Chapter Eleven
Madden moved aside the old lace curtain to look out the window, warmth trickling down into his stomach when he realized Eve
was giving herself a pep talk in the car. Night stood on the verge of falling, so her features were in the shadows, but he
could see her mouth moving. Could sense her resolve, though he could only predict what she had to be resolved about. Saying
no to his proposal?
The warmth in his stomach soured and Madden let the curtain drop, raking a hand through his hair and taking up a post on the
other side of the room. Leaning a shoulder against the wall to wait for Eve to be ready.
Tonight would mark the first time she’d ever been in his aunt’s house—Fiona hadn’t been one for visitors—and although his
aunt had passed, this was still, very distinctly, her house. Waterford crystal candleholders in the center of the coffee table.
Rosary beads hanging from the doorknob. Lace pillowcases that matched the curtains, sewn by herself. Madden couldn’t bring
himself to change a single thing. Couldn’t make this house his own or sell it to anyone else. No. He left everything as it
was, preserving the legacy of the woman who’d saved him.
Aye, his aunt Fiona had quietly given him sanctuary from the turmoil he’d grown up with.
She’d survived her own, once upon a time.
They might not have been blood relatives, but they’d been cut from the same cloth, Madden and his aunt.
Beyond the first time, they didn’t talk to each other about their trauma.
The comfort was unspoken. She’d offered him love through deeds, such as hiring an immigration attorney to take them through the lengthy process of obtaining a green card, which he hadn’t achieved until his first year in college.
Madden wouldn’t describe his relationship with Fiona as close. It was more they’d shared a silent, mutual place to heal. She
treasured the privacy of her home above everything, and while he’d often wondered what had led to that need for constant calm,
he never questioned her out loud or invited over his friends.
He simply left it.
Madden pushed off the wall when he heard a car door slam out in the driveway.
A hesitant knock on the front door got him moving. He stood in front of the threshold a moment, his gaze trained on the wooden
Fáilte sign above the door and he said a quick prayer, asking his ancestors to lend him some of their luck, then he opened it to
Eve standing on the stoop, gorgeous in a pair of jeans and a snug white T-shirt, tucked in tight, as if he needed any more
encouragement to stare at her tits and remember last night.
How she’d looked topless in the parking lot, glowing in the lamppost light.
You’d do well to keep your head on straight for this.
Right.
“Eve.”
“Madden.”
After taking a moment to absorb her, he stepped back. “Come in.”
She tucked her long, loose hair behind her ear, before stepping inside, passing close enough to Madden that it almost seemed like she was having mercy on him by doling out a bit of her smoky peach scent.
God, what he’d give for the freedom to back her into the door and kiss her hello.
How was it possible their mouths had never touched and yet, he missed kissing her so badly?
It was as though half of his soul had been stolen before he even knew he had a soul to begin with.
“The kids are with their new babysitter?” Madden asked, closing the door behind Eve.
“Yes. Veda.” She set down her purse on the console table but kept her phone in hand. “I’m starting to think she might be my
guardian angel. She kind of fell into my lap.” Eve chuckled. “Two days ago, I didn’t know she existed and now she’s in my
top five contacts. Weird how that happens.”
For Eve, this was rambling. Madden loved her sharing any part of her life with him, but he didn’t love knowing she must be
nervous. “She must be special if you’ve seen fit to trust her.”
“Yeah, she is.” She opened her mouth and closed it, shaking her head.
“What?”
“She’s trying to convince me to open a music venue behind the club. We have an appointment with a town inspector tomorrow.
This is on the heels of hiring a woman named Full Bush Rhonda. I may need a vacation.”
A laugh rumbled in his chest. “Being open to new things is healthy. A totally practical marriage, for instance.”
“Is that your best shot at a segue?”
“How’d I do?”
Her lips twitched. “Not bad. If only I was ready to talk about it.” Eve sauntered backward a few steps, keeping her eyes trained on him as she moved deeper into the house, no idea she was going in the direction of his bedroom.
