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“I didn’t know about the money,” he blurted.
Maddie gave a soft smile and the tension lifted slightly. “I know that.”
“But your mother...”
“I came here to get away from her.”
“But not from me?”
She shook her head and took a step closer. He couldn’t resist. He wrapped his arms around her waist and drew her into him. One hand to her back, the other to her face, he pressed aside a damp strand of hair and skimmed his finger down her cheek.
“I should have told you,” she admitted, “but we were meant to be keeping it a secret. I hadn’t asked the others if they’d mind yet. I know I should have told you but—”
“Others?”
“Yes, didn’t Mum say? Ryan, Nikki and a few of us bought a ticket together. We won the jackpot between us.”
“So you’re not a millionaire?”
“Definitely not.”
He chuckled. “Well, it’s a good job I’m not after you for your money then, isn’t it?”
Her smiled dropped. “What did my mother say to you? Are you going to leave again? That’s why you came to find me wasn’t it?”
“No.” Sawyer grasped her tight. “No. Never again. There is nothing anyone could say to me to make me leave you again. Nothing.” He lifted her chin so he could gaze into her hazel eyes. He felt himself drown a little. “Have you changed your mind about me?”
The short pause made his chest constrict. She hadn’t, had she? What would he do if she had? He’d vowed he wouldn’t give her up easily but if she really didn’t want him...
“No.” She looped her hands around his neck. “I haven’t changed my mind. But, Sawyer, you kept so much from me when we were younger. I never had any idea things were that bad with your dad and I still wish you’d told me about your doubts. And you’re still keeping secrets from me. How am I meant to trust you again when you hold stuff back?”
He drew in a breath. No one knew his penname apart from his publisher and editor. He was opening himself up for her to see everything—and he prayed it didn’t put her off.
“Do you know K. R. Wilde?”
She blinked several times. “You write erotic romance?”
Sawyer tensed. “Yes.”
“That’s amazing. Why didn’t you say so?”
He felt the tension slowly slipping away. “I take it you haven’t read my books then.”
“No. They’re on my to be read list. Nikki kept nagging me to start them but with everything that’s happened recently...”
“Listen—” he stroked a thumb across her cheek and marvelled at the way she sank slightly farther into him “—if you ever read them, you should know...my heroine...” he sucked in a heavy breath, “she’s you. It’s us. It’s everything I wanted for us. I could never get you out of my head, Maddie.”
She gaped at him for several moments before giving him a light tap on his arm. “Why didn’t you tell me? Didn’t you trust me?”
“Just like you didn’t tell me about the lottery?” He gave her a reprimanding look. “I didn’t want this in the way. I wanted you to see me—the real me. Not a penname, not the boy from twelve years ago. Me.”
Maddie laughed and shook her head. She slipped her hands over his shoulders and up to clasp his neck. Sawyer bent to rest his forehead against hers. “You realise you could have won me in an instant had you told me this? Every girl wants a book written about her.”
“You were worth the effort, Maddie,” he said, his voice gruff with love and longing. “I didn’t want to win you in an instant. You’re worth more than that.”
Hands still firmly clasped around his neck, she drew back and locked her gaze with his. “I see you, Sawyer. I see the real you. And I love you. I probably always have done and I know I always will.”
Warmth rolled through him. He gripped her tight and bent her back to kiss her firmly. The kiss soon deepened and he delved into her mouth with this tongue, finding the taste that he craved—his Maddie.
