Take a Chance on Me

Chapter Fourteen



Arms wrapped around her knees, Maddie peered into the dark night. A warm breeze blew over her skin as she sat on the front porch, searching the shadows for any clue to where Mitch might have run off to. The shiny, black BMW sat in the driveway, so he hadn’t driven away, but where was he?

Throat tight, she swallowed hard. She didn’t understand what had happened. One second, everything had been hot and passionate, exactly the way she wanted it, and the next, it was like she’d had the plague.

A heavy weight sat on her chest as she blinked back tears. Maybe she just wasn’t cut out for this? Everything had gone crazy the second she’d climbed out the window, and no matter how hard she tried to take control of her destiny, something always got in the way.

She bit the inside of her cheek. Maybe God really was punishing her.

With her mind racing, she tried to determine her next move. She felt lost. Alone. Sad. All her previous bravado sifted through her fingers like grains of sand.

What did she do now?

She stared up into the night sky until the bright stars blurred. No answer was forthcoming, and the mysteries of her life continued to elude her.

Headlights turned into the drive next door and a pickup truck slowly pulled up to the side of the Roberts’ lemon-colored house. The engine shut off and Sam jumped out of the cab. Lips pressed together, Maddie didn’t move, hoping he wouldn’t see her as he walked around to the passenger seat and pulled out a big duffel bag.

He shut the door and went still. His head cocked to the side before he slowly swiveled in her direction. The moon hung low and bright in the sky and his blond hair almost glowed as he caught sight of her.

He waved. “Hey, Maddie.”

“Hi, Sam,” she said, hoping she sounded friendly but not approachable.

He watched her, not making any move to come closer, but not heading in the direction of his house. One hand slid into tight, faded jeans that fit his lean body like a second skin.

Maddie didn’t like the way he studied her one bit.

He took a step, and her heart leapt with hope, only instead of heading toward his house, he came toward her.

Ugh! Not now.

“What’s-a matter? Can’t sleep?” His words were casual, friendly.

She released her hold on her knees and relaxed, putting her hands behind her on the floor of the porch. “Just restless.”

He walked over, dropped the bag at the bottom of the steps, and then climbed to sit down next to her. “You’re one of those overthinkers, aren’t you?”

Maddie stared into the night sky, trying to devise a way to get rid of her uninvited guest. On the surface, he was all harmless charm, open and affable. All lazy, satisfied cat. Yet somehow Maddie didn’t quite buy it.

He sat there for a while, staring up at the stars with her, his elbows propped on his knees. Finally, he sighed. “What happened?”

“What makes you think anything happened?” she said, her tone stiff.

He glanced at the door behind them, then gave her a wide, aw-shucks smile. “Lucky guess.”

She wanted to curl into a protective ball, but she kept her posture open. “Everything’s fine.”

He looked at her, one brow raised.

She cleared her throat. “It is.”

“All right.” His tone was soft, as though he pacified her. “Mitch is down by the river.”

She sat up straight. “River?”

He nodded, pointing to the corner of the house. “Through the backyard, past the trees.”

“How do you know?”

He shrugged. “His car’s here, there’s no lights on inside, seems the logical bet.”

She reached out and touched his arm, a simple brush of her fingers. “Thank you.”

He nodded, then got up and stretched before jogging down the steps. When he reached the bottom, he turned back. “Don’t be too hard on him. He’s out of his element.”

Maddie narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean?”

He picked up his duffel and gave her a little salute, walking away. “Night, Maddie.”

She called out after him. “How very cryptic of you.”

He laughed and disappeared into the night.

A warm breeze blew against her cheek as she looked in the direction Sam had indicated. The Maddie from a couple of days ago would have retreated, but the new Maddie wanted to face her fate, regardless of consequences. She bounded down the steps, rounded the corner of the house, and walked toward the trees.





The flowing water and millions of stars dotting the sky had done their job, calming Mitch like they had since he was six years old. He sucked in a lungful of humid air, the smell of dank earth and river water reminding him of a time when life wasn’t so damn complicated.

