“I had a good time with you tonight,” Caleb said with a small smile, leaning against her doorframe and watching her as she fiddled through her purse for her keys.
“Yeah, it wasn’t as bad as I thought,” Madison mumbled, blushing as she fought the smile that was spreading on her lips.
Dammit Maddie, you’re losing control!
“As bad as you thought?” Caleb said with a small half chuckle. “What do you mean?”
Madison had the key in her grip but fumbled to fit it in the keyhole; all the while she avoided his gaze, which felt hot on the back of her neck.
“Well...listen,” she said, finally giving up on the door to meet his gaze. Though his liquid honey eyes melted her soul, she knew she needed to level with him. As much as she wanted to dismiss him as a womanizing pretty boy, he had shown her a nice evening and she knew he deserved her honesty for that.
“I’m just...not to be presumptuous or anything but…I came here to get away from everything that was bringing me down in Pickford. That includes men and relationships. I just can’t have that right now.”
“Jeez, I’m not asking you to marry me. I just took you out to a dumpy place for drinks,” Caleb smiled, unperturbed by Madison’s directness. His reaction made her feel even more embarrassed. She quickly averted her gaze back to the keyhole, successfully slamming the key into it and opening the door.
“I’m sorry...forget I said anything. I—”
Caleb caught her hand on the doorknob, leaning in close to her so that when she turned to look at him his face was only inches away.
“Besides, you don’t have a choice in the matter,” he said in a low, gravelly voice. “I chose you.”
Then he stole her breath away, pressing his lips tenderly to hers, an erotic power in the gentle movement of his mouth against her own. He reached a hand around her neck, looping his masculine fingers through her hair and kissed harder, searching her mouth with his strong, eager tongue.
Madison felt herself melting between her thighs, falling prey to an exotic longing, something she had never felt the likes of before. Everything in her that wanted to fight, that wanted to protect herself from his seductive touch fell away.
She was his in a way she had never been anyone’s before.
They tumbled into the cabin, Caleb closing the door by shoving Madison against it with the force of his hard body. His hot hands searched the length and curves of her sides, trailing down to the bulge of her generous hips.
“What are you doing?” she gasped as he pulled away momentarily to trail his kisses down her neck.
“Taking what’s mine,” he breathed, sinking his teeth into the base of her neck, causing her to cry out in a pained delight. His ribald kisses were magic—a pleasure laced with poison she couldn’t quite identify under the cloudy haze of her passion.
But as his hands trailed back up her body, taking the front of her silky blouse up with it, she pushed his chest away from hers, gasping to catch her breath.
“I just can’t,” she said, shaking her head quickly to convince herself of it. She had been hurt too many times before. She had to learn from her mistakes.
Caleb studied her for a moment, and she felt the strange tingle of energy she had felt so much around him, a radiating heat that enraptured her. He grinned slowly, bringing a hand to her face and sweeping a loose piece of hair out of her eyes. She stifled a moan, the graze of his fingertips unbearably seductive, causing the pounding of her heart to race through her veins. He leaned close to her so his lips were a mere half inch away from hers, sitting, waiting, passing hot breath through the part in her mouth, urging her to give in and kiss him.
“It isn’t up to you,” he said finally, before pulling away from her and moving her aside gently, pulling the door open and stepping out into the night.
“We’ll be in touch,” he said, giving her a small wink before disappearing into the darkness. Madison stood shocked into silence for a moment, staring out into the inky black night, the sounds of humming insects and rustling foliage in the wind completely silent to her as his words grew larger in her mind and heart, like a wild, all-consuming disease of desire
Chapter Three
“No and I won’t say it again. This is the last time I’m answering the phone, Dustin,” she retorted haughtily into her phone, in a tone much nastier than she actually felt. She felt like a wounded animal backed into a corner.
“But Baby—” he said in his typical ‘pleading-for-forgiveness’ voice. The one she had fallen for so many times in the past.
