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3
Isabella
Iknew it.
Maddox has been following me.
I’m not going crazy after all.
I saw him out there in the crowd, as I left the jewelry store and this time I knew I wasn’t delusional. Getting rid of Dom was the easy part. Dominic’s seen the inside of this mall a few times in a handful of days. His guard’s down out of sheer boredom alone.
Maddox, on the other hand…
What is he doing here? Why’s he been tailing me? How long has this marriage bullshit been going on, that he’s got an eye on me?
I feel a rumbling anger mounting. I know I can’t let it show. If I’m going to pull off an escape, I have to go all in. Maddox is going to be the hardest to convince that I’m sticking around, but maybe this encounter is what I need to plant the seed.
He’s looking at me with a goofy grin, the cogs in his head firing so fast I can almost hear them. He’s got no answer for why he’s here. I don’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing.
“I’m… It’s just…” he stumbles over his words.
I’ve never seen that from him before, even when talking to The King. Maddox can’t keep his eyes off of my body, but I’ve got the whole show planned out in my head. He’s my fiancé. All I have to do is give him a taste of what he’s getting, and he’ll be hooked.
“Look, I’m sorry,” Maddox finally gets an actual sentence out. “I know how strange this must look, but it’s not what you think it is.”
“Then, what is it?” I crook a brow, setting all my weight on one foot. The way Maddox’s eyes linger over my body isn’t as awkward as I thought it would be. Under different circumstances…
Wait, what the hell am I thinking? The fact that he’s looking at all should be off-putting. I shake my head to clear it of those thoughts.
“You ducked them all before. I don’t trust anyone under your father’s ranks to make sure you’re safe,” Maddox replies. “I’ll do it myself if I have to.”
Maddox’s response leaves me feeling strange. It’s almost endearing. He’s trying to look out for me. He turns away from me, facing the wall. Good, I don’t want him looking into my eyes and seeing that I might’ve found those words… well, sweet.
“How long have you been…?”
“Since the night with Vik. I wasn’t going to let you fall prey to anything like that again,” Maddox cuts off my question, his head dropping low.
“Is that the night my father told you about the marriage?” My voice is soft, almost weak sounding. I hate the way it sounds, but I can’t control it.
“No.” Maddox shakes his head. “He didn’t tell me about it, until he told us both. I had no idea that this was his end goal.”
“Oh, God, that night in the garden,” the words burst from me without thinking. “Were you really there? Or was that just my imagination?”
Please tell me it was just my imagination.
“I…” Maddox turns to me, eyes so wide they’re nearly popping out of his head. “I was there.”
He stutters and stammers; trying to explain himself, but no explanation comes. I feel my cheeks flush red with embarrassment, but Maddox does the same. Somewhere in between his stuttering, I’m taken over by an overwhelming urge to substantiate that I won’t run again. Like my father, I need to play Maddox, too. Something tells me he’s not going to be as easy as The King.
I lean forward, wrapping my arms around his neck, and press my lips against his. Maddox stumbles back, hitting the thin wooden frame wall that separates the changing rooms. He kisses me back, hands slinking around my waist, and I can feel his rock-hard member rubbing against my thigh.
I tug at Maddox’s bottom lip while I pull away from him, leaning close to whisper in his ear. “What if I told you, I find that extremely hot?”
I can deceive the rest of them, easily, but I’ll need tact with Maddox. He caught me trying to run, and he’d expect it again. If I let him believe there’s actually a chance of us being a thing, he might not question me further.
But Maddox Braddock is a man. One thing I’ve learned from the bastards under my father’s organization is they think with their dicks instead of their heads. I’ve gotta hope Maddox is the same.
“You do?” Maddox asks. His quizzical expression tells me he’s not buying it.
