Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 100294 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 501(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100294 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 501(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
As pissed off as I am about her running from me, at least now she understands that I will track her down. I’m not going anywhere, and maybe this will make that even clearer. If she wants me to prove that I’m in this with her, I’m more than happy to oblige until she gets it through that beautiful head of hers.
I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I liked that she got jealous over me. She’s never really shown that side of herself to me before. While I may have enjoyed her reaction, I didn’t enjoy the rest of it. The silent treatment, the not knowing where she was, the anxiety I felt when I couldn’t find her.
I still can’t fathom that she, for a second, thought I was checking out the ice girls. My attention isn’t easily swayed. In fact, not much of anything catches it, honestly. My life has been dull, moving through the motions. Only trying to push through school so I was done with all this shit.
My heart is still pounding from the fight as I lead her into my room. It looks like every other hotel room—beige walls, bland art, and two queen beds I won’t use. I close the door and lock it, the sound loud in the quiet room.
Madeline stands in the center of the room, arms crossed again but differently now. Less angry. More uncertain.
“You stole a key card,” she says. It’s not a question.
“Borrowed,” I say, dropping my jacket on the chair by the window. “I did what I had to. Besides, what if there is an emergency? A fire. If I didn’t have a key, I’d die pounding on your door, trying to make sure you’re not inside.” I’m being ridiculous. I’m sure she thinks I’m teasing. Wrong.
“Well, there isn’t any kind of emergency, so—” She shrugs one shoulder.
“This is an emergency.” I cross to her, close enough to smell her shampoo. “It felt like one.”
She looks up at me, and I see it—the doubt still there, lurking under the surface. She thinks I wanted those other girls. She thinks I’m capable of looking at anyone else.
I take her face in my hands, gently this time. “Madeline. Look at me.”
She does, reluctantly. I want to make things real fucking clear to her. No more cat and mouse bullshit.
“I don’t see other people. I haven’t since the day I met you.” I brush my thumb across her cheekbone. “You could walk into a room naked, and I wouldn’t notice anyone else in it.”
Her lips twitch. “That’s a lie.”
“What?”
“You’d lose your mind if anyone else saw me naked.” She raises an eyebrow. “You get huffy when I wear shorts.”
I open my mouth to argue, then close it. She’s right. I hate when her legs are showing. Hate when other guys look.
“Fine,” I admit. “I’d notice. Then I’d kill them.”
She laughs, the tension finally breaking. “There it is.”
“Test me anyway.”
She laughs, a real one, and some of the tension breaks. “You’re impossible.”
“I’m yours.” I say it simply because it’s true. “Say you believe me.” I need to hear this from her, and I want her to hear it too.
She’s quiet for a long moment before she finally speaks. “I believe you don’t want them. But I don’t believe you weren’t looking.” I’m shaking my head no. She’s lumping me in with basic boy bitches.
“I was observing.” I drop my hands to her waist, pulling her closer. “They were boring. You’re real. You’re loud and messy, and you make shirts with my name on them.” I kiss her forehead. “That’s what I was thinking about. How fucking lucky I am.”
Her breath catches. “Luke.”
“I saw you in that crowd, and I thought, she’s mine. She’s actually mine. She’s getting it. And then you wouldn’t look at me, and I thought I’d lost you before I even had you.”
She reaches up, her fingers finding the back of my neck. “You didn’t lose me. I just... I got scared.”
“I know, but you’ll see. Like right now. I’m not letting you push me away. I don’t care what it takes.”
“It freaked me out how jealous I got. It was this flood of emotion.” Her voice is barely above a whisper. “Then I was thinking this is too fast. We can’t be feeling all of this so soon. If I’m this lost in you, how will I be a year from now?” She stares up at me.
“Well, in ten years maybe you’ll catch up to how crazy I am over you.” I watch her features soften and then her body too.
I kiss her then, softly and slowly, trying to put everything I can’t say into it. The fear. The want. How easily she rearranged my entire life without even trying. She makes me want to be better.
Madeline responds immediately, her body pressing into mine, her fingers tangling in my hair. The kiss deepens, turns hungry, and I lift her slightly so she can wrap her legs around my waist. Madeline pours all her passion into it, and I greedily take it all, starved for it, for her.