I’m not falling for it this time, she told herself before taking a deep breath, bringing a hand to her pounding temple.
“Don’t you dare call me that after what happened. I can’t believe you had the nerve to call my cousin and get this number. Goodbye Dustin, I hope you get exactly what you deserve in life!” she half-yelled into the phone before slamming it into the receiver.
She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes but she shook them away.
“I’ve been like a loose cannon lately,” she mumbled before moving away from the black rotary phone on the living room coffee table. Since she didn’t have cell phone reception up in the mountains she assumed it would be her mother or cousin Jenny calling to check on her, or some telemarketer looking for a Mr. Seth Brown. No one, not even her best friend Chelsea, had the number to the cabin.
So she was very shaken to hear Dustin’s voice again, his pleading, the torrent of lies that he told her so easily without any remorse. Shaking her head in an attempt to banish the pain and mortification, she stepped out onto the back porch, taking in a big breath of the fresh mountain air to calm herself down.
Because it wasn’t just the phone call that was getting to her—all day she had been running through the events of the night before in her mind, replaying the look in Caleb’s eyes, the feeling of his hot touch, soft like silk and yet burning like lava.
It isn’t up to you.
She should have been scared, should have slept with her grandfather’s rifle cradled in her arms, but she couldn’t help it. She was hopelessly turned on by his sexy words, seduced by the power that he showed with each movement of his strong lips.
He was the kind of man that women warned their daughters about, and he was delicious.
I can’t keep thinking about last night, she resolved, looking out into the beautiful scenery around her. She could see over the tops of trees where she stood, the outline of purple mountain peaks in the distance. She wondered briefly if she should go for a hike or read one of the many novels she had brought with her to pass the time.
But before she could even think about which option was most likely to distract her from her addled half-thoughts, she heard a pounding at the front door. She jumped, startled out of her daydreaming and stepped back into the house, making her way to the front door.
“Oh, hi,” she said, catching her breath as Will stood smiling before her, his sandy hair tousled up carelessly and his gunmetal eyes gleaming with a soft, ethereal kindness.
“Hey yourself,” he replied. “Sorry to bother you, but I was taking a walk and I just thought I’d let you know that your tail light’s out.”
“Um, yeah I know,” Madison blushed. She had briefly thought to go down the mountain to use the internet at the only McDonald’s for miles, but she had backed her truck out into a bush in her yard by complete accident, unused to the amount of nature that surrounded her vehicle at all times. A branch smashed into her left tail light, and out of frustration she just locked herself in her house and took a long, hot bath in which she stewed about her incompetence.
“Just wanted to offer to fix it for you, since Officer Caleb can be a real pain about things like that.”
“Oh, is that so?” she asked, her heart skipping a beat at the mention of his name.
“Yeah, he’s a bit of a pain sometimes,” Will chuckled, “but I do happen to have a few bulbs at my place and I’m not doing anything. I can’t do too much about the c
over, but why don’t I try to patch that up for you?” “Really?” Madison asked, surprised by his kind offer. “Are you a mechanic or something?” “No,” he said, looking slightly embarrassed. “Just an eccentric kind of guy with too much time on his hands.”
“Well...I don’t think I could stand to get a ticket. Who knows how far away the closest DMV is,” she laughed back. “Sure, that’d be great.”
Somehow eased by his kindness, by the calm song of his voice and the sweet tenderness of his gaze, Madison sat contentedly on her front porch until Will came back with a toolkit and a bag of car bulbs. Realizing it would take some time, she went inside and fixed up a casserole with the few groceries she had bought before settling into the cabin the day before.
By the time he finished, Madison greeted him with some iced tea and a hand towel.
“Sorry it’s not fresh brewed. I’m not exactly the best at being domestic,” she joked as he mopped down his forehead. He laughed.
“Anything’s fine by me,” he admitted, taking a swig of the iced tea and smacking his lips as he let out a satisfied, “ah.”
“How much do I owe you?” she asked, bustling over to her bag on the kitchen table where she had her checkbook. “Unfortunately, I’ll have to write you a check. I don’t have much cash on me.”
