Backstage (The Barter System Book 4) (17 page)

“Now.  I need you now.”  Reaching between them, she positioned his cock at the gates of fucking
paradise
a moment after he managed to roll the latex in place.  “Now.” 

Rocking forward, he buried himself halfway in wet, tight heat and she gasped, her head falling back on her shoulders.  A second thrust had him buried to the base and her entire body trembled. 

“Hard.  Fast.” 

Her voice was husky, filled with need, and he wanted to give her everything she needed and then some.  Her grip on his hair was a pleasure/pain he duplicated by wrapping her braid around his fist.  Then he was fucking her hard and she drove him on. 

“God yes…so much better than I imagined.  Harder.”

Pushing her to her back on his desk, he yanked her roughly to the edge and changed the angle of his strokes, powering into her body as if he could crawl inside it with her. 

She held the edge of the wood with white knuckles and came with a hoarse cry that drew her entire body into a tight arch.  Her jaw clenched and he could only imagine how demonic he looked as he took her.

He felt hard as marble and she begged for more.  “All of it…I want to
feel
you after.” 

Reaching under her back, she unclasped her bra and threw it on the floor.  Then she cupped her breasts and he felt like his head was going to detonate with lust. 

He gripped her neck in his hand and pulled her closer so he could sample the pink nipples she offered.  Biting and sucking first one and then the other, he continued to drive himself deep, feeling her cervix cup the head with each push. 

“
Don’t stop.
” 

The idea would have made him laugh if every cell in his body wasn’t focused on fucking this woman through the top of his desk.  Stopping wasn’t remotely an option when she held him so tight, completely open to him, biting his shoulder and neck when he was close enough. 

Nothing had prepared him for Madeline
. 

“I need to touch more of you.”  His words were barely coherent.

He drove deep, went still as he gathered her up, and carried her to the couch in the corner of his office.  Practically falling on top of her, he rubbed their pelvises together, loving the feel of her cocooning his dick from root to tip.  The friction over her clit had her whimpering.

Sliding his hands under her body, he held her shoulders from the back and she held him tight.  Their eyes met. 

“I don’t want to hurt you, Madeline.”

“You won’t.  Please. 
Please.
”

Pulling back until only the head remained inside her, he plunged to the root with such force her teeth clacked together.  She braced the soles of her feet on the couch and met each stroke, begging him to unleash the full strength of his body on her much smaller one. 

The freedom she gave him was primal.

“Yes.  It’s so good, Ezra.  Just like that…” 

Her orgasm mowed her down and she strangled on a scream.  He didn’t stop.  He didn’t slow. 

She didn’t know it yet but she was going to be the last woman taking his cock.  He had a feeling that something crucial was in progress and there was no
way
he was letting her go.

Every aspect of her was engaged in a way few women in his personal experience understood.  She touched, she talked, she participated on every level, and he wanted to spend the rest of his life buried in her pussy. 

He pushed her through her orgasm, focused on her face, her breathing, and the way her eyes stayed locked on his. 

“One more.  I want you to come all over my cock one more time.” 

Clasping the back of his neck, she nodded and ground out, “Then you’ll give me your come.  I want you as out of control as I am.  It’s mine and I
want
it.”

Her mouth ate at his, licking inside with a low moan as he drove as deep as he could with every thrust.  There was nothing but the feel of her, the smell of her, the taste of her.  There would be bruises on her skin, scratches from his stubble along her jaw, and soreness from how hard he drove himself into her. 

Claimed.  Marked.  His at long fucking last. 

“Touch yourself.  Play with your pretty little clit.  I want the last one to be the strongest.” 

He felt her hand slide between their bodies but couldn’t bear to pull back enough to watch.  He would have another chance but right now, keeping her locked in his arms as he took her almost brutally was the only thing in his brain. 

Her eyes lifted and she gave him a slow smile.  “When I do this every night, I pretend it’s your fingers, lips, and tongue all over me.  It makes me come harder than I ever did with a partner…until today.” 

“I’m going to have an aneurism.” 

