Page 42 of Talon
Maison frowned, not sure exactly what he meant.How would he be sure?
“I can try.I know I won’t succeed but I’ll try it if you like?”
Talon shook his head.“I don’t want you to be anyone but who you are, Mads, but I want all of you.”
Now it was her turn to blink.All of her?What did he mean by that?If he got all of her, did she get all of him?What exactly did he mean by all of her?Did he want her to be barefoot and pregnant at home?Did he want her to be devoted to him?What did he mean?Her mind spiraled with the possibilities.
“Hey,” she heard Talon speaking but was so lost in the thoughts spinning through her head that she didn’t respond.
“Warrior?”His tone turned to worried but she couldn’t pull herself from the possibilities swirling through her mind enough to reply.
“Madison!”Talon didn’t raise his voice but the firm tone, along with the way he squeezed her hands did what just his words couldn’t.It pulled her from the vortex her thoughts had formed, sucking her into their depths.
“What?”she asked with a shake of her head.She blinked several times trying to make her mind focus on the here and now.Had something happened or had he just noticed that she’d gotten lost in her head?
“Where’d you go?”Talon watched her with a creased brow, his concern obvious.
She didn’t answer, not exactly, instead she asked a question in return.“What did you mean by all of me?”
The crease on his brow disappeared as he looked at her with surprise.
“I meant I want all of you.If you’re angry, I want to know it.If you’re scared, show me.I don’t want some watered-down version of you.Some weakened, more socially acceptable version or some version of you that you think I want to see.I want you and all of you.”He watched her for a minute.“Why, what did you think I meant?”
Madison’s chest tightened and she shook her head.She wasn’t going to tell him where her mind went.It wasn’t worth the time it would take to explain it to him.
“You want all of me?I’ll do my best to give it to you.It will take some adjustment on my part, and you may have to remind me now and then.I can be more than a little nutty.I’m used to only sharing bits and pieces of myself with others, so I don’t come off as ‘too much’.But if you want to see it, to get all of me, I will try.”
“Trying is the best I can expect.I appreciate it.”
Madison turned one hand over and squeezed his back.
“You said something about helping me to forget my worries?”
“I did.Let me take care of the tab and we’ll go do that.”He stood and went to the counter.She watched him walk away, enjoying the way his ass flexed in his jeans, then stood and headed to the bathroom, she should be done about the time he finished paying.
A few minutes later, when she returned she found Talon standing next to the table.
“You ready?”he asked, turning to face her.
“Yep.I thought you’d go outside, and I’d meet you there.”
“I wanted to make sure you didn’t have any trouble between here and there while I was distracted with some thing else.”He hooked an arm around her neck, tugged her close and kissed her forehead.“I’m going to make sure he doesn’t get to you.”
After a moment, he released her neck, dropped his arm, and took her hand.
“Let’s go for a ride.”Talon shot her a grin that was so contagious she couldn’t help but smile as they made their way from the diner and out to his bike.
31
Talonpulledoutontothe highway and cranked the throttle.Beneath him, his bike roared with power as the wind hit his face and filled him with a sense of peace that he rarely felt anywhere but on the back of his bike.Though, he realized as the world sped past and the arms around his middle tightened, that he’d found it the last several nights, laying in bed next to Madison.Something about having her in his arms did as much for his mental health as the freedom of spending time on the back of his bike.He’d made sure to get the fuel line fixed properly the day before.There was no way he would do anything that might put Madison at risk if he could avoid it.
The warmth against his back was new.He’d never had anyone on the back of his bike but Madison and having her there made him never want anyone else in that spot.Except maybe their children.
Where the hell did that thought come from?Before meeting Madison, he’d never thought about kids in the concept that he’d ever have any.He’d never wanted to settle down with someone long enough to think about them before.But now that he did, he liked the idea of a little girl with Madison’s dark curls and maybe his hazel eyes, though he would love seeing a carbon copy of her with her deep chocolate eyes too.Now he’d had similar thoughts more than once.What was it about this woman?
“You okay?”he asked through the radio system in their helmets.
“This is great!”Madison’s voice was clear in the radio.“I think it’s just what I needed.”
