Once Upon A Half-Time: A Sports Romance - Sosie Frost Page 0,247

her, a last resort before she whores herself out to someone less reputable than John Craig. I couldn’t let that happen. Our childhood was robbed. No reason her adult life should be miserable too.”

Josie pulled me inside, tugging the wet coat off my body. I dripped onto her floors and shivered from the rain, but anywhere she touched me was as comforting as a damn mug of hot cocoa—her gourmet recipe, the one that was more melted chocolate bar than milk.

She cast the blanket over my shoulders, and she sat me on the couch.

Comforted.

Loved.

Nothing I deserved. Not now.

“I will never keep any secret from you again,” I promised. “Never.”

“Shh.” Josie placed a delicate finger over my lips. I kissed it, instinctually, just a way to show deference to the woman who controlled more of my life than my pride, the law, or any of my bad decisions. “I’m sorry I ever doubted you.”

“I gave you reason to doubt.”

“Not a good one. I knew better. I told everyone else to look harder, to see the man you really were.”

She leaned close, gently shifting over my lap to straddle my legs. Her arms wove behind my neck, and I stared at her beautiful cinnamon lips.

Christ, what did I have to do to get this woman to drop the apologies and just kiss me?

“I doubted you at the first sign of trouble,” she said. “I let myself…think horrible things.”

“It’s my fault, Sweets. I’m not the man you should have fallen in love with.”

“There’s no one else for me.” Her lips pressed mine, gentle and soft. “No one else excites me as much as you. No one that challenges me as much. No one understands me as much as you do.”

“Believe me, Sweets. I haven’t figured you out yet.”

“I think you have. Long ago. When you saw me all innocent and naïve and sheltered.”

“Don’t kid yourself. I wanted to exploit that.”

Her eyebrow rose. “You didn’t.”

“Wow. You’re still naïve.”

“Is that a problem?”

I rested my hands on her hips, grasping her curves just to tease my restraint. “I like that you’re innocent. I need that, or I’d never believe this world wasn’t the first step to hell. You see things differently than me. You’ve had good things happen to you.”

“You’ve been the best.”

“That’s a lie, but it sounds sweet coming from you.”

“It’s no lie. I needed to know the world had that edge.” She brushed my cheek. “You taught me to be cautious. To recognize when men like Nolan wanted something more from me than I was willing to give. We balance each other, Maddox.”

“You balance me. I corrupt you.”

Josie leaned close, her kiss encouraging me to do more than just corrupt her. “Maybe I like it.”

“You’re the type of girl a guy like me preys on.”

“Maybe I like that too.” Josie smiled, timid and playful. “Or maybe I’m the one stalking you?”

Her hands moved low, unbuttoning my jeans and wiggling the zipper down. Her eyes flashed with mischief. A quick shimmy of her hips, and her pajama bottoms kicked away. Her smooth hips, just plump enough for a squeeze in my palm, settled over my lap.

Nothing got me harder than this woman. And no woman was harder to refuse than the one offering her body, her innocence, her life to me.

“You promised me everything before,” Josie whispered. “Love. Happiness.”

I strained to touch that heat between her legs. She did it for me, rubbing her slickness against my cock. She groaned as she lowered her body over mine and accepted me inside her trembling slit.

Bare. The only way I wanted to feel her.

“You promised me a family.” Her words faded as she ground her hips, filling herself with all of me. “Is that…what you still want?”

My grip tightened on her, but I didn’t dare move her myself, didn’t slam her against me like every instinct in my body demanded of me.

“More than anything,” I said.

“Good.” She met my gaze. “Then this morning was the last time I take my pill.”

Holy Christ.

Josie shuddered, her words lost in the ripple of pleasure that tightened her core. She leaned over me, arms behind my neck, body pressed into mine. I was completely encased in sweet perfection.

I had this amazing woman for my own for years, and I never took her gently. Never felt how our bodies melded, how the heat passed between us, how consuming the innocent pressure of her lips against mine could be.

Gentle. Loving.

Mine.

I longed for her tender touch. When I met her, I was hardened, jaded,