In my borrowed car, loaned from my car share buddy for the weekend only, I approached the private airfield on the outskirts of LA.
Nerves swarmed.
Today was already doing a number on me, and I was only on my first coffee of the morning.
At a security gate, I held up my ID and gave the flight details Maddock had texted, and the woman waved me past, pointing out where I should stop.
The wide airfield spread out before me. This was a world away from the flights I’d ever taken before. On the blacktop, an expensive-looking car with tinted windows already waited. I pulled up close to the car. In the front seat, a uniformed driver tipped his head at me.
There was nothing for it but to wait out the plane.
I’d heard nothing from Maddock since yesterday afternoon’s brief sex position chat, but I knew he’d be flat out with his training, and then on the flight over here.
Soon, he’d be here. I stifled a squeal of excitement.
I’d spent some of the evening between interview preparations calculating his flight time and when he’d be leaving Iceland. He’d be in the air for ten or twelve hours and travelling against the time difference.
It was near seven now and bang on when his flight should arrive.
But no jet came in.
Smaller planes came and went, toys for rich people, nothing that could brave the Atlantic crossing.
At length, I climbed from the car and planted my ass on the bonnet, the metal cool under my thighs where my short skirt rode up. Luckily, I didn’t feel the cold so it didn’t bother me. But a tight knot of worry formed inside. Just the same as when I’d missed Maddock’s first call and thought the worst.
No. This was stronger.
Perhaps it was related to my interview this morning. If Maddock didn’t get here soon, I’d have to leave without him.
A clunk had me peeking around. The chauffeur from the other car climbed out and brushed down his uniform.
“They’re delayed,” he told me. “Boss’s furious about it. Apparently, Gabriel insisted on waiting for something.”
Gabriel? Oh, Gabe. Maddock’s pilot friend.
My heart rate picked up. “Did he give any details?”
The chauffeur rolled his shoulders in a disinterested shrug. “In his words, a life-or-death situation.” He glanced at the car and dropped his voice. “Must’ve been bad to risk his father’s anger.”
I gulped, my mind spinning. Pictures of Maddock in peril flashed before my eyes, and I shrank in on myself, not liking the thoughts or the feelings they generated.
For long minutes, I lost my mind to a dark place. I couldn’t go to the interview, not without answers. This was too rough. Too frightening.
A droning sound entered my consciousness.
A plane!
I whipped my head around to scan the skies.
The chauffeur heaved a sigh. “At last.”
Now, my nerves turned into sharp anxiety. I had no idea if Maddock was on this flight, even if Gabe had made it. I flicked a glance at my phone, one hour thirty to get into LA and to my interview. But I didn’t care. I had to know what happened.
The engine roared louder, moving closer, then the plane lined up with the runway and touched down neatly. It taxied over to our waiting area, and the doors opened.
A uniformed attendant let down the steps, and a dark-haired man appeared. I vaguely recognised him from Maddock’s fast introduction of his friends. I clutched my fingers together, suddenly terrified that Maddock wouldn’t emerge with him. That his pilot friend would come to me with some awful news.
For a beat, no one else came.
But then a shock of dark-red hair appeared behind.
Maddock exited the aircraft.
He jogged down the stairs, a sports bag over his back. His gaze landed on me, he thumped his friend on the shoulder and sprinted.
I gasped and made it two steps before he’d swept me up into his arms. He spun me around, his lips landing on my neck.
“I wasn’t sure you’d be on that plane,” I uttered.
He crushed me to him, hard. Then his lips found mine, and our kiss stole any other words.
Everything faded.
Maddock thoroughly kissed me hello, one hand clutching my butt while the other made comforting sweeps up and down my back. He inched away to examine my expression.
“Oh aye, real casual,” another voice came, the tone amused and sardonic.
I dragged my focus to his friend.
“Gabe, this is Rory,” Maddock said.
Gabe’s dark eyes flashed in amusement, and he nodded to me. “Have him tell ye how we plucked him from the jaws of certain death.”
“Stop,” Maddock cut him off. “Not now.”
I wriggled from his arms and took a proper look at him. Savage temperatures had scoured his cheeks red, and dark circles lined his eyes.
“What happened to you?”
