Page 27 of Deserving Maddie

He didn't give her a chance to respond. Not that she had anything ready. Wes left her speechless and she didn't like it. It was no wonder Ray seemed to have confidence in spades, he needed it to deal with a boss like that.

Her phone finally dinged that she had a text message. She looked at the screen to see that it was Ray. Wes's visit had ruined the lighthearted banter they had going on. She looked at the message anyway.

Ray: Because when I asked him what he liked most about her, he said it was her laugh. So I figured a date that would keep her laughing would be perfect. Clearly, I was wrong. Probably why I rarely got past the first date.

Ugh. Maddie dropped her head into her hands. She doubted the reason Ray didn't get past a first date was because of the type of dates he picked. The circus was a little cringy, but the reason behind it was romantic as hell. If he put even half of that effort into his own dates, then his lack of a second one was because he was picking the wrong women.

Any woman with half a brain would see how great of a catch Ray was. Unfortunately, she was one of the stupid women who would have to miss out on all that Ray offered. It was a sad reality and put a damper on the rest of her day. She didn't have the heart to text him back and lead him on anymore.

After work, she was getting a rental car for Kat and promptly returning his car as originally planned. It was better that way.

Chapter 13

Raydidn'tknowifit was his text message about first dates or something else that freaked Maddie out but she never returned his message. And when he finally got home last night from work, his car was in his driveway with a note.

At first, he had gotten excited thinking she had come over for another fun night in which he hoped to convince her to stick around after. That notion was quickly squashed when he found the note stuck under the windshield wiper.

I appreciate all you have done for me and loved the time we spent together but I need some time to figure out what is best for me and my family. I'm sorry I took the cowardly way out and dropped it off. I couldn't see you just yet.

Take care,

Maddie

He reread her words a dozen times, and he still had no idea where he went wrong. So now he was breaking his own rule and digging into her life. If she was going to walk away, then he was going to learn as much as he could, including what brought her to Texas. Maybe something in her past would help him figure out how to win her affection.

An hour later, he quickly realized that, in this case, going down the rabbit hole wasn't that comforting. Each article he read only made him feel more like a dick. How the hell did he expect to compete with a hometown hero who gave up his life to save someone else?

Anthony Robinson was the perfect husband and father. Not a single one of his co-workers had a bad thing to say, and his service record was squeaky clean. Everyone raved about how well the man balanced both home and work life. It was intimidating. No wonder Maddie only wanted him for sex. She already had her perfect romance, anything else would be a pale comparison.

"Knock, knock. Anyone home?"

Ray was so engrossed in his computer that he hadn't heard anyone pull up or the front door opening.

"In the office!" he hollered back.

His home office was on the first floor. It was marketed as the master suite or in-law suite, but the thought of sleeping on the first floor when he had three perfectly good bedrooms on the second floor wigged him out. It made more sense to convert the room to a large office, since he didn't know how to turn off his working brain anyway.

"Don't you have anything better to do than work all the time?" Blue stepped into his office and plopped herself down onto the couch he kept in the corner to fill up space.

"Shouldn't you be home with Jaxson rather than at my house busting balls?"

He was starting to regret giving his teammates a key to his house. At the time, it sounded like a good idea considering he was often so engrossed with whatever he was doing, he didn't want to be bothered stopping to let them in. It was rare that any of them used it to just barge in.

"Jaxson is away with his team, so I got some spare time. Figured I would use it to see how you're doing."

"Did I miss where you became the mother hen of the team or started to get all touchy-feely on me?"

Kendra, or Blue, as the team called her, was the only female on both Charlie and Bravo Team. Most days she had her hands full dealing with all the testosterone, but it didn't take him long after meeting her to realize she could handle it. So the sudden concern for him was out of character.

"I can't come to check up on one of my own teammates and see how he's doing?"

"Uh, no. Not usually."

"Fine." Blue let out a sigh and relaxed farther back into the couch. "I told Hollywood you would see right through me."

Ah, Hollywood. He should've known. Out of all the members of Bravo Team, Hollywood had the biggest heart.

"I would say Abby is making him soft, but we know that isn't true. I'm fine. No reason to be checking up on me."

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