The Darkest Corner of the Heart (The Brightest Light #2)

by Lisina Coney

“Maddie. Look at me.” And I feel the warmth of his big hands covering my much smaller ones, peeling my fingers away from my wet eyes gently. He kisses the back of each one, slowly, so softly more tears fall against my will. “You’re okay, baby. I’m here.”

“I wanted to kiss you so badly, I was hurting. I am hurting, just thinking about the things I want to do to you, Maddie, and it’s not right. None of this is. I shouldn’t want you, but I can’t stop the pain that comes every time I think I will never have you.”

“I don’t know what’s happening to me, Maddie. Why I’m so fucking terrified of this.” I swallow, my throat feeling as dry as sandpaper. “I’m scared too.” “Why?” I feel him frown against my skin. It all comes down to this, doesn’t it? “Because I make everyone walk away.” I swallow again as my heart gallops inside my chest and my pulse drums in my ears. “I made you walk away. I told you we should see each other again, and it freaked you out.” His thumb brushes my cheek, right under my eye, and it’s only then that I realize a single tear has fallen. “You didn’t push me away, baby. You could never.”

“What’s her name?” he asks, a new resolve in his voice. “Why do you want to know?” “I’ll have her license revoked.” There’s not a single trace of a doubt in his words. Not one, and it brings back that tingle in my spine. “Even if it’s the last thing I ever do. Nobody messes with you and lives to tell the tale, baby. Not while I’m here.”

He kisses me like he’s drowning and I’m his mainland.

“Look what you do to me,” he growls against my skin, pressing my stomach against his hard groin. He’s hard. He’s hard for me. “You drive me insane, baby. Can you feel it?” “Yes,” I breathe out, desperate to feel his friction between my legs. “James…” He nibbles my ear. “Tell me why this feels so right if it’s so fucking wrong.” I pull him away from my neck until we’re eye to eye. “Because it’s not wrong.”

“Tell me what you need, beautiful.” The words spill out of me unabashedly. “I want to feel you,” I pant with need, with desperation, with ache. I don’t think I’ve wanted anything more than this. “Yeah?” he grunts, pressing his hard groin against my soft center. “You want to feel me here?” “Yes,” I breathe out, desperately clinging to him. “Right there. Please.” “Look at you, asking so nicely.” His teeth sink into my throat, but not hard enough to hurt. An unabashed whimper escapes my lips. “Get in the car, baby.”

all I care about is devouring every inch of her skin. Of her. I want to make her scream, beg, spend her until it hurts to breathe.

“You like it rough, don’t you, baby.” I gently sink my teeth into the sensitive spot at the top of her full breasts and bask in the loud moan I get as a response. “You want me to fuck you hard? To have no mercy on your body?”

“Come here.” She arches a playful eyebrow. “You want me to straddle your chest?” “I want you to sit on my face so I can finally taste that sweet pussy.”

“No one has ever…” Hell. “No one has ever eaten you out?” When she shakes her head, her confession sends a stupid jolt of accomplishment through my chest, knowing I’ll be the first to taste her. And the only one. That sounds about fucking right.

“Be a good girl for me and lift that ass up.” “What are you going to do to me?” she asks, out of breath. I grab ahold of her face, cradling her cheek in my hand, and whisper, “I’m going to make you scream until you come all over my cock. Does my pretty girl want that?” “I want it,” she whispers against my mouth. “I need you inside me.”

If I had any doubts before, it’s clear now—Maddie owns me, consumes me, blinds me of all my senses, except for the innate urge to make her feel good, safe, protected, cherished. I would give her the whole world on a silver platter if she asked for it, and that realization terrifies me.

She’s everything I never saw coming, and now I can’t get enough of her. She’s addictive, uplifting, good for me.

“Tell me how badly you need this pussy to be filled.” Because who am I to deny her when she’s being such a wet dream? “So bad,” she whimpers as I trace my engorged head along her seam, coating my length in her wetness. “I want to be so full of you, I can’t breathe.” “Fucking hell,”

She’s mine. And I don’t want to be anyone else’s.

“Just the tip,” she moans, shattering all my walls. She arches her back, panting. “Shit, it feels so good.” I wrap my hand around hers, still fisting my cock. “Just the tip, huh?” I take it out, the sound of her wetness filling the room, and push it back in, just a little bit deeper. “Want some more of my cock, baby?”

Just the tip, my ass

“Does my girl want me to come inside her?” A desperate whimper leaves her throat. “Y-Yes. God, yes.”

“James,” she pants, coating my digits in her wetness. “I can’t take it. Oh, God. I can’t.” “Last chance,” I growl in her ear. “Tell me to pull out now, or I’m gonna fill you to the fucking brim.” “Yes, yes,” she hisses. “Come inside me, James. Shit.”

“Do you want to stay tonight?” She stills in my arms. For a moment, I curse myself, thinking I crossed a line, but then she asks, “Where will I sleep?” As if she were really considering it. My hand finds her nape, brushing her skin there with my thumb. “Next to me.”

The truth is that I wanted him last night while the moon was high, and today, while the sun shines behind the clouds, I still yearn for him.

“Please,” I beg, my voice barely above a whisper. He cradles my wet cheek with his other hand, rubbing his thumb on my parted lips. I suck it into my mouth. “You’re a needy little thing, aren’t you?” he rasps.

“I need it in my mouth,” I whimper, the desperation between my legs climbing up my throat as I part my lips. He tugs at my hair, his eyes darkening. “You’re gonna let me come down your throat?” My walls clamp in anticipation. “Yes.” He grunts. “That’s my girl.”

