"Did you want that, too?" She popped the top and sipped.
He shrugged, rolling the can between his palms. "When I have to travel to make deals and worry about becoming obsolete with technology or whether or not I'm going to make the payroll, yeah, sometimes."
Sometimes wasn't enough in her book. A person wasn't a sometimes husband or a sometimes wife. And a home wasn't where you slept, in her opinion – it was where you lived and raised a family. Alex just didn't get it, and she was suddenly thankful she'd left New York before she got caught up in the power climb and forgot it herself. "Having money isn't all it's cracked up to be, is it?"
He made a rude sound. "Has a tendency to cloud the thinking. I wish I'd seen it before it went that far."
"Was she 'wife material'?"
"In the beginning, I suppose." But not like you, Alex thought, meeting her gaze. Nothing like you.
"Those seem like regular problems, Alex. Things you have to work out between husband and wife. Maybe you gave up too easily?"
"Maybe. She did. I was just getting out of the red and before I bought up the cell air, there were months when I didn't think I'd make it and that I would let everyone down. I came back early from a meeting and found her in bed, my bed, with one of the executives I was negotiating with for the cells." He remembered the humiliation. "Worst thing was, everyone knew it, knew she was giving details of the deals while searching for richer ground. I was too busy trying to make it all work to see the signs."
"She couldn't have loved you, Alex. Not and betray you so easily."
"I know. Maybe I didn't love her as much as I thought, either."
"There's your trouble." She braced her back on the wooden bench, sipping the soda. "Love is supposed to be feeling, not thinking. If you have to think that hard, then you aren't there."
That sounded too simple, he thought. "You speaking from experience?"
"Not as much as you, I imagine." She tore her gaze from his, a little sting flitting through her chest with the memory. Paul had wanted everything from her; time, attention, and before she'd made the mistake and given him her body, she'd realized he gave her nothing.
"Who was he?"
She glanced. "A man who couldn't understand my wants and didn't have the time or the inclination to find them out." Which was the case with most of the men she'd dated. Her family's welfare came first right now. She was raised that way, and she didn't mind being a rock for them. The trouble was that men didn't like that she took care of her obligations first, before them.
Yet for Alex she'd ignored everything. She'd packed hastily, called her sister and father to tell them she wouldn't be around and that there were plenty of meals in the freezer. Only Katherine knew where she was. She'd discarded everything for him, and that scared her.
"She wasn't the first woman to split for richer territory."
Oh, to have so many women turn on him, she thought. "Sounds like the wrong choices were yours."
"I have a string of those, believe me."
She frowned.
On the bench, he turned toward her, staring at her as he spoke. "After my parents died, I went wild. I was mad at Mom for getting cancer, at Dad for dying of a broken heart and leaving me alone. Got myself thrown out of a dozen foster homes until I ended up in jail."
Her eyes widened a bit. "Jail?"
"Yeah, talk about scaring a kid silly. It was petty stuff – vandalism and disturbing the peace. My father's lawyer found me somehow and asked me what my parents would say if they saw me. I was ashamed, and that terrified me more than prison. I knew I had to straighten myself out or end up on the streets." He shrugged. "I figured the only way I could make it right was to get back the company like Dad wanted."
Madison still thought it was too much to ask of a young boy, but kept her comments to herself. "You will."
"I have to. It's as if I can't live until I get it."
She heard the frustration in his voice. "I understand. Sometimes I feel as if I've put my life on hold for my family. Don't get me wrong, I want to take care of them, but I wish I didn't have to. That sounds selfish, I suppose."
"Not to me. It's something you have to do right now."
She smiled. "How far you've come, Alexander," she marveled. "It's amazing. More so that you did it alone. I'm impressed as hell."
His heart, he swore, swelled and shot to the sun. "Thanks, Maddy. That means a lot to me."
"How much?" She puckered her lips like a fish.
