But Zeke, being a Yank through and through, he nodded with a wide smile. “That would be excellent, Maddie. I always have lunch in my office at one, but you’ll make a great addition to the scenery.” Zeke was also a world class flirt, making women of all ages blush with one sincere compliment.
“We’ll see.” Since he’d called my bluff the only thing I could do was deny, deny, deny. My part-timer at the shop would be there tomorrow, which meant I could go—theoretically—but I didn’t want to commit because last time I’d spent too much time with Zeke I started to fall for him. This time I would be smarter.
“You’ll be there,” he said, all long and lean and self-assured. His voice was low and come out right by my ear, pulling a full body shiver from me.
I warned my traitorous body not to turn around, not to look the sexy beast right in his eyes because I knew if I did, I would be lost. “If I have time and if I remember, sure Zeke.”
One hand landed on my shoulder and turned me to face him. “Don’t worry, Maddie. I’ll make sure you remember.” His words were a dark promise that I wanted him to fulfill—desperately—and that terrified me down to my bones. But then his lips crashed down on mine and I felt completely lost.
His lips were both soft and firm, demanding and insistent. Forcing me to open up and accept the onslaught of his passion that I just couldn’t resist. One of my hands fisted into his shirt, pulling him closer, because I was so desperate for his heady, intoxicating mixture. I wanted more. No, I needed more than one really hot kiss, one hand roaming down my backside while the other fisted in my hair to angle me for his desire.
Zeke deepened the kiss and a low, desire filled moan escaped my mouth and went right into his. He pulled back far too soon, while somehow pulling away at just the right time. Before things got a little too intense for either of us to pull back. “See you tomorrow, Maddie.”
His wink was sexy as hell as he took one step back before leaving through the front door.
With my house empty once again, I set the timer on the slow cooker and went to grab my laundry from the dryer.
Yep, that’s what I should be focusing on. Chores. My home and my business. Max.
Not Zeke.
Not ever, Zeke.
“Not much, anyway.”
Zeke
“This lasagna is good! You really made this in the slow cooker?” Maddie nodded with the corners of her mouth tipping upward into an irresistible smile. She was so very beautiful, especially when she was uncomfortable accepting a compliment.
“Yeah, I really did. It’s no big deal.”
My eyes went big. “Are you crazy? Lasagna is serious business, and this is seriously good. Is there pepper jack in here?”
“Yep. Max’s favorite.”
“Mine too,” I told her around another mouthful of food. I wasn’t blowing smoke, either. Working at a restaurant wasn’t quite the same as eating a home cooked meal once in a while.
“No garlic bread?”
Big brown eyes rolled, but her full mouth stretched into an affectionate smile. “You already have about a thousand sheets of pasta, bread is just overkill.”
“And totally necessary,” I shot back, tucking into the small salad she packed. “Healthy and delicious,” I told her and sat back in my chair, patting a hand over my stomach.
A knock sounded at the door and Nate entered with a tray of food. “Someone requested twice baked sweet potatoes and a chicken club?” He looked to a surprised Maddie and set the tray down in front of her.
“I didn’t,” she said shyly, “but I won’t say no.”
“That’s what I like to hear. Enjoy your meal, Maddie.” Nate, bless him, came and went quickly, giving me and Maddie plenty of alone time.
She turned to me with an arched brow and I shrugged. “What? I figured you might be hungry and sick of lasagna.”
“Thanks, Zeke.” That sweet smile was like a sucker punch right to the chest, like I’d done something more than be a decent fucking guy. I vowed right then and there to make her smile more often. “Max really appreciated the t-shirt and he made you a card.” With one longing look at the steaming hot potatoes, Maddie turned and rifled around in her big leather bag. “For you.”
I’m not gonna lie, I had to take a long swallow of Dr. Pepper to get my emotions in check. Max was a sweet kid, and staring down at his crooked drawing and squiggly handwriting, dislodged something in my chest and spelled trouble. “Damn Maddie, this is…thanks.”
