Playing for Keeps (37 page)

They ended up in the bedroom, and once Nick saw to it that Maddie was fully satisfied, he brought presents to her in bed.

"Oh my God!" She smiled at him. "You shouldn't have done this!"

"Open it." He pushed the big box towards her.

Maddie unwrapped the present, a soft, black leather jacket. "It's beautiful!" She hopped up and tried it on. It fit her perfectly.

"Sure is." He watched her parade around wearing nothing but the jacket.

"Here, this goes with it." He handed her another small package.

Maddie opened it and found wraparound sunglasses like his.

"For the bike," he said. "Now that it's almost summer, I thought we might take some road trips."

Maddie's heart soared. "That sounds so great!" She inspected herself in the mirror.

He stood behind her and put his hand on her ass. "I like the look, but it could use one more thing." He held out some long, dangly diamond earrings and a matching necklace.

She spun to face him. "No way!"

"Way," he replied, and fastened the necklace around her neck. He handed the earrings over and she put them on. She turned back to the mirror and wiggled so they'd sway.

"They're just beautiful, Nick!"

"You're the beautiful one."

Maddie turned to look at him. "I love you," she said for the first time.

He smirked. "Yeah, well, I guess I might love you, too."

Maddie stared into his eyes as she pushed him backwards gently toward the bed. She climbed on top of him and kissed him deeply, and they rolled around necking for a long time.

They made love again in the morning before she had to leave, and she was sorry to go. She left her jacket there but wore the earrings and necklace. As she headed to Hartford, she realized she couldn't end things with Nick. She didn't
want
to end things. She wanted to lie in his arms and make love with him forever.

Chapter Nine

Maddie made it through the weekend with Rob's help, and got a walking cast put on her leg at the first of the week. It was much easier to maneuver, and Rob could finally go back to work, leaving her with Sophie and the little ones.

The late July Oklahoma days dragged. Sophie's summer activities were finished, which was a good thing, with the temperature hovering around one hundred degrees every day. Maddie stayed inside a lot, and took the kids out early in the morning or in the evening when Rob was home. He let the kids swim in the evenings, since Maddie couldn't get in the pool. They all counted the days until her cast came off.

They day it did, they celebrated with ice cream. Maddie wiggled her toes and sighed. "Finally!" she said, twisting her foot around. "Holy cow, I need to shave my leg!"

"Nice," Rob teased her as he ran his hand up the leg. "Real earthy, or maybe tres Francois!"

"Yeah." Maddie snorted. "Quit that or I might not let you touch it after it's shaved."

He pulled his hand back quickly. "No more, I promise."

Maddie shook her head at him. "You're so whipped."

He leaned down to tie Sam's shoe and grinned up at her. "You got me, there. I truly am."

She ran a hand through the hair falling across his face. When he looked at her like that, he seemed so much like a little boy that Maddie always had
to smile. "I love you," she mouthed.

Rob sat up and leaned closer for a kiss. "I love you, too, Mama." He murmured, and nuzzled her cheek.

The last of the summer flew by once Maddie was wholly on her feet again. They spent lots more time in the pool, and took the kids to
Frontier City, a big amusement park in Oklahoma City. Rob turned twenty-nine, and Maddie had a party for him, with all his friends and their families. He sat on the porch with the crown on his head, and let everyone wait on him. They had fun, and laughed at the gag gifts everyone gave him. He wore a ball cap when he worked construction to keep the hair out of his face, and someone always got him a new, usually raunchy, cap. This year, someone gave him a new cowboy hat, and Maddie hollered, "Yee haw!" when he opened it. Everyone laughed at her reaction, but only she and Rob knew the meaning behind the smiles they exchanged.

The children went to bed and the adults stayed up drinking for a while before they all took off.
Rob and Maddie danced to the radio on the back porch until they couldn't keep their hands off each other, and moved the party to their bedroom.

"I have more presents for you." She sat him on the edge of their bed, and stepped out of her jean shorts.

"I like these kinds of presents." He watched her strip appreciatively.

Maddie removed her shirt, revealing a very sexy pink teddy, cut very low on the top and very high on the leg.

"Oh, lordy! That is nice." He reached for her and pulled her onto his lap. He buried his face in her cleavage and inhaled. "Damn, you're beautiful."