Behind him, a twig cracked, disrupting the gurgle of the water as footsteps rustled over the grass and leaves. Quiet as a mouse, Maddie sat down next to him, scooting onto the blanket he’d picked up from the back porch and laid on the grass. He tensed, waiting for the questions, the demand for explanations. Instead, she wrapped her arms around his elbow, and dropped her head to his shoulder.

His heart skipped a beat. The unsettling niggle that had hovered in the back of his mind since the first night he’d brought her home came into vivid, unavoidable focus: if he wanted her, he’d have to fight for her.

This wasn’t going to be some fun, easy, week-long distraction.

She’d leave a mark.

When was the last time he’d fought for anything? Had he ever? Before he’d crashed and burned, he’d never even broken a sweat. Every opportunity had either been handed to him or had been easy. Sure, he’d had the brains to take advantage of them, but he’d never fought for it. And when the world had come crashing down around him, he had run. Pure and simple.

He looked down at Maddie. All that red hair shimmered in the moonlight as it brushed against his arm. The soft skin of her cheek rested against his biceps, her breath warm as she sighed.

They sat for a long, long time. The lazy trickle of the river’s current, the rustle of leaves in the summer’s breeze, and their breathing were the only sounds. The longer they sat, the calmer he grew, until all his turbulent emotions smoothed over into something peaceful.


Untangling himself from her, he slid an arm around her waist, actively touching her for the first time since she’d shown up. She uttered another of those content sounds that tugged deep inside him.

Human again, he planted a kiss on the top her head. “I’m sorry.” The words were rusty on his tongue, and he realized he couldn’t remember the last time he’d uttered them.

“Me too,” she said, far too quickly.

“You have nothing to be sorry for, Maddie.” He squeezed her tightly, hating how she took responsibility for everything. “I’m the one who f*cked up, not you.”

She shrugged one small shoulder, as though it didn’t really matter. “I should have listened when you said you wanted to be alone.”

“Yeah, well, I can understand why your temper got riled.”

A small laugh bubbled from her. “It was the head pat that pushed me over the edge.”

“Not my best move. I’m sorry I took off the way I did.”

“Don’t be,” she said, her voice soft as the summer breeze. “I don’t know what came over me, but I shouldn’t have invaded your space.”

“I want you in my space, Princess.” Mitch stroked a trail down her spine, loving the slight tremble against his palm. “Wanna stretch out?”

She nodded, and they lay back on the old comforter, their shoulders touching.

He wanted to reach for her, but didn’t.

She laced her fingers over her stomach and looked up at the stars. “It’s beautiful here,” she said, gazing at the heavens above. “I can’t believe all the stars—it’s like the sky is closing in around you.”

“Yeah, it is,” he said, his tone thoughtful as he recalled all the nights he’d spent down by this river when he was younger. “When my sister and I were little, my grandparents used to let us stay up extra late to stargaze.” He searched out a cluster of stars and pointed to it. “There’s Hercules. My grandpa used to tell us the stories of Greek mythology using the constellations as his backdrop.”

He looked down at her, surprised to find her watching him with a curious tilt to her lips. “So that’s why you came here after your troubles.”

His brows drew together. “What?”

She waved her hand in the air in an encompassing gesture. “After you left Chicago. It makes more sense now. Revival’s your home. Your real home.”

“No, it’s not,” he said, the idea so startling, so different from what he believed, he forgot to filter his words. “I came here because this is the only place I could think to escape.”

Her expression turned quizzical. “Didn’t you say your grandfather was old money?”

“Yeah,” he said, failing to see the point.

“And you grew up privileged?”

The muscles in his stomach tightened. “Yeah, so?”

The breeze kicked up, blowing a lock of hair over her cheek, and she brushed it away. “Didn’t you make four hundred dollars an hour?”

He turned back to the sky and studied the stars. “Yes.”

“Well, using my powers of deductive reasoning, I’m assuming you’re not exactly hurting for money.”

She was right. Not only had he made a lot of money he’d never had time to spend, his trust fund was embarrassingly substantial. Still, he didn’t see the relevance. “I don’t see where you’re going with this.”

“You could have gone anywhere you wanted, Mitch.” Her voice was as warm and gentle as the wind, but it chilled him just the same. “You chose here because it was home.”

