Chapter 12
twelve
. . .
Maddox
The goddamned pasta was not the same kind that I’d had the other night.
Was she purposely fucking with me?
I picked up my phone and texted her.
They sent the spaghetti and meatballs, and you know I don’t like red sauce.
Tink
Well, sometimes, shit happens. I will call the place and have them send over the correct order, your highness.
It’s highly unprofessional to flip off your boss. Forget the pasta. I’m heading home. I’ll eat something there.
Tink
I’ll send the correct pasta to your house, then.
I knew I was being a huge dick. I wasn’t mad about the pasta. There was hardly even any sauce on it. I was pissed that she was on a date, which made no sense at all.
Just skip it, Tink. They’ll probably fuck it up again, and I’m not even that hungry. Just go have fun with your date.
Tink
Is that an apology?
Definitely not.
But kind of, yes. I didn’t apologize often, but I knew I was in the wrong.
Tink
Why don’t I go pick up the pasta and bring it to your house myself so I can make sure that it’s the right one. Would that be better?
Now she had my attention.
Not having fun on your date?
I stared at my phone like a fucking teenager waiting to watch a porno.
Tink
No. My arrogant, ridiculous, grumpy, hot-headed boss put me in a bad mood. And my date has been talking about his ex-girlfriend for the last forty minutes, and he just finished crying about their breakup. A work emergency would come in handy right about now.
I smiled because I couldn’t help myself.
I’m not ridiculous.
Tink
That’s the only thing that offended you from that comment?
What can I say? You know me well. I’ll order dinner for both of us from Reynolds’. Meet me at my house in twenty minutes. I’ve got some contracts to go over with you anyway.
I didn’t. But I wanted her to come over.
Wanted it so bad I could barely see straight.
Tink
Good. I haven’t eaten because I was too pissed off to eat.
Well, allow me to turn your mood around.
Tink
There’s a first for everything.
Such a smart-ass.
I quickly called in dinner from Reynolds’ because I knew she loved the food at her brother’s restaurant.
I ordered us both the ribs as I’d noticed her eating them the night I’d been there with Heather.
I’d been fantasizing about the way Georgia had licked the sauce from her fingers ever since.
I also ordered one of every single dessert on the menu as my way of apologizing.
And the fact that I was actually buzzing about grabbing dinner and meeting her at my house had me slightly freaked out.
But I didn’t care.
That was how far gone I was for this girl.
I’d been pissed off since she’d left, and it was all because she’d told me that she was going on a date.
What kind of sick bastard has a hissy fit over a woman that he hasn’t even admitted he had feelings for going out with someone else?
In my defense, I didn’t even know I was capable of having feelings for someone else until this woman fluttered her way into my life.
That was how long it had been.
I pulled into Reynolds’ and jogged inside.
“Hey there, handsome,” the hostess said, making me extremely uncomfortable, seeing as she was clearly a teenager.
“Hello. I have a pickup order for Maddox Lancaster.” I didn’t smile. I didn’t need this child misreading me.
“Maddox, nice to see you,” Hugh Reynolds said, coming around the hostess stand with a large bag of food. “Thanks for ordering.”
“Of course.” I wasn’t about to tell him it was for his sister.
“Georgia called ahead to make sure they didn’t mess up the order. She told me about the mix-up at the other place.” He chuckled.
Wow. These were some close siblings. They talked a lot. I didn’t have that kind of relationship with my brother because we weren’t big on the emotional stuff in my family.
Clearly.
And now her brother probably thought I was a big pussy for complaining about the food.
It had nothing to do with the fucking red sauce.
“Yeah. I probably sound like an asshole. I was just in a mood.” I shrugged.
He studied me for a long moment and then clapped me on the back. “Been there, man. No worries. Hopefully we got it right, and this is just a sign that you should be eating all your meals here.”
I nodded and took the bag from him. “The food is damn good. Thank you.”
“Hey, Maddox,” he said, as I started to step away.
“Yeah?”
He moved closer, as we were standing off to the side from the hostess stand now, and the place was busy once again. Clearly, they had the best food in town. But no one was paying us any attention.
“Georgia is all sunshine and smiles, but she has a tender heart.”
What the fuck did that mean? I knew she said their mom was a therapist, so maybe they were all very open about this type of shit.
“Well, she’s pretty sweet to everyone at work aside from me, so I don’t know what that’s about,” I said, trying to make light of whatever the fuck we were talking about.
He chuckled. “I think you know exactly what that’s about, my friend.”
I didn’t. But I assumed he knew there was a bit of a gray area with us, because God forbid, she didn’t tell her family everything.
“I think she hates me most of the time.”
“Georgia doesn’t have the capacity to hate. She’s exactly what you think she is—all goodness, man. She’s always been that way. Just… don’t go there unless you really want to go there, all right? You got me?”
I now knew why she didn’t tell her family about her car being stolen. This guy was my size and looked like a salt-of-the-earth dude, but he also gave off the vibe that he’d hunt me down and kill me slowly if I hurt his sister.
“I got you.”
“Good. And nice move with all the desserts. That’ll score you big points with her. She’s got a sweet tooth. See you later, brother.” He barked out a laugh before clapping me hard on the shoulder and turning around to walk toward the bar.
