The waitress passed by, and Maddy waved for another drink. She wondered if David might give her stink eye for ordering another drink so quickly, but he hadn’t even noticed. He was too busy chatting up his friends and kissing their asses. After all, they all had scored positions at prestigious firms.
This wasn’t a date. This was a chance for him to move up the ranks, and she was just the appropriate arm candy, if that.
She doubted David would have cared if she didn’t want to come. He’d probably still be there. Can’t miss an opportunity to rub elbows and network, right?
She scanned the group. Most of the lawyers were men. Their dates sat quietly next to them. Some pretended to listen while others just played on their phones.
Maddy glanced at her watch. Two more hours before it was safe to ask him to bail.
The waitress set the drink down and paused next to her. Maddy glanced over to David to see if he was going to pay, seeing as he had dragged her there. No dice.
Irritation bubbled in her as she dug through her clutch and pulled out a card.
“Put it on this and keep ‘em coming,” she said.
The waitress glanced around the VIP table and then back to her. She gave a little wink.
“How about a double?”
How sad was it that the waitress was giving her more action than her own date? She didn’t really want to answer herself on that one. She nodded to the waitress and took several big gulps.
The conversation droned on around her, and her mind drifted to Johnny. Maybe she should have just stayed home. Sure, it would have pissed off David, but he didn’t seem to give two shits she was there with her right now, so it didn’t really matter.
She’d promised her dad that she’d make time to hang out though, so it was going to happen at some point.
Maddy shook her head. She was freaking out over this, and there wasn’t anything to worry about. Neither of them had really spoken for years. Her confession was so long ago. She was sure Johnny had forgotten it.
Even if he hadn’t forgotten, it’s not like he would care. He was a Navy SEAL. Women probably threw themselves at him wherever he went. He wasn’t going to care about the hometown girl with a crush from years ago.
She would just pretend like it never happened and hope he did the same.
Now all she had to do was get through this night. Anything would look like rainbows and sunshine in comparison.
Chapter Four
Maddy had never wanted to hit her head against a window until falling unconscious before that night.
After an hour she started to mention leaving. By two, she was pressing David on the issue, and when the three-hour mark hit, she couldn’t take the smug prick brigade any longer. Maddy put her foot down, not caring how annoyed he was with her.
For a bit he was silent in the car, mad at her for making him take her home “early.” She didn’t realize that two in the morning was still early, considering how he tended to end their dates in a rush on most nights like he was going to be turned into a pumpkin at midnight.
After a bit, he couldn’t really keep quiet and started talking about how great the night was going to be for his career. Not only had she just listened to them go on about their jobs, but now she was going to have to listen to it in the car as well. Pure Hell.
When they pulled into her driveway, she would have leapt out of the car if it weren’t for David suddenly invading her space.
His mouth was on hers before she could even brace for impact. The kiss was wet, and she backed up a bit to slow things down. Annoyance, not lust, was the only thing flowing through her.
“Having you there tonight really made me look good,” he said. David leaned back in for another kiss but stopped when she placed her hand on his chest.
“That’s great, but I really wish we could have gone out just the two of us,” she said as sweetly as she could manage.
He laughed as if she just made a great joke.
“Yeah, okay.”
He leaned in again. This was the moment. She was going to have to end it here, and it would just be the fucking cherry on her shit-tastic day.
A loud knock came from the driver’s side of the car. Maddy peeked past David, hoping her dad hadn’t been spying on them.
Instead she found a well-built man with a full beard standing in jogging pants and a t-shirt. His shirt was damp along the chest from sweat.
She didn’t recognize him, but there was something familiar about this man. Maybe a neighbor? She couldn’t place him in her alcohol-addled state.
David rolled down the window. “Hey, pal, why don’t you—”
“What the fuck are you doing, Madelyn?” the man said.
She frowned. No one called her that but her dad and only when he was pissed.
“What?” she said.
She stared hard at him, trying to put some sense into the whole thing when it hit her all at once.
“Johnny?”
He frowned at her slurred words, which only rankled her. Who the hell was he to frown at her? She was an adult, and if she wanted to get drunk, that’s exactly what she would do. Of all the people who could boss her around, someone she hadn’t really seen in years was about last on the list.
“Get out,” he said to her.
She sighed loudly. She was so over all these men in her life telling her what to do.
“Hey, buddy, we’re on a date here,” David said, trying to hide the anxious look in his eye.
Johnny crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head. “Not anymore you aren’t.”
She wondered if Johnny could sense David’s fear. She’d been around him enough to get a pretty good feel for his mental state, but he was normally pretty good at hiding what he was thinking.
Maddy grabbed her clutch. She wasn’t having this argument. The both of them could hash this out. She was done with men for the night, bearded, muscled or otherwise.
“Good night, David,” she said and opened her door.
David turned to her. “You don’t have to leave because this guy says so.”
She stood and looked across the car to where Johnny was watching her and then looked back to David.
“I’m not,” she said simply.
She could hear him say something as she closed the door, but she didn’t really care at this point. It was either stay and break up or go inside and take a nice warm shower. Comfort won out. At least she could try and salvage some tiny bit of the night.
Not caring what either of them had to say, she turned to the stairs that led to her place.
From behind she could hear the two exchange a few more words and then the sound of David as he peeled out of the drive. She was sure her neighbors were loving them right now. Ugh. Men.
When she reached the bottom stairs, she stopped as a hand grabbed her upper arm and whirled her around.
She stared at the man who’d been all but completely absent from her life the last few years. His face was now illuminated by the porch light above the stairs. His soft hazel eyes stared at her for a moment.
“Aren’t you going to say hello?”
She snorted.
