Heartbreaker: A Filthy Dirty Love Novel

“I know he cares for me, Emilia,” Joss said with a sigh, waving at a couple of cops that her father knew before glancing back at Emilia. “But he can’t seem to say it aloud. When I ended things, I gave him the chance to finally acknowledge that we’re”—she made quotations with her fingers—“together, and he didn’t take it.”

“Maybe he needs a little time,” Emilia offered.

“Maybe what he needs is a big smack to the head.” Joss smiled, and Emilia laughed, glancing over Joss’s shoulder, clearly looking for her missing husband. “But honestly,” Joss added, garnering Emilia’s attention again. “How pathetic would it make me if I stayed, knowing that I’d always be his secret, never his girlfriend?”

“Okay, I see your point.” Emilia’s eyes narrowed with her long sigh before she slapped her hands against the table. “Well, let’s hope the idiot wakes the fuck up and sees that you’re great for him.”

“The idiot has woken the fuck up.”

Emilia’s eyes widened, and she slapped her hand over her mouth. “I’m so sorry, sir,” she said beneath her hand.

Joss froze in her seat, her heart beating a mile a minute. Maddox stood right behind her. Sure, she’d heard his voice, but she could feel the heat of him slowly brushing across her back, sliding down her neck, raising goose bumps all over her flesh.

Emilia slowly lowered her hand. “I…I…shit…I have no idea what to say here.” She slapped her hand across her mouth again, eyes huge. “And I just swore,” she mumbled.

“I think you’ve said enough,” Maddox said, voice amused. “Besides, I’ll forgive you since those words are well deserved.” Then his voice shifted, becoming lower, harder. “Joss, look at me.”

The air rushed from her lungs as she slowly spun on her stool, and all those things she’d been saying to Emilia didn’t matter anymore. Logic couldn’t compare to what she felt with Maddox because it wasn’t a logic thing. It was emotional. And it was magical, from day one until now. “Is it a coincidence that you’re here?” She had to know.

He shook his head.

“You came here to see me?”

He nodded, eyes intent on her, flaring hot with emotion.

“How did you know I’d be here?” she asked, locked in all that powerful energy he was tossing her way.

“I overheard Emilia telling someone at work that you were all coming here tonight.”

Joss glanced at Emilia, and her best friend nodded. “I might have said something.” She turned to Maddox. “I didn’t even see you there.”

“He seems to have that spy technique mastered.” Joss smiled at Maddox.

His eyes crinkled, but he wasn’t moving toward her, just standing near the other table. “I heard that you went and saw my father.”

She flinched and recoiled—sure he wouldn’t have found that out. “Sorry, I know I probably shouldn’t have done that, but I….” She stopped short, beginning to wonder how he’d found out she was there. “Wait, did a nurse tell you? I asked them not to bother you with it.”

The pub faded around her as he took a step forward. “My father told me.”

“He remembered me?” She gasped.

Maddox grinned. “He did, and do you honestly believe I’d be upset that you went and gave my father a care package?”

She nodded, barely able to breathe, realizing this was how Maddox looked when all his shields were down. Oh, hell, he looked different, the energy between them felt different. The hairs on her body rose like static electricity between them.

Still, he stood so far away as he said, “Sugar, you’re far sweeter than I think you even realize. Of course, I’m not upset you went there, and of course my father found you unforgettable.” His head tilted then, watching her very carefully. “You won’t let me stop thinking about you, will you? Every time I try to stay away, you do something that draws me right back.”

“Um…” She nibbled her lip, glancing at Emilia, whose mouth was nearly hitting the table, before looking at Maddox again. “I didn’t do that to get your attention or anything.”

He didn’t respond to that but took another step forward, saying instead, “You won’t stop being this woman who does everything and anything to put herself into the spots in my soul no one could ever reach.”

She could barely catch her breath, her heart now in her throat. “I’m not doing that on purpose.”

That left brow of his lifted. “And yet you do it every single time, don’t you? Again and again, somehow you make me forget every rule and make me want things I’ve never wanted before.”