Maddock shook his head. “Later. Ye have an interview to get to. Soon, if I’ve got the time right.”
“Seriously, were you in danger?”
“Rory,” he warned.
“Screw my interview. I need to know.”
A door to the limousine opened, and a man climbed out. Gabe’s dad, I guessed from the similar build and dark hair.
From his scowl, he was not a happy man.
“Gabriel,” he said. A single word but bearing weight.
Gabe sighed. “See ye back here at departure time,” he said to Maddock then, with a resigned slump to his shoulders, he climbed into the car. The limo rolled away with a smooth purr.
I returned my attention to Maddock. “What kind of danger were you in?”
He regarded me for a moment. “Ye can have the full story, when I’m ready to tell. Your interview aside, I’ve had a long flight after one fucked-up day. I’m finally here with ye, and I want to enjoy this before I let myself acknowledge everything else. Indulge me, please. Fucking kiss me and help me forget.”
I pushed my hair behind my ear, torn between an almost desperate urge to take him somewhere private and get under his skin and the vital career-defining meeting I had to focus on.
I burned for him, an inevitable flare of heat.
“Fine. But no skipping details once we’re through.” I pointed at his broad chest.
Maddock grabbed my hand and pulled me close, stealing a long, so-hot kiss.
“Deal.”
We had to get on the road.
The drive from above North Hollywood to the office where I’d be interviewed in El Segundo should only take thirty minutes, but that didn’t account for the LA morning traffic.
Throughout the drive, I stole glances at Maddock but forced myself into work mode.
“Quit picturing me naked and tell me more about the job,” Maddock asked.
Gripping the steering wheel, I launched into a description of the type of work the company did, and how badly I wanted to work for them.
“It’s a dream for a graphic designer. The work I do now, there’s nothing wrong with it, but on the creativity scale of one to one hundred, it’s a solid zero point five. If I get the job with SpaceTechOne, I’ll be building world scapes. Taking ideas from game designers and bringing their visions to life. It’s more than just drawing pretty pictures because it will have a grounding in reality of what they can develop. And then all the investment in the product hinges on selling this vision. I’m itching to do something like this, to prove myself.”
The more I spoke, the tighter a band around my chest became.
Entirely wired, I parked outside the fancy El Segundo offices.
With the engine off, I sat and trembled in the driver’s seat. We’d made it with good time, but I couldn’t bring myself to get out of the car.
Maddock interlaced his fingers with mine. “All that reasoning ye just gave me, that’s what they want to hear. And your work,” he gestured with his head to my portfolio on the back seat, “speaks for itself. Now go in there and knock ’em dead.”
“Thank you for saying that.”
“Only speaking the truth.”
I flipped down the visor to take a quick peek at myself in the mirror. Knowing there would be kissing going on, I’d foregone lip gloss, and my light eye makeup remained intact.
With a lean across the car, I planted a kiss on Maddock’s warm lips, grabbed my portfolio, and entered the dragon’s den.
The next hour was a blur of trendy office space, an interview room with glass walls displaying stressed but smiling workers outside, and four people peering at me from a big screen. In the room itself, a man about my age tapped a stylus on a high-end design tablet and asked the occasional question. They’d already seen my digital art, but I’d brought along hand-drawn work, too. It hadn’t been a requirement of the interview, but I wanted to show range. They listened to me ramble about why I loved what I did, made the right kind of noises at my answers, but I couldn’t read them at all.
Anna, the woman who’d invited me to the interview, ended the session with a summary of what would happen next. “In a week or two, we’ll have created a shortlist, then the top three interviews for the mentorship position will be watched by our Chief Executive, Danielle Edwardson, from her base in the UK. A final decision will be made by her, and she’ll make the phone call with an offer to the successful candidate.”
“Sounds great, I can’t wait to speak to her,” I said in an unfamiliar blast of confidence.
Instant embarrassment followed fast, and my cheeks warmed.
Anna and the other interview panel members chuckled.
“Thank you for coming in.” She dismissed me.
It was over, and I was released into the cool December day.
I stumbled back to the car. Maddock climbed out and met me with open arms.
“Oh my God,” I uttered. “It was all going so well, then at the end I just opened my mouth and told them the job was mine. What was I thinking?”