Maddie pressed her chest into him and ran her hands over the back of his head and neck. "I think you're beautiful, too," she murmured. "And I love you more than anything, ever, in this world."

He growled and squeezed her in his arms, then rolled her over and brought her underneath him on the bed. He lowered one strap on the teddy and kissed Maddie's tattoo. "I love you, too, baby. I cherish every inch of you, and I want to show you how much."

"Mmmm," Maddie rose up as he slipped the teddy off and wedged himself between her legs. "That feels so good."

"It's fixing to get even better, darlin'."

"I need to tell you something."

"Now?" he began a slow, rocking rhythm.

"Right now. It's your last present."

He grinned. "I'm enjoying my last present, already. But if I have enough stamina, it may not have to be my
last
present."

Maddie grabbed his face. She kissed him deeply, then whispered, "I wanted to tell you that I stopped taking the pill. We could make a baby tonight."

Rob's face lit up. "Hot damn! God, that turns me on. You may not get any sleep at all tonight, woman."

"Hit me with your best shot." They laughed and kissed and made love, late into the night.

A couple of weeks later, Maddie was knee deep in stacks of clothes in their bedroom when Rob got home from work.

"Hello." He looked around warily and gave her a kiss.

Maddie chuckled. "Hi baby." She kissed him back.

"What are we doing?"

She dropped to the edge of their bed. "Well, it started when I went to clean Sophie's closet out to see what she needed for school. This is her stuff here." She patted the bed. "This pile is going to
Stacie, and these over here need to go back to Dionne, if she wants them. If not, they go to Stacie, too."

"Okay." He nodded. "So what are you doing in my closet? I'm not going back to school."

"I know, but you have so much stuff in here you never wear. I just thought I'd go through it."

"Don't touch a thing in my closet!" His eyes widened. "I don't have that many clothes, and I'd like to keep what I have, thank you."

"But look at—"

He cut her off. "Ah, ah, ah…don't touch a thing. If you want more closet space, look at your end—you've got stuff in there I've
never
seen you wear." He shifted some hangers. "Like this. When have you ever worn this?" He pulled out a little black dress, and apparently reconsidered. "Oh, I like this. Never mind."

Maddie laughed as he kept shoving hangers and finally got to the back of her closet. He pulled out her black leather jacket. "This is taking up some space. You've never worn this."

"My jacket!" Maddie stood up and reached for it. She ran her hand over it lovingly. "I wonder if it still fits?"

"You actually wore that?"

"Sure, when I was riding the Harley." She winked at him, and slipped into the jacket. "It used to fit, a couple of babies ago." The jacket still fit, and Maddie ran her hand over the sleeve. "Well, look at that."

"You rode a
Harley?" Rob stared at her with surprise.

Maddie reached in the pocket of the jacket and pulled out her sunglasses. She put them on. "Whaddaya think?"

"Sexy," he admitted. "But I can't believe I never knew you rode a motorcycle. When?"

"College." She looked in the mirror, remembering her birthday, and everything else she got that night. She smiled.

Rob crossed his arms. "Why are you smiling?" he asked irritably.

Maddie turned back and rolled her eyes. She removed the glasses and returned them to her pocket, then took the jacket off. "It's a happy memory, okay? I do have a few good ones to go along with all the crap."

"But none that you want to share with me, happy or crappy. That bugs me, Mad."

She sat down on the bed again and gave him another look. "I didn't realize I was being so secretive. What do you want to know?"

"Who gave you the jacket? Mr. Guitar?"

She smiled. "I told you his name was Nick. And yes, he gave me the jacket for my nineteenth birthday."

"I can't believe your parents liked you riding a motorcycle."

"They didn't know, okay?"

"Okay." He sat next to her, and ran his hand over the leather jacket. "That's a pretty nice coat. I bet it was expensive, even back in the day."

"I'm sure it was."

"So was Nick a rich Harvard kid like you?"

If he hadn't looked so cute, Maddie might have been irritated by the question. She thought about it, and finally answered, "No, Nick didn't go to college. He worked in
Cambridge."

"You told me, he was older than you. How old was he?"

Maddie hesitated again. She knew the truth was going to open a can of worms, but avoiding the issue might be worse.
Wait for it. Here it comes.
"He was thirty-four."

