Chapter Sixteen

“It’s late,” Emmett said as he glanced down at his watch. The evening had flown by with Maddie at the bar. Even when he had a good crowd of customers, he still had time to finish dinner and chat with her. He could tell she was running out of steam, though. She was getting that glassy look in her blue eyes that told him she was exhausted. “It’s almost eight, past your bedtime.”

“I know,” Maddie said with a pout that told him she wasn’t ready to go yet.

Maybe she didn’t really have to, he thought. “I have an idea.”

Maddie perked up in her seat, curious. “What’s that?”

“Why don’t you go upstairs to my apartment and get some sleep? I’ll be up to join you when I close at ten thirty. You can stay the night and go home in the morning when you’ve got to open up the bakery.”

“I’ve got a better idea,” she countered. “How about I go home and you come over to my place when the bar closes? You’ve never been over to my house before. At least not past the front door.”

“That works just as well,” he said. “Leave me a key?”

“Yep.” Maddie reached into her purse and pulled out her spare key. It had a large glittery cupcake keychain hooked to it, so there was no doubt whose house it went to. “See you sometime after ten thirty?”

Emmett snatched up the key and gave her a long good-bye kiss that promised more. “You bet.”

He watched her slip out of the bar with her basket of dirty dishes. It was a good night in the end, but he’d gotten concerned during dinner. The conversation had been fine until he mentioned the party at Grant and Pepper’s. She just seemed to shut down. He hadn’t planned on giving her the swan tonight, but he needed something to break the tension. It’d worked. She relaxed and the rest of the evening was great, but he didn’t know what the problem was.

He wondered if she was embarrassed of him. Her grandmother, at the least, knew they were dating, but probably not her parents. She may not have even mentioned it to most of her siblings. Was meeting the rest of her family a step too far for her? Was she just slumming with the bartender but didn’t want her high-and-mighty father to know about it?

Emmett hoped that wasn’t true. He thought Maddie had really made a breakthrough on that front. She didn’t seem to be deliberately hiding their relationship from anyone, but was her daddy a different matter? He didn’t know for sure and he hadn’t wanted to push tonight. He’d certainly find out before they went to the housewarming, though. Emmett didn’t want his appearance and the subsequent drama to ruin Pepper and Grant’s party.

He tried not to worry too much about it. Thankfully, the rest of the night went quickly. The last patron left at nine thirty, so Emmett was able to clean up and run his receipts early. At closing time, he was able to flip off the lights, lock the door, and jog across the street to Maddie’s house.

When he locked the front door behind him, he realized he wasn’t quite sure where he was going. Maddie’s house was a large two-story home with a million small rooms, the way old houses used to be. Assuming her bedroom was upstairs, he started in that direction and found one of her little ballet flats on the bottom step. Halfway up, he found another. On the landing, he found the sweater she’d had on earlier.

Maddie had left him a seductive little trail of bread crumbs. Her jeans were down the hallway to the right, so he followed the trail. Hanging on one of the doorknobs was a cream-colored satin bra.

Bingo.

Gripping the knob, Emmett opened the door. The queen-size bed was just to the right of the doorway, with a massive, white-washed, carved headboard and footboard. A tiny lamp was on beside the bed, illuminating the swan figurine on the table and the outline of Maddie in bed.

He could see a peek of something that looked like she was wearing a lacy red nightie. Most of it was covered by the plush floral quilt spread across the bed. She might have planned a grand seduction tonight, but sleep had won the battle. Her pink lips were softly parted, her dark hair scattered across the lacy white pillowcase. He knew he was supposed to wake her up when he got there, but she looked so peaceful he didn’t have the heart to do it. Instead, he walked around to the other side of the bed and slipped out of his clothes. He left a condom on the nightstand, just in case.

Emmett left his boxers on and crawled into the softest bed he’d ever slept in. It was like snuggling with a cloud. If Maddie couldn’t fall asleep in this bed, his bar really was disruptive. It wasn’t even his bedtime yet and he could feel his own eyes getting heavy.