“No charge,” Will replied, holding up a hand and shaking his head as she tried to protest. “Your company is more than sufficient payment.”
“I can’t let you do that,” Madison insisted, but he walked over to the kitchen counter, grabbing the pen from her hand and gently placing it back down. The brush of his fingers against her own jolted her, causing her to gasp in shock.
“Are you alright?” he asked with an amused grin as he pulled his hand away from her.
“Yeah, sorry…” she mumbled, feeling thoroughly embarrassed. She turned towards her fridge so that she could hide her mortified expression.
Control yourself, she mentally chided herself as she pulled the fridge door open and buried her face in the cool wash of air.
“Are you hungry?” she called over her shoulder, trying to sound as casual as she could. “It’s the least I can do to try and repay you.”
“Actually, some home cooking sounds like it’d really hit the spot just about now. I forgot to eat breakfast.”
“Really? A guy like you?” she asked, pulling out the iced tea to refill Will’s drained glass. “I would have figured the guys up here ate a fair share of fish and game.”
Madison didn’t mention it, but she also couldn’t help but appraise his figure. He was leaner than most men she knew (mostly because the men back home where preoccupied with looking like what they called “real” men, which involved eating lots of meat and little else), but he was built in the shoulders, which were deliciously wide. He was no longer the scrawny boy she had known all those years ago.
“Yeah, I don’t do much hunting. I do fish, and I do like to eat, don’t get me wrong. I just have the bad habit of forgetting to feed myself,” he looked slightly bashful as he admitted it, drinking from his glass for a moment. “I was raised by my Aunt Jeanine, but she moved about forty minutes south of here to take care of her mother, so I don’t have anyone to nag at me anymore. Don’t let that fool you though; I’m a mighty good cook.”
“Is that so?” Madison asked, smiling despite herself. She served a big heaping of the casserole on a porcelain plate from the cupboard, glad that she had thought to clean those the day before. She handed him the plate and he looked at it appreciatively.
“This smells absolutely fantastic,” he mused before sticking his fork into the thick, cheesy confection. Then he shoved it in his mouth, closing his eyes as he hummed out his approval.
“This tastes just like the one my aunt used to make,” he said, his tone slightly surprised. Madison couldn’t help but beam at the earnest compliment—while cooking wasn’t her passion, she had been trying to improve her culinary skills over the last few years. But Dustin refused to try any of her creations, opting instead for anything that came from the frozen aisle of the supermarket.
“It’s nothing fancy,” she said bashfully, serving her own portion on a plate. Her mouth watered at the smell of it. She took a bite and was surprised by how good it was. “Oh wow,” she mused.
“See?” Will replied, wolfing down more of it. “You’ve got a talent.”
Madison’s stomach did flip-flops at his kind words—it was something she was hoping to find out here on her wilderness retreat: her passion, her talents.
Things she was so sure for years that she didn’t have.
As if he read her mind Will asked, “What do you do? Are you a chef?”
Madison couldn’t stop the loud, ungraceful laugh that left her. “Sorry, didn’t mean to mock you or anything. But no, not in the slightest. I...I guess I don’t do anything,” she admitted, feeling deflated as the reality sunk in. She had spent so much time thinking about Dustin, about how strange it was to be in her grandfather’s house without him, about how Caleb had made her feel, that she hadn’t considered her position long enough to realize what she had become.
“Well, that can’t be true. You’re doing something now,” he teased. “What’d you do before coming here?”
“I worked as a bartender at a trucker stop. How about yourself?” she asked, eager to change the subject and find out more about what Will had ended up becoming. “I really didn’t expect to find you or Caleb still up here.”
Will laughed. “Yeah, what can I say? I love the mountains. Caleb does too. We’re housemates now. Guess neither of us minded more of the same.”
Madison raised her brows, slightly surprised by the information. But then she felt that cursed heat spread across her milky chest as she suddenly wondered if Will knew about her strange encounter with Caleb the night before.
