Chapter Thirty-Eight
Ryan
Despite appearances, Maddie is still jittery from the discovery her mom dropped on her earlier. She’s fidgeting, up and down on the couch, and generally restless despite me turning on her favorite show, heating up leftovers from yesterday, and doing my best not to pester her.
Since it’s only me here, I’m not really sure what I’m meant to do in this situation.
Baxter is sleeping in our apartment after spending hours on the road, Caiden is hosting a night session for the disgustingly wealthy customers he trains at his gym, and Rayne is running late at his studio after his French actor’s tattoo appointment ran over into today and lasted much longer than he anticipated.
It’s just me, myself, and I here to watch Maddie fidget herself into a frenzy. By the fifth time she stands to do something that doesn’t need doing, I decide enough is enough.
“Trouble, are you okay?” I ask, just as she trudges back into the living room wearing nothing but sleep shorts and a cropped shirt that reveals her lack of bra.
I’ve done my very best not to notice, because it’s clear that Toby making an appearance again has bothered her more, knowing he’s also appearing at her parents’ home, but I am a man with perfectly working eyes.
Seeing her nipples through the material that leaves nothing to the imagination is a test of one’s willpower, and I’ve been fighting mine every second since she changed into comfier clothing.
“Hm?” Maddie hums before nodding and saying, “Oh, yeah, I’m good. Just have a case of unresolved wiggles.”
“Unresolved wiggles,” I repeat, squinting while I try not to laugh at the serious way those words leave her full lips.
She takes her seat once more, tucking her feet under my leg as she’s done since we got home, and I reach for her calf before she can jump up and fix the coffee table’s position for the fourth time.
Maddie looks over at me and blinks, pretty blue eyes a little zoned out even as she smiles, those full lips of hers tugging upward.
I don’t like it. I don’t like that Toby is in her head after just one encounter.
The last time he wormed his way into her thoughts, we didn’t see her for a week, and it was the most miserable week I’ve had in a very long time.
So, wanting to do something to occupy her mind with anything but that cheating asshole, I turn toward her and tell the blue-haired menace, “I just remembered something.”
“Oh, yeah? Is it where you buried those bodies you mentioned before?” she quips, fast with the little retort that makes me grin, because that means Toby isn’t completely overtaking her thoughts. That’s progress.
“You’d remember, too, if you’d been listening,” I counter, teasing her back into the present.
“Oh my God,” she dramatically proclaims, turning to face me with a playfully exasperated look.
“I explained myself already. I’m not a numbers girl, so if you’re going to confess to crimes I’m still not a hundred percent sure aren’t real, then do it before you try to talk to me about stocks and shares.
I assure you, I will pay so much attention that I’ll know more about the crimes than you by the end of it. ”
I chuckle, squeezing her calf. “I’m serious. I remembered something.”
“Well, that explains the smoke coming out of your ears,” the little smart-ass retorts, lips twitching. “By all means, share it with me before the thought dissolves and we have to repeat this entire conversation.”
“That sass,” I huff out another laugh. “Do you remember beating me home from Blackline?”
She nods easily, smirking at the TV. “Of course.”
“You remember the bet we made?” I ask, watching her face carefully as she thinks it over.
I catch the moment the light bulb goes off in her mind, and those pretty pale-blue eyes of hers light up like I’ve just presented a gift she’s always wanted.
Her mouth parts with a little gasp, and she turns to face me so suddenly that she almost falls right off the couch entirely. “The back tickling!”
Nodding, I tilt my head and ask, “Where would your thoughts be if I suggested you cash in your bet now?”
Maddie perks right up as though I’ve asked her if she wants to go spend five thousand bucks on cupcakes and cookies, and I know my answer before she’s even uttered the words.
“Ryan, respectfully… are seagulls secret cannibals?” she counters, and I pause.
I guess I didn’t know the answer, because what?
Tilting my head, I mutter, “I don’t know the answer to that.”
“The answer is yes, Ryan. And if you hadn’t abandoned me to a fate worse than death yesterday, you would have witnessed the seagulls gobbling down the chicken you knocked over,” she clarifies, and I groan as I drop my head back in defeat.
I’m never living that down.
“God forbid a man wants to feed his girlfriend,” I pitifully grumble, and I’m rewarded with a pretty giggle that has me turning to face her again.
