“But you’re already thirty-one. By your age, most men who are looking for Mrs. Right have either found her, or found her and divorced her, ” Maddie said, clearly not willing to let him off easy, but then Maddie never did. It was one of the reasons Jamison had always respected her, even back when they were kids.
Jamison nodded. “You’re right. And I’m the first to admit that in the past, I wasn’t looking too hard for Mrs. Right. I was more concerned with Mrs. Right Now. Then I moved to Atlanta and I was so busy with work I didn’t have much time for dating.” He hesitated before pushing on, wanting Maddie to know at least part of the truth. “There was a woman last year who I thought… We cared a lot about each other, and I was hoping we’d have a future, but it didn’t work out.”
“Why?” Maddie asked, pinning him with her unflinching gaze.
He sighed. “A lot of reasons, the main one being that moving forward with me would have meant a big life change for her, and she wasn’t ready for that. In the end, she decided she’d rather stay in a familiar, less-than-perfect situation than try for something more.”
Maddie pressed her lips together, appearing to take a moment to digest what he’d said before she spoke again. “I can understand that. I think that’s why Serge stayed with me for so many years, even after he knew that he didn’t love me in that way. Our marriage was familiar, and good in a lot of ways.”
Jamison nodded, wishing Maddie hadn’t had to go through that with her ex. She seemed to be at peace with it, but he knew it had been painful, and he didn’t like the thought of Maddie hurting.
“But I don’t want good anymore,” Maddie continued, a vulnerable look in her eyes that made it harder to resist the urge to draw her into his arms. “I want passion and fun and friendship and someone who is open to dating becoming something more. I came to this retreat promising myself this would be the beginning of a new me, that I would learn to let my hair down and have a little fun while I was waiting to find the right guy, but I’ve been thinking all day…”
She sighed, turning to stare out at the water, where the waves crashed into the shore in a burst of foam. “That’s not me,” she said, almost too softly to hear over the sound of the surf. “I’m not a casual kind of person, and I don’t want to date someone who’s only after a good time.”
Jamison placed a hand on her shoulder and gently turned her to face him. “Who said I’m only after a good time?”
Maddie shrugged, nibbling at her lip for a moment before she said, “From what I’ve seen, your dating relationships don’t seem to last too long.”
“That’s not always been my choice,” Jamison said. “There are a lot of women out there who aren’t up for anything long-term, either, especially with a guy they think is a dumb meat head.”
Maddie smiled. “You’re a lot things, but a dumb meat head isn’t one of them.”
“And you’re not some random woman,” he said, letting his fingers slide up to curl around the back of her neck. “You’re Maddie. I know the type of person you are. If I wasn’t on board for something more than casual, I wouldn’t be here right now. I wouldn’t have asked to date you. And when I say “date,” I mean exclusively, you and me giving this a shot to see if we work as more than friends.”
Maddie’s brow furrowed again. “Really?”
“Really,” Jamison said with a smile.
“But why?” she asked, obviously still struggling. “Why now, after all these years of you teasing me like I’m your bratty little sister? What changed?”
“I guess I finally woke up,” Jamison said, bringing his face closer to hers. “And I’m glad I did, because you are the sexiest friend I’ve ever had.”
Maddie’s breath feathered out, caressing his lips, making him hungry for another taste of her. “You’re pretty sexy yourself.”
“Thanks,” Jamison said softly. “So can I kiss you now? Are we good?”
Maddie’s tongue swept out to dampen her lips, making it almost impossible to resist claiming her mouth, but Jamison forced himself to wait. He wanted to be sure they were on the same page.
“I still want to keep it a secret from Naomi and Jake until after the wedding,” Maddie said, her arms twining around Jamison’s neck, sending a wave of relief and desire sweeping through him. “And I want us to promise we won’t let anything that happens between us interfere with being good godparents to Noelle. She deserves the best from us, not any drama.”
“I agree,” Jamison said, pulling Maddie closer. “Now can I kiss you?”
Maddie smiled. “Not if I kiss you first.”