"Thirty-four?"
Rob practically hollered. "Jesus, Maddie! And you were nineteen?"

"Eighteen when we started dating." She steeled herself for the rest of his rant.

"Oh my God!" He paced around the room, avoiding piles of clothes. "He was almost twice your age! Your parents must have had a shit fit! I know I would if one of my girls brought home a guy that much older."

Maddie stood. "I told you, they didn't know about him." She was getting irritated, and tried not to let the tears welling behind her eyes out.

"Jesus, Maddie," he repeated. "What were you thinking?"

She faced him. "Mostly I was thinking, 'Gee, that felt good. Can we do it again?'" She stomped out of their room and checked to be sure the kids were still sleeping before she went out to the back porch and sat down. She wiped at her eyes angrily, pushing the tears away.

A few minutes later, Rob stuck his head out the door and held up a beer. "Want anything?"

She shook her head and wiped her eyes again. He was ever the gentleman, even during an argument.

He sat down in the chair next to her and took a drink.

"What I really want," Maddie said, "is for you to stop being so judgmental. You say you want me to tell you things, and when I do, you lose it."

"Because everything you tell me is worse than the last thing. What's next? Did you do the Harvard football team in the locker room?"

"Screw you," she sputtered at him, and moved to stand up.

He grabbed her arm. "Sit down. We need to talk this out."

Maddie stared at him and sat. She finally asked, "Why do you think I was with so many guys? I never told you that."

He shrugged and drank his beer. He looked toward the house then said, "There were the blow job lessons from Professor Zoey…"

"One guy," Maddie said.

"Nick?"

"No. Zoey wanted to find me a guy to lose my virginity with. I told her I wanted to find my own guy."

"And you found Nick," he said sarcastically.

"Don't take that tone with me, Robert Cooper."

He finished his beer and looked at her. "So besides Nick, how many guys were there?"

"In
Cambridge? No others. There were a few here before I met you, but you know about them."

He looked at her harder. "You mean to tell me, Nick was the only man you slept with in college?"

She stared back at him. "Yeah, and we didn't do
that much
sleeping."

Rob
rubbed his hands over his face. "Aw, shit, Maddie. Don't do this to me."

"What?" she hollered at him. "You said you wanted to know! You want specifics? I have a pretty good memory."

He held his hand up. "Enough. Please." He looked at her. "I'm, sorry. I guess I don't need to know everything. I get jealous when I think of another guy touching you, and I don't know which is worse, thinking there were a lot of guys that didn't mean much, or one guy who meant something to you."

Maddie slipped off her chair and into his lap sideways. "I understand how you feel. I've had to live in the shadow of Dionne Baxter since the day I met you."

He opened his mouth to say something, but she put her fingers to his lips. She went on, "And don't tell me I never had anything to worry about, because if you recall, you left me for her after I'd already fallen in love with you."

He made a face, but she didn't let him speak. "It's okay," she whispered. "I know it's over with her, and I know you love me
way more
than you ever
thought
you loved her. That's the way it is with me. I love you so much more than I ever I loved him."

He started to talk and she kept his mouth covered. He gave her a look and she chuckled. "Okay." She released his mouth. "Just think before you speak, hubby. We've got a romantic moment going here, don't blow it."

"I need to ask one more thing, and then we'll see just how romantic a moment it actually is."

"Okay, what?"

He looked at her. "You loved him?"

Maddie
smiled at Rob. "Yeah, I did. He was good to me."

Rob
winced and she chuckled. "Not only like that. Good, in general. He took care of me."

He nodded. "I'm glad for that, at least. And I'm glad for whatever brought my Wild Thing to
Oklahoma, and me." He kissed her gently.

Maddie moaned and opened her mouth fully to him. Their tongues danced back and forth and she ground her bottom downward on his lap.

Rob caressed her breast then slipped his hand under her shirt.

The back door opened and Sophie called, "Maddie? Can I have a snack?"

Rob groaned and pulled his hand out.

Maddie
smiled at him. "Sure, Soph. I'll be right there." She kissed him, one more time.

Sophie said, "Hi Daddy!"

He pulled back from Maddie, winked, then looked at his daughter. "Hello, munchkin. How was your nap?"