“Right, that’s why people laminate their grocery lists,” he deadpans. “What about this note”—he whips a folded piece of construction paper out of his pocket, thrusting it in front of me—“created out of magazine letters?”
Even though I know what he’s referring to, I pause at the threshold of the bathroom and wrinkle my forehead. “I think I made that with Remy. I’ve been teaching him his ABCs.”
“And what were you planning to do with it?”
I bat my lashes and shrug. “Hadn’t decided.”
He’s seething, but his lips twitch, battling a smile. “It says,I know what you did, Maddox.And my name is composed out of bloody letters.”
A cackle bursts out of me, which makes me slightly dizzy, but it’s so worth it. “I snagged those from a Halloween cake ad. Pretty great, right?” I flap my hand in front of him, brushing it off. “It’s a play on that horror film. I was going to mail it to you as a prank, but after the cock debacle, it seemed a tad too much. In my defense, Ithoughtyou were being a controlling jerk at the time, and I wasn’t aware of the mess we were entrenched in, so I was planning to screw with you.”
He slides his fingers around the back of my neck, his thumb dusting my lip. “And now?”
That question twists my insides. It feels like more.
“Now, I … I don’t know, Maddox. You took care of me today. You say things that … but you’re packing my stuff, demanding I move, and threatening my ex.”
“That’s it. Right there.” He steps back, wagging an accusatory finger. “How do you know that?”
Turning my back on him, I saunter into the bathroom to find the tub filled. It smells like lavender and an ocean breeze. “When did you fill this?”
“While I was making your tea. It was hot, so it should still be warm.” He squeezes past me, dips his hand in the water, and wipes off with a towel. “It’s good. Tell me how you knew.”
Again, I’m flabbergasted that this is the same man who never takes anything serious and shouts about hobby horsing and grits rolling. Although that’s for his employees. The ones he cares about because they remind him of his mom. Who he watched burn as a boy.
It’s all in such stark contrast to the other parts of him.
I brush my teeth and spill my discovery. “I saw you and Cash driving out of the neighborhood, so I texted Hunter.”
“He answered?” he growls, indignant.
“Only to tell me never to text him again”—I yank off my tank top, too impatient for the bath—“which told me everything I needed to know.”
He stalls, his smoldering gaze skulking over my bare curves before he manages to pull it back to my face, his voice low and lethal. “And how did you see me and Cash?”
“I was going to see Violet—”
“Violet doesn’t live over there.” His jaw clenches. He must’ve been stewing on this for the past seven hours.
“No, she doesn’t,” I confirm, ripping my panties down, “but you knowing that makes you a crazy stalker. Though apparently a sucky one because Derek does reside over there, and she’s practically living with him.”
“Fine,” he grits out, and everything about him is a blend of fury, lust, and anguish. “You didn’t think you should follow up with me? Tell me you were upset and not going to work?”
“Like how you mentioned you’d be stopping by to see Hunter when you informed me that Kane and his guys were picking me up today?”
“Get in before it gets cold.” He gestures to the water as his other hand glides across the small of my back to keep me steady. “I wasn’t hiding it. I needed to take care of it first.”
Take care of what?
I sink into the water, and he walks out, leaving me to soak. He didn’t fill it with bubbles or bath salts, probably because after reading my lists, he wasn’t sure if I liked them. But there are essential oils on the ledge. I’m utterly perplexed as to why he didn’t pounce on me, why he went to the extra trouble of everything he did today. We’d already slept together. He’s not at all what I expected.
Or maybe he is in some ways.
“Did you hurt him?” I call out.
“I scared the piss out of him, but I didn’t lay a finger on him,” he begins from the hall, but then he’s tromping inside and crouching by the side of the bathtub. “Only because I’m certain there is nothing he can do to you.”
He leans my head back, wetting my hair, and he squirts a glob of shampoo in his palm, lathering my strands and massaging my scalp. “But let me be clear; I will kill anyone who hurts you, anyone who even dares to think about causing you pain. I meant it the other night when I called you mine, Tess. I’m in this. Maybe you’re not there yet, but you will be. I feel it. So,you should know, I also won’t tolerate people disrespecting you, no matter who they are. That shit ends now.”
