“You want me to f**k you until you scream. I can still make you purr, Kitten,” he told her arrogantly, a satisfied smirk on his face.
She shrugged, trying to force down her violent desire to slap the conceited look from his handsome face. “I wouldn’t know. You’ve never f**ked me. And you never will.”
Wrenching her arm from his hold, Maddie vaulted through the office door, scooping her jacket from the hook by the reception desk and bolting through the lobby and out the front door of the clinic. Maddie didn’t look back. She couldn’t. One of Hudson’s security officers escorted her to her car and Maddie drove away like she was a convicted criminal with the law on her tail, wanting nothing more than to get as far away from Sam as she could possibly get.
Maddie drove in a daze, two words playing through her hazy brain like a broken record.
Never again.
Never again.
*****
Sam Hudson walked slowly through the reception area of the clinic, lost in his own thoughts. What the hell had just happened? He’d stopped to see if Maddie was okay, concerned that she was still at the clinic so late, a quick stop to make sure all was okay. Damn. Could he ever see the woman and not want to possess her, make her want him as much as he wanted her.
You’ve never gotten over her. You probably never will. She’s haunted you for years. She got under your skin like a sliver of wood that’s always a little bit raw and irritated, never working its way out again.
Stepping outside, Sam closed the outside door behind him. He glanced at one of his security officers. “Can you lock up?”
The man nodded. “Yes sir. Hope your meeting with Dr. Reynolds went okay.”
Sam barked a humorless, self-mocking laugh. “Yeah. It was very informative.” He lifted a hand to the other guards as he departed, making his way to his vehicle.
Yep. That meeting had gone really well, he thought darkly as stepped into his Bugatti and started the engine.
You never even said you were sorry.
Her words tormented him, would probably always torture him now. “Fuck!” Sam slammed his fist against the steering wheel in frustration. Nope. He hadn’t ever said he was sorry. Then again, Maddie had never given him the chance. Still, he should have said it, found a way to apologize. He hadn’t had a chance back then, and he had just blown his second chance a few minutes ago.
What was it about Maddie that made him lose his reason?
You’re acting like an ass**le because she doesn’t really care about you anymore and it’s eating you alive. You might be able to have her body if you seduce her…but never her heart. Never again.
Once, years ago, Maddie had looked at him with eyes that sparkled with admiration, adoration. One stupid action, one idiotic incident, and he had washed that look from her beautiful eyes forever.
Leaning his forehead against the steering wheel, he closed his eyes, still able to picture the Maddie who had looked at him with respect and affection even when he hadn’t had two pennies to rub together. It was ironic, now that he was one of the wealthiest men in the world, that she eyed him like a bug that needed to squashed, a rodent that needed to be exterminated.
You’ll see her again. She’ll be forced to talk to you for Simon and Kara’s wedding. The wedding was being held in his home, so Maddie wouldn’t have a choice. He was the best man and she was the maid of honor. Maddie would have to at least be civil, and Sam knew she would. She was considerate and loyal to anyone she considered a friend. Her own feelings would take a back seat to making sure Kara had a happy wedding, one with no hassles or ugliness.
And no matter how Maddie treats me, no matter how she looks at me, I won’t be a dick to her.
Sam sat back in his seat with a heavy sigh and put his car in gear, wondering if that were even possible anymore. Truth was, the years had changed him, made him into a man that he wasn’t at all certain he liked anymore.
Find a woman, someone to take your mind off Maddie.
Snapping his seatbelt on as he backed out of the parking space, Sam took a deep breath and ran through a mental list of willing females…until he caught a tantalizing smell, an elusive scent that clung tenaciously to his sweater. Her fragrance. A reminder of what had just occurred in her office.
“Fuck! I can’t do it. I can’t be with another woman. Not now,” he whispered to himself, pissed off that he had kissed her, felt her lush curves against his body. Now, thinking about spending the night in the bed of any other woman but Maddie left him cold.
Sam braked his vehicle at the exit of the parking lot, glancing quickly at his watch, grinning as he turned left instead of right, headed toward Simon’s condo.
It was time.
Simon had called him earlier, informing Sam that he was going to be an uncle, and asking for a favor, which was a complete rarity for Simon. Honestly, there was nothing Sam wouldn’t do for his little brother. He had failed to protect Simon once, and it wasn’t happening ever again. Whatever Simon needed, he’d be there for him.
Thank God Simon had found Kara. Sam adored his brother’s fiancée, wanting to kiss the ground she walked on because she loved his little brother unconditionally, made Simon happier than Sam had ever seen him. And Simon deserved that happiness, that kind of devotion from a woman. Unfortunately, watching Simon and Kara together made Sam realize just how empty his own life was, how desolate and superficial his existence had become.
Kissing Maddie, holding her again after all those years, had made things even worse. It was like something was awakening deep inside of him, a sensation that was familiar, yet not. Certainly, it wasn’t comfortable.
Forget her. Forget what it felt like to lose yourself in Maddie’s softness, her scent, the feel of her lush curves and deliciously eager mouth.
Sam cursed, knowing he’d be sleeping alone tonight, taking himself in hand as he fantasized about Maddie. And this time, those memories would be much more vivid, newer, more real than ever before.
Fuck! He was so completely screwed…and definitely not in a good way.
Chapter 5
“Yes!”
Kara punched her fist in the air, ecstatic that she had finally conquered the first level of Simon’s new game. Actually, her new game, the computer game Simon had designed especially for her, named after her. The Adventures Of Kara was awesome, not that she was surprised. Her fiancé was a freaking genius, and every game that he designed was unique. It was no wonder that she was completely addicted to anything Simon created.
Running a hand over the computer screen, she sighed. What man would spend countless hours on a game designed especially for her, a game that he never intended to reveal to the world?