by Noelle Adams
She’d been smart and talented even back then.
Other than that, Madeline had been nothing but a good citizen of the Azalea community, and the only thing that had bothered him about her was that she’d spent far too many years with that spoiled asshole, Josh Cantor.
She’d broken up with him now—at last—and hadn’t dated anyone since. He wasn’t sure why he was glad about that fact. She was young and pretty and smart and kindhearted. Guys should be falling all over themselves to get her.
They weren’t though. Maybe they still felt like she belonged to Josh. Or maybe they were all just clueless boys who couldn’t see what was right in front of them.
He wasn’t sure why pulling Madeline over for speeding had gotten her stuck in his mind the way it had. He’d always liked her. For the past year, he’d been thinking more than he should about how pretty she was. But he’d never once considered asking her out or spending time with her. She’d never entered the category in his mind of available options for dating.
But ever since Saturday, he was having trouble thinking of anything except her. He kept picturing her in the car. Her mesmerizing gray eyes that always seemed filled with secrets he desperately wanted to know. Her poignant expression, hinting at deep feeling she never showed to the world. The way her soft hair swept forward to cover her face, like she was trying to hide something intimate from him. He kept hearing the wistful note in her voice and wanting to answer it.
Someone should be taking care of that woman. Someone should be making her happy. Someone should be proving to her over and over again how special she was.
Whenever he thought about Josh and how he’d treated her—taking her for granted, assuming she’d always be there when he wanted her but she’d never get in the way otherwise—Ken grew increasingly angry.
Angry.
There was no reason for it. Madeline and Josh had been broken up for months, and Josh had moved on to a pretty, younger woman with blonder hair and not nearly the depth and intelligence Madeline possessed.
But it still bothered Ken unduly that Josh had left Madeline feeling unappreciated. Kind of lost.
She’d said she wanted to feel free.
Ken kept brooding over how he could help her get there again.
On Monday evening, after he’d finished at work, he still hadn’t managed to shake her out of his thoughts. During the daylight hours, he did at least manage to keep his broodings PG-rated.
He should go home, take a shower, and get some dinner. Stop by to see his daughters and make sure they or his ex-wife didn’t need anything. Then he should watch some TV and go to bed early. Start fresh tomorrow without a pair of haunted gray eyes and a soft, lush figure filling his consciousness.
Instead, he stopped by the library.
Madeline usually worked a Monday evening shift. He wasn’t sure why he had that random piece of information in his brain, but he did.
To his disappointment, she wasn’t sitting behind the checkout desk as she often was. Instead, it was Laurel Hilton, who’d gone to school with his mother.
“Good evening, Sheriff Harley,” she said with a smile as he approached. “Good to see you here. How can I help you?”
One of the things he’d discovered about being the sheriff in a small, rural county was that people treated him like he was important. He’d gotten some of that when he was a deputy, but it had definitely increased ever since he’d become sheriff. People made way for him when he entered a building. They went out of their way to help him. They were always trying to pay for his meals or give him baked goods.
He tried not to take advantage of their instinctive respect for his position since he knew it wasn’t really about him.
“Good evening, Mrs. Hilton,” he said, coming up to lean against the checkout counter with a friendly smile. “How’s Baker doing lately?”
Baker was her beloved Siamese cat.
“He’s getting fat and lazy, but I can’t say as I blame him. Can I help you with anything tonight?”
“Is Ms. Jenkins working today?” He kept his tone intentionally casual.
“She’s in the back. Let me go get her for you.” Not for a moment did Laurel look curious or suspicious. She obviously had no flicker of thought about Ken wanting to talk to Madeline about anything that wasn’t perfectly innocuous.
It made Ken rather guilty and resentful. He was only thirty-six. He wasn’t married anymore. It wouldn’t be out of line for him to ask a woman like Madeline out.
She was younger than him but not inappropriately so. Yet it clearly never even crossed Laurel’s mind that his mind might be on romance rather than on books.
He wasn’t going to ask out Madeline, of course. He was just going to ask her about Westerns, as she’d offered.
In less than two minutes, Madeline appeared with her soft smile. Her hair was pulled back in a slightly messy bun. She wore black pants and a gray top that matched her eyes. The fabric emphasized her figure. He couldn’t help but notice that she had really good breasts. Very good. Full and round and lush and...
Ken cleared his throat and wrenched his eyes back to her face. “Hey there.”
“Hey! Did you come to check out our Westerns?”
Well, that was easy. Like Laurel, it clearly never occurred to Madeline that he might want anything else from her. “Yep. If you have a minute.”
“Of course I do. Come and I’ll show you.”
He followed her into the back room where the fiction was kept. The shelf with all the Westerns was against the far wall. There was no one else in sight there tonight. She showed him the books and helped him look through the authors he liked to find a few books that he hadn’t read.
She’d read a couple of them herself, and she seemed to like to talk about them. He kept up his end of the conversation as much as he could, rigorously keeping his eyes from sliding down lower on her body to the way her shirt clung to the swell of her breasts and her pants outlined the delicious curves of her hips and ass.
