by Megan Green
The night Maddy explained the reasoning behind why she’d left Harts Creek, part of me was beyond frustrated. If she’d only spoken to me, only come to me before reacting, before rushing off and leaving me completely in the dark, so many years of hurt and wondering could have been avoided with only a few minutes of conversation.
But the other part of me, the bigger part, also understood. I’d been a little blind to the shortcomings of my so-called friends back in high school. I’d written off the mean things they’d done as harmless pranks, preferring to look the other way than risk being ostracized. Looking back, I can’t believe I was so senseless. There is so much more to life than phony popularity and social status. But at seventeen, they seemed like the most important things in the world.
After graduation and the reality of those friendships finally came to light—they wanted nothing to do with me once they realized I planned to stick around town and become a firefighter, not follow my arm to the big leagues, thus cutting off any claim to fame I could potentially bestow upon them—the gravity of their actions finally got through to me.
Those “harmless” pranks, those “innocuous” remarks that they’d always made for the sake of a laugh, they suddenly didn’t seem so funny anymore. And the years and years of torment they’d put Maddy through …
I didn’t fault her for leaving town and never looking back. And that was before I even knew about the whole prom-night thing. No, I understood completely why she’d want to distance herself from those people who’d made her life hell. The thing I didn’t understand was why she’d cut me off as well.
It wasn’t until the other night that I realized how much my actions during that short span of our friendship had also hurt her. I didn’t lie when I told her I never would have done those things that Tiffani had told her I was planning. But back then, I had stood up for them when she tried to voice her frustrations to me about the way they treated her. I’d told her she was overreacting, that she just didn’t understand them the way I did, instead of actually listening to her and being there for my friend.
So, really, I couldn’t blame her for taking what Tiffani had said as truth. I hadn’t shown Maddy that she could trust me, not really, and despite how strong and resilient she always seemed when we were together, I’d known there was a more vulnerable side to Madeline Woods. I knew underneath that tough exterior, there was a normal teenage girl who just wanted to be loved and accepted.
I also know that now that she is back, there is no way in hell I’ll give her any reason to want to walk out on me again. I am going to spend every day we have together proving to her how much she means to me. Just like I should have done back then.
It’s why I might’ve overreacted a little that evening we ran into Joe Robbins at Fields Diner. But hearing him drudge up the past, hearing that hurtful nickname spew past his lips …
I did the one thing I should’ve done countless times in the past.
I stood up for the girl I cared about.
For the woman I’m growing to love.
Now, looking back at her, sitting across from me at my kitchen table, I can’t help but marvel at the turn of events my life has taken. I didn’t want anybody to come between the relationship I had with my daughter. I didn’t want anybody to mess up the dynamic Hannah and I shared.
But Maddy isn’t just anybody.
She’s slipped so perfectly into our lives, filling a void I didn’t even realize was there to begin with. There isn’t a single moment of the day I don’t want to spend with her, and when we are apart, not a single second goes by where I’m not thinking about her.
We’ve picked up our relationship as seamlessly as if it never ended. Only this time, it is better. This time, I get to …
I lean forward, putting my mouth exactly where my mind is, Maddy’s breath coming in a short gasp at my unexpected kiss.
“What was that for?” she asks when I pull back, her cheeks pink and her eyes a little dazed.
I love having this reaction on her. Love the way that I can leave her breathless just by being near.
“Just … you,” I say, coming forward to press my lips against hers again, this time in a quick kiss.
She smiles over at me. “What about me?”
I shrug one shoulder. “Just … you. You amaze me, Maddy.”
The smooth sound of her laughter is like music for my soul. My heart swells as the tinkling sound hits my ears, and I ask myself how I managed to survive so long without it.
“For reading a book? I think you might need to set your standards a little higher, Cooper,” she says, raising a brow at me in jest.
I wave her off. “It’s not about the book. It’s you. The way you are with Hannah. The way you are … with everything.”
