21. Alistair
ALISTAIR
Finally, I thought as a pair of headlights reflected through the kitchen window. I stood to put my mug in the sink, listening to the van’s engine rumble outside.
I knew Madison had been excited for her glassblowing class despite my reservations, but I hadn’t expected her to be this late.
She’d missed dinner and bath time and reading to Kenna.
She’d even missed the way Princess had curled herself into my lap as I’d read about a mermaid whose hair wouldn’t stop growing.
Madison hadn’t responded when I’d asked what time she’d be back, and I certainly hadn’t been willing to go to bed until I knew she was home safely.
The van door thumped hard outside, and a beat later the kitchen door squeaked open.
She looked a little sheepish as she caught my eye, slipping through the door and locking it behind her.
“Hi,” I said.
“Hey,” she murmured quietly. “Kenna asleep?”
“Aye. She has been for a while now.”
Madison nodded. When she turned to face me, dropping her purse onto the island, I noted that her eyes were red and puffy. I could immediately tell she’d been crying.
Shite.
My instincts whirred like sirens in my head, blaring on high alert. “What the hell happened in town?”
“You were right,” she rasped, her chin trembling as her hands curled against the countertop. “I shouldn’t have gone.”
Bloody fucking shite.
As I took in Madison’s crushed expression, I imagined the paparazzi stretched out along the high street, cameras flashing, hurling nasty questions at her.
I now regretted ever taking her to London, letting that slimy man outside Ancoats take her picture.
I’d been so stupid, so reckless with her and Kenna.
I hated that the press had already slithered their way into Braeburn, but I couldn’t exactly say I was surprised. I knew it was coming. All this meant was that we were going to need to lock down harder and faster than even I’d planned.
Madison sucked in a shaky breath, looking on the verge of tears, and my protective instincts overwhelmed the rational part of my brain. I surged to her side, pulling her into my arms and cradling her against my chest.
“Are you okay?” I asked as the words I told you so batted around my mind. This was exactly what I’d been afraid of. Why couldn’t she just listen to me? Maybe now she would understand why I’d been up half the night worrying.
Madison sobbed then, covering her eyes with her hands. “It was horrible,” she blubbered, forehead pressed to the center of my chest.
I curled my hand over the back of her head, kissing her hairline. “I’ll fix it,” I promised. And I would. Even if I had to build a fence as tall as the bloody London Eye around Dunhope. I’d keep those miserable bastards away.
“You can’t,” she said, hiccuping on another sob. “There’s nothing you can do. The heat was too much for me.”
Wait, what?
I frowned at her words. That’s not what I…“Madison—”
“I almost passed out during the lesson because apparently my body isn’t suited to the temperature in the hot shop.
” She dropped her hands, tears leaking down her cheeks, sounding equal parts frustrated and hurt.
“Lesley said if I had this strong of a reaction, then glassblowing isn’t for me.
That means I can’t follow in my bio mom’s footsteps after all. ”
My brain was re-wiring on the spot. Here I was envisioning ways to shoot media drones out of the sky, and Madison was in tears because she…got too hot? It took me a moment to reboot, to calm down now that I’d realized there was no need for an I told you so. This was simply Madison hurting.
I clutched her tighter, letting her cry. If I’d learned anything while being a single father to Kenna, it was that sometimes the best thing to do was cry it out. “Tell me what happened,” I murmured when her sobs eased.
“Hardly anything,” she said, sounding pissed at herself. “I had the blowpipe in the glory hole—”
“The what?” She stiffened at my outburst, and I rubbed her back to relax her. “Sorry, but I only know about one kind of glory hole.”
She snorted at that, and I felt her shoulders shake.
“Yeah, I had the same question. It’s what they call the opening to the furnace, or rather the pot.
” She took a shuddering breath. “Anyway, I was following her instructions, but it was so hot, and I was sweating so bad, then my vision went all spotty, and I was shaking. So Lesley called it quits because of safety.”
“And is there no chance of you doing shorter lessons?” I wondered. “You know, giving your body time to acclimate?”
Madison shook her head. “I asked the same thing, but Lesley was pretty clear that it didn’t work like that.” Her eyebrows furrowed. “This was supposed to be it for me. This was supposed to make sense of my life.”
I hated how dejected she sounded. This wasn’t the peppy, optimistic, fearless woman that usually ran around Dunhope.
I knew she was searching for a connection and purpose and home.
I knew she thought the answer lay with her biological mother.
And despite the failed lesson, maybe it still did. Just…not in this particular way.
“Look, perhaps glassblowing isn’t the answer,” I said, tilting my head to catch her eye.
“But that’s not where your mother’s journey stopped.
That wasn’t her whole story. From everything you’ve said, it sounds like she lived a pretty adventurous life.
” I took her face between my hands, forcing her to hear my words.
“Maybe once I’ve locked down all the locations in the photo album, it’ll lead you down a new path.
And you’ll find a new hobby or interest that can connect you two. ”
Looking into those glassy green eyes, I wanted to do absolutely everything in my power to fix this for her, and I made a note to double-down on my efforts with the photo album. I’d put another researcher on it and have Alfie send me daily updates. Anything to make her smile again.
“This isn’t the end, Madison,” I promised. “It’s just a fork in the path. You know what they say, when one door closes—”
“Someone opens a window,” she muttered. “Yeah, yeah.”
“Or a doggy door,” I quipped, finally getting a watery smile out of her.
She rolled her eyes at me, wiping at her nose.
I stroked away the loose hairs that had gotten stuck in her tear tracks. “Feel any better?” I asked.
