Everything slowed for me. How I handled these next moments were going to be critical to how Madison viewed me going forward.
“Did you say anything? Let them know you were there?”
“Yeah.”
“And?”
She blew out a breath and dropped her head back. Holding up her hand, she pointed at her left ring finger. “I broke it off.”
“Damn, like that?” Satisfaction ran through me. I didn’t even feel guilty.
“Yeah, like that.”
“How’re you feeling, Mads?”
She looked up at me with those big, brown eyes and pressed her lips together in a thin line.
“KB, I don’t know. I’m still trying to process this shit, you know? It’s like one half of me is pissed he’d bring me to this event to make a fool of me. A part of me is hurt because I dedicated so much of my life to a lie, and then I’m ashamed because of...”
She looked away from me.
“Hey,” I said, turning her to face me again. “We said no regrets. We said we would never regret that night between us, and I have no regrets, Mads.”
She smiled. “Yeah, neither do I,” she said in a solemn tone.
We both grew quiet; I thought about that night. It was bittersweet—one of the worst nights of my life. I’d lost one friend but built something so beautiful with another.
Madison spoke up, breaking our silence.
“But, on the other hand, I’m relieved I finally found the courage to do what I should’ve done a long time ago.”
“A long time ago? I never knew you two were having problems.”
“Because I never acknowledged it myself. I was too busy trying to become this ideal couple everyone thought we were. My family and his, my friends and his.”
“Not me,” I chimed in.
She turned her head sideways and then pushed my shoulder. “Shut up, jerk.”
“Seriously. If you’re relieved, how come you don’t look like it?”
“That’s a lot of time to invest in someone just to watch the relationship go down the drain.”
“Are you second-guessing your decision to break up with him, Mads?” I managed to grunt out.
“No,” she said, shaking her head rapidly. “This thing has been on the brink of happening anyway. I hate it happened the way it did.”
“Quit beating yourself up about some bullshit, okay? Shit happens the way it does for a reason. For all you know, he’s been fucking around for a while. You don’t deserve that shit.”
“But you don’t know that KB, and there’s no reason to sit here and try to justify what I did by making his actions worse than what they might’ve been,” she argued.
I knew I needed to back down. The last thing I wanted was to give Madison a reason to feel bad for his sorry ass.
“You’re right; we don’t know. But the fact Steve did that shit with you on the scene. The fact he did that and risked you finding him, and you did. That shit pisses me the fuck off,” I snarled, losing my cool momentarily.
She shook her head and blew out a breath. “See, this is why I didn’t want to tell you.”
It didn’t matter. Steve’s loss was my gain.
“What’s up with you two, anyway?”
“What do you mean?”
“What happened to create the rift between you two?”
She pouted.
“I don’t know why the rift came. I always figured it was because we didn’t spend enough time together. My career kept me busy, and so did Steve’s. We both thought a life together was what we wanted, but we didn’t realize we still had a lot of growing to do. I figured once we’d saved enough money for the wedding and to purchase our home to move into after we were married, it would draw us closer.”
“Did you two ever think about moving in together to save some of the expense of two households?” I asked as my hand moved from her instep to her ankle.
Madison’s head dropped back against the arm of the couch.
Releasing a soft moan, she said, “Mmm, that feels sooo good.”
Just the sound of her sweet moan had my dick hardening.
I pulled my bottom lip in between my teeth and shut my eyes for a moment. Shit, Madison had no idea what she was doing to me.
“Moving in?” I said, trying to refocus the conversation to where it belonged.
“We still couldn’t even agree on where we’d purchase our home. I wanted to stay in Midtown, and Brookhaven is what he loves. So, we weren’t trying to give up our current places. Besides, things have been different between us.”
“What things?” I asked.
She turned away quickly and shook her head, suddenly consumed with her fingernail.
“What things, Mads?” I repeated, reaching up to tilt her chin up when I realized she wasn’t planning on answering my question.
“It’s nothing. I shouldn’t have brought it up.”
“No, tell me,” I insisted.
She sighed and turned to face me again. “Swear you won’t tease me?”
“I swear.”
“Steve and I aren’t intimately involved. There have been too many signs that he’s been messing around. Nothing that I could prove, but in the last two or three months before you and I had sex, things changed too drastically. That spark wasn’t there anymore, and we both seemed to be avoiding those moments. Hell, we weren’t working to create the moments anymore.”
“Wow. And he was cool with that?”
She frowned at me. “Obviously, because he was getting it elsewhere.”
“If you could walk away from it that easily, he must not have been the guy for you, Mads.”
Rolling her eyes, she blew out a breath. “KB? You’re so crass, man.”
“No, I’m just real. One night with me, and the ladies don’t care what I do. If I’m running through, that’s enough to keep ‘em happy. One night of sex with me, and I can’t get rid of them,” I said.
“You’re so full of yourself!” she laughed.
Shrugging, I said, “Nope, just stating facts.”
“Yeah, I bet.”
“I’ve proved it. It’s why you were running from me for damn near three months. Your ass wanted more and couldn’t handle it.”
