17. Maddie
17
MADDIE
Maddie killed the engine of her car and stared up at the house.
She didn’t want to be here—not after the evening she’d had confessing to Lindsay and Pops about Brooks, then getting grilled to death about the details of her arrangement.
Brooks’s texts while she was talking to her family hadn’t helped. Naomi had seen the one about whenever I want and flipped out, convinced that Brooks was using her for sex.
So she’d ignored Brooks and procrastinated, dealing with that problem.
She’d wanted to turn in for an early night, exhausted emotionally and confused as all hell.
But then Cormac had called as she was getting ready for bed.
She sighed, then went up to the front mat. Cormac had waited by the end of the driveway, waiting for her to arrive, and had handed her a slip of paper with the door’s code. He hadn’t said much, but from the worry on his face, she was glad she’d come.
Maddie typed in the code on the keypad. Opening the door, she blinked in the darkness.
Maybe Cormac was wrong. Maybe Brooks had just gone to bed, and a checkup wasn’t necessary.
“Brooks?” she called out softly. Audrey was probably asleep, so she couldn’t be too loud.
No answer.
“Brooks Kent, where are you?”
She checked the first floor, including his bedroom suite, then went upstairs.
Man, the bedrooms upstairs are bigger than my entire apartment.
Still, nothing.
Going to the basement, she looked around, then let herself out the back door to the yard.
There he is.
Brooks stood at the end of the dock, staring out over the lake.
Maybe he’s fine. Maybe Cormac was worried about nothing.
But there was a half-empty bottle gripped in his left hand.
Maddie’s heart pitched forward, then she started toward him. Her trek across the grass was noiseless, but the grass was already soaked with dew and cold, and she shivered. When she reached the dock, she slipped her soaking wet slides off her feet, then padded onto the wood.
Brooks turned at the sound of her footsteps.
Even in the dim light of the moon, his scowl radiated from his face. “What are you doing here?”
She slowed her approach. Cormac had called because he assumed they were something they weren’t—that she’d had some right to be here.
Brooks wouldn’t see it that way. Neither did she.
“Cormac said?—”
“Of course he did.”
She took another step, then took the bottle from him gently. “Did you drink all this yourself?”
He cocked a brow at her. “You here to parent me, too?”
“What are you doing, Brooks?” He oddly didn’t seem drunk. Who knew what he’d had to drink?
A smirk crossed his lips. Had she never noticed the hint of a dimple in his cheek, or was it just the deep shadows from the moonlight? “I could ask you the same thing. I didn’t call you to come over here, you know.”
“Consider this completely off the clock.” Maddie hugged her arms to her chest, the chill stronger by the water. Her feet were freezing too, the hems of her jogger pants damp.
She might not have Pops’s experience dealing with people at the pub, but the last thing anyone liked was to feel judged. Setting the bottle to her lips, she took a small sip. “What are we drinking to tonight?”
Brooks continued to stare her down. “You didn’t come today when you were supposed to. Or bother to text me back.”
That couldn’t be what this was about—could it? Maybe he was more of a celebrity diva than she’d realized.
“I told my sister about you. And the wreck.” She’d already decided whether she was going to be honest, she was going to be honest all around. Lies made for a bad situation. “She was understandably upset. She asked me to tell my grandfather and my other sister, whose boyfriend towed your car.”
He blinked at her. “So you broke your word?”
Was he angry?
She couldn’t quite tell. If anything, there was a lack of emotion there that worried her.
“I did.”
“Well, I guess that means I won’t have to play for your town fair after all. Good.”
His statement was flat. Empty. None of the anger she’d anticipated.
Yet I don’t doubt he means it.
She set down the bottle and came closer to him. “I may have broken my word with you, but I broke it with them first. I like you, Brooks. But they’re my family. I owe them my loyalty. You’d do the same if it were Kayla.”
His chin jerked up. “Would I?”
“You know you would. You’re a better man than you pretend to be.”
Doubt shone in his eyes. “You don’t really know me, Madison. Just believe everything you’ve heard about me. All those things you used as evidence against me that first night you showed up here. That’s good enough for everyone else. And now you have a few more juicy details about my life to give the media when you decide you want to blackmail me again.”
