grim. “Especially when it’s far past time she finally learned to swim.”

He switched arms on the steering wheel, then reached across and took me by the hand. With a firm grip he pulled me against him, my body melding against his from the middle of the long bench seat.

“You know I’m going to pay you back,” I said abruptly. “Every single penny I owe you, and then some.”

The big mason squeezed my fingers. “I know.”

“I mean it, Julian. Once I own that piece of property, once I can do what I want with it…”

His arm slid around me. It made me feel whole. Complete. Comforted and safe.

“Madison…” he murmured, as the lights of Edinburgh began to glow in the distance. He squeezed me against him, crushing away any remaining shred of self-doubt.

“Everything’s going to be just fine.”

Forty-Seven

MADISON

I clawed him even deeper inside me, my fingers clamping down over the two firm cheeks of his magnificent ass. I could feel the muscles working there, beneath the skin. Churning and flexing powerfully as he drove himself into my body, my legs spread wide, my chin pinned to his shoulder.

“Fuck me…”

The words were unnecessary, but my lips formed them anyway. I was murmuring all sorts of things. Words and phrases that held little meaning in the wake of my limitless arousal.

My lover drove deeper still, pinning me back against the cabinets. I was bare-assed on his kitchen counter. Julian had lifted me into the corner, before shoving his way between my legs and plunging inside me.

Mmmmmm…

His apartment was clean, neat — just like his life. Totally utilitarian, but with a creative touch too. I’d seen paintings on the walls that I never would’ve imagined he’d like. Living plants that he was apparently watering, actually taking care of.

It was totally cute. Adorable, even. That this gargantuan, rough and tumble stonemason had a softer, more sophisticated side to him. A perfectly-made bed. A clean bathroom. Even a cat…

He was already way ahead of ninety-percent of the guys I’d ever dated.

Right now, none of that mattered. Shortly after my two-minute tour, Julian had started kissing me in the middle of his kitchen. It had been hot. Steamy. Almost dream-like in intensity and passion, until I suddenly found myself with my sundress bunched up around my hips, being fucked like a bad girl with my panties stretched to one side.