“Th-thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Why am I here?” he seems to ask himself after a moment, finally pulling away from my touch, and I mourn the loss instantly. I take my hand back and fold it in front of me before taking a swig of my beer.
Even though he didn’t ask me, I answer him, anyway. “Because you want to be. This is all about what you want, darlin’. Remember that.”
“Yeah, but…”
“But… what?”
“I don’t know what I want,” he confesses softly, and I smile.
“Don’t you?”
“I—” he cuts himself off and purses his lips. “I don’t know,” he finally settles on.
“Well, Iknow what I want—and that just so happens to be you.”
“But… why? I don’t understand…” He seems to chew over his words for a minute before he settles on, “Why me, Cedrick?”
My eyes roll back hearing my name roll off his tongue so easily. “Ya, darlin’. I really like that, shit.”
Madison’s brows tug together. “Like what?”
I huff in amusement. “Nothin’. So, why you,hmm?”
“Yeah…”
“The better question is, why me?”
That seems to throw him for a loop. “What?”
“Why do you want me, Madison?” What I don’t say aloud, what I don’t even think on, is the fact my heart is hammering loud enough to feel it in my brain. Or that my breathing is changing the rise and fall of my chest, and I just hope it’s not noticeable enough to Madison.
“Why doI...” he trails off, like he never expected such a question, eyes falling to the dark table between us, and my heart clenches painfully in my chest at the realization that he hasn’t really thought about this. He hasn’t thought through this, or about this, or anything.
It’s all been a game to him.
“Because you made me see what’s been right in front of me.”
“What?” I’m not sure I heard him correctly.
“Clean your ears out, Cedrick.”
“Fuck, you’re a brat. Do you really mean that?” I ask. The thumping in my chest gets heavier, and I think I feel the tell-tale signs of my nose starting to burn.
I don’t even know what he means by that specifically, but itmeans something to him, which means it’s important, and… fuck.
I’m important to him.
Could I really be?...
“If there’s one thing you should know about me, it’s that I don’t say things I don’t mean. Everything that comes out of my mouth, I promise you, I have thought through a million different ways and have contemplated the consequences and actions of every possible outcome.
“So, to answer your question…” he trails off and finally raises his head to meet my eyes. “Yes.”
“Yes,” I repeat, and goddamn if thatyesdoesn’t feel like a fucking proposal from the way it makes me leap.