As gently as he could, Emmett rolled onto his side, spooning against Maddie. Even in her sleep, she was drawn to his body heat. She curled her back against him and sighed in contentment without waking.

Before he knew it, he was out cold. He was roused some time later by a heat spreading through his veins like an erotic dream revving his engine. His first waking sensation was the feel of fingers stroking his erection.

He groaned and pressed against it. His hands sought out Maddie beneath the blankets. She was still lying on her side next to him, reaching behind her to stroke him through the thin fabric of his boxer shorts. His palm glided along the silk-covered indentation at her waist and up over her hip. Maddie arched her back, pressing the curve of her rear against his erection.

“Damn,” he cursed. This was one hell of a way to wake up. Emmett snuggled closer, wrapping his arm around her waist to pull her tight against him, and then planted a trail of kisses along her shoulder.

He was still foggy from sleep, every sensation almost like a dream as they rubbed against each other in the dark. When Maddie’s hand slipped beneath the waistband of his boxers, she curled her fingers around him and squeezed.

“Maddie,” he groaned against her shoulder.

“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 said. 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?”

“No, he didn’t, thankfully. More than anything, he taught me a lesson. After that, I told myself that I’d never let myself get in that kind of position again. I decided that when I started dating more seriously, I was going to avoid this problem by only dating men who had more money than I did. If they were rich, they didn’t need to use me for money or family connections.

“I also decided that I was never drinking again. The wine had led me to make stupid decisions, and once I was drugged, there was no getting out of it if my brothers hadn’t saved me. I hadn’t had a drop of alcohol since then until our celebratory drink the other night. I didn’t even drink in Paris because I was there alone and afraid of what might happen.”

“Why did you choose that night to finally break your own rule?” he asked.

“I guess I wasn’t afraid of you. That might have been ignorant on my part, but I felt like I was in a safe place. I also intended to just have one glass for celebration’s sake, but that didn’t exactly work out,” she said with a laugh. “I don’t know why, but you make me break all my rules.”

Emmett felt like an idiot. All this time, he’d thought she was just spoiled and only wanted the kind of man who could give her the lifestyle she was accustomed to. That she thought she was too fancy for his bar and his patrons. Instead, it was a hard-wired defense mechanism.

“I think you should break all of your rules. Forget about what you think you should do, and just be who you want to be. Stop hiding who you really are, because from what I’ve seen, I think the person you are is wonderful.”

“You always seem to be exactly who you truly are,” Maddie said. “You put yourself out there. Aren’t you afraid of getting hurt or doing something stupid?”

Something stupid like lying about who he was to everyone around him while preaching to her that she needed to stop living a lie? He had the sudden urge to tell her the truth about his background and who he was, but he knew that was a bad idea. For one thing, she seemed so sensitive to a man’s lies after what happened with Joel. If she’d built up a level of trust in Emmett, would admitting to the truth make things worse, even if it was a fairly harmless lie?

Was it wrong to keep that part of him a secret? He’d had gold diggers cross his path over the years. He’d pegged Maddie to be one of them, just entertaining herself with the likes of him until someone rich showed up. But he was wrong. She liked Emmett for who he was. Or at least, who she thought he was. It was unexpected, but he really liked that about her. He wasn’t ready for that to change.

“I learned a long time ago that the past is the past. You can’t change it; you can only grow and move on from it. You got hurt. I’ve been hurt. It’s just life. But you’ve got to open yourself back up to the good things, even if it might come with some of the bad.”

“You’re right,” she said at last in a small voice.

Their painful pasts hung heavy in the air between them after a long silence. Emmett didn’t want her to start her day with that on her mind. “Well,” he said, “I am happy to inform you that I have no intention of impregnating you.”

“Well, that’s good,” Maddie chuckled.

“And, I also have no interest in your money. I know you don’t have any.”

Maddie gasped, rolling onto her back to look up at him in the dark. “What are you talking about?”

“You’re mortgaged to your eyeballs between the bakery and this house. For all I know, you owe your father a kidney, so using you for your money is pointless.”

Maddie was putting out a tray of Friday’s special pain au chocolat when the door chimed. She looked up and was surprised to see her grandmother in the bakery. She wasn’t sure if Granny had visited since the grand opening during the summer.