And then she kissed him, banishing any lingering doubt that last night had been a fluke. Her kiss still destroyed him, leaving him raw and stripped bare and starving for more of her, though he’d practically gorged himself on loving her the night before. But when it came to Maddie, he had a feeling he wouldn’t ever get enough of her taste, her touch, the way she moaned when the sparks between them ignited.
As her tongue danced with his and her back arched, pressing her breasts tighter to his chest, Jamison swore he literally felt the earth move. She shook things loose inside him, leaving him different than he was before. But it wasn’t a bad different, it was the kind of change that made you wonder how a world without the person in your arms could ever have been enough.
By the time they pulled apart, Jamison’s heart was pounding and his body crying out to get closer to Maddie, to get as close as two people can get and then closer still, until there was nothing separating them but skin.
“This is crazy,” Maddie said, her breath coming fast.
“What?” Jamison asked, sliding his hands down to cup her bottom, pulling her closer to where he ached.
Her lids fluttered before she met his eyes with a desire-filled look that took the last of his breath away. “I want you more than I did last night. I was pretty sure that was impossible.”
“And I want you so much, I’m tempted to take you right here on the sand.”
She bit her lip. “Why don’t we try somewhere a little more private? I saw a lifeguard stand about a mile down the beach earlier today. I checked the door and it wasn’t locked.”
“You checked the door?” Jamison took her hand, letting her lead the way across the sand. “So you were thinking about having your way with me again, were you?”
“All. Day. Long,” she said in a husky voice so sexy Jamison couldn’t resist picking her up and spinning her around until she giggled.
“Put me down,” she said, kicking her dangling feet.
“Only if you’ll race me to the lifeguard stand,” he said, loving the feel of her arms wrapped tight around his neck.
“Okay, but you know you’ll win.”
“We’re both going to win,” Jamison said with a wink as he set her on her feet. “No doubt in my mind.”
Maddie grinned as she set off across the sand with Jamison in hot pursuit.
Chapter Six
Maddie had never kept a secret from her sister, not once in her entire nearly thirty years of life.
Maddie and Naomi had been tight since the day Maddie was born. She’d grown up idolizing Naomi. Maddie was Naomi’s number one fan long before Naomi was a famous celebrity chef with her own TV show and a multimillion dollar line of gourmet products. Maddie shared everything with her eldest sibling: hopes, dreams, heartaches—even Naomi’s extensive shoe collection.
In other words, Maddie had no idea how she was going to keep her relationship with Jamison a secret from her sister, but she was determined to try. She didn’t want to cross the Telling-Naomi bridge until she and Jamison were certain they were going to last longer than a few weeks.
Though if Maddie were honest, it was hard to imagine calling things off any time soon. Even if Jamison were to suddenly turn into an insufferable jerk—which she seriously doubted was going to happen—she would stick around for several months for the sex alone.
The sex was…AH-MAY-ZING.
Maddie had had her share of l
overs when she was studying in Paris, and been satisfied with the quality, if not the quantity, of her sex life with Serge, but nothing in her past had prepared her for the mind-and-body-blowing experience of being with Jamison. Their connection was so intense it allowed for nothing less than complete abandon.
Even stone-cold sober, in the harsh light of day, Maddie was incapable of giving less than everything when she was in bed with him. The moment Jamison pulled her into his arms, her inhibitions vanished. So far, they’d had sex in the ocean, in a tent with people mere feet away, in a deserted life guard stand on a public beach, and in the closed bakery after Jamison caught a ride back to Summerville with Maddie and her friends after the singles retreat.
Maddie was secretly relieved that Jamison had asked for a ride, ensuring she wouldn’t be pressured to spill all the intimate details of their steamy weekend. She loved Shelley, Dawn, and Piper, but she didn’t want to share what she’d experienced with Jamison with anyone but Jamison. When they were together, it was special. It would have felt like a betrayal to let anyone else into their private world, even people she cared about as much as her oldest friends.
The only person she would have even considered telling was Naomi, but her sister was absolutely off-limits, a fact Maddie repeated like a mantra as she opened Icing the day after her return from the retreat.