“So I ended up being a writer,” Will continued as he shoved the last bite of casserole in his mouth. He chewed considerately before speaking again. “Figured it was something that really fit the recluse lifestyle.”
“You’re a writer?” Madison was impressed. She didn’t know anyone who did creative things like that, and as a bookworm herself she had always wondered how her favorite authors crafted such intricate worlds. “What do you write?”
“Horror mostly,” he admitted, and laughed as he caught the slight fall in her face. “I know, I know. Not everyone’s cup of tea. But that’s really just my cover story. It’s better the town doesn’t know about my romance pen name.”
“You write romance? No way!” Madison gushed. She had never knowingly read a romance book by a man before, and something about the idea of Will writing romance seemed ridiculously sexy. He looked slightly taken aback by her reaction and hesitated.
“I do...I don’t know why I told you that. I guess I just can sense that you’re not so judgmental.” “How could I judge that? I love romance novels! What’s your penname? Maybe I’ve even heard of you,” she said, running through a mental list of her recent reads.
“Morgan Starks,” he said after a slight, embarrassed pause. “But I’m sure you haven’t—”
“Oh. My. God.” Madison’s jaw hung open as she forgot to breathe momentarily. She had read Morgan Starks’s A Touch of Satin at least seven times. Her copy was worn and battered, with dog-marked pages and soft strokes of eager lead, all indicating the sultriest of passages.
It was more than a page-turner. It was a blood boiler.
“I take it you’ve heard of me?” he joked, standing to take his dish to the sink like Madison had never seen a man do before. But she was still stuck on who he was—an absolute prince of the finest smut she had ever read.
“Heard of you? I’m obsessed with you! A Touch of Satin is one of the best books I’ve ever read!”
“Oh, well I’m glad you liked it. I guess I imagine most people would think I was kind of sick in the head…” he chuckled. Madison was completely captivated by the melody of his laugh as it floated from his thick, parted
lips, the smooth, ethereal quality of his skin, the intensity of his eyes and the feather lightness of his hair. Never in a million years would she have guessed that the author of her favorite and most sensual erotic read looked like a piece of erotic art himself—it was like a rugged angel had fallen into her grandparent’s kitchen and announced he was E.L. James.
“I just can’t believe you wrote it,” she said, gushing despite herself. “I guess I imagined that whoever wrote it could never be—”
“A man?” Will suggested, his eyebrows raised. “So hot,” Madison finished, immediately bringing her hand to her mouth in mortification. “Sorry, that came out wrong. I mean, I meant handsome, but it came out so—”
Will laughed, taking the empty plate from Madison’s hands and gently placing it in the sink.
“Don’t worry. I think you’re hot too,” he said in a low, seductive growl that she couldn’t believe was coming from the mild-mannered Will. But before she could even think to react, he had his hands pressed on either side of her face, cupping it gently in his surprisingly calloused palms.
Then he leaned his face forward, moving towards her at a rate that seemed to take eons. Yet every pass of breath between them stirred something inside of her, made her feel more alive, more than she had ever been. His lips touched hers softly at first, a graze of skin and heat. But it wasn’t hesitance—she could feel it in the marrow of her bones. It was grace. It was seduction.
Madison shuddered as he moved a hand up into her hair, pulling at the band that kept it captive in a ponytail. She relaxed her own hands at her sides, daring to bring them around his surprisingly hard waist. Her fingers itched, anticipating the swell and bulge of muscle, if only she dared to move them further, to explore…
Then the tempo of Will’s lips picked up speed and his mouth danced along hers, his tongue just teasing the tip of her own with ache-filled promises.
But there was something else hypnotic about the kiss; it wasn’t just their touching skin, the dancing of their tongues. It was also the feeling of heat that passed between their bodies, that moved in some invisible line between her torso and his. It was just like when she was around Caleb.
Too Much to Bear (BBW Shifter Ménage) Page 3
