Magic Man Read online

  Maxwell smirked, not fooled by me at all. “Turns out I need a few things at the grocery, too. I’ll just drive you since you don’t even know where it is.”

  He spoke with confidence and left me with no graceful way to turn him down.

  I sighed. Maxwell was either the kindest man I had ever met or the most difficult. I couldn’t decide.

  We passed the time chatting about Ivy’s school. I had researched it online, and I knew it started in less than three weeks. I probably should have used today to register her.

  Maxwell interrupted my musings. “You can register her online. Just go to the school website. They will contact Ivy’s old school and get all of her records.”

  I didn’t even try to hide my shock. How did he know what I was thinking yet again?

  Maxwell grinned. This time my thoughts were written all over my face, but he didn’t volunteer any answers, and I wasn’t asking again today.

  We pulled up to the grocery store, and once again Ivy and I went a separate direction from Maxwell. I took my time, tired of being polite and worrying about wasting Maxwell’s time since he had practically forced us to come with him. Loving the unfamiliar luxury of the wad of cash in my pocket, we piled our basket to the brim with necessities and extra treats and then went to check out.

  Maxwell appeared with a single bag in hand just as we finished bagging our groceries. He took over wheeling our cart, and we headed out to the parking lot. Ivy skipped alongside us.

  Again, I took in her contented, carefree face, and I knew moving here for this job was worth it, no matter what. I sighed, happy, and started to relax for the first time since I accepted the position.

  Maxwell glanced at me. “We were lucky to find someone of your reputation to come work with our horses. I think you will find that the Randolphs are generous employers who take care of their people and that you will be a valued asset.”

  I was over wondering how he knew what I was thinking, so I openly rolled my eyes at his intuition, making him smirk.

  “I’m excited to have the opportunity. I mean that.” I helped him load the groceries into the trunk. “Ivy and I need this job, and I will work hard to keep it.”

  I couldn’t wait to see all the food we purchased spread out on our new kitchen counters. Only another single mom could appreciate the sight of a kitchen full of food that was paid for without sacrificing the light bill or something just as essential.

  Maxwell frowned at me as he slammed the trunk shut, but I didn’t ask him what was bothering him. I went around to the passenger door and wasn’t surprised when he was one step ahead of me, opening the door for me.

  Wasn’t he always one step ahead of me, anticipating my needs?

  Six

  Maxwell dropped me off at our car and helped us transfer the bags from his trunk to ours. He waved at us after we cranked up, and he went on his way without a look back.

  Puzzling man. I didn’t know what to make of him.

  “I don’t know what to make of him, either,” Ivy spoke up from her spot in the backseat.

  I whipped my head around at her before realizing I had spoken my thoughts aloud. Whew. I didn’t need Ivy becoming psychic on me.

  “But he’s really nice, don’t you think?” Ivy wanted me to like Maxwell, I realized.

  Interesting.

  “Yes. He’s a very nice man.” I backed out of the parking space and headed towards our new home.

  “And cute.” Ivy giggled.

  “Ivy! He’s quite a bit older than me.” Not what I meant to say, but it would do.

  “I don’t think that matters once you get to be an adult. Everybody’s just old together.” Ivy giggled again.

  “Cut it out, kid.” I raised my fist at her in the mirror, and Ivy pretended to be terrified of me for a minute.

  We both dissolved into laughter, and then Ivy spoke up again. “But I noticed he doesn’t smell like tadpoles. Did you notice that, too?”

  I snorted. “No, no frog smell at all coming from that man.”

  Ivy leaned back in her seat, smug. “I think the no tadpole smell is a good sign, don’t you?”

  I rolled my eyes. “I hope it’s a good sign he will be a good boss because that’s what he is. My boss. Nothing else, little matchmaker. Got it?”

  “Got it. Geez.” But Ivy was smiling as I punched in the gate code to the estate, and we drove up the spooky old driveway towards the barns. I hoped she wasn’t plotting against me.