By the time Naomi showed up a little after ten, Maddie’s resolve was set like fast-drying concrete, which was a good thing considering the first words out of her sister’s mouth threatened to send all her carefully erected defenses tumbling down.
“Why didn’t you tell me Jamison was going on the retreat, too?” Naomi asked, yawning as she shuffled behind the counter of the momentarily customer-free bakery to snag her apron off its hook.
“What?” Maddie blinked and laughed a little too brightly.
“Jake said Jamison went on a singles camping trip to Myrtle Beach last weekend. I figured it had to be the same one.” Naomi pulled her caramel-streaked hair into a high ponytail before turning to wash her hands in the sink across from the display counter. In a pair of faded jeans and a tight red tee shirt Naomi looked adorable, but less put together than usual, a side effect, no-doubt, of having an infant in the house. “Did you see him while you were there?”
“Oh, yeah, I did,” Maddie said, focusing on rearranging the bread behind the counter, combining the loaves into fewer baskets now that the morning rush had passed. “But I didn’t know he was going to be there, and he didn’t know I was going, either. We were both surprised.”
Boy were we surprised. Surprised by how many times we managed to get busy in a mere forty-eight hours…
“So, did you have a good time? Meet anyone nice?” Naomi yawned again. “Jamison didn’t cramp your style did he?”
“No, he was fine, and I had fun with the girls.” Maddie hurried to change the subject before she freaked and confessed everything to Naomi right then and there. “Did you have another rough night with the baby? You seem pretty beat.”
Although Naomi’s adopted daughter, Noelle, had come home from the NICU six weeks ago, the preemie was still struggling to put on weight and woke up several times a night to take a bottle.
Naomi smiled. “She woke up to eat four times last night. If she keeps this up, she’s going to catch up to the non-preemies in no time.”
“That’s great,” Maddie said. “I can’t wait until she has fat rolls on her thighs. Baby fat rolls are the cutest.”
Naomi laughed. “Too bad my fat rolls aren’t. I’ve been seriously neglecting my daily walk since Noelle came home. I’m going to have to watch the cookies for the next three weeks or I’ll have to let out my wedding dress before the wedding.”
“Does that mean I’m not allowed to make salted caramel bars?” Maddie teased. “Because I had those on the agenda for this afternoon.”
“You shouldn’t have told me!” Naomi groaned. “You know I can’t resist salted caramel bars. Make them, but only let me have one and don’t cook anything else yummy until after the wedding.”
“That should be good for business,” Maddie said dryly.
“Whatever.” Naomi waved her hand dismissively. “We were in the black less than five months after opening. Do you know how rare that is? Seriously, we’re going to be fine. I’m predicting a banner summer and a fall to follow.”
Moments later the bell above the door tinkled and the early lunch crowd began to trickle in. Five hours later, by the time the afterschool rush began to peter out, Maddie was feeling pretty beat herself. Still, she knew Naomi was even more exhausted. Not only had she been up and down with Noelle all night, she was also doing more work than normal since their counter girl, Lucy, was out with a twisted ankle and Aria, their third business partner, was on maternity leave
“You want to head home and grab a nap before Greta leaves for the day?” Maddie asked. “I can make it until closing time alone.”
Greta was Naomi’s nanny, but she only watched Noelle when Jake and Naomi were both at work. Naomi was rich enough to afford a legion of nannies, but she didn’t want to give up a moment with her new daughter, not even the moments that left her exhausted.
“That would probably be a good idea,” Naomi said, sighing as she stretched her neck to one side and then the other. “Jake’s at the station for the next two nights, so I’ll be doing the night feedings solo. I need to grab my rest where I can get it.”
Maddie frowned. “That sounds pretty brutal. Do you want me to come stay with you and help out? We could take turns getting up with Noelle.”
Naomi shook her head as she hung up her apron. “No way. You’re already here at four in the morning almost every day. You need your rest. I’ll be fine. I’m getting better at going back to sleep. I can usually get in a solid two hours between feedings. And I don’t want to leave Noelle with anyone else until the honeymoon. I feel bad enough taking four nights away from her then.”