Now, it’s Maddy’s turn to shrug. “She’s an easy kid to love.”
And just like that, my heart cracks wide open, love for the woman before me spilling out into my veins, coursing through my entire body at the speed of light.
It might be too soon. This might all be too fast. But there’s one thing I know for certain.
I’ve never loved anybody the way I love Madeline Woods.
Hannah calls for her then, and as much as I don’t want to let her go, wanting to keep her here in my grasp for the rest of my life, I smile and pat her knee.
“You’d better go. You don’t want to see her angry. You won’t like her when she’s angry.”
Maddy flashes me a smile. “Ooh,” she says as she starts across the kitchen. “Sounds Hulk-y.”
I chuckle as I shout after her, “Trust me. That jolly green giant has nothing on a pissed off five-year-old.”
Maddy makes her way down the hallway, and as soon as I hear her and Hannah’s voices coming from her bedroom, I jump from my seat, rushing over to the cupboard above the fridge.
I pull out the three candles I keep stored there in case of power outages before searching for a book of matches in the junk drawer to my right. Hurrying out to the living room, I quickly clear the coffee table of Hannah’s crayons and coloring books before setting up the candles. I finish off the scene with the bottle of wine Maddy brought and two of the wineglasses that didn’t get much use until Maddy showed back up in my life.
It’s not much. But it’s the best I’ve got to work with. Besides, I could have a hundred red roses, a thousand candles to light her way, and the most expensive bottle of red money could buy, and it still wouldn’t feel like enough. Maddy deserves the very best. The entire world. And I’m going to try my hardest to give it to her.
I sit on the sofa and wait until I hear her wrapping up the story, Hannah’s sleepy voice thanking her and telling her good night before the click of the door signals Maddy’s trek down the hallway.
Leaning forward, I light the candles and grab the bottle of wine. I’m working the corkscrew into the top when Maddy rejoins me.
“What’s all this?” she asks when she sees the candles, her eyes glowing with their dim flickering.
I pop the cork and pour two glasses, grabbing them both before getting to my feet and walking over to her. I offer her one, and she takes it with a gleaming smile.
“Just thought I’d try to do something nice for you tonight. I’m sorry it’s not much.”
Maddy clinks her glass against mine before taking a small sip. She sighs as she steps into me, her arms coming around to circle my waist. “It’s perfect,” she says as she lays her head on my chest.
I wrap my arms around her, standing in the entrance to my living room, and let myself hold her. Let myself get lost in the way she feels against me, the way her body fits so perfectly against my own.
I’m not sure how long we stand here, lost in each other, content to just be in the silence of the evening. At some point, we start swaying slightly despite the fact that there’s no music.
We’re dancing to the beat of our own hearts.
I feel her body as it relaxes more and more into mine, my own softening against hers, until I’m no
t certain which of us is holding the other up. Likely, it’s a mixture of both. She lifts me up in ways I didn’t know I needed, and I can only hope I do the same for her.
Eventually, Maddy lifts her face, her eyes coming to rest on mine, the undeniable look of lust shining through them. I lower my head, closing my lips over hers in a tender kiss.
I kiss her for what feels like hours. I kiss her for what feels like only seconds. All I know is, I’ll never get enough of the sweet taste of her lips.
I break the kiss after God knows how long, reaching back to take the wineglass from her hand and setting both of ours on the coffee table. Maddy only took the one sip of hers, and I haven’t even touched mine, but there will be time for that later. Right now, I want her sober as a judge so that she doesn’t miss an instant of what I plan to do to her. What I plan to show her with my body.
Taking her hand, I lead her down the hallway to my bedroom. We creep past Hannah’s room, neither of us even breathing so as not to risk waking her. That little girl could sleep through a freight train plowing through her bedroom, but one little giggle or a whispered word from outside her door, and she’d be up and out of her room faster than Usain Bolt.