Her eyes grew wide, and her mouth dropped open. Shit. The friend zone. I forgot she had placed me securely there, and I wasn’t supposed to toe the line.
“I needed some time to figure things out. At the time, shit was moving too fast between you and me, and I was still engaged to Steve. I wanted to slow things down.”
“Mads, you didn’t just slow it down, you turned the damn heat off the stove completely.”
“It scared me, KB. I mean, here I was engaged to one man, but I was having sex with my best friend. What was I supposed to do?”
“For real, about that “one night with me” comment, I was just teasing. But about you and me? Deal with me. Talk through shit with me, not run.”
We both grew silent, and I focused my attention on her calf.
Madison’s long, toned, dark leg flinched reflexively at the touch of my hand against it. The skirt of her dress shifted. Knowing I was that close to treasure and couldn’t taste, it was driving me insane.
The fuck was I doing, sitting there teasing myself like that. What had started as a friendly foot massage, had quickly turned to erotic foreplay in my mind. Because all I wanted to do was push the dress up around her waist and pull her panties aside and dive in.
“Relax,” I urged. I was talking as much to myself as I was to Madison about her constant movements.
“I’m trying, but I can’t.”
Her phone chose that moment to start ringing.
Madison removed the phone from the little clutch she had been carrying when she arrived. I saw Steve’s smiling face on the screen when she removed it. Chewing on her bottom lip, she stared at it for a few moments before tossing it into her clutch.
Within a matter of seconds, the loud chiming started up again.
“You’re not gonna answer that?”
She shook her head. “I don’t wanna talk to him.”
She blew out a breath, making a soft whooshing sound before dropping her head into her hands.
I pulled her hands down and lifted her chin. Looking into her eyes, I said, “Hey, I know what you experienced tonight was hard on you and that it hurt, but don’t let it get you down like that.”
“I’m so tired, KB. I spent several years of my life with this dude, just trying to be good enough. And he never saw it.”
“You are good enough! He’s an idiot if he can’t see that. You’re better than he is, Mads,” I declared fervently.
She smiled shakily before going on.
“Years of listening to opinions and ideas that weren’t his, him spouting off bullshit to fit in. Years of him getting bitchy and telling me he has to kiss ass to make partner. Years of downplaying my abilities so he would feel good about himself. Years of trying to be good enough for his constituents.”
She rested those big watery pools on me, and it damned near broke my heart. Why the hell was she subjecting herself to this superficial, socialistic bullshit?
“Looks like you don’t have to worry about that shit anymore, anyway.”
She smiled and brushed her long ebony hair from her face.
I loved that cute slight overbite she had. Both she and her sister Nicole had them.
“Honestly, I’m still not sure what I’m feeling,” she said after several moments.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
She shrugged. “I still have to share this shit with my family. That’s not going to be easy. For such a long time, I felt as if I were just going through the motions. Steve and I were playing this game that the world expected from us.”
“In the future, just remember you can’t fucking lose yourself in the relationship, Mads. Your future and dreams matter as much as the other person’s, and you deserve the best. I don’t get why you didn’t leave his ass earlier.”
“I don’t know, Kent. I just...” she shook her head, a look of confusion crossing her face. “I just think I’m emotional tonight; that’s all.”
Madison swung her legs over the couch and reached for her high heeled shoe, just as I swept it up into my grasp.
“Give me that,” she demanded, reaching for it.
“Nope.”
“Why not?”
“Because I never had a chance to massage your other foot.”
“Aahhh,” she moaned. “It felt too good. I thought I was going to start falling asleep.”
I chuckled, still holding onto her shoe. “That’s the point. You’re supposed to relax, Mads. What do you know about that?”
“I know I need to take my butt home. I’ve got to get up early in the morning and clean my house before my workout and rehearsal. My place is a pigsty!” she complained.
“Chill here. You can take the guest room, and I’ll have a car take you home first thing in the morning,” I suggested.
“No, I need to get out of these clothes and into something comfortable.”
“Sweats, I’ve got. And don’t tell me you don’t wear them, because I happen to know they’re your favorite.”
“Makeup,” she said, pointing at her face.
“Can’t do anything about that,” I joked. “Owww!” I said when she punched me in the shoulder. “Seriously, I don’t have any makeup removal pads or whatever you girls use to get that crap off your face. But I do have some washcloths and soap.”
I thought she was more beautiful without makeup.
She pretended to ponder it for a second before reaching for her shoe again. I held it over my head and stood up, towering over her by more than six inches in her bare feet.
“Give me my shoe!” she said, jumping up to reach it.
I spun around and held it out further. Madison jumped on my couch, reaching for the shoe and came close to losing her balance. My arm circled her waist, balancing her out once more.
“C’mon, man!” she whined as she slid off the couch and back to her feet once more.
My arm shifted but didn’t let go of her. Her body felt too right. Too perfect. Too...at home.
“Say, please,” I said in a low voice, holding the shoe over her head and staring into her dark-brown almond eyes. She had the most beautiful eyes, with their dark glistening color and long, curly, dark eyelashes.