"Much." Smiling, he slid his hand behind her neck, tipping her head to lay his mouth over hers in a slow kiss. Wind buffeted them, tearing her hair loose and spreading it across his face like spilled silk. He tried for calm, for patience, when he wanted to crush her to him and feel every lush inch of her against him.
"More," she muttered against his lips, inching closer. "I can feel your restraint. Don't hide how you feel. Not from me, please."
In a heartbeat, he dragged her onto his lap, and she curled around him, her arms around his neck and her fingers in his hair. She devoured him, aching so deeply in her belly for him – for the boy he'd been, the man he'd become and the lover he wanted to be. She'd never met a man who tried so hard to not want her or who kissed like madness and made her wish she'd dumped her virtue years before. Especially when he ran his hands over her hips and down her legs as if she'd disappear. She worked her hands under his shirt, rubbing his chest, her thumbs rasping over his nipples before diving lower.
He groaned, deepening his kiss and was laying her back on the bench when the reel snapped, then spun rapidly. She broke the kiss, smiling at his disappointment. "Here, fishy, fishy." She kissed him once more, hard and quick, then scrambled off his lap to stop the line. Reeling the line in, she glanced back. He was rubbing his thighs and breathing hard. His arousal tented his khaki shorts.
"Damn, Madison."
She felt exotic and powerful. "My, my. What a nice compliment." He threw her a dark look. "It's the justice of nature that women don't have so obvious a sign."
"Oh, yeah?" His gaze lowered meaningfully to her breasts, her nipples thrusting against the navy T-shirt.
"Cold air."
"It's eighty degrees out," he countered wryly, loving her sly smile.
The rod jerked, and she focused on the fish, calling, "Come to Mama, fishy."
Alex watched her fight the biggest fish he'd ever seen, laughing as it nearly snapped the rod, then catching her around the waist when it almost took her into the water to avoid capture. Her excitement was his, and he made a big deal of it, taking her picture with it on the bow of the sailboat. The fish wiggled on the hook, its tail slapping her shoulder, and she suddenly rushed to the rail and released it, shouting, "Be free, escape!" before falling into his arms, laughing wildly.
Fish stink and all, Alex swore it was the best time he'd ever had.
* * *
The instant they stepped into the suite the phone rang.
"Angus. We were just changing to – oh, no kidding." Alex covered the phone. "Bridgett went into labor this morning. He's calling from the hospital."
She smiled. "Does Randy need help with Shannon?"
Alex relayed the message, thinking how easily she offered her help. He shook his head at her, then gave Angus his cell phone number and asked if he'd call with the news. Angus assured him this wouldn't delay the renewal of his and Laura's vows on Saturday.
He hung up, slipping around the door of the bathroom, watching her wash her face and brush the tangles from her hair. "Wanna do something? We're free for awhile."
"Like what?"
His smoldering gaze roamed her from head to toe. "I could think of one or two things, and we wouldn't have to leave the room."
A sweet tingling skipped through her body, and her gaze clashed with his in the mirror. "Behave."
He grinned, utterly fascinated as she freshened her lipstick.
"There's a festival this afternoon and street dance tonight."
"Great," he said. "Let's go."
"Le
t me change first."
He looked down at her white shorts and navy T-shirt as she left the bathroom. "Madison. You look fine."
"Ick, no. I'm wearing fish slime." She flicked through clothes hanging in the closet. He folded his arms over his chest and frowned, impatient. "It's a girl thing, deal with it," she said, closing the bathroom door in his face.
The rewards of living with her, he thought, was seeing her as she really was. While dating, people put their best foot forward, often artificial, but Madison didn't disguise a thing. She'd rather be outside than in, dine from a vendor's cart than in a restaurant. She wanted to make the bed, though housekeeping would, yet misplaced things constantly, raking through her drawers and bags in search of the elusive item. She tossed her shoes in the closet in a pile while his were in neat rows.
And when she left the bathroom, wearing a short, deep fuchsia tank dress and matching sandals, looking as if she'd walked off the cover of a magazine, Alex decided it was worth the wait. Even with the extra five minutes while she searched for her purse.
