Maddie and Wyn

by Cameron Dane

Scrunching his face and shaking his head, Wyn toed Maddie’s foot with his. “Don’t even try to pretend you aren’t crazy in love with your house and that only an act of God could get you to leave it.”

  “You don’t know.” Kicking him back, Maddie feigned an obnoxious teenage voice. “You don’t know me. You don’t know my life.”

  A glint of golden light flashed in his brown eyes. “I’ve been getting a whole hell of a lot better at it real fast, M and M.”

  “Screw you, Ashworth.” Making a stink face at him, Maddie shot him the finger, but her heart still pitter-pattered ridiculously, probably worse than when she was a teenager and first crushing on him. She put her hand up like a wall in front of his face. “For calling me that name again, you’re dead to me.”

  Grinning like a madman, Wyn jabbed his fist against his chest. “Thunk.” He spread his fingers in trickling lines down his stomach. “Your cruelty is like a sword right into my heart.”

  Maddie smirked. “It’s what you deserve for ever doubting me about my ghost.”

  “What!” Aidan suddenly roared to life across the table, all big and dark with piercing pale green eyes. “What the hell is this ghost talk crap again? This is your safety at risk here, Maddie, not an episode of Ghost Hunters.” He swung his fiery focus to Wyn. “I thought you were serious about figuring out who was breaking into Maddie’s house.”

  Wyn instantly went granite rigid and cold. “I am. Make no mistake about that.”

  “He is taking this seriously,” Maddie jumped in, needing Aidan to give Wyn credit where it was due. She noticed Ethan put his hand on Aidan’s forearm and stroke the tension in him too. “Very seriously. It’s just that he now accepts that I also really do have a ghost.”

  Devlin slapped the arm of his chair. “No shit?” His jaw dropped to his lap. “Truly?”

  Gripping the chair, his muscles still tight, Wyn said, “Truly.”

  Whistling low, Devlin shook his head. “Hell. What made you believe?”

  “Compelling evidence.”

  Wyn plowed into the story of Maddie’s multiple experiences with an otherworldly spirit that could not be explained away, in addition to the incidents he’d now heard multiple times himself and could not rationally explain. He shared specific moments that had occurred over the last six days, to a rapt audience around the table. As Maddie listened and watched Wyn’s sincere defense of her reasons for believing in the ghost, her chest banded with such powerful emotion she reached out and slid her hand into his, unable to remain unconnected for a second longer.

  Glancing at her for only a moment, warmth infused Wyn’s dark stare and in the way he threaded his fingers through hers.

  The moment Wyn paused in his story to take a breath, Devlin jumped in. “So if this ghost can manifest enough energy to bang on walls and break stuff, you don’t think it’s possible it could generate enough energy to move things around in the house, make you think they’re missing, or even be powerful enough to open the garden gate? Maybe Maddie doesn’t have an intruder after all.”

  Wyn shook his head. “Even if I conceded that was all the ghost, which I’m not ready to do quite yet, there’s still the candy wrapper with the DNA and partial fingerprints on it. She didn’t manufacture that. The ghost is real. But the intruder is also still very real too.” He swung his focus back to Aidan. “And I promise you I will catch him.”

  Aidan’s jaw clenched. Leaning in, he parted his lips, but before he spoke, Ethan touched his forearm again. Aidan turned away and murmured, “Excuse me, I need to put together the salad.” He squeezed Ethan’s hand and then got up and strode into the cabin.

  Watching her brother disappear into the house, pricks of guilt poked at Maddie. If she hadn’t brought up the ghost then Aidan never would have gotten tense with Wyn, and Wyn wouldn’t have turned into a statue and gotten tense right back at Aidan, and they might still be enjoying their drinks and good conversation.

  Pulling her hand from Wyn’s, Maddie pushed back her chair and stood. “I’ll be right back.” She stayed Ethan with a hand in his direction, and shook her head at Wyn. “I’m going to give Aidan a hand.”

  Entering the cabin through a door at the side, Maddie moved across the open area toward the kitchen at the front. Aidan tossed vegetables into a big wooden bowl, the colorful mess scattering around the bowl an indication of his distracted state. A wall of windows at the back of the house would allow the others to watch them and try to dissect the conversation if they wished, but the double-paned glass would keep their talk to only their two sets of ears.

