Page 67 of Madden

Chapter Nineteen

Brielle

“I hate that you’re leaving like this…” Madden’s voice trails off.

He leans forward, tilting his forehead to mine. His large hands are pressed against the small of my back.

We were both on edge last night, making it hard for us to fall asleep, but when I’m standing here with him, and his arms are around me, I feel safe.

I hated I was leaving like this too.

“Tell me I won’t have to wait long until I get to see you again,” he whispers against my mouth.

I nod. It’s the elephant in the room.

Yesterday was our second date. After we spent this weekend together, the topic of where we go from here has weighed heavily on my mind.

I have a whole life back in New York. A new job I love and my friends and family. Madden has his life here in Carolina Beach with the guys. When he’s not here, he’s traveling from city to city playing music.

We are from two different worlds, and as much as I love being here with him, I’m finding it hard to figure out how we fit together.

What terrifies me, even more, is the feelings growing between us are unlike anything I’ve felt before. They don’t even compare to what I had with Mitchell.

“I guess that means I’ll see you soon?” I say, the statement coming out more like a question.

I pull back to flick my eyes up to his, and he nods, gripping my chin and kissing me hard. The move is possessive and all-consuming. I hold his forearms to prevent my knees going weak from the heady combination of his lips on mine and the light scent of his aftershave left over from last night.

It took everything in me to break the kiss and reach for my suitcase to walk away. I think on some level, a part of me worries this would be it for us.

The article is out into the world, and nothing ties him to me.

He has nothing left to be worried about now.

I turn back to him one last time. He’s leaning against the side of his car, watching me. His face is hard and emotionless until he notices me looking back, and it softens. I lift my fingers to my mouth and blow him one last kiss goodbye.

The flight back to New York went by quickly. I slept for most of it. I needed it a lot more than I thought I would.

Note to self: don’t book your returning flight home early in the morning and expect to return to work as soon as you land. I had enough time to make a stop home before I turned around to head into the office.

Thankfully, most of my day was open, all I planned to do was get through my emails from the weekend and start preparing for my next article. I almost hoped it would be busy to keep my mind off wishing I were back in Carolina Beach.

Madden might not have come out and said it, but he spent as much time as he could introducing me to his life. The longer I spend there, the more I understand why he never wants to leave.

My phone rings when I step into my apartment. It’s Serena, and when I answer, she bypasses the greeting, jumping right into things.

“I’m so happy you’re finally home. I have so much to tell you,” she squeals.

She was talking all last week about a date she had this weekend, and I know she’s been biting her nails to hear about how my trip went too.

“How did the date go?”

I pop the top of the wine bottle I opened last week and pour myself a glass.

“Amazing. Not only does he have a set of perfectly skilled fingers that know how to hit all the right places”—she giggles—“but he took me out to dinner and was a perfect gentleman the whole time.”

“Then how do you know about his skilled fingers?”

“Well, I may have had one too many glasses of wine with dinner and told him I wanted to go home with him.”

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