  I did think Maxwell seemed to be a good man. He made me uncomfortable, but even that ridiculous vibrator incident had turned out okay. If another man had done that, I would have been creeped out, and I might have been tempted to start sending out my resume again. But there was something about Maxwell that had made the whole incident kind of funny, even if it had been embarrassing. And if I was going to be completely honest, it had been a major turn on.

  Maybe I would go back to Target one day soon without Ivy and buy that pink vibrator.

  Soon we were carrying our purchases into the house. Ivy unloaded the groceries and started putting them away. I sorted out the new bedding and took the sheets across the hall to the laundry room. I wanted them washed before we slept on them.

  When I came back in, Ivy was holding something in her hand with a funny expression. “Hey, you didn’t buy this. Mr. Maxwell must have really wanted you to take care of your sore muscles.”

  I snatched the pink vibrator out of her hands in horror. “Oh, my gosh. I can’t believe he did that.” He must have bought the sex toy when we weren’t looking and slipped it into one of my bags when we were loading the trunk. “I’m going to kill him.”

  Ivy turned to me, concern etched into her sweet little face. “Don’t kill him. He’s your boss, right? It’s his job to worry about your sore muscles if you get them on the job.”

  I caught myself. “Right. I won’t kill him. This time.”

  But I was going to have a word with him for sure. I had a mental picture of me marching into the barn in the morning, pink sparkly vibrator in hand, ready to confront Maxwell. I winced. No way I was carrying that vibrator around.

  I guess I would just have to keep it. But I wasn’t letting him off the hook as far as speaking my mind went.

  I took the vibrator into my bedroom and placed it in my bedside table. Maybe hiding it in plain sight was the best plan?

  Despite my anger at Maxwell for buying the damn thing, I couldn’t wait to use it. I pulled it back out of the drawer and took it out of its packaging. It was rechargeable and needed to be plugged in. I plugged it in by the bed and skipped a little as I left the bedroom.

  If I was this excited by a sex toy, I might need to get out more.

  IVY TOOK A LONG, HOT bath and then elected to go to bed early, which was unusual behavior for her, for sure. Usually, I had to actively encourage my daughter to go to bed because she had almost limitless supplies of energy at her disposal. But I wasn’t too surprised. Even after our nap, we had enough miles under our belt, plus adventures in our new town to wear us out.

  Once I was sure she was asleep, I started looking for my notebook. Rereading my secret fantasies would be the perfect accompaniment to my new toy. I grimaced as I thought about Maxwell slipping the item into my bag when I wasn’t paying attention, but I wasn’t above using it anyway.

  Damn the man.

  I couldn’t find the journal, but I didn’t look too hard. It was probably tucked into my box of financial records that I hadn’t bothered to unpack yet. Maybe I wouldn’t ever empty that particular box. Oh, well. I could retrieve the journal later. Right now I was anxious to see if the vibrator was fully charged.

  It was. I was pretty sure I heard angels singing in the background when I unplugged it and saw the light indicated it was at full charge.

  Becoming a mom at the ripe old age of sixteen hadn’t allowed me to have the usual experiences of a young woman growing up. I hadn’t giggled in dorm rooms about the latest cute guy I was dating. I had never had a
casual hookup. My only experiences with sexual pleasure had come from my own hand. Literally. So I was dying to see what this vibrator could do for me.

  I took a long bath myself, using some of Ivy’s bubble bath. Once I was thoroughly relaxed, I turned out the lights and climbed into bed. I slipped the vibrator under the covers and suddenly felt shy and unsure.

  Shake it off, Millie. This is your chance to have an adult moment. Carpe diem, girl.

  There was one fantasy I had written just a few months ago. It was the last one in the journal, and ironically, it involved a man using a vibrator on a woman. I wrote about how this unknown man was in complete control of the situation. He determined how to use the vibrator, using his knowledge of the woman’s body to wield the sex toy for her utmost pleasure.

  Sometimes it makes me uncomfortable, how so many of my fantasies had an underlying theme of domination and control by the man over his female partner. I fully understood the helplessness of being forced into non-consensual sex. I understood how there was zero pleasure in that scenario. I only remembered pain and humiliation. I hadn’t felt like a sexual goddess, and I never wanted to repeat that horrifying scene. Not ever.