And he imagined what it would be like, coming home from a night out with Eve, her seducing him farther into the house, both of them stripping clothes off in their haste to make it to the bed.
“So . . . this is your aunt’s house. I’ve only ever been in the garden. ”
A pang caught Madden in the sternum.
He remembered Eve in the garden, outside his window, along with Elton and Skylar. Knocking. Wondering why he wouldn’t come
swimming. Worried about him. Before any of them knew his kidney disease was the culprit for his lethargy and pain. Before
Eve had forced him into going to the hospital.
Madden rubbed the scar on his lower right abdomen absently. “Aye, my aunt needed the quiet. We were alike that way. I don’t
mind some noise now, though.” He shrugged a shoulder. “Playing ball, I suppose I had no choice but to get used to shouting
again.”
He didn’t mean to say again. It had just slipped out.
But the stumble caused Eve to quit her perusal of the house and look at him, a question hovering in her eyes that she didn’t
voice. His difficult upbringing had been alluded to throughout the years, but when Eve or his friends asked about it, he’d
taken a cue from his aunt and let the silence speak for itself. There was no sense giving them that burden to carry, was there?
He knew firsthand how heavy it was. “I’m so glad you found your aunt, Mad.”
“Me too,” he said, with a firm nod. “Although I think if she’d invited you in for tea, she would have enjoyed knowing you,
Eve. She was only set in her ways. It had nothing to do with . . .”
“With my father owning the much-maligned strip club?” Eve winked at him. “It’s okay, Mad. I never assumed she was judging
me. Or barring me from the house.”
“I wouldn’t have stood for it.” When she only stayed silent, Madden cursed under his breath. “I’m sorry, I don’t know why
I brought this up.”
“It’s good that you did, actually.” Her smile was tight. “My reputation in this town has a lot to do with what I came here to say.”
Madden frowned. “How so?”
Eve circled the living room once, reminding him of a restless cat checking her new surroundings for threats, before perching
on the arm of the couch. She waited until he’d followed and come to stand directly in front of her before speaking again.
“Well . . .”
She shoved her steepled hands between her knees and he had to bite his cheek to resist the urge to grab them, warm them between
his own. Damn, she looked anxious.
“Eve, you can say anything to me.”
“This is hard. I thought I had everything figured out. I’m supposed to have everything figured out.”
“You had no idea your sister was going to leave the kids with you, Eve. You couldn’t have seen that coming. You’ve had no
choice but to adapt.”
“Yes, I hear that. I agree. But it’s more than just the kids. I was so superior, thinking I’d open this club and make bank.
Show everyone I didn’t only have staying power, but that I could take my pride back. And it’s just been . . . um. Kind of
a wake-up call to find out that my trauma only mattered to me. Those people were capable of cutting me off at the knees and
moving on. They didn’t feel any of it and they never will.” She swallowed. “I’m starting to think I did all this for nothing.”
A tide of denial, outrage rose in his midsection. “Eve—”
“Hold on, let me just finish.”
Madden bit his tongue. “All right.”
It took her a moment to get up and running again. “There’s nothing I can do to change everyone’s perception of me and I’ve
learned to live with that, but, Madden, if that ugliness touched you, I would not be able to live with it.”
Somehow, despite his years of studying Eve Keller, he didn’t see this coming.
Not even a hint of it on the horizon. And he could see now he’d been shortsighted, his eye on the immediate goal. Blind to
Eve’s insecurities that she hid so well. So well he almost forgot they existed sometimes. Well, here was the proof.
“I’m . . . going to marry you, Mad.” She looked up at him with a face full of gravity and he was so caught off guard by having
his ultimate wish granted, he nearly went end over end into the atmosphere. “But only if it’s a secret. I don’t want anyone
to know. Not because I won’t be proud as hell to be your wife, but because . . . because I’m not . . . you remember the way
Skylar was treated for being friends with me? These moms won’t talk to me at school pickup. I’m not doing that to you. You’re
in this whole new world of professional sports and media attention . . .”
