“It’s good to see you,” she said softly, her voice still raspy and sweet.
“Same.” He wrapped his arm around her in a friendly hug, inhaling the soft scent of lavender and vanilla.
She still smelled the same.
Reese waited to see if he felt that stirring of longing or lust he’d previously felt when he was near her. It never came. Not so much as a flutter.
He forced himself back and waited until she took her seat before pulling out the chair across from her.
“You’re here alone?” he asked, glancing around briefly, hoping to see a couple of guys watching her back. Reese knew her brother employed a number of enforcers hired to do the heavy lifting as well as to take a bullet for the Adorites if it ever came to it. And it had. A couple of times, in fact.
“I am.” She laughed softly. “I don’t need a bodyguard, Reese.”
He didn’t bother telling her that was bullshit. He knew Madison was well aware of the danger she was in simply by being the sister to Maximillian Adorite, the boss of the Southern Boy Mafia. Just sharing the same last name put her, as well as the rest of her siblings, in imminent danger.
Not that anyone could tell Madison that. She’d always been fiercely independent, insisting she lived her life by her own rules, even if she assisted the family when it came to certain legal matters. Since her older brother Victor was also a lawyer and took on the brunt of the family’s legal business, Madison was able to pick and choose so that she could keep herself separate as much as possible.
At least that was what she claimed. To be honest, Reese didn’t know much about what Madison did. She’d always made a point to keep her family matters close to the vest. Probably one of the main reasons Reese had never truly fallen in love with her despite the fact he had wanted to. He’d never actually felt as though he knew her.
“You look good,” Madison said, her eyes raking over his face.
“Likewise. How’s the family?” He was hoping to keep the conversation casual.
Her head tilted, her eyes softening, almost as though she was disappointed that he hadn’t laid on the charm. “As good as can be expected, I figure. It’s been a rough couple of years.”
The waitress appeared to take his drink order.
“Bud Light. Thanks.” Reese turned his attention back to Madison. “What’s been rough about it?”
“Restructuring.”
While Madison would share a tidbit about her family every now and then, she was always hesitant to talk about her family’s “business.” Being that they were a known criminal organization, not all their activities were aboveboard, and to protect them, she rarely spoke about it. Although he understood her desire to protect her family, Reese had never understood why she felt she had to keep it from him.
“So no turf wars?” he asked, hoping to lighten the mood and redirect the conversation.
Clearly that wasn’t the right question to ask, because Madison’s gaze hardened before she forced a smile. “How’re you doin’? Still working at the demolition company?”
The waitress returned with his beer, set the bottle on a paper coaster before inquiring about their order. Reese wasn’t hungry, but he didn’t want to make things awkward, so he ordered a chef salad and skipped the dressing.
“Still on your health kick, huh?” Madison teased.
He recalled how she’d always given him crap about his healthy eating habits. He’d never thought anything of it because she tended to eat the same things he did. Not like Brantley, who, if presented with the choice between a salad and a double bacon cheeseburger, would choose the burger ten times out of ten. And Brantley made no apologies for it either.
“All right.” Madison leaned forward. “What’s wrong? I thought you wanted to have dinner with me?”
Reese considered his response carefully. It hadn’t been that he’d necessarilywantedto, but he didn’t think that was the appropriate way to kick this off.
“I’ll take your silence as a negative,” she finally said, looking incredibly uncomfortable.
Exhaling, Reese propped his forearms on the table. “I’m gonna be honest. I don’t know why I came.”
Surprise and what might’ve been hurt glittered in her dark brown eyes. “No?”
He shook his head, held her gaze. “It was a spur-of-the-moment decision.”
Madison stared at him momentarily, seeming to study his face as though the answers would be there. “So you’renotinterested in rekindling anything here?”
Reese didn’t even hesitate when he said, “No. That’s not my intention.”
