Taken by Storm (Give & Take) - By Kelli Maine Page 0,54

make love to her last night, she didn’t dare ask. She couldn’t do that to him.

“What are you thinking?” MJ asked.

She turned her head and gazed up at the twin hearts etched in the beam that ran across the ceiling. “Nothing.”

“I don’t know what came between us, Mads,” he said, stroking her arm with the back of his fingers. “You used to tell me everything.”

Maddie wanted to bury her head under her pillow and hide from him. She didn’t have an answer, not one she could give that would satisfy him.

A knock on the door made Maddie jump. “Get the hell up you two!” a man shouted.

“Is that Beck?” She sat up and shimmied out from under the blanket. “I think it is.”

“Fucking Beck,” MJ muttered, tossing back the blanket and standing. He strode toward the open window. “What do you want?” he yelled out.

“Get your asses down here. I’ll take you back before you miss brunch.”

“We’re not hung–”

“Good. I’m starving!” Maddie hopped out of bed even though leaving the tree house was the last thing she wanted to do. She wished time would stop and she could stay here alone with MJ for all eternity, but when he started talking about why she left him, why she wouldn’t tell him the reason, she needed an escape.

“We’ll be right down,” MJ called to Beck, then rubbed the back of his head. “I will get answers,” he told her. “Before I let you leave this island.”

“Before you let me?” she said, surprised at his demanding tone.

He nodded, his expression severe. “You’re not the only one with everything at stake here. I let you walk away last time and didn’t chase you down. I won’t make that mistake again.”

Twenty

Beck was waiting at the bottom of the deck stairs in a golf cart when they finally made it outside. “ ’Bout time,” he said, grinning. “I was seconds from coming in and dragging you out.”

MJ scowled, and Maddie elbowed him. “What’s for brunch?” she asked as they piled into the cart.

“Not what Junior was hoping for from the sound of it.” Beck chuckled as he sped off from the tree house, and Maddie squeezed MJ’s arm to keep him from a smart-ass retort. “Among other things, Carlos made one of his specialties, huevos rancheros, and Rachael made one of hers. Burnt bacon.” He laughed. “The first time I met her, she made the whole crew breakfast.”

Beck nudged MJ’s shoulder. “Pissed your dad off. He didn’t think us peons should get special treatment,” Beck went on. “He was a real dickhead back then. I don’t know what Rachael did to him, but he’s a changed man.”

None of them spoke for a minute. Maddie grew anxious. “So, Rachael burned the bacon that day?” she said.

“Yeah, she did,” Beck said, his smile returning. “Nobody said a word about it though.” He drummed his fingers on the wheel. “Listen, Junior. I know the news of you had to come as a pretty big blow to your dad. He’ll be calling me any day now to come haul his ass back here so he can catch up on the past twenty years he’s missed with you. I hope you give him a chance.”

MJ rubbed his hands together, frowning. “It’s all good.”

Maddie reached back and took his hand, rubbing her thumb over the top in circles trying to soothe him. It was all good. He and Merrick had taken the initial step toward getting to know each other and Maddie had no doubt they’d continue to bond. But, she could only imagine how he was feeling after meeting Merrick for the first time. All the anticipation. How his insides must be twisted in knots thinking about a future and wondering how much Merrick would be a part of it.

Beck pulled the golf cart under the awning where the others were parked. “I’m going to take a shower,” MJ said. He raised Maddie’s hand to his lips and kissed it before they got out of the cart.

“Okay,” she said, spotting Rachael sitting alone at one of the patio tables with books and what looked to be maps in front of her. “I’ll keep Rachael company.”

They walked to the gate and through to the patio. “Morning,” MJ said to Rachael, who looked up and cast a knowing smile on them.

“Good morning,” Rachael said.

MJ kept walking into the hotel.

Rachael pushed out the chair beside her for Maddie. “Sit down. Have a good night?”

Maddie eyed a glass pitcher of orange juice sitting on