His fingers tightened into fists, and it took all his strength not to move to her and take her into his arms, showing her how crazy she made him. Her shiny, pink lips called for him to taste her. Her sugary smell demanded that he devour her. Under his stare, her eyes began to dilate, inviting him to own her.
With the loud crowd around them, and his cock swelling in his pants, Maddox realized a truth he couldn’t deny. Something had changed, not just in him, or her, but in the two of them together. He didn’t know when it had happened or even how, but he could feel it running in his blood like extreme adrenaline.
The problem was, he didn’t know what to do about it.
Before, he’d ended things when a woman showed any signs of attachment. But he didn’t want to end things with Joss. Yesterday, he’d told her things he’d never told anyone about his father. She’d listened as if only he mattered and had extended affection to him, filling the cracks of coldness in his soul. Even now, he liked the way she looked at him, as if she saw no one else but him. He wasn’t ready to end this yet, and she didn’t seem to be either, and with that thought cemented in his mind, he realized he never wanted to be cured of his addiction to her.
“So, um…” said Emilia, obviously in response to Maddox’s awkward silence and staredown of Joss, “…Maddox, this is my husband, Troy,” she introduced.
Maddox blinked, forced himself to gain control, and looked at Troy. “Good to meet you, Troy.” He offered his hand, noting Troy’s height. At least six foot five, he towered over the women, and with his gelled, spiky, dark hair, he only looked taller.
“Nice meeting you, too.” Troy returned the handshake then dropped Maddox’s hand to pull Emilia into his side, nice and close. “Thanks for taking such good care of my girl on the job.”
Emilia glanced up at her husband and smiled in a way Maddox had never seen her smile at anyone.
“My pleasure,” Maddox told Troy. The bartender placed his beer in front of him, and he nodded in thanks, before adding, “I’m lucky to have her on my team.”
“No truer statement has ever been said.” Troy kissed the top of Emilia’s head.
Maddox noted Joss glancing away and looking at her boots. Even he felt like a fourth wheel there. As he watched Troy and Emilia embrace each other and flirt, he wondered what that would be like. To grab Joss for all to see? To place that kind of statement out into the world so that everyone knew she was his?
Before he could decide, Troy released Emilia and said, “Why don’t I get you girls some drinks? Beers?”
Joss snapped her head up “God, yes, please.” She shoved her thumbs into her pockets and rocked from side-to-side. “I think I might want something a little stiffer, too, if you don’t mind.”
“Not at all,” Troy said before heading off toward an open space at the bar.
Emilia glanced from Joss to Maddox to Joss again before calling out to Troy, “Here, I’ll come with ya.” She gave Maddox a quick grin before scurrying off.
Maddox sighed as the sounds around him seemed louder than before. The rock music playing through the speakers. The guy eating the peanuts next to them. The conversations all blending together in a loud roar. He shut his eyes and drew in a deep breath before he reopened them to glance around. Only a foot away stood the police chief, and near him was a female police officer Maddox knew was known to gossip around the office. Though when he looked back at Joss, he noted the way she nibbled her lip and swayed her hips. He didn’t want her to feel alone. “This is difficult,” he told her.
She sighed, her shoulders sagging with her soft laugh. “Surprisingly, yes.”
Maddox stared into her eyes, feeling the strands of his control slipping away. Before he could somehow fix the awkwardness and make everything okay again, a hand was thrust into Joss’s face.
“Joss, right?”
Maddox mentally cursed and turned to Grey, not shocked to find a beaming smile on his buddy’s face. While Maddox had asked Grey to meet him here tonight for drinks, Grey’s timing matched with Maddox’s mood made him regret sending the invite.
“That’s right, I’m Joss,” she said, offering a sweet, polite smile while returning the handshake. “You’re Greyson?”
“Greyson Crawford.” He released her hand to smack Maddox on the back, his grin firmly in place. “My friends call me Grey, and I’m as close to a brother as Maddox’s got.”
“Oh,” she said, eyes wide with surprise.
Maddox saw her lips part, desperate to ask more, but he also knew she wouldn’t. Too much interest in him would give her away, and she was too smart for that. Seconds passed like minutes, and as the awkwardness only grew, he wondered how he could let this happen. Things never got awkward, not for him. He made sure of it.