by Diana Currie
Maddie smirked because Nathan was such a name dropper. She really liked that his personality seemed to be consistent with the man she’d been getting to know over the past few months. He was genuine, polite, and friendly. A small part of her regretted that her parents were away for the weekend because it would have been nice to get all the introductions out of the way at once. The rest of her was glad she was able to get through these first few awkward hours without the prying eyes of her mother and father. Kyle’s question about Nathan going upstairs was embarrassing enough. She would have to remind herself to kick his ass for that one later.
Shifting Addison from one hip to the other Maddie smelled something a little foul. “Um, Kyle? Addie needs to be changed.”
“Again? My God, that’s the second time today,” he said to his daughter. Kyle attempted to put Rebecca back on the ground but she howled at the idea. “Ugh, come on, Becca. Give Daddy just one minute of peace. Please?”
Maddie decided to take pity on him and change the dirty diaper herself. “I’ll do it, Kyle. Did you bring a diaper bag in the house?”
“Yeah, it’s over by the couch. Thanks, Maddie. I’m going to take these groceries out to the car.”
Maddie nodded. “Come help me?” she said to Nathan.
“Me?”
“Yeah, you,” she teased.
Nathan watched as Maddie laid the toddler on the floor by the couch and proceeded to pull a diaper and baby wipes out of the pink bag on the floor. “Um, I think I’ll help Kyle carry the groceries to his car.”
“Suit yourself,” she smiled and then tickled Addison’s belly to make her squeal.
“Why are men so squeamish about diapers, Addison?” Maddie asked the baby after Nathan and Kyle had gone outside. “Maybe it’s for the best he isn’t here to see your hiney, right? I’d hate to have to tell you fifteen years from now that a famous movie star saw your naked butt getting wiped.” Maddie chuckled to herself as she changed the diaper.
When Kyle and Nathan returned inside the house Addison was all cleaned up and Maddie had just finished washing her hands at the kitchen sink. She was surprised to see Nathan carrying Rebecca as they approached her. Holy Hell, she thought to herself. He had never looked sexier than he did carrying a baby. The feeling inside her gut that was telling her it was okay to let this beautiful man into her life was growing stronger by the minute. Everything Nathan was doing from showing up at her door, to making friends with her brother, were all signs that he was serious about having a real relationship with her.
“You going to be here for the Super Bowl, Nathan?” Kyle asked.
“Unfortunately, I will be watching it in my limo on the way to Shreveport. I’m just stopping over here to see Maddie. I start filming a movie over there next week.”
“Oh. So, will you be around again before going back to California?”
Nathan nodded and glanced over at Maddie. “I intend to come back as often as I’m welcome,” he said and winked at Maddie.
“Trust me, she’ll want you back,” Kyle snickered.
With that remark Maddie decided it was time for Kyle to go. She walked him and the girls to the door and handed the diaper bag to her brother as they exited. “Kyle, try giving each of them half a bottle of milk and putting one of the news channels on TV with a low volume. Just lay with them for twenty minutes and I promise they’ll fall asleep.”
He smiled at her and said, “I’m going to call you if it doesn’t work.”
“You better not,” she laughed but then turned a little pink in the cheeks.
For the first time she wondered what was she going to do with Nathan all evening. Did Kyle think they were going to have sex after he left? Did Nathanthink that? Suddenly she felt a little faint. Obviously, having sex with Nathan Foster was something Maddie had thought about often over the past two years, but in the prior few months she had tried very hard not to think about it! She had no idea what he would expect from her tonight. Even the thought that Nathan might kiss her made her knees weak. The girls waved goodbye from their car seats as Kyle drove away and Maddie was left to face these questions head on.
She closed the front door and saw Nathan was smiling at her. “I think he likes me,” Nathan stated happily.
“You made his year with those football tickets. You better follow through.”
“I always keep my promises. I’ll call Melissa right now,” he replied whipping his phone out of his jeans pocket. “Siri, call Melissa.”
