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Jordan drops down to the mat beside me; even though my eyes are closed I can smell her sweet scent. She smells like fuckin’ vanilla candy, and I’m starving, completely head over heels for her, and her close proximity is fuckin’ with my already dizzy head. There’s something about her scent that comforts me and excites me at the same time. Finally managing to open my eyes and not see two of her, our eyes lock. The look of concern filling her deep green eyes is my undoing.
“Mad, you’re scaring me.”
The slight waver of her voice draws my attention straight to those perfect lips of hers, and I can’t stop staring at them. Fuck, I want to kiss her so bad. I want to bury my head in her neck, let her comfort me and take away the anxiety I feel over all the shit that seems to be going on in my life. And yeah, it makes me sound like a pussy, but I can’t bring myself to give a shit. A hint of a smile reaches my lips, and Jordan swats at my chest before attempting to move away, probably thinking I’m fooling around. But I can’t let that happen. I latch a hand around her wrist, securing her to me. Her eyes widen in shock, and for a minute doubt creeps in—maybe this is a bad idea. When her breath hitches and her chest heaves as rapidly as mine, I stop thinking and react. I remove my hand from her wrist and clutch the back of her head, my grip rough yet gentle, but something tells me Jordan’s not the type of woman I need to be gentle with. I lift my core, her face mere inches from mine now, and I pull her lips down to meet mine. Her lips are as delicate as I imagined, but I devour their softness greedily.
She tastes sweet and inviting. Kissing her makes me feel renewed. All it takes is a second for Jordan to get on board, and as I run my tongue along her bottom lip, she opens for me willingly. I’m fuckin’ gone. My hands move to grasp her face and deepen the kiss. The groan that erupts from deep in her throat as her hands fist my shirt makes my body take on a life of its own. We’re all hands and lips and tongues, in our own little world until the sound of voices nearing the door sends us crashing back into the real world.
Jordan jerks away quickly and scrambles to stand. She can’t get away from me fast enough. I’m still laid out on the floor thinking about what an awesome fuckin’ kiss that was, and she’s up and rushing away from me like I have the Bubonic plague. Shit, I know I’m out of practice, but I didn’t think I was that bad. Her eyes are everywhere but on me. I open my mouth to speak, to apologize maybe… Shit, I don’t know what to do, but I have to do something. Just the thought of this woman walking away from me raises my defenses immediately. Before I can even get the first word out sweet giggles that always make me smile fill the room. Shit, I forgot that Mom was going to drop Belle off at Dumb Belles to me.
“Woah, Healthy Lady, what the hell, did you kill him?”
I wince as the curse leaves her cute little mouth. I really have to work on cleaning up my language around her. The fellas are going to have to work on that too. Curse word aside, leave it to my Belly to completely kill the tension in the room. Jo snickers as Mom makes her presence known with the tone of voice that literally made me piss myself once or twice as a kid.
“Isabella,” she scolds, “young ladies do not use that kind of language.” She cuts her eyes at Belly, that look that says I mean business, then her eyes find me now sitting up on the floor. She scowls, a look that proceeds to say, ‘You’re not too old for me to whip your ass.’
“Sorry, Grammy, but I was only sayin’ what I hear Dorothory say to Sowfia on the TV while ago.” Belle throws her Grammy a look that screams, ‘Make me watch the Golden Girls again’ in challenge.
The look on Mom’s face is priceless. She’s been schooled by a five-year-old, and she knows it. My face is fixed solely on the mat because I can’t let my daughter see the amusement in my eyes. I don’t want her to think it’s okay to use those words, but it’s damn hard not to laugh. Jo is standing beside Belle, trying to mask her laugh as a cough.
She bends down to Belle’s level and gives her a fist bump like they are the oldest friends in the world. I watch them interact like they are starring in my favorite movie. I look up and meet Mom’s eyes. She’s yet again talking without saying a word, using those peepers, hands on hips and a smirk that says, ‘I see you, son.’
Jordan fills the awkward silence. “Hey, Belly girl. Did you have a good day with your grammy?
“I sure did, Healthy Lady. I wove her so good.” She smiles. “You can call hers Grammy or hard-ass; that’s what my daddy says anyway.”
Fuck me—those eyes of Mom’s have scolded me more today than they have in years. Her resting-witch-face—because I ain’t about to disrespect my momma with that other derogatory term—is strong as her brow cocks and she purses her lips. Her eyes cut to me, a look that says, ‘Yep, we will definitely be discussing this later.’
Jo folds her lips between her teeth, fighting back a laugh. She sure as shit has to be scared pissless of my mom, given the hard stare I’m on the receiving end of. Then again, Momma ain’t batted a cruel eye in Jordan’s direction yet, so maybe not.
“Mom, I—” I start, but she cuts me off.
“Later, Madden Alexander.” She middle names me as she moves her eyes back to Jordan, warmth returning to them. Holding her hand out, she introduces herself to Jordan. “Hi Jordan. It’s so nice to see you.”
“You too, Mrs. Davenport.”
“Call me Maggie or Grammy, please…” Momma trails off, her smile fading as she pins me with a pointed glare. “Just don’t call me hard-ass.”
For the first time since Jordan pulled her lips from mine, she finally makes eye contact with me, and I’ll be damned if she isn’t scolding me with her eyes too, a ‘what the fuck Madden?’ look. I shrug carelessly because, honestly, I don’t have the energy to do anything else. Where do women learn that talking with their eyes shit? Do they teach a class on it in school? I need to make sure Belle is absent that day.
“You okay, Daddy?” Belly asks, her little hand on my sweaty shoulder. Covering her hand with mine, doing everything I can to comfort her and convey to her that I am okay and Daddy isn’t going anywhere.
“Belly, Daddy is just fine,” I soothe, pulling her down into my lap. “I forgot to eat lunch today.”
“Madden!” Jordan and Mom scold in unison.
“Relax, ladies. It was stupid, I know. I didn’t sleep well last night and napped at lunch instead of eating.”
“Don’t move,” Jordan orders, “I’m getting you a protein bar from my office.”
Before I can argue, that hard as balls trainer is back, and Jordan charges from the room. Belle follows along after her just so she can nosey around the gym.
“Belle, stay with Jordan,” I order as the door closes.
Well shit, I’m alone with hard-ass. I know the lecture is coming, and I deserve every word of it; I’m so fuckin’ overwhelmed right now.
“Another night terror last night?” Mom questions. Totally not the words I expected to hear from her. I nod. Mom knows how exhausting Belle’s night terrors can be because she has had one while sleeping over with her once before.
“This was different though, Mom,” I tell her. “Belle didn’t particularly remember having the nightmare, but this morning she asked a
