Page 57 of Recklessly, Wildly Yours

Me: How’s your day been?

Miller: Ugh. Next question.

I call her and she answers with, “I miss you. And I know that must sound ridiculous since I’ve known you less than a week, but it’s true. And if that scares you away, so be it. I’m done with not telling the truth in my life.”

Fuck.

“Did you just do one of those asterisk shrugs when you said, ‘so be it?’”

Her laugh is the best thing I’ve heard all day. “Are you gonna leave a girl hanging, Black?”

“I miss you too. Now, tell me about your day.”

“I need a new lawyer and I can’t find one I like. And until I find one, I can’t fire Darren as my manager because I need a lawyer to advise me on that. And Tucker’s being a real dick. Like, the dickiest dick of all dicks and I would unalive him if I thought I could get away with it.”

“Wow, the dickiest dick of all dicks. I see why you’re a songwriter with your ability to string words together. And unalive? What the fuck is that?”

She laughs again. “I threw that in just for you. Kill, Ethan. I want to kill him, and if the FBI are listening in on this phone call and show up to arrest me, I’m gonna need you to come and save me from them, ‘k?”

I chuckle. “Fuck, where do you get this shit from? The FBI listening in on your phone calls?”

“It’s a thing! And since you’re related to a senator, they probably really are listening in on your phone calls. This may be a bump in our friendship.”

“I hope not. I wanna see your new granny undies on you.”

“Oh god, we’re gonna need burner phones if we start sexting. I barely manage one phone, so this may be another bump. I may need to reconsider hooking up with a senator’s brother.”

“You aren’t reconsidering anything,” I growl. I hate the thought of her on another man’s arm, and that thought comes out of nowhere, smacking me in the face with the intensity of it.

Maddie is silent for a moment and when she speaks again, I hear how much I’ve affected her by her breathy tone. “I like that you’ve got feelings about that.”

Hayden and Gage wander into the grand salon, deep in conversation over something.

“I have to go, but I may have a lawyer you’ll like.”

“Who?”

I eye Hayden. “My brother. I’ll mention it to him if you’d like.”

“Yes, please. I would love that.”

“Okay, he’s here with me now. I’ll get back to you soon.”

“Thank you,” she says so fucking softly that it hits deep in my gut and I know I’d do anything to make her use that voice with me again.

“Go buy those undies, Miller. And when they arrive, I’m gonna need to see them.”

“On me?”

“Fuck yes, on you.” I don’t even try to hide how much I want to see that.

We end the call with the sound of her laughing and I know I’m going to dream of those granny undies.

“Was that the runaway bride?” Gage asks.

“Can we stop referring to her as the runaway bride?” I scowl. “Her name is Madeline.”

Gage’s lips quirk, the asshole. “My apologies. Was that Madeline?”

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