by R.S. Grey
“I can take that,” he says, reaching around me for the mug. “You don’t have to wait on everyone hand and foot. You’ve been doing it all morning, and you must be exhausted.”
He’s not exaggerating. I feel so bad that everyone spent their night searching for me that I want to make sure everyone has enough coffee and donuts and napkins to last them a lifetime.
I shrug. “I don’t mind doing it.”
“But you want everyone to leave.”
My gaze flicks up to his. “Is it that obvious?”
He sets down his mom’s mug on the kitchen counter behind me and steps closer. Our hips brush together. “I want them to leave too.”
“Adam.”
His hand is hooked around the nape of my neck and he’s tilting my head back gently so he has a perfect path to my lips. He takes advantage, placing a soft kiss there before laughter from the other room makes me jump.
He laughs. “We’re allowed to kiss.”
“Are we?”
He frowns. “Olivia left this morning.”
It’s the wrong thing to say, and he says it like it explains everything. Well, it doesn’t.
“So? Will she back? Is she heading to Chicago to pack up her things so she can move here permanently?”
“No, of course not. She and I are over.”
“She announced to the training class that she is your fiancée—IS, not WAS.”
His eyes flare with anger. “Yeah, because she’s crazy, Madeleine. I could have explained everything to you if you hadn’t run off.”
He seriously expected me to stay after that?
“Excuse me for leaving instead of looking like a fool in front of a room full of strangers!”
“I wouldn’t have let that happen.”
“It was too late! I didn’t hear you say anything when she called herself your fiancée.”
“What was I supposed to do? Tell everyone in the room that she was delusional? I thought it would be best to handle my personal life in private.”
“Well to me it seemed like you were more worried about Olivia’s feelings than mine.”
He drags his hand through his hair, clearly annoyed with me. “C’mon Madeleine, you’re being—just try to calm down.”
“No, please, say what you were about to say. Am I being ridiculous? Well how exactly am I supposed to act right now? Polite? Grateful? Sorry, I’m not a fancy girl from Chicago. Down here, where I’m from, we don’t shove our emotions under the rug and pretend like everything is okay.”
“What’s taking so long?” Diane asks from the kitchen doorway, oblivious to the full-blown argument she’s just walked in on.
I tug the mug out of Adam’s hold and hand it off to her. “Here you go, it’s still warm. Sorry for the delay, your son and I are fighting.”
Adam snorts behind me.
Diane’s brows rise and her smile stretches across her face. “Do you guys want me to leave so you can keep going?”
A moment ago, I would have loved nothing more. Now? I think she should stay for dinner.
I hook my elbow through hers and lead her out to where everyone’s sitting in the living room. “Nonsense, we have all day to fight. Right now, I’d like another donut.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
ADAM
Madeleine is avoiding me; she has been all afternoon. We’re all sitting in my living room, and she’s positioned herself in a chair across from me. She won’t meet my eyes, won’t look my way, won’t address me when I talk to her. I’m about to call her out for it in front of everyone.
“So then I pulled up and saw Madeleine’s car stuck in the mud and I figured she was in there, probably hysterical from being alone overnight…”
Carter is retelling the story of Madeleine’s rescue for the hundredth time. My mother is enthralled. Madeleine is staring out through the French doors, watching Molly and Mouse play.
“Why did Olivia leave Molly here in Texas?” she asks, interrupting Carter’s story. Thank God.
It’s a good question, and one I hadn’t thought to ask yet.
My mom shrugs. “I think she’d been holding her for a kind of ransom, or bait. When it became clear that she wasn’t going to get Adam back, I guess Molly became worthless to her. Which is good, because Adam always loved that dog.”
Madeleine’s face contorts in confusion, probably because she can’t imagine doing something so vicious to another human being.
“You’re going to keep her, right?” Madeleine asks me.
“Of course.”
There’s no question. Molly is my dog, and I’m happy to have her back. The fact that she and Mouse get along so well is an added bonus.
“Good.” She nods. “We’ll have to set up regular playdates for them.”
Everyone in the room goes silent because of what her statement implies: if we’re dating, Mouse will be around Molly all the time; if we aren’t, we’ll have to schedule times for them to play.
Daisy gets to her feet. “Y’know, I think it’s time to head out. Carter, could you walk us to our car?”
He seems confused. “It’s just right down the driveway—”
“Carter, in this uncertain world, we would really feel better with a police escort,” she bites out, nudging her head toward the front door. He finally picks up on her not-so-subtle hints and jumps to his feet. His fellow officer joins him, and then my mom starts to trail out after them.
Madeleine has the audacity to put her shoes on, like she’s leaving as well. I thank everyone for helping with the search and promise to have them over again soon, and then as Madeleine tries to slink through the door, I hold my foot out and block her.
She nearly trips, but I take hold of her arm before she goes tumbling down.
“Excuse me,” she says, calm and resolute.
“Enough. They’re gone and it’s time we talk.”
She crosses her arms, holds her head high, and shrugs. “Fine.”
We head back into the living room and I take a seat on the couch. Madeleine sits across from me, her legs crossed, her gaze right on me. I think I see a smile waiting to be unveiled, but I don’t push it.