Oh.
Oh God, is that what’s bothering him?
His behavior suddenly made more sense. He’d been incredibly vulnerable with her last night. Shared something deeply personal.
And I didn’t bother to show up today.
Shit.
“Well, it’s not good enough for me.” She shivered again. “And I don’t believe it. You’re capable of being so much more than you give yourself credit for. I wouldn’t be here tonight if I didn’t think that. I didn’t come earlier because I couldn’t get away and then because I was overwhelmed by how upset my sister was with you.”
She stepped a little closer as his face filled with doubt. “I wanted to be here with you, believe it or not. I’m sorry I didn’t call or text.”
“Why? You want to fix me?” A sardonic laugh left him. “What makes you think I do a single thing I don’t want to do?”
His belligerence had to be a sign that he was more inebriated than he was letting on.
She set her hand on his. “You’re drunk, Brooks. Let’s go inside. Get you in bed.”
His hand slipped around her waist, and he pulled her close. “Don’t fucking tease me.”
Leave it to a drunk man to take her words the wrong way. But as his fingertips pressed into the small of her back, he lowered his mouth to the sensitive spot on her neck, just below her jawline and ear, his lips brushing her softly.
“Why do you have to smell so fucking amazing, Madison? You have any idea what that smell does to me?”
Any other time, those words would have made her swoon. But he was drunk and didn’t mean it. She set her hands on his chest, pushing back. He clamped her tighter still, his hand splaying across her back, pushing her against his hardened length.
Oh God . . .
She couldn’t help the speeding of her pulse or the way the feel of him made her wet. He was attractive and sexual. And dangerous. So, so dangerous.
Right now, there was a chance that fact was turning her on even more.
“You think I haven’t spent the day daydreaming about your mouth?” Brooks brought his thumb to her lower lip, dragging it across with a featherlight touch, then down so he could feel the wetness of her mouth. Almost involuntarily, her tongue darted against his thumb, a sensual thrill going through her.
“God, Madison.” He held her chin with his forefinger and thumb. “You should get out of here. Because if you don’t, I’m going to kiss you. And if I do that, I won’t want to stop.”
Her heart pounded as his eyes locked on hers, her body powerless to move out of his grip.
Because I want him to kiss me.
I want to feel his mouth on mine.
I want . . .
She wanted to fuck him.
This was so, so bad.
“That’s just the whiskey talking, Brooks,” she whispered, struggling to get her voice out.
“Maybe. But I knew before I took a single sip tonight that I wanted to spread your legs and kiss that clit of yours. Taste you. See you come undone and then drive my cock into you and fuck you hard. That what you want to hear, Madison? That I can’t stop thinking about you? That it drove me crazy you didn’t come today?”
Her breath strangled, her mind racing.
Any more of this and she’d be a puddle ready to do just about anything to get some relief from the growing tension inside her.
Her face was burning as he lowered his lips to hers, an electric sizzle pulsed through her, and her clit practically twitched with anticipation. She was soaked and ready for him.
But she couldn’t do this.
He was drunk.
A snap of a twig helped pull her out of the trance. She checked over her shoulder at the surrounding woods, then took a breath.
She pulled away, her body immediately hating the absence of him.
He took a stumbling step forward, reaching for her as she stepped out of his grasp.
He wouldn’t try to force her, would he?
“Not tonight. Let’s go inside.” She held out her hand.
Brooks’s face darkened. “You don’t want to?”
“I do, actually. I want to kiss you. Maybe even make a few terrible decisions with you. But there’s this little thing called consent, and you’re too drunk to give it.” She slipped her fingers into his and tugged his hand. “Let’s go, rock star. I’m putting you to bed. In the completely nonsexual sense of the word.”
Please, Brooks. Be the man I think you are.
He stared at her for several beats, his expression unreadable. Then he nodded, allowing her to lead him from the dock.
She grabbed her shoes but carried them in one hand, opting to walk barefoot through the cold, wet grass. Whatever miracle had gotten Brooks to listen to her and come along without protesting, she wasn’t going to question it.
