Sean cringed when his glance landed on the open pizza box on his coffee table, an old, dried-up slice still inside. With his foot, he kicked the lid closed and began picking clothes up off the floor, but she put her hand on his arm to stop him.
“It’s okay, Sean. Really. You don’t need to fuss because of me.” Her smile was warm and genuine, and when she gave an easy laugh, it turned his insides to mush. “Besides,” she added waving her hand around. “Half the time my place looks like this, anyway.”
With that, Sean dropped the pile of clothes back onto the floor and gave her a dubious look. “Now why don’t I believe that?”
“Come by unexpected some time and you’ll see.”
“What exactly will I see?” he asked, and when their glances collided, he knew Madison had read all kind of sexual innuendoes into that statement. As much as he’d like to carry her to his bedroom and turn those innuendos into reality, he summoned his restraint and worked to marshal his libido. He certainly wasn’t about to take advantage of her when she was vulnerable.
Tonight’s fire had clearly brought back painful memories for Madison. While he wanted to talk to her about what happened between them earlier and prove to her how much she meant to him, he knew it would have to wait. What she needed from him tonight was understanding and comfort, and that’s exactly what he was going to give her.
She cleared her throat, and when she glanced at her watch, he suspected she was about to feign exhaustion and bail on him.
Wanting to spend more time with her, he wasn’t about to give her the chance. “I’ll order pizza.”
She stared at him for a moment, as if she was thinking things through, then gave a slight nod. “Okay. Pizza sounds good.”
When he reached for the phone to call in the order, she stepped farther into his living room and pulled back the dark curtain to expose the bay window, and the beach some hundred feet over the hill.
“You have such a great spot here,” she said. “Very private.”
After he ordered, he hung up the phone and flicked on the corner lamp. As he watched the warm glow fall over her body, it occurred to him just how much she looked like she belonged in his place, how her mere presence made his house feel like a home.
Since the fire and especially over the past few weeks while she’d been in charge of his security, he’d gotten to know and like Madison. Christ, there really was no denying that she’d come to mean so much to him in such a short period of time, and he damn well planned to do whatever was necessary to make her realize just how special she was and just how good they could be together, inside the bedroom and out.
As he stepped up behind her, loving how right she looked in his house, something warm pressed against his heart and there wasn’t a thing he could do to wipe the wide grin from his mouth.
Madison turned to face him and, despite the warmth of the night, hugged herself. Then she cocked her head and gave him an odd look. “You okay, Sean?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Because you have a strange look on your face.”
“Strange?”
She gave an easy laugh. “Yeah, you’re kind of freaking me out.”
With that, Sean chuckled and slipped her hand in his. “Come on.”
Madison stiffened. “Where to?”
“Shower?”
“I don’t think—”
“I run out of hot water pretty quickly, so you can go first.”
“Oh,” she said then looked at her clothes.
“Don’t worry, I’ll find something for you.” He left her at the bathroom door, hurried to his room, then returned with a pair of sweats and a T-shirt. “They’re big, but they should do the trick.”
Madison gave him a smile. “Thanks.”
When she shut the door, he went to the kitchen to wait for the food to arrive. Just because he wasn’t going to act on his urges didn’t mean he wasn’t going to think about Madison’s naked body in his shower, warm water caressing her gorgeous curves as she lathered herself with his soap.
Fuck…
Less than thirty minutes later, Madison came sauntering down the hall, looking warm and cozy and so damn adorable he knew it was going to take all his self-discipline not to peel those oversized clothes from her beautiful body and have his wicked way with her again. Truthfully, Madison might not look like the other curvaceous women he’d once gravitated toward, but her slight, lithe frame was the epitome of lush femininity. Firm and toned yet soft and sensuous in all the right places.
When she plopped down onto the sofa next to him, he could smell his soap on her skin. Wild images of him burying his face in her neck, or between her legs for a better whiff, rushed through his mind and renewed his need for her. He handed her a slice of pizza and took a big bite of his own before he was tempted to fill his mouth with something else, something that was poking against the white T-shirt she was wearing and beckoning his mouth.
“Mmm, delicious,” she said around a mouthful. Then she glanced down the hall. “Where is your spare bedroom?”
“Ah, about that.”
She pinched her lips and studied him with quiet regard. “What about it?”
“Well, I have one. I just don’t have any furniture.”
She swallowed and asked, “How long have you lived here?”
“I’ve never had overnight guests before.”
She arched a dubious brow, disbelief written all over her face. “Oh really?”
“Well, none that stayed in a spare room,” he admitted with a sheepish grin.
Emotions moved over her eyes, but she quickly blinked them away and said, “Fine, I’ll take the sofa.”
“After what we did tonight, are you telling me you have a problem sleeping in the same