“You look cute in my shirt,” I say, smirking.
She nibbles on her bottom lip, trying, trying to restrain that smile. “Obviously.”
“Olivia is gone.”
“So you’ve said.”
“She and I are done.”
“Did she come down here for closure like you assumed?”
“No. She came to Texas with plans to reignite our relationship, but that didn’t happen.”
She looks down at her nails, feigning indifference. “Oh? Well that’s sad about you and Olivia. But that does nothing to explain what’s going on between us.”
“Well I’m so glad you bring that up. Because I want you to know I’m seeing someone.”
A smile breeches her fortress, but I blink and it’s gone.
“Huh. She must be pretty great if you walked away from the effervescent Olivia for her.”
“She’s…”
I glance away, trying to come up with an adjective to describe Madeleine, but nothing stacks up. Funny, amazing, great—they’re weak. I’ve used those words to describe women in the past, and Madeleine isn’t like any of them. She’s in a league of her own.
I catch movement out of the corner of my eye. Madeleine is rounding the coffee table and stalking toward me. She has on a pair of my athletic shorts and a t-shirt, both of which hang off of her.
“Extraordinary,” she says, bending low and setting one of her knees down beside my hip. The other follows and then she’s straddling me on the couch. I lean back against the cushions and stare up at her, tugging the loose strands of her brown hair away from her face. Her freckles are sprinkled across the bridge of her nose, and her eyes shine with mischievous intent.
“Breathtaking. Ridiculously good-looking. Smart enough to join Mensa—but she would never, because she’d probably think that’s pretentious.”
I laugh and tug her toward me.
“Oh no!” she gasps. “What would this mystery woman think about you holding me like this?”
I press my lips to hers and she sighs into me, finally giving me the kiss I’ve been after all day. It starts so innocent. She’s hovering just above me, wearing loose clothes and no makeup, but then I taste her and hear her moan. She sinks lower and our hips connect. I break our kiss and wrap my hands around her back, pulling down until she’s flush with my chest.
“I’m sorry about the last few days. I could have handled it better.”
“Forget it, Foxe.” Her breathing is labored and we’ve barely begun. “Believe me, I have…or at least I’m about to.”
She’s rolling her hips, anxious to continue, but I hold her there against me, trying to get a grip on my emotions. I close my eyes and the last twelve hours flash through me—the fear that seeped in when I arrived at Madeleine’s apartment to find her missing, the elation and envy when she stepped out of Carter’s cruiser, wrapped up and safe in that gray blanket. Now, I can feel her heart beat against my chest, and I have the urge to confess my love for her. It’s only been a few weeks and now suddenly, I want to fast forward and ask her to move in, to convince her that Mouse needs to be here at the farmhouse, that she needs to be with me.
It’s a crazy notion, so I stay silent and wait for the feeling pass.
Except it doesn’t.
I take hold of her cheeks and angle her face back so I can see her eyes. She’s in a dreamy state, staring up at me with unspoken words.
The emotion bubbling up inside of me is a completely new feeling. I fell in love with Olivia slowly, over years. It was a love based in comfort and routine. This thing—Madeleine—is a new kind of love, a scary kind of love. It feels precarious and fragile, like if I’m not careful, I could lose it as easily as I found it.
“Your hands are shaking,” Madeleine says, reaching up to cup my hand against her cheek.
I laugh and glance away. “It’s nothing.”
“Adam.”
She doesn’t continue until I turn back to her.
“I’m feeling what you’re feeling,” she admits, leaning forward and pressing her soft lips to my jaw, my cheek, my mouth. They’re short, reassuring kisses, and I pinch my eyes closed, wondering if what she said could be true. “I promise, I feel it too.”
But we don’t say it. Not yet.
Instead, I tug her t-shirt over her head and toss it behind the couch. The shorts go next, and there on the couch, with the sun streaming in through the window, we have the slowest, most intimate afternoon of sex. I roll her on her back and hold my weight above her, desperate to remember the bits and pieces that seem so fleeting: the feel of her fingertips skating down the backs of my arms, the delicate softness of her neck as she arches up and whispers my name, her heels digging into my lower back, her skin so flushed that she looks almost burned by our lovemaking.
“Madeleine?” I whisper her name.
She’s collapsed on top of me, napping, and I don’t think she’s awake, but I want her to be.
“Hmmm?” she hums lazily.
I love you.
Move in with me.
Marry me.
The silence drones on and she blinks her eyes open, folds her hands, and props her chin right there on my chest.
“You know you haven’t even asked me to be your girlfriend yet.”
I laugh at the absurdity of it considering the thoughts spiraling through my mind. “I haven’t?”
“No. You announced it to your mom, but you never asked me.”
My fingers are tracing a loose pattern on her naked back. “Madeleine, c’mon. You’re my girlfriend.”
She smiles, and maybe for right now, this is enough.
“They’re going to miss me at the singles events. I was the life of the party.”
“I bet.”
“And I’ll have to cancel my accounts on all the dating apps.”
“I want to see your profile first.”