He shook his head. “I came here because my mom had the house and it was the logical choice.”

“You never mention your life back in Chicago. Your home, your family, or your memories.”

“That’s not true,” he said, irritated at the stubborn defensiveness pumping through his veins and ruining the tranquility he’d only just grasped. “We talked about it last night.”

“Confession’s not the same thing.”

He repressed the sudden urge to lash out and instead said flatly, “You’re wrong.” He didn’t look at her, but he could feel her eyes on his, studying him. Analyzing.

“Okay, I’m wrong.”

What did it matter if she thought Revival was his home? “You are.”

“I’m agreeing.”

Was there amusement in her tone?

He harrumphed and searched out Orion. The defensive irritation poking him in the gut irked him and he wrestled through the desire to start lecturing her on her faulty argument. He clenched his jaw, putting his hands behind his head, shifting his attention to first the Big, then the Little Dipper before blurting, “And even if that’s true, so what?”

She rolled over and propped her head on her open palm. “So nothing.”

“You’re clearly going somewhere.”

“It was an observation.” She spoke in the same tone people used to coax suspicious animals.

He should drop the subject. Logically, he knew his reaction was telling, but he was damned if he had control over that right now. He wasn’t attached to Revival, and he called nowhere home. It was that simple. “It doesn’t mean anything.”

“Okay,” she said.

He glowered. Surely there’d been no ulterior motive for picking Revival. He had no connection to his family.

He frowned. That hadn’t been the case with his grandparents. The best times of his childhood had been spent in this house.

But why did that matter?

He blew out a deep breath and turned to look at this woman who’d invaded his life and turned everything upside down. With her pale skin almost luminous in the moonlight, she looked so beautiful that she could pass for one of those Greek goddesses his grandpa used to talk about. “You know, before you came along, things were calm.”

She flashed him a brilliant smile. “Yeah, well, before you came along, I almost never barged into strange men’s rooms.” She held up two fingers. “I’ve done it twice now. You’re becoming a bad habit.”

The knot of tension in his sternum loosened. He wrapped a hand around her wrist and tugged until she scooted close enough for him to see the clear, bright color of her eyes. He released his hold and stroked over her jaw. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen eyes as green as yours.”

“They’re a Donovan family trait. All us kids have different hair colors, but we all have our father’s eyes. I’m the only one with my mom’s red hair. My oldest brother is the spitting image of my dad. My mom says it hurts to look at him.” Maddie shook her head, running her fingers through the tangle of her hair.

She looked over his shoulder, staring into the trees. “I hated my mom for that, especially when Shane sacrificed so much for us. She’s always looking past him when she says it, so she never sees the expression on his face, but I do. And it breaks my heart.”

The little bits and pieces of information he knew about Shane Donovan had indicated he’d come from hard beginnings, but they’d been understated. “I’m sorry.”

She shrugged, her expression remote. “I should have said something but I never did. I kept quiet, not wanting to make waves.”

From what Mitch could tell, Maddie had been keeping quiet since she’d woken up from that coma. He rolled over to his side and mimicked her posture, propping himself on one elbow. He slid a finger over her jaw and down the tendons of her throat. “I don’t want you to keep quiet with me, Maddie.”


She blinked rapidly, as though repressing tears. “It’s habit now. It’s hard.” She met his gaze, her eyes filling with warmth. “But it’s easier with you. I don’t know why.”

His thumb brushed the pulse beating in her neck. “Maybe it doesn’t matter why.”

“Maybe.”

“Come closer,” he said, his voice deepening.

She bit her lower lip, but slid close enough for him to feel the heat of her body against his. He clasped her neck. He wanted to devour her, but held back, wanting something else even more. Instead of the hard, brutal kiss his body demanded, he brushed his mouth over hers. Nothing more than a fleeting touch. “Upstairs, I left because I was so close to the edge that I would have taken you, regardless of consequences.”

“Please don’t protect me. I’m so”—she exhaled hard—“sick of that.”

He stroked the pad of his thumb over the wet, moist flesh. “I wasn’t protecting you. I didn’t want our first time to be because I was angry and trying to shut you up.”

Lashes fluttering, she looked up at him. “Is there going to be a first time?”

