Only one man calls me ‘Andi.’
He doesn’t use it affectionately.
He only brings it out when he wants to maim.
When I increase the length of my strides, eager to place distance between Maddox and me before the wrong person sees us together, Maddox jogs to catch up to me. The length of his strides is almost double mine, so he doesn’t need to jog. He just wants me to know he’s aware of what I’m doing and that he’s refusing to let me get away as easily as he has the past four years.
Stubbornness is another well-known Walsh trait.
We walk for almost two blocks in silence before the quiet gets the better of Maddox for the second time. “Are you not a fan of talking anymore? I could barely get a word in when we were kids.”
“I like talking,” I snap out before I can stop myself. “Just not with you.”
Jesus, Demi. Cut the guy down with an ax, why don’t you.
“Ouch.” His hurt would be more believable if he weren’t chuckling. “Dress me up and call me Shirley, did I just get myfirstrejection?”
I roll my eyes. It’s the only defense I have to hide my grin. I don’t usually find cocky men endearing, but I’m seeing it in an entirely new light since it’s coming from Maddox. “Let me guess, your middle name is Cocky?”
Smirking, he follows me down Westcott Lane. “Close. It’s Richard.” He hits me with a flirty wink that doubles the stupid smile I shouldn’t be wearing. “You can call me Dick if you’d like?”
I laugh like I have the world at my feet. “So that’s how you operate? I just call you up, and you’ll bring dick right on over.”Oh. My. God. Who the hell am I?I’ve never openly flirted like this before, much less with a man as sinfully hot as Maddox Walsh. “Not that I want your dick or anything.”
Shut up, Demi. You’re a sinking ship. Drown in peace.
“We’ll see,” Maddox mutters while jerking his chin to the left. “I’ve heard good things about this place, shall we test it out?”
“I’m good.”
I’ve craved a normal existence for over a decade. Dining in my hometown withanyman won’t bring me close to the simplistic lifestyle I’m still hoping to achieve one day, but dining with Maddox would upend my plans entirely.
I make it two steps away from the Latin restaurant Maddox nudged his head at before an arm bands around my waist, and I’m yanked back. I don’t put up a fight. What sane girl would? One of the most eligible bachelors this side of the country has his extremely fit body plastered against mine. Not only does it feel as wondrous as it looks, I’ve been dreaming about it being pressed against me since before I got my period.
“Let me try that again. I’ve heard good things about this place.Let’stest it out.” Maddox walks us into the restaurant like it’s perfectly normal to carry a grown woman around as if she’s a child. “A table for two, please. Far in the back. My girl gets randy when her tastebuds are on fire.” Imagine a pro-wrestler being announced on fight night, then you’ll have an indication of how dramatic Maddox’s voice is during the last half of his statement.
Ignoring the plea on my face that she declare the restaurant is fully booked, the maître d peers at me as if I’m the luckiest girl on the planet before she plucks two menus from her podium, then gestures for Maddox to follow her.
“I can walk,” I stammer out, not only embarrassed several eyes in the capacity-filled restaurant sling my way but still foraging a way to hatch an escape. “You just witnessed that for five blocks.”
“Eh,” Maddox immediately fires back, his grunt rumbling through both our chests. “I either walk you through then apologize profusely for your embarrassment during lunch, or fight off a pack of hungry middle-aged women without a taser.” He peers down at me and grins. It sets my heart racing. “I left it in my bag at the gym.”
When confusion pops a crinkle between my brows, Maddox rocks his hips forward. I stiffen like a board when I discover the reason he’s using my body for coverage. He’s hard. I’m not talking Robert Flint’s reaction to our first kiss without his braces in the eleventh grade hard. I’m talking the type of stiffness a movie star would leak his dick pic on purpose hard.
The fact my closeness instigates such a fierce response out of Maddox should turn my brain to mush. Alas, you can’t give up the opportunity of getting one up on your crush because of a little stiffness.
I really shouldn’t say little, but you get what I mean.
“Was it calling me a man’s name that got you turned on? Or the idea of dressing up like a woman?”
The longer silence stretches between us, the bigger my grin becomes. I, along with every other girl in the grades each side of mine, had massive crushes on the Walsh brothers throughout high school. They look similar, but they all have unique traits. Maddox’s hair is more a reddish-blond than straight-up blond like Saint’s. Landon’s is burnt orange like their little sister, Justine, and Caidyn’s is brown. Maddox’s blue eyes have a tinge of green to them when he’s moody, and unlike two out of three of his brothers, he doesn’t hate the freckles dotted across his pasty white skin.
Despite having the fairest skin of them all, Caidyn skipped the freckle gene. I’m kind of disappointed for him. There’s something insanely sexy about a freckle treasure hunt. Who knows where the search will take you?
“There’s that sweet scent again that’s got me in all types of trouble,” Maddox murmurs under his breath when a shiver of excitement dashes down my spine. “At this rate, you’ll have to sit on my lap while we eat.”
I snatch up a used napkin from one of the tables we’re veering past before tossing it into Maddox’s face. “How about you mop up the mess in your pants, then we can sit down and enjoy our meal?”
He throws his head back and laughs. I really wish he wouldn’t. The vibration alone has me on the verge of climax. “If you think I’m already done, I clearly have my work cut out for me this weekend.”