“Why?”
“So I can judge your pics and your bio. What did it say?”
She looks away. “I don’t remember.”
I grin. “Yes you do.”
She rolls her eyes. “Fine. Buxom brunette bombshell seeks billionaire to fix her financial woes. Millionaires need not apply.”
“Madeleine…”
“Sexy real estate agent wants to show you her 1-bedroom.”
“These are coming too easily to you.”
“Sex robot seeks first real human emotion.”
I groan.
“Okay fine, here’s the real one: Adorably dysfunctional twenty-something seeks handsome veterinarian. Serious offers only.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
MADELEINE
Three months later, I’m in Adam’s kitchen, scrambling to leave for work on time. I have on one high heel, and my hair is still up in curlers. My coffee sits cold and forgotten on the counter.
“Here, eat this,” Adam says, passing me a bowl of granola and yogurt. Fresh cut strawberries are sprinkled across the top. Life update: my granola no longer comes in bar form.
“I don’t have time!”
He wraps his arm around my waist and keeps me pinned against him.
“Three bites. It’s good for you.”
I groan like it’s really a bother that he makes me breakfast and then force-feeds me. The struggle!
“I even added blueberries,” he says, patting me on the ass on his way to feed Molly and Mouse. The two lovers are sitting very patiently by their food bowls, waiting for their morning scoop.
I take a few massive bites of granola and then drop the bowl in the sink. “I’ll wash it later, I swear!”
He laughs because he knows it’s not true. In this relationship, Adam got the short straw in every arena. I’m a terrible roommate. I’m messy by nature. I don’t cook very often or very well, and if I had it my way, our shoes would stay in one big pile right beside the front door. It just makes sense, in my opinion.
“What time will you be home tonight?” Adam calls from the hallway.
I’m yanking curlers out as fast as possible and then brushing out my hair so I’m left with soft, simple waves.
“Maybe five? It depends how long this showing with Mr. Boggs lasts. He might keep me out of the office all morning.”
He groans. “C’mon. I thought you told me last week you were done showing him properties.”
“I am! I swear, after this time, I won’t let him sweet-talk me anymore!”
“Why don’t I believe that?” he shouts from the other room.
Because I’ve said the same thing every week for the last few months. I can’t help it. I have a soft spot for Mr. Boggs—a soft spot for every tough client at the agency, really. Lori is still the top-selling agent, but I’ve completed two sales in the last month, and they were both with clients no one else wanted. I have the patience for it, and I think it pays off.
“Don’t forget,” I shout. “Lucas and Daisy are coming over for dinner tonight so we can do the gender reveal for their baby!”
It’s a girl. I knew as soon as Daisy knew. She called me the second she found out, but it’ll be fun to see Adam’s expression when they reveal it over dinner.
He steps into the bathroom and finishes buttoning his shirt. “I’m going to make my lasagna.”
I groan in pleasure. “Yes. How many layers?”
“Nine.”
“Ohhhmahgah…” I drool.
“Maybe even ten,” he says, lowering his voice suggestively.
“Stop it, Adam.” I moan. “I don’t have time to change my panties.”
“Well in less-sexy news, I need you to make the salad. The vinaigrette is already done. I made it this morning.”
“So basically you trust me with slicing vegetables and mixing them together?”
“Basically. Maybe we’ll sign up for a cooking class when we have the time.”
I l
ean toward the mirror and swipe on my lipstick, meeting his gaze. “Or we could just get delivery and have sex every night?”
He smiles. “Wise woman.”
I smack my lips together and then dash into our shared walk-in closet (the closet!) to retrieve my other shoe. Molly loves to drag them around the house. She doesn’t chew on them, just displaces them. The Great Displacer, we call her. Fortunately, this time my high heel is waiting for me right where it should be—a rare occurrence in this house.
“Did you talk to Mr. Hall about canceling your lease?” Adam asks.
“Yeah. He took it like I expected he would.”
“Hardly concealed elation?”
I laugh. “Exactly. He didn’t even enforce the need for a 60-day-notice. I think he’s scared I’ll change my mind and want to stay.”
I slip on my shoe and head back out into the bathroom. Adam is dressed for work in gray slacks and a white button-down. Sometimes, if he’s operating, he’ll go in wearing scrubs, but not today. Today, I get the full Dr. Foxe effect—something I’m still not quite used to.
“What?” he asks when I can’t peel my eyes away.
“Nothing.”
He grins. “You have that look in your eye.”
“I just like when you dress like that, that’s all.”
“If you get home by 4:45, I’ll seduce you before we start prepping dinner.”
I wink. “You have yourself a deal.”
I step closer and kiss him goodbye, but I don’t get too close or he’ll make me late. I run out of the bathroom promising to be back at 4:45 PM on the dot then it’s a mad dash to the front door. I’m supposed to meet Mr. Boggs at the first showing in fifteen minutes and I don’t want him to start out in a bad mood. I pat Molly and Mouse, promise to throw them the ball later, and then I’m out the door.
“Madeleine!” Adam shouts after me as I’m running down the front path. “Love you!”
“I LOVE YOU TOO!”