kids can’t keep their mouths shut. One of them would’ve outted MJ to Merrick, and Enzo couldn’t have that.
He stood and turned the water off, dripped onto the bathroom floor and padded out into his bedroom in search of a towel. Out his window, he caught the back of Mr. Simcoe’s golf cart heading toward the lake. Maddie’s hair blew out behind her as she drove away.
Why was she spending so much time out there? It killed him to spend time at the lake where they spent their summers when they were young, where they made love for the first time in the dark with lightning bugs blinking around them in the tall grass. Where she told him she wanted to be more and kissed him for the first time.
MJ loved being home on break and he hated it. Hated being where his grandfather didn’t want him, but loved being with Maddie. Now high school was over and he’d start college in the fall. No more being hidden away at boarding school. He could do what he wanted, when he wanted and nobody could stop him. He hoped that included spending a lot more time with Maddie.
She looked incredible tonight, like always. Her skin was tan, her shorts were very short, and her dark hair hung loose and wild around her bare shoulders. Those shoulders in a tank top did something to him. He wanted to touch them. Taste and nibble them with his teeth.
“Don’t you think?” she said, laughing.
He had no idea what she’d said, but agreed anyway. “Yeah. Sure.”
She pulled the top of a fat, white wildflower off of its stem and set it in the water. They watched it float. “I have to tell you something,” she said, suddenly serious.
“What?” Her blue eyes grabbed his and held on. It was like being punched in the stomach. “What?” he asked again.
“I… um…” She blew out a big breath and shoved her hair away from her face. “Why is this so hard?”
“I don’t know. Just tell me.” Playfully, he punched her arm and smirked. “It’s me.”
She smiled and bit her lip. “It is you. That’s the thing. I don’t feel like your friend anymore.”
No. No, no, no. He couldn’t lose Maddie.
He gripped her arms and held her tight. “What are you talking about? You’re more than a friend to me, Mads. You know that.”
She could barely look him in the eye. “What if I want to be a lot more?”
It took him a minute to understand what she was saying, then he thought he’d misunderstood. He’d been in love with Maddie for as long as he could remember, but she never thought of him like that. He was her best friend. Her younger brother.
Wasn’t he?
“More, how?” he asked. The question sounded stupid, but he didn’t know what else to say. He needed to be certain.
Maddie looked up at him and saw right through him as always. She took his face in her hands, rose up on her toes and kissed him.
His arms immediately found their way around her and held her to his chest.
Finally.
He never thought it would happen, but now that it was, he wondered why it had taken so long. It was obvious they belonged together. Nobody knew her like he did, and nobody knew him like Maddie.
His Maddie.
How could he think he could seduce her and get her back? Did he forget how addicted he was to being with her like that? With her breathless and ready to bend to his will? Jesus, it was all he could do to keep control of himself, and he wouldn’t take her unless she was his. Not again.
Never again.
MJ shook his head and turned away from the window. He had to find Rachael and figure out what the plan was. He had to get the hell away from here.
After throwing on a pair of worn jeans and a blue GSU T-shirt with holes in it, MJ wandered downstairs. Rachael had to be there somewhere. She didn’t answer his knock on the guest bedroom door, and she didn’t have a car to get around. He knew she wasn’t with Enzo, because his grandfather was locked away alone in his office.
He passed the living room. It was empty, the TV dark on the wall above the fireplace. She wasn’t in the library or the sunroom either. Heading to the kitchen, he figured he’d check outside. That’s when he heard her voice.
“Shannon, it’s not like that. You don’t understand.” Hearing Rachael’s words