“It’s only four nights,” Maddie said, rolling her eyes. “You and Jake deserve a honeymoon, and Noelle won’t even know you’re gone. Mom and Dad will be holding her constantly. She’ll be so spoiled by the time you get back, you won’t be able to put her down for a second.”
Naomi smiled, obviously not too upset by the possibility. So far, Naomi seemed to find parenthood utterly delightful, and Jake was equally blissed out. He was crazy in love with both his girls, and so excited to add to their family he’d suggested he and Naomi stay on the waiting list at the adoption agency and hope for baby number two within the year.
Seeing their newly formed family together was enough to make Maddie’s chest tight with gratitude. They were so happy and in love. It showed in every glance, every touch, every tired smile. Although Maddie had been dying to start a family of her own for ages, she hadn’t felt even one scrap of jealousy toward her sister. She was too happy for Naomi, and thrilled to be a godmother to Noelle.
And now, of course, she was too distracted by her own Hansen brother to be envious of her sister’s.
Mere minutes after Naomi hugged her goodbye and stepped out the door, Maddie spotted Jamison emerging from the firehouse, looking so good in jeans and a Summerville Fire Department tee shirt it ought to be a crime. No one should look that good in a tee shirt. Or out of one for that matter.
Not that she was complaining.
By the time Jamison crossed the street and pushed through the bakery door, Maddie was so hot from watching him that she dashed across the empty bakery and jumped into his arms.
“Happy to see me?” he asked with a laugh as he caught her.
“Deliriously,” Maddie said, claiming his mouth for a long, slow, sultry kiss.
As their lips met, Jamison’s laugh became a moan. He angled his head, deepening the kiss as he hugged her tight, drawing her up his body until her feet left the floor, but Maddie hardly noticed. She was already floating, her head spinning as Jamison’s tongue sparred with hers and the minty, earthy, Jamison taste of him whetted her appetite for
more.
Within minutes, all she could think about was dragging him to the upstairs apartment she’d inherited when her brother, Mick, moved in with his girlfriend, Faith.
“If I knew no one would come through that door in the next ten minutes, I’d take you upstairs for a quickie,” she said, as she trailed kisses down Jamison’s throat and he squeezed her bottom through her stretchy black skirt.
“I’m on duty.” Jamison set her feet back on the floor, but made no move to pull away. “You’d be interfering with my ability to be fit to fight.”
“You’ve got your beeper.” Maddie took his hand in both of hers and tugged him toward the stairs that led to her apartment, her body clearly having a mind of its own. “You could be back across the street in a minute or less.”
Jamison’s eyes darkened. “It would have to be thirty seconds or less.”
“I’d help you tie your shoes,” she said, pulse racing.
Jamison made a hungry sound that made Maddie’s nipples draw tight inside her bra. “If you’re serious, we should put the closed sign on the door, don’t you think?”
Maddie’s blood quickened with a rush as she realized she was serious.
“Get upstairs and get naked,” she said, her voice trembling with desire and the thrill of doing something she knew she shouldn’t. “I’ll flip the closed sign, and be up in a minute.”
“Hurry,” Jamison said, pulling her in for another swift, bruising kiss. “I said I’d be back in ten, but it’s better if I’m back in less. Don’t want anyone to get suspicious.”
“Got it,” Maddie said, spinning back toward the door as Jamison bolted for the stairs.
She flipped the open sign to closed, untied her apron and tossed it on the counter as she dashed for the stairs, taking them two at a time. By the time she reached the door to the apartment her heart was pounding, and seeing what awaited her on the bed only made it pound harder.
Jamison was naked, stretched out on his back on her white comforter with his hands behind his head and his erection stretching up his stomach, leaving no doubt he was up for this in every way. The contrast of the frilly comforter and his masculine skin made him look even more manly, and more mouth-wateringly delicious.
Sweet To You (Fire and Icing) Page 5
