Mad Gold (Providence Gold 2)

I could see her mind ticking through the information, but it still wasn’t adding up for her.

“I thought about that woman a lot and wondered if I’d ever bump into her again.” I took a step closer to her so we were roughly an inch apart. This meant that she had to tip her head back to look up at me, and that’s when I saw her put the pieces of the puzzle together and figure it out. “And I did, Dahlia. I saw her on a plane from New York of all places and thought she was having an allergic reaction.”

“Holy shit!” she gasped and raised her hand like she was going to cover her mouth, but I caught it before she could.

Not giving her a chance to pull it back, I used my hold to tug her into me, and then let go so I could cup her neck as I lowered my face down to hers.

“Yeah! So, you’re not bad luck. Far from it.”

Deciding that I’d said enough seeing as how I’d just spoken more words than I’d ever used all at once in my life, I gently pulled her up to me and kissed her. Nothing too much, just enough to feel her lips and get that connection to her again.

I had to know if the first time was a fluke. I had to know if it would feel like it had then - like I couldn’t breathe and that it didn’t matter because, for the first time in my life, I felt complete.

And it did. It really fucking did.

Lifting my head slightly, I grinned when she tried to follow and kiss me again.

“So, Serendipity, do you want to go for lunch with me?” I asked as I ran my nose down the side of hers.

“I’m more of a calamity, but if you’re sure you can take it, then hell yes I will,” she replied, still looking slightly doubtful that I could withstand whatever might happen. “And serendipity’s a ship. In fact, I think it was the Titanic’s real name, they just didn’t want people to think the word was bad luck.”

What the fuck?

I was so organized and methodical in my approach to life, that I probably shouldn’t have been attracted to someone who constantly blew my mind with her hilarious, random, possibly insane personality, but I was.

Grinning again, and deciding that I kind of liked the feeling of doing it, I reached my hand out and caught hers, tugging her in the direction of the restaurant.

Dahlia

I was still in a fog when we arrived at the restaurant, but all it took was one look at the huge table full of Townsends for it to lift.

“Dahlia!” Levi shouted and then patted the free seat beside him. “You can sit with me.”

The deep growl that came from Madix made me squeeze his hand as I grinned back at Levi and then waved at the rest of the family who were shuffling closer to each other to make space for an extra chair.

“I want her to sit next to me,” Tate shouted as he shuffled closer to his sister Ariana. She just rolled her eyes and shook her head at me.

When Madix stiffened and slowly turned his head in Tate’s direction, their dad Jer stood up and went to get a chair from an unoccupied table and then placed it next to the empty one.

“Here you guys go,” he grinned and held his hands out. “Dahlia, you sit here,” he pointed at the chair he’d just moved over, which was next to Luna. The fact he’d remembered my name surprised me, but then again with Dad running the business he did, most people knew my name before I knew theirs. His first impression of me had also been a swollen tongue, stupidity and me embarrassing myself. I guess that was kind of hard to forget. “Madix, you can sit here,” he added, nodding at the chair beside Levi.

All of the tension left Madix’s body once I was sandwiched between him and his sister. When she passed me the menu I breathed a sigh of relief and hid behind it. Random social conversation often left me feeling overwhelmed, especially in situations like this. They were the best people, but man alive the entire Townsend family was intimidating. I also didn’t know what Madix expected of me, or what I was even doing here which made me feel even more awkward. I’d wanted to come and spend more time with him though, especially seeing as how I could talk this time without using my hands or a piece of paper and a marker.

“Have a margarita for me, will ya?” Luna muttered as she looked at her own menu, unable to drink because she was pregnant.

Nodding, I scanned the page and chose what I wanted to go with my margarita. The alcohol would be long gone by the time I finished work today, and one wouldn’t kill me. Right?