Maximum Rush (Tangled Desires Book 4)
Page 23
“Good crowd tonight.” Mick, my manager, says as he tosses me a towel. “You always pull a good audience.”
“Yeah.” I rub at my hair, and then scrub down my arms and chest.
“So.” He grins. “I think I saw a couple twins loitering outside your dressing room.”
I toss the towel back at him. “Walk with me.”
“Sure. I wouldn’t mind getting another glance at the girls.” He follows me as I stalk away from the stage, heading for my dressing room.
Pushing open the door, I note the two girls sitting close together on my couch. They’re giggling behind their hands as I stride around the room. Jeans, shirt, wallet, keys, phone. I don’t bother changing out of my wet clothing. My skin feels like a million ants are crawling over me, I’m so antsy to get out of here.
Passing Mick at the door, I squeeze his shoulder. “You’ve got all this? You can get everything settled up?”
He nods. “What’s going on?”
“I’ll call you in a week or two.” I’m already typing in the number for the car service I use when I’m here. Then I take one glance at the twins behind us. Once upon a time, this would have been a happy ending to a great night. But now… They’re not Maxi. I smile at Mick. “They’re all yours.”
I take one final look around me as I elbow the exit door open. I don’t know when I’ll be here again, if I’ll be here again. This may be the last time I stand in an auditorium after a performance.
I can’t help but believe that wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Maxi
“Is that another batch? Did you just pull another batch out of the oven?” My mother is leaning on crutches, trying to work out how to cross her arms without dropping the crutches, while staring at me like I’m a little crazy.
Okay, that’s an understatement. I’m fairly certain she thinks I’m completely bonkers at this point. Quickly, I move all the mini tarts from the tray to a cooling rack. I already have another batch whipped up and ready to go. “They’re so good. And you can’t go wrong with tarts, mom.”
“You can when you’ve baked at least three batches a day for over a month. Even old Mrs. Leeton speed-walks in the other direction when she sees us coming.” She hobbles over to take a seat at the counter in front of me. “This can’t be healthy.”
“Well, the zucchini ones are. Somewhat. These lemon ones I’m not so sure about, but you have to taste them. They’re better than anything.” Better than any man.
“Are you sure you’re not cooking your emotions?” She picks up one of the cooler tarts and glares at it as though it’s going to bite her when her back’s turned.
“I think it’s supposed to be eating them.” I snatch up one of the raspberry tarts from earlier and chew on it. My mouth full, I say, “So yummy. Who needs a man when you can have tarts?”
Or sex, or a man who I still can’t get out of my mind. Who I still wonder about while laying in bed at night. But hey, I’m happy. I have tarts. And Sarah, and mom, and even some idea of what to do with my life.
I’d ended up giving Eliza an article after all. That’s the beauty of backing up to the cloud. Despite not having my laptop, or not being willing to broach the subject of getting my luggage back from Rush, I’d still been able to finish my story. It wasn’t quite what either of us had in mind when I landed the interview with Rush. It wasn’t an expose. It didn’t delve into his history or his family, but more my experience with him. The article that turned into a love letter was enough to keep Eliza and Godiva’s marketing team happy. And I’d run it past Chelsea, who keeps Facebook-stalking me. I just couldn’t bring myself to talk to Rush yet, so I asked her to get his okay for me.
It hadn’t taken much. Apparently he’d been satisfied with the end result. As long as he didn’t have to deal with it. Not that she told me as much, but I figure I poured my heart into the article and he still hadn’t called, so he must have been adamant about not wanting me to contact him, about not wanting me at all.
Sarah starts to snort and snuffle upstairs as she wakes from her nap. She’s eleven months old, and I am scared for my life because she moves like a speed racer on steroids, and I keep losing her around the house. But she and the tarts are about the only things that make me smile. I miss Rush every day, so much it’s ridiculous.
