“It’s okay.”
“I’m letting you down...”
“No. You aren’t.”
“I have to...”
“It’s okay, I promise you,” she whispered, stroking his shoulders. “It’s good.” She gathered him closer.
“Maddy,” he said. And nothing more.
He surged into her hard, bringing a guttural sound from her, a sound of shock at how deep he was—and of submission, too.
Submission to him, to her feelings for him that were so strong, so real to her. She was lost to him, all his.
How had he done it? He’d busted through everything, torn down the walls she’d so carefully constructed so that no one could hurt her the way her mom had hurt her dad.
He had claimed not only her willing body.
He owned her heart.
Going utterly still in her arms, pressing himself so very deep, he came. She felt him pulsing within her.
She felt him everywhere.
“Maddy,” he whispered on a final, deep sigh.
Chapter Nine
There was a knock on the slider as Madison, in sleep pants, a tank top and a stretched-out cardigan sweater, was choosing a pod for her morning coffee. Her phone, on the end of the counter, gave a buzz with an incoming text.
Paying no attention to the phone, she glanced over her shoulder toward the door to the deck. It was Coco, looking totally pulled-together in pink jeans, pink tennies and a pink-and-white-striped sweater. Really, the cuteness factor was off the charts with that kid.
Madison left the pod on the counter and went to open the door. Outside, it was foggy. She breathed in the moist coolness of it. Somewhere in the mist that obscured the water, a gull gave a long, fading cry.
“You and Uncle Sten had another sleepover without me, dincha?” the little girl accused. At Madison’s easy shrug, Coco gave up on the attitude. “It’s okay. Did you have fun?”
Oh, sweetheart. You have no idea... “Yes, we did, thank you.”
Sten appeared from the short hall to the bedroom, his hair sleep-scrambled, barefoot and without his sweater. At least he’d pulled on his pants. Madison’s belly got all fluttery just at the sight of him. They shared a long look, a lover’s look full of intimate secrets. It was all new to her, to have a morning-after with a man, withthisman. She could definitely get used to waking up in bed with him.
“Uncle Sten,” said Coco sternly.
His bare feet whispered across the hardwood floor as he came and stood next to Madison. He draped one of those lean-muscled arms across her shoulders, so casually, as though putting his arm around her was something he did every day. She loved that he did that—loved it almost as much as the morning-after look they’d just shared.
“What’s up, Coco-Puff?” he asked.
Frowning a little, her big blue eyes straying kind of nervously toward the other house and then back, Coco said, “Come over for breakfast—and hurry. We have to get ready for school, you know.”
“Colleen!” It was Karin’s voice from down between the houses.
“Uh-oh.” Coco scrunched up her face.
“Up here!” Sten called to his sister as he gazed down at Coco, shaking his head.
“Well,” Coco said, as if in answer to words he hadn’t spoken. “You have to eat breakfast. Breakfast is good for you.”
About then, Karin materialized out of the fog as she sprinted up the stairs on the far side of the cottage. “Okay, young lady. What did I say?”