“Yeah, I don’t really think right now is the time for that. You know you looked like some sort of crazed mountain man knocking on the window like that. Right?”
His brow furrowed as he continued to stare at her.
“What the fuck were you doing with that guy?” he asked.
She gave a small smile. “I don’t think I really need to spell that out for you, do I?”
He frowned. She could see his soft lips under all that facial hair, and for a moment, her brain wandered to places it really shouldn’t be going. Stupid alcohol.
“You’re too young to be getting drunk and having sex,” he huffed.
She yanked her arm away and glared at him. If he thought he was going to come home and boss her around, he had another thing coming. It’s not like she did everything her father told her, and Johnny was far from her damned father.
“I’ll drink whatever I want and fuck whomever I want.” She leaned forward as she spoke. Her words quieted to just above a whisper. “And you are the last person who is going to tell me anything different.”
Anger coursed through Johnny. He’d been feeling that way ever since Trent and Rich mentioned the douche Maddy was dating.
The bastard had worked his way into her life with such ease, and it pissed him the fuck off. All this time he’d kept himself away from her, trying to keep her from getting involved with a guy like him only to have some asshole step in.
After dinner he’d packed away all his things and tried to get a little shuteye, but it just wasn’t happening. The longer she was out, the tenser he grew thinking about her and that David prick.
Giving up, he’d decided to go on a run. Big damn mistake. When he’d come back and saw her making out in the car, he’d nearly lost his shit.
She stared at him now. The first time they were close and face to face in three years, and she was right there looking back at him. The air around them crackled as if electrified.
He stepped forward, and she backed herself against the vine that clung to the side of the garage.
Johnny followed her, not really sure what the hell he was doing. He wasn’t so sure it was anger propelling him now.
“I’m not a little girl anymore,” she said defiantly.
He was more than aware that she was no longer the teen he’d left behind. The past few years she’d grown into a woman with all the curves that came along with that. He’d always known that she was going to be beautiful, and he wasn’t wrong.
Caught up in the moment, he let his eyes linger on her breasts in the low V-neck black dress. Through the fabric he could see her nipples tighten under his gaze. His once-loose sweats now felt entirely too tight.
Johnny brought his eyes back to her mouth. Her pink tongue darted out to lick her lips, and he felt himself take a step forward, as if he wasn’t in control of his own body.
“No,” he said, his voice a low rumble. “Any damn fool could see that you are not a little girl.”
His mouth closed on hers, and he pressed her hard against the wall. Her hot body pressed against him.
Her hands came up to his chest, and he only leaned in for more.
It’d been so long since he’d even seriously thought about a woman, other than a one-night stand. Sure, it wasn’t like he didn’t have his options, but he’d pushed the thought of women out of his life and concentrated only on his career and the mission.
It’d even been longer since he allowed himself the thought of being with her. But tonight he didn’t want to think about that. All he wanted was to be the man who returned home to his woman.
It was wrong. Johnny knew it deep inside, but the ache for her had never faded All these years of being an honorary member of the family had only set him up for pain.
He had been there the whole time, wanting for more with her, but never being able to take that step to happiness.
The risk was too great. He couldn’t lose the only family he really had. The thought of being pushed away by them was a million times worse than the pain of having to watch her be with other people.
Or at least he’d thought that was the case.
Having it lain out right in front of him was totally different than when he’d been an ocean away.
Johnny turned his head to the side and slipped his tongue into her mouth. She gasped. She tasted like oranges and alcohol. Another reminder that she’d been out without him. His lust bowled over the residual anger.
Unable to slow down, his hands moved over her body. She shuddered in his arms as his hand skimmed the side of her breast. Her tight nipples moved against his chest through her thin dress.
Slowly he moved his hands down her side and then around to squeeze her tight little ass.
She kissed him back now. Her hands moved along the back of his neck and into his hair. He groaned a little when her nails scraped against his scalp.
His dick throbbed with need. There had to be some relief, or he was going to lose his fucking mind.
Johnny inched her dress up in the back until he was holding her bare flesh in his palms. With a small amount of effort, he lifted her and pressed his hard cock against her wet center.
She pulled her mouth from his and moaned softly. The sound was the most erotic thing he’d ever heard.
He shifted his hips and smiled when she moaned again.
It wasn’t just him, not just his lust, his needs. She wanted him.
This time he brought his mouth to her neck. Sucking the soft, sweet skin there, he moved along her neck, loving all the little sound she made as he did so. When he reached her ear, he placed several soft kisses there.
“I missed you,” he whispered. “Every day I missed you.”
She froze in his arms, and for a moment, he thought they had been caught.
“Put me down,” she said. Her body shook as she spoke.
Johnny quickly placed her back on the ground, ready to face a very angry Rich. As soon as she was down, Maddy pushed him back, startling him with the sudden movement.
She pointed a finger at him, tears in her eyes.
“You don’t get to say that to me,” she said in a low voice. “You don’t get to ever say that to me, you son of a bitch.”
“Mads—”
He tried to move toward her but stopped when she held out a hand. Her words shredded him. The pain they summoned was more than he ever expected.
Johnny watched, helpless as she raced up the stairs and stepped inside.
The light overhead flipped off, and he was left there in the dark with his guilt.
With a heavy heart, all he could do was take himself inside and try to think of a way to make this right tomorrow.
He gave one last look to the window near the door and thought he saw the curtains move in the darkness above.
It gave him some small fraction of hope that he might be able to make this right with her.
He had to.
Chapter Five
Maddy slept liked crap, and she certainly looked like it in the bathroom mirror. Makeup took care of the dark rings, but her eyes were still bloodshot and lips a little swollen from the kiss last night.