Gently setting Maddy aside, he worked hard to ignore the disappointment that dulled her eyes and drooped her shoulders, mimicking what was pouring through him. He re-ran the band through his head, playing those songs that Madison had blown out of the water. That voice. It had stroked him, rasped his skin, evoked all sorts of fantasies. What if he did follow through and hauled her back against him? Oh, and kissed her? And...
‘Let’s walk.’ Then he surprised himself. He caught up her free hand and slipped his fingers between hers.
A jolt reminiscent of an electric current he’d once copped when he’d tried to change a power switch for his mother pinged where their palms touched. Let go of her now. Just like when he’d been zapped for real, he couldn’t. Beggar for punishment that he was, he wound his fingers tighter around Maddy’s. And she reciprocated. Which meant what?
Stretching his steps into strides, he took them out to the perimeter and beyond the mess and bar, away from prying eyes. Unable to drop her hand, he enjoyed the sheer delight of holding hands with a woman. This woman. Warmth worked its way up his arm and down into his chest, softening his breathing, turning his fears and guilt into a puddle of wonder. And worry. This was not how things were meant to be for him now. Madison. Stick to Madison and this whole wanting her thing might evaporate in a cloud of reality. If only.
So what now?
Letting go of her hand wasn’t an option.
* * *
Maddy couldn’t believe it. Holding hands with Sam was so—so out there. It wasn’t even high-powered, hot, sexy stuff. It was gentle and caring and nice—she hated that word but it was true. All right, try wonderful. Unbelievable, more like. Perfect. Yes.
She squeezed his hand to make sure she wasn’t making this up. His fingers tightened briefly around hers. Definitely for real.
Had to be the heat and the foreign location and that music and... Madison sighed, long and slow. Had to be something in the drinking water because holding hands was nothing like what she’d expect with this man. He gave the impression of being more the let’s-get-in-the-sack-fast kind of guy. Exactly what she felt around him when she admitted her feelings. Don’t go there. Enjoy the moment. Because it would only be a moment, a few minutes at most, then Sam would realise what he was doing and drop her hand like a hot potato. And one of them needed to be sensible.
If she talked, would that burst the bubble? But her blood was fizzing, her whole body buzzing from earlier and now topped up with a dose of Sam. Holding hands was nowhere near enough. His mouth on hers would go a lot further towards improving the situation.
Madison gasped. Again kissing was on her mind. What would he do if she turned to him and placed her lips on his? Would he kiss her back? Soft and gentle? Hard and demanding, giving as much as he took, she’d bet.
‘You okay?’ her biggest distraction asked.
‘Fine.’ If wanting to kiss him was fine. If needing to get closer was fine.
‘Damn.’
‘What’s wrong?’
‘You and me. That’s what.’ Was that longing making his voice lower and huskier than usual?
She was probably imagining it because of the need clawing through her. ‘How are we wrong?’
‘As in for each other, Maddy.’ There. The way he dragged out her name, turned it into a caress, turned her insides into that molten mess of need she was learning to live with on an hourly basis.
‘Maybe it’s our time.’ Gulp. She’d given herself away with that desire-laden comment. A beggar on her knees couldn’t be more obvious.
Sam extricated his hand.
She’d gone too far. But he was here, for real, and every stop sign had disappeared.
‘I’ll tell you something for nothing, Madison. When you were singing that first song the emotion that poured out of you, I’ve never heard anything like it. You had me in the palm of your hand. You could’ve done anything to me at that moment.’
She’d sing it again—now. Definitely begging. ‘If only I’d known.’ She tried for a laugh, came out with a squeak.
Sam managed better with a chuckle that didn’t sound strangled. ‘I’m glad you didn’t. I could’ve ended up looking foolish in front of the guys.’
‘And that matters?’
He turned to her and with one finger lifted her chin so there was no avoiding his eyes. ‘You’ve got to live and work with them.’ There was no grin for her now. Just complete seriousness. ‘We can’t forget we’re on different tracks. I don’t do relationships, long term or otherwise, while I think that’s what you’re looking for.’
‘Wrong. I won’t be marrying again, or getting into a permanent relationship of any kind.’
‘You will get over your broken marriage, Maddy. You must.’
If only it were that simple. She stumbled sideways, putting a gap between them, away from those eyes boring into her in case he saw the truth. That she wanted him despite everything. She could not let him near, would not undress in front of him, or let his hands explore her body. He’d unwittingly given her the wake-up call she needed. While she’d been leaning in for more of Sam, desperate to get close in a sexual way, yearning for his touch, to touch him, she’d completely forgotten the truth. She was not going to let him see her body. Not going to see that look of horror when it filled his eyes, twisted his mouth. It would break her completely.
She couldn’t trust herself to accept someone might want her as she was. Didn’t believe it possible. Not when her husband, who’d declared his undying love for her only two days before the fire, hadn’t been able to accept the new her.
Sam watched the argument going on in Madison’s head. It leapt through her eyes, marked her face, flattened those kiss-worthy lips. She wanted him as much as he did her. But fear had her fighting her desire all the way. Something he understood completely.
But... One kiss. What harm could that do? It wouldn’t mean there was more to come, but it would satisfy an ache.
Or create a bigger one.
There was that.
One kiss would definitely crank up the heat into an inferno.
But he had to taste her. Had to know those lips, had to satisfy a quest he’d begun unknowingly only days ago. At the same time it was as though all the barriers he’d erected were tightening, warning him not to do it. But the clawing need for affection and sharing was stronger.
‘I think I’ll head inside.’ Madison stood before him, looking sad and lost.
He did what he shouldn’t. He ignored those damned warnings. ‘Don’t go yet.’ Reaching out, he took Maddy’s shaky fists into his hands and wrapped her arms around his waist. She fitted like she was an extension of him. And that scent—he drew a long breath and savoured that summer fruit memory, rearranged his memories from a four-year-old’s to a man’s. Nothing set his senses tripping the tango like the smell of Maddy.
Dropping his head, he found her mouth, covered those enticing lips with his, and knew her softness. Her sharp indrawn breath made him pause until she relaxed into him. Then he went back to kissing her. One hand reached up to push through the silk that was her hair. The other cupped her chin as he continued to taste her, and an all-consuming need burst alight inside him, making everything he’d known before redundant.
When her body melted into his those glorious breasts pushed against the hard muscle of his chest, her hips pressed his, while the apex of her body touched his hardness.
Sam groaned. This was hell on earth. This was wonderful.
Maddy tensed. Her hands left his waist, flattened on his chest. Slowly she lifted her mouth away from his, tipped her head back to lock those eyes on him. ‘Sam?’
‘Yes, Maddy, it’s me.’ He recaptured her mouth before she could deny him another kiss. One had not been enough. Two wasn’t going to be either.
She sank back into him, causing him to relax, except where it m
attered. His tongue stroked her lips, her mouth. It wasn’t enough. He tasted the skin on her jawline, and below her ear.
Under his hands he felt the change in her posture, the slow tightening of her arms before she began to pull away.
His first reaction was to haul her closer, tighten his hold, kiss her deeper. But Madison was withdrawing, and he had to allow that.
And being Madison, if he took too long to let her go, stole another kiss first, she’d probably want to kill him.
And I want to live. Really want that more than anything. Sam jolted backwards, his arms dropping to his sides while he rocked on his feet as though slammed by a runaway truck. I’m starting to feel alive for the first time in years. I want to love, and laugh, and make a home, and settle down, instead of wandering wherever the army sends me.
This was what happened when those protective ties around his soul began unwinding.
This was what happened when Madison Hunter had stepped into his life.
This was dangerous.