“What are you doing?” I whisper, barely hearing my own voice above the water sounds. “Washing your hair.” Duh. “But why?” It should be a question easy enough to answer, yet he takes his sweet time brewing a response. “Because I want to take care of you.”

“You two are the reason for my gray hairs. I hope you’re proud.” He shakes his head, but there’s no hiding his smile. “Well, I happen to like your gray hairs very much.” Grace leans in to peck his lips, and the look in my brother’s face is one I will never grow tired of—infinite love, raw adoration, and pure devotion. It’s everything I grew up around, everything I miss every day that I’m away from home.

“Your brother and I will always be here to support you in every way we can, but you are making these decisions for yourself, not us. You moved out at eighteen and have never let us down since. You’re responsible and independent, and you take such good care of yourself.”

We know you’re worried about your ankle and getting back to ballet, but we’re sure you will achieve anything you want to. You’re Maddie.” You’re Maddie.

“No, Li, I don’t have a boyfriend. Do you?” “Daddy says I can’t date until I’m thirty,” she says so matter-of-factly I can’t help but throw my head back in laughter. Sounds like something my brother would say, all right. Adding the second batch of beaten eggs to the pan, I tell her, “Your dad is a bit overdramatic.” “That’s what Mommy says.”

“You can read one of Mommy’s books if you feel sad again.” There’s simply no way I could love her any more—my heart would burst. She’s such a compassionate soul, a precious gift, a literal angel. It never ceases to amaze me how wise she is beyond her years. Her empathy knows no limits, and I admire her for it.

My favorite is the one about my grandpas.” The retelling of Grace’s adoption story holds a very special place in my heart, too. “Did you know that she wrote that book for me?” Her eyes widen. “No way.” “Yep.”

“It makes sense that it’s my favorite book,” she says in a quiet voice, “because you’re my favorite person, Maddsy.” Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry. “You’re my favorite person too.”

Me: You look so cozy. I want to be there :( James: Just say the word and I’ll pick you up My heart jumps at his offer. Does he always have to be so chivalrous? Not that I’d ever complain. Me: I can just get an Uber. Don’t worry about me. James: Not possible

“I want you to give me a warning before you leave.” The air whooshes out of my lungs. “Why do you think I would ever leave?” The pain flashing in her eyes would normally make me want to hurt the bastard who put it there—only that, this time, the bastard might be me. She gives me a small shrug, like none of this is really a big deal. “Everyone does, eventually. Just… Just don’t do it in a cruel way. Please.”

“Words aren’t enough—I know that. So let me prove it to you. As your friend, or in whichever way you want me to.” She leans into my touch, the hardness in her eyes melting away. “Is that what you want to be? Friends?” “You and I both know friends don’t make each other come, baby.”

“We were still together when I found my ex-girlfriend in my brother’s bed.” My stomach sinks with a heavy feeling of betrayal that doesn’t even belong to me. “What?” “My brother played baseball in college, so I guess she moved from one athlete to another.”

Last I knew, he was working at some marketing firm downtown, but that was years ago. They were still together and living in Norcastle.”

“You bring me so much peace, Maddie,” he whispers against my skin. The feeling of his lips pressing a kiss on my neck lights me up inside. “More than you’ll ever know. Thank you for always having the right words and not being afraid to say them.” My heart leaps. And, for reasons I still haven’t figured out, my voice comes out as a whisper as I say, “You bring me peace too.”

His arms wrap around my middle, his stubbled cheek rubbing against mine until I fight back. “Stop,” I shriek, laughing. “You’re scratching me.” “You don’t complain when I scratch you in other places.”

“I drew you a bath.” My heart skips a beat. “You did?” “Mmhmm. Let’s get you inside. I don’t want you getting sick.”

“Don’t cry, baby. Why are you crying?” “I don’t know.” A chuckle escapes me, and I shake my head. “You didn’t upset me. This is… Wow. Just… Thank you.” “You deserve this and more,”

“Fucking hell,” I hear him mutter. “That’s it. I wanna see how you get yourself off. Show me how wet you are.”

“Look at us,” he groans against my skin, and I follow his gaze toward the full-sized mirror right behind us, propped against a wall. “Look how that ass bounces on my cock.”

“Look at me, baby. I need to see those beautiful eyes as you ride me.”

“Fuck. I need to come inside you so badly, fill you up with my cum. Tell me I can do it. Tell me I can claim you the way I’m dying to.” “James,” I whimper, my walls squeezing him until his desperation matches mine. “Yes, yes. Come inside me. I need it. I need it so badly.”

I’m falling in love with James. Tragically, completely. I’m falling for my ex-physical therapist, a man ten years older than me, a man who doesn’t even want a relationship. And it’s going to shatter me.

“Did that help up my grade?” I pretend to think about it, tapping my finger on my lips. “Still undecided. I think I need a re-do.” His genuine chuckle lights up something inside of me, and so does the gentle kiss he plants on the tip of my nose.

“Do you want to tell me what’s wrong?” Her next words break my heart. “No, it’s okay. You didn’t sign up for all of this.” “I signed up for you, Maddie. The whole package.” I want it all, I almost say. But I don’t. Because what does that mean? She shrugs. “We’re only fuck b—” “If you say we’re only fuck buddies, I’m going to spank that ass of yours until it turns bright red.” “Don’t threaten me with a good time.” I let out a deep sigh. “I only want you to tell me what’s going on so I can help you.”

“Thank you for always taking care of me,” she mutters against my skin. I shut my eyes and breathe in her clean scent. “You make me want to be a better man, Maddie. I will always take care of you.”

I want all of her. Always, from now on and until I take my last breath, and I’m not risking losing her before I can even have her.

Is she leaving forever? Fuck it, but I’d go after her. I would upend my entire life if it meant creating a new one with her.