Blush (3 page)

Perhaps just seeing her again would help purge her from his system. Perhaps she wasn’t nearly as alluring as he’d remembered.

Yes. Certainly that was it.

The phone beneath his fingers rang, and Alex made up his mind. After he concluded his call with Santorini, he would take a drive to Paradise, Nevada, where he could check out A Casino in Paradise personally.

And maybe he’d stop for breakfast at Joe’s Diner on the way, in hopes that a certain sweet little waitress would be working.

•   •   •

“M
addy, can you take this to table twelve for me?” Susannah Phillips, the closest thing Maddy had to a friend in Paradise, had beaten Maddy to work the next morning, a rarity for her. As Maddy looked the other woman over, she noted that she was having a crazy bad hair day, and her face was devoid of makeup. But the other woman’s cheeks were rosy and her eyes sparkled.

Somebody had had a good night, and that somebody was not Maddy.

“Sure.” Methodically, Maddy turned to the warmer and retrieved the plate. Her eyebrows rose slightly at what the plain white ceramic dish held—whole-wheat pancakes with fruit and cottage cheese, no syrup, no whipped cream, no ice cream. Not a common order for Joe’s Diner, a greasy spoon in Paradise, Nevada, aka her place of employment.

She’d been back at work for a week and had obsessed over Alex Fraser for every one of those seven days. She should have been congratulating herself on crossing an item off of her bucket list, but the thrill had been lost in her angst-ridden desire.

“Table twelve is smokin’.” Susannah winked at Maddy as she scurried past her with two glasses full of fizzing soda. Maddy rolled her eyes in return. Her shift started a half hour after Susannah’s did, and from the look on the other woman’s face, Maddy had very nearly missed the best thing since sliced bread.

“You think everyone is smokin’.” Maddy whispered this back before hefting the plate and a coffeepot. She felt a lock of hair fall into her eyes as soon as her hands were full and flipped it back with the ease of long practice.

There wasn’t much that she couldn’t handle there, in comfortable surroundings.

“By the way, someone called for you this morning. Ned maybe—or Nathan? Anyway, he said he’d try your cell later.” Susannah scurried away with her drinks, leaving Maddy glued to the floor, conflicting feelings rioting around inside of her.

It wasn’t unusual for her brother-in-law to call. It wasn’t even unusual for her to feel sickness and guilt every time that he did, though she knew he’d die before deliberately making her feel that way.

It wasn’t his fault that she didn’t want him to call. She’d pushed him out of her life for a reason.

Back home, everything had reminded her of Erin, especially Nathan. Maddy’s grief clung to him like a shroud, and she couldn’t function when it, and he, were around.

Grimacing, Maddy took a second to force her way through the painful sensations. Gradually, her surroundings filtered back in, and as they did, her muscles began to warm, a hot bath of familiarity.

Her name was Maddy Stone. She was twenty-eight years old. She lived alone in Paradise, Nevada. She was a waitress at Joe’s Diner.

She had survived the worst thing that could ever have happened to her.

She was okay.

Inhaling deeply, Maddy swallowed her feelings down deep. She was at work. She needed to do her job, and to do that, she couldn’t stand there and ruminate on her past—she needed to move on, just as she had struggled to do for the last year.

She could almost—almost—convince herself that she had.

Eyes carefully trained on the plate and pot in her hands, she arrived at table twelve. It was a man; that much she could tell without a good look and with hair in her eyes.

“Here you go. Careful—the plate is hot.” Maddy leaned over the table to place the plate in front of the customer. His potency hit her before she raised her eyes to that wicked face—expensive cologne, musky soap, and pure man.

She straightened back up and brushed her hair out of her eyes. Smoky blue eyes regarded her with amusement from a face that was too beautiful to be real. “Hello again, Miss Stone.”

Maddy couldn’t force