20. Nate
Madison was freaking out. She was obsessing over every piece of furniture in the barn, pointing out details that most other people wouldn’t even notice. The pieces she lingered on the most all happened to be my favorites. I liked watching her enjoy the things I’d worked hard to create. My family had always supported my hobby, but Madison was fascinated by it.
“I definitely want a bookcase,” she told me as we drove back to her cabin. “More than one. I need a bunch of them for all my books.”
“How many books are we talking about?” I asked warily. I had already decided that I was going to build her anything she wanted.
“That’s personal.” Her smile was playful. “That’s the equivalent of asking you how many women you’ve slept with.”
“How are those two questions equally personal?” I was laughing yet again. I hadn’t had much reason to laugh over the last couple of years, but Madison had changed that.
“I’ll tell you my number if you tell me yours,” she countered.
I shrugged. “Fire away.”
“About 2,000.”
“You’ve had sex with 2,000 women?” I asked with a loud gasp.
“2,000 books, idiot.” She giggled as she slapped my arm.
“That is a shit ton of books, Madison.” I would be building her a lot of bookcases to accommodate that many books.
“I like to read.” She crossed her arms. “Your turn, Sullivan. How many women?”
I hesitated. It wasn’t that I was embarrassed by my number of sexual partners, I just didn’t want to make Madison uncomfortable. “I haven’t been keeping a tally.”
“A rough estimate is sufficient.”
“Twenty.” I glanced at her. “Two girls in high school. A half-dozen in college. About ten or so since then.”
“Twenty.” Her eyebrows knit together. “Is that a lot?”
I laughed awkwardly. “I don’t know. I think that’s up to you to decide.”
“I mean, is that above average for a guy your age? I obviously am not a good assessor of this kind of thing given my number of zero.”
“It’s all relative, Madison. If I had met the right girl in high school, my number might only be one. But I’ve been single for most of my life. I’ve only been in one relationship that lasted longer than a few weeks.”
“Tell me about her.”
Shit. I never should’ve hinted at anything to do with Fiona. “I’d prefer not to open that wound,” I said, hands tightening on the steering wheel.
Our playful banter ended abruptly. Madison sensed that I was shutting down and she pulled back as well. With neither of us eager to break the silence, I switched on the radio. Madison sat up straighter in her seat and I fought back a smile. I knew from Emma’s tutelage that this was one of Madison’s most famous songs. Also because of my niece, I happened to know most of the words.
When I started singing along with the radio, Madison whirled. “Oh my god, don’t. This is so embarrassing.”
“Embarrassing? It’s a great song.” I turned it up louder and kept singing. “Come on, babe. I know that you know the words.”
“I hate you,” she mumbled before losing her battle against a smile. Very faintly, I heard her beautiful voice join mine.
It quickly became clear that I couldn’t hold a candle to her natural talent, but that didn’t stop me from singing all the way to the end. When I messed up a few words in the chorus, Madison giggled and started replacing the real words with my mistakes. I stopped at a red light and trailed off at the end of the song, letting her hit the high note all by herself.
When she caught me staring at her, a stupid, smitten smile on my face, she blushed. “What?”
“It’s easy to forget when I’m with you that you aren’t a civilian like the rest of us. You really are a superstar, Madison.” I had a hard time reconciling that the woman sitting in my truck was also the woman who recorded award-winning albums and played them on sold-out concert tours. “What the hell are you doing with a guy like me?”
“I am just a regular person, Nate. I want the same things as everyone else. Health, happiness, friends, and family. The only thing special about me is that a bunch of people happen to know who I am.”
“Madison, that’s the least special thing about you.” I hated that her perception of herself was so poor. “Are you sure that you don’t mind if we stop by Harper’s store?”
“Of course not.” She was back to being quiet again, lost in her thoughts.
Harper had asked me to make a chalkboard sign with a wooden frame that she could put outside The Final Chapter to decorate and announce sales. It hadn’t taken me long to throw it together, but I kept forgetting to give it to her. Since we would be driving down Main Street, it was the perfect time to drop it off.
Harper was busy helping a customer and Madison disappeared into the stacks on a search for even more books. I leaned the sign against the register and followed Madison.
“2,000 books isn’t enough?” I teased.
“There’s no such thing as enough books.” She handed me an especially large volume. “Hold that, please.”
