was watching us dance, an unreadable expression on his hard face.
Anger burned like acid in my veins at the fact that we were in the same room. I didn’t want him anywhere near my Lila.
I bent my head, my nose brushing over the tip of her ear as I whispered, “Let’s get out of here.”
35
Lila
His voice was gruff when he spoke, “Let’s get out of here.”
Maddox dragged me out of the ballroom, and I tried to keep up in my heels. I knew he was going to hate tonight. As much as he was cocky and arrogant and he loved the attention from the chicks, he loathed being surrounded by people like his father – talking business and mingling with them.
The subject of him taking over his father’s empire one day as the only heir was something we never discussed. He refused to talk about it, and I knew he had no intention of taking over.
Instead of waiting for the valet, he took me around the building to the parking lot. “There’s our ride,” he said under the moonlight of the California sky.
I halted in my step, forcing Maddox to pause, too, as I took in what was in front of me. Maddox chuckled, and he let go of my hand, striding over to his motorbike. His bike?!
I gaped as Maddox climbed onto the beast of a bike – one that was similar to the one back home -- and offered me a helmet. He looked sinful in a tuxedo, with disheveled hair, straddling a bike. I licked my lips, hating the feeling of my heart racing at the sight of him being so devilishly handsome.
I had never seen a man so overtly masculine, so confident in his own skin and with such a dominant aura. The sensitive area between my legs pulsed with need.
“You coming, Sweet Cheeks? Or do I need to steal you away?”
I blinked, still shocked. “How…where did you find this bike? We came in a limo.”
A crooked smile graced his perfect lips. “I was already planning an early escape.” He winked.
I strode over and took the heavy helmet he offered. Maddox helped me buckle the chin strap, his fingers lingering longer at my jaw.
I swallowed and let out a nervous laugh. “Why does it feel like we’re doing something very, very bad? Like we’re some naughty kids… when in actuality, we have done much worse than running away from a stupid charity gala?”
“Because if my father finds out we ran, he’s gonna skin me alive,” he said with a slight twist of his lips.
My eyes narrowed on him. “Ha. Funny. Very funny.”
I looked down at my long dress and figured this could be a problem. We weren’t really clothed for a bike ride. But thank God for the thigh high split. It allowed me to bunch my dress up and tie a knot at my thighs; this way, the fabric wouldn’t get trapped in the monster wheels.
“Where are we going?” I asked, curiously.
His gaze fell to my bare legs, and I could swear he swallowed, his eyes darkening in the slightest bit.
“Some place not here,” he announced smoothly, the deep baritone of his voice vibrating through my bones, all the way down to my toes. My body temperature spiked, burning with unspoken and forbidden need.
He offered me his tuxedo jacket, and I took it, pulling my arms through the sleeves and wrapping myself in his smell – his cologne and his familiar manly scent.
“Well, let’s go. Steal me away, Coulter.” I pulled down the visor of my helmet, obscuring my face from his gaze, a perfect hideaway for my flushed cheeks.
I straddled the bike behind him and wrapped my arms around his middle. It wasn’t the first time he took me on a bike ride. We had plenty of those during our times together.
We rode for a long time, the breeze in my hair and Maddox’s warm body against my front. It was… comforting.
This… this was exactly why I didn’t want to risk losing him.
This was why I kept my secret and locked away the night we spent together, the heated moment between us. Maddox didn’t remember our time together, and it was better this way. Even though I was the only one left haunted by the memories of us, me fingering myself as he humped me through our clothes.
Every time I stared at him, I remembered the look on his face as he orgasmed. My body tingled at the memory of his lips on my