Page 22 of Forever Home

“Yes, master. Let me get that for you.”

I maneuver through the boxes towards the closet. Her eyes meet mine for a brief second to catch the smile on her face, and her bottom lip tucked between her teeth. Seeing her bite that lip, I internally groan at how sexy she looks before I push it away to focus on the present. As soon as I look at the top shelf and take in the large white wooden hope chest, I regret having cut back on my workouts the last few weeks.

Fucking hell, I’m gonna feel this in the morning.

Stepping around her, I grab the large wooden trunk and pull it down. The antique painted leaves and florals upon it cause Madi to run her fingers across it in admiration. “Kylie would love this.”

She’s always thinking of others over herself. Hell, I remember when we were kids how her mother would bake cookies for her and she would always share them with the rest of us. Especially when we were having a bad day. She never wanted to see anyone upset.

“Yeah, she would. You should show it to her. Maybe she wants to keep it.”

It takes a moment for me to realize just how close Madi and I are. The sweet smell of her vanilla perfume, the soft gentle curves of her face. I can’t get over just how beautiful she really is, and to be honest, I can’t help but wonder if she even realizes it. With little more than a foot between us, she seems to notice our closeness as well and clears her throat to get around me as I set down the trunk. The only problem is that she miscalculates the boxes beside her and starts to tumble.

Reaching out, I snatch her to me. My arm around her waist, her body pressed tight against mine as I hold her. Everything about having her like this feels right. And as much as I expect her to quickly pull away, she doesn’t. She stares up at me, her breath coming out a little faster than normal as her eyes widen slightly.

“Thank you,” she whispers, my arm pulling her closer to me so that our faces are only inches apart.

My mind seems to come to a halt. My body, unwilling to release her as she stays pressed against me. I’d never once thought about her in a romantic way when we were younger, but since I came home it’s like my mind can’t stop thinking about her. As if the fates have drawn me to her, and she’s all I can see.

Temptation stirs and with only a breath between our lips—my phone rings.

What the fuck…

I have no doubt who it is. Eric is supposed to call me back if there are issues, and the ringtone playing in the room around us right now means there are issues.

“I have to take this…” I say, watching her nod slowly.

“You don’t… but that’s up to you.”

As much as I want to agree with her, I can’t. I pull back, straightening myself with irritation as I pull my phone from my pocket while making sure Madi won’t fall.

“Hello,” I snap, listening to Eric's voice chime through on the other end of the phone.

“Hey, so I ran into a few problems with the money situation. I’m sending you over the information now, but I need to get it fixed right away. I don’t know what happened with the accounts.”

Of course, he fucking doesn’t.

“Fine, give me twenty minutes. I’m not in front of my laptop right now.”

When the call ends, I turn to find Madi busying herself within the closet again. I was so close to kissing her, and it was ruined by a prick from France who can’t get his shit together.

“I have to go…” I mutter softly, hoping she understands. But also hoping we can pick this up later.

She doesn’t bother to look at me though as she nods. “I heard. It’s okay, I can finish by myself.”

“About what just happened…”

“Don’t worry about it, Jaxson,” she replies, cutting me off mid-sentence with a soft laugh as she turns to glance at me. “Life happens and weare all very busy. Go and take care of what you have too. We can always catch up another time.”

Every part of me wants to stay and talk to her. To finish what we had started, but it’s clear the moment we shared is over, the situation with my business has to come first—it’s my name on the line.

“That sounds good… maybe we can meet up tomorrow.”

She nods at me again, before turning around. My feet move me from the room as I hurry from the house, calling out to Knox and Kylie as I pass by them.

As I climb into my car, I can’t help but lash out, smacking the steering wheel with a loud roar before leaning back against the headrest and closing my eyes. Trying to calm down, my mind instantly begins to drift.

Soft singing pulls me from my tears as I gaze up to meet the big eyes of a brown pigtailed girl peeking at me through the entrance to the treehouse I’m hiding in. It’s Madison. Her head tilts to the side slightly before she moves into the open space and closer to me.

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