NINE
HAYLEY KNEW IT WAS A BAD idea to get drinks with Maddie from the very second she agreed to it.
She felt like a fish out of water the entire rest of the afternoon, unsure what to do with herself and agonizing over what she should wear.
A quick mental reminder that this was only a friendly outing helped steady her nerves—for a moment, at least.
For Gemma, she told herself, turning it into her mantra for the evening. I’m doing this for Gemma.
All thoughts of altruism vanished as soon as she laid eyes on Maddie.
The woman was captivating, a gemstone of pure turquoise gleaming against a mine of muted tones, her fitted tank top the exact same hue as her eyes.
When Hayley sat down and crossed her legs, her foot accidentally brushed against Maddie’s bare knees under the table, shifting her focus to the short skirt Maddie had paired with her top.
The brief contact sent a sharp thrill straight up Hayley’s spine.
She spent the rest of the night unable to stop thinking about sliding her hands up that skirt, just high enough for her fingers to grasp the soft part of Maddie’s inner thigh.
Keep it in your pants, Hayley reminded herself more than once, the voice in her head sounding just like Gemma’s.
But the longer she sat across from Maddie—warm, confident, gorgeous Maddie—Hayley found it increasingly difficult to keep her emotional armor in place.
A year ago, the woman’s intrusive questions would have gotten on her nerves.
She probably would have walked straight out of the bar based on her track record.
However, that night, something about Maddie’s easy charm held her attention. It made her feel safe.
Hayley’s laughter felt unpracticed and bright, a sudden sound that kept catching her by surprise.
The knotted tension in her shoulders, the running mental tally of Maddox Group sales, and the mountain of laundry awaiting her at home all simply dissolved into background noise.
For the first time in years, the relentless, driving tick of her internal clock stilled.
She hadn’t even planned an escape route, she realized.
Hayley snuck a glance at her Rolex. Her cheeks felt hot, and the buzz in her veins told her it was time to go home.
“We should probably head out.”
Maddie’s eyes widened.
“No, no—not we, as in, together,” Hayley flustered, the alcohol making her thoughts blur. “I’m just ready to head home. You can stay here, though, if you’d like.” Her eyes flitted toward the brunette taking an order at the table across from them. “The waitress seemed quite taken by you.”
Shut up, Hayley.
“Jealous, are we?” Maddie asked, scrutinizing her with a smile.
On cue, the woman suddenly appeared beside them, sliding the black check holder onto their table. She caught Maddie’s eye before reluctantly backing away again.
Hayley cleared her throat. “Of course I’m not jealous,” she insisted, doing her best to appear indifferent. “I think you should go for it, actually.”
“Well, thank you for the permission.” Maddie looked at Hayley as if she were a particularly difficult puzzle.
Desperate for something, anything, to do with her hands, Hayley reached for the check.
Maddie’s palm came down on top of Hayley’s, pinning her to the table. “Nuh-uh, I asked you out, so drinks are on me.”
They held each other’s eyes in a silent stare-down before Hayley finally sighed and pulled away. “Fine, I’ll pick up the tab next—” She snapped her mouth shut, but the damage was already done. Maddie was beaming from ear to ear.
“Next time?” Maddie teased, winking as she handed her credit card over to the server. “I told you. I’m irresistible.”
The woman returned minutes later, and Hayley spotted the loopy handwriting scrawled at the top of the receipt. She couldn’t quite make it out, but she could tell that there was a name and phone number written in the blue ink, followed by a small smiley face.
It normally would have given her great satisfaction to know that she had been right.
But instead of feeling smug, Hayley’s gut twisted.
She forced a playful look toward Maddie that said, I told you so, wondering if she would take the waitress up on her offer.
Would she go home tonight and text her? Meet up with her?
Maddie remained silent as she reached for the slip of paper and began to mentally calculate the tip.
Hayley thought of the messages she had seen light up Maddie’s phone on the park bench.
She was obviously sexting that woman, and Hayley’s fists clenched as she thought about some random clout chaser taking advantage of Maddie’s eager, happy-go-lucky naivety.
She was Madison Crane, after all, and one of the hottest names in Hollywood. She really should be more careful.
Hayley tried not to imagine what kinds of photos had been shared.
She’d love nothing more than to delete that entire thread from Maddie’s phone.
While she was at it, she wanted to shred that bar tab too, starting with the girly handwriting now taunting Hayley as Maddie carefully signed her name at the bottom.
She pasted a tight-lipped smile on her face as Maddie looked up.
