When she got to the bottom of the stairs, she stopped and blinked at the top of the stairs. Why would she look worried— Oh.
“I’d love to have you sleep with me tonight,” I said softly. “We don’t have to do anything. I just want you there.”
Her eyes were shining as she stared up the stairs, then she blinked slowly. When her gaze shifted to me, there was nothing but determination. She yanked me closer by the fly of my jeans and rose on her toes to place a kiss on my jaw, then another, and another, until she got to my ear.
Heat kindled in my groin. Then her sharp teeth nipped my earlobe right before sucking the damn thing into her mouth. Lust coursed straight to my cock and muddled my brain. I fought for clarity. She hadn’t been this bold before. I opened my mouth to say something just as her tongue swirled around the flesh of my earlobe and she started kissing her way toward my lips.
Something was off. “Madison?”
“Mm.” She licked across my lips.
I should kick myself to shut up, but something was wrong. There’d been Riley, then Madison’s silence, and now this. She’d never made the first move, always me, as if she had an anaphylactic reaction to rejection.
I returned her kiss but gripped her shoulders. “What’s this?” I asked against her mouth.
She paused.
“What’s wrong, Madison?”
She stiffened and stepped back. An embarrassed blush raged across her tanned skin. “Nothing.”
“Don’t get me wrong—” She looked away. I ducked my head to keep her attention on me. “Mads. I want you all over me. But something’s wrong, and I’d rather we talk about it.”
“I’d rather suck your dick.”
My groan came as hard as I would between her sweet lips. “You are invited to blow me at your earliest convenience, but I’d rather you do it because you want to and not because you’re upset about Riley.”
She drew back, genuinely confused. “I’ve forgotten about Riley.”
Oh. Then what the fuck had she been in her head about? “Her date?” Our date?
“No.” She took another step back.
I could argue with her, beg her to tell me, but Madison had only ever opened up to me in her own time since we’d started this venture. Would she with this, whatever it was?
It wasn’t up to me. “I’m going to bed, Mads. I still want you there, whether you’re ready to talk to me or not. But the last thing I want is for you to feel used.”
A crease formed between her brow. I gave her a small smile before I started for the stairs.
“Teller.”
I stopped on the third stair.
“You have the network. The confidence. The money. You have all the power.”
Carefully, I turned. Her fear cut straight to my heart.
“All the resources,” she continued and bit her lower lip. “And when I’m around you? I don’t care about any of that.”
“You trust me.”
She clenched her jaw.
I took a step down, and she rushed to the bottom of the stairs. I sank to my ass onto a step to keep from towering over her.
“I’m afraid to trust you,” she said, her voice tight. “It’s different when my subconscious is whispering this isn’t right. When I’m trying not to question why I had to put up with awful behavior. It’s different when I’m getting pitying looks, or ‘that poor girl’ stares, or even hostility. Riley was jealous tonight.Jealous. Ofme.” Her chest rose and fell faster. “I’ve never experienced that. No one is jealous of me, Teller. And now... there’s you.”
Each word shot through my heart until it turned into a hunk of Swiss cheese. “Jesus.”
