by Elks, Carrie
She shrugged and stepped back, tugging at the curtain. “Climb away. Why break the habits of a lifetime?”
He did as he was told, using his good hand to scale the low sill, his feet landing on the soft cream carpet in her bedroom. She’d kicked her own shoes off and was barefoot. He could see a few grains of sand clinging to her skin. She reached up to touch her hair, wavy and salt-kissed from the ocean. “I should probably shower before bed.”
“Stay like that. I like you dirty.”
She rolled her eyes. It was like the old, sassy Maddie was back and he liked that. He liked her vulnerability, too. Christ, he liked everything about her. It was crazy how fast he’d fallen for her.
He watched as she changed into her pajama shorts and tank, and tugged a brush through her thick waves, wincing as it hit some knots. “I don’t have anything for you to wear,” she told him. “Unless you think you can fit into my pajamas.”
He looked down at his body. A foot taller and at least sixty pounds heavier than Maddie’s. “That wasn’t how I planned on getting into your pajamas.”
She pulled the blanket back and pointed at the mattress. “Just get in.”
“Wait.” He pulled his shoes off, then his jeans, and finally his t-shirt, before he climbed into her small bed wearing just his shorts. She followed him in, her legs warm as they brushed against his. There wasn’t enough room for them not to. He turned on his side and reached his arm out, and she snuggled into the crook.
“Just so you know, there’s no sex happening in here,” she told him.
“No?” He grinned.
“Nope. This bed hasn’t been christened and it’d like to stay that way.” She looked up at him through her thick eyelashes. “You’re the first guy that’s ever been in here.”
“When you say stuff like that, my body takes it as a challenge.” He took her hand and slid it down between his thighs. “See?”
She curled her fingers around him and he groaned. “Maddie…”
“Your willpower is weak,” she whispered.
“Yeah. It really is.” He turned his head on the pillow. “How strong is yours?”
“Like a fortress.”
He ran a finger down her throat to her chest. “Really?”
Her breath hitched as he reached the swell of her chest. “Yeah.”
With the tip of his finger he traced over her breast, down her stomach, and continued until he reached her bare thighs. “So if I did this,” he whispered, sliding his hand between her inner thighs, “you wouldn’t open them.”
She laughed because she already had. “It’s just a reflex.”
“Yeah. That’s what I thought.” He moved his hand up until it was an inch away from her core. “So your mind has willpower, but your body doesn’t.”
With the gentlest of touches, he brushed his thumb against her. Maddie gasped and tilted her head back. Her eyes softened as they met his, and he realized how much he wanted this. Wanted her.
“Maddie,” he whispered, pressing his lips against her throat. “If you don’t want me to do this I’ll stop.”
He was a gentleman. He knew right from wrong. But more than anything, he knew how important it was for her to be able to say yes or no. For her wishes to be heard. After everything she’d been through, her consent was everything.
“Just touching,” she whispered. “Nothing more.”
He grinned. “I can live with that.” He slid his fingers beneath the soft fabric of her shorts, biting down a groan as they brushed her heat. God he wanted her. Any way he could. His thumb brushed the part of her that made her back arch in response, her skin heat up, and her eyes widen.
He could never get tired of this. Never get tired of her. He loved her.
And it was the scariest, most beautiful thought in the world.
* * *
“Oh shit.” Maddie’s eyes widened as she realized it was morning, and Gray was still laying next to her in bed. Her skin was hot from being pressed against him all night, her hair a crazy mess from tossing and turning next to him. Just as he’d promised, they’d done nothing more than touching.
She never knew touching could be that hot.
“Gray,” she whispered, shaking his shoulder.
“Uh?” He opened one eye, and then closed it again. It took her thirty seconds to realize he hadn’t woken at all.
“Gray,” she said louder, her face close to his. This time both eyes opened. A slow, sexy smile formed on his lips as he pulled her against his warm, firm chest.
“Morning, beautiful.”
