Ruin Me (Savage Bosses)

Chapter 20

CHAPTER 20

M adison

What did I just do? I stared in horror at my phone after I hung up on Kent.

Kent! The man I’ve been in love with for most of my life. The man I just told we wouldn’t last.

I clutched my chest as I envisioned an atomic bomb exploding our relationship and ending us prematurely. I wasn’t allowed to leave his penthouse, but I needed air. I fled to the balcony and slid the glass door shut. Because one thing I couldn’t escape was the truth behind my words.

Kent and I wouldn’t work as a couple if we weren’t partners.

I wasn’t blind to the imbalances in our relationship. He was twenty years older than me with more experience behind him. And although I was a successful crisis manager, Kent was a billionaire who ran an international conglomerate. There were already too many obstacles separating us.

I curled up on a chaise and tried to ease my anxiety. I’d come too far to sit and let life happen around me or allow Kent to dictate our future. While I contemplated what I would do and say when I saw Kent next, time passed. The sun sat lower on the horizon when the sliding door slid open.

“Madison, we need to talk,” Kent said.

Without looking at him, I replied, “Then talk.”

“No offense, but I think our talk is about to turn into an argument, and I’d rather not have an angry woman and a balcony so close together.”

I glared at him but he stood resolute with an arm directing me inside.

Okay, if this is how he wanted things…

I stood and entered the room. Kent placed his hand on the dip in my spine and I walked away from his touch.

“Let’s go into the bedroom, unless you want everyone to hear us.”

I huffed, but turned toward the room because I didn’t know what was about to happen and having strangers witness what might be my humiliation wasn’t something I desired. On the way toward the back of the penthouse, two kennel cages caught my eye.

“What are those?” I detoured towards the cages to find a German Shepherd resting in each cage.

“The rest of your security detail. No one will mess with you when they see two of the most fiercely protective dogs surrounding you.”

The two canines neared the bars of the cage to sniff my hands. Their size put them close to a year old. Big enough to make a stranger question approaching but young enough to train. The mix of gold and dark browns in their coat gleamed, speaking to the care they’d had before Kent purchased them. The dogs were cute, but I hardened my heart toward them.

I didn’t know what the future held after my upcoming conversation with Kent and didn’t want to get attached.

“You got me two dogs,” I said without emotion, then continued to the bedroom. My prior anxiousness was on a back burner as my anger simmered over this manipulative tactic.

“Now, when I can’t be with you, you can go wherever your heart desires.” Kent followed close behind me, adding fuel to the fire.

He closed the bedroom door, and his neutral features turned granite once we were alone.

“You couldn’t ask me if I wanted a dog, let alone two?” I rounded on him.

His nostrils flared. “You want to talk about dogs instead of the real problem here?”

I cackled. “If you don’t see how this is part of the real problem…”

“Don’t threaten me again with the ending of our relationship bullshit.”

My anger fled. I sat on the bed and stared at him in despair. “Do I like dogs?”

“What?”

I repeated my question and he frowned.

“Don’t you?”

“I’ve lived on my own long enough that if I wanted a dog, I would have gotten one for myself. I never did because they require so much time, and with my job I never had enough to give to an animal. And you chose one of the neediest breeds alive in terms of needing attention.”

“I chose one of the best family-friendly, protective dogs alive to ensure your safety.”

“Without discussing my needs with me.”

“Madison—”

“No, Kent. You can’t just decide for me and expect me to accept the results. I’m your girlfriend, not your employee.” I raised my hand to stop him from pointing out what had brought me to Douglas. “Yes, you’ve contracted my company for a job, but I can fire you and return to D.C. I’m not beholden to you, professionally or personally, and I need you to understand that.”

“Anything else?” he gritted while the muscles in his jaw ticked.

“I love you, but I don’t want who I am to disappear because of my love for you. You’ve got me in a gilded cage that’s more like a hotel than a home where I have to answer to everyone but myself for what I want.”

“Madison, please. I’ve seen your selfies at your place in D.C. This apartment is homier than that blank space you live in.” He arched his brow as if he won.

So what if he was right about the empty walls and lack of personality in my apartment? I was only there long enough to rest my head before I was off traveling for work or pulling in long hours.

“A cage is still a cage no matter how pretty the trappings.”

Kent bobbed his head up and down but his expression gave nothing away. “You’ve made some good points.” He flicked the top button of his shirt free from its hole. “However, I have one question for you. Am I your man?”

“Don’t change the subject, Kent.”

“Answer me Madison. Am I your man?” He shrugged his shirt from his shoulders.

“I don’t see what?—”

“Answer the question.”

“Yes! You’re my man.” I hit the mattress with my fist.

“Glad we agree there. Now let me clarify some things for you. As your man, I have certain duties that I take to heart.” He pulled his undershirt over his head and dropped it as he advanced toward me. “My principal duty is to provide. That comes in all forms. Security. Support. Stability. And most of all, love.”

