Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 82973 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82973 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
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.