“We overslept. And Mom is up,” Maddie whispered. She could hear her mom wheeling herself around the kitchen. “You need to go.”
He blinked. “She knows about us, right?”
“Yeah. And she’s not happy about the arguments between me and Ashleigh because of it.”
He sat up, and she tried really hard not to look at the ridges of his chest, or the beautiful ink adorning it. “Then it sounds like a good time to lay on some charm.”
“Now?” Her mouth dropped open.
“Why not?” He tucked his finger beneath her chin and closed it again. “And then we should go over to my family’s place. Join them for breakfast.”
“After that, why don’t we take out an ad in Rock Magazine?” she teased. “Just to make sure nobody misses out on the news.”
He grinned. “That’s a good idea. I’ll call my publicist.”
“Gray!” She laughed. “Stop it.” She climbed off the bed, catching her reflection in the mirror. “Ugh, I can’t meet your family like this. I’m a mess.”
“They already know what you look like,” he pointed out. “And you look amazing as always.”
“Yeah, they know what I look like. But only as Maddie, their friend and waitress. They’ll look at me in a different way now that they know about us.” She pulled her lip between her teeth.
“Aunt Gina and Becca love you. You have no worries there.”
“But what about your father?” She gave him a worried glance.
“He’ll be too busy judging me to worry about you.”
Though he said it nonchalantly, there was a catch in his voice. And she knew that feeling all too well. The one where you didn’t feel good enough.
“Okay,” she said, taking a deep breath in. “We’ll do the whole shebang. But let me take a shower and put some makeup on first, okay?”
Twenty minutes later, Maddie walked into the kitchen. Her mom was at the table, leaning over the crossword. She glanced up on hearing Maddie, putting her pen down on the newspaper.
“Good morning.”
“Hi, Mom. I… um… we got back late so Gray stayed over.” The last few words came out in a hurry, tumbling over each other.
“Hello, Gray,” her mom said, her expression ominously neutral. “How are you?”
“I’m good, thank you, Mrs. Clark. How are you?”
“I’m very well. Apart from my daughters fighting like cats.” She gave him a wry smile. “I’m hoping you’ll help Maddie smooth things over. Now would you like some coffee? There’s some in the pot.”
“Actually, Mom, we’re heading over to Gray’s for breakfast,” Maddie told her. “But I can make you something to eat first.”
“I’m quite capable of making my own toast,” she said pointedly. “You don’t have to worry about me.”
“Okay, then.” It still felt weird. Standing in this kitchen next to Gray Hartson. Maddie could feel the warmth of him behind her. “I guess we’ll see you later.”
“That you will.” Her mom picked up her pen and tapped it against her lips. Just as Maddie turned to leave, her eyes meeting Gray’s, her mom spoke again. “Oh, Gray, can I have a word with you. In private?”
“Really, Mom?” Maddie let out a sigh.
“It’s okay.” Gray winked at her. “Sure. What’s up, Mrs. Clark?”
“You should probably call me Jenny,” she heard her mom say as Maddie walked into the hallway and reluctantly closed
the door.
She should feel relieved. They’d made the first step, after all.
But she couldn’t help but feel they still had a hundred flights more to scale.
* * *
“You okay?” Gray asked as they arrived at his place. Maddie drove them over in her car. She had a couple of hours before her shift at the diner, but she felt better having her car here. An escape route of sorts.
Just in case she needed it.
“What did my mom have to say?” she asked him as they climbed out. He looked so at ease as he slid his arm around her and pulled her against him. As they walked up the path to his father’s house, he looked down at her.
“She reminded me that underneath all those wisecracks you have a soft heart.”
“I hope you told her I have no heart.” She shook her head. It was just like her mom to say something like that.
“I told her your soft heart is one of the reasons I like you.” He grinned. “Along with your wisecracks.” He steered her around to the back of the house.
“Where are we going?”
“You’re family. We go in through the back door.”