“You can do all that without excluding me from the conversation. Unless, it’s not me you want but the idea of me. Because I’ll never be the kind of woman who blindly follows just because you’re leading.”

“Is it because you don’t trust me?” He paused with his hand on his belt.

I shook my head. “I don’t assume you always have the information necessary to make every decision. But when you do, I trust you’ll do what’s right for you, me, and us. I know this isn’t new for you.” I stared into my lap and twiddled my fingers as I said, “You used to include Oyinlola in decisions that affected her.”

The silence after I brought up his dead wife grew loud and pushed us further apart. A tear splashed on my finger, but I lacked the energy to wipe it away. I hadn’t meant to talk about her. My relationship with Kent was different from his with her. Comparing how he was with her to how he was with me wasn’t fair, but dammit, I wanted him to see me as someone deserving of an equal say in our relationship.

“You have a short memory, little bunny.”

The barely suppressed anger in Kent’s voice caused me to snap my head up and see his glare. He shed his pants and stood naked before me.

“What short memory?” I asked, right before he snatched my velour hoodie over my head and tossed it behind him.

“What are you…”

Kent pushed me onto my back, then targeted my matching velour pants next. A battle ensued where I wanted to keep them on and he didn’t.

“You can’t think sex with me right now will fix our issues.” I twisted, trying to escape his firm grip on my clothes.

“Are you forgetting I let you talk me out of bodyguards to begin with? No offense, little bunny, but I can’t trust you to keep yourself safe.” He ripped my pants and underwear down my legs and hurled them as well. “But I will promise you this. I’ll let you know my plans ahead of time so if you want to argue about it, you can. However, don’t expect me to bend when the risk is never waking up to see your face or hear your voice again.”

Kent moved to my bra, but stilled when I placed my hand over his. He glared into my eyes, but I met his glower with contrition.

“I’m sorry.”

The heat fled his stare and he rested his forehead against mine. “What are you sorry for?”

I swallowed. His heat blanketed me, and his angry dick rested above my pussy. Was he warning me or punishing me? And if he was, what would either be? Was he showing me something only to deny me or was he keeping his hard-on close to my pussy to remind me he can fuck like a beast and I would be lucky to walk straight afterward?

“For picking a fight and not realizing what my actual issue was.” His silence pushed me to elaborate. “I was cooped up and restless and feeling out of place. Not being allowed out was kind of an excuse to blow up at you.”

“Because you don’t feel like this is home to you?”

I shrugged and looked away, but Kent captured my cheek and pulled until I met his gaze again.

“I built a home with Lola.”

“I know,” I groaned while staring at the ceiling and blinking back fresh tears. “It was in that home I saw your good qualities.”

“And I intend to build one with you. From the foundation up. Our relationship is unique to us and only we can define it.”

His response startled me into looking at him again.

“You want to build a home with me?”

“Little bunny, I obviously have to refresh your memory.” He brushed his lips against mine.

I gasped as he licked the seam. He took advantage and pushed his tongue into my mouth to lick and devour me. While he greedily destroyed me with kisses, he kept his hands busy, divesting me of my bra.

I gasped again when he pinched, then rubbed my nipple, freed now from the cotton cups.

Sensations flooded my body, urging me to move. I rubbed my legs against his. My skin prickled as the hair on his limbs added to my sensitivity.

“Kent,” I moaned into his mouth.

He separated our lips and kissed from my chin to my breast.

I clutched his head, sinking my fingers into his hair.

“I’ve told you once already, little bunny, there’s no going back.” He sucked my nipple into his mouth. “You can’t threaten to leave me because I won’t allow it.” He drew on my sensitive bud and it zinged all the way to my pussy. “And since your memory isn’t so good, I guess I’ll have to remind you daily.”

“Promise?” I writhed beneath him.

Need took over, making me incoherent in everything but the persistent ache between my thighs.

“Is my pussy wet?”

“You can feel how wet she is.” I rubbed my wet pussy along his shaft but it wasn’t enough.

“Yes, I can, but…” He dangled that but like a carrot, however, I was in no mood.

“Kent, don’t tease me!”

“Is my pussy ready to be filled?”

“Yes… I need you inside me.” I shifted against him, bumping my clit for the extra sensation.

“Then put me where you need me, little bunny.”

I grabbed his shaft and placed him at my entrance. And I pulled.

He slowly sank into my body, stretching my walls with his girth.

I groaned in ecstasy.

“Fuck, you fit me like home,” Kent whispered in my ear.

I crossed my ankles under his ass to pull him closer as he thrust into me. “I’ll be whatever you need.”

“You already are.” Kent lowered his mouth to mine while he drove his dick in and out of me. While he tortured me with pleasure.