Her smile came soft and sweet. “Don’t thank me, that was all Max. He was excited that you remembered.”
Until Nash and I became friends about five or six years ago, I never spent much time with kids. Hell, even then Norah was barely more than a baby, but she was pretty cool. But Max was different, like a little person with his own likes and thoughts and feelings.
“Can I stop by to thank the little man personally?”
“Sure. Max would like that a lot. He’s a big fan of yours.”
That was good to hear, but also not what I wanted to hear. “What about you, Maddie? Are you a Zeke fan?”
She shrugged. “You have your moments, but you’re easily distracted,” she quickly bit into a potato to avoid a conversation about the bomb she just dropped.
Instead, I wiped my mouth and finished my soda before standing and crossing to Maddie. She sucked in a breath when I dropped down beside her on the sofa. “Well you are quite distracting Maddie, but I’m doing my best to be a total gentleman.” Even though all I wanted to do right now was lean in and taste those succulent lips that were irresistible when she smiled.
Or when she slicked that pink tongue across them. “That’s not the look of a gentleman.”
“Yeah? What is this look?” I knew damn well what it was, but I wondered if Maddie would call me out.
“It’s lust, and you know it.” She pointed an accusing finger at me that only made me laugh harder. “Lunch, Zeke. Remember?”
“Of course, but I’ve already had my food. Now I’m looking for dessert.” And Maddie was about the tastiest treat around.
“Zeke, please. Don’t make this harder than it has to be.”
I was tempted to make a joke about how it couldn’t get any harder, but I refrained because Maddie wasn’t there. Not yet. She wasn’t ready to forgive me, not sure if she even should, which meant I had a long road ahead.
“I’m not,” I told her honestly. “Not on purpose anyway. But I’m letting you know my intention is to get you to give me another chance.” No point beating around the bush, not now that I knew she was what I wanted.
“To what end? So we can keep having sex, because I’m not in the market for a long-term casual affair.”
That was the question, wasn’t it? I didn’t know if I was cut out for a long-term relationship or being a stepdad. Hell, I didn’t even know how to be a stepdad, was that like an uncle who slept over? “I don’t know Maddie, but I know that I want to see what happens.”
She sighed with the patience of a saint. “Zeke, I have to think about Max. I can’t have you coming around all the time and staying the night, doing things with us and then disappearing.”
Shit, I hadn’t even thought of that. “But that’s what we were doing, right?”
Maddie shook her head, her hair releasing the scent of jasmine into the air around us. “No. We were hanging out, no different than with Nash or Vivi, because Max sees you as a friend. Someone who’ll always be around. But to date and breakup means he’ll lose you too.”
“You’re so sure we’d break up?”
What in the hell was I saying? These were the words of a man looking for permanent. Looking to settle down, and I wasn’t sure if that man was me.
“Come on, Zeke. You were just kissing another woman in front of half the town, that’s not a guy looking for a girlfriend, never mind one with a kid.” Her smile was sad, almost like she wished her words weren’t true.
That gave me the push I needed to make a decision. “How about w
e just enjoy our date on Friday? You let me show you a good time, and decide for yourself if I’m worthy of a second chance.”
Honey brown eyes settled on mine and I held my breath, waiting to see if she would tell me to go to hell, or just get up and walk out on me. But when her shoulders relaxed and she settled in her seat, hope sprang anew.
“Okay. One date and we’ll see how it goes.”
“You won’t regret it.” I would make sure of it.
Maddie
“Have I told you how fantastic you look in that dress?”
Zeke’s eyes gleamed with the kind of appreciation a girl felt all the way down to her toes, and my whole body hummed with the awareness of his attention.
I smiled across the table at him wine glass in hand, and even though I hadn’t had a sip, I was drunk off his words. “Only about a thousand times, Zeke. You look nice too.” He did indeed, in his black jeans and slate gray button up shirt, like a lone bad boy that was every girl’s wet dream. At least mine, anyway. “Really good.” Even though I promised him that I would give this date a real chance, I didn’t think I could.
