When he opened them again, Madeline was looking at him in concern. “You okay?”
His chest hurt from her sweetness. “Yeah. I’m fine.” Making a sudden decision, he leaned over and gave her another kiss. This was soft and short and light. “I don’t know where this came from, but I’m okay with it if you are. So if you decide you want to have some fun—be a little bad—then all you have to do is ask. I can help you feel free. It wouldn’t have to mean anything else unless you wanted it to.”
Her lips parted slightly in what was obviously surprise. She didn’t answer immediately.
Suddenly self-conscious, Ken decided he’d said enough. Probably way too much. He couldn’t believe he’d had the courage to suggest something like that to a woman like Madeline Jenkins.
He wasn’t a player. He didn’t sleep around. He only had sex in relationships. He wasn’t even a very good flirt.
But he’d said what he’d said, and now there was no taking it back. He wasn’t even sure he wanted to. So he gave her a little smile and a last stroke of her warm cheek before he took his books and went to check them out.
She probably wouldn’t want to do anything more with him. She should be with someone younger. Smarter. Deeper. Someone more like her.
And that was fine. He’d gotten to kiss her, and he wouldn’t have missed that for the world.
Now he’d get to remember it when he closed his eyes at night. It would have to be enough because it would be foolish to hope for anything more.
Two
MADELINE SPENT ALL night and the following day full of flutters.
Wild, crazy flutters.
She couldn’t believe she’d made out with the sheriff in the back corner of the library. Couldn’t believe it was unquestionably the hottest thing she’d ever done. Thank God no one saw them. That would have been incredibly awkward. What would she even say about it? I’m not sure what got into me. I just suddenly got the urge for a crazy hot kiss with a man I’ve known since I was fourteen in a completely inappropriate location.
And why had Ken even done it? What had he been thinking? He’d said he was available for some fun if she was interested. He’d help her be bad. Feel free.
As far as she’d ever known, Ken had always been a good guy. Stable. Responsible. Respected. He still had a good relationship with his ex-wife and seemed to be a great dad to his little girls. There were never any rumors about him. He didn’t appear to get around with a lot of women. He should not have randomly kissed her in the back of the library.
Maybe he was tired of always being good, the way she was. Maybe that was all it was.
She kept recalling the kiss. Imagining that it went even further. She had a good imagination, so the daydreams got her rather excited.
She didn’t work in the library on Tuesday morning, so she stayed in to write a few messages for custom arrangements. They came fairly easily, and she was happy with her morning productivity as she walked from the little apartment she rented above a downtown Azalea storefront to the flower shop a block and a half away.
Azalea was so small that the downtown area consisted of three blocks of Main Street and two blocks of Monroe Street, which ran perpendicular to Main. Her apartment was on Monroe, and the flower shop was on Main.
Both Skye and Ria were in the shop. They were excited about a new order they’d received for a birthday arrangement for the wife of a US senator who was popular on social media.
Madeline was excited too. Every time someone well known ordered one of their arrangements and shared it online, they were bombarded with new orders. They already had more than they could handle. They had to be selective about the orders they accepted, which only increased their cachet. People paid a lot for one of their arrangements and still felt lucky to be approved. A lot of their income now came from people who ordered one of their standard arrangements and poems, which they’d crafted for a number of different occasions, switched up every six months so they wouldn’t grow stale, and were served by florists they were connected with around the country. Those weren’t exactly cheap, but they didn’t require dedicated attention, so people who weren’t approved for the custom arrangements could still get something.
Madeline chatted with her friends for about an hour, helping to clean up the back room, which had gotten kind of messy from Ria’s work that morning. Several times she was on the verge of mentioning what had happened between her and Ken the evening before.
She never did, however. She wasn’t sure why. She wasn’t sure how she even felt about it, much less being able to explain why it had happened. And she was kind of embarrassed about being so hot for a man who’d always seemed like a grown-up.
Sure, she was a grown-up now too. Twenty-six was old enough to be attracted to older men without it being strange. But it still felt... naughty. Inappropriate. Ken had been a deputy when she was in high school. He’d been married for most of the time she’d known him.
He simply didn’t feel like proper dating material.
Madeline felt so weird about it that she kept it to herself.
She was leaving the shop, mentally debating about the merits of sharing or not sharing, when she almost ran into Josh Cantor.
Her ex.
He was a big man—still in pretty good shape and with all-American looks. Blond hair. Blue eyes. A wide smile that showed off perfect teeth.
He looked surprised when he saw her, but he smiled easily enough. “Hey, Maddy.”
He’d always called her Maddy, and she’d always
