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He shook his head. “Nah. We’ve gone on a few dates, but I don’t know. Nothing special.”
“I see.”
“And Martin?” Maddox forced out.
“He’s great. We’re great,” I said, but even I could hear the fake sound of my voice. The charade was so hard to keep up with someone who knew every crack in my heart.
Maddox looked confused. “What’s going on, Josie?”
My shoulders slumped forward. “I was dating Martin. Or whatever.” I bit my lip. “You know, we were sneaking around. But then the pictures were out in the tabloids, and suddenly, it became … work.”
“Work?” he asked in confusion.
“It was more a publicity stunt than anything.”
Maddox’s eyes widened. “You’re not really together?”
“We were. But when it became work, I don’t know … it felt so Hollywood. Like another thing that I had to put on a smile for. We started planning our appearances, and Martin is a nice guy, but he’s not …” I shrugged, not even sure how to finish that sentence.
“You shouldn’t have to act in your personal life, Josie.”
I shouldn’t have to, but I had been my entire life. It was only in Savannah that I felt like I could really be myself. Hollywood didn’t want small-town Josie. They wanted Josephine Reynolds.
“Easy for you to say,” I said with a laugh as I set my empty whiskey glass down. “Ratings for Academy were through the roof when they caught us. More people watch every time we’re photographed together. Being with Martin, whether real or not, helps my career.”
Maddox downed the rest of his drink and put it next to mine. “The show had record-breaking numbers before this. Don’t sacrifice your happiness for a TV show.”
As much as I wanted to listen to him, it was that simple.
“Hey,” he said, taking my jaw in his hand and turning me to face him.
Blood pounded in my ears at that one touch. My body waking up after a long sleep. Only his hand on me could make me feel this immediately desperate for more.
“Listen to me. You don’t have to be with anyone to help your career. That is Hollywood getting to you. What would you say to Marley or Lila if something like this happened to them? You’d go to bat for them. I know you would.”
“True, but …”
“You’re the star,” he said softly, mesmerizingly. “Be with whoever you want, Jos.”
And that nickname on his tongue undid me. I crushed our lips together. He made a small noise of surprise and pulled back slightly.
“Are you sure?” he asked, as if he were the one to force himself on me and not me jumping him.
“Please,” I whispered.
“Fuck.”
Then, his hands were in my hair, dragging our lips back together. He tasted like whiskey and smelled like home. Kissing him felt more right than anything else I’d ever done in my life. I’d forgotten that anything could feel like this. That Maddox could make everything disappear.
He pushed me down into the couch. His body covered mine. The solid weight of him as I wrapped my legs around his waist made me shiver with need. I could tell through the thin material of his boxers how much he’d missed me. Our limbs tangled, our tongues volleying for control, our hips meeting like they had so many times in the past.
“Oh God,” I gasped as he pushed his pelvis against me.
His hand came to my mouth. “Shh,” he breathed.
And somehow, that one command made me even wetter. I’d forgotten where we were. That his sister was one door over while we christened her couch.
“Are you going to be quiet?” he asked with a gleam in his eyes.
I nodded my head, and he slowly removed his hand, dragging it down my body.
“I have doubts about your ability to be silent,” he said with a smirk. “We’ll see how good you can be.”
Before I could say anything at all, he slid down my front, gripping my tiny shorts and ripping them down my legs. His mouth fell on my pussy. And I had to clap a hand over my own mouth to muffle my moans.
His tongue laved over my clit as he swirled two fingers through the wetness at my core. And fuck, he remembered exactly how I liked it. He sped up the tempo of his tongue as my breathing turned labored. He slowly eased two fingers the rest of the way inside of me. I arched backward on the couch. A flush started at my neck and flooded down the rest of my body.
He sucked my clit into his mouth as he started a tempo, in and out. I’d forgotten how attentive he was to every hitch in my breath and shift of my hips and curl of my toes. He sped up when my breathing began to even, forcing me to teeter on the edge of an orgasm.
