Ruin Me (Savage Bosses)

Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11

K ent

My apartment was too quiet. Even the heater ran on silent as if tiptoeing around me like everyone else since the news of Elsie’s attack. Throughout the company, I was on the receiving end of suspicious glances. Again.

My innocence in question. Again.

And I had to walk around pretending the shit didn’t affect me. I wasn’t made of steel. Women had lost their lives, and this recent attack on Elsie hit harder.

Because it touched Madison. Although her relationship with Elsie on the outside seemed professional, the warmth and personal touch she used while handling Elsie’s career spoke to a deeper connection. So, it was no surprise to me when Madison started skipping meals and working late to do what the police hadn’t done since the first body appeared.

I wanted to admire her for her dedication, but I the dark circles under her eyes and those unappetizing protein drinks she used as meal replacements pissed me off. I didn’t demand my employees to work long hours, and I didn’t expect them from her.

I rolled onto my back, frustrated by my sleeplessness and the worry keeping my rest at bay. The clock on my nightstand read 2:33 AM.

Fed up and too tense to relax, I flung the sheets from my body and put on a robe. With my mind too wired, and a sneaking suspicion I hoped to debunk, I took the elevator to my office.

The doors slid open to a darkened office. I sighed in relief until I glanced in the corner where Madison spent most of her day. An eerie blue glow sparked my curiosity. As I approached, an eerie outline from the light took shape, causing my tense muscles to tighten even more.

I turned on the light but Madison’s concentration never shifted from her screen. On her desk, two empty protein drinks lay on their sides next to her empty coffee cup and crumpled snack bar wrappers. Surrounding her bent body, discarded trash, papers, and photos covered the available surface on her desk.

“Have you moved since I left?”

“Eek!” She screamed and jumped in her chair. She swiveled her chair and clutched her hand to her chest while glaring at me. “You scared me.”

“Answer me.”

Her eyes widened and she lurched from her chair, sending it spinning toward the wall. She sprinted past me. “Oh, shit.”

The wind from her speed blew my robe open. Momentarily speechless, I watched as she slammed the bathroom door. While waiting for her to come out, I got a closer look at her desk.

Madison was building family histories and connections of the victims for people to investigate that the police haven’t questioned. A Post-it note caught my eye. A man’s name, address, and time for later today stared at me.

She couldn’t be thinking of meeting a stranger on her own. Not after what the police said about Elsie’s attacker. I closed my eyes and repeated all the reasons she wouldn’t endanger herself. I needed the time to calm myself or the minute she returned I would unleash my temper on her.

“Sorry about that. Whew, I was holding that in for… I don’t even know how long.” Madison laughs, her voice full of relief.

Before she sat again, I grabbed her elbow to stop her. “You didn’t answer me.”

The tension in her body wasn’t typical. Feeling her arm flexing under my hold reminded me of another time I took her in hand when she refused to admit she was hurting. Her body was so tightly held, the wrong move could have snapped her. Only by a miracle did I stumble upon a solution she needed. But this situation was different. Wasn’t it?

She shrugged my hand off. “Don’t worry about it.” She retrieved her chair, sat, and flipped through a few papers, already engrossed in whatever I walked in on earlier. “I think I’ve found someone who can?—”

“Madison!” I take a deep breath. “What you’re doing is unhealthy. You need rest.”

She paused with her hand over a document. “I’ve told you before, I don’t need another daddy.”

“Madison…” I gritted, trying to keep myself calm. “When was the last time you slept? And I mean for more than two hours at a time.”

She swiveled her chair to frown at me. “Mr. Luxe?—”

“That’s it.” I pulled her from her seat while she resisted. “I’ve tried to be understanding. Watched you compromise your health. That shit stops now.” I dragged her toward the elevator, but she managed to free herself and walk away from me.

“You’re being ridiculous for no good reason. The sooner I find who attacked Elsie, the sooner I clear yo?—”

I swung her into my arms.

“Kent put me down!”

Recognizing her stubbornness for what it was, I put her in the same position I’d put her in the day things changed between us: bending over my desk. “Woman, I admire your ambition, your work ethic, and your dedication, but I will not see you sacrificing your health for it.” I shoved her pants and underwear down her legs.

Madison stopped wriggling when I caressed her ass. “Kent?” A note of anticipation rang in her voice. No more defiance. No more putting distance between us by not using my goddamn name.

I slap her fleshy rear. “That’s right. Call me Kent. If you call me Mr. Luxe again, I’ll prolong your punishment.”

“Ow!”

I rubbed the area I’d hit. “Want me to stop?” I hovered my hand over her butt as I waited.

Seconds ticked on and I began to question if she’d meant what she said the last time I bent her over my desk.

“Keep going.” The words seemed pulled from deep within her as if in the silence she’d fought a battle with her pride before succumbing to her need for my discipline.