She nodded. “I guess. But I also feel sort of gross from all the sweating. I think I need another shower before bed.” She folded back into my arms. “Will you come with me?”
“Of course,” I said, kissing her forehead and following her up to her room. The blankets on her bed were no longer rumpled from last night. Florence must have been through, tidying up after us. As Madison slumped down on the edge of the bed, she still looked incredibly sad.
“What can I do?” I asked, wanting to smooth the frown lines from the corners of her eyes.
“I just want to be close to you,” she whispered. She came to me, pressing up on her toes and running her lips along the underside of my jaw.
“C’mon,” I whispered, inclining my head toward the en suite. I took her hand and pulled her into the bathroom, turning on the shower. While it heated up, we stripped out of our clothing, leaving piles on the bathroom floor, then stepped beneath the warm spray.
I watched Madison’s face crumple, and I could tell she was crying again, the tears getting lost in the water.
“Let me wash your hair,” I said, picking up the peach and pomegranate shampoo from the built-in shelf. I squeezed pink shampoo into my hand, lathering it into a froth. “Turn around.”
She did, shoulders slumped, and I massaged my fingers into her scalp. After a few moments, Madison leaned into my touch, moaning. “You’re good at this.”
“I needed to develop some skills in case my investments fall through,” I teased, gently scrubbing until all her strawberry blonde hair was twisted into a knot at the back of her head. “Turn around. Time to rinse.”
She turned back to the spray and kissed my chest.
“Head back,” I whispered.
“Alistair’s Salon has a nice ring to it,” she said. Her voice was still a little shaky, but she was trying. “And Kenna and I can do nails.”
I washed the soap from her hair, running my fingers through the strands until the suds disappeared. She smelled divine.
“Is this where your services end?” she asked, turning and picking up her body soap.
I smiled softly, taking the loofa she handed me, soaping her up and smoothing my hands over soft, water-warmed curves. I wasn’t trying to start anything, but Madison leaned into each touch, moaning as I reached her thighs.
“It’s late, and you’ve had a hard day. Maybe we should save this for another time,” I said, my cock twitching at the noises she made.
“Maybe I don’t want to wait,” she said, threading her arms around my neck beneath the water.
She arched against me as we kissed, both gasping for breath as rivulets of water ran down our faces.
By the time we stopped kissing, I was hard and aching for her touch.
“Please,” she murmured. “Alistair, please.”
I nudged her back against the shower wall. She gasped at the cool tiles pressed against her back, then gasped even harder as I sank to my knees, hooking one of her legs over my shoulder.
“Don’t fall,” I said.
She stared down at me with such need, feathering her hands through my hair.
Then I pressed my mouth to her clit, tongue flicking out to tease that aching bundle of nerves. Madison bucked, crying out, and I wrapped my arms around her legs to steady her as I sucked and swirled and dragged her through delicious torture.
When she came, she sagged and trembled. I kissed her thigh, putting her leg back down on the shower floor before she could collapse.
I kissed my way up her body as I got to my feet, licking water drops all the way back to her lips.
“I want you inside me,” she moaned as I kissed her. “Now.”
She reached behind her, turning off the spray, dragging me from the shower.
We hastily toweled off, kissing and groping and moaning.
Then we stumbled our way back to the bed, the chill doing nothing to douse the heat of my desire.
Madison scrambled back onto the mattress, touching herself with one hand, curling her finger with the other, beckoning me.
My cock throbbed in response.
I riffled in the drawer next to the bed, finding a condom, and rolled it on. Then I settled myself between her thighs, reaching down to feel the wetness that gathered there.
Madison moaned, eyes fluttering closed. “Fuck me,” she begged.
Oh, I was going to. I shifted, sinking into her with a long groan, the pressure sending sparks down my spine.
I wanted to snap my hips, to grind against her, to go as fast as I possibly could, but I knew that wasn’t what she needed tonight.
She needed tenderness and sensuality. She needed to know just how much she meant to me.
I pulled out slowly, sinking back in as achingly slowly, and Madison’s breath stuttered.
She felt fucking amazing.
My head was going to bloody explode as I arched my back, driving her to the edge of oblivion. I wanted to throw us both over that cliff. I wanted to help her forget about tonight. I wanted to take care of her. Always.
Pressure coiled at the bottom of my spine. I could feel as her muscles started to flutter around me. “That’s it,” I told her, kissing her temple. “Let go, love.” I pulled out, pressing back in as deep as I could, holding her as her body finally started to tremble.
She threw her head back, eyes clenched, swearing under her breath as the orgasm took her.
The shock of my own orgasm caught me off guard, and I grunted as I sank into her one last time, the pressure at the base of my spine erupting into pure pleasure. I collapsed onto my forearms, feeling her hands drift over the muscles of my back.
In the hazy bliss that followed, I knew some of the earlier tension between us had eased, the bond restored. I kissed her, whispering sweet words into her ear as I pulled out, standing to get rid of the condom.
Madison curled into my side as I got back into bed. I pulled her close, tugging the comforter around us, then stared at the dark ceiling, my thoughts racing as I listened to her breathing even out.
Worry needled at me over what tomorrow might bring. I took several long, slow breaths trying to match Madison’s, but my thoughts kept returning to what could’ve happened today, which had me feeling like an arse.
I rested my chin on her head, determined to enjoy the scent of her shampoo and the feel of her in my arms, and closed my eyes. Morning would be here soon enough. In the meantime, I fully intended to enjoy this moment together.