Touching the Billionaire - Holly Jaymes Page 0,47

couldn’t. And even if I could, I wasn’t sure what to do to get our shit right. What I wanted to do was to be able to see her and hold her again, but we both agreed that that just wasn’t a good idea.

Wanting to get Corrine off my back, I nodded. “I’ll be sure to take care of it. I promise. I’m as invested in this project as you are, Corrine.”

She tilted her head to the side. “Are you, Theo? Because this week, I’m not so sure.”

I jolted up to stand, now feeling angry. “I’ve got a lot riding on this. I don’t need you riding my ass. I hear what you’re saying and I will take care of it.”

She stood, waving her hands in a surrender position. “Fine, good. That’s all I need to know.” She tossed a couple of scripts on my table. “There’s some changes in here that you and Madeline need to go over. Make sure that when you guys come back next week, you’re on top of your game again.” With that, she turned and left my trailer.

I looked down at the scripts, not feeling very motivated to read them. I figured I could leave one with the manager of the building and he could arrange to deliver it to her. Or if her sister was home, I could leave it with her.

But then I had an idea. I picked up the scripts and carried them out to where my car was waiting. My driver drove me back to the condo and I went straight up to my room, packing an overnight bag and tossing the scripts on top. I hurried out to the garage and picked up my car to head out of Manhattan toward Woodstock.

I was following orders, I told myself. I’d go see Madeline and deliver the script and attempt to fix our shit. I had no idea what that meant, but I did know that I wanted it to include the ability to be with her again.

A Wolfe in the Woods

Madeline

I woke with a start in a pitch-black room. It took me a moment to realize where I was. Home. I was home in the room that I’d grown up in.

Feeling a sense of calm, I pulled the covers back over me and settled down back to sleep. When I woke again, sunlight was beaming into my room. I looked over at the old-fashioned alarm clock with hands and a bell on the top and saw that it was just after eight in the morning. I’d slept in and it felt so wonderful and decadent to be able to do that.

It also felt warm and cozy to wake up at home. I could smell coffee and bacon, and I knew my grandparents were up and preparing breakfast. The only little niggle of discomfort I felt was in missing Theo. I wondered what he would think of my grandparents and their place here in the middle of the woods.

In the short time I’d known him, I learned only a little bit about his childhood. I knew he grew up in a suburb of California to fairly wealthy parents. I knew he had an older brother who was a plastic surgeon. But my sense was that his family and childhood were topics that he didn’t like to talk about much. So I really didn’t know what it was like for him growing up.

For me, the time after I left New York at eleven, and Nadine and I moved in with our grandparents, felt very idealistic. It had given me a security and stability I hadn’t had before that.

I pushed the covers off and got out of bed, putting on my robe. I went to the bathroom, washed my face, brushed my teeth, and pulled my hair back into a ponytail. Then I headed downstairs. It was the morning routine I’d had for years. There was some comfort in going through it again.

I found my grandmother in the kitchen, whipping up a bowl of something that looked suspiciously like pancake batter.

“Oh, good morning, Maddie. How are you this morning?” my grandmother asked me. She put the bowl down and came over to hug me. It was another one of those things that I loved and missed about being here. As a child, and even on my visits home, she never missed stopping whatever she was doing when I woke, to give me a hug.

“I slept in. So I feel really good.”

“I was beginning