Face? Smudged with the mascara she hadn’t washed off last night.
Breath? She blew into her hand.Not daisy fresh.
She padded to the bathroom to give her teeth a quick scrub and contemplated running a comb through her hair and a washcloth over her face. Then she figured,Anyone comin’ this early in the mornin’ deserves what they get.
Ding-dong!
“I’m comin’!” she yelled, running to the front door. She would bet her sweet bippy it was one of her big, dumb brothers. Either that, or another reporter looking for an exclusive. Either way, she was about to give someone an earful. She tossed open the door at the same time she opened her mouth. The latter snapped shut with aclickof her teeth when she sawBranstanding on her front porch.
“God, woman,” he said in lieu of hello, his deep voice swirling around in her ears and raising goose bumps over the back of her neck. “Would youstopgetting more beautiful every day?”
Somehow, she managed to answer him around the heart that had jumped into her throat. “Har-har. Very funny. But let me tell you right now, bucko, if you show up at a woman’s house before she’s had her first cup of coffee, this is what you’re in for.” She did her best Vanna White impersonation and gestured dramatically at herself.
What in the devil-lovin’ hell is he doin’ here?
She could think of only one thing. A glimmer of hope ignited in the center of her chest. It grew to a small conflagration when he said, “Since you mention it, I haven’t hadmyfirst cup of coffee either. You got enough to share?”
If her heart beat any faster, it was liable to hop right out of her mouth and go bouncing across the foyer. Not wanting to seethat, she kept her lips sealed and held the door wide. And bonus, she used the support to keep herself upright. Her knees had gone weak at first sight of him.How cliché.His words, and his possible intent, made them weaker still.You really are a stereotype when it comes to him, you know?
Yessirree, Bob. She knew.
When he brushed by her, she closed her eyes and breathed him in. Irish Spring soap and Tide laundry detergent and…Bran. The familiar smells tunneled up her nose and made her dizzy, like fine champagne. Like a roller-coaster ride. Like…love.
“And, Maddy?”
“Yeah?” She opened her eyes to discover he’d stopped beside her. She had to tilt her chin way back to look into his face, to see his dark eyes and the pirate smile that stretched his lips.
“I wasn’t joking about you getting more beautiful every day.”
Before she could answer that thoroughly devastating statement, he sauntered into her house. She watched his loose-hipped swagger the way you might watch lasagna after having been on a low-carb diet for a year. She was suddenly ravenous. Rabid for a taste. But not of pasta and sauce.Oh, no.
At the end of the entryway, he looked right and left. Without hesitation, he headed in the direction of her kitchen. Her house was built in the open-concept style, so navigating wasn’t difficult, even for first-timers.
Her hands shook when she closed the front door. Her legs shook too when she turned and followed him into her kitchen. Dressed in jeans and a navy V-necked shirt, he looked very dark against her white cabinets and light-gray countertops. Dark and dangerous and totally delicious.
“Coffee cups?” he asked with a raised brow.
“Cupboard to the right of the stove.” She grabbed one of the bar stools shoved beneath the center island and quickly hopped onboard. Number one, because her knees threatened to give out on her at any moment. And number two, because it took everything in her not to run to him. “The coffeemaker is on a timer so it should be ready. Help yourself.”
Bran opened the cupboard and pulled out herLord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ringcollectors’ mug. He glanced down at it, then looked back into her cupboard where all her collectors’ mugs were arranged neatly on a shelf. She had one commemorating her favorite film of the year for each of the last twenty years.
Shaking his head, he blurted, “God, I love you.”
She fell off the bar stool. Or at least shewouldhave, had she not caught the edge of the island in a death grip. All the air left her lungs, and her head felt so light she was surprised it didn’t float right off her shoulders.
He closed his eyes and shook his head. When he opened them again, he set the mug aside and walked to the opposite side of the gray marble countertop. He flattened his wide-palmed hands on the surface and leaned forward.
“It’s true,” he said, his eyes fierce. “I love you, Maddy. And I tried like hell not to. Tried to convince myself that you were better off without a man like me. Tried to tell myself that the risk wasn’t worth the reward. But it was like trying to walk to the horizon. No matter what, I just couldn’t get there.”
The words hung in the air between them like fat balloons. Maddy was afraid to move, afraid tobreathe. She thought if she did, she might pop those balloons and then she’d be left to wonder if they were ever really real, reallythereto begin with.
She swallowed and licked her lips, racking her brain for something to say.I love you toowas the obvious answer. But for some reason, maybe because of the anguished look on his face, she reckoned he wasn’t ready to hear it. So she went with “You know, that’s the problem with hearts.”
He cocked his head, dark hair shining in the overhead lights.
“The damn things do what they want.”
For a while neither of them spoke. They just stared at each other. Finally, Maddy couldn’t stand it. He might not be ready to hear her tell him she loved him, but she was beyond ready to say it. “And in case you’re wonderin’, I love you too.”