My email pings. Working out what to do with myself when I felt so lost and without a map had been frightening, but I think I’m getting a handle on it. I quit Godiva, and thanks to not burning bridges with Eliza, she’s been helping me start up my own online magazine. It’s called Maximum.
Get it? Maxi plus mum. I write articles that appeal to mothers. I write about children. About parties, and tarts, and kid’s entertainment, and dealing with parenting guilt, among other things. It’s only starting to take off, but with a mention in Godiva and some marketing and business help from some of the guys I worked with there, it’s all falling into place. Not that we’ll rival Mamamia any time soon, but it makes me happy to feel I’m accomplishing my dreams, even if they aren’t exactly what I expected they would be.
The best bit is I get to work from home, while looking after Sarah and mom. And making these freaking delicious tarts. I’ve still got ten minutes on the timer, so I head upstairs to get Sarah. It takes most of that time to get her organized after her nap and then I bring her downstairs to sit in the high chair while I take the last batch of tarts out of the oven.
Seriously, who needs men? I prefer tarts any day.
Someone starts pounding on the front door, like they’re trying to break it down, and I pop the tray down on the counter and pick up Sarah, who starts to cry. Hopefully it’s one of our neighbors. Hopefully they want more tarts, since I’m running out of space. Besides, if I keep eating them like I have been it’s not going to be pretty.
Pulling open the door, I gape.
Rush leans in the space, one hand on the frame, his violet eyes drinking me in. There’s no smile on his face, nothing to suggest he’s happy to be here. Shit. What have I done now? Is he pissed about the article? Did Chelsea not tell him about it?
“Who is it?” Mom calls from the kitchen.
“It’s... it’s... ” My gosh, he looks good. Better than I remember. My heart bangs loudly against my ribs. No doubt he can hear it rattling around.
“Are you going to ask me what I’m doing here, little nun?” His voice is a soft caress to my senses, his scent a sledgehammer.
“Uh, yep. Of course.” I step outside and close the door behind me. “What are you doing here?”
“You never called for your things.”
“No. I didn’t.” The whole idea of having to ask him to send them to me, and knowing I was the last person he cared to speak to had been entirely too painful.
“And we never did get to finish our phone call.”
“The one where you told me you didn’t want me?” I stare at Sarah, straightening her fuzzy onesie. I can’t bear to see that fact reiterated on his face.
He makes this strangled huff sound in his throat. “Could you look at me, do you think? Or were you really that relieved to get away from me?”
“I wasn’t.” Try that truth on, and see how it fits, Magic Man. You didn’t want me, and you’re here asking if I was relieved to come home? “Did you even read the article I asked Chelsea to send to you?”
“No,” he grumbles. “I haven’t talked to them in weeks. I haven’t seen your article.”
“It was a love letter.” I swallow. “In the end, it wasn’t an interview. It was an article about my time with you.”
“A love letter? The first interview I ever grant, and you turn it into a love letter? And run it in a celebrity magazine?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Only you, Maxi. No wonder my audience has grown so much over the last few weeks. No one else could do something so crazy.” He laughs.
Of course he thinks it’s funny. I’m an idiot.
“So crazy brave.” He moves
quickly, his hand sliding around my waist as he closes the distance between us. “And I didn’t call you to tell you I didn’t want you. I called to tell you I didn’t want you to go. I was begging you to wait so I could come with you, so I could be here for you.”
“Oh.” What else can I say? “And now you’re here?”
“I am.” He tucks a knuckle under my chin and lifts my face to his. “Believe me, I tried to keep away from you. I followed the showbiz mantra. The show went on, and I tried to forget this beautiful, extraordinary woman I met. But the thing is, she made me question everything about myself, about who I am and what I want out of life. It took me five weeks to give in to what I already knew. No packed stadium full of people will ever make me feel the way you do. I’m in love with you, little nun. And nothing else can compare. All the things that used to matter so much to me I’m not sure matter at all. But you do. You’re better than a crowded audience, lighters held high.”
