His eyes are still burning at me when he finally speaks. “Don’t touch her. You want some cake?” I laugh before following them through the craziness and into the kitchen. The tension that has slowly rolled off my shoulders when we first got here comes flinging back with vengeance. There she is, as beautiful as ever, laughing with Izzy and Emmy.
She’s wearing one of my favorite pair of jeans that hug her ass perfectly, and showcase her long, toned legs. Her shirt is one of those blousy things that kind of hang loosely in a sexy way. It’s sheer, so I can still see her tight body and full chest incased in a tight, black tank. I almost swallow my tongue when I see her shoes. That woman could have me licking the floor just to have her in those heels, and those heels alone. Red-hot and sky high.
Temptation on legs.
I clear my throat and will my erection down. Last thing I need is to look like some creepy, old man getting hard on at a four-year-old’s birthday party. Yeah, that wouldn’t go over well at all.
Her eyes snap over to where I’m leaning against the doorjamb that leads into the kitchen. I can tell the exact second that her wall she has up starts securing all their extra locks, and the bulletproof glass starts to rise. You can literally see her protecting herself. And the worst part, the part that guts me right to the fucking heart, is that she is protecting herself from me.
“Izzy, Em, Dee… good to see you.” I turn and walk back into the living room. No sense in sticking around where I’m not wanted.
What a mess. I should know by now that my body will react to being around him, even if I beg it not to. My therapist keeps telling me that it’s time to trust. Time to stop letting my fears, and the ghosts of the past stand in the way of my happiness. She says I can’t keep condemning everyone around me for the crimes of others. The rational part of me knows that she’s right, but then I remember, for the billionth time, what happens when the good guy turns into the devil. It’s getting easier, though. I feel stronger, and that in itself, is a huge step for me.
I look around at the happy faces of my friends and feel the usual tug at my heart. The love so clearly painted all over them, is almost too much to take. Hell, even shy, little Emmy seems to be smiling and laughing more.
Everyone is happy.
Everyone is loved.
Everyone is blinded by that perfection.
I smile, donning my ‘I’m so happy’ look, and excuse myself from the group. I know I saw Maddox walk in a little while ago, and if I plan on getting the information I need from him without others around, I have to do it soon, or it will be hours before I get a chance to corner him alone.
For the last few months, I’ve been trying to avoid letting one of these overprotective apes in on my issues at the office. The North Carolina branch of my insurance agency has been having issues. Big issues. I only caught wind of it because one of our larger clients called to inform us that they would be moving their account to another agency. One they claimed could give them better rates. Knowing damn well that wasn’t true, I started digging and when I found the number of times their account had been overbilled, I was shocked. When I began to understand that the problem was bigger than I had realized, or ever imagined, I knew it was time to call in help.
Enter Maddox. He’s been helping me, with the promise that he will keep his mouth shut unless he notices something potentially dangerous. How dangerous could this really be?
The only plus to the giant cluster fuck that my company has turned into is that I don’t have time to miss Beck. Well, I don’t have time to miss him with the same bone crushing intensity that I have been. Still, it won’t ever be easy to be in the same room with him. Not when I can feel the invisible line that seems to connect us pulling tight every time we’re around each other.
There have been a handful of times over the last two years when I haven’t been able to hold those walls up anymore, and we’ve come together with the same ferocious lovemaking that we always create. And each morning after, I make sure I’m long gone before he even wakes. Neither one of us mentions those stolen moments, but I know him… I know he wishes that just once, I would be there in the morning. I’ve made a promise to myself that last time would be it. No more hurting him because I’m too weak to keep my walls up.
“Looking for me?”
I am so lost in my thoughts that I almost run right into Maddox. He doesn’t give me a chance to fall because his hands shoot out to steady me until I catch my footing.
“Uh, yeah.” I look up into his unreadable eyes. Maddox has always been the master of giving nothing away when you look at him. His face is almost always expressionless, his bottomless eyes hard, and his large frame is never anything but intimidating. To be honest, he would scare the daylights out of me if I ran into him on the streets. Maddox Locke looks like a man that eats babies for breakfast.