I clung to him, needing his strength to ground me while he tried his damndest to fuck me through the mattress. I writhed against him, reaching for that all-consuming end only he has ever provided. My pussy spasmed around his length and my thigh muscles shook with the effort to attain a powerful orgasm.

Then Kent fluttered his fingers against my clit and sent me soaring. My voice grew the higher I flew but I couldn’t control myself. If I deafened him, I hoped he’d consider it a proud achievement.

“Fuck, little bunny. Keep milking me like that and I’ll come before I’m ready.”

“Come anyway. You and I know you’re going to recharge and fuck me again in no time.”

He chuckled. “You know your cock well.”

I squeezed him again and he groaned into my shoulder and flooded my insides. I caressed his spine and rubbed my legs against his ass still clenching as he continued to empty himself inside me.

When he settled, he rolled us until I lay atop him, listening to his heartbeat slow. He rubbed my ass in gentle circles in the pleasant silence surrounding us.

“Are we good?” he asked.

“Are we partners?”

“Yes. I don’t want nor do I need a door mat. I want you, Madison Montgomery. I want your stubbornness.” He kissed my forehead. “Your fearlessness.” Kiss. “Your heart.” Kiss. “Your every goddamn thing.” Kiss. “And I’ll give you everything in return.”

I sank into him, relishing his acceptance, his warmth, and although he hasn’t said the words yet, his love. “We’re good.”

“Good enough that you’ll sit on my face and feed me my pussy?”

I sprang up with a hand on his chest holding me upright. “You are never satisfied.”

“Not yet, but I will be.” He pulled my arm free and raised his head to meet me in a kiss, however barking from the other room reminded us of the recent addition to the household.

“I bet they need a walk.” I pulled out of his arms and went in search of my clothes.

“Are you really opposed to having the dogs?” He went to don a more casual outfit than the dress shirt and pants he wore earlier.

I pulled on a fresh pair of panties and sweats. “They’re here now.” I peeked at Kent and slumped my shoulders. “And they’re too adorable to abandon. I really didn’t stand a chance.”

Kent grinned and stood. “Good, and the burden of training them won’t be on your shoulders alone. Remember, we’re partners.”

“Yeah, but if you had asked, I would have voted for a cat.” I strode to the door.

“Cats can’t protect you the way German Shepherds can.”

I shrugged. “Still.”

Kent ushered me out of the bedroom to tend the dogs. As soon as we appeared, they wagged their tails and barked.

“We shouldn’t hold off the housing situation. Apartment living isn’t ideal for GSDs.” I kneeled down and opened the kennels.

“We’ll find a solution that works until we build ours.” He handed me a leash while he put the other on the second dog.

I peeked at him, wondering if this was a delaying tactic.

“Call me superstitious, but I want to capture Carol and her accomplice before we buy any property together. Something about having her negative energy surrounding us when we’re supposed to be happy doesn’t sit right with me.”

I nodded, accepting his response. Carol was a problem. So was whoever helped her.

We left the apartment with my guards in tow. Would I ever get comfortable with so many men following me?

“What should we name them?” Kent pointed towards the dogs, dragging us in their enthusiasm to reach the park area built on the compound.

“How about Benson and Stabler? They were my all-time favorite duo on Law & Order: SVU.”

We spent an hour tiring the puppies and beginning rudimentary training with treats. When we returned to the apartment, Kent disappeared while I sat on the floor, and played with them until they collapsed at my side.

From the corner of my eye, I glimpsed his profile. I turned to find him observing me, but like so many times, I couldn’t read his expression.

“Why are you staring at me like that?”

He pushed off against the wall and closed the distance between us. “I’m wondering if you need another refresher.”

I smiled, my heart lightened from my earlier burden. “I don’t need a reminder.”

“But that memory of yours…” He picked up the pups and placed them in their kennels.

“Isn’t so short that I need a reminder so soon.”

“Maybe I need one.” He returned and held his hand out to me. Once I placed mine in his, he pulled me into a standing position.

“Yeah? I doubt it.” I spoke with a whisper, although I had no reason to lower my voice.

With Kent so close and the determined glint in his eye, we were the only two people to exist.

He placed his pointer finger beneath my chin and pushed my face up. “Who’s your man, Madison?” Kent asked with his lips a hair’s breath from mine.

“You are. I told you before.”

“Yeah, but you were mad when you said it.”

“You’re my man, Kent Luxe.”

“Glad to hear it. And since you so boldly claimed me as your man, I’m telling you now, I’m claiming your future.” He lowered his face until he also claimed my lips.

I didn’t want to feel so giddy with the danger still surrounding us, but each glide of his tongue and the way Kent slid his hand to grab the back of my head to angle me for a deeper kiss… Well, the man had a golden tongue sweet enough to erase worries.