Make Me Bad

She’s as perfect and angelic as I’ve ever seen her. Her skin is the exact shade of the cream I pour into my coffee.

She’s a goddess and I’m undeserving of her.

That’s what everyone thinks.

Her eyes light up when she sees me. She doesn’t know what this is about. Right now, she just thinks I’m here to see her.

Without a word, she turns and walks toward me. She doesn’t stop until she’s right in front of me, her boots hitting the toes of my dress shoes. Her hands slide underneath my suit jacket and she wraps her arms around my middle. Then she lets her forehead fall to rest against my chest. I haven’t felt so much comfort from a hug since before my mom died.

“Hello,” she says softly.

“Hi.”

“My brother said he went to see you at work today.”

My only view is the top of her head.

“He did.”

“Was it terrible?”

“Wasn’t great,” I concede, careful to keep my hands off her.

She’s gripping me with everything she’s got and I’m holding her at arm’s length.

She must realize it because she steps back and nods.

“So then do it already. Say it.”

I frown.

She laughs like I disgust her. “You think by staying silent, you’re not speaking, but I hear it all loud and clear, Ben. So do it.” She whirls around and tosses her hands in the air. “God, it’s so predictable. You’re so predictable.”

I can’t lie to her. I can’t tell her I don’t want her or say I’m not falling in love with her. So, I settle for the simple truth. We have to get it all out if there’s any hope of moving forward. “I’m not the man you should be with.”

She fists her hands. “Of course you’re not! I’m sure my father said that. Colten too, yeah? I bet I can recite the whole conversation word for word and get most of it right. They warned you to stay away from me? Not to break my heart? Big deal! They’ve said that to every guy who’s ever walked into my life. You’re not special. You’re not any more ‘bad’ than the rest. You…you’re—”

She rears back and shoves me with everything she’s got, her hands pushing against my chest until I hit the wall behind me.

“You’re a coward,” she says, spitting venom. “You’re scared.”

She’s a ball of rage.

I grip hold of her biceps to keep her fists from pounding on my chest. “Of course I’m scared! I care about you,” I say, voice booming. “I want life to be easy for you. I want you to be happy. You said yourself you want to be with a man your family approves of.”

“Well guess what?! I fell for you instead!” She groans with everything she’s got and then flings my arms off her. “I’m so mad I can’t even think straight.”

“Tell me the way forward then,” I say, coming up behind her, turning her around so she has to look up at me. I want her looking in my eyes as she lays out her master plan. “Tell me how this works. You defy your father and keep sneaking out of your house to see me? I want more than that, Madison. I want—”

Before I can even finish that sentence, she’s on me, pushing me up against the wall, crashing her mouth against mine. I’m so angry I could shred her clothes, pull her hair, bite that lip. Clearly, so is she. I’ve had enough with the games and the silly shit. No more pushing her out of her comfort zone under the guise of a birthday resolution. No more pretending what we have is just a friendship.

She fists my shirt and kisses me back with an angry vengeance. Our mouths slant together and our tongues touch and I’m grinding into her, gripping her ass, pulling up her legs so they wrap around me.

The gloves are off. The time for indecision is over. I came here with two options: fight for her or give her an easy out, a chance to leave me behind. It seems we’ve made up our minds.

I’m not going to walk away from Madison. She’ll have to find a new family—I’ll be her family. I’ll take care of her and shelter her and if her dad doesn’t like that, tough shit.

She melts against me, gripping, writhing, moaning. Her hands are unbuttoning my shirt and my hands are up under dress, pushing beneath her panties. I have her ass in my hands and I grip it like I’m as angry with it as I am with the last few days. We’ve been in hell and this is our reward, our light at the end of the tunnel.

“Ben,” she moans as my mouth trails down her cheek, her neck, her chest. I spin us around so she’s up against the wall. I use it to my advantage, leaning back and gaining better access. Her sweater dress is just stretchy enough that I can tug the neck to the side and expose one of her shoulders. If she’s wearing a bra, it’s strapless. On Friday night, in the ocean, I didn’t appreciate what I had. I felt like she hadn’t given me permission to touch her, not really.

