“Go?” repeats Maddox, bewildered. “You just got here!” He reaches forward and clasps a hand around my arm to try to pull me back to the couch.
I squirm out of his grasp and explain, “I just finished classes and now I have to go to work.”
“Can’t you be a little late?” he asks, grinning mischievously. My body yearns to slide back under him on the couch and continue where we left off, but my brain is telling me to hurry up and get to work.
“No,” I say curtly.
“Aw, come on. It’s a volunteer job, right? How important can it really be?” Maddox says easily, stretching out comfortably across the couch. “Surely someone else can answer the phones or whatever for a few extra minutes.”
The nerve of him! Angry tears sting behind my eyes.
“Don’t you understand? This is my whole life! It’s the most important thing to me! I have to stay focused so I can help people. I can’t let other families suffer like…” I trail off, realizing in the heat of the moment I’ve said too much.
Maddox looks simultaneously frightened and impressed.
“It really does mean everything to you, doesn’t it?” he says softly.
“Yes, it does,” I answer stubbornly, wiping a tear that trickled down my cheek. I blow through the apartment like a whirlwind, throwing a banana and a water bottle in my bag, shouting over my shoulder to Maddox as I go, “Which is why this—whatever—thing can’t happen. I don’t have time for it.”
Maddox stands up, reaching for me one last time before I exit out the front door, but I swat him away. “I’m not going to say a word to anybody about any of this, and you shouldn’t either. Just forget it ever happened.” I hold his gaze for a moment, the hurt in his eyes nearly breaking my resolve, but then quickly turn away and shut the door behind me. “Goodbye, Maddox.”
I’m halfway down the driveway when I realize something. I head back to the front door and poke my head back inside, where Maddox is still standing looking bewildered. He looks up at me hopefully.
“Don’t forget to lock the door and put the key back when you leave,” I say, then turn and walk away for good.
10
Maddox
Well, that didn’t go at all as planned.
I thought I’d make the effort to get Madison alone, without any pretense about seeing Clara or anything like that. I knew I had to apologize for how I’d been acting. I was also hoping to talk to her about how she felt about whatever was happening between us…if anything was happening between us. The most I’d hoped for was the chance to kiss her again, to see if what I felt in the club—what hopefully she felt too—was real.
I hadn’t expected her to practically jump me once I kissed her. She’s definitely not a virgin, that’s for sure. No girl moves her body like that, even with clothes on, without at least some experience.
I picture her as she was on the couch, topless and straddling me. I couldn’t believe it was happening. It was like one of my fantasies coming true.
I also couldn’t believe that she stopped me, just when we were about to…
I guess it was pretty reckless. What would I have done if Clara walked in on us? What would she say?
But I have to admit, her rejection stung a little. Okay, a lot. First of all, as conceited as this may sound, I’m not exactly used to girls turning me down. I don’t think about it too much, but I’m aware that I’m a pretty decent-looking guy. If nothing else, at least our parents gave Axel and me good genes. I work out, I take care of myself, and I’ve never had a problem getting a girl to go on a date with me…or to go home with me.
And it’s not just any girl turning me down, it’s Madison. The hottest girl I know, the only woman I’ve been interested in since Jasmine. Really, since before Jasmine too.
My crush on Madison goes back to when she was just a teenager and I was in college. But it would’ve been even more wrong to pursue anything then. Not only was she Clara’s friend, but she was also just a teenager—a kid! And I was, at least legally, an adult. Any sort of romantic or physical relationship would have been taboo, as well as illegal.
But things are different now. We’re both grown, and Madison is much, much more than just my little sister’s cute friend. She’s sexy, smart, driven, and hot as hell. Even just kissing her was hotter than most of the sex I’ve had with random girls.
And this second kiss was even hotter than the first, by far. This time, I knew it was Madison and she knew it was me, and that made it a thousand times sexier. Knowing that she wanted me like that ignited a passion in me I didn’t even know was there. I can’t stop thinking about her green eyes, her lips, her smell… She’s like a drug or an itch that I just can’t scratch.
I’m dying to ask Clara’s advice on how to win Madison over, but of course I can’t do that. Even though I’m determined to pursue her, to figure out once and for all this thing is between us, I know I can’t tell Clara, or even Axel, for that matter.
I know Madison said she needs to focus on her work and everything, and I totally respect that. Hell, I was the same way when Axel and I were starting up the business with Declan. For almost a year, I kept my nose to the grindstone, focusing on little else besides building up our company and making it a success. Axel and I had sunk all of our money into the business and had also amassed quite a bit of debt; failure was not an option. During that time, I barely slept or ate, and I certainly didn’t have the time or energy to date anybody. Of course, I still managed to go out drinking with the guys and score a few hookups, but nothing serious.
So, while I understand where Madison is coming from, I also disagree with her. It’s not like we are two strangers with nothing in common who would have to start getting to know each other from square one. I’ve wanted her forever, and now, finally, it seems like being with her could actually be a possibility. I can’t just give up; this is Madison. We owe it to ourselves to explore the chemistry between us.
Which is what I try to explain to her when I show up at her college library the next day.
I stroll confidently into the library and spot Madison immediately, head bent over a stack of papers, scribbling away furiously. A lock of her dark-blonde hair keeps falling into her eyes and she bats it away impatiently. I sit directly across from her, but she doesn’t even glance up. She just keeps writing, biting her lip with concentration. How I wish I was the one biting those full, rosy lips instead.
Her hair falls into her eyes again, and this time I reach over and gently tuck it behind her ear for her. She looks up, alarmed, then sees it’s me and looks even more surprised.
“What…what are you doing here?” she sputters, her voice too loud for a library.
I put a finger to her lips and shush her, teasing.
“Oh, you know, I thought I should get into reading if I’m going to hang out with a smarty-pants like you,” I joke in a whisper.
“Seriously, Maddox, what the fuck?” she hisses quietly. “You didn’t even go to school here! I don’t think you’re even allowed…”
“You gonna tell on me?” I cock one eyebrow at her and lean my chair back.