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The two made drunken sounds of disappointment. I scanned the room. The man I wanted to speak to was watching me from my father's favorite club chair. I extricated myself from the others and came to stand before him.
Maddox smiled like he’d been expecting me.
“Hey there.” He patted the cushioned armrest, and I sat down, resting my legs over his thighs.
I took a sip of liquid courage and coughed.
“Careful,” he said. “That’s a stiff drink for such a little girl.”
“I’m not little.”
His mouth tipped. I felt his hand on my back, warm fingers gliding through the ends of my hair. Instinctively, I thought to pull away. Then I remembered that this was Maddox, the man my father had described as the closest thing he’d had to family growing up, and the only man he’d ever agree to share me with. In a way, it felt like I was meeting another long-lost relative.
“How did you meet my father?” I asked.
He whistled. “That is a long story.”
Maddox swirled the wine in his glass. From up close, it was easy to tell what Kristin saw in him. He wasn’t blatantly handsome like my father, but his eyes were ocean blue and probing, his smile warm enough to melt even the coldest of tempers.
“I like long stories. That’s why I’m here.”
“Here in my lap, or here at this party?”
“Both.” I nestled my feet between his legs on the seat cushion. He eyed me shrewdly and spread his knees a little to grant me more room. “Where are you from?”
“Texas originally, but I moved up north to live with my aunt right after high school.”
“Did you meet my dad at college?”
“Nah, I wasn’t a fan of classrooms, though I did a short stint as a night custodian up at SUNY Albany.”
Judging by his Rolex and tailored suit, he no longer made his living working as a custodian. He leaned over to set his wine glass onto a nearby table. I stole the chance to breathe him in. He smelled expensive, like leather and citrus.
“My aunt took in foster kids,” he said. “That’s how your daddy came to live with us. She bragged about doing God’s work at church, but I suspect the extra income was the real driving force. She didn’t do it out of a love for kids, that’s for sure.”
Maddox examined my face as though he were searching for evidence of something. Feeling self-conscious, I raised my glass to my lips. He chuckled, his voice deep and velvety, as he walked his fingers up my spine toward my neck. With his other hand, he encircled my ankle. No doubt if he’d had extra hands, he would’ve wrapped them around my wrists, too. Oddly, I didn’t feel trapped so much as strapped in place, secured for my own safety. I felt like I could talk to him, though I wasn’t sure why. He was a stranger—a stranger who knew more than I did about the two most important people in my life. But still, a stranger.
“Did you know my mother, too?”
Maddox’s smile widened.
“I sure did.” He stroked my calf. Arousal skittered up my leg, burrowing into the rich, fertile soil of my groin.
A squeal pulled my attention over to the couch where Kristin had somehow found herself on the floor. Drunk off her ass and practically spilling out of her top, she crawled up to the chair where Maddox and I were sitting.
“You two look awfully cozy.” She knelt at Maddox’s feet, using his thigh as a pillow. “Paige, your eyes are so big.”
I wasn’t sure whether to take that as a compliment.
Maddox shushed her and relinquished my leg to fix the strap on her dress. Jealousy pricked the spot on my leg where his hand had been. “Looks like you’ve had more than enough to drink, darlin.”
She giggled and shook her head no.
“What was that?” Maddox cupped her chin firmly, forcing her to look at him.
She kissed his thumb. “Yes, sir.”
I glanced between the two of them. Given what little I knew about Maddox’s sexual taste, it didn’t surprise me that he and Kristin seemed to enjoy playing with power dynamics. She noticed my curiosity and patted my foot.
