His for the Taking - By Ann Major Page 0,25
know.”
Because he looked so troubled by this admission, and she thought he was going to say more, she didn’t reply.
“She’s gone,” he said simply. “It’s too late to change anything. Except there is one thing I can say for sure—she wouldn’t mind you being here. She would have wanted me to see you and sort my feelings out. She loved me—in spite of the many ways I disappointed her.”
He looked more at ease after he said that, less tense, and Maddie couldn’t help but wonder if Lizzie had known all about Cole’s desire for her and sensed his guilt. Maybe her sweet, forgiving nature had made him feel that he was a worse person than he really was.
But what did his marriage to Lizzie have to do with his feelings for Maddie now? Did he or did he not agree with his mother’s low assessment of her? Could he ever respect her?
What if he could? What if he did?
Suddenly Maddie knew she couldn’t leave; she couldn’t return to Austin and marry Greg without finding out what Cole meant to her and what she meant to him. Greg was a good man. It would be unfair to risk hurting him as Cole believed he’d hurt Lizzie. She couldn’t marry Greg until she came to terms with her feelings for Cole or purged him from her system.
“So—do you still feel like a cup of coffee?” he asked.
“I’m not much of a coffee drinker.”
When his face darkened with disappointment, her own heart brimmed with wild, illogical joy.
He wants me to stay! Despite his mother’s disapproval and the risk of more gossip!
No doubt his mother had come to warn them off each other. But Maddie was no longer a teenager who could be easily bullied. She had to know how Cole felt. His opinion mattered. Not his mother’s. It was time she stood up for herself, time she showed his mother and the gossips of Yella that she wasn’t who they’d thought she was.
“I think I’d like a glass of wine,” she said.
His brilliant smile made her tummy flip.
“White or red?”
She laughed, feeling warm and flushed from just looking at him. “You pick. What we drink is not my top priority tonight.”
“Then what is?” An electric current charged the air between them. Looking charmingly baffled, he stared into her sparkling eyes.
“I can see I’ll have to give you a great big hint.” Because she simply couldn’t resist, she reached up on her tiptoes and put both arms around his neck. When he made no move, she arched her body into his.
His black brows lifted quizzically, and for a few more seconds he hesitated. Then his strong hands at the back of her waist locked and pulled her closer. “You did say no touching,” he whispered huskily.
“You know what they say about women being allowed to change their minds?”
His eyes blazed as he ran his knuckles up the gentle curve of her throat, causing her to shiver. Staring at her mouth, he cupped her chin, his thumb caressing the sensual fullness of her bottom lip. “I’ve been wanting to kiss you all night—and very badly.” When she licked her lips, he groaned and snugged her against his hips more tightly. Without further invitation, his mouth came down on hers, hard. She opened her lips, sighing in soft pleasure when his tongue moved inside, probing the soft interior of her mouth so erotically he took her breath away.
Sensing her surrender, his pelvis crushed hers, communicating his blatant arousal.
“Oh, my,” she said. “Is that for me?”
When she kissed him even more hungrily than before, he swung her up in his arms. “Baby, I can’t believe you’ve finally come home…to me.”
“I didn’t intend to. But I’m kinda glad I did.”
“Just kinda?”
“Way more than kinda,” she whispered, nuzzling her cheek against his.
Still kissing her, he carried her to the kitchen where he grabbed a bottle of wine and a can of tonic water, his drink of choice ever since he’d pulled himself out of the booze hole he’d fallen into after Lizzie’s death. Holding Maddie tightly, he mounted the stairs, taking them easily. Then he strode down the darkened hall toward his vast bedroom.
Laughing, feeling like a bride, she reached out and twisted the doorknob and pushed the door ajar for him.
“If you’re going to say no again, say it now,” he whispered in a low, urgent tone.
“I want you,” she said. “And I’m weak. I’ve always been weak where you’re concerned. But then, what do you expect from