After a quick look around the pub, she noted that they were drawing a crowd. Too many eyes were on them, including Sandy’s, a well-known gossiper in the west. Joss frowned, turning to Maddox, and whispering, “Maybe we shouldn’t talk about this here.”
“There’s nowhere else I’d rather be,” he retorted, freezing her in her seat. His soft, gentle expression said so much without saying anything at all. Something had changed in him. Something big. “I found out yesterday that my mother died a week after she left us. That’s why she never came back. My father never told me because he was too ashamed. Even if I understand his reasons, I can’t live in the same shadow I’ve been living in. And do you know why?”
“Why?” she heard herself whisper, feeling slightly detached.
“I refuse to do what he did and make the same mistakes he made.” Maddox took another step toward her. “I want to be the man you need me to be to make you happy, not a man who disappoints you.”
The world faded around her. Only him, that’s all she saw. “I don’t want to change you.”
A slow smile spread across his face. “And that, sugar, is what makes you, you, but when it comes to this, it’s not up to you.” His voice deepened a little as his gaze roamed over her face, like he was searching for answers and had somehow found them. “I kept wondering what it was about you that made you unforgettable from that first night I touched you.”
She blinked, glancing from side-to-side. He was admitting things very publicly. Sure, she knew both their jobs were no longer at risk, but still, Maddox had to know that the cops would gossip about this. “Um, Maddox, what are you—”
He took another step toward her, the heat of his body closing in on her, stealing her voice, as he asked, “You know what I realized?”
“What?” she barely managed.
“I’m in love with you.” Her mouth dropped open, and he laughed softly at the shock in her expression. “Yeah, I know, it surprised me, too. But that’s what made you so different. You got right into here”—he pointed to his chest—“so easily, I didn’t even see it happening. And once you were there, there was no letting you go.” He paused, shutting his eyes for a moment, and when they reopened, heady emotion filled their depths. “I won’t walk away from the woman I love, and I promise I won’t hurt you for loving me back.”
He lifted his hand, cupping her face, and while she leaned into his touch, tears filled her eyes. “So, Joss, I have one last question to ask you. Will you date me?”
She smiled through the tears, sliding a little more off her stool, getting closer to him. “Date a heartbreaker, would that be wise?”
“Probably not, it’s very risky,” he replied with a grin.
She angled her head and stared into his eyes and saw her future. Not a dull moment, she was sure. Love was messy and crazy and wild, and she knew behind it all, she wanted to experience it with the one guy who made it an adventure. Somehow, he didn’t want to change her. She didn’t want to change him. And yet, they had changed enough to be perfectly imperfect together. “Yes, Maddox, since I’m completely in love with you, too, I guess it would be all right for us to date.”
A smile so big and warm crossed his face before she was in his arms. The crowd in the pub roared, whistled, and clapped, and he kissed her exactly like the first time her lips had met his.
That one time in a nightclub that had changed her life forever.
Chapter 14
After Joss had gotten through the awkwardness of everyone clapping at them on their way out the pub’s door, she followed Maddox to his house. She had apologized profusely to Emilia for bailing on their drinks, but of course, Emilia understood. In fact, she’d pushed Joss toward the door after a hug of a lifetime. There were a thousand things to think of. One being how she was going to tell her parents that she’d gone from single to dating the captain of the east precinct overnight. Her dad would definitely hear about that from his cronies. But she realized as Maddox shut the door behind her and turned to her with a smile that she didn’t have to do this alone, and her parents were going to love him.
She wondered what they would do next? They were entering new territory here, and she was curious if things would change a little between them, but his sexy smile told her things hadn’t changed all that much.
That left eyebrow arched. “Are you ready to play, sugar?”
“Always, sir.” She grinned.
“Wait here for a minute,” he said, leaning forward and kissing her on the forehead.