Breakfast was in full flow in the Hartson house. Through the sparkling glass window Maddie could see Becca holding a slice of toast and gesticulating wildly with it. Aunt Gina was saying something to her with an exasperated smile on her face. And Gray’s father was watching them silently, his eyes soft as the two women carried out talking.
“You ready?” Gray asked her.
“What if I say no?” She grinned at him.
“I’d remind you that I had to do it first. And I even agreed to talk to your mom in private.”
“Okay, I’m ready. But don’t leave me alone with them.”
“Wasn’t planning on it.” He winked and pushed the door open.
Three sets of eyes looked up at them as they walked into the kitchen. Aunt Gina’s were full of curiosity. Becca’s were wide with excitement. And Mr. Hartson? His seemed… wary.
“Morning,” Gray said, his voice easy as he sauntered in. “I’ve brought Maddie over for some breakfast. Hope that’s okay.”
Aunt Gina was the first to recover. She stood and smiled widely. “Of course that’s okay. Maddie’s always welcome here. Come in. Let me grab some coffee.”
Becca’s eyes were still sparkling. “You can sit here,” she said, patting the chair next to her. “And we can all listen as Gray tells us why he didn’t come home last night.”
“Becca,” Aunt Gina said. It wasn’t a question, more of a warning.
“Hey, I was worried about him,” she protested, a mischievous smile lighting up her face.
“I took Maddie on a date.”
Becca turned around on her chair to look at them both. “So you two are definitely dating?” she asked, turning to Maddie. “Aunt Gina told me, but I didn’t believe her. And getting Gray to open up about anything is like trying to pry open a rock.”
“Shut up,” Gray said, sitting in the seat next to Maddie’s. He slung his arm over the back of her chair. “We’re dating, okay?”
“Oh my god!” Becca said, leaning forward to hug Maddie. “That’s amazing. I never would have thought you two would after Ash…” she trailed off as though she thought better of it. “Does that mean you’ll be coming home more often?” she asked Gray.
“We’re still working things out.”
“I always wanted a sister,” Becca told Maddie. “You don’t know what hell it is to have four brothers.”
“I can imagine,” Maddie said, her voice deadpan.
“All that testosterone and fighting. And the girlfriends.” Becca rolled her eyes. “Present company excepted, of course. Being the sister of the four Heartbreak brothers is a special kind of hell. I must have done something really bad in my previous life.”
“You’ve done a few bad things in this life,” Aunt Gina pointed out. “Now let’s stop with the twenty questions and let our guest have some breakfast. Maddie, would you like some eggs and bacon?” she asked her, standing up to carry the food over.
“That sounds wonderful,” Maddie said gratefully, aware of Becca still staring at her and Gray.
“I’ll have some bacon, too,” Gray said, holding his plate up.
“You can serve yourself, young man,” Aunt Gina told him, shaking her head. “You’re not a guest and you still have one good hand. Unless that one gets injured, I don’t plan on waiting on you.” She sighed loudly. “Now Maddie, dear, would you like some orange juice?”
“Yes, please.” Maddie bit down a smile at the way Gray’s aunt and sister treated him. He didn’t seem fazed at all. The only person who hadn’t said a word was his father, who was watching all of them intently.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Have you read it?” Marco asked over the phone a few days later. Gray was sitting at the dining room table, this month’s copy of Rock Magazine open in front of him. A courier had brought it this morning – knocking on the door twenty minutes ago and depositing the thick envelope in Gray’s hand. He’d immediately brought it into the kitchen, which was mercifully empty, and opened it up, skimming through the pages until he found the one with his photograph splashed across it.
“Yeah, I’ve read it.”
“And Maddie?”
“Not yet. She’s working. I’ll pick her up and let her read it then.” He flicked through the glossy pages once more. “It’s not so bad. She knew they’d print something about her time at Ansell. If anything, she’s gotten off lighter than I hoped. Thanks for your help with that. I appreciate it.”