  I would worry about my mental health on another day. Right now I wanted to get off, and I accepted that my fantasies, while not hardcore or extreme, weren’t exactly vanilla. Whatever.

  I turned the vibrator on, satisfied that the low buzzing wouldn’t reach Ivy’s room. Tentative, I touched it to the soft folds of my vagina and jumped at the sensation that shot through my whole body.

  Whoa. I liked that. Let’s try that again.

  As I gently pressed the toy to the most sensitive areas of my body, my mind drifted. The scene from my journal unfolded in vivid detail in a way it had never before. The woman in my fantasies had always been some unknown person, never me, and the man was faceless.

  Not anymore.

  Now it was me who stood trembling in a bedroom, maybe this very one. A man sat in the wicker chair in the corner, one leg draped over the other at an angle. The man was wearing a suit, and he looked damn good in it. He was relaxed and calm, but underneath that placid demeanor, a fire burned. It burned for me.

  I shifted my hand, watching the movie that played in my head. The man was half-hidden in the shadows, candlelight the only illumination in the room. I couldn’t see his face in the near darkness, but I could see his strong body, and I could hear his commanding tones.

  “Take off your dress. I want to see your body.” My unknown lover shifted slightly in his seat, the only sign of his growing impatience.

  My hands went to the pearl buttons that ran down the front of my silky blue sundress. I didn’t hesitate to obey his order. I didn’t want to disappoint him, and my thighs trembled at the thought of what might come next.

  I slowly unbuttoned each of the gleaming buttons, one by one. Despite my desire to please the unknown man and follow his commands instantly, I was confident enough to take my time and tease him. As each freed button revealed a little more of my pale skin, I saw him rub a hand over his chin and knew he was smoothing his dark scruff, holding himself back from jumping up from the chair and taking over the task of removing my clothes.

  When the seeming miles of buttons were finally undone, I slipped the dress off my shoulders, shrugging slightly to finish the job. The dress pulled away from my body and pooled in a silky puddle around my feet. I stood before the man in nothing more than my strapless lacy bra and matching panties, all in virginal white.

  I ran my hands over my arms and stomach, quiet and content to wait for his next command. He didn’t disappoint me. He leaned forward...

  And that’s when I realized the hidden lover was Maxwell.

  Damn it. I shut off the vibrator and sat straight up in bed, agitated, and not in a fun way. Maxwell? I couldn’t be having sexual fantasies about my boss. And he was older than me. There had to be at least a fifteen-year age gap between us.

  I ran my hands over my face and sighed, disgusted with myself. But my disgust wasn’t as intense as my arousal, and the vibrator and my fantasy had worked in tandem with each other to make me wet and wanting. It had been a long time since I had been alone long enough to give into feelings such as these.

  Would it really hurt if I harbored a secret fantasy or two about my new boss? I mean, if he never knew, and I would certainly never act on these secret thoughts, what harm could there be? I could keep it a secret, just like I kept my journal a secret, and now I would keep my new vibrator secret, too. I was a grown woman with needs, and it was nobody’s business how I met those needs.

  Resolved, I laid back down in the bed and switched the vibrator back on. Where was I? Oh, yes.

  Maxwell leaned forward and spoke in a rough voice. “Take off the bra, too.”

  I reached behind me, keeping my eyes locked on his. My dark hair swung forward toward my cheeks and grazed the tops of my breasts. I unhooked the bra and let it fall to the floor without ceremony.

  And then I waited for his next command.

  Maxwell stood. He slowly prowled toward me, dark and dangerous in the low lighting. He stood right in front of me and took in my trembling body and my short, panting breath. One hand lifted and cupped my face, stroking me with a tenderness that got me every bit as wet as his ruthless dominance.

  He lifted me without warning, high in his arms, and I squeaked in surprise. His eyes never left mine as he carried me to the bed, and then he laid me down on top of the covers as if he were arranging a virgin on a sacrificial altar.

