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Sighing, she leaned back in the chair of her office in the clinic, grimacing as she bit a little too hard on her fingernail. She’d need to consult a pediatrician, run more tests. Sending up a silent prayer that Timmy’s mother would show up at her next appointment with her son, Maddie closed the file. The poor kid didn’t have an easy life, and his mother wasn’t exactly consistent.
“Hello, Madeline.”
A husky baritone sounded from the doorway of her office, causing her to leap to her feet, ready to push the alarm button on the side of her desk. The free clinic wasn’t in a good neighborhood and poor Kara had already come close to getting shot here.
“I didn’t mean to scare you.”
A cold chill ran down Maddie’s spine, but not from fear. She recognized the voice. Eyes narrowing, she focused on the body and face behind that smooth-as-velvet masculine tone and the man standing right in front of her. “How did you get by Simon’s security? And what in the hell are you doing here?”
Sam Hudson shrugged and stepped into the room as though he owned it. Even dressed casually in a pair of jeans and a burgundy cable-knit sweater, the man oozed power and arrogance, carried it on those wide shoulders like an elegant mantle. “They’re my security too, Sunshine. They work for Hudson. Do you think they would do anything other than let me by them with a polite good evening?”
Arrogant bastard.Maddie’s heart raced and her palms grew sweaty. She wiped them over her denim-clad thighs, wishing she hadn’t showered and changed in the tiny shower in the back of the clinic before coming into her office. Maybe it would have been easier to face Sam in her professional attire, her hair confined in a conservative knot. Trying to push a flaming corkscrew spiral behind one ear, she stiffened her spine, trying to make herself appear taller than her five-foot-three height. “What do you want, Sam? This is hardly your neighborhood. And I don’t think you need the services of a hooker?” Her voice was hard, brittle. Damn it. Why couldn’t she act nonchalant? So many years had come and gone since that heart-shattering event with Sam. He was a stranger to her now. Why couldn’t she treat him like one?
Moving closer, he answered darkly, “Would you care, Sunshine? Would it matter to you if I fucked every woman in the city?”
“Ha! Like you haven’t already? And stop calling me by that ridiculous pet name,” Maddie answered sarcastically, but her heart was racing and her breath caught as Sam moved close enough for her to catch a whiff of his enticing scent of musk and man, a spicy aroma that made her slightly dizzy. His scent hadn’t changed, and it was still as tempting as it had been all those years ago.
“Why are you still here? My security alerted me that you were here after dark. You should be home. This neighborhood isn’t safe during the day, much less at night,” he growled softly.
“Simon’s security.” Somehow, she couldn’t associate the two men, even if they were brothers. Simon was nice and had a heart of gold underneath his gruff exterior. Sam was the devil himself, Satan disguised as a GQ model, with more money and power than any man had the right to have. Especially a man like Samuel Hudson.
“What if some thug got through security, found you here alone and vulnerable?” He moved closer, so close she could feel his warm breath caressing her temple.
God, he was so tall, so broad and muscular. Sam had worked construction when she had known him years ago, hard physical labor that had given him a sculpted, perfect body. Strangely, it hadn’t changed one single bit. How in the hell did a man maintain that awesome body sitting behind a desk? Backing away from his intimidating presence, her ass bumped against the desk, leaving her no space to move away farther.
“A man could take advantage of a woman alone in an empty office,” he continued, his voice low, dangerous.
Maddie pushed against Sam’s chest, trying to get free of her wedged-in position between him and the desk. “Move. Back off, Hudson, before I’m forced to send your balls into your throat.”
His muscular thigh moved over hers, immobilizing the possibility of kneeing him in the groin. “I taught you that move, remember. And never tell your attacker your intentions, Madeline.”
She craned her neck and looked at him, his emerald green eyes watching her carefully. Just as it had years ago, his handsome face took her breath away. He’d always reminded her of some ancient blond god, so damn perfect that his body and features should be carved in marble. However, at the moment, he might be as hard as marble, but he was far from cold. Heat emanated from his body in waves, his eyes just as fiery and molten. “Go fuck yourself, Hudson.”
Sam’s lips turned up, twitching precariously like he was trying not to grin. His hands splayed over her back, pulling her body completely into his as he whispered into her ear, “I’d rather fuck you, Sunshine. Much more satisfying. You’re still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. Even more beautiful than you were years ago.”
Liar. He’s such a damn liar. If I had been so desirable he wouldn’t have done what he did.“Let go and get the hell out of my office.” The bastard was playing her, and it was intolerable. She wasn’t beautiful and she was nothing like the twiggy blonde models that he sported on his arm and took to his bed.
“Kiss me first. Prove to me that there isn’t something left unfinished between us,” Sam answered, his dark green eyes lit with sparks of fire, his voice hard and demanding.
“The only thing left unfinished is the fact that you never even said you were sorry for what you did. You didn’t give a damn. You didn’t-”
Maddie never got a chance to finish. Sam’s hot, hard mouth smothered her bitter words, never asking, only demanding her response. His large, agile hands moved down her back, grasping her ass and lifting her to a sitting position on the desk, making it easier for him to devour her mouth.
Sam never just kissed: he branded, he claimed. Maddie moaned into his mouth as his tongue entered and retreated, entered and retreated, until she was breathless. Surrendering, her arms wound around his neck, her hands fisting his silken wavy locks of hair, savoring the fall of softness over her fingertips.
Wrapping her legs around his hips, needing to somehow find an anchor to keep her from drifting away in a tidal wave of lust, she allowed her tongue to duel with his, feeling his arousal against her heated core. Her hips surged against his erection with every hard thrust of his tongue.
Sam groaned, his hands delving under her sweatshirt, his fingertips stroking over the bare skin of her back, making her shiver with longing.
Maddie was drowning, lost in a sea of desire and need, slowly being pulled under the surface by a force stronger than her will.
I have to stop. This has to end before I’m completely lost.
Yanking her head back, her mouth disconnected from Sam’s, leaving her panting for oxygen and completely shaken. Sam pulled her head forward to rest against his heaving chest.
“Shit. Maddie. Maddie,” he choked out, one hand spearing into her curls, stroking her hair reverently.
Oh, God. No. She couldn’t be sucked in by Sam Hudson again. Not in any way. She shoved hard against his chest, twisting away and lowering her legs until her feet hit the floor. “Get off me.”