And I get what he’s saying. He gives me that feeling, too, that high that’s better than any other. That maximum rush that makes everything else meaningless. “I... I love you too.”
“Good.” He smiles as he brings his mouth to mine. Doesn’t even skip a beat when Sarah starts babbling. His lips find mine and he kisses me softly before pulling back to touch her head. “Is this Sarah?”
“It is.” I adjust her weight on my hip, and rub my palm over her downy hair. “She’s mine to raise, to teach, to love, and protect. I’ll understand if maybe you didn’t think about the fact we’re a package deal.”
“She’s ours.”
I don’t expect that. For him to just come out and call her his. Accepting her without having to deliberate over it.
“She’s mine, and I don’t know how we’ll make this relationship work with an entire ocean between us. And what about your shows and stuff? I don’t—”
“I’ll let you lead, beautiful. We’ll take this at whatever pace you want, but I’m not doing any more shows. I’m done. So I’ll get a place close by. I’ll live here. And this little girl is my daughter as far as I’m concerned, if you say you’re mine.”
“Are you crazy?” I squeak. “You can’t give up your career. I wouldn’t want you to do that. And the rest we’ll figure out, but instant family is so hard, Rush. It’s a lot to take on.”
“You took all those notes, but you didn’t learn anything about my family, did you?” He shakes his head, chuckling at me. “All that time around my family and you missed the one thing that should have been most obvious.” Holding a solitary finger up between us, he steps in closer. “We don’t simply fall in love. We don’t pretend to care about people.”
“I know. I’m not asking you to. I don’t—”
“We love with everything we have, our entire hearts, our whole souls.” He scrapes a few stray hairs back from my face and cups my cheek. “Unconditionally. We open up our lives, our family, and we accept you with everything that we have. You’ve become a part of us, a part of me in a way that can’t simply be undone. That’s how I feel when I tell you I love you. Your crazy imagination, your clumsiness, your insane ability to sit quietly for hours on end only made me love you harder. So when I say Sarah is ours, I mean it. When I call Sarah my daughter, I believe it. Because I love you. I breathe for you, every beat of my heart is for you. And long after the world ceases to care about that guy who once did magic tricks, my heart will still be whispering your name.”
“You love me that hard?” I’m shocked to hear him say these things, but I feel them. And I already know we’ll be great together. We’ve already lived in each other pockets for an extended period of time. I’m not scared that this is fast. Because this is who we are. Me and him.
“I’ve never fallen in love with anyone before,” he says. “That’s why I know this is real. And I’m going to ask you to come home with me eventually. I’m going to ask you to stay with me forever. You’re as much a Hadley now as any one of us, which means so is this little girl.” He ruffles her hair, his eyes warm as he gazes at her. Then he turns those beautiful violet eyes on me. “Do you think you can handle that?”
“Yes,” I whisper, my voice strained with the happiness welling up in me. I want to wrap my arms around him and feel his body pressed to mine, his heart beating under my palm, but I’m still holding Sarah who’s starting to voice her opinion on being out in the cold.
“Perhaps we should take our girl inside.” Rush lifts her from my arms and makes faces that make her giggle as I lead them inside. He’s so natural with her, so easy going. It makes my heart smile even more. To know that she’ll be loved by so many. That she’ll have a family who cares for her unconditionally.
We make our way into the kitchen, and Rush sets her down in her high chair while I make her a snack. My mother seems to have disappeared, probably scared of the tarts that have taken over our kitchen. Glancing at the trays of them, the Tupperware containers filled on every surface of the counter, I have to admit it was getting out of hand.
Rush comes to stand behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist and whispering his lips over the spot under my ear that has me melting for him. It’s been far too long without his touch, and I can’t help but whimper as he clasps my face with one hand and drifts his mouth over mine, slowly increasing the pressure of his lips and the strokes of his tongue on mine. When he pulls away, it’s to rest his lips on my cheek and wrap his arm around my shoulders, holding me to him.
