“Thank you!” I call back, not breaking my stride. “I’m quite fond of her.”
Madison loses it. She’s shaking with laughter against my back. “You just want to show off that you can carry a grown woman three blocks.”
“Maybe a little,” I admit.
When we reach the car, I slide her into the passenger seat. I lean in, my hands framing her face, and kiss her.
“There you go,” I murmur, pulling back to strap her in.
“Thank you. You’re my knight in shining armor.”
I drive back to the apartment in a comfortable silence. The radio is low, playing“Slow Burn” by Kacey Musgraves.
When we reach the building, I offer to carry her again, but she insists on walking. “I have my dignity to reclaim.”
When we reach her door, she turns the key, pushes the door open, and steps inside, expecting me to follow.
But I stay in the hallway.
She turns around, her eyes already darkening with an invitation I’ve been thinking about since the shoe store.
“What are you doing out there?” she asks, her brow pinching. “Come in.”
I stop at the threshold, take her chin in my hand, and kiss her hard. It’s a promise, not a goodbye.
It kills me to do it, but I pull away.
“Goodnight, neighbor.”
She blinks, looking completely thrown. “What the hell? Are you serious?”
“I wanted to take you on a date, Madison. A real one. Thank you for letting me. I didn’t do it just to get you into bed after.”
Her hands roam over my chest. “I mean, Ireallydon’t mind if you do.”
It feels stupid, considering we’ve spent weeks tangled up in each other’s sheets, but something tells me she hasn’t been treated right in the past. I don’t want to be just another guy she feels she needs to repay.
I let out a low groan, rubbing the back of my neck.
Fuck, this is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. But I grab her chin again, giving her one last, quick kiss that leaves us both breathless. “Goodnight, Madison.”
I turn and walk away before my willpower snaps.
“You’re really leaving?” she calls after me, sounding genuinely shocked.
“Yes.”
I reach the stairwell and look back just in time to see her standing in her doorway, smiling. She’s silhouetted by the light of her apartment.
“Thanks for dinner, Doc,” she calls out.
“You’re welcome,” I shout back, already taking the stairs two at a time.
Just as the door to the stairwell begins to close, I hear her muffled voice from the hallway.
“Shit,” she whisper-hisses.
The sound of her door slamming is the most satisfying thing I’ve heard all night.