“This old thing?”
But when he was being his charming, funny self it was hard to remember why I felt that way. “You mean that old shirt with the crisp lines in it?”
“Hey, I could have ironed it!” His lips twitched at with the effort of not laughing.
“You could have, but you didn’t.”
His deep brown eyes rolled and he gave a boyish shrug. “No, I didn’t. I bought it new, just for you.”
“It’s nice, but I think it’s a little big for me.” When he smiled again, my breath caught in my throat. Why did he have to be so good looking on top of everything else?
It really wasn’t fair. Luckily, I didn’t have to think about it for long because the server stopped at our table to refill our wine and drop off complimentary appetizers.
“Goodness, I am starving!” There were two small bowls, one with gumbo, and the other filled with étouffée along with a small platter of oysters en brochette and boudin balls. “It all smells so delicious!” There was no point in pretending, with these curves, that I didn’t have a weakness for proper creole and Cajun food, and there was no place better than where we were now. New Orleans.
We dug in and ate in silence for a few minutes, arranging a bit of this and that on our plates in the dim dining room. “All right Maddie, are you ready to listen?”
My gut churned and I shook my head, not at all ready to listen to this. “You want to talk about this, on our date? Seriously?”
He nodded, expression deadly serious. “I want to clear the air, and we have about twenty minutes before the show to starts. So?”
I sighed and took three big gulps of wine and nodded. “So, ready or not here we go?”
“Exactly.” Zeke’s nerves were on full display as he finished his wine and set the glass down, letting out a long slow breath. “Shayla and I weren’t been together for more than a year. Well before anything ever happened between us.”
“Except that kiss?”
“She was recently single again and hoping I was too so we could get together to do what we do and before I could tell her that wasn’t going to happen, she planted her lips on mine.”
It sounded reasonable, but it also sounded just plausible enough to sell the story. “And you stayed right there, ready to accept her kiss with no problems, Zeke.” The only other time I’d ever felt so humiliated was when Max’s sperm donor, Preston, had kicked me to the curb on the day I told him I was pregnant.
“It sounds dumb as hell. Nash gave me a hard time when I explained it to him. But I really didn’t want to hurt her feelings. She’s a nice woman, and I didn’t want to humiliate her in front of the entire restaurant.”
The bite of gumbo turned sour on my tongue. “So, you decided to humiliate me instead? Good to know.” Somehow his explanation was worse than watching him kiss that woman. “Listen, Zeke. We should just enjoy this amazing meal and the upcoming show, whatever it is. But I think we should keep things as they are.”
“Why?”
“Because you didn’t take even one second to think about how I would feel when the whole fucking town saw you kissing someone who wasn’t me! You never even spared me a thought, and you probably wouldn’t have told me if I hadn’t come in that day.” I shook my head, feeling like a fool. Once again. “I guess it was my fault for thinking you might want a nice little picnic in the middle of all the upgrades.”
“Ah, dammit, Maddie. It was a mistake, I admit that. But don’t I get any credit for the fact that it wasn’t what it looked like?”
“Yes, unfortunately you committed a far worse sin. You prioritized another woman’s feelings over my own. And not just any woman either, but one of your former lovers.” Whatever hopes I had that we might be able to salvage whatever the hell we were, circled the drain and disappeared altogether. I’d already been found wanting by one man, the last thing I needed was another experience like that.
Zeke looked so disappointed and I’m sure tonight didn’t go how he imagined he would. Then again, he probably imagined I’d be so bowled over by his charm and sex appeal, which I was, that I’d ignore the most important part of the story. “So, that’s it?”
I nodded slowly, suddenly needed more wine and less food. “I guess so. And I understand if you’d rather head back to Belle Musique.” It had been so long since I’d even gone to New Orleans for any kind of adult fun that I really hated to leave but it would be too awkward to stay.
