Page 28 of A Dangerous Proposal

This was what was important, she reminded herself. Jax—taking care of him—not the unbelievably attractive man in front of her who she wanted to climb like a tree.

“Can you take us back to my car, or should I call for an Uber?”

Alex’s intense gaze bore into her for several beats, and she saw a muscle flex in his jaw. “I’ll take you.”

Chapter Eight

Madison leaned into the open back door of the car, to give the baby a dose of his medicine. Staring at her perfect round ass while she took care of her sick child was definitely a new low for him, Alex decided.

When she stepped back, Alex draped his coat over her again with a gruff. “It’s cold.” Then held the front passenger door open for her.

After a brief hesitation, she sat in the front seat. They listened to Jax babble for a few minutes, but once he fell asleep, a thick silence enveloped the car.

Alex caught the soft snort just before Madison turned her head to look out the window, her hand covering a quiet giggle. He hadn’t expected that—her ability to find humor in a moment like this. Of all the things he thought he might expect from her, that glimpse of lightness was unexpectedly disarming… and more than a little addicting.

“What’s so funny?”

She shook her head. “Sorry, just thinking about how bizarre this day has been. I thought Jax being sick and not sleeping was the worst my day was going to get. I wasn’t expecting tosee a man shot right in front of me.” She grimaced, the humor disappearing instantly. “I didn’t mean that the way it came out.”

His shoulders tensed. “I know you must think I’m a monst?—”

“I don’t…” Madison cut him off. “Or at least if you are, then I’m one, too.”

His eyes swung to her again.

Her fingers knotted in her lap, and her words came out in a rush. “Because I’m glad you did it. You saved our lives today.” She let out a heavy sigh. “Maybe I should feel bad he’s dead. Wish you’d shot him in the leg or something. But I’m not. I’m glad he’s dead, and if I’m being truthful, I don’t have a single ounce of regret in my body.”

Be very careful, asshole.

Madison had handled the entire situation better than he could have ever hoped. He didn’t want to scare her off by saying the wrong thing. When her face twisted, Alex realized she had taken his silence as recrimination.

“I must sound like an awful person.”

“No.” He inhaled a deep breath. “I’ve known a lot of bad people in my lifetime, and you aren’t even in the same universe. You recognized a man who needed killing. He would have kept hurting innocent people. That doesn’t make you a monster, Angel. It makes you human.”

Alex pulled into the now dark shopping center with her car one of the few left in the lot. Lifting Jax and the car seat out of his car, he reinstalled it in her back seat while she deposited the rest of their belongings on the floor. Madison tightened the boy’s straps, shut the door, and turned to face Alex.

The temperature had fallen significantly from earlier in the day, and their breaths appeared like an intermingled white cloud.

“Alex,” she began, and before he could help himself, he settled his hands on her hips.

If she’d drawn back, given him any sign that she didn’t welcome his touch… He would have stopped… Or at least that’s what he told himself.

Her navy eyes sparkled under the streetlights, and when she leaned closer, he slid his hands to the small of her back under his heavy wool coat and pulled her flush against his body.

She tipped her head up. Watching. Waiting.

Alex took a deep breath, a primal part of him savoring the mix of his cologne lingering on his coat and the unmistakable scent of Madison. His blood surged even as his brain told him to go slow.

Her tongue darted out to wet her lower lip, and his pulse accelerated in anticipation.

“My pumpkin is waiting, Charming.”

The husky sound was his undoing. Using the arm clamped around her back, he lifted her against him and slanted his lips over hers.

Madison moaned quietly, and then her fingers were tunneling through his hair, gripping hard as his tongue swept in to duel with hers, and she made a low sound in her throat.

Her shirt rode up a little, and his fingers skated along the impossibly smooth skin of her back. She tasted even sweeter than he’d imagined.

---