Damn, he wanted to touch her so bad. He wished it wasn’t true, but it was.
“So have you read your new books yet?” he asked, when it felt like the conversation was about to end. He didn’t want it to end yet.
“No. I mean, not those copies. I did start rereading the Betsy-Tacy books this weekend, but I read the paperbacks I already own so I don’t mess up the nicer copies.” She gave him an irresistibly slanting look. “I’m sure you think I’m crazy. Owning multiple copies of the same book.”
“Why would I think you’re crazy? They’re different editions, right? They have different covers and everything? I like to do model cars, and no one has ever thought it was strange that I have different models of the same car. If you love something, why wouldn’t you try to get as much of it as you can?” He was speaking earnestly. Sincerely. He wasn’t trying to impress her. In fact, he felt kind of young and stupid as he spoke.
But a softening on her face made it clear what he said meant something to her. “Yeah,” she breathed. “Maybe you’re right.”
He suddenly understood something. Josh, the asshole, must have made fun of her for owning multiple copies of the same book. He had to bite back a low growl of resentment toward the boy. “I’m definitely right. And don’t let anyone make you think differently.”
She smiled, and it was like the sun coming out behind a cloud. It took his breath away.
They were standing in the far corner of the room, blocked from everyone else by shelves of books. He was too close to her. He knew it, but he couldn’t make himself step back. He wasn’t sure what was in his face as he gazed down at her, but whatever it was made her flush and look downward.
Her eyes flicked up and then down again. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Like what?” His voice was too thick, but he couldn’t control that either. His breathing had accelerated. His body felt hot. Too big for his clothes.
“Like... like...” She peeked at him through her lashes. “Like you�
�re going to kiss me. Or... something.”
She licked her lips, and the slight gesture went right to his groin. His blood was throbbing in his veins, and he was aware of nothing in the world except Madeline and her deep spirit and quick mind and luscious body.
“And what would you say if I did?” He couldn’t believe he’d asked that. The low, textured lilt to the tone wasn’t like him at all.
“Did what?”
“Kissed you.”
He saw and heard her gasp. Her eyes flew up to his face. Her cheeks were deeply pink now. Utterly delectable. “I... don’t think I’d mind too much if you did.”
It took a moment for the words to register. Another minute for the flood of pleasure and pride and absolute awe to wash over him. But she’d clearly given him permission. She was responding to him too. He wasn’t likely to mistake the shallowness of her breathing. The way her nipples had tightened so much that he could see them jutting out through the fabric of her shirt. The way her pupils had dilated, darkening her eyes.
So good sense and long experience and a lifetime of making wise choices weren’t enough to hold him back. Not from something he wanted as much as this.
He leaned down, tilting her head up with one hand until he could meet her lips. He brushed them lightly, but the jolt of pleasure that shot through him blew any thought of taking it slow. He deepened the kiss hungrily, cupping the back of her head with his hand.
She made a little sound in her throat—soft and sweet and sensual—as she responded to the kiss. Her mouth opened to his tongue, and her hand lifted to curve around the back of his neck. She pressed her soft body against his with an intoxicating eagerness that left him hard as a rock in his pants.
Needing to feel even more of her, his other hand slid down until he could feel the curve of her ass. He rubbed her there shamelessly, loving how she made pretty moans of pleasure into the kiss—completely ignoring the fact that they were in the corner of a public library and anyone could walk back and catch them going at it like horny teenagers.
His hand moved some more until he was caressing the side of her breast through her top. He couldn’t get his hands on her the way he really wanted. She was wearing too many clothes. Plus they were in public.
He wasn’t sure what would have happened—he probably would have ended up doing something embarrassing and completely inappropriate—had Madeline not pulled away abruptly.
She stared at him with big, wild eyes, red cheeks, and mussed hair. She was panting loudly. She was so scrumptious he wanted to just swallow her down.
He figured he probably looked similarly aroused and affected. He was definitely hard—so much so it was almost painful. But she’d pulled away, so he kept his hands clenched at his side.
“Where did that come from?” she breathed at last.
“I... I have no idea.” He was telling her the truth. He’d always liked her and thought she was beautiful, and he’d never wanted her like that.
“I don’t... I don’t understand.”
With the sheer force of his will, he managed to shake off the worst of the arousal. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes until his erection slackened a little.
When he opened them again, Madeline was looking at him in concern. “You okay?”
His chest hurt from her sweetness. “Yeah. I’m fine.” Making a sudden decision, he leaned over and gave her another kiss. This was soft and short and light. “I don’t know where this came from, but I’m okay with it if you are. So if you decide you want to have some fun—be a little bad—then all you have to do is ask. I can help you feel free. It wouldn’t have to mean anything else unless you wanted it to.”
Her lips parted slightly in what was obviously surprise. She didn’t answer immediately.
