Chapter 5
5
MADISON
I have to say, since I’ve felt that my friends and I have been drifting apart, I don’t feel the need to try to impress them as much. But tonight was a total check mark. It felt so easy to be outgoing and make so many connections with Wyatt at my side. And, yeah, they were impressed.
Everything feels so natural with him. As if I’ve known him for much longer than I really have.
A few prickles of nervousness drift through me as he takes my hand on the way to our room. I genuinely trust him, but still… We’re being thrown into such a strange situation.
“Here we are.” Wyatt smiles as we reach the door, then snorts out a laugh. “These suites are so fancy, I feel like I should be carrying you over the threshold, but that would just give my mother even more ideas.”
Once inside, I stop in the center of the room. “Wow, it’s even better than the photos,” I murmur. “That never happens.”
Aadland Lodges seem to have perfected the formula to making spaces feel both cozy and magical at the same time. It’s just a smidge over the top, in plush, comfortable ways: the super soft comforter folded across the foot of the bed in the perfect shade of sage green. The two dark wooden beams across the ceiling. The thick slab of the window ledge, and the mantel over the quietly understated stone fireplace. The natural wooden floors, with a thick rug surrounding the bed.
“Pretty amazing, right?” Wyatt grabs my hand again and pulls me toward the window. “Check out the lake.”
My breath catches as we lean out over the balcony. The moon is a few days past full, but still bright in the sky as it hovers over the large lake, casting a silvery glow over the forest.
“Beautiful,” I murmur, breathing in the fresh night air.
“Yes. Very.”
There’s something in Wyatt’s tone that makes me turn. Looking up into his deep green eyes, his smile is different. He’s looking at me as if… My breath catches. As if all this romantic stuff is starting to become real.
“There are two things I need to mention,” he says hesitantly.
“Okay, shoot.” We’ve already been connecting so well over the past several hours that I’m not too worried. In fact, I’m growing excited about sharing such close quarters with this gorgeous man.
“Now that my third sister is getting married, Heather is hell-bent on me tying the knot as soon as humanly possible, too. So if she gets pushy, I apologize. Truly.” The outer corners of his eyes crinkle just a little. Why do I find that so sexy?
Maybe because every single inch of his massive body is sexy. His sharply cut jaw. Those broad shoulders. His chest, which is incredibly firm…
Well, would you look at that. My hand must have settled in the center of it while I wasn’t paying attention.
“Look, Wyatt, I’m here to make your sister’s special weekend go smoothly for you. So let’s…well, not lead your mom on , exactly, but… Let her think whatever she wants to think.” Wyatt’s hand is pressed against my lower back protectively, as if he’s worried I might topple over the balcony railing. Somehow, I can feel it all the way down the back of my thighs. “Um, What was the other thing?”
“Your friends really expected us to kiss. You could tell. I don’t know how much you care about that.”
“Oh.” My mind starts racing. Does it really matter what they think? We’re turning into colleagues and business contacts more than close friends. There’s no reason for me to pretend to be something I’m not around them anymore. Although they genuinely seemed impressed when they met Wyatt, and I know it raised their opinion of me a few steps.
“Well, if the occasion presents itself again, and you feel it’s appropriate, go ahead. Especially if your family expects it.”
Wyatt chuckles, tipping my chin up with his finger. “It was appropriate earlier, but it didn’t feel right for our first kiss to be just for show. With a ton of witnesses. In a deafening lounge.” He only leans forward an inch, but combined with the pressure against my back, and the way his head slowly tilts, I know what’s about to happen.
A wash of adrenaline surges through my body. I’ve wanted this from the first second I laid eyes on him, but didn’t really expect it. I mean, come on. He’s gorgeous and successful. His life is completely together. I looked up his pharmacy during one of our restroom stops on the drive – he’s in charge of a team of four other pharmacists at a very busy shop. It’s also obvious if you take one look at me that I’m not nearly as interested in going to the gym as he is.
But from the way his eyes lock on mine, it honestly feels like he wants me. Me. Some random nobody who was, apparently, in the right place at the right time. We’re truly connecting now, and the feeling of closeness is making my head spin.
“Right here in front of the lake, under the moon with the forest breeze… Does that feel more appropriate?” His whispered breath drifts across my mouth as I shift, closing the distance between us.