She led him in through the basement door, then locked it behind her. Taking him up the stairs, she fumbled in the dark through the unfamiliar house until she found the hallway that led to his bedroom.
Flipping the light on to his room, she held the door open and released his hand at last. In the light, she could see the glassy look in his eyes more clearly, the pallor on his face. He swayed, then made a face. “I think I’m going to be sick.”
“Well, yeah, Romeo, you were trying to win the world-championship in bourbon solo drinking tonight.” Maddie led him to the bathroom, flipping on lights as she went. Just as they reached the toilet, he lunged forward.
“Go on,” he managed, falling to his knees in front of the toilet. “I don’t want to be sick in front of you.”
She nodded, then backed out, leaving him as the sound of his retching filled the space.
Maddie set her hand over her eyes, rubbing her temples.
“But I knew before I took a single sip tonight that I wanted to spread your legs and kiss that clit of yours. Taste you. See you come undone and then drive my cock into you and fuck you hard.”
Good God, the man and his mouth.
Not one of her boyfriends had ever talked to her like that, which seemed to widen the gap between them. Her inexperience and his clear abundance of experience. This hadn’t been an offer for some sort of relationship that could lead to forever.
He’d offered sex. Raw, feral, unattached sex with him. And he obviously knew what he was doing in that department.
Somehow, she’d narrowly dodged the temptation he’d offered. Like she’d passed some great test.
Congratulations, Maddie, you don’t take advantage of drunk men.
Maybe it wouldn’t matter to him, but she sure as hell knew how much it would matter in reverse. She sighed. “You okay? Want me to get you some water?”
“Just go!” Brooks hollered back.
Better to give him some space.
She went back out to the kitchen, poured him a glass of water, then brought it back to the bedroom. Setting it on the nightstand beside the bed, she sat wearily.
“Can you go check on Brooks, please?” Cormac had asked.
“What can I do? I barely know him, Cormac.”
“You might be able to save him, Maddie. I don’t know. But I know Brooks. And I’ve never seen him so out of it.”
Saving a rock star was not on the agenda for her life.
But he wasn’t just some random guy on a poster anymore, either.
She’d felt a tug between them. Thought about him all day, every day, since they’d met on Sunday.
And apparently, it’s not so one-sided.
A small cry made her sit straighter.
Maddie frowned, then turned toward the door.
Was it some wounded animal?
She listened more closely.
“Audrey!” Maddie leaped off the bed, then rushed out of the primary suite toward the sound of Audrey’s cries.
She found the four-year-old sitting up in the bed, tears staining her cheeks. “Mommy!” Audrey cried. “I want my mommy!”
Maddie picked her up. “Shhh . . . honey, it’s okay. You’re safe.”
Audrey flailed against her. “Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!”
Lindsay used to have night terrors like this.
But that was a long time ago.
Bouncing her gently, Maddie carried Audrey out of the dark room and back down the hall toward the primary suite. Brooks was still in the bathroom, so Maddie turned off the lights, continuing to stroke Audrey’s back while she rocked her little body.
When Audrey still didn’t calm down, Maddie sang “Hallelujah . ” The Rufus Wainwright song had been one of her niece’s favorites when Maddie babysat her.
Midway through the last verse, as Audrey continued to sob, Maddie switched to “Wildfire . ”
Maybe Brooks would hear her, but she didn’t care right now. Audrey was crying so loudly that she had to sing loud enough so that she’d hear her.
Almost like magic, the tension in the little girl’s body eased.
Maddie didn’t have to question the lyrics—she’d listened to the song twenty times today alone.
Audrey’s breathing softened and Maddie’s arm ached, so she inched closer to the bed and crawled onto it. She didn’t want to put Audrey near the edge of the bed where she might roll off, so she climbed to dead center and laid her on the pillow.
Audrey moaned, clinging to Maddie as she tried to pull away. At last, Maddie gave up and lay beside her, continuing to sing and stroke her back until she’d calmed and breathed softly, curled in her arms.
Then the darkness crept in, and, exhausted, Maddie drifted off to sleep.