Once we’re safely inside my room, the door closed and locked, I guide Maddy to the side of my bed. I take her face in my hands, tilting her head on her neck so that her hair falls down her back and her eyes are squarely on mine. My tongue comes out to run across my lower lip, and at the sight, Maddy’s eyes flutter closed, her own lips parting in anticipation.
I graze my lips one … two … three times over her tender flesh before sealing my mouth over hers. My tongue glides easily past her lips, and I feel her moan at my invasion all the way down to my cock.
I walk her backward, my mouth not leaving hers, my tongue never letting up its onslaught, until her knees hit the bed. Gently laying her back, I cover her body with my own, taking care to keep most of my weight on my elbows so I don’t crush her, but giving her just enough so she knows how much I want her.
My fingers trail down her body until they reach the hem of her shirt, and I slide the silky fabric up her stomach, breaking my kiss only long enough to lift it over her head. She inhales sharply, her eyes drifting open, hitting me square in the gut with desire.
I dive for her mouth, wrapping my arms around her waist and rolling us until she’s on top of me. Sliding us up the bed until my back is against the headboard and Maddy is straddling me, I line the length of my cock up against her heat, grinding hard against her clit.
A shudder tears through her, and an ache blooms within my balls when they realize I can’t drive straight inside her.
Fucking jeans.
Tearing my mouth from hers, I drop my head to her breasts, burying my face in the creamy mounds. I suck, kiss, lick, and flick, drawing out every groan, every gasp I can from her bruised lips. When my fingers yank the material of her bra to the side and my lips close hard around her nipple, she bucks against me so wildly, it takes everything in me not to flip her over, rip off her jeans, and fuck her senseless.
But not yet. Not until I show her exactly how much she means to me.
I shift, taking her weight in my arms and getting up onto my knees, laying her back on the bed before coming over the top of her again. Pressing a brief kiss to her lips, I begin to make my way down her body.
The first time I tried to go down on Maddy—it was the second time we made love—she practically leaped from the bed in her haste to get away from me. I was so confused, not understanding what I’d done to upset her.
Turned out, the asshole she’d been engaged to wasn’t too keen on oral sex. At least, not being on the giving end of it. And instead of admitting he was a selfish asshole who didn’t give two shits about the pleasure of his partner, he’d made her feel that she was somehow … unclean. That her even suggesting the act made her dirty and undesirable.
I quickly put those ideas to rest, and after a few minutes of coaxing, I managed to talk her into letting me show her how wrong that douche bag had been about eating her pussy.
And in doing so, I found my new favorite pastime. Seriously, I could spend hours between Maddy’s legs, licking and tasting, wrenching orgasm after orgasm from her spent body. I’d never tasted anything so sweet, never felt anything more euphoric than the feel of her thighs as they clenched around my face, her head thrown back as waves of ecstasy rolled through her.
Now, as I slide my tongue down her stomach, my hands already working the waistband of her panties, Maddy nearly pants with need, her legs rubbing together in anticipation of what she knows is to come. And when I close my lips around her luscious heat, my teeth grazing against that sensitive bud, she nearly comes apart.
“Please, Mason. Oh, God, please,” she cries as her pussy grinds against my face.
And as much as I love toying with her—bringing her to the brink before pulling back, leaving her hot, bothered, frustrated, only to begin again—that’s not what tonight is about.
Instead, I bury my face between her legs, my tongue swirling, my lips sucking, my fingers coming up and thrusting inside over and over and over …
Her hips buck wildly against my mouth as she falls over the edge, her face turning and burying itself in my pillow to stifle her screams as she comes.
I slow my movement, wanting to draw out her orgasm for as long as possible, loving the feel of her tightly coiled body as pleasure overtakes her. But as soon as I feel her starting to come back down, I pick up speed.
“Mason, I—”
“Shh,” I say, my mouth still against her pussy, the heat of my breath against her wetness causing a shiver to ripple through her.
And almost as quickly as the first one hit, a second orgasm overtakes her, her mouth not moving to the pillow fast enough to smother her scream. I reach up a hand, and she sucks my finger into her mouth before biting down hard.
