Chapter 26
TWENTY-SIX
Jesse
Madeline is curled sideways in her seat, her shoulder resting lightly against the door, humming along softly to the song on the radio.
She’s wearing comfy clothes and looks completely different from the polished, button-upped version of her I normally see at work.
But that hoodie hanging off one shoulder, the delicate chain at her throat, the slick back ponytail trailing down her back…
all of it keeps pulling my eyes off the road.
We are fifteen minutes into the drive and having Madeline so close to me has everything feeling amplified. The way her knee is folded in her seat. The curve of her jaw. The way her fingers tap absently against her thigh in time to the music. I notice all of it.
She turns her head, catching me staring. I don’t bother looking away.
“So,” I say. “Are you going to tell me what you’ve been up to lately?”
Her eyes narrow, the smallest smirk tugging at her mouth like she knows exactly why I’m asking. Of course she knows. She had been keeping me at an arm’s length distance all last week, not avoiding me but slipping away every time I got close.
“Why?” she teases. “Are you trying to keep tabs on me, Jesse?”
“Maybe.” I smile. “So? What did you get up to?”
She exhales like she’s been waiting to talk to someone. “Last weekend I went to stay with my sister. Helped out with my niece, Marigold. I watched her for a couple of hours so Cara and Ryan could go on a date night.”
I smile at that. “She’s lucky to have a sister like you, Mads. I’m glad you have her too.”
Her cheeks flush a pale pink, and her gaze falls to our hands, still clasped together and resting on her thigh.
My thumb makes lazy circles against her soft skin.
I notice the softening in her eyes—it’s subtle, but it makes me feel like I’ve been handed something delicate, like she’s finally letting herself open up to me.
She looks at me, and I can tell she has a question on her mind.
“What is it?” I ask her.
“I was just wondering…do you ever talk to your dad? You or your brothers? You never really mention him.”
The question knocks me off balance, I didn’t see it coming. I look back at the road. Our hands are still linked, but the slow stroke of my thumb over her skin has frozen.
“No,” I say, hating that I’m lying to her. “None of us talk to him. We haven’t in years.”
“None of you?”
“None of us,” I lie again. “We cut him off. It was hard, but it had to be done.”
Madeline stays quiet, listening, waiting for me to say more. I keep going because I have to give her something real to cover the parts I can’t tell her.
“My dad…he drinks a lot. He’s not the kind of drunk who gets funny or mellow. He gets mean. He gets loud and cruel and unpredictable. Being around him was bad for us all.”
“Was it hard? To just sever your relationship with him?”
It takes me a second to answer her. I know that she has her own struggles with her parents, and I can’t help but wonder if she’s trying to understand my family better or her own.
The thought makes my chest tighten. Walking away may seem like a solution, but it’s a really hard choice to make.
I would never want to push her toward that.
I know all too well what it feels like to not have a mother or a father in my life.
Unlike my brothers, I haven’t cut my dad out of my life entirely, but we don’t have a real relationship either.
“It wasn’t easy,” I admit. “And it wasn’t something I ever wanted to do. But sometimes you hit a point where staying hurts more than leaving.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I see her swallow.
“And hey,” I add. “Everyone’s situation is different. What we did…that was right for us, but it doesn’t mean it’s right for everyone.”
She nods slowly. “I’m glad you have your brothers,” she says softly.
I clear my throat, trying to lighten the heaviness settling between us. “Yeah. They keep me in check.”
“I can imagine,” she laughs. “You four must get in some trouble when you aren’t being supervised. I mean, I’ve seen you in action, Jesse. You get a lot of attention. Especially from the opposite sex.”
“I hate that our paths had to first cross that way. I’m not the type of guy you think I am, Madeline.
I know you got a bad impression of me that night we met, but I hope you’ve seen that’s not me.
I couldn’t even see straight after meeting you.
Nothing was ever going to happen with that girl at the brewery.
If I thought for even a microsecond that night that there was a chance of getting you to see me again, I wouldn’t have even looked at her. ”
“But she was into you, and she made that extremely clear.”
“Mads,” I say, letting a hint of a grin pull at my mouth. “Are you jealous?”
“No!” she answers immediately, but she can’t hide the pink that’s crept into her cheeks.
I laugh under my breath. “You sure?”
“I’m sure.” She’s staring straight ahead like she’s afraid to glance in my direction.
“Hmm.” I tap my thumb against the steering wheel, enjoying this way too much. “Because it kinda sounds like jealousy.”
She shoots me a scandalized look. “It isn’t. I just— it was noticeable, that’s all.”
I take my hand out of hers and rest it on her thigh, giving it a squeeze. “Okay,” I say. “Then let me make something else…noticeable.”
I pull the car over to the side of the road so I can have her complete attention. “One of the reasons I wanted to take you out today is because I wanted to talk to you,” I tell her. “To make something clear.”
She turns toward me fully, waiting with her pretty brown eyes locked on mine.
“I haven’t thought about another woman since the night I met you at Replay.
” Her lips part just slightly. “I’m not interested in random girls at bars.
I’m not touching anyone else. I’m not even looking at anyone else.
When I’m into someone, I’m only into them.
” I hold eye contact, my thumb stroking her thigh once. “And right now? I’m only into you.”
Her inhale is shaky, but then she grabs my hoodie and drags me toward her, covering my mouth with hers.
Her hands curl into the fabric of my shirt.
The kiss hits hard, but not rushed, slow enough that it sinks under my skin and deep enough that before I can even think about it, I’ve pulled her into my lap.
Her lips part and her tongue brushes mine in soft, teasing strokes.
I move my hand to the nape of her neck, swallowing the sound she makes in the back of her throat.
For a moment, I forget what we were just talking about.
All that exists are her warm, lingering kisses and her pelvis rutting over my hardening cock.
A groan tears out of my chest before I can stop it.
“Mads,” I whisper.
She looks back at me, lips swollen, eyes wide.
“As much as I love getting you naked in public places,” I murmur, brushing my thumb over the corner of her kiss-bruised mouth, “the side of the road is a little different than my brother’s downstairs bathroom.
We can’t be arrested for public indecency. ”
A breathless laugh escapes her. “You’re right. I wasn’t made for prison.”
“Yeah,” I grin. “Bet you’d look hot in that orange jumpsuit, though.”
Her head falls against my shoulder as she laughs. I lower my lips to the crown of her head. “Let me take you somewhere I can actually touch you without getting arrested.”
“I’m good with that.”
I pull back onto the road, my hand finding hers again in her lap. I’m genuinely surprised I’m able to drive with a hard-on. I try to get my situation under control, but I’m rock hard and not sure how I’m going to will my raging cock to settle down.
I didn’t expect this afternoon to start off quite this good, but I’ll take it.