Suddenly self-conscious, Ken decided he’d said enough. Probably way too much. He couldn’t believe he’d had the courage to suggest something like that to a woman like Madeline Jenkins.
He wasn’t a player. He didn’t sleep around. He only had sex in relationships. He wasn’t even a very good flirt.
But he’d said what he’d said, and now there was no taking it back. He wasn’t even sure he wanted to. So he gave her a little smile and a last stroke of her warm cheek before he took his books and went to check them out.
She probably wouldn’t want to do anything more with him. She should be with someone younger. Smarter. Deeper. Someone more like her.
And that was fine. He’d gotten to kiss her, and he wouldn’t have missed that for the world.
Now he’d get to remember it when he closed his eyes at night. It would have to be enough because it would be foolish to hope for anything more.
Two
MADELINE SPENT ALL night and the following day full of flutters.
Wild, crazy flutters.
She couldn’t believe she’d made out with the sheriff in the back corner of the library. Couldn’t believe it was unquestionably the hottest thing she’d ever done. Thank God no one saw them. That would have been incredibly awkward. What would she even say about it? I’m not sure what got into me. I just suddenly got the urge for a crazy hot kiss with a man I’ve known since I was fourteen in a completely inappropriate location.
And why had Ken even done it? What had he been thinking? He’d said he was available for some fun if she was interested. He’d help her be bad. Feel free.
As far as she’d ever known, Ken had always been a good guy. Stable. Responsible. Respected. He still had a good relationship with his ex-wife and seemed to be a great dad to his little girls. There were never any rumors about him. He didn’t appear to get around with a lot of women. He should not have randomly kissed her in the back of the library.
Maybe he was tired of always being good, the way she was. Maybe that was all it was.
She kept recalling the kiss. Imagining that it went even further. She had a good imagination, so the daydreams got her rather excited.
She didn’t work in the library on Tuesday morning, so she stayed in to write a few messages for custom arrangements. They came fairly easily, and she was happy with her morning productivity as she walked from the little apartment she rented above a downtown Azalea storefront to the flower shop a block and a half away.
Azalea was so small that the downtown area consisted of three blocks of Main Street and two blocks of Monroe Street, which ran perpendicular to Main. Her apartment was on Monroe, and the flower shop was on Main.
Both Skye and Ria were in the shop. They were excited about a new order they’d received for a birthday arrangement for the wife of a US senator who was popular on social media.
Madeline was excited too. Every time someone well known ordered one of their arrangements and shared it online, they were bombarded with new orders. They already had more than they could handle. They had to be selective about the orders they accepted, which only increased their cachet. People paid a lot for one of their arrangements and still felt lucky to be approved. A lot of their income now came from people who ordered one of their standard arrangements and poems, which they’d crafted for a number of different occasions, switched up every six months so they wouldn’t grow stale, and were served by florists they were connected with around the country. Those weren’t exactly cheap, but they didn’t require dedicated attention, so people who weren’t approved for the custom arrangements could still get something.
Madeline chatted with her friends for about an hour, helping to clean up the back room, which had gotten kind of messy from Ria’s work that morning. Several times she was on the verge of mentioning what had happened between her and Ken the evening before.
She never did, however. She wasn’t sure why. She wasn’t sure how she even felt about it, much less being able to explain why it had happened. And she was kind of embarrassed about being so hot for a man who’d always seemed like a grown-up.
Sure, she was a grown-up now too. Twenty-six was old enough to be attracted to older men without it being strange. But it still felt... naughty. Ina
ppropriate. Ken had been a deputy when she was in high school. He’d been married for most of the time she’d known him.
He simply didn’t feel like proper dating material.
Madeline felt so weird about it that she kept it to herself.
She was leaving the shop, mentally debating about the merits of sharing or not sharing, when she almost ran into Josh Cantor.
Her ex.
He was a big man—still in pretty good shape and with all-American looks. Blond hair. Blue eyes. A wide smile that showed off perfect teeth.
He looked surprised when he saw her, but he smiled easily enough. “Hey, Maddy.”
He’d always called her Maddy, and she’d always hated it.
“Madeline,” she corrected, no longer caring that it would annoy him. “I prefer to be called Madeline.”
“I know. I know. Don’t get all upset about it.” He made a calming hand motion like she was an irate child.
She had to work not to grit her teeth at him. He had a way of making her feel like she was unreasonable and annoying, even when she knew very well that she wasn’t. “Do you really think I look upset?”
“You never did. But I obviously upset you if you jump down my throat for a nickname.”
“I didn’t jump down your throat.” She didn’t know why she was bothering to argue. He wasn’t going to listen to her. He never had. And for year after year, she’d told herself it was normal. That it was just the way men were.
God, what an idiot she’d been for way too long.
“Okay. Okay. No big deal.” He was smiling broadly. He might as well have been patting her on her head. “How’s everything going with you?”
“It’s going great. Business keeps booming.” She knew better than to give Josh any details about Second Chance Flower Shop. He never wanted to hear them. He’d never been really happy about her success.