“Don’t do that…I need you to keep fucking me.”  She grinned and he laughed hoarsely.  “
Ezra…
” 

Every muscle in her upper body seemed to spasm as she came on a sharp inhale.  The liquid heat coating his cock took him out of reality for an instant as he watched her ride her pleasure openly and honestly.

“Come with me, let me feel it,” she whispered.  Her nails scratched down his back and both hands gripped the muscles of his ass, pulling him more firmly into her body. 

“Holy fuck!”  He fucked her harder, then harder still, and it felt as if his come was dragged from the bottoms of his feet, the top of his head, and all points in between.  Her name was a groan as he dropped his face beside hers, his hips still pumping, pumping,
pumping
. 

When she continued to come around him, her entire body shook fiercely and his arms tightened, holding her close, keeping her safe. 

Then they both went limp, months of tension and need exiting their systems in an instant. 

Without another word, they slipped into sleep, their bodies still intimately connected, their breathing erratic, their hearts pounding. 

I finally found the fucking love of my life.

It was his last coherent thought.

Chapter Five

Madeline returned to a world that was unfamiliar and yet glorious.  Even in sleep, Ezra tried to keep his weight from crushing her and there was no telling what time it was.  She loved the sensation of his skin against hers, the way he smelled, the sound of his deep breathing.

I can’t believe it…I’m in love with him.
  Fuck.

Remaining still, she absorbed every aspect and replayed their first sexual encounter in her mind.  It caused her walls to clench around his cock and it twitched in response. 

Her first indication that he was awake was the way his arms tightened around her and the way his hips pressed forward, pushing his rapidly hardening length to the base inside her.

His head lifted and he stared down at her in a way that
no man
had ever looked at her before.  “The condom…” he whispered.

“It doesn’t matter.  I’m on birth control.  You’d never touch me if you weren’t healthy.”

The kiss he gave her sent chills up and down her spine and when he broke it, he rested his forehead against hers.  She wrapped her arms around him. 

There was a gruffness to his voice from sex and sleep.  “I’ve always been careful.  I want you to know that I haven’t touched another woman since the day you walked into my office.”

“I haven’t allowed myself to be with a man in almost two years.  I didn’t want one until the day I walked into your office.”  Her fingers massaged him distractedly.  “Thank you, Ezra.  I didn’t know how much more I could handle.  I was barely able to sleep anymore.”

“From the first day, you knocked me off balance.  No amount of stroking off was helping.”

Sliding her hands around, she cupped his face, stroked her fingers through his hair.  “No one can know we were together.  If the play fails…”

“It won’t.”  His assurance made her heart pound.

“If it does, I don’t want you linked to me personally.”  She gave him a self-mocking smile.  “If it succeeds, everyone will assume I’m a gold-digging whore who only made it because of your influence.”

The way his body tightened made her breath catch.  He slipped his palm along the back of her neck.  “It will
not
fail and when it
succeeds
, it will be obvious that the writing, directing, and acting are the reasons why.” 

A frown appeared between his eyes.  “Not one fucking thing could
ever
make a woman like you a whore, Madeline.  If you ever imply such a thing again, I’ll paddle your ass until you can’t sit down.” 

Her eyes went wide and he pulled his hips back before stroking deep again.  They were sticky, he was wearing a condom that had already been used, but his eyes didn’t look away from hers as he began to fuck her. 

“Until the show opens, we’ll be discreet – we would be anyway – but have no doubt that I will have this perfect pussy every chance I get.  I will continue to experience the previously unimaginable relief of touching you, kissing you, and taking you or I will lose my goddamn mind.  Our reputations will be fine.  I won’t be if I can’t have you.”

His strokes built in power and still he gripped her neck and stared into her eyes.  “Tell me you understand.  That there is no question in your mind that you need my cock inside you as much as I need to be there.”

A part of her that no one had ever seen before was clear to him, open to him, and she gave him access she’d never granted a lover.  For the first time, she allowed a man to see her vulnerability. 

“I need it.  It consumes me, makes it hard for me to focus, impossible for me to rest.”