Zeke’s eyes were hard and cold but his shoulders fell in disappointment. “The show’s about to start.”
I guess that was sort of an answer.
“So, it was really terrible?” Vivi sat on my sofa with her feet propped up . “Damn, I thought this was going to be the beginning of something truly amazing.”
I sighed, struggling for the right words to explain things to her. “It wasn’t terrible, actually. It was awkward after he told me about his ex, but luckily the show started and the food was the highlight.” Zeke had been a perfect gentleman all night even though I could tell how angry he was that I wasn’t willing to budge. “It was nice to have a grownup night out, though.”
“Look at you being all optimistic,” she teased, pushing her blue and pink toes into my side.
“That’s me, always looking on the bright side of life,” I sang with a little sofa shimmy. “And keep those little piggies still, they’re still wet.”
“Ugh,” she groaned and fell back against the arm, flinging one arm over her face. “I am officially too fat to paint my own toenails. Come on out baby, we’re all anxious to meet you.”
I envied Vivi for being brave enough to go after what she wanted, for getting the guy and the happy ending. As much as I wanted to be that brave and reach out for something amazing, I was too hesitant. Too scared and too scarred by life to take those kinds of risks.
“There’s a whole town of people waiting to spoil you, especially your crazy Aunt Mae.”
“Hey! That’s my Aunt you’re calling crazy,” Vivi said with a fake pout.
“She’s my aunt too, basically. Anyway, Mae loves it that we all think she’s a little off her rocker, it gives her street cred.”
Her laugh rang out while her belly shifted as the baby turned to get comfortable. “You’re so right, Maddie. She’ll love that!”
“Any word on when the little one is supposed to arrive, or are you working on the kindergarten labor plan?” Even to me it felt like she’d been pregnant forever, so I could only imagine how it felt to Vivi.
“If nothing happens by next Tuesday, we’re inducing. I’m so uncomfortable, and hot. And horny. And Nash is acting like I’m a piece of spun glass which really sucks because my reach isn’t exactly what it used to be, if you know what I mean.”
“Well his reach is the same as it’s always been, right?”
Her green eyes gleamed with delight. “Maddie, you’re a genius!” Wit
hout lifting her gaze, Vivi reached for her phone and let her thumbs fly over the keyboard. “I’m sorry things didn’t pan out with Zeke.”
“Me too.”
“They could pan out, you know. If you decide to forgive him and wipe the slate clean. Start anew.”
That sounded nice, but it wasn’t realistic. “Don’t you think I tried? I spent the entire ride home asking myself if I could get over being brushed aside Vivi, and the thing is, I could have. If Zeke realized he’d done something wrong.” The idiot was so focused on the fact that he hadn’t cheated on me that he didn’t see the real problem.
“Well men are stupid. It’s their curse since we get to sit down to pee and have periods.”
“You are completely crazy!” For the first time since Friday, I felt normal again. “I guess that’s one way to look at it.”
“It’s the only way, Maddie. You guys are electric together, and let’s not forget that Max loves him to pieces.”
“Max is who I’m thinking about. He’s why I can’t take a risk on a man who already hurt me once without even thinking about it. Right now, there’s still a chance for Max to keep Zeke in his life, but that won’t be the case when we try and fail.”
“If you try and fail, you mean, right? Because it’s not guaranteed.”
I thought about Vivi’s words and I wished I could let myself believe her, because the few months I had with Zeke had been nice. Too nice, it turns out.
“It’s very likely and you know it. He’s never really had a serious relationship and he’s not sure if he’s ready for one. I think he just feels bad how things turned out between us, but he’ll get over it.”
“Maybe. But will you?”
“I have to, I don’t have a choice.” I finally had everything in my life falling into place. The shop was doing well and Max was incredible. I couldn’t risk screwing that all up over another failed attempt at love.
Accidentally On Purpose: An Accidental Marriage Boxset Page 23
