First Rapture (The Rapture #1)(4)

She smiled. She was.

It might be politically incorrect. It might even be foolish.

But she understood she belonged to this man on a primitive level.

“Always,” she breathed, the word a solemn promise.

Luc groaned, his fingers digging into the soft flesh of her ass. “God, you feel perfect, Maddy. So tight around my cock…” He lowered his head to tongue the tip of her breast. “Come for me.”

“Luc.” She arched upward, her breath wrenched from her lungs as he reached between them to tease her swollen clit.

“Come for me, sweetheart,” he rasped. “I’m not going to last.”

She cried out as her orgasm swelled to a near painful peak, before it exploded through her with the force of a nuclear bomb.

Good lord.

“Yes,” he hissed, plunging swiftly in and out of her body.

His lips found hers as he grabbed her hips, giving one last thrust before he went rigid against her, his groan of completion rumbling from the depths of his chest.

Remaining lodged inside her, Luc spread tiny kisses over her face, his tenderness bringing tears of joy to her eyes.

She’d fantasized about this moment since she’d first caught sight of Luc walking down the halls of the local high school.

She’d been a lowly freshman and he’d been ‘Mr. Popular.’ Even worse, he was the son of Vigo Angeli, owner of two high-end casinos. It was rumored he was worth millions, while Maddy was the daughter of a barmaid who rarely remembered she had a child who shared her cheap trailer on the edge of town.

It’d seemed an impossible dream. But now…

“I love you, Luc,” she murmured, her heart overflowing with happiness.

Instantly he stiffened, his breath hissing between his clenched teeth, as if she’d struck him instead of confessing her love. Then, before she knew what was happening, he was pulling out of her and shoving himself off the bed, his expression hard as he reached to grab his jeans off the floor.

“Don’t make this into something it’s not, Maddy,” he warned, his voice painfully harsh.

Suddenly chilled to the bone, Maddy reached for the sheet, covering her naked body. “Luc, what’s wrong?”

“Everything.” He dressed with an efficient swiftness. “This should never have happened.”

Shivering with a sense of baffled betrayal, she watched as Luc moved toward the door. “You’re leaving?”

He paused, turning to regard her with an expression that was impossible to read. “Do yourself a favor, Maddy. Save your love for some man who actually deserves it.”

***

The sound of her alarm thankfully jerked Madison out of the nightmare.

Shit.

Throwing back the covers, she climbed out of bed and headed into the attached bathroom.

There was no mystery why she’d been plagued by that particular dream.

The day after her disastrous eighteenth birthday she’d left Vegas and traveled to New York to follow her dream of becoming a model. For once in her life, good luck had smiled on her, landing her a spot as the spokeswoman for a new brand of tequila. Her career had taken off with record speed, and thanks to the grinding poverty of her childhood, she’d had enough sense to demand a part of her salary be paid in company stocks. By the time she’d reached the age of twenty-four she’d made a small fortune, which she’d used to open her own modeling agency.

Now she was not only rich, but she owned a thriving business that gave her a power she’d never imagined possible when she was a young girl just trying to survive.

And for the first time in eight years she’d returned to Vegas.

Yeah, everything was great. Except that her dreams of love had been ruined by the Dark Angel.

Taking a swift shower, Madison pulled on a casual pair of white shorts and a yellow, stretchy top. She gathered her dark, shoulder-length hair into a high ponytail, pausing long enough to grimace at her reflection.

Without makeup she looked younger than her twenty-six years, but it was the shadows beneath her wide hazel eyes and the paleness of her creamy skin that made her wrinkle her nose in disgust.

Soon, she silently promised herself.

Soon she would be done with the nightmares of her past.

And Luc Angeli would be nothing but a distant memory.

Leaving the guest bedroom, Madison headed into the kitchen of the luxury condo just off the Strip.

The home belonged to her best friend during high school, Kristen Roth. The two had been inseparable despite the fact that Kristen had a very different background than Madison. And even after she’d left Vegas they’d remained in contact, meeting for a “girls’ weekend” at least twice a year in various exotic locations.

When she’d decided it was time to return to Vegas, Madison had known she couldn’t stay anywhere but the condo without hurting Kristen’s feelings.

An unfortunate necessity, she belatedly realized as she strolled into the kitchen to discover her friend already dressed in a gray power suit with her honey-blonde hair pulled into a smooth knot at her nape. Instantly, Kristen’s indigo blue gaze latched onto Madison’s pale face and the obvious signs of sleepless nights.

Kristen possessed a laser-sharp mind that had landed her a position at the top law firm in Nevada. Nothing could get past her perceptive gaze.

“What are you doing up at this hour?” she demanded, instantly moving to pour Madison a large mug of coffee.