Page 87 of Mad As Hell

I giggled, burrowing into my pillow. “And where does it belong?”

He finished turning off the lights until his silhouette was all that remained in the dark. Then he was sliding between the sheets. A hand reached out, snagging me around the waist and hauling me to his side. I abandoned my pillow to rest my head in the divot between his shoulder and chest. My hand curled against his heart as I snuggled into his side.

“If you don’t know where your tongue belongs,” he said in a mild voice while reaching down to hitch my leg up, “then I’m happy to remind you.” My thigh brushed against his erection.

His lips pressed against my hair. “Go to sleep, baby.”

Another command I was happy to obey.

CHAPTER 24

MADDIE

Fingers brushed my hair from my face as a soft voice said, “Wake up, baby.”

Disoriented, I fluttered open my eyes, and a sleepy smile stole across my face. Ryan gazed back from the pillow opposite me, his hair mussed and his eyes bright.

Then I realized Ryan was in bed next to me. That was quickly followed by why he was in my bed. What had happened the night before crashed into my barely conscious brain. A cold sweat broke out across my back.

Ryan’s hand settled possessively on my hip. “Breathe, Maddie. It’s fine. You’re fine.”

I nodded, taking a quick inventory of myself until I came to the same conclusion he’d offered; I was okay.

“Sorry,” I whispered, and licked my lips. I hated the knee-jerk compulsion to apologize for having a momentary freak out.

“Don’t be.” His thumb stroked the bare skin above my hip from where my shirt had ridden up. “How do you feel?”

“Okay,” I said after a beat. “You?”

He smiled slowly, his gaze dipping to where my top had gone askew and part of my boob was hanging out. “Never better.”

Rolling my eyes, I huffed but didn’t move to fix myself. It wasn’t anything he hadn’t seen before. Besides, something had shifted last night. I wasn’t ready to say we were back to normal—far from it—but I also didn’t feel the same burning need to put space between us that I had before.

“What’s got you thinking so hard?” he asked.

“You,” I confessed.

His brows shot up. “Uh oh.”

I curled my hand under my chin, tucking it against my chest. “You know, when Adam left, I just wanted to feel safe.” I met his eyes. “You make me feel safe. Even with everything so complicated between us, I knew you’d come through for me.”

“Good,” he murmured. “I’m not going to let you down again, Mads. I promise.”

A frown pulled at my mouth. Thinking about the engagement party just made me sad. “It’s a little soon to be making promises.”

“Not for me,” he replied. “Not for us. I know what I want. It took royally fucking up to see it, and I’m sorry you paid that price.”

My gaze skirted away.

“Do you think you’ll ever tell me what happened that night? Or where you were for almost two weeks after?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “Part of me doesn’t want to think about it.”

Resignation darkened his gaze. “I guess I deserve that.”

“It’s not about deserve, Ryan,” I responded gently. “I just… A lot happened. A lot changed. I can’t go back to the person I was before that night.” God, I wished I could. I’d been so blissfully ignorant. I thought I had won the lottery. I had a dad, my mom was getting better, college and beyond was secure, I had friends, and I had Ryan.

Then everything had blown up in the span of a minute-long video.

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