The expression on his face was one of victory.  “Thank Christ.”

Then he fucked her until she passed out. 

* * * * *

The following day, the backdrops went in place and Madeline was in tears as she stood at mid-point of the main hall and took in the set.

Mikayla stood beside her. “Do you
see
it?  Do you
see
what he did…?”

Nodding, she slipped her hand in her twin’s with a small squeeze.  “I understand now.” 

She truly did.  Isaiah had unknowingly touched on the most crucial aspect of who her sister was.  Other than the fact that the artwork was a masterpiece, he’d added elements Madeline hadn’t originally thought to add.  It would have been a small addition to most people – possibly even gone unnoticed.  Not to Mikayla.

Turning to look at her mirror image, Linn asked, “Still no luck?”

The half-smile she assumed held no humor.  “No.  I’m not sure if it’s me specifically or everyone.  I wish…”  Her voice trailed off and she returned her gaze to the stage.  “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?  Do you love how it’s all coming together?”

“Seeing the whole picture like this, it makes it real in a way all the rehearsals haven’t.”  Moving, she wrapped her arms around Kayla and couldn’t stop her tears.  “It’s happening.  I can’t believe it.”

“Believe it, sister.  You busted your ass.”

“Go change and I’ll be along after I get my blubbering under control.”  Holding her sister’s shoulders, she added, “No fighting.”

Her sister
humphed
.  “I try but I’m tense and off-kilter.  Admire your stage for a while.  Soak up the awesome.”  Then she delivered a smacking kiss and jogged down the aisle, up the steps, and disappeared behind the curtain.

Gazing at the full set, finally in place and just waiting for their first audience, she wrapped her arms around her waist and simply
imagined
.

“Tell me the tears are happy ones.”  Ezra’s voice from just behind her pulled her back to real time. 

She was surprised to see the cast assembling onstage.

“Yes, happy tears.  I’m moved.  It’s…so much more than I envisioned.”

“Your vision was pretty remarkable, Linn.”

Glancing up at him, she smiled.  “Thank you.  I hope our audiences feel the same.”

“They’re going to love the play, the music, and
you
, Linn.  I have no doubts.”  Their eyes locked and her heart began to race.  He murmured, “I want you again.”

“The feeling is mutual.”

“After rehearsals?”  She nodded and watched him exhale slowly.  “By the way, the marketing guy came in earlier looking for you.  He’s strangely…persistent.”  Ezra’s brow lifted comically and she could well imagine the impression Jerry Wilson made.

“Yeah, I knew he was here.  I hid out in the wardrobe room until Miss Penny gave me the all-clear.”

His booming laugh shot through her body like an orgasm and she felt the moisture gather between her legs.  Now that she’d experienced intimacy with Ezra, it was all she thought about hour by hour. 

“Your secret is safe with me.  Should I always assume you’re unavailable?  I’m happy to run interference.  He’s a strange man.” 

“Truth.  The company hired him remotely and I love the work he’s done for the show.  I’ve paid top scale and he’s good at what he does.”  She frowned.  “That does
not
give him free rein to
pet
me.  Where I come from, there are only so many ways to say ‘no’ before you kick a man in the balls.  We have a meeting next week.  I can’t get out of it since I’ve rescheduled half a dozen times.”

Ezra crossed his arms and said nothing for a long moment.  Linn was mesmerized by the way the stance tightened his dress shirt over his arms, chest, and shoulders. 

“Linn, this guy is
touching
you?” 

She nodded with a shrug.  “He’s pushy.  I’m trying to stay professional.”

“Have your meeting here.  You can use my office.  I insist.”

“It’s not a big deal.  Kayla and I have had to deal with a lot of pawing over the years.  I can handle it.  You don’t have to worry.”

“It’s a
very
big deal when a man thinks he can get away with shit like that.  It makes the rest of us look bad.  He doesn’t have the right.” 

She was at the same time moved that he was so vehement about the subject and wishing she could
lick
his utter deliciousness, that it took a moment to respond.