Our lips meet gently, in a light kiss that sends my mind reeling – tentative at first, as if he’s testing my reaction.
Of course he is. This is a chemical reaction, and he’s fascinated by those. As his hands trace slowly up my waist, my back, then across my shoulders, our lips part as the kiss deepens. As my fingertips trace along the top of his shoulders, then into the back of his hair, it occurs to me that I’ve never kissed anyone with my entire body before. It feels amazing.
My nipples tighten as they brush across his chest, and I shiver when our hips shift at the same time, searching for more points of contact. It takes a moment of feeling his skin on the palm of my hand before I realize I’m rubbing the back of his neck. Wyatt groans softly, his hand drifting across my shoulders and then sliding down the back of my sundress.
“Every single inch of you is so soft,” he breathes across my lips. “Tell me, Madison – am I staying on my side of the bed tonight, or may I cuddle you a little?”
“A lot,” I blurt without thinking. “We should probably cuddle a lot.” My eyebrow quirks up. “You know… Just in case someone barges in to check on us.”
He nods, his eyes sparkling. “Good point.”
We get ready for bed, and I realize with a thud I hadn’t anticipated sharing a room when packing. I usually sleep in an old stretched-out camisole that’s practically a nightgown and a pair of pink and blue boy short undies featuring cartoon unicorns. Not exactly sexy. But somehow, I don’t think that Wyatt is going to mind.
He’s already in bed when I emerge from the bathroom. “Cute shorts,” he laughs. “May I call you unicorn butt?”
I snort. “You may not .”
He holds the covers open for me so I can slip in. “Wow,” I murmur, wriggling around in the amazing sheets. “These are so soft. And I love how heavy the blankets are.”
“That’s one thing I really like about spring,” he says, propping himself up on an elbow. It gives me a proper look at his shoulders and the top of his chest, making it very hard to stop myself from biting my lip. “Warm days and cool nights. I always sleep better with lots of blankets.”
“Me too.”
He fluffs my pillow, then his, then opens his arms while waggling his eyebrows.
Somehow, the terms of our agreement – him helping me network, and me being his excuse to keep his family slightly at arm’s length – have grown quite fuzzy around the edges. I don’t care one bit.
I snuggle in as he curls an arm under me, his free hand resting lazily on my hip as we get our legs organized and my head falls against his shoulder. “If I crowd you in the night, just roll me away,” he says gently. Then he kisses my forehead. “Sweet dreams, Madison.”
My palm glides slowly over his collarbone and up his throat, coming to a stop on the line of his jaw as I stare at him expectantly. I can just make out his grin in the near dark. There’s a teasing gleam in his eye. “You want a good night kiss, don’t you?”
Busted. “What makes you think that?” I whisper.
“No idea. But I was in charge of the first kiss, so if you want another, you’re going to have to take it.”
He’s already pulling my hip slightly to angle us closer, and we meet in the middle of the bed. The kiss would knock my socks off if I was wearing any. I shouldn’t be thinking about the fact that he’s wearing nothing but a pair of boxer shorts, and the huge expanse of warm skin in front of me.
A deep shudder runs through me as I remember how hard he was when I was sitting in his lap. Do I really do that to him? Is he like that again now? It’s possible, since he won’t bring our hips together. Maybe he is, and he’s shy about it. That in itself is adorable.
The heat of the kiss builds and intensifies until my heart might explode. It feels like his mouth was made for mine. Suddenly he pulls away with a sharp inhale. “Sexiest woman I’ve ever met,” he murmurs. “Darlin’, if you had any idea what I’m thinking, you would slap me so hard.”
My lips graze his ear. “What if I’m thinking the same thing?” Wait – how did I just say that? I’ve never been this outgoing. It’s almost unnerving how comfortable he makes me.
“Naughty thing.” His hand gives the underside of my ass a light spank. “I’m trying very hard to be the good guy here. Sweet dreams, Madison.”
It feels completely natural to drift off to sleep in his arms. To listen to his heartbeat under my ear.
But just before I fall completely asleep, my eyes snap open for a split second. He called me darlin’ . Was he just being silly, or…
I’m seriously thinking that our feelings are becoming real at lightning speed. Too fast for a phony relationship. Too fast to be logical.
Still… It feels right.