Now…

Now I’m going to make up for that.

“Are there cameras in here?” I ask, breathless. If so, I’ll find a gun and shoot out the lenses. We’re not stopping.

“No. Wait—I don’t know. Who cares? Lenny is old and probably needs some excitement in his life.”

She’s saying this as she works my jacket off my shoulders. It falls to the floor. My shirt gaps open.

“What are we doing?” I ask, wanting to get everything out in the open. If this is some foreplay bullshit, I need to know now.

“What are we doing?” she mocks. “I thought you’d done this before…” She leans forward and takes my earlobe between her teeth. “I’m supposed to be the innocent one.”

Of course when she says that, in that tone, while dragging her tongue across my skin, I am gone. I’m the evil version of Ben everyone seems to want me to be. Poor Madison. For her first time, she deserves candles and rose petals and a Phil Collins playlist. I tell her that. I give her the out.

“I’ll take you to a fancy bed right now. I’ll make it special, memorable—scrapbook-worthy,” I promise as I hold her against the wall and start to bend to my knees.

Her eyes watch me as her head falls back. Her hand fists my hair. She knows where I’m headed and there’s a little blush on her cheeks that I want to kiss off.

“Madison?” I ask with a raised brow just as my lips touch her inner thigh. “Should we—”

“NO! We’re staying! This wall is really soft—cloud-like, even,” she says as I tug her dress up to her waist to expose her panties.

Lilac.

I let my face fall against them and the silky material tickles my nose. I want to die in this spot.

“Ben?” she asks, concerned.

“Who’s Ben?”

She laughs and yanks my hair, pulling me back just far enough that she can see my eyes.

“I’ve spent a lot of hours in this library, a lot of time with my nose stuck in a book. I want a memory that will make me blush every time I walk into this room. I want to do something bad…something very, very naughty.”

The edge of my mouth hitches up. “Naughty?”

Her laugh is cut short when my fingers catch on either side of her panties. Her stomach quivers as I give the first little tug. They slide down an inch and more of her creamy skin is exposed. Another inch and I can’t wait. I’m not a patient man. The panties can stay. I drag my middle finger down the very center of them, right over the silkiest part. Her resulting shudder is gas to a flame. I do it once more and her eyes flutter closed.

“Has a man ever touched you like this before?”

“No.”

I do it again, slower this time, making sure I hit the most tender spot.

“But I’ve touched myself before.”

My heart lurches in my chest. My dick strains against my zipper.

I stand back up and cover her body with mine, finding her mouth, kissing her at the exact moment my hand slides down into the top of her panties and I find her wet, wanting.

One finger glides inside smoothly, and Madison has never known the meaning of naughty before today. Her fingers dig into my forearms as I taunt her, running one finger up and down her seam. I drag that wetness up, up, up and swirl the pad of my middle finger while she loses brain cells.

My lips touch her neck, and the contact is too gentle to douse the flames. No, I’m fanning them. With my tongue. With my finger as it spins circles just slow enough to make her arch her back. I drag my hand up her over stomach and then back down. I’m talking to her, teaching her.

Do you want me to keep going lower? my fingers ask as they still on her hipbone.

Her skin is so flushed it’s a wonder she isn’t feverish.

She’s rolling her hips against me. Her body is telling me all the things she’s too shy to say.

She’s growing impatient.

She wants a release.

Friction.

Heat.

It’s only been a few seconds since I touched her there, but it must feel like forever.

I brush her hair off her forehead and cradle her face. She looks at me like she’s about to swoon.

“More,” she demands with a lusty, choked voice, and I smile, happy to oblige.

This time, I use my mouth.

I bend back down on my knees, and there’s no more tiptoeing around this. My fingers hook on either side of her panties and I yank them down her thighs. They pool on the floor and she steps out of them. Her dress covers her, barely. One of my hands pushes up the thick sweater material and the other wraps around her thigh, tugging, goading her legs apart.