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And what Sydney had said.
I pulled out my phone and sent another text.
Ignore those earlier texts. The flowers are fine. You can keep sending them for as long as you need to. I love you, Bossman.
Freddy convinced me to play a game of ping-pong, and the only reason I was beating him was because he kept getting distracted by Sydney, who was cheering and giggling as we rallied back and forth. My head wasn’t in it.
And my heart… it wasn’t even mine anymore.
“Lunch break is over,” a deep voice said from behind me. “Get back to work.”
I whipped around to see Maddox standing there in a pair of dark jeans, a crisp white button-up, and a navy blue sports coat. He held a large white box with a pretty red ribbon tied around it.
Everyone hustled, saying their hellos and welcome backs to him, and, of course, he completely ignored them.
But his dark eyes were on me.
“Such leading man energy,” Sydney whispered as she squeezed my arm and moved toward her office.
“Hey.”
“Hey,” I said, not moving, the ping-pong paddle still in my hand.
“I got your texts, and I know you’re tired of the flowers, so I thought I’d come see you instead.”
“I don’t need flowers, Maddox,” I whispered as a tear streamed down my cheek.
“What do you need, Tink?”
I set the paddle down when he moved closer, and I looked up at him. “I need you.”
“I’m yours. I have been since the first day you fluttered into my office.” He set the package down on the ping-pong table, and his hand landed on my neck, fingers grazing my cheek.
“Why’d you leave?”
He sucked in a deep breath and then let it out. “Because nearly losing you made me realize how much I love you, and that scared the shit out of me. I don’t want to live in a world that you aren’t in, Georgia.”
“I don’t either. But I’m not running away from you because of it.” I raised a brow in challenge.
“Well, if you ran, I would catch you. Every single fucking time.”
“You can’t run from this,” I whispered.
“I know. I’m sorry, Tink. That’s why I’m here. It was cowardly, and I don’t have an excuse other than I was terrified I was going to lose you. I give you my word it won’t happen again.” He leaned forward and swiped at the tears running down my face as his forehead rested against mine.
“I accept your apology. Please don’t tell me that those are the skates you were giving to me on Valentine’s Day,” I said, glancing at the white box.
“Hell no. You’re never putting on another pair of skates, if I have a say in it. We’re keeping you on solid ground, moving forward.” He pulled back and handed me the box. “But there was something else in that box with the skates that I never got to give you. So, I went with something different.”
I took the bow off as his hand settled on my hip, and he smiled. I pulled out a pink helmet that had my name painted in white on the side. “What is this for?”
“Pickleball, baby. I’m not letting you play any sports without the proper equipment ever again. In fact, you should wear it when you play ping-pong. Who knows what could happen with that little ball?”
My head tipped back in a fit of laughter. It felt so good to laugh again. “I am not wearing this helmet at the office to play ping-pong, you overbearing brute of a man.”
“Look inside the helmet. There’s a surprise tucked in there at the top.”
I flipped it over and saw something gold and sparkly. Tugging the key out of the interior strap, I held it up. “What’s this?”
