Page 49 of Slow Burn
Shit.Wasn't this exactly why I'd stayed away for the past couple of days? To reel in these rampant thoughts. Get a grip on my hormones that were embarrassingly unstable.
"Relax." Maddie drew my attention back to her. "I won't bite. Not yet, anyway. And there are no mushrooms on the pizza. Just a lot of meat." Without waiting for a response, she spun on her heel and sauntered deeper into the house.
And because I liked the torture, my eyes stayed glued to her perfectly rounded ass until Sheldon's sharp yap interrupted me. With a lot of effort, I shifted my focus from Maddie to the little shit sitting at my feet. "What?"
Another shrill sound left his mouth before he trotted after his human, bushy tail in the air. I threw my head back and begged for the strength I needed to get through this night without so much as laying a finger on Maddie.
A task that was surely going to require superhuman strength since said fingers itched to explore every single inch of her body. After a few steadying breaths, I stepped inside and immediately smiled when some dance show was playing on her wall-mounted TV.
"What can I get you to drink?" Maddie called from the kitchen. "I have OJ, water, and the wine you brought over."
Frowning, I joined her. The bottle of wine still stood on the countertop. "I don't drink wine," she admitted softly.
My gaze immediately shot to hers. "You don't?"
Maddie shook her head, her cheeks turning the prettiest shade of pink. "Don't like the taste."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
In the space of a breath, she was standing in front of me with her fingers curled around my arm. As it did that night at my house, my skin felt alive under her touch. Jolts of electricity rushed through my veins and zapped at my heart.
Tilting her head back, she met my stare head-on. "What you did was so thoughtful, I didn't want to ruin the moment." Her lips curved into a shy smile. "I devoured the chocolates, though."
A chuckle rumbled through my chest. "I don't drink wine either."
The half-smile turned into a full-blown grin. "Well, look at that…We actually have something in common."
"I guess we do."
Maddie moved back to the fridge, and I immediately missed the warmth of her touch. After I told her I was good with just water, she pulled two bottles from the fridge and tossed me one.
I followed her back to the living room, where a pizza box was sitting on the coffee table. She flipped the lid and grabbed a slice for herself before plonking down on the couch and motioning for me to do the same.
It was only after both of us demolished two slices each that I broke the comfortable silence that'd fallen between us.
"So?" I eyed the TV for a beat before settling my gaze on her again. "This is what you get up to on a Friday night?"
She made a face. "I know. I'm the most boring twenty-four-year-old on the planet."
I'd known she was young; just didn't think I had a decade on her. Not that knowing her age suddenly changed things. I felt what I felt, it couldn't be helped.
"What's happening to your face?" Maddie leaned closer and made a show of inspecting me. "You look like you're doing math." Pulling her foot up, she tucked it under the leg dangling off the edge of the couch.
With a chuckle, I shook my head. "I was trying to think of an adequate word to describe you because boring isn't it." I, too, made myself comfortable. Turning sideways, I leaned back against the couch and spread my arm across the top of it. The way her eyes softened and roamed over me, made me feel funny. I couldn't remember when last someone looked at me like that. "What?" I croaked.
"You're sweet."
I scoffed. "I most definitely am not."
Leaning forward, way forward, she invaded my space. I balled my fingers into tight fists to keep from reaching for her. "That's what you want people to believe," she said seriously. "But I see you, Adam."
It was on the tip of my tongue to tell her the man she saw was the one she brought out in me. I'd hurt enough people over the past three years to know there hadn't been too much good in me.
Because I couldn't handle the weight of her stare, I averted my gaze. What would she say or think if she knew about that part of me? If I admitted how horribly I'd failed the person I was supposed to love the most?
Her tastefully-decorated, memory-lined walls started to close in on me. The invisible band around my chest pulled taut, and the air refused to leave my lungs. I jumped up and surged through the open door where I could drag fresh, salty air to my lungs.
"Adam?" Maddie's warm, soft hand landed on my back and I swore under my breath. "I'm sorry if I overstepped."