Madden’s anger caught up with his euphoria, storming through it. Not anger at Eve. Anger at everyone else. The entire world.
“Eve, I don’t give a right fuck about anyone’s opinion. Let them talk. Let them say ignorant things about a woman who’d raise
her niece and nephew at the drop of a dime, no questions asked. Who’d stand by her father when the whole town campaigned to
throw him out. You’re better than any of them. Than anyone.” His hand cut the air in half. “I won’t keep you a secret.”
“This is my hard limit. It stays a secret.” Eve stood up, sucking in a breath when Madden lunged into her space, stopping
just short of touching her. But Jesus, he might as well have been for the effect their proximity had, her lids dropping like
sandbags, her nipples hardening against the white cotton of her shirt. “Secrets don’t stay secrets very long, Madden. Because
of that, I think we should put a time limit on this.”
He pressed a kiss to her forehead, plus a second one before drawing back. “Do you now?”
Eve hummed, desperately trying to keep her attention off his mouth. Did she think he couldn’t read her returned attraction?
“Yes. If I can’t get the club to a place that is lucrative in the next six months, then I’ll have to sell. Either way, at
that point, I’ll have the extra money to take care of Lark and Landon. Give me until then, then we can . . . divorce.”
Madden could have argued. Could have explained to her that, no, nothing about them would be temporary and ask why she couldn’t
simply accept that, but he stopped himself. He stopped and gave the turning point between them some critical thought.
He’d gotten what he wanted today.
Eve had agreed to marry him.
He had six months to convince her to stay married to him. For real.
Six months to calm her fears that their connection could drag him down in some way. Which was bullshite, if he’d ever heard
it. Not to mention, he’d welcome any criticism or judgment with open arms if it meant having Eve.
Six months.
“Fine,” he forced out. “Six months.”
Eve’s eyes widened slightly, as if surprised not to receive an argument. “Six months in secret.”
“Semisecret,” he qualified. “We’ll need a witness when we marry.”
“Right.” She chewed her lip. “Not Elton.”
“Yes, Elton.” Madden smiled, aching over being in this reality where he casually discussed marrying Eve Keller. “He’ll keep
quiet.”
Her skepticism was plain. “Fine, but I get to tell one person as well.”
“Skylar?”
Eve hesitated.
“Eve.” Madden shook his head. “She’s over me, love. Trust me.”
“Yes. I . . . know. It’s just hard to imagine anyone getting over you.” In the wake of that unexpected statement, he almost
suggested they go track down an officiant right that very second. Could she tell she’d left him winded? “Can I have two people?”
she asked.
Madden inclined his head. She could tell a million. The more, the better.
“Thanks. I’ll tell Skylar. Soon. I just want to do it in person. For now, I’ll tell Veda, since she already knows you proposed.”
Eve put her hand out for a shake, even though there were mere inches between them, so her hand could barely fit. “I guess
we have a deal.”
“Not so fast, love. What about the rest of it?”
She frowned in confusion. “The rest of it?”
“Aye.” He brought his mouth down to hers, grazing their lips together only slightly, but that featherlight touch and her subsequent
shaky inhale was enough to grip his balls with need. “Go on. Pretend like you forgot.”
One shaky breath. Two. “Oh, you’re talking about the . . . benefits thing?”
“In fact, I am. Though I’m not fond of the word benefits.”
“What would you call it?”
He hadn’t thought of a proper description, but only one word occurred to Madden and he said it against her temple. “Fulfillment.”
A tremor passed through her. “Friends with fulfillment.”
“Friends,” he scoffed gently into her hair. “Right. Married for six months. In secret. And when you need fulfillment, you get it from me. Do you accept those terms?”
“You’re so confident you can fulfill me?”
Not the slightest hesitation. “Aye, love. Watch me.”