It should hurt, but instead, my dick jerks against the zipper of my jeans, desperate to break free.
And as if reading my thoughts, Maddy lifts her head, her eyes dark and hooded as she stares at me. “I need you to fuck me, Mason. Now.”
I snarl as I climb over her, my fingers making quick work of the button of my jeans. They’re not even all the way down to my knees before I lose control, needing the feel of her hot pussy wrapped around me. I plunge inside her, a hiss escaping my lips at her searing heat.
“Yes, Mason. Oh, God, yes,” she moans as I drive into her, my balls slapping against the skin of her ass as I thrust furiously.
“You feel so fucking good, Maddy,” I groan into her ear. “So fucking good.”
“Oh, Mason. Right there. Oh my God, right there,” she gasps, and I feel her walls tightening around me.
“That’s it, baby. Come for me. Come for me now.”
Maddy’s head falls back against the bed as her pussy clamps down on my shaft, causing me to follow her right over the edge.
I thrust a few more times, trying to wring every ounce of pleasure from her body, not wanting this to end. There’s no place in the world I’d rather be than right here, Maddy’s warm body in my arms, my semi-hard cock still resting inside her delicious heat.
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and all too soon, she slides out from under me, scampering over to my master bath to clean up. Thankfully, she doesn’t pull back on her clothes when she returns, instead sliding under the covers and curling into my side.
I pull her against me, my eyes closing as I take a deep breath against her hair. My heart kicks up a notch at what I’m about to do, but I know there will never be a time as perfect as this.
“I love you, Maddy. I hope I’ve made that clear.”
Her body goes rigid against mine, her easy, content breaths suddenly gone. When she doesn’t move, doesn’t speak, I cock my head so that I can look down at her.
Her face still rests against my chest, but instead of the pleasure that was there only seconds ago, I see nothing but fear.
I
immediately try to backpedal. “Look, Mads, I know it’s soon, and maybe—”
She shakes her head, finally lifting her gaze to mine. “No, it’s fine. You caught me off guard; that’s all.”
It’s fine? I think, her words cutting me deep. That wasn’t really the reaction I’d expected.
“Well, I just wanted you to know,” I say flippantly, as if my heart isn’t breaking into a thousand tiny pieces inside my chest. “I don’t expect you to say it back.”
Maddy pushes up onto her elbow, her hair falling over one shoulder as she stares at me. “Mason,” she murmurs, her voice cracking a little in her throat, “I’ve loved you since we were seventeen years old. I tried to stop. I told myself I was over it so many times while I was away. But all it took was one look at you to bring it all back. I love you too, Mason Cooper. I always have.”
I haul her against me, unable to resist claiming her lips at her declaration.
She pulls back before waggling her eyebrows at me. “You up for round two already?”
I take her hand and press it against my growing erection. “I’m always ready when it comes to you, Mads.”
I flip her over with a laugh, prepared to spend the rest of the night proving that statement.
I awake with a start, my body shooting straight up in bed, a thin layer of sweat covering my skin as I stare over at the clock.
Three a.m.
My eyes drift down to the sheets, to where, only a few hours ago, Maddy was sleeping peacefully by my side. But now, there’s no Maddy, only the cool stiffness of the white sheets.
Déjà vu hits me full force, a hollow feeling developing deep within my gut. My stomach turns sour, and my breaths come in short bursts as I spring from the bed.
I rush down the hallway, searching frantically for any sign of her. I stop briefly at Hannah’s room, peeking in to ensure Maddy isn’t in there before continuing on my way.
She wouldn’t do this. She wouldn’t do this to me. Not after the night we shared, I repeat as I clamber down the hallway.
My head feels woozy, the room spinning as I come to a halt in front of my sofa. I lean forward, putting my hands on my knees as I try to catch my breath. Why did I tell her I loved her? Why did I push her so fast?
