Chapter 40
FORTY
Jesse
I turn to see Madeline halfway down the marble staircase, the silk of her dress clinging to her curves in all the right places.
“You’re stunning,” I say when she reaches me. “Especially when you look like you’re deciding whether to kill me.”
She looks at me, eyes searching my face. “Jesse,” she says quietly. “What did you just do?”
I shrug. “I handled it…the only way I know how.”
“I didn’t want you to have to drag Wes’s past into the light,” she says. “I didn’t want you—or him—forced into explaining something that was never meant to be public.”
I shake my head. “We were never going to let you come here tonight. Not for one second. We were ready to tell the truth. But then everything happened with my dad and…I just got a little off track. You left before I could tell you the plan.”
Her eyes flash. “I left because you shut me out. You pulled away. What was I supposed to think?”
She’s not angry. That’s the worst part. She’s hurt.
“I know,” I say immediately. “I know, and I’m sorry.
” I scrub a hand over my face. “I really am sorry I hurt you, Mads. My head was a mess. Everything felt like it was closing in at once, and instead of leaning on you, I tried to shoulder it alone. That’s on me.
” I meet her gaze, no deflection or excuses.
“I never meant to shut you out or make you feel like you aren’t important to me. That’s the opposite of what I wanted.”
Her teeth sink into her bottom lip.
“Tell me what you need from me. I’ll do it. Tell me what to do so you can let me back in. So, I can prove that I’m worthy of you.”
Her eyes squeeze shut and she inhales.
“I don’t need a grand gesture, Jesse,” she says quietly.
“I just need you to stay. Talk to me. Let me in. I need you to trust me enough to tell me the hard parts.” She sucks in a breath.
“I’ve been incredibly wary of letting people in.
That’s what happens when people who are supposed to love you make you feel forgotten.
I need honesty. I need to know you’ll talk to me when things get messy. ”
For a long moment, we stand where we are, the air vibrating around us. I know without a shadow of a doubt that I want her. Wanting Madeline Ashcroft feels as natural as breathing. There isn’t a version of our story where I don’t choose her.
I step toward her and trail my fingertips along her arm up her throat to her cheek. “If you’ll…” I brush my thumb along the edge of her chin. “If you give me the chance, I’ll spend every day showing you exactly what you mean to me, and I won’t stop until you believe I’m the man you deserve.”
“Okay,” she whispers, “You can try. There’s no point in pretending right now that I don’t want you. Because Jesse, you look really good in a tux. I mean…really good. It’s hard for me to even think straight.”
A slow grin pulls at the corners of my mouth as she rises up on her tip toes, meeting me halfway for a slow, lingering kiss. I close my eyes as my hands cup her jaw, then slide slowly to her jaw. Everything about this kiss feels honest in the best way.
When she pulls back, I drop my forehead to hers. “I missed you so fucking much, Mads. The second you stepped out of my car that night, I knew I messed up. I’m not doing that again. Never again.”
She murmurs against my lips. “I missed you. I felt it everywhere. In my bones, in my chest, like something essential was missing. Until now.”
A sharp sound echoes off the marble staircase behind us, and reality rushes back in. We pull apart just enough to look respectable, but my hands stay at her waist. A group of hotel guests come down the staircase then past us through the hotel doors.
I huff out a quiet laugh, forehead tipping to my chest. “We should probably…go somewhere more private. Like back to my hotel? I’ve got our suite. The one from our last trip.”
Her coffee-brown eyes flick up to meet mine. “You do?”
“Just for one night. It feels like a waste if we don’t make the most of it.”
She laughs, eyes sparkling. “Then we should hurry,” she says, slipping her hand in mine.
Our fingers stay tangled together as I steer her through the front doors of the hotel.
The night greets us with cool air and the soft sounds of the city.
I squeeze her hand, and she squeezes mine back, an unspoken we’re good passing between us without needing to say it.
We make it all the way to the bellman before her parents catch up with us.
“Madeline,” her father calls.
I hold her hand firmly in mine as we turn to face her parents. This time, Madeline doesn’t need to deal with them on her own. Though, from the look on her face, she isn’t afraid.
“Mr. Ashcroft,” I say evenly.
Madeline’s dad ignores me, his eyes on his daughter. “You are making a big mistake. Since you’re hellbent on being with him, you can forget about any financial support going forward. The trust, your inheritance. All of it.”
I feel Madeline tense beside me, and I squeeze her hand in response. “With all due respect, do you really think that still works?” I ask. “Your threats?”
His jaw tightens. “You’re enjoying this.”
“No,” I tell him evenly. “I’m pointing out how outdated your leverage is. Madeline doesn’t need your money,” I continue. “She has her own career. Her own life. And no need to worry about money ever again—” I shrug. “She has me.”
