Heartbreaker: A Filthy Dirty Love Novel

Before he could try again to rectify things and correct whatever the fuck was going on between him and Joss, Emilia’s voice suddenly cut through the air. “Joss, come here. We’ve got shots.”

Joss heaved a heavy sigh, her posture relaxing even more. It became glaringly obvious that she wanted to get away from the tension between them as she gave Grey a tight smile. “Nice to see you again.” Those pretty eyes shifted to Maddox and pierced into his soul as she added with a smile that had him by the balls, “Enjoy your night.”

Maddox watched her walk away from him before he tore his gaze away. He’d created rules to ensure that things never became weird, to guarantee that he didn’t falter in public, especially with so many cops around. But that fucking beautiful woman right there was breaking apart the very fabric of who he was, making him want things he’d never wanted before with anyone.

He had to fix this problem. And he needed to do it now.

Grey bumped into Maddox’s arm, snapping him out of his thoughts, and as Grey turned to the bartender, he said, “Give me a pint of whatever you have on tap.” He slid onto the stool next to Maddox and leaned in, keeping the conversation private. “Better be careful, you two will repeat history and end up in the bathroom of this pub doing things that could give you a lot of grief.”

Maddox snorted and drank back two gulps of his beer. “That won’t happen.” Though even as he said it, he knew it was a lie. Everything had changed, and without hesitation, he’d take her in that bathroom and fuck the shit out of her in a second if she gave him that sexy look that she’d originally given him in the nightclub.

The look that had changed him as a man, making him want her in ways he’d never wanted anyone. The same look she’d given him at the barbeque. A look that was as equally sweet as it was sexy.

A look that screamed mine.

Maddox blinked out of his thoughts, watching as Grey gave one of his charming smiles to the pretty bartender, who smiled back at him.

Grey took a gulp of his beer then turned to Maddox with a knowing look. “So, after that little show there, I take it things have gotten a little more serious than you led me to believe?”

“It’s not serious,” Maddox stated, frowning down at his beer bottle. “I don’t get serious, and you know that.”

Grey snorted. “Rules are rules, yes, I know.” He tipped his beer toward Maddox, his expression knowing. “Maybe it’s about damn time you broke those rules.”

Then what? What would happen after he broke the rules? He liked rules. That’s why he liked the law. Things were clear, uncomplicated. He wasn’t governed by emotions; he was led by logic. Now he didn’t know which way to go. He felt like that lost little boy who’d sat on the front porch, wondering where his mother had gone.

He turned his head in Joss’s direction, watching her down her shot, and felt the confusion roll through him before glancing at Grey again, “This has become complicated, but it’s nothing that can’t be fixed.”

“Really?” Grey mused, giving something over Maddox’s shoulder a quick look. “You’re good then with how things are between you?”

“Yes.”

Grey took a swig of his beer. “She’s free to be with other men, then?”

“Of course. She’s free to do whatever she wants, we’re not a couple,” Maddox bit off, ignoring the way his muscles seized.

“Well, good, I’m glad to hear that,” Grey said, wiping the beer off his mouth before adding, “Or you might have a problem.”

“What problem?” Maddox frowned.

Grey gestured over Maddox’s shoulder with a flick of his chin. “The fact that your girl is in the arms of another man.”

Maddox jerked his head to the side, and his chest tightened. His eyes narrowed on the guy sliding his hand across Joss’s back in a way that sure looked like ownership to him. The man was so close to her, there was no distance between them, and Maddox couldn’t stop watching. Logical or not, his fists tightened as a rage he’d never known before stormed through him.

No one touched something that belonged to him.

For a short time tonight, he’d thought he had a handle on himself and had even made himself believe that he could control whatever was going on between him and Joss. Now, he realized he was dead wrong.

When the man turned Joss toward him and wrapped her into a tender hug, Maddox’s gaze snapped away, and he shut his eyes, inhaling and exhaling until the anger calmed. He shot off the stool, ignoring Grey calling out to him, and walked out the pub’s door. Instead of doing what he craved to do: removing the guy’s hands himself.