“A biography of Winston Churchill?” That was unexpected. “If you want a really good book about him, you should check out the ones written by Manchester.”
Her hand froze on the spine of another large book. “Are you a reader?”
“Not as obsessively as you, but yes. I enjoy reading.”
She pressed a hand to her heart. “You’re about to give me another orgasm, Sullivan.”
“I had no idea it was that easy.” I loved her flirty smile and the way she leaned toward me when I spoke, like just a few inches between us was too much.
“What kind of books do you read? Romance?” She waggled her eyebrows. “An obsession with smut would explain a lot about your bedroom skills.”
“I like non-fiction. History stuff mostly. Classics. Some science fiction. Thrillers and mysteries.” I grabbed one of my favorite books from the shelf and added it to the one I was already holding. I thought Madison would like it. “I’m not opposed to reading a smutty story though, as long as we can role-play it later.”
“If you keep saying shit like that, I’m going to have to ask you to marry me.”
“If you keep smiling at me like that, I’ll have to agree to marry you.” I selected another book for her and took the one she handed me. “Napoleon?”
“Not a fan?”
“I don’t know much about that time period. I may have to borrow this when you’re done.” I was intrigued by the idea of trading books with a woman I also wanted to trade orgasms with.
“You can read it first.” She patted the top of the stack. “I’ve got some other reads to keep me busy.”
“Do you want to keep looking?”
She shook her head. “The more I look, the more I will buy. Let’s just stick with these books for now.”
Harper’s customer was just leaving when we reached the counter and she was downright giddy when she saw us.
“I was just thinking about the two of you.” She grinned as she took the stack of books from me. “Will you be bringing your new girlfriend to the game this afternoon, brother?”
“Shit, the game. I forgot.” I gave Madison an apologetic look. “The twins are in a hockey league and they play on Mondays at 4. I usually try to go.”
“That sounds fun.” She smiled as she reached into her pocket for her wallet.
I handed Harper my credit card. “My treat, angel.”
“Nate, I can’t let you do that.” She frowned and looked like she was thinking of snatching the card from Harper’s hand.
“Yes, you can. I’m wooing you, remember?” I winked at her. “I’m sure you can think of a way to pay me back tonight.”
“Okay, ew.” Harper swiped the credit card with a grimace. “I’m happy that you two are happy, but please don’t make sex jokes in front of me.”
“Will you be at the hockey game?” Madison asked, probably trying to get the conversation back to a topic that didn’t make her cheeks flush.
“I’ll be there. The whole Sullivan clan will be there. Well, the ones who live in town, anyway.” She handed me the bag of books. “Thank you for supporting a small business, Mr. Sullivan.”
“I have a feeling we’ll be back soon to spend more of my money.” I winked and held out my hand to Madison. “Ready, angel?”
Before I had even parked my truck in front of the cabin, I sensed that something was wrong. There was nothing obviously out of the ordinary, but the guard who was usually stationed in a vehicle a few feet from the cabin was no longer there. Madison noticed immediately.
“Where’s Gino?”
“I’m not sure.” I checked the clock. “Looks like it is almost shift change. Maybe Gino decided to take off a few minutes early.”
“Eli will be pissed if he finds out.”
“He should be. Those guys have one job. Protect you and make sure the cabin is safe. It’s ridiculous for them to fuck that up.” I yanked open my door and stepped into the snow. I looked for any signs that someone else had been walking through that snow and let out a string of curse words when I saw footprints headed in the direction of Madison’s car.
“What? What’s wrong?”
“Stay in the truck.” I swore again as I took a closer look at her car. “Call Ellison and tell him to get his ass out here.”
Madison ignored my orders and jumped out of the truck. She came around the front of it and froze. “What’s wrong with my car?”
“Your tires have been slashed.” I caught her arm before she could move. “We don’t want to disturb the scene. There are fresh footprints that Ellison needs to see. It might help us track down the asshole who did this.”
“Eli is going to drag me out of Crestwood,” she muttered while scrolling her phone to find his contact information. “He’ll make me go back to LA because that is my most secure home. Or maybe he’ll take me to some undisclosed location.”
“You’re spiraling, Madison. I’m sure he’s not going to overreact.” Actually, he was definitely going to overreact, but I wasn’t going to let him take Madison away unless she wanted to go.
