And that’s how I almost die at nine in the morning, my laughter coming out so suddenly that I choke on it. Not that Maddie seems to care, flashing me a wink before jerking her head to the gym door I still haven’t unlocked. Something that’s kind of hard to do when I’m about to die.
Great, now I sound as dramatic as her.
When I no longer pose a risk to myself, I unlock the door and swing it open for her, grinning when she whistles on her first look around. Her eyes move across the gym while the morning sunlight streams through the huge front windows, illuminating the front floor perfectly. She looks over the black equipment and the steel accents, then nods like she’s impressed.
“This is nicer than any gym I’ve stepped in,” she finally declares, and I fight the urge to fist-bump the air in victory. Because that single sentence is definitely something to be victorious about. “Look at you, being an adult with adult money and building cool stuff like this.”
I nod. “I pay taxes and everything with that adult money, too.”
“You’re so brave,” she coos, right before she starts laughing. “No, seriously, this is amazing, Caid.”
“Thank you, Blue. All the hard work, effort, sweat, and manly tears finally paid off,” I tell her, bumping my shoulder against hers lightly.
“It shows,” she tells me, honesty bleeding from her words, and I smile over at her as I head to the reception desk and tuck the keys away for later.
When I turn back around, I lean against the reception desk and simply watch her. Maddie grows quiet. It’s not an awkward kind of quiet, because I’m convinced Maddie doesn’t have an awkward bone in her body. The way we met is proof enough of that. No, this is more of an observant quiet as her eyes slowly move across the gym while she takes in our studio for the day. I can already see her mentally planning the shoot, framing shots and thinking of poses, and I’m already grinning as I watch her.
After she’s done a thorough three-sixty of the front room, she turns to face me. “Did you say you closed the whole place for the entire day?”
“Mhm,” I assure.
A soft smile blooms over her mouth, and like I do with every smile she lightens my life with, I fall that little bit harder for her. It’s impossible not to, because what little I knew about Madison Fowler before we met was only the tip of the iceberg. The deeper I dig, the more I want to uncover, and there isn’t a thing in the world that will stop me now that she’s ours.
God, I’m obsessed with her. Actually, full-blown obsessed.
Before I can get carried away with my thoughts, something that seems to be happening a lot lately when Maddie is around, I clap my hands together and flash the grin I know Maddie likes. “All right, boss. Where do you want me first?”
There’s no disguising the flirty message hidden in the words, and Maddie catches it instantly. I’m rewarded with a cheeky smile right back that has my cheeks warming, baffling me all over again, because Maddie is literally the only girl who has ever made me fucking blush. It only cements how perfectly matched this woman is for me.
“On the bench, muscles,” she declares, and I almost go up in flames when she gives me a filthy wink.
Fuck me, I’m a goner.
***
The hour flies by, and Maddie is nothing but professional. Well, that’s a lie. Aside from a few flirty comments and a couple of lingering touches where she directs me into the position and pose she wants, she’s been on her best behavior. It’s very obvious to me how she got to where she is today, her cute chaos and sweet personality making the process so much easier than I would have expected. She directs me with effortlessconfidence, the camera hanging around her neck while she moves me around the gym like we’re doing the tango.
“Okay, lean against this for me,” she gently commands, and I do.
I’ve done every damned thing she wants without a single complaint, and I’ve loved every second of it. I’m not sure what that says about me, but I’m completely folded for this woman, so she could ask me to attempt the splits and I’d split my gooch trying.
Maddie lifts her camera and pauses, frowning before she lowers her hands. “I’m going to need you to stop looking at the camera like you’re trying to seduce it.”
“Is that what I’m doing? Because that’s news to me,” I volley, lips twitching.
“Caid,” she sighs, peering down her lens before shaking her head. “Your whole face is doing this flirty little thing that I’m finding incredibly distracting.”
I can’t fight my grin. “That’s just my face, Blue.”
“Your face is going to be the death of me,” she mutters under her breath, lowering her camera before she approaches me. Only, the klutz trips over a kettlebell, and I’m reacting before my brain can even catch up with my movements.
Moving quickly, I catch her before she hits the deck, only just wrapping my arms around her in time. She ends up pressed against my chest, stunned for only a handful of seconds before she starts laughing so hard she can barely breathe. She drops her head to my pecs, her scent wafting under my nose where her wavy blue hair teases my chin. Cherry and vanilla, sweet and creamy, and the exact smell that always makes me think of her.
“Oh my God, I could have died,” she pants, still chuckling.
Laughing under my breath, reluctant to let her go, I tease, “I don’t know anyone else who could trip over stationary gym equipment.”
“It’s a special talent I have. I didn’t know about it until just now, but hey, when you got ’em, flaunt ’em, am I right?” she quips, the smile in her voice so clear that it makes me grin harder.