“That the job is as good as yours,” he murmured into my hair.
The tension that had built all morning rippled, replaced by a new and more acute need.
Maddock was here for a reason. Two reasons, if you counted his offer to help me see Stafford again and ask about the money, but that wasn’t the thought that dominated my mind.
We needed privacy, and fast.
“Back in the car,” I ordered.
His grip on my waist tightened, and he gave me a look that could catch a forest on fire.
That expression kept me hot throughout the drive. El Segundo sat right on the Los Angeles coast. In December, with a stiff wind blowing and temperatures low, the beach would be empty.
Plenty of places to revisit the fun we’d had in Applecross.
I drew up under tall palm trees, the flat wide beach spreading out ahead of us. Only a single other car was parked nearby, and in the far distance, waves hit the shore in a flurry of white water, the tiny dots of scattered surfers the only life visible. A solitary lifeguard station stood unmanned, and no one walked the sands.
Beside me, Maddock sat tall, his muscles tight under his T-shirt.
“That night, on the beach,” he started.
“Needs repeating,” I added.
He reached for me as I did him. Our lips met in a hard kiss. Maddock unclipped my seat belt and lifted me straight over the console and onto his lap. My knees slid either side of him to the seat, my smart work skirt riding up around my thighs.
“Benefit of being petite,” I said against his mouth. “And of wearing a short skirt.”
He replied with a sensual slide of his lips, his tongue slicking over mine.
Having him here, his solid body under me, was a dream come true. A lottery win. It was barely eleven on a cold Saturday morning, but I felt like I was sleepwalking into a deeply erotic scene.
“Fuck.” He broke our kiss. “Want to know how many times I’ve tried to remember your taste? Nothing came close.”
I trailed a finger over his cheek. He’d shaved, presumably on the flight, and the delicious scent of his aftershave was far more familiar than reasonable. I liked that he’d prepared for me. I had for him, an emergency waxing session one of my priority tasks an evening ago.
“And I’d forgotten just how devastatingly handsome you are. How do you expect me to think straight when you look like this?”
Maddock burst out with a laugh, his instant grin, tinged with lust, lighting me up.
With a gentle touch, he ran his fingers into my hair to cradle the back of my head. Then he brought my mouth back to his to continue our make-out session.
As we kissed, I caressed his face and slipped my fingers into his T-shirt sleeve to feel up his bulky shoulder. Something about his rounded, firm muscles gave me a burst of fresh heat. While I explored, his hands found their way under the back of my blouse, and his strong fingers grazed my skin, cruising until he found my bra strap.
“Undo it,” I said.
One deft flick and he obliged. I eased back so he could palm my breasts. As I still had my blazer on, the action would be hidden from any onlookers, though with the position we were in with me astride him, there could be no doubt what we were up to.
Maddock swore again and brushed his thumbs over my hard nipples. I uttered a soft moan and grinded on his lap. Under me, the unmistakable ridge of his hard dick grew longer.
He squeezed and moulded me, sending my senses whirling then, with a swift glance around, removed his hands to attack the buttons on my blouse. He wrenched my bra aside and ducked to suck my nipple into his mouth.
Oh God. I pressed my knees into the seat, rising to allow him better access.
At any point, another car could pull up. A dog walker could pass by.
The thought alone had me so hot. This exhibitionist side of me was new but entirely related to the man I was with. I had the weirdest desire to show him off to the world, proud of the strong, sensual pilot I was fucking.
In haste, I reached to unbutton his jeans. “I want you so much. If we’re fast, we can get away with this without being caught.”
But my Scot had other ideas.
Maddock caught my hand. “Outside,” he ordered.
“What?” I said on a breath.
With a long finger, he pointed to the lifeguard station across the beach. “I’m going to bend ye over the railings of that hut and fuck ye in front of the sea. Just like the first time.”
“It’s so open. Anyone could see.”
He gestured around the car. “There’s a road right there. More likely someone will drive past. Out there, we’ll be able to see anyone coming.” Then he added the cheeky grin. “Before they see me make ye come.”
God, but that made me hot. I slammed a hard kiss on him, then rapidly slipped out of my bra but did up my blouse over my bare breasts.