“Ready to go?” Maddie asked.
Hayley glanced at the check. There were no scrawled numbers, no flirty quips left in response to the waitress. She turned to Maddie for an explanation, but Maddie only blinked and returned her gaze, patiently waiting for Hayley to lead the way out of the bar.
Hayley threaded her way to the exit, stopping only once they stepped out into the warm summer air. “Hey, you don’t have to leave because of me, you know. I can just catch a cab if you’d like to go back inside.” She hoped she sounded more convincing to Maddie than she did to herself.
“Why would I want to—oh.” Maddie stopped mid-sentence, glancing over her shoulder toward the window at the cute waitress on the other side.
She took a step closer to Hayley, her voice dropping to a low whisper. “Hayley. That is not who I was hoping to end my night with.”
Oh, no. No, no, no. Keep it. In. Your pants.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Hayley’s breath caught at the sudden closeness. “I just told you, Maddie—I don’t date.”
“You also said that this wasn’t a date,” Maddie replied. “So what exactly is the problem here?”
Hayley couldn’t seem to remember. What was the problem? Maddie knew Hayley didn’t want a relationship. She’d been clear about that. And they were both grown women.
“Gemma and Caitlin—the wedding,” Hayley murmured. “I don’t want to make things complicated.”
“Let’s keep it simple, then.” Maddie leaned in, her lips hovering just inches from Hayley’s ear. “Take me back to your place.”
“Are you absolutely sure?” Hayley needed Maddie to be the one to say it. If it was Maddie’s idea, and if she knew going into it that there would be no strings attached, surely Gemma wouldn’t still be upset with her, right?
“I’m sure,” Maddie purred, her breath tickling the side of Hayley’s neck. “Unless you want me to go back inside…”
A shiver slid down Hayley’s spine, pooling deep inside her. She stepped away with a sharp nod and straightened her back, raising one hand to hail a cab, her eyes never leaving Maddie’s face.
Five agonizing minutes later, they were in the elevator on their way up to Hayley’s apartment. They hadn’t said a single word to each other during the cab ride, yet a persistent heat prickled along Hayley’s skin.
In the silver reflection, she could see Maddie glancing sideways at her every few seconds. Hayley focused on her breathing. Her posture. She stared straight ahead as the doors slid open and she strode out, the click of Maddie’s heels following close behind.
As Hayley pulled her keys from her purse, she felt a brush of warmth across her neck as her hair was swept to the side. A pair of lips landed gently below her ear, and her eyes drifted shut, allowing herself to savor the softness of Maddie’s mouth against her skin.
Hayley pressed her tongue to the roof of her own mouth and opened her eyes, concentrating hard on fitting her key into the lock.
When they had finally pushed their way into her apartment, Hayley carefully stepped out of Maddie’s reach. She placed her purse on the entryway table and slowly spun around. Just as she hoped, Maddie was watching her.
“We play by my rules.” Hayley took a step closer to Maddie, her voice dropping to a dangerous quiet. “Is that going to be a problem for you?”
Maddie swallowed hard but shook her head, her eyes wide and hungry.
“Listen closely, then. Because if you can’t follow the rules, then we can’t do this,” Hayley spoke with pure steel, a blade she had spent over a decade honing.
Maddie nodded, and Hayley continued. “You will do exactly what I say. You will not kiss me. You will not touch me. You will not do anything without my permission. Understood?”
“Yes,” Maddie murmured, barely audible.
Hayley took another step closer. “And if you can’t take it, you are going to tell me to stop, very, very clearly. Do you understand?”
“Yes.” Maddie’s reply was a husky whisper, almost unrecognizable. Her chest rose and fell with quick, trembling breaths that strained against her tight tank top.
“Good.”
Hayley watched as Maddie’s eyes flicked around the condo, taking in the stark white walls and ivory furniture. If not for the laptop on the kitchen table, half-buried beneath piles of contracts, an outsider might assume the place was staged.
Hayley cleared her throat, and Maddie’s attention snapped back to her.
Maddie drifted forward and reached for Hayley, then paused with her hands just shy of Hayley’s waist. She looked up at Hayley, a wicked gleam in her eye as she waited obediently.
“Good girl,” Hayley rasped, her voice rough as she closed the gap between them with a final step.
She gathered a fistful of Maddie’s blonde hair and tilted her head back, exposing the smooth, tanned line of her neck. She slid her tongue down Maddie’s skin, watching as her breathing turned shallow.