Why did I feel like I was leaving with a bag of food but also a warning?
Like, enjoy the ribs, buddy, but if you fuck up, you’re going to find a horse’s head in your bed tomorrow morning.
When I got to the house, I hurried inside and turned on the fireplace and set the food out on the table.
The doorbell rang, and I shook off whatever the fuck I was feeling.
Nervous.
Excited.
I wasn’t that guy. This was dinner. With an employee.
So what if my right hand had been hard at work for weeks with thoughts of her?
I hadn’t acted on anything.
Yet.
I didn’t do relationships or feelings or any of that shit.
And Hugh Reynolds was right. His sister was all goodness. The kind of girl that deserved that fairy-tale bullshit.
I pulled the door open, and she stood there in a light blue trench coat.
“Hey, Bossman. I’m starving.” She marched right past me toward the kitchen like she owned the place. Maybe after her over-the-top singing performance in my closet, she kind of did.
I poured us each a glass of wine and set hers in front of her before sitting down at the table across from her.
I picked up my fork to dive in, and she held up her glass and raised a brow. I dropped my fork and did the same.
“Cheers to you for acknowledging that you were wrong. Even if you couldn’t really say it, you sort of did.”
“I’ll drink to that, but only because I’m thirsty.” I smirked.
We clinked our glasses, and I took a sip, my gaze never leaving hers.
“How was the date?”
“Well, I think I got him back with his ex. We talked it through, and then I helped him send her a text message, and they’re talking again. So, I guess it was successful.” She smiled.
And my goddamn chest squeezed.
A smile from Georgia Reynolds was better than any gift I’d ever received. My family had a shit ton of money, and material things were the only way they knew how to show love, so that was saying something.
“Of course, you got them back together. Do all the Reynolds kids channel their inner therapist? Your brother seems like a pretty deep dude. I saw him at the restaurant.”
“Hugh’s got the biggest heart, but he pretends to be this big, tough guy.
And Cage acts like a grump, but he’d give you the shirt off his back.
Finn is a lover, and he doesn’t try to hide it.
Brinkley is tough as nails, but loyal to the core.
So, I guess, yeah, they’ve all got magical qualities, you know?
” She bit down on her bottom lip as she thought about it. “Tell me about your brother.”
“My brother is… angry. He hates our father. Hates the pressure that comes with being a Lancaster. Wants nothing to do with the family business, aside from spending the money. And there’s plenty of it, so no one really fights him on it.”
“He sounds like he’s just lost.” Her dark blue eyes were filled with empathy. “Money can only buy you things. It can’t buy you happiness or love. Why is he so angry?”
I finished eating my rib and dropped the bone onto the plate as I thought it over. I didn’t do deep conversations—ever.
I liked to keep my private life private.
But I trusted Georgia Reynolds for reasons that I couldn’t fully comprehend.
I let out a long breath. “Our father is an asshole. Not like the type of assholes that you know, or even like the last one you dated. He’s a real dark fucker.”
“Tell me.”
“Do I need to have you sign an NDA first?” I teased, but it wasn’t really a joke. I protected our secrets just like everyone in our family did.
“If you tell me something and you say it’s a secret, I will take it to the grave.
I’m not going to sell you out. I don’t need the money.
I have everything I want already.” She chuckled, but I could tell that she meant what she said.
I found it fascinating that a woman who had been basically carless not so long ago, who also happened to live in a casita in her brother’s house, claimed to have everything that she wanted.
I’d been surrounded by people who had every material thing under the sun my entire life.
Big houses and fancy cars.
Vacations that most people couldn’t even dream of.
Jewelry and purses and every luxury item one could want.
Yet they were all miserable in their own way.
And this girl really did have everything that she wanted. I admired it. I respected it.
A part of me longed for it.
“My father has been in the press over the years for being a bit of a douchebag. But that doesn’t even scratch the surface. He was an absentee father, an absentee husband, and a selfish prick of a human being. But he has a ridiculous amount of money, so he gets excused for his actions constantly.”
She forked a bite of mashed potatoes as she listened intently, like what I was saying was the most important thing she’d ever heard.
“And where is your mother?”
I startled a bit at her words, surprised that she didn’t know. “You don’t read the tabloids, huh? My mother passed away when I was a senior in high school. She fought Lou Gehrig’s disease, also referred to as ALS, for two hard years.”
She shook her head as her eyes filled with tears.
This girl had so much empathy and heart—she reminded me of my mother in a lot of ways.
“I’m so sorry, Maddox.” Her voice was just a whisper.
“I’m surprised you didn’t google me. Her fight with the disease was rampant on the internet. The billionaire’s wife’s life that came to a tragic end way too early,” I hissed.
“I would never google you. I like to make assessments about people on my own. I’m really sorry about your mom. That must have been unbelievably hard.”
Hard doesn’t even begin to describe it.
When you have one parent who loves you unconditionally and then that’s taken away… Well, it makes you a cold, ruthless bastard when it comes to personal relationships.
Just another reason that I should be staying far away from this woman.
But sometimes, all the reasons in the world just don’t matter.
Because wanting her seemed to be trumping everything.