Maddie went to sit on the couch while Nathan paced back and forth in the foyer. She listened as he spoke to his agent and was amazed to be getting an inside peek to Nathan’s life. If he needed a hotel he called Stanley. If he needed Cowboy tickets eight months in advance all he had to do was call Melissa. She wondered what other services or luxuries were just a phone call away.
“It doesn’t matter which game as long as the Cowboys’ are home. Yeah, I need them for Dallas. And please make sure you book a really nice hotel, first class air flight, and arrange for a rental car. Yes, in my name. No, I’m not in Dallas right now. Because I don’t want to tell you. I need to have some part of my life remain private. Fine… I’m with a girl, okay? I won’t say where but Stanley will have me delivered safely to the hotel in Shreveport by Monday morning. I promise,” he said rolling his eyes at Maddie. “Yep, okay I got to go now. Thanks for taking care of those tickets for me. Oh, Melissa? Can you also call my publicist and have her prepare a response to the media about Katie Owens kissing me outside that club last night? Thanks. Bye.”
Nathan ended the call abruptly and showed the phone to Maddie as he changed the ringer mode to silent. “So, what do you want to do now? Watch a movie? Play a little Xbox? Show me your bedroom again?” he suggested wiggling his eyebrows teasingly.
Maddie looked away shyly. “I don’t know. Are you, um, prepared for filming Tuesday?”
“Yeah, I’ve got my lines down, I think. I brought my script with me just so I can brush up on the way to Shreveport.”
“You have it with you? Are you telling me the Tomorrow and Forever script is in that book bag upstairs?” Maddie asked glancing at him quizzically.
“Maaaaybe. Why, would that interest you?” he asked her with amusement.
“Are you kidding me?”
“Fine. Yes, it’s in my bag but only the scenes we’ll be shooting in Louisiana so it will read choppy. It probably won’t make much sense to you.”
“Oh. That’s weird.”
“Movies are filmed out of sequence. All the college scenes will be shot on location, a lot of the outdoor stuff and city shots, but most of the movie is done on a sound stage in L.A.”
“Well, even if it’s just part of the script I still want a peek!” she replied excitedly.
Nathan crossed his arms over his chest and eyed her curiously. “Hmmm… what’s it worth to you?”
He was teasing her, she knew. He probably wasn’t supposed to share the material with anyone, especially an EVOL fan, but surely Nathan wouldn’t deny her such an amazing opportunity. “You said we shouldn’t go out for dinner, but we still need to eat. How about I cook for you?” Maddie suggested.
Nathan’s eyes lit up at the offer. “Hell yes. You’ve been teasing me with pineapple upside down cake and all sorts of other dishes since we met. Make me a home cooked meal, woman, and you can photocopy the damn script for all I care.”
Maddie laughed, reaching for a strand of hair to twirl nervously. “Gee, no pressure. How does Chicken Cordon Bleu sound?”
“Like Heaven. Let’s go!” he replied hopping off the couch in a hurry.
Nathan watched attentively as Maddie cooked dinner for two and they talked about anything and everything in the way they were accustomed to over the phone. It felt natural for both of them; the awkwardness of earlier that day seeming to have lessened quite a bit. They ate together at the kitchen table and afterwards Nathan cleared the table while she washed dishes. Nathan complimented the food numerous times and the praise
made Maddie happy. She assumed Nathan would be comparing her skills in the kitchen to Nancy Foster’s and she knew how much he loved his mama’s cooking.
When the kitchen was clean they watched a movie; curled up on the couch close together. Nathan kept his hand on Maddie in one way or another throughout, either by holding her hand or putting his arm around her shoulder. It felt so amazing to be with her after so many months without physical contact. By the time the credits appeared on the screen, Nathan was burning with anticipation. He didn’t know how to proceed in a situation like this, where although he and Maddie had technically met months ago, it still felt as though this was their first date.
Nathan followed Maddie upstairs, still uncertain whether he would be sleeping in her room or perhaps she would send him across the hall to Kyle’s room. He wanted to take Maddie to bed, even if they did nothing more than spoon and talk in the dark until they fell asleep. Knowing he would have to leave the next day, Nathan just wanted to hold her while he could. He sensed that Maddie was becoming more comfortable with his desire to move their friendship to the next level but they never discussed how to go about it. Would she push him away if he tried to kiss her? Has she been waiting all day for him to try?
