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“Now,” she whispered, tugging him toward her.
He pushed her nightie up, feeling for panties that weren’t there. He dipped his fingers between her thighs and felt the moist heat of her desire. She was ready for him.
Rolling on his back, he kicked out of his shorts and snatched the condom off the nightstand. He put it on as quick as he could so he could return to their warm cocoon of blankets. He stroked his palm down her outer thigh, raising her leg just high enough to rest it on his own. She arched her back once again and he felt out her opening.
With little resistance, he was able to press forward, pushing into her from behind. He gripped her hips with his hands and they moved together in a slow, easy rhythm. They touched and tasted each other, taking their time, and yet reaching their climaxes all too soon. Maddie came first, her body shaking as Emmett held her tight against his chest. Her pulsating muscles put him over the edge as he buried his face in her hair and gave in to it.
As though they’d never fully awakened, the dark beckoned them back to sleep with Maddie curled in his arms. A polite beeping sound roused him from sleep some time later. It seemed like only minutes had passed, but when Maddie sat up in bed and turned the lamp on, he knew hours had gone by.
Emmett winced at the light. “Do we really need the lamp on?” he asked.
“You might not, but I do. I need to get up. It’s three thirty.”
Emmett groaned. He reached for her, tugging her back beneath the blankets and against him. “No. You said you get up later now.”
“This is later.”
“Well, I’m not letting go of you until four,” he sa
id. Maddie reached out to reset the alarm on her phone, then switched off the light.
“Okay, you win.”
Of course, now Emmett was wide-awake. He wanted to know what was going on with Maddie. She seemed to really be opening up to him, then at dinner, the talk of her brother had immediately closed her down. He didn’t understand it, although he was wondering if it had anything to do with him at all, or if it was whatever relationship Adelia had alluded to.
Maybe here, in the safety of her bedroom, she would open up to him. “Maddie, can I ask what happened tonight at the bar?”
He could feel her tense in his arms. “What’re you talking about?” she asked in contrast to it.
“When I mentioned going to Grant and Pepper’s party, you seemed almost cross with me. I thought things were going well, but now I wonder if you’re holding back. Did I overstep some kind of boundary with you?”
“No, of course not. I’m just not used to being in a relationship, I guess. Opening up to someone and incorporating them into my life is hard for me. It’s easier to keep things compartmentalized because I don’t trust myself to make smart choices.”
“Why?”
“You don’t really want to hear my sob story. It’s not that interesting.”
“Tell me,” Emmett pressed. He wanted to know what had happened to her. Why did she do everything she could to keep people at arm’s length? He thought he’d broken through all the barriers just to find more tonight.
Maddie sighed and snuggled against his shoulder. “My family has always been a big deal in Rosewood—they founded the town. I know that seems silly, but when I was in high school, we were in this glory phase. Blake was the golden god of the high school football team; Mitchell was valedictorian; I was a varsity cheerleader . . . Things were going well for all of us. The girls were always chasing after my brothers, and when I got to the age where I was allowed to date, the boys started lining up. It only took a couple of dates to realize that most of them were interested in my family more than me. I even had one who claimed I should pay for our date because I was rich.
“My daddy warned me that boys would try to use me to get to my family. I tried to avoid that by being the unobtainable girl who all the boys wanted and none of them could have. I guess that’s when my attitude first started. To keep the boys at arm’s length, I developed this air of superiority that bordered on downright snobbery. It was easier if people thought I didn’t date anyone because no one was good enough for me.”
“Sounds lonely,” Emmett noted.
“I was used to being lonely. I’ve been lonely my whole life. I think that’s why I fell so hard when Joel came to Rosewood. He was a friend of Blake’s from Auburn. They played football together, and whenever Blake came home for a long weekend or a holiday, he brought Joel with him. He was handsome, and so much like my brother—a talented athlete, a charmer, and better yet, he was practically family-endorsed. Everyone loved him. I was a senior in high school at the time and I was smitten. He seemed to like me, too, and asked my father for permission to court me. It was so old-fashioned, but I loved the idea of it.
“While he was at school, we texted and talked on the phone. I felt like I really got to know him well. When the spring semester ended, he came home with Blake again to attend graduation for Mitchell and me. That night after the party, he took me out to a secluded spot on the lake away from the house. He’d packed wine and brought a blanket. We hadn’t really discussed moving forward in our physical relationship, but the more wine I drank, the better an idea it became. He was touching me like I’d never been touched before and I liked it. But then he started getting more aggressive.”
Emmett stiffened. He didn’t like where this story was going. He hadn’t even heard all of it yet and he wanted to track this Joel guy down.
“I tried to get him to slow down, but he kept insisting that it was okay. I started to wonder if he’d put something in my drink. I’d only had wine once, but I didn’t remember it being that strong. My arms and legs were too heavy to fight him off and I couldn’t seem to form the words to tell him no. If I didn’t concentrate really hard, I knew I would black out, so I fought to stay focused.
“When I managed to ask him to at least wear a condom, he told me no. He said I was his golden meal ticket. I guess since he’d drugged me, he believed that I wouldn’t remember what happened or what he said, but he told me that he was going to knock me up and things would be set for him. I guess he thought we’d have to get married to avoid scandal if I got pregnant and my dad would give him a job, and he could just sit pretty and live off my family’s money.
“The next thing I knew, my brothers came out of nowhere. Mitchell told me later he’d noticed I was missing and had this gnawing worry he couldn’t shake. We joked that it was that twin connection people always talk about, but whatever it was, I’m grateful for it. He grabbed Blake and they went looking for me. They found me just in time. Blake beat the shit out of Joel. Even Mitchell took a few swings, and that’s not his thing at all.”
“Were you okay?” Emmett asked, wrapping a protective arm around her. “Did he hurt you?”
