Page 37 of Back To Our Beginning

I wasn’t kissing her. I was finally claiming her, like I should have done so many years ago. She melted into me, then surged upwards, opening her mouth with a ferocious taking that set me on fire. I let go of the counter and slid one hand to the small of her back, pulling her tight against me, never wanting to let her go.

I could kiss Maddie forever. She was more necessary than air.

A distant voice broke through the haze.

“…Kai, don’t go in there. Just wait—Kai, I’m serious⁠—”

Ruby. Damn.

I pulled back just as the kitchen door creaked open. Maddie swayed slightly, lips parted, cheeks flushed. I turned around, keeping her behind me, shielding her from view.

Kai walked in, eyes sharp and curious. “Beau. You got a minute?”

“Now’s not a good time.”

“This won’t take long, and Jase has to leave. So, it’d be great if you could give me five minutes.”

Fuck! Could the timing be any worse?

I looked over my shoulder at Maddie. She looked pale. I’d come on too strong, and she was going to run. Talking about the long-term was too much for her.

Dammit!

I nodded. “Yeah. Just give us a sec.”

He looked past me, probably trying to see Maddie.

“Great, we’re out on the patio.”

“I’ll be right there.”

Kai left the kitchen, and I turned to Maddie. Dammit, I could practically see her building the walls, brick by brick.

“Don’t leave. I’ll be right back.”

“Go do what you have to do.”

“Shit, you’re going to leave, aren’t you?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “Just go talk to Kai and whoever else is on the patio.”

“Maddie, if you run, I’m just going to follow you.”

“Go talk to Kai.”

* * *

I opened the sliding glass door and stepped out onto a newly built cedar deck. Somebody had spent some serious coin on high-end patio furniture that five men weren’t bothering to use.

Figured.

Instead, they were all standing around the built-in grill or leaning over the railing that looked over open land. Most of them had a beer in their hands.

“Hey. Let me introduce you,” Kai said as he came up to me. “You know Drake and Simon, right?”

I nodded.

“This is Roan Thatcher,” he said as a tall man who had been standing next to Simon stepped forward.