Maddie changed into her nicest pair of pajamas while Nathan took a shower and changed his clothes too. He’d packed in a hurry and only had gym shorts and a fitted white t-shirt to sleep in. Somehow, he didn’t think Maddie would mind. She was brushing her hair when he returned to the bedroom. Nathan walked up behind her and gently took the brush from her hand.
“Let me,” he whispered.
Maddie blushed again and he smiled at her in the mirror. “Thank you.”
They were both silent as he carefully ran the bristles through her long dark hair. He brushed her hair from her scalp down to the ends, surrounding her shoulders in a soft dark curtain. She looked so beautiful to him like this; no makeup concealing her own natural beauty. Nathan leaned a little closer and hoped that she was feeling something similar to what he was experiencing. She was watching him in the mirror and when he raised one hand to touch her shoulder Maddie bit her lip nervously.
Every actress in Hollywood that Nathan dated was empty inside. They were either superficial, greedy, depressed, anorexic, egotistical, morally inept, or some combination of these things. Maddie was real, natural, and genuine. He recognized these qualities in her from the first phone call and her separation from Hollywood was what had drawn him to her from the beginning. He realized that what he needed to survive in the culture in which he lived was to keep one foot solidly planted outside of it. Maddie could be his rock, his little bit of normal that his life currently lacked. He’d enjoyed every moment they spent getting to know one another and he knew Maddie was the type of woman he’d been searching for. But would he be able to be the kind of man that she needed and deserved? Nevertheless, he felt like he was being drawn to her; like this woman knew him inside and out and that they shared a connection more powerful than anything he’d ever felt before.
“Thank you for letting me stay here this weekend, Maddie. Seeing you for real has been… a breath of fresh air for me. You’re lovelier than the wildest dreams my mind could imagine.”
Maddie lifted a strand of hair and began twirling it. She’d done it earlier and Nathan realized it was a nervous habit. It pleased him to learn something new about her but also wondered why she was so nervous. He studied Maddie’s face and saw excitement and fear in her eyes. Nathan wanted to believe that by coming to Texas to see her in person, he could make Maddie accept him into her life in a tangible way. He wanted to believe that she could look beyond the Nathan Foster she used to know and only see the man beneath the fame. It wasn’t much help for him to connect with her out in the real world if she had him up on the same pedestal as every other woman he met. He desperately needed her to see past it.
“Look at me,” he coaxed in a soft voice. Maddie turned around to face him and he placed the hair brush on her dresser. “What are you thinking about?”
As she bit her lip and blushed nervously, Nathan wondered if he’d truly gotten through to her. He had never attempted a relationship of any kind, friendship or otherwise, with a fan before. Neither had anyone he knew and there was a reason for that. So far, their friendship had been a success in his eyes but he worried that the line between man and celebrity would always be blurred in Maddie’s mind. Was she pursing her lips for him because she also felt a deep soul grabbing connection between them? Or was she anxiously anticipating a moment every fan girl dreams of?
“Do you see me, Maddie?” Nathan asked not knowing if she’d understand what he meant. “The real me?”
She nodded with a shy smile. “That’s why I’m so afraid. I see you, Nathan, believe me. But I also can’t forget who you are to the rest of the world.”
“I’ve told you that person isn’t real,” he whispered and swept a lock of her hair behind one ear.
Maddie took a deep breath, gathering her thoughts. She knew this was the moment that would determine which direction their relationship would go. “You seem just as unsure about this as me,” she confessed.
“I’ve been thinking about kissing you all day. For months, actually. But yes, I’m afraid too, Angel, because I keep seeing this poster of Caleb Thomas over your shoulder and I worry.”
“Why does that worry you?” Maddie asked reaching out to touch him lightly on the chest.
Nathan covered her hand with his and held it close against his beating heart. “Who do you want to kiss more? Nathan or Caleb?”