  Maxwell reached into his pocket and produced a small, pink object. I couldn’t quite make out what it was, and then he pressed a button on the base, and the vibrations gave it away. A sex toy. This was an interesting development.

  He almost touched my face with it, running it lightly down a cheek where I could just feel the ghost of the vibrations. The sound of it was louder with it so much closer to my ears, and I shivered. He ran it down my neck, pressing with more firmness this time. He teased his way down one breast and touched it to my nipple, and I gasped. The sensations caused my nipple to stand to attention, proud and sure beneath his close attention.

  Maxwell switched it over to my other breast and repeated his actions. I shivered again and arched my back off the bed, already losing control of my desire. His eyes darkened. Maxwell ran the toy down, down, down until he reached the apex of my thighs. He let it hover there, touching nothing, and I whimpered with need. He leaned down and licked my nipple at the same time he pressed the pink toy to my clit, and I shrieked.

  “Careful, baby. Don’t want to be overheard, do we?” Maxwell grinned despite his warning, and he moved the toy even more firmly against my pussy.

  My thighs fell open, and I let my pussy grind against the sex toy. My body had disconnected from my mind, and I was helpless and wanton in my desire. I wanted more. I needed more.

  Maxwell swirled the vibrator in the wetness he found there and pulled it back up to my clit. Over and over he repeated these actions as I writhed beneath him. He inserted a few inches inside of me on the next pass, and then he went back to my clit.

  He stopped with an abruptness that made me whine. Smirking, Maxwell grabbed hold of my panties and ripped them from my body.

  I panted. I had no thoughts left but to please him and to be pleased in return. He pushed the vibrator back into my body and placed his thumb against my clit. His steady, firm strokes soon pushed me right over the edge into my orgasm, and I moaned my pleasure aloud.

  Maxwell gave me a brief moment to recover while he ruthlessly unbuckled the belt to his suit and unzipped. He pulled out his massive erection and stroked himself with a rough touch for a moment. Maxwell turned off the vibrator and tossed it to the side, and then mounted me. The darkness in his eyes captivated me as he took me and made me his. Only his.

  Thrust after thrust, he took me. He used me. I wrapped my legs around his back and hung on for the ride. His grunts were the sweetest symphony as he worked towards his ow
n release with gritted teeth. I could feel my pleasure building again, and it took me by surprise. Could I come more than once?

  Maxwell grabbed the vibrator and snapped it back on again. He pushed it against my clit as he continued pounding into my body in a building frenzy. I cried out again as I tightened around him, coming yet again. Maxwell threw his head back and groaned his release to the heavens. I held him tight as he panted, and I marveled that the man hadn’t even undressed. He had shredded my soul and commanded my body, and all he needed to do was zip back up, and he would be ready for his next business meeting. Not a hair out of place.

  I was wrecked.

  I snapped back to reality, realizing I was all alone in my new bedroom, panting after my strongest orgasm to date. I clutched the damp vibrator in my fingers. Maxwell wasn’t there. He had just been a figment of my imagination. I tried to catch my breath and recover.

  How would I be able to look at my boss tomorrow and not blush? How could I not give away the dirty thoughts I had just had about Maxwell, thoughts so dirty I had come all over my toy and fingers?

  I was in trouble for sure.

  Seven

  The next morning I was up before Ivy. I took a hot shower, trying to scrub off the memories of the fantasy I had about Maxwell the night before. I would have showered before sleeping if I hadn’t been such a limp noodle after that mind-blowing orgasm I had experienced.

  Today was the first day of my new job, and I needed to start my employment off with a bang. I winced at my choice of words and amended my thought. I needed NOT to bang my new boss. Instead, I needed to impress him with my technical prowess with horses. Nothing more.

  By the time Ivy woke up, I had her breakfast on the counter. She trudged in and took her place next to me on a counter stool. We weren’t big morning people. We sat side by side and enjoyed our scrambled eggs, toast, and orange juice in comfortable silence. After we finished eating, we brushed our teeth and slipped on shoes.