His eyes flicker. I’ve called his bluff.
“And before you start planning my brother’s takedown,” I add, voice cool as steel. “You should know there is a video of the speech I made tonight telling the truth about my brother’s past. It’s already circulating. I apologize for beating you to it.”
Madeline’s mother inhales sharply. Her father’s face reddens.
“You think you have more power than I do?” her father asks, voice raising. “People will listen to me.”
“Be my guest,” I say simply. “But I wouldn’t waste your time.
You won’t scare me or my brothers. You won’t scare Madeline.
And I will not allow you to control her.
” Madeline’s fingers tighten around mine.
“If you want my advice…put the energy into repairing your relationship with your daughter. That’s the only thing here that actually matters. ”
He scoffs, but there’s uncertainty behind it now.
“I would support that,” I add. “I would never stand in the way of her having a healthy relationship with her parents. But I will not accept anyone blackmailing her, threatening her future, or her happiness. Not you two. Not anyone. You hurt her and I will ruin you. When it comes to Madeline, I will battle anyone, and I will win. This ends here,” I finish.
“What happens next is entirely up to you.”
I wrap my arm around Madeline’s waist and guide her to the opposite side of the driveway.
Behind us, I hear her parents’ footsteps fade away in the opposite direction.
Madeline slows after a few steps, then turns in my arms. Her hands slide up the lapels of my jacket, fingers flattening on my chest.
“I’ve never seen anyone talk to my father like that,” she says. “I don’t think anyone has ever stood up to him…or for me.”
I pull her into me as close as I can get her. “Are you mad?”
“At you?”
“Yes…at me?”
“Jesse,” she whispers, eyes wet with unshed tears. “I don’t think you understand…you chose me. Out loud. In front of them. In front of everything I’ve been afraid of my whole life.”
My throat tightens.
“I’ve spent so long shrinking, making myself easier to ignore so things wouldn’t get worse. And you—” she swallows. “You didn’t hesitate. You made me feel like I’m worth standing up for. Like I deserve to be chosen.”
“You are.” I brush my fingers through her hair, my palm settling at the nape of her neck. “Choosing you isn’t some brave thing I did, Mads. It’s the easiest choice I’ve ever made. I’d choose you every time—out loud, in front of anyone, without a second thought.”
I dip my head, brushing my mouth over hers in a slow, deliberate kiss. Against her mouth, I murmur, “I’m not standing up for you because you need me to. I’m doing it because you’re mine and because anyone who gets the privilege of knowing you should know exactly what they’re up against.”
“Jesse, there you go again.”
I feel her shiver against me. “Doing what?”
“Making my heart do things it doesn’t know how to recover from,” she says quietly. “You make it so easy to fall for you.”
A slow smile spreads across my face. “Yeah, gorgeous girl? You’re really falling for me?”
She nods once. “I am, Jesse. I’m falling so hard.”
Smiling against her mouth, I let out a sound of relief, then I pull her into me as close as I can.
I squeeze her until her feet are almost off the ground.
“I’ve already fallen for you, Mads. So hard.
Harder than I planned and faster than I meant to.
And hearing you say you’re falling too?” I shake my head, still holding her like I will never be able to let her go.
“It’s the best damn feeling in the world. ”
“I’m all the way in with you.” I kiss her forehead, the tip of her nose, the side of her mouth. “And for the record,” I add, “I’m not going anywhere.”
I turn her in my arms, her spine settling against my chest. “I’ve missed having you in my arms,” I murmur into her hair.
She tilts her head just enough to look back at me, a smile playing at her mouth. “It sounds like you can’t live without me.”
“I can’t,” I say easily. “I’ve already decided how I’m going to make up for lost time when we get back to Deep Cove.”
“Oh?” she asks amused.
I rest my chin near her temple. “I’m taking you out to dinner…
maybe Wave and Wharf. Then we’re going back to my house for a movie on the couch, all cuddled up.
” My hands tighten around her waist with all the fierceness I feel for her.
“I’ll run you a hot bath then I’ll strip you out of your clothes, and we’ll soak in the tub together.
After that, you’re not going anywhere. You’re staying the night. No negotiations.”
Our car pulls up, headlights washing over us, but neither of us moves right away.
I turn her in my arms to face me instead, my arms wrapping around her waist. “And when we get to the hotel tonight, I’m going to drop to my knees, slide your panties down your legs, and feast on you until you come all over my face. ”
Her breath stutters and she smiles like she’s already picturing it.
“Get in the car, Winters,” she says, disentangling herself from my bear hug and slipping her fingers through mine again. “Before we do something reckless in public.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time,” I grin, opening the door for her like a gentleman, because I plan on being anything but when I have her alone in my hotel room.