"You aren't going to shop, are you?"
He sounded like a kid asking if he had to get a shot, she thought, grabbing his hand and dragging him to the door. "Sure. Maybe we'll find something for Bridgett."
"Bridgett? Not the baby?"
She glanced back. "Of course, but to the best of my knowledge, it's the mother who does all the work, and while everyone is oohing and aahing over the newborn and congratulating the father, she needs to feel some of the attention. Keeps back the postpartum blues."
He was considering that when they stepped off the elevator. "Maybe something for Shannon, then, too? She might feel jealous." Stopping short, she met his gaze, her tender smile sinking like arrows into his heart.
"Oh, Alexander." Her fingertips whispered over his cheek. "I knew there was a warm, considerate man in there somewhere."
He slid his arm around her waist and whispered, "I thought that's what I was last night."
She ducked her head. "Stop teasing me about that."
Pulling her close, he pressed his lips near her ear and growled, "I can't help it. I keep seeing you, hearing you, feeling you. You pulse. Did you know that?" Madison gripped his shirtfront, her body throbbing to life, and she lifted her gaze. "And you make me feel as if I'm worthy of touching someone like you."
His uncertainty stole her breath, her heart, and Madison went up on her toes and kissed him. "You are, Alexander, or I wouldn't have let this go that far."
His throat tightened and he swallowed, wondering how he could feel pleased and scared at the same time.
* * *
He won a stuffed rabbit for her by pitching rings on bottlenecks, and she rewarded him with a wet, sloppy kiss that made him want to win the world for her. Then she upstaged him, shooting at wooden ducks, and won an honest-to-goodness rawhide wallet, complete with loop stitching. She had his initials burned into it, then insisted he must use it. Alex smiled every time he took it out to pay for another load of junk food.
He forgot everything around her; the line they drew between each other, the toy company, the lies they perpetrated. Before nightfall Angus called on the cellular to say it was a false alarm and Bridgett was home. Alex begged off for the night, and Angus simply chuckled and said he understood. Alex felt remorse for the lie hanging over them like a boom about to drop, but when Madison pulled him into the street dance, getting wild with the crowd, he dismissed his concern as he watched her wiggle and shake to the music.
They made out like teenagers on the Ferris wheel, then sat on the rocks near the water, talking till the sun turned red-gold. He laughed at her jokes, loved touching her and that she touched him. Something inside him came apart every time she did.
On the ride up in the elevator, he gathered her in his arms. "You're about the best time I've ever had, Madison."
She smiled, her eyes suspiciously bright. "Low threshold of excitement, huh?"
"Not anymore," he said, brushing her hair off her face and watching the motion. She enjoyed life, although he suspected she worked harder than she let on. He was tempted to call Katherine and bug her for details, but decided he wanted to discover them himself. And in that moment Alex realized just how much she meant to him. And in such a short time.
"Want dinner?"
"After all the junk food? No, thanks. How about a movie and maybe room service later?" She stepped into the room.
"You sure?"
"I want to shower and then be a slug. A real couch potato. You game?"
He closed them inside. "Yeah, I'm game." He backed her up against the door, and she wound her arms around him. "But you know what lying on a couch with you will do to me."
"I'm sure you can control yourself."
His hand swept low on her spine, pulling her into him. "But can you?"
She laughed and blushed, and he kissed her, a deep push into her mouth, into her body. His kiss grew harder, hungrier, and when her fingertips slid over the waist of his trousers, then brushed across the front, Alex thought he'd explode right there.
"I need to shower," she said, pulling away as she slipped into the bathroom.
She could feel him on the other side, hear him mutter to himself before he walked away. She quickly stripped and stepped into a hot shower. She shampooed her hair and washed, the strong pricking streams of water beating against her breasts, heightening the sensitivity of her skin. Madison wished he would join her in the shower now. The thought of it nearly drove her mad with desire, and she left the shower, slipping into the complementary terry-cloth robe and toweling her hair dry.
"Madison," he said softly from the other side of the door.
"Yes."