“Granny,” Maddie said. “What brings you to the bakery?”

“Marilyn Gallagher had surgery yesterday and is home from the hospital. I wanted to take something by the house, but Cookie had the morning off to attend her niece’s Halloween party at school. I haven’t toiled away in a kitchen for years, Lord knows what an inedible mess I’d make, so I thought the better decision was to pick up something from you.”

That made sense. The mayor’s wife and Granny had been friends for years. That was an important enough event for her to venture from the house. She seemed to be getting out more lately. Maddie liked to see that. She hated the idea of her grandmother getting older and being homebound. It just flew in the face of her independent streak.

“What would you like to take her?”

Her grandmother walked along the display case, eyeing all the items available. “Do you have a loaf of the banana bread that hasn’t been sliced yet?”

“I do, there’s one in the kitchen.”

“I’ll take that. She and Otto can eat it for breakfast with their coffee.”

Maddie went into the kitchen and grabbed the loaf of banana bread on the cooling rack. She wrapped it in plastic so it wouldn’t dry out and put it in a box. “Anything else for you?”

“Actually, wrap up one of the chocolate croissants for Winston. I know he likes those. I’m going right home after I drop off this bread, so I’m sure he’ll enjoy it as a treat before dinner tonight. I’ve been out of the house more in the last few weeks than I have in a while. It seems like things keep coming up but never on the same day.”

Maddie slipped the croissant into the new paper treat sleeves she’d ordered. They were still pink and still had the gold “M” monogrammed on the front, but they were significantly cheaper than the boxes for single items. Turning toward the register with her grandmother’s purchases, she knew she couldn’t pass up her chance to ask about Granny’s recent visit to Woody’s.

“I know. I’ve seen your car go by a couple of times. Did you go to Woody’s the other day? I could swear that was your Caddy parked out front.”

Her grandmother was uncharacteristically silent for a moment. She seemed to be considering her words and started digging through her purse in a thinly veiled stall tactic. “Oh, yes,” she said after a moment, retrieving her credit card. “I remember now. I went by to speak to Emmett about a project at the house.”

“You went to him?” That wasn’t the answer she was expecting, nor did she think it should take her grandmother that long to come up with it. She said it very convincingly, however. If it were true, Maddie supposed there wasn’t anything she could say about it. If her grandmother sought out Emmett for a job instead of the other way around, she couldn’t blame him for that.

“Yes, of course,” Adelia said with a furrowed brow. “Carpenters don’t exactly go door-to-door offering to build things, you know. I’d heard from a few folks that he did nice work. With everything going on between the two of you, he was fresh in my mind, so I wanted to see if he was available.”

“Was he?”

“Not at the moment. I had a limited window for the project and between the bar hours and his community service, he said time was a little tight for a project of that size. I think we’re going to try to schedule something for next year.”

“It’s funny, he hasn’t mentioned working on something for you.”

Her grandmother narrowed her blue gaze at Maddie. “It’s probably because he isn’t, yet. I’d also asked him not to mention it to anyone, including you. I didn’t want one of you to accidentally ruin the surprise. It was supposed to be a birthday gift for your mother. I wanted him to line her closet with cedar and put up more shelving and shoe storage this week while she was away on her girls’ trip. There just wasn’t time. I may try again when she and your father go on their anniversary cruise in the spring.”

Maddie handed her grandmother her receipt, feeling foolish for being so suspicious of Emmett. He’d given her no reason to think he was after anything other than a relationship with her, and yet she’d concocted a whole elaborate scenario in her mind. Joel’s betrayal was a gift that kept on giving long after she wished she could forget all about him.

“All right, dear, you have a good afternoon.”

“’Bye, Granny,” Maddie said. She watched her carry her bag out to the car and drive off in the direction of the mayor’s house.

The timer went off in the kitchen and Maddie rushed in to pull cookies from the oven. She didn’t need to waste her time thinking about imaginary problems when she had a real batch of two-hundred sugar cookies to make for the Halloween festival.