Outside the car, Maddock grabbed my fingers and fast-walked out of the parking lot. We half sprinted to the wooden building far down the beach.
Excitement danced over my skin.
The fresh breeze created a haze on the sand, but the privacy it offered was scant. We reached the steps, the boards pounding under our shoes. At the top, Maddock guided me around to face the sea. This was so public. There could be no disguising what we were going to do.
He placed a punishing kiss on my mouth, then pushed me back into the wooden structure. In front of me, he dropped to his knees then looked up with a cocky grin. “Ready?”
“For anything.” I wasn’t kidding. He could ask any single thing of me right now and I would do it.
Keeping eye contact, he grazed up my thighs, taking my skirt with him until he revealed my panties. He yanked them down without ceremony. “We’re going to do this fast, but I need ye wet first.”
“I’ve been that way for you since we met.” I could have cringed at my corny line, but I was far too involved. Besides, it was the truth. I’d been wet for him pretty much every time I thought about him.
Maddock grasped my thigh and laid a series of kisses on the inside, until he reached my pussy. Then he wasted no time. Using his thumbs to open me to him, he sucked on my clit.
“Holy fuck,” I bit out, sending nervous glances either side.
Still, there was no one in sight, but with the limited visibility, they could be on us before we knew. I was exposed, and I loved it.
Maddock groaned and licked me. He slid one finger inside me, then added a second, pumping in and out of me.
I moaned against the intrusion and braced myself on the building. I’d missed this, without ever really having it. A single touch from him did so much to me, and this full-on attention, his tongue making delicious circles and his fingers working hard, was almost too much.
Abruptly, he climbed to his feet and spun me so my hands fell on the railing.
“This first time, I’m going to fuck ye hard until we both yell,” he said.
I peered back to witness him undo his jeans then whip out his rock-hard cock. He pumped himself and, from his pocket, extracted a condom then donned it.
Automatically, I widened my stance and stuck out my butt, my skirt riding high.
Maddock wasted no time. In position behind me, he felt up my ass then dragged his dick up and down my pussy.
With one hard surge of his hips, he buried himself inside me.
I yelped, unable to stop myself. The wind whipped the sound away, and Maddock let out a low groan then drove into me again. I bowed my body to meet his hard thrusts, arching my back. At first, his hand landed on the railing next to mine, the other slinking back inside my top to grasp my breast. But then he released the bar and found my clit instead.
With my stance wide, Maddock had unhindered access, and he used it.
He brought his mouth to my ear. “At any point, someone could walk along. Any random stranger could look up here and see us together, see me deep inside ye, fucking ye.”
“Maddock,” I pleaded.
“So ye need to get off before that happens.” His fingers kept up their motion, steady circles driving me wild.
Inside, his dick hit the same pleasure centre, his girth stretching me. With the hand to my breast, the action to my clit, it was almost too much, a sensory onslaught.
Highly addictive, too.
I moaned, and he surged, fucking me harder, grinding into me.
“Shite, I think I see someone. A couple of guys. Ye need to come, now.”
My eyes squeezed tight shut, and I didn’t open them, surrendering entirely to the moment. All I could see and feel was him. He was all I wanted.
Maddock slammed into me, and I gripped the railing like my life depended on it. A firm press of his fingers, and I was teetering on the edge, my legs trembling.
Then he gave a broken cry, and it triggered the mother of all orgasms.
Pleasure ignited, zapping through me. Inside, I clamped down on him, my raw and powerful climax triggering his. Even in my heady state, I could feel him coming, too. Sense the release that rippled through him.
He jacked his hips once more then stilled and clutched me for a long moment while we both saw out our aftershocks.
“Fuck, brèagha.” He pulled out of me and dragged me back against the building, out of sight of whoever he’d seen on the beach.
Breathless, I wriggled my skirt down and gazed wide-eyed at my gorgeous lover.
He stripped off the condom, then reorganised his clothes. Then he let out a happy laugh, and I grinned, euphoria high.
Maddock kissed me, then rubbed the tip of his nose against mine. “Come on, we need to get out of here.”
He grabbed my hand, and we danced down the steps, tunnel vision employed as we traipsed to the road.
How had I ever thought about freezing him out? So long as I remembered exactly what this was, I’d have the weekend of my life.