I spanked her again. And again.

She squirmed and whimpered.

“Nobody’s here, little bunny. You can scream if you need to let it out.”

I landed another smack to her other cheek.

This time, she let herself loose.

“Please!” she cried, her sobs coming faster with each blow.

Between hits, I rubbed the area turning a darker shade of brown and trying not to get distracted by the intoxicating scent rising from between her thighs or the way her ass bounced from the impact. As hard as I was with the need to undo my pants and shove myself inside her, two reasons stopped me.

As turned on as she’d gotten, this wasn’t about sex. Madison needed to understand I would never sit by and watch while she neglected her needs and her health. If I was going to be her man, then I would be her man. Be the person to ensure she lived a long, happy life, fulfilling life.

“Kent…” she sobbed while wiggling her delectable ass. “I’m sorry.”

“What are you sorry for? Don’t say the words if you don’t know what got you over my desk in the first place.”

Her ass was warm to the touch. I glanced around my desk and grabbed the glass paperweight to rub the chilled surface on her warmed skin.

“Mmm. I’m sorry for worrying you.”

“Is that all?”

Her body stilled. With a sigh, I rested the paperweight beside her and began a new barrage onto her vulnerable ass.

“Okay, okay! I’m sorry for not eating right or sleeping. I’ll do better, I swear.”

Her admission lifted a weight off my shoulders, and I blanketed her with my body, my chin rested on her shoulder.

“Thank you, little bunny. Now let’s get you to bed.” I pushed off her and knelt to pull up her pants and underwear.

Her glistening skin and intoxicating fragrance stalled me.

My mouth watered, tempered by a thirst I needed to control. Yet the hand reaching out to her silken thighs acted on its own. The finger swiping through the stream slowly trickling down thick warm flesh did so against my better judgment. And my traitorous mouth opening to receive the offering was a betraying asshole.

I groaned as her flavor touched my tongue. Sweetness exploded and every reason I had not to make this sexual taunted me. I shook my head free of her temptation, though I wasn’t completely successful. Before I made a hypocrite of myself, I pulled up her clothes.

When I allowed her up from the desk, her eyes were glossy from tears she shed, her lips plump from holding in her screams, and a healthy flush warmed her face.

Madison was an innocent, sultry goddess and she didn’t know what it took for me to hold back and not wring more noises from her lips while swallowing her pleasure.

“It’s too late for you to go home. Stay in the penthouse.” I held my hand out to her.

She glanced at my appendage, then my very obvious hard on with a question in her eyes, but she didn’t voice it and I didn’t want to speculate. Desire rode high in her gaze, and it wasn’t for another punishment.

I showed her to the bedroom. “Wait here and I’ll get you something to change into.”

I made the trip upstairs and back in seconds to hand her my favorite T-shirts. It was old and faded but soft to the touch and very loose on me.

“Thanks.” She took the shirt. “Don’t leave.”

“I’ll be here,” I assured her with a gentle smile.

She nodded, then headed to the bathroom to change.

When she reemerged, I nearly swallowed my tongue. My favorite shirt became my favorite again for an entirely different reason. The material clung to her body, accentuating every dip of her thick, curvy frame. Her belly, so soft and round while the shirt dipped into her belly button taunted me, telling me, “Look at what I can touch that you can’t.”

Her hips stretched the material, transforming a loose piece of clothing into a lethal body con dress she had no business wearing.

“Okay, get some sleep and I’ll see you in the morning.” I swung around to leave.

“You aren’t staying the night? With me?” Her vulnerable question stopped me mid-step.

“Little bunny, I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“Oh… Okay. See you in the morning.”

I made it to the elevator with her forlorn voice ringing in my ear before I stopped and banged my head against the wall. I spun around and marched into her bedroom, throwing my robe in the corner.

She was already under the covers and reaching for the light switch. When she saw me, her eyes widened. “I thought?—”

“Me too.” I pull back the comforter and lie down. “Turn off the light.”

Once she followed my command, I stopped resisting and dragged her body into mine, soaking in the pleasurable torment of having Madison in my arms.

“I could take care of that for you.” She slipped her hand down my abs on a journey that would ensure she got no sleep.

I grabbed her hand and kissed her palm. “Another time. He needs to learn discipline and doesn’t deserve a reward tonight.”

Madison burst into a surprised chuckle before settling deeper into my embrace. “Thank you for tonight.”

I kissed her forehead and waited for her to fall asleep, which happened faster than I expected, proving she was running on fumes. As I held her, my earlier sleeplessness didn’t return. My body sank deeper into the mattress as relaxation removed the tension from my body.

I kissed Madison’s forehead again. My second reason for not wanting to make tonight about sex was I wanted our first time to be about us, not because I turned something she needed to get out of her system about satisfying my lust. Otherwise, the way I felt about Madison, once we crossed that boundary, we would never leave the bed.