She held out her phone. “You talk to him.”
“Chickenshit.” I took the phone and hit the green call button. Ellison answered after the second ring. “You need to get to the cabin. Someone slashed Madison’s tires and your guys are nowhere to be found.”
“What the fuck? Where is Gino? And Jason?”
“Jason decided not to stick around when he found out Madison was going to be with me at the ranch this morning. I don’t know what happened to Gino. He was here when we left and gone when we got back.”
“I’ll be there in ten.” Ellison was proving himself to be a man of few words.
“Your security team kind of sucks,” I told Madison as I handed the phone to her.
She was still staring at her car. “How am I going to fix this?”
“I’ll take care of it. I know a guy who can tow it to the tire shop. We’ll get you some new tires and it will be good as new.” I touched the tip of her nose. “It’s too cold to be outside while we wait for Ellison. Why don’t you go inside and check on Meadow?”
“If it’s too cold for me to be out here, it’s too cold for you.” The stubborn lift of her chin was adorable.
“I work outside in weather like this, angel. I’ll be fine.” I could see a tremble in her jaw and knew she wasn’t going to keep protesting. “I’ll join you after I talk to Eli.”
“Okay,” she relented quietly. “You don’t think they tried to get into the cabin, do you?”
Shit. I hadn’t even gotten that far in my worrying. It was certainly possible. But all the access points had alarms and if someone had triggered them, Ellison would’ve received an alert and we would be hearing those alarms.
“I doubt it. I think they were just sending a message with your tires.” I thought quickly. “I’ll turn the truck on and crank the heat. You can wait in there until Eli checks out the cabin and makes sure it’s safe.”
“Thank you.” She was bouncing on her toes now.
I hurried to get the truck running and then opened her door. “Into the carriage, princess.”
“You could wait in here with me,” she suggested as she climbed inside. I couldn’t stop myself from squeezing her perfect ass.
“I’m going to take a walk around the cabin. I’ll be right back.”
I circled the cabin from a distance to get a better visual on the area around it. It seemed most likely that the person had come up the same path as us since their tracks would’ve blended in with the ones we had created. With my truck and the bodyguards’ vehicles coming and going, there were plenty of tire tracks to camouflage any nefarious activity.
I didn’t notice any disturbance in the snow near the cabin. By the time I had completed my lap, Ellison was parking next to my truck. Madison rolled down her window rather than get out of my truck. She must’ve been even colder than she’d let on.
“Hey,” I said, leaning against the door above Madison’s window. “All four tires are shredded. The rest of the car looked fine, but we maintained our distance. I did a wide lap of the cabin and didn’t see anything that looked off.”
“Got it.” Ellison was scanning the front of the cabin. “None of the alarms triggered, but I’ll do an in-depth check anyway. I aimed the cameras toward the door, but I think it could’ve picked up activity near her car. I’m going to check the footage.”
“Where are Gino and Jason?” Madison sounded worried.
“Those fucking idiots. Gino left before Stevens could get here for the shift change. Don’t worry. He’s fired now. And I know you told Jason he didn’t need to follow you to the ranch, but those were not my orders. He never should’ve agreed to let you leave without security tailing you.” Ellison’s jaw was tight. “Stevens will be here in ten to watch the cabin and I’ve got Monroe coming to be your bodyguard for the rest of the day.”
“Don’t fire Jason,” Madison said. “He might not have followed your orders, but he followed mine. I told him not to follow us.”
Ellison only looked angrier. “Madi, these men are not here to do what you want. They are here to keep you safe. If they fuck that up, I have to discipline them.”
“But Jason’s wife is pregnant with twins. He needs this job, Eli.” She looked like she was about to cry.
“I’m not going to fire him, but I am going to send him home. He’s not useful to me here if he can’t be trusted to follow orders.” He gave Madison a reassuring smile. “Jason will be alright. It’s not your job to worry about him.”
“I’m going to take her inside if you think it’s safe,” I said.
Ellison nodded. “It’s safe. My alarms wouldn’t fail. We’d know if someone had tried to get inside.”
Madison didn’t say anything as I took her hand and led her inside. Meadow was waiting for us at the door, weaving between our legs in excitement. After our boots and coats were removed, I bent down to pick her up. I could hear more vehicles outside as Ellison’s security team arrived.