Something beeped. It had to be Marco’s phone. “One minute, Gray…”
“I should probably call the publicity department. They did a good job. And you spoke to the record company about Brad Rickson, right? Told them I don’t want him anywhere near me,” Gray continued.
“Yeah, I did. I told them he upset your girlfriend and you don’t want to be in the same room as him, even though you wouldn’t give me all the gory details.” Marcus sighed. “But Gray—”
“If I see him, I’m gonna hit the bastard. You know that, right?”
“Yeah. But that’s not important right now.” Marco talked fast, in an effort to stop Gray from interrupting him again. “I just got a message. There’s a link to a video on Twitter. It’s going viral.”
“What video?”
“A video of Maddie from when she was at Ansell. A sex video. Do you know about this?”
It was like somebody had punched him in the face. Gray physically recoiled. “Where Brad is having sex with another woman next to her?” he asked, his stomach turning over.
“It looks like it. Christ, this isn’t good. Why the hell didn’t you tell me about it when you told me about Brad?”
“Because Maddie didn’t want anybody to know. It was supposed to be old history.” Gray raked his fingers through his hair. “Can you suppress it? Get Twitter to take it down?”
“Yeah, I can try. But it will take time. And somebody else will just post it again. These things are like flies. Every time you think you’ve got rid of one another appears.” He cleared his throat. “I’ll need to make some calls. But keep your phone close and I’ll let you know what happens.”
“I need to find Maddie,” Gray said, his stomach churning. The thought of that video being out there would cut her up. Everybody would see it, and it would feel like she was being violated all over again. “Do what you can to make it go away.”
“I’ll try.”
Gray didn’t like the way Marco didn’t sound very sure. He pressed his lips together and slid his phone into his pocket, as his sister walked down the stairs
“Becca!” he called out, thanking God it was her day off. “Can you give me a ride into town?”
She scrambled down the stairs. “Sure,” she said, tying her hair into a knot. “What’s up, getting Maddie withdrawal symptoms?”
“Nope.” He turned his phone over so she could see the screen. Becca skimmed t
he tweets, her eyes widening as she saw the contents.
“Oh shit,” she whispered. “Poor, Maddie.”
“These are going to kill her. I want to be there when she finds out.”
“Okay,” Becca said, pulling her keys from the hook on the wall. “Let’s go.”
* * *
Maddie cleared the table a group had recently vacated, piling the plates on top of her arm before grabbing the mugs and glasses, balancing them carefully. She carried them over to the kitchen, using her behind to push the metal doors open, then deposited them in front of the dishwasher.
“They didn’t touch their grits,” Murphy grumbled, scraping the remnants into the trashcan. “Sometimes I don’t know why I bother.
“What’s eating you?” she asked him. “You’ve been in a bad mood all day.”
“And you’ve been unreasonably happy for weeks. What happened to all those sarcastic remarks and the wise cracks?” Murphy asked her. “I hate happy people.”
“No you don’t.”
He looked up at her with raised eyebrows. “I really do. So can you tone it down with that smile?”
She hadn’t even realized she was smiling. That seemed to be happening a lot. Since her heart-to-heart with Gray on the beach, and their coming out to their families as a couple, she’d felt light as a feather. Her cheeks were beginning to ache.
“Happy waitresses are good for business,” she pointed out. “I’m doing you a favor.”
“Hmmph.” Murphy slid the plates into the dishwasher. “In my experience, happy waitresses put in their notice. There’s a definite correlation.”
On a whim, she leaned forward and kissed his cheek. She wasn’t sure who was more surprised, Murphy or her. “I’m not leaving,” she told him. “I’m just happy. Try to be happy for me, too.”
Grabbing the cleaning spray and a cloth, she walked back into the diner to wipe the table down. A group of girls were staring at their phones and giggling at something. She patted her jeans to find her own phone, and realized she’d left it in her jacket pocket, hanging in the kitchen.