“Girlfriend. That’s the first time any of us have used titles,” Maddie points out, and I suddenly feel like an ass for not doing it sooner.
Not that there’s been much of an opportunity to slip the word into normal conversation until now.
I find that I love the sound of it on my tongue, though, so I make a note to use it more when she’s around.
“Well, girlfriend,” I start, smirking when a gorgeous blush blooms on her cheeks. “If the answer is yes, why are you still sitting over there? Come here and I’ll pay my debts.”
Maddie is out of her seat before I can even conjure my next thought, and I laugh as she trips on a blanket and scrambles to right herself. She points her finger and demands, “You didn’t see that.”
I nod dutifully, saluting her with a playful gesture that she rolls her eyes at, but then I hold my arms out for her to crawl into and she wastes no time doing exactly that.
She kneels between my legs and is about to use me as a body pillow before she pauses and a funny little look crosses her pretty features.
“What? What is it?” I question, watching her closely for any sign of discomfort.
She bites her lip before squinting down at me for the longest second, only then shattering my thoughts when she asks, “Is this an activity I have to wear a shirt for?”
Hell, I almost swallow my tongue, because I know there’s nothing beneath that shirt. That would mean I’ll have a partially naked Maddie lying on top of me, and honestly, I don’t know if my willpower is that strong.
I guess there’s only one way to find out.
My head is a little jerky when I shake it in answer, my voice carrying a hint of a rasp that wasn’t there before when I say, “Lie however you feel most comfortable. If that’s without a shirt, then I promise you won’t hear a single complaint from me.”
Maddie laughs suddenly, her head falling back with the force of it, her blue hair spilling down her back in waves.
She rests her hands on my raised knees for balance, and I can do nothing but sit back and watch, swallowing hard when I run my gaze over every inch of her.
There might be every chance my eyes linger in places they shouldn’t, but it can’t be helped.
It’s like offering a steak to a lion and expecting him not to eat it, and I’m currently battling a hunger like I’ve never felt before.
But battle it I will, because I have more than enough respect for Maddie and would never cross boundaries between us. Unless she gives me the go-ahead, I’m more than happy to simply take a few sneaky peeks and nothing more.
So, when her head drops and she looks down at me with stunning eyes that glitter with joy and amusement, I feel my chest fill with warmth and something else I can’t quite place.
It’s me laughing next when she teases, “I’m sure you wouldn’t mind.”
“I’m a guy, trouble. There isn’t a scenario in the world where I would turn down holding my girlfriend while she’s bare from the waist up so I can tickle her back,” I point out, enjoying the little back and forth between us.
“Well, in that case…” she chuckles, right before she shocks the ever-loving shit out of me, leaving me stunned in place and unable to do anything but gape at the beauty before me.
Her shirt is over her head before I can catch my next breath, revealing her upper body to my greedy eyes.
There isn’t an ounce of embarrassment, shyness, or discomfort coming from her, and I feel like the king of the damned world when I realize she’s more than at ease with me.
She’s comfortable allowing herself to be vulnerable, revealing herself to me like it’s just another day.
Blowing out a shaky breath, my gaze soaking in every inch of revealed skin like I’ve never seen a woman’s body before in my life, I jokingly rasp, “You’re a test of a man’s self-control, trouble. Now come here before I make things weird.”
She laughs, and I’m hypnotized by the sight of her pert breasts swaying with the movement, even more so when she leans forward and drops her body on top of mine.
While she gets comfortable on top of me, I’m chewing on my fist, trying to ignore how good it feels to have her pressed against me.
It doesn’t work, and I already know the situation in my pants is about to become an issue.
Sure enough, it’s not even a minute later before Maddie quips, “Is that a fake wooden dick or are you just happy to see me?”
“Jesus Christ,” I snicker, unable to feel an ounce of shame, because there is absolutely nothing shameful about the way Maddie makes me feel.
It’s a simple reaction to having her gorgeous body lying on top of mine, her warmth seeping through my shirt, the curve of her body molding against mine like it was designed to fit me perfectly.
Fuck, if that didn’t make me hard, then I’d worry I had some problems I’d need to work through.
Wiping a hand over my face, I instruct, “Just ignore it.”