“I’m not sure how I feel about you holding another girl,” Madison teased. “Especially a pregnant one.”
Meadow just kept purring and I couldn’t pretend that I didn’t adore the way she relaxed against my chest. “Don’t worry, angel. You’re the only girl I’ll be holding tonight.”
“We have some time before we have to go to the hockey game,” she said with a hopeful lift of her eyebrows. “Maybe it’s my turn to have a meal…”
Blood rushed straight to my dick. “Your security team is right outside.”
“So? I’m going to have security for the rest of my stay in Crestwood. We can’t let that dictate what we do.” She put her hand on my stomach and slowly trailed her fingers down to the button on my jeans.
I was quick to put Meadow down and back Madison further into the cabin, into the living room where all the curtains were still pulled. “You don’t have to do this, Madison.”
“Have to?” She grinned and released the button, moving straight to my zipper. “I’ve been wanting to do this for days, Nate.”
“Me too.” I brushed back her hair and gave her a gentle kiss. Her eyes were wide and bright. “Don’t be nervous.”
“I’ve never…” Her green eyes drifted down. “You’re my first for this, too.”
“Okay. We’ll work together.” I tilted up her chin to bring her eyes back to me. “Just know that there’s literally no way you can screw this up. As long as you watch those pretty teeth of yours, I’m going to enjoy it.”
She laughed and slid a hand over my erection. “I’m going to enjoy it too.”
I backed us to the sofa and gave her one more kiss before shoving down my jeans and boxer briefs. Then I took Madison’s hand and placed it over my hardened shaft. “Like this,” I said, moving it in a slow stroking motion. “Not too hard.”
She nodded and chewed on her lower lip. “Do we need lubrication?”
“That’s what your saliva is for, babe.” One more soft kiss on her lips and then I sank down onto the sofa. “Get between my knees.”
She dropped down quickly, hands on my thighs as she looked at my cock up close for the first time. “You’re, um, big.”
“You can handle it,” I promised, brushing my fingers over her cheek.
She reached out tentatively and swept her finger over the head of my dick, wiping away a bead of arousal. Then she shocked me when she popped that finger into her mouth.
“Fuck, Madison.”
“Yum.” Her giggle nearly made me blow right then. When she saw my cock twitch, she gave me a wicked smile and grabbed it the way I had shown her. I was in for another shock when she leaned close and dragged her tongue from root to tip.
“Yes, babe. That feels incredible.” I shoved back her hair so I had a clear view as she parted her lips and slipped them over my tip while still gripping me with her hand. Her tongue swirled over my sensitive skin and a growl rumbled in my throat.
She kept her eyes locked on mine as she took me in all the way to the back of her throat and then began a slow, torturous retreat. She repeated the motion a couple of times until she got the hang of it and then started moving faster, her lips forming a perfect suction around my cock.
“You’re doing so good, angel. Damn, that feels incredible.” I shoved my hands into her hair and began to set a more urgent rhythm that matched the throbbing building in my spine. “I’m close. I’m going to come.” We hadn’t discussed this part. Was she ready to swallow me down or did I need to pull out?
She looked me right in the eyes and sucked me hard. The implication was undeniable and I released down her throat with a shout of her name. Madison took every last drop before slowly dragging her lips up my length one more time. She licked my tip clean with her tongue and sat back, looking at me nervously.
“How was I?” she asked.
“Perfect.” I used both arms to pull her up, settling her on my lap where my dick was still recovering. “You were perfect, Madison.”
She smiled shyly and kissed my cheek. “Thanks for being my first.”
“Fuck, you don’t have to thank me for that.”
“A lot of guys might’ve taken advantage of me for being so na?ve. You were sweet. Encouraging.” She nestled her face into the curve of my neck. “And now you’ve got me wanting to do that again.”
I chuckled and rubbed her back. “Babe, I’m never going to say no to that.”
“I really like you, Nate,” she said quietly, her lips skimming my neck. “It’s going to be so hard to leave you in a couple of weeks.”
“Yeah.” I didn’t voice what I had been thinking for the last couple of days. That maybe Madison didn’t have to leave. Maybe this thing between us didn’t have to end. Because as hard as she thought it would be to leave me, I knew it was going to be even harder for me to watch her go.