“So what’s with all the tarts?”
Epilogue
Rush
The arena is packed with people clapping and cheering as I take my final bow for the night. Sparks fly all around me, and the lights dim down to nothing. The spotlight fades. It’s pitch black in the arena, and then a lone light glimmers somewhere in the dark.
Complete silence falls as the crowd vanishes, and all I can hear is the echo of a single set of footsteps as the light inches closer. It never wavers, never flickers. I’m drawn to it as it hovers and moves constantly closer.
Striding to the edge of the stage, I peer into the dark surrounding the flame as it comes within feet of me. I want to reach out and touch it, to wave my fingers through it to see how warm it will be on my skin. The light is brighter than any other, and it makes my breath catch as my chest warms. The gap continues to close, a few inches at a time. That one light in the darkness makes me happier than all the spotlights in the world. It’s magic in its purest and most ancient form, it’s…
I open my eyes to find Maxi at the edge of the bed. In her hand she has a plate with a cupcake, one singular candle perched on top. “Happy birthday.”
It’s not my birthday. I turned thirty-two four weeks ago while I was touring Asia. It’s been a long three months away from her, away from Sarah, and I only arrived home a few hours before dawn, but I couldn’t stay away any longer. As soon as the last show was over I left Mick, who had stayed on when I told him we wouldn’t be running such a gruelling schedule anymore, to deal with packing up and was on a plane winging my way home to the people who make my life worthwhile.
In the past two years, I’ve kept my away time to a minimum. The great thing is doing less shows and tours hasn’t hurt my brand at all. After Maxi’s article ran in Godiva, my female fan base skyrocketed, causing even more people to flock to the events. The ratings for my shows has gone through the roof, too. But all I saw when I read it was a brave, funny, beautiful girl who could conquer fear and uncertainty and love me for me. How could I not fall even more in love with her?
So, I don’t live for the high that came from entertainment anymore. I live for her. I live for my family. It’s what ultimately led to us settling in Reverence, where all my siblings are, and Maxi can work from home. “Where’s our daughter? And your mother?”
Maxi’s mom ended up agreeing to move to Reverence, too. I built her a cottage at the far end of our backyard so she could have her own space, but she fits into the Hadley family the same way anyone who becomes part of us does.
My niece and our Sarah get along like Mace and I used to when we were that age. They’re best friends, and then every so often one will pull the other’s hair, and it’ll be on like Donkey Kong. Mace and I sometimes make bets on who will throw down harder in the two-year-old UFC that goes on between them.
“Then I have you all to myself?”
“Chelsea said they’d keep Sarah until we come over for dinner.” She bites her lip.
I love that. The way she wants me as much now as she did two years ago, perhaps even more. That’s how I feel about her too. Throwing off the sheet I grasp her wrist and yank her on top of me.
Her silken hair tickles my skin as she leans down to kiss me. “I’m glad you’re home. I missed you.”
“It’ll be a long time before I go away again.” I skim my palms down her sides and grip her shirt, pulling it up over her head. “Can’t stand being away so long.”
“But your fans—”
I don’t know how many times we’ve had this conversation. Gripping her hips, I grind my naked erection against the crotch of her shorts. “I love that you want to share me with the world. I love that you see how important it is to me to be the Magic Man, but you will always come first.”
“Well then.” An impish grin makes her eyes sparkle as she reaches between her legs and wraps her hand around my cock. “What are you waiting for?”
Flipping her onto her back, I climb over her and kiss her hungrily before moving down to pull the stretchy little shorts she’s wearing down her legs. I cup one of her tits and press my mouth to the spot on her belly above the tiny bow on her panties. “You know, I think I want to have kids with you. More kids. Little brothers and sisters for Sarah. A whole brood of Hadleys. A new generation of crazy for this quiet, sleepy town.”