He relaxed his hand. “Yes, Maddie, there is.”

Her chest expanded as she sucked in a deep breath. “I know it’s wrong, but I can’t help it. I want there to be.”

“Me too.” He lay back down on the blanket, pulling her along with him. He tucked her into the crook of his arm and bit back a moan when she slid her leg over his thighs. He stroked a path down her back.

“When I was fourteen I stole Bobby Miller’s girlfriend.” The statement surprised him. His mind had been filled with thoughts of Maddie in his bed, not his misbegotten youth. “Her name was Britney. She was the head cheerleader and had long, blond hair she wore in a ponytail.”

Maddie’s hand slid over his stomach, and all the muscles there went tight. “She sounds like a head cheerleader.”

“Yeah,” Mitch said, tracing a path down Maddie’s side. “I wanted her, and I knew I could have her. So I took her.”

“I see,” she said, tensing slightly under his palm.

He wanted to shut the hell up, but couldn’t seem to make himself be quiet. “And Sara wasn’t the first married woman I’d slept with.”

Maddie glanced up at him, gaze questioning. “How many others?”

“A few.”

“So you prefer married women?”

“No.” He stroked her back, and when she relaxed against him, he relaxed right along with her. “I think I liked the challenge.”

She was quiet for a good minute, as though working something through in her mind. Without warning, she sat up, swinging around to kneel on the blanket. “I know. Let’s play a game.”

“A game?” Out of all the things he’d been expecting her to say or do, this had been the farthest from his mind. What was she up to?

“Yes,” she said, flashing another one of her killer smiles in his direction. “The ‘I Was So Bad’ game. We’ll trade stories of how horrible we were until a clear winner can be determined.”

All of the tension that had rolled up into a big, black ball in the center of his chest unraveled. “Princess, you’re a nice, Catholic girl with a guilt complex. How in the world do you expect to beat me?”

She shrugged, apparently unconcerned. “I don’t know if I’ll win, but I think I can stay competitive.”

Oh, this was going to be good. He scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “Okay, what have you got?”

She tilted her head to the side and tapped her chin with an index finger. “Let’s see . . . hmmm . . .”

He laughed. “Why do I have a bad feeling about this?”

“Ssshhh, I’m thinking.” She pondered, shifting around on the blanket, leaning her head to one side and then the other, and Mitch just took it all in, adoring her more with every passing second that she pretended she didn’t have a story already waiting for him.

She snapped her fingers. “Here’s one. When I was fourteen, I went to my very first high school party. Of course, like any good Catholic girl who’d been given her freedom, I grabbed the first bottle of Boone’s Farm handed to me.”

Mitch shook his head in disgust. “Boone’s Farm, huh?”

“Being from Winnetka you probably don’t know what that is,” she quipped. “Boone’s Farm is what us blue-collar people drink because there’s no hundred-dollar scotch available.”

He reached over and pinched her on the hip. “Little brat. I know perfectly well what Boone’s Farm is.”

She grinned, so wide and lopsided that it should have looked goofy as hell, but it only made her sexier. “Anyway, drunk off my ass, I decided I needed to experiment with other things, so I started making my way around the boys at the party. I’d made out with three boys before someone called Shane and he ruined all my fun.”

Surprised laughter burst from Mitch’s chest. “Well, hell, Maddie, I can’t say I blame the guy.”

She wrinkled her nose and crossed her arms, full of indignation. “Would you have rescued your sister?”

He thought of Cecilia, so cold that ice could have run through her veins instead of blood. Even as a teenager, she’d had utter focus, her direction and plans already mapped out in front of her as she desperately worked to please their father. “I don’t think Cecilia’s ever even been drunk.” Her control was too absolute.

“Well, Shane wasn’t so lucky with his little sister.” She giggled, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. “I threw up in his car as payback.”

“I’m sure he was thrilled,” Mitch said.

She reached over and patted his knee. “Okay, your turn.”

He thought back to that other life with something other than scorn for the first time in three years. “When I was fourteen, I lost my virginity to our housekeeper.”

Her jaw went slack. “Are you serious?”

He nodded, smiling. Lucy had been his first taste with the forbidden, and he’d been hooked ever since. “It wasn’t my fault. She seduced me and I was powerless to stop her.”