  Maddie paused at the kitchen island, locked in on her stony brother, and bluntly asked, “Did I do something wrong? You’ve been subdued ever since we got here, and then you jumped on Wyn back there, and I can’t figure out if you’re just in a mood or if I’ve done something specific to piss you off.”

  “I’m not mad at you.” Aidan’s words were as clipped as the chips of jade in his stare. “You know better than that.”

  Planting her hands on the island, Maddie didn’t back away one bit. “Then what’s up with you today? Because there is definitely something, so don’t try to tell me there isn’t.”

  Aidan studied her for a drawn-out moment. This scrutiny from her brother, someone she loved and worshipped and craved his respect, poked at Maddie’s confidence; she kept her chin up and forced herself to hold his gaze though. His mouth thinned to a hard line, but she ignored the prick to her heart and instead just arched her brow back at him.

  He suddenly broke the silence and blurted, “You and Wyn look a lot closer than I expected you to be.”

  A frog got caught in Maddie’s throat. “Oh.” Her voice came out in a croak. But heck, maybe she’d been naïve, but she had not expected her brother to come at her about Wyn. Glancing to the left, seeing Wyn still sitting quietly while the others chatted outside, the spark of a tigress lit in her soul.

  Strength fired inside her, but looking back to Aidan, seeing the lines of worry on his face, Maddie took a breath and tempered her tone. “I’m not sure how to describe what Wyn and I are right now, but yeah, there is some renewed closeness between us. Do you have a problem with that?”

  Once again, for the longest heartbeat, Aidan kept his mouth sealed tightly shut. Then, like a shaken can of soda, he exploded. “I should be ecstatic because I love Ethan and know what a good man he is, and therefore I should expect Wyn to be the same. Except I’m not a blind idiot, so I know at some point he did or said something that hurt you so badly it forced you to put on this mask and pretend you’d never even shared a friendship with him at all, when we all know that was a lie. And yet now you seem closer than ever. And on top of that, you still have this predator breaking into your home on a regular basis, which scares the crap out of me, yet I’m being sidelined and forced to hope Wyn is doing a good job keeping you safe, when in reality I’m your big brother so I feel like I should be camped out at your place until this bastard is caught.” Taking a breath, the rest of the fizz in him going flat, Aidan shrugged and finished, “It’s all getting mixed up inside me, and I’m having a hard time with everything right now. And when Wyn and you teased the way you did about the ghost, it felt like he wasn’t taking the threat to your home seriously, and it pissed me off.”

  Her heart splintering, Maddie rushed around the island and threw her arms around her big brother. Aidan uttered a rough curse and wrapped his arms around Maddie too, crushing her in the strength of his hold. His sure warmth surrounded her, and giving into his protection for a moment, Maddie buried her face against his solid shoulder and basked in the tight squeeze of his brotherly love. She hadn’t always had this closeness from him when she’d wished for it, and she was so very thankful to have him back in her life.

  Still, she was her own woman now, and eventually Maddie forced steel back into her spine and stood up straight. She smiled up at Aidan though, a full display of love filling her heart. “Okay, now that we’ve hugged it out, first, thank you for wanting to protect
me. It’s very outdated, but very sweet. Second, Wyn is not some bodyguard in my house with the sole responsibility of keeping fragile, inept, little ol’ female me, safe. I am capable of protecting myself. I have lived successfully on my own for quite a while now, if you will recall.

  “Now, having said that, I will concede Wyn and I had a couple of bumpy days in the beginning of this whole intruder mess, but now we are working together to try to solve this mystery of who has been coming into my home uninvited.

  “But third,” she took Aidan’s arms, shook him, and forced him to stay looking at her, “and one hundred percent most important, whatever happened between me and Wyn years ago, happened between Wyn and me, not you, and will be resolved between the two of us. You don’t get to be suspicious and angry on my behalf, and you certainly don’t get to hold a grudge on my behalf. What you have with Ethan is your thing, and what I have with Wyn is mine.”

  Snorting, Aidan raised his brows comically high. “You didn’t think that when you and Dev butted in and forced me to go fix things with Ethan back when we were screwed up and veering off the path of being together.”