His hands braced on the door frame, Alex pressed his forehead to the wood. "Let me in."
"Why?"
"Because I need to see you. Touch you. I'm going mad with it."
Her heart skipped. "Alex—"
"Hush. Listen to me. Just listen." There was a long hesitation before he said, "I want to make love with you, but not because you and I are here together, alone. Even if you were on the other side of the world, I would feel the same. We have something good going … and you know it."
Madison closed her eyes.
"No matter what my reputation says or what you've thought of me in the past, you know we're good together. Hell, darlin', we're great. I can't guarantee where it will lead or if it will last, but—"
The door coasted open.
His arms raised, hands on the frame still, they stared.
"Nobody can guarantee how they'll feel, Alexander. Or for how long."
His features tightened, his gaze hot with his emotions. "I want you in my life, Madison. You're under my skin…" He swallowed hard, lowering his arms and stepping inside. "And I want you to stay."
Madison choked, aware what that cost him, a man like him, a man without love in his life for so long. A man who didn't trust himself. She slid her arms around his neck, her fingers sinking into his inky-black hair. "Oh, Alex, we really shouldn't be doing this."
"Yes, we should." His mouth covered hers, a kiss deep with want and longing. "But say you don't want this and I'll go sleep in the car. Hell, I'll go beg Angus for a spot on his couch." He gripped her shoulders, staring into her eyes. "Tell me, and I'll behave and never touch you again and just go mad in a corner like the depraved creature that I am."
She swore she fell in love with him right then. "I don't want you to go." Her hands slid down his bare chest to his waistband. "And I certainly don't want you to behave." She tugged the strings. "Because I won't."
With a sultry smile, she dipped her hand inside.
* * *
Chapter 9
«^»
Alex caught her hand, then caught her to him, crushing her mouth beneath his own, his tongue darting and sweeping and making her moan in a way that drove him crazy. Just the thought that she wanted him, wanted to pleasure him, delivered him to the depths of his need. Passion fractured, unleash
ed and ripping through them. All the subtle touches, the looks and stolen kisses culminating in a flash fire of greed and hunger and a need neither could ignore.
Alex tried for patience, but when her nails raked lightly over his nipples, the strength of his kiss drove her back. Her bottom hit the counter. He lifted her onto it, his hips spreading her thighs, his mouth greedily trailing down her throat. He parted the robe, baring her breasts, cupping them before he bent. His lips closed over one tight peak and she whimpered, offering herself in wild abandon.
This, she thought, trying to catch her breath, was divine madness. He laved, his teeth scoring the soft underside before he took a second plump nipple into the heat of his mouth again and again … and leaving her mindless with sensations.
"Alex, we … oh, yeeesss," she gasped, licking her lips. "We … we need protection."
He straightened, capturing her mouth, refusing to pause even for an instant as he reached blindly for his shaving kit, overturning the contents into the sink. He rummaged, then crushed packets into her palm.
She tore her mouth from his and blinked. "That's quite a few."
"We'll need them." He pulled her off the counter, back stepping, sprinkling hot grinding kisses over her throat and bare shoulders.
The bed only inches away, he paused in the center of the living room, needing the feel of her flesh next to his, soft yielding to hard. Her lips swept the curve of his ear, and he shuddered. Her hand dipped deep inside his slacks, fingers closing around his arousal. He threw his head back and groaned like a beast suddenly set free.
"Madison," he moaned, his knees going soft. Nothing in his life felt better than her touch.
He trembled for her, and Madison felt empowered, a boldness rising in her as she watched pleasure float over his features. She wasn't innocent. She'd seen enough, done enough to be prepared. And she was eager to feel him, to be filled and stroked and loved. By him. Only him. She hungered more than she ever thought possible, and her aching body begged to lose herself in him, the years of suppression rising to the surface. She had never been more ready in her life.
"You're so warm," she whispered. "And you throb for me." Her gaze never wavered as she slid her fingers over the smooth tip of him.
GOING … GOING … WED! Page 10