Maddie eyed him with deep suspicion. “How old was she?”

“Twenty-one.”

Maddie slapped his thigh. “Yuck! That’s disgusting! You were a child.”

“Princess, when I was fourteen I was over six feet and not done growing. Lucy thought I was man enough.”

“She took advantage of you.”

Mitch chuckled, thinking back on the lovely, talented Lucy. “She did, God bless her. She was from Brazil and very inventive. I couldn’t be anything but grateful.”

Maddie huffed, shaking her head in exasperation. “You know, that really bugs me. It’s just as wrong and perverse as those men who have sex with teenagers. You were a child and she was an adult. She stole your innocence.” Maddie violently waved her hand through the air. “It doesn’t matter if she was a hot Brazilian.”

Mitch crooked a finger, smiling. “Come here.”

Maddie shook her head, a pout puffing out her bottom lip. “I don’t think so.”

He reached out fast, striking with the suddenness of a cobra, to grasp her wrist.

She shrieked and tried to pull away, laughing as she squirmed. He pushed up, grabbing her around the waist and pulling her close. She might weigh next to nothing, but the way she twisted and writhed in her attempt to get free made it hard to get a good hold on her.


Before too long, he had her trapped under him, both her hands manacled as he pinned her to the ground. “Where do you think you’re off to?”

Her pupils contracted as her breath came fast. Her legs splayed open and she tilted her hips in an effort to throw him off.

They both sucked in a breath as she pressed against his erection. He leaned in, lips brushing the lobe of her ear. “Lucy taught me lots of things about pleasing a woman. She was very instructive.”

“With a fourteen-year-old, she’d have to be.” The fine bones in Maddie’s wrists flexed against his palm. “I don’t think I want to hear about it.”

“No?” Mitch asked. He gripped her with one hand, freeing his other to explore her body. He stroked down her bare arm, and she shivered, a soft gasp floating on the night sky. “I could demonstrate.”

“No, thank you,” her voice husky despite her proper words.

“You’re lying,” he whispered, as he ran a thumb along the underside of her breast. “Isn’t that a sin?”

She made a soft sound, somewhere between a moan and a gasp. “At this point I’m just trading sins at any given moment.”

He laughed, wicked and evil. “Let’s go inside. It’s time for bed.” He didn’t trust himself to kiss her for fear he’d lose control and take her right here in the grass. He pressed an open mouth kiss to her neck.

She shuddered, her hips jerking up once again to bump against his straining cock. “With you?”

He gave a fleeting thought to protest. It was too soon, he knew it, but then she wrapped her legs around his thighs and rocked into him and he forgot all about being a knight in shining armor.

“Yes, with me.” He flicked his tongue over her pulse. She tasted delicious and he intended to lick every inch of her.

“Mitch,” she said, in a soft, hesitant tone.

He lifted his head and looked down into her face. Three days ago he hadn’t even known her, and somehow that seemed impossible.

Before Maddie was a lifetime ago.

She blinked up at him, expression unsure. He sighed. Too soon. He let go of her wrists and brushed her hair from her cheek. “To sleep. I don’t want to do anything you’re not ready for.” It might kill him, but he could do it.

“No,” she said, shaking her head. She turned her head and looked at the river. “That’s not it. I need something from you.”

“What? Whatever it is, you’ve got it.”

Her teeth sunk into her bottom lip. “I want you to make me a promise.”

“Whatever you need.” As long as he could feel her against him.

She swallowed. “Promise you won’t take it easy on me.”

His heart almost stalled out. “What exactly do you mean?”

“I don’t want sweet and gentle. I don’t want safe. I don’t want you to treat me with kid gloves because I don’t have a lot of experience.”

He ground his back teeth, fighting raw, depraved images in his head. He swallowed hard and asked, “Do you know what you’re asking?”

She tilted her face to look at him, and even in the moonlight he could see the stain of pink on her cheeks. The blush did nothing to detract from the determination in her eyes.

“I want it all.” She smiled, and if he’d been standing it would have knocked him to his knees. “I’m committing a mortal sin for you. So you’d better be worth it.”