Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 96850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
Now? He thanked god he’d waited.
No one in this world compared to Eve.
His stomach was still in fucking knots from kissing her. She was wild, sensual. Sexy beyond description. Honest, funny, vulnerable, adventurous. His.
The occupant of his entire heart.
“What exactly happened with Landon at school, Eve?” he called, wanting to hear her voice. “Did I hear something about a chef’s hat?”
“Yes. He refuses to take it off.” She hopped on one foot past the door of her bedroom while donning a pair of socks, and Madden tilted his head to watch the shake of her bare ass cheeks, apparently not gentleman enough to look away. “He’s locked himself in the bathroom because someone dropped the hat into a puddle at recess. The teacher cleaned it off and left it to dry in the staff lounge, but he wants it back and he’s not taking no for an answer.”
“I see.”
Eve stopped in her doorway, now wearing a pair of short, red athletic shorts and a half-tucked T-shirt. “Why are you putting on your shoes? You’re not coming with me.”
“Why not?”
“People might see us together.”
“The deal was that we didn’t tell anyone we’re married, love,” he said calmly. “Not that we wouldn’t be seen together.”
She frowned and disappeared again, returning a few seconds later drawing a brush through her long hair. “You don’t think people are going to wonder why you’re coming to deal with a school-related issue with me?”
“Well, as you know, I don’t give a fuck.”
“But I do.”
The panic molding her features was going to be the death of him. “You can tell the teacher or whoever is watching so closely that we’ve been friends the better part of a decade and I’m visiting from out of town.”
She chewed on that, but it didn’t seem to check any of her worry boxes. “Will you please stay in the car?”
Madden’s jaw nearly fused together. “Jesus, Eve.”
“It’s for your sake, not mine. Please.”
That statement bodychecked him in the heart. “This place and its people don’t deserve you,” he growled. “Not the other way around.”
“I know you mean that, Mad. But I still want you to stay in the car. Please. This is stressful enough without worrying I’ll . . .” She dropped the brush to her side, closed her eyes for a beat. In a quieter voice, she said, “It’s also that I don’t want you there if someone makes a weird comment or turns their nose up at me. I’m used to it. But you would have to say something, and I don’t need to be defended.”
Come back to New York with me.
Madden wanted to say that out loud, so badly. Maybe he would have, if the burlesque club wasn’t still in its infancy. If Eve didn’t have Landon and Lark to look after. He’d risk her getting spooked in exchange for offering her a chance to get away from the stigma that had been attached to her in Cumberland.
“I’ll stay in the car,” he said, instead, because he didn’t want to add to her stress. She had enough reason for that already. “One guess what I’ll be thinking about while I wait.”
Eve frowned. “Baseball?”
“One more guess.”
In the kitchen now, she dug through her purse. “Lunch?”
Madden walked in her direction, coming up behind her in the kitchen and gripping the island on both sides of her body. “Wrong again.” He dropped a lingering kiss on her shoulder. “Your phone rang before I had a chance to say . . .” His lips moved higher, up the side of her neck. “I’m not the same man I was before you got on your knees for me. Fuck, Eve. Just . . . fuck.”
A shiver passed through her. “So, you’re going to be thinking about blow jobs while you wait.”
“No, love. I’m going to be thinking about returning the favor.”
“Oh.” When did her apartment become such a sweatbox? “First of all, please pass on this obsession to every man. The world would be a much happier place.”
“I’m only obsessed with eating your pussy.” He reached down and cupped her sex, giving it a firm squeeze. “I’m not passing that on to anyone.”
“Um.” She gulped. Audibly. “You probably shouldn’t fluster me when I’m about to meet with a pissed-off kindergarten teacher. I need to be clearheaded to negotiate a hostage crisis.”
“Sorry.” With a final tightening of his grip, he let her go, sliding the keys to his truck out of his pocket, holding them up. “I’ll drive while you pull yourself together.”
“So generous of you.” Eve giggled, and the sound delighted him so much, he pressed her tighter to the island and tickled her side with his free hand. “Madden!”
“Sorry.” He kissed the side of her face, letting his mouth roam down her neck, razing her with teeth as he went. “I love hearing you laugh.”