“No, give me my shoe,” she said, pretending to pout.
“Make me,” I said, as my eyes dropped to her glossy, plump lips.
I don’t know what the hell came over me, but I lost control of my logical self. Again.
Madison said nothing, and neither did I. I lowered my head, angling it to the right as I fit my mouth perfectly over hers.
I exulted in the softness of her lips, drawing mine back and forth across hers and then pressing into them. The plushness of her lips continued to draw me in as I pressed against them in a series of soft little pecks.
When Madison didn’t move from my embrace, I licked the seam of her lips, searching for a way inside. I didn’t have to search long, because she parted her own for me.
The heat from her mouth tasted like rum and something spicy. When a moan escaped her throat, I squeezed my arm tighter around her waist, bringing her closer to me. I didn’t want to let go, so I didn’t.
Digging deeper into the kiss, I suckled on her tongue, before caressing it with mine.
Damn, I wanted more of her. More than this sweet kiss, and this friendship we had been toying with for the last few years. I wanted more than stolen evenings after practices and runaway nights when her boyfriend pissed her off. I wanted this girl to be mine.
And yet, I knew I couldn’t offer her more right now. I was still trying to figure out my own life and could make no promises to Madison. I wasn’t in a position to do much better by her than Steve. She deserved so much more than my erratic lifestyle and volatile behaviors.
Although I was working to change that because I was determined to make her mine.
I believe she sensed that, too, because all too soon she pulled back.
“Kent,” she whispered against my lips.
My hand moved from her waist to the base of her throat, where my thumb stroked tiny circles. My lips continued pressing against hers, my tongue licking along the edges and back to the seam, desiring more, but knowing it wasn’t mine to have.
I pulled back briefly, but just enough to allow me to kiss her chin and then move to the base of her throat. My tongue replaced my finger as I began licking little swirls there.
Her throat tossed back, her breathing growing heavier by the moment, she whimpered.
“Please, Kent,” she whispered.
It was a plea for me to stop. I could tell Madison couldn’t stop on her own, and she trusted me to do it for her.
I sighed, moving my head back, my eyes doing a slow scan of her face.
Madison cleared her throat. “I think I’d better be going.”
“Stay, Mads,” I said, dragging my hand down her shoulder and to her wrist.
“I can’t,” she said, shaking her head. “It’s best if I go, Kent.”
I knew she was right. There was no way in hell if she stayed here tonight, guest room or not, that I’d refrain from having my way with her.
“Let me get you a car,” I said, my voice thick with emotion.
“No, I can catch the train.”
I looked at her as if she’d grown a second head.
“You’ve got to be out of your damned mind if you think I’m about to put you on Marta this time of night. The car can be here in less than ten minutes. I promise I’ll keep my hands and lips to myself while we wait.”
“You said that the last time, dude,” she said, shaking her head.
“I mean it this time. Let me get that car for you,” I said, backing up away from her with my hands in the air.
“Sure, I just...I need to use the bathroom.”
I stretched
my hand in the direction of the bathroom and watched as she disappeared down the hallway.
CHAPTER 12 – MADISON
My mother sent a text message early in the morning informing me that she and my father needed to speak with me. She’d stated it was important, but not to worry about it until the next day. I already knew what it was.
There had been no time to talk before church because I’d been running late. And since I had driven my car, we couldn’t talk afterward. But settled around Greyson and Nicole’s dining table, there was no escaping the elephant in the room.
We were having brunch at their home instead of my parents as usual because my two-year-old niece, Gabby, was sick. Nicole had missed church and didn’t want to bring the baby out of the house.
Everyone was okay with coming to their house for brunch, but my mom had made it clear she was doing the cooking. She didn’t care whose kitchen it was; she had to cook. She said it relaxed her nerves.
“So, Mom, Dad, what did you guys want to talk to me about?” I asked as I scooped up a forkful of eggs.
I glanced up from my plate when the room grew silent for a few moments. Greyson was staring at his plate, pushing food around on it. Nicole busied herself with feeding Gabby, and my parents were giving one another cautious glances.
“What?” I asked.
“Honey, we just...we’re concerned about you,” my mom started.
“For what?” I asked, before shoveling the eggs into my mouth.
“Well, ...it’s just that...well, you know we haven’t always—”
“Steve’s mother called your mom yesterday and told her the engagement was off. Imagine our surprise when we learned about this from Martha and Royce,” my father interrupted.
That was the downfall of your mate’s parents being friends with your parents. Royce and Martha Cross were good friends with my parents. Our mothers first met at a board of education meeting, where Mrs. Cross was the president of the board of education, and my mother was a high school biology teacher.
They clicked on some common issue that was unpopular with the majority of the board and staff and became fast friends. They had been close ever since.
Huffing out a loud breath, I set my fork on my plate and glanced over at Nicole. She shrugged her shoulders and turned her lips down. Greyson was still having a hard time looking up at me.
Smooth: The Sons of Victor Black: A BWWM Romance Page 8