  “That’s different.” Keeping deadpan, Maddie batted her eyelashes prettily. “I’m always right, and you should always bow to the perfection and wonder of my advice.”

  Aidan suddenly barked with laughter, and the sound filled the cabin. He laughed hard and shook his head, and Maddie chuckled and grinned right along with him, pleased to see him shake the heaviness from his mood.

  “I just love you, Maddie,” Aidan finally said. “I want you to have someone who is good enough and deserves you.”

  “Wyn is Ethan’s brother,” she reminded him. “Trust that all of that good DNA is in him too.”

  “I’ll try. If he can assist you in catching your thief then that will go a long way toward righting himself in my book.”

  “He just has to be himself.” Strength of conviction held powerfully in Maddie’s voice, coming from her gut, exposing something real to herself as much as Aidan. “That should be good enough for you.”

  Aidan replied instead, “How about I’ll trust and accept your judgment of him because I know you have a good head on your shoulders?”

  “Now that,” Maddie poked her fingers against Aidan’s chest, “is the best compliment of all. Come on.” She slung her arm around his waist. “I’ll help you clean this up so we can get back out to everyone else.”

  Beside her, dish towel in hand, Aidan dipped down and kissed the top of her head. “I love you.”

  “I love you too.” Maddie bumped his hip with hers for good measure. “Now clean.”

  * * * *

  Hours later, after drinks and dinner and dessert, after feeling the watchful eye of Aidan on him the whole time, Wyn strode down the front steps of the cabin to the gravel drive, promising Maddie he would get the truck running while she said her goodbyes.

  Christ though. He needed a minute alone anyway to regroup. If he’d silently worried about being inadequate to protect Maddie before, with few words and silent, searing judgment from Aidan, Maddie’s oldest brother had smashed Wyn’s belief in himself all the way down into the mud.

  Footsteps thundered behind him, and suddenly Devlin was upon Wyn, grabbing his arm. “Can I trust my eyes?” he asked, leaning into Wyn’s space, his tone sharp and low. “Are things truly as good between you and Maddie as they seem? Was I right to talk Maddie into letting you into her house?”

  Son of a bitch. Wyn’s jaw went back to ticking a mile a minute. “You were right to convince her for the basic fact that she had someone breaking into her home and needed someone with some law enforcement experience there with her. Her safety was always and will always be why it was the right thing for you to do.”

  Devlin pushed even more into Wyn’s space. “Hey, I’m just asking some questions. Don’t get defensive.”

  Through tight lips, Wyn spat, “You’ll have to excuse me and understand that I’m feeling grilled tonight.”

  “That was Aidan,” Devlin pushed back, “not me. I’m just looking to check in, seeing as I’m the one who got you in the door of Maddie’s house.” Devlin glanced up at the porch, where Maddie stood talking with the others, laughing and play punching Ethan. When Devlin swung back to look at Wyn, a hint of moisture softened his stare. “If what is happening between the two of you is real, I will be your biggest cheerleader. I miss how happy Maddie was when the two of you were best friends. If what I saw tonight is sincere, if what I’m seeing right now is how carefree she’ll be if she’s with you, I’d like to start sleeping at night again and be able to celebrate the two of you getting close after so long apart.”

  Unable to deny the sincere affection between siblings, Wyn eased up some too, and let himself believe in how good a friend Devlin had been for many years. “All I can say is that I want the same thing as you, and that I’m hopeful Maddie and I are headed in the right direction. I accept that she is ultimately the one in the driver’s seat, though, and that we’re moving at her pace. I love her, man,” Wyn admitted in a rough tone, not seeing the point in denying or hiding any longer. “That’s all I can tell you.” Emotion trapped part of Wyn’s voice in his throat. “She is my life.”

  Tension slid from Devlin’s upper body. “That’s good to know.” He offered his hand for a shake. “Catch that thief, and get the girl.”

  Punched in the gut by this man’s friendship, Wyn clasped Devlin’s hand in his and shook hard. “Thanks.” He tugged Devlin in for a quick bro hug. “I appreciate your support.”

