Page 6 of Her Ex's Father
The greeting is simple, professional. I forget that this is her home, too.
“Hello, Madeline.”
“Please, call me Maddie, Mr. Bronson.”
“Call me—”daddy.It catches on my tongue, and I clear my throat. “Ben, please. Would you like a drink?”
She smiles and finally steps forward, into the low light of the bar top. “Of my own whisky? Sure.” Madeline—Maddie—pulls herself onto a stool. The movement tightens her dress around her breasts, giving them a plump, inviting appearance. She leans forward on her elbows, unaware of the thoughts she’s inciting.
My son is a fucking idiot.
“You don’t want to see the celebration though? A woman as beautiful as you is sure to be missed,” I ask smoothly, sliding her glass toward her. She hesitates, then takes a sip. A rather large one.
“I think I’ve celebrated enough for tonight.”
“Mmm. My son will feel slighted, I’m sure.”
It’s not an insult toher,but her eyes light up with a fire that takes my breath away. She downs the rest of the whisky and takes the bottle from me.
“No offence, Mr. Bronson, but I was hoping for better.”
A chuckle slips out, and Maddie looks surprised. Her cheeks go pink with a blush, guilt, embarrassment, regret?
“I apologize, darling. I’m aware that my son can be… somewhat vacuous. But I promise you, your life as a Bronson will more than make up for his shortcomings.”
She sits up, a lock of hair falling out of the twist, mouth set. “And what exactly am I promised with that life that I can’t have here? Love? The adoration of my husband?”
The words land like a blow. We both know she won’t get either from Derrick, but what surprises me even more is that Maddiebelievesin love. I take in her features, mature but youthful, serious but gorgeous.
Has she really been hoping for a knight in shining armor?
A clatter draws our attention. A staff member steps out of the shadows, apologizing, smiling warmly at Maddie. “I just needed to get the list for tomorrow’s shower, to have the guys pull from the backstock tonight.”
Maddie nods, stands, and gracefully strides behind the bar to join me. Her scent—like strawberries and vanilla—makes me sway toward her. It feels like just the two of us here as she approaches, her eyes locked on mine.
Her heels click as she walks right up to me, almost chest to chest.
Then she leans in.
And grabs the clipboard under the counter.
“Here you go, Seb. It’s a party of eighty, right?”
The man in a Crown & Range t-shirt nods, his eyebrows lost in his hairline as he stares at the two of us. I haven’t budged aninch, as still as marble while Maddie leans against the bar next to me, supple body comfortable in this space.
She is the lead event planner for her family’s business, after all.
“Great. Make sure we have a floral wall set up outside, please, for photos. And have some of the horses available—Maeve and Rocco. There’ll be kids here too and we can spend an hour or so on ‘pony rides.’”
She smiles at the thought, and it’s now that I realize how much tonight has stressed her out. And how much of that stress has been caused by me.
Isigned the contract all those years ago, tying her to Derrick. What had Georgiana said then?It’ll come back to bite you in the ass.
Always wise, always so straightforward; and standing in the amber light of the distillery bar, it occurs to me that Georgiana was right.
Something is stirring. Something is coming.
Maddie straightens up and smooths her dress. “I should get back. I need to speak to my parents before the night ends.”
