Taking the fantasies to another level was just wrong. But her beauty and her confidence sure did make it hard not to let my mind wander there on occasion.
We’d flirted a lot since I’d returned home, but that’s all it ever was—flirting. At this point, we’d never take it any further. At this point, we hadn’t crossed that line.
Especially now, with her staring at me with that sultry look in her eyes. I was sure she wasn’t intending to come off as such. Her hair was a damned mess, piled up on her head but sticking out in a hundred different directions. Dirt and sweat stained her light gray shirt and jeans. Even her knees bore evidence of grass stains from kneeling. Her boots were so muddy, I wasn’t sure what color they were any longer.
The woman was gorgeous, even when she was a disaster.
Chapter Ten
Maddison
I had to look away from his intense green eyes. The way he was watching me made my heart race. Growing up, Mike had always been the quiet, brooding kid, the one who was hard to read. He had the right to be, though, with the loss he’d already experienced at such a young age. Losing his parents and being tossed into the system had to have been scary. It took him years to feel comfortable around our family, but with his adoptive mom and my stepdad being brother and sister, we were always together.
When he enlisted, we were all surprised, but then again, he was always surprising us. He left a scrawny boy, so quiet and lost in his own mind. When he returned the first time, the changes in him were like night and day. He was still quiet, but now he was strong, with a confidence in him he lacked before.
Each time he came home, I could see he’d gotten just a little bigger, a little more intimidating. Then this last time, the changes were so drastic that I was still taking it all in.
His size, his attitude, the master of broody now had this unbelievably consuming way about him. Alluring, that pull that captivated me, and even when I tried to remind myself that I just couldn’t go there, it still fought against me, forcing me to think just maybe I could.
I’d chalked up our past encounters to him simply being lonely and confused. We’d been away from each other for so long, and we’d both changed so much. That had to be the reason behind our little moments.
“Maddison, grab that bucket of nails off Gramps’s four-wheeler.” I jerked at the sound of Colt’s voice. Colt, the man who loved my mamma fiercely. He raised me as his own. Had saved me and my mother. He refused to let us run back home to my grandparents when we thought it was our only place to go. He’d wanted us, he’d come for us, and I’d never be able to thank him for the life he’d given us.
“You got it, Pops.” I pulled my eyes off Mike and moved toward the four-wheeler. Just as I wrapped my hand around the handle and started to lift, someone reached over my shoulder and gripped the handle too. Warm, callused fingers brushed mine, and I froze, not really needing to look in order to know who it was.
“I've got it.” His deep, husky voice filled my ear, and chills broke out instantly over my skin. The feeling of his chest brushing against my back didn’t help matters either.
I didn’t move. I didn’t look over my shoulder. I simply released the handle and waited for him to step back. When he did, I released the breath I didn’t even realize I was holding, and my shoulders relaxed. As I placed my hands on the seat of the four-wheeler to steady myself, I took a moment to slow down my breathing.
I got back to work, doing my best not to look in Mike’s direction. I could feel him watching me, noticing the way he too was quietly working in order to ignore what had just taken place.
I really didn’t know what was happening, but I did know it felt so much different than it had ever felt before. The rush of excitement, the adrenaline coursing through me as my hands shook, even though I tried to calm them. It was an entirely new experience. One I’d never felt when it came to Mike.
***
“Where’s the key?” I stood still, looking around on the ground next to the four-wheeler. I’d left the key in the ignition when I originally pulled up and knew I hadn’t moved it since.
“You mean this key?” Looking up, I found Mike dangling a keychain from his finger with a gleam in his eye. Almost everyone had already driven off toward the house. The only ones left were me, Mike, Rhett, and AJ. The three of them stood a few feet away, watching me, probably to see my reaction. They obviously didn’t want to miss the moment Mike announced he’d snagged the key to my four-wheeler.
When I climbed up on the ATV, the one I knew going in Mike had claimed as his own, he continued to stare. “I told you I’m not driving that crap wheeler back.” I challenged him with my stare, and he took a step toward me,
