Taken by Storm (Give & Take) - By Kelli Maine Page 0,31
He stopped in front of her, his jaw clenched and unclenched nervously.
“I’ll go,” she said. Despite the gnawing voice in her head telling her Enzo would make good on his threat, the protective streak she had for MJ kicked in. There was no way she could let him face his dad alone.
MJ shrugged and walked past her, opening the back door. He could play it off, but she could practically see the tension lessening from the stiff line of his shoulders.
She followed him outside. They walked to the golf cart behind the garage in silence, MJ a step ahead and to her right. “I’m not in the best frame of mind to do this after this morning,” he said, getting behind the wheel. His face was a steel trap, locking her out.
He gripped the wheel, and looked straight ahead, pressing on the accelerator and letting out a groan of frustration. “I don’t know what the fuck to do about you.”
Maddie’s stomach tightened. She’d wanted him so badly this morning. Wanted to purge him out of her system. She couldn’t think straight when he was around, and didn’t trust herself to make a life-altering decision.
The golf cart bumped over a tree root and pushed through the tall grass beside the lake. The guest cottage was only about the length of a football field away. “This is going to be good,” she said, sliding her hand across the seat so her pinkie finger touched his leg. “It’s going to be everything you’ve ever wanted.”
“I stopped wanting this a long time ago.”
He was lying. Talking around the steel trap again. Closing out all emotion so he wouldn’t get hurt. If that was what he had to do, she’d go along with it. She took a chance and squeezed his leg, expecting his muscle to tense under her hand, but he stayed relaxed when she touched him. Maybe he needed her with him after all.
Her fingers ran over a round ridge in his pocket. She traced it and knew immediately what it was. Her ring. He was carrying it with him.
The only thing keeping her heart from jumping out of her chest was the guest cottage door opening and a man coming out, tall and broad like MJ. The same dark, wavy hair. The same self-assured gait as he walked out into the yard with Rachael hanging back a few steps.
Something heavy pressed against Maddie’s chest making it hard to breathe. Merrick was the image of an older MJ. It disoriented her, like she’d somehow slipped into the future.
Maddie turned to MJ and studied his face. She didn’t want to miss a second. She wanted to know him when he was in his thirties. His forties. All his life.
MJ’s eyes were lost, stuck on the man in front of them as he parked the golf cart and sat frozen behind the steering wheel. Maddie still struggled to breathe and hoped Merrick would make the first move.
Tentatively, Rachael approached Merrick and put a hand on his shoulder, urging him forward. Maddie took her cue and squeezed MJ’s leg again. “You have to get out,” she whispered.
He inhaled sharply and blinked a few times, coming out of whatever thoughts were spinning through his mind.
Slipping one leg out, then the other, he stood tall and strode forward, no hesitation in his step. Times like these, Maddie was thankful for his over-inflated ego that took over. He knew how to handle himself and could flip the all-business side of himself on in an instant, drowning what he was thinking and feeling in the dark depths of his eyes.
Maddie got out of the cart and stood beside it. She’d never been so grateful for anything in her life. After all these years, he was here—MJ’s dad was here and they were face-to-face—and she got to be part of it.
She blinked back the wetness in her eyes as a familiar warm band of emotion—she could name it if she let herself—wrapped around her heart.
Merrick, with the sleeves of his white oxford shirt rolled up and the top couple buttons undone, stopped in front of MJ and studied his face with the most amazed and stricken expression Maddie had ever seen on a person. “You’re MJ,” he said.
“I’m MJ.” MJ stood tall in front of his father, though an inch or two shorter. His arms hung at his sides, his chin stiff and tilted up as Merrick took him in.
“I’m…” Merrick glanced over his shoulder to Rachael. She smiled, encouraging him.