For a split-secondMaddie was offended that Nathan could even ask her that question. She reminded herself that Nathan was constantly dealing with people who pretended to be something they weren’t just to get close to him. His friend Stacey was one; she wanted him for his fame. Years in Hollywood have left him with trust issues and he was bound to have those same fears here with her no matter how close they’ve gotten over the phone. She reminded herself that she had confessed to him on several occasions how infatuated she used to be with his movie character… and there was that poster on her wall that she couldn’t bring herself to take down. No wonder Nathan felt confused.
Maddie turned around and with a tiny bit of remorse ripped the Love Spelled Backwards poster off her wall. Crumpling it up in both hands and tossing it over her shoulder, Maddie hoped the gesture sent a strong message to her possible future lover. She smiled and looked Nathan square in the eyes as he stood stunned before her. She lifted her right hand and ran her fingers over Nathan’s forearm. His skin tingled as her hand moved up his bare arm and pushed the sleeve of his t-shirt over his shoulder. There on his bicep was the scar Nathan had once told her about; the one he got hopping fences with Garrett when he was twelve years old. Maddie rubbed her thumb back and forth over the tight pink skin that very few people knew was there and smiled up at Nathan’s curious eyes.
“This is the only man I want to kiss,” she whispered and lightly pressed her lips against his scar.
Nathan closed his eyes and absorbed the feel of her soft lips on his skin. He couldn’t wait any longer; her words were proof enough of her true feelings. His hand found the back of Maddie’s neck and he gently pulled her closer until their lips connected. She gasped just as they touched and Nathantook advantage of her surprise. His arm wrapped around her waist and the other held her head firmly to his. He kissed her passionately and desperately. Maddie tasted even better than he’d imagined and her fears seemed to have dissipated as instantly as Nathan’s because she was right there with him, kissing and exploring him ravenously.
Nathan lifted her into his arms and carried her to the bed. Laying her down gently, Nathan took a brief moment to gaze at her before coming down to cover her body with his and kiss her again. Maddie pulled him closer, feeling his weight against her body as they touched and kissed. Nathan gently cupped her breasts with his hands and she bravely slid her hands underneath Nathan’s t-shirt to feel the smooth warm skin of his back. N
o clothing was removed; both were content in exploring the other in innocent, yet intimate ways. Their hearts were connecting in a way they both hoped their bodies soon would. When they grew tired, Nathan slipped his arm around Maddie’s waist and kissed her forehead as she fell asleep.
That night Maddie shared her bed with Nathan Foster, the small town Wisconsin boy who thought she was beautiful.
Chapter Thirteen
“Are you still sleeping?”
Maddie’s eyes popped open as she realized the day before had not been some elaborate fantastical dream. The strong arm wrapped around her waist was not her own;Nathan was actually lying behind her in bed. She wiggled her butt gently against him and reveled in the feeling of having him pressed up against her. She never wanted him to let her go.
With a sexually charged groan, Nathan pushed his hips against Maddie’s wiggly backside and hugged her closer against his chest. That night had been one of the best he’d ever spent with a woman, even without having had sex. He wondered how that could be; how his night with Maddiecould rank so highly from just conversation and making out. It was an anomaly for sure and something to ponder later.
“Are you hungry?” Maddie asked.
Nathan pressed his lips against her neck, suckling her skin gently. “Starving,” he whispered.
Recognizing that familiar tone of voice a man gets when he’s aroused, Maddie momentarily panicked and pulled a few inches away from Nathan. This was not a scene from Love Spelled Backwards; it was real life. She had to pee and knew there would be morning breath to deal with. Besides, their night together had been perfect and uncomplicated by sex. She didn’t want to jeopardize the rest of Nathan’s visit by sleeping together now.
“I’m just going to use the bathroom and then I’ll make you something to eat,” she said. She wondered if Nathan could tell that she was eager to get him out of bed and hoped he didn’t get the wrong impression because she was ecstatic about having had Nathan share her bed all night. In fact, Maddie could never recall being happier than she was that morning.