The house was quiet.
Too quiet.
Maddie lay on her back in the center of her massive bed, arms above her head, golden hair spilling like liquid sunlight across the silk pillows. A light summer breeze whispered through the open balcony doors, stirring the curtains and bringing the scent of midnight jasmine.
She wore only a thin tank top and lace panties—barely clothing, really. Just enough to feel the sheets differently.
But she didn’t sleep.
She didn’t need to.
She could feel them in the walls. Lucien pacing like a restless prince. Graham watching her from the shadows of his marriage, unsure whether to touch or protect. And Vanessa…
Vanessa was unraveling.
She felt it all day—the way the older woman had hovered without speaking, watching her like a puzzle she no longer knew how to solve. And when Maddie denied her in the hallway, when she untied Vanessa’s robe and left her standing there in lacy black lingerie, desperate for a kiss that never came—
Something inside her had cracked.
And Maddie knew.
It was only a matter of time.
It came at 1:43 a.m.
Soft footsteps down the hall. A pause outside her door. A hand that hesitated on the knob.
Maddie didn’t move.
Didn’t say a word.
She just waited.
And slowly… quietly… the door creaked open.
Vanessa stepped inside barefoot, wrapped in nothing but a long black robe cinched at the waist. Her hair was down, wild and dark around her shoulders. No makeup. No jewelry.
Just her.
Real. Exposed. Human.
She closed the door behind her without a sound. Stood there in the moonlight, shadows dancing across her collarbones.
Maddie watched from her pillow.
“You couldn’t stay away.”
Vanessa exhaled.
It wasn’t her usual sharp sigh—it was a tremble. A confession in breath.
“I hate this,” she whispered.
Maddie raised a brow.
“You hate what?”
Vanessa took a step closer. Then another. Her voice cracked, barely audible.
“That I can’t stop thinking about you.”
Maddie sat up slowly, tank top sliding over her breasts, her nipples visibly hard beneath the fabric.
“You didn’t seem to have a problem walking away before.”
Vanessa came to the edge of the bed. Her hands trembled slightly at her sides.
“That was before I knew what it felt like to lose you.”
Maddie tilted her head.
“And what do you want now?”
Vanessa’s mouth parted.
But no answer came.
Only silence.
And then—her fingers pulled at the sash of her robe.
One slow, dragging motion.
The robe fell open… and then slipped to the floor.
Nothing underneath.
Vanessa stood naked in front of her, chest rising and falling, eyes wide—not with arrogance, but need.
“I want to be undone.”
Maddie’s breath hitched.
Not at Vanessa’s body—it was stunning, of course, elegant and mature and taut in all the right places—but at the rawnessin her voice.
No control.
No mask.
Just hunger.
Need.
Worship.
Maddie swung her legs over the side of the bed, planting her feet on the floor. She didn’t rise yet—just sat there, eye-level with Vanessa’s exposed hips, her eyes slowly trailing up her trembling body.
“And what makes you think I’ll give you what you want?”
Vanessa reached out, her hand brushing Maddie’s cheek, the back of her knuckles grazing down her neck, her voice a husk of breath.
“Because I’ve never wanted anything more.”
Maddie stood.
Let her tank top fall.
Vanessa sucked in a breath.
Maddie stepped forward, chest to chest, skin to skin. Her hands came to Vanessa’s hips, slowly, like claiming a prize.
“Beg.”
Vanessa froze.
“What?”
“If you want to be undone,” Maddie whispered into her ear, “you’ll have to ask.”
Vanessa’s nails curled at her sides.
“I don’t—”
Maddie pulled back just enough to look her in the eyes. Her hand slipped down, between Vanessa’s thighs, almosttouching.
Not quite.
Vanessa gasped.
“Say it.”
A beat.
Another.
And then—
“Please.”
“Please what?”
Vanessa swallowed hard.
Her eyes glistened.
“Please… touch me.”
“Where?”
Vanessa’s voice cracked.
“Everywhere.”
And so Maddie did.
But not quickly.
Not hungrily.
She took her time, running her fingers over every part of Vanessa’s shaking body without giving her full satisfaction.
She kissed the inside of her thigh.
Then pulled away.
She ran her nails lightly over Vanessa’s breasts—watching them rise—but didn’t cup them.
She let her want, ache, burn.
And only when Vanessa’s legs gave out—when she nearly sank to the floor with need—did Maddie pull her into bed.
Then she took her.
In slow waves. Maddie on top. Guiding every motion. Every sound. She made Vanessa say her name again and again—soft at first, then desperate.
“Maddie… Maddie, please—”
Maddie kissed her throat.
“Shhh. You’re mine now.”
Vanessa nodded.
Lost.
Undone.
Maddie didn’t stop until she’d wrung every drop of submission from her.
Only then—only after Vanessa had screamed into her neck, shuddered into stillness, and gone limp beneath her—did Maddie hold her.
And whisper:
“You don’t run this house anymore.”
Vanessa didn’t argue.
She just lay there, breathless, clinging to Maddie like gravity itself.
XOXO
Maddie’s Page