Chapter 23 #2
Her beauty hits so hard because every part of her is paired with memories.
When I stare at her mouth, I can still taste her.
When I see the freckles on her face, I’m reminded of the ones she has in other places.
Places I want to see again more than anything.
Looking into her eyes, I remember how they look when she’s happy, turned on, and devastated.
“Please try not to rip the dress.” Her voice has a breathless quality and she’s flushed, probably from trying to free herself from the dress for several minutes.
“I won’t.” If she knew how badly I wanted to tear the dress from her perfect body, I would not be entrusted with the job.
Maddy turns around and I have to bite back a curse. I thought the dress was flattering from the front, but the view from behind could send a man into cardiac arrest. I mean, Christ. Her ass is a goddamn work of art.
With great difficulty, I tear my eyes away from her body and focus on the task at hand.
She’s right—the dress is a bit too small, the fabric stretching to accommodate her curves on both sides.
I slip my fingers into the space between the zipper and her back and the moment my fingers graze her soft skin, I’m hard.
I may have to ask her to return the favour and close her eyes once I’m done or risk her seeing my erection.
It doesn’t help that I can feel her heart beating rapidly against my hand. That the skin around my fingers broke out into goosebumps the moment I made contact.
Drawing the material together as much as I can with one hand, I take the handle of the zipper in my other hand.
It takes a few moments of gently coaxing it up and down before I manage to get it past the point of resistance and it glides down Maddy’s back.
True to my word, I close my eyes before I see anything I shouldn’t.
“Thank you,” I hear her say. “I can breathe.”
I can’t.
“No problem,” my voice is like gravel. “I’ll let you get changed. Do you want me to give you a lift back to work?”
She doesn’t answer right away and with my eyes closed, I can’t very well read her expression to see what’s going on in her head.
After what seems like an eternity, she says, “No, I’m good. But thank you for the offer. And thanks for freeing me from my silk prison.”
“Anytime.” I clear my throat. “Not that I’m volunteering to help you get undressed anytime, I just mean anytime you need anything, Madness. You know I’ll be there.”
It’s not lost on me that I must look like an idiot standing here with my eyes closed. I’d give anything to see the expression on her face, but I keep my eyes glued shut as promised.
She’s quiet for so long that I wonder if she’s slipped away and left me to talk to myself. After what feels like an eternity, she speaks.
“Can I ask you a question?”
“Anything,” I answer.
“You don’t have to answer.”
“I said anything and I meant it. Ask away.”
Another long pause.
“What was the news?” She asks softly.
“What news?”
“The news you got a year ago that you didn’t want to hear? What was it?”
Suddenly I’m grateful that my eyes are closed. I don’t think I could look at her right now and get the words out.
“I found out you were getting married,” I tell her, honestly. “I saw a post on your Instagram that your…that Derek tagged you in. I didn’t take the news well. Even though we hadn’t been together for so long, I never got over you. Seeing that you moved on…I decided to try to do the same.”
“So you started seeing Valentina.”
“Yes.”
“But…it didn’t work out.”
“No.”
“Why not?” Maddy’s voice is barely more than a whisper.
“She wasn’t you.”
A pressure builds behind my closed eyes as I stand in front of the woman I love—completely vulnerable, exposed. The silence stretches between us like a wire pulled too tight, and just when I think I can’t take another second of it, I feel the cool brush of her hand against my cheek.
It startles me. But instead of pulling away, I lean into Maddy’s touch, aching for it.
“Ben?”
“Yeah?” My voice scrapes out, rough.
“Kiss me.”
My eyes fly open, light pouring in. Maddy’s face comes into focus, her hand still resting on my cheek, a small, tentative smile on her lips.
“Wh-what?” I stammer, half-convinced I imagined it.
“I want you to kiss me.” Her voice is soft, sure. “Please,” she adds, lifting her gaze to mine. “I’m not confused.”
This time, I don’t hesitate. The moment my lips touch hers, my breath catches. She whimpers at the contact, and I freeze, afraid she might pull away.
But she doesn’t.
Instead, she rises on her toes, tilts her chin, and presses in.
A shudder rolls through me, wiping away every last trace of doubt.
One hand slips into her hair, the other slides around her waist, my fingers resting on the warm skin at the small of her back.
She keeps one hand on my cheek, the other curling into my hair, pulling me closer as the kiss deepens.
“Madness,” I groan against her mouth as her tongue finds mine.
She gasps when my teeth catch her bottom lip, and I drink in the sound, gripping her tighter. Ten years of longing, regret, and loneliness—gone. Incinerated by a single kiss.
I pull back just enough to breathe, but I don’t let her go. I press my forehead to hers, both of us gripping each other tightly.
“Do you know how long I’ve wanted to do that again?” My eyes stay closed, voice low.
She hums. “Hmm…a week?”
I huff a breath, lips twitching. “Longer.”
“A month?”
“Longer.”
“Two?”
I lean back and take her in. Her cheeks are flushed, lips kiss-bitten, pupils dark and wide. God, I’ve missed seeing her like this—looking at me like that.
“Ten years,” I say quietly. “Ten years of missing you. Of missing this. I kept telling myself it would fade. But it never did. It won’t. I love you, Madelyn Alice Clairmont.” My voice is steady, unwavering. “I miss you. And time and distance haven’t changed a damn thing.”
Her mouth parts, but no sound comes out. My heart stutters. Maybe I said too much. Too fast.
The urge to press her back into the dressing room, to fall to my knees and vanish beneath the skirt of her gown until she comes undone against my mouth—it nearly chokes me. I want to taste every inch of her, lose myself in her. I want her wrecked and breathless and mine.
But I promised myself that if she gave us another chance, I’d do it right.
And I meant it.
“Have dinner with me this weekend?” I ask, hope threaded through every word.
Maddy’s lips twitch as she looks up at me, eyes dancing. “Are you asking me on a date?”
I almost laugh—because yes, I guess I am asking her on a date. But I’d drop to one knee and ask her to marry me right here in this dressing room if I thought she wouldn’t bolt. I want everything with her. But for now, I’ll start with dinner.
“Yes.” I wet my bottom lip, still tasting her there as I wait for her answer, heart pounding harder than I care to admit.
She hesitates for only a second before rising on her toes, brushing a soft, fleeting kiss against my mouth. It’s barely there, over too soon—and yet it steals the breath from my lungs.
Then she smiles at me. “I’d love to.”