I don’t look at him. I don’t look at my parents. I only look at Jesse’s broad shoulders as he walks straight through the ballroom doors. I gather my dress and follow him, past the murmurs and gasps. Past the consequences my parents can no longer control.
I don’t look back as the door slams shut behind me.
FORTY
Jesse
I turn to see Madeline halfway down the marble staircase, the silk of her dress clinging to her curves in all the right places.
“You’re stunning,” I say when she reaches me. “Especially when you look like you’re deciding whether to kill me.”
She looks at me, eyes searching my face. “Jesse,” she says quietly. “What did you just do?”
I shrug. “I handled it…the only way I know how.”
“I didn’t want you to have to drag Wes’s past into the light,” she says. “I didn’t want you—or him—forced into explaining something that was never meant to be public.”
I shake my head. “We were never going to let you come here tonight. Not for one second. We were ready to tell the truth. But then everything happened with my dad and…I just got a little off track. You left before I could tell you the plan.”
Her eyes flash. “I left because you shut me out. You pulled away. What was I supposed to think?”
She’s not angry. That’s the worst part. She’s hurt.
“I know,” I say immediately. “I know, and I’m sorry.” I scrub a hand over my face. “I really am sorry I hurt you, Mads. My head was a mess. Everything felt like it was closing in at once, and instead of leaning on you, I tried to shoulder it alone. That’s on me.” I meet her gaze, no deflection or excuses. “I never meant to shut you out or make you feel like you aren’t important to me. That’s the opposite of what I wanted.”
Her teeth sink into her bottom lip.
“Tell me what you need from me. I’ll do it. Tell me what to do so you can let me back in. So, I can prove that I’m worthy of you.”
Her eyes squeeze shut and she inhales.
“I don’t need a grand gesture, Jesse,” she says quietly. “I just need you to stay. Talk to me. Let me in. I need you to trust me enough to tell me the hard parts.” She sucks in a breath. “I’ve been incredibly wary of letting people in. That’s what happens when people who are supposed to love you make you feel forgotten. I need honesty. I need to know you’ll talk to me when things get messy.”
For a long moment, we stand where we are, the air vibrating around us. I know without a shadow of a doubt that I want her. Wanting Madeline Ashcroft feels as natural as breathing. There isn’t a version of our story where I don’t choose her.
I step toward her and trail my fingertips along her arm up her throat to her cheek. “If you’ll…” I brush my thumb along the edge of her chin. “If you give me the chance, I’ll spend every day showing you exactly what you mean to me, and I won’t stop until you believe I’m the man you deserve.”
“Okay,” she whispers, “You can try. There’s no point in pretending right now that I don’t want you. Because Jesse, you look really good in a tux. I mean…really good. It’s hard for me to even think straight.”
A slow grin pulls at the corners of my mouth as she rises upon her tip toes, meeting me halfway for a slow, lingering kiss. I close my eyes as my hands cup her jaw, then slide slowly to her jaw. Everything about this kiss feels honest in the best way.
When she pulls back, I drop my forehead to hers. “I missed you so fucking much, Mads. The second you stepped out of my car that night, I knew I messed up. I’m not doing that again. Never again.”
She murmurs against my lips. “I missed you. I felt it everywhere. In my bones, in my chest, like something essential was missing. Until now.”
A sharp sound echoes off the marble staircase behind us, and reality rushes back in. We pull apart just enough to look respectable, but my hands stay at her waist. A group of hotel guests come down the staircase then past us through the hotel doors.
I huff out a quiet laugh, forehead tipping to my chest. “We should probably…go somewhere more private. Like back to my hotel? I’ve got our suite. The one from our last trip.”
Her coffee-brown eyes flick up to meet mine. “You do?”
“Just for one night. It feels like a waste if we don’t make the most of it.”
She laughs, eyes sparkling. “Then we should hurry,” she says, slipping her hand in mine.
Our fingers stay tangled together as I steer her through the front doors of the hotel. The night greets us with cool air and the soft sounds of the city. I squeeze her hand, and she squeezes mine back, an unspokenwe’re goodpassing between us without needing to say it. We make it all the way to the bellman before her parents catch up with us.
“Madeline,” her father calls.