  Before Devlin could reply, Garrick swooped in behind him and hooked an arm around his waist. “Let’s go, beautiful. If we’re gonna keep up with Shawn tomorrow,” he mentioned one of the two kids to whom he’d become something of a mentor and surrogate father, “we need a full night of sleep.”

  “Definitely.” Devlin let himself be tugged to his refurbished Firebird. “Later, man. Bye, Maddie!”

  Maddie sidled up beside Wyn. “I thought you were going to get the truck started?”

  “Sorry.” Wyn handed over the keys. “I got waylaid by your brother.”

  “No biggie. It’s probably for the best anyway.” Walking backward around to the driver’s side of the vehicle, Maddie lovingly ran her fingers along the faded red hood. “The truth is you know I don’t really like anyone getting behind the wheel of my baby but me.”

  Wyn swung around to the other side of the truck. “You’re not gonna catch me getting all macho on you.” After strapping himself in on the passenger side, he settled into the plush seating. “Wake me up when we get back to the house. I’m happy to get a nap in while you drive.”

  “Really?” Maddie tsked and rolled her eyes at him. “You’re going to nap before you go home to go to bed?”

  His smile coming slow and easy, Wyn rolled his head and captured her silver gaze. “Honey, I know with you I ain’t getting a whole lot of sleep when I hit the sheets.”

  Rather than balking, Maddie flashed a wicked grin at him. “Get your rest then, old man. I’m gonna need you to be able to keep up.”

  “Oh God.”

  “He can’t help you now. But if it gives you comfort,” she caressed his thigh, dipping her fingers dangerously close to his cock, “keep praying that he can.” Before she reached the Promised Land—oh fuck, yes—his dick twitched in anticipation—she took her hand away, and began backing out of Aidan and Ethan’s drive.

  Even though his cock had been tempted and abandoned, Wyn still grinned to himself as he closed his eyes. Maddie’s spirit and spunk excited him, but it equally put peace and calm in his heart. If she could play with him without pausing to overthink consequences or potential fallout, to Wyn that meant she was getting more comfortable with the idea of them as a couple.

  Hope blooming around his soul, Wyn drifted to sleep listening to Maddie hum off tune to the radio.

  * * * *

  Something poked Wyn in the shoulder, and then a soft whistle blew against his cheek.


  “Wake up, sleepyhead.” Maddie’s distinct voice tickled his ear. “We’re home.”

  “Shit.” Awareness of his surroundings flooding him, Wyn jerked up in his seat, and Maddie pulled back to the driver’s side of the vehicle. “I was out like a light. And here I thought I was kidding about taking a nap.”

  “Might have started out that way.” Pocketing the keys, Maddie hopped out of the truck. “But the purr of my baby lulled you right to sleep.” She pecked a kiss to her fingers and pressed it to the windshield of the truck.

  “For such a hunk of junk,” Wyn conceded, “it does run amazingly smooth.”

  Burnished silver lived in Maddie’s gaze. “What’s under this hood is better than a BMW, Lexus, or even Tesla, combined. But nobody knows that because it’s housed in this washed out, mismatched-colored, faded shell.”

  The light bulb went on in Wyn’s head. “Hence nobody will ever be interested in stealing it.” More than a little bit in awe, he followed her up the steps to the porch. “That’s genius.”

  Gathering the layers of an imaginary skirt, Maddie curtsied dramatically. “Thank you.” After undoing the deadbolt and the traditional lock, Maddie pushed the door open and beckoned Wyn to enter. “Gentlemen first.”

  Rather than walk past her tempting, tall and curvy frame, all legs in a pair of shorts and loose T-shirt, Wyn tugged Maddie inside with him and wound his arms around her waist. “Now, do I have to get you all the way upstairs…” he dipped down to her nape and breathed in her natural, honeyed scent “…or can I talk you out of at least a few of your clothes right here?” He teased the skin at the line of her shorts, just under her ass.

  Maddie let her fingers dance up the line of Wyn’s back. “With the right words, I could possibly be—Oh!” She suddenly jerked away from him and covered her mouth. “Damn it.” Her eyes rounded as big as full moons.

  His heart kicking into eleventh gear fast, Wyn yanked her behind him. “What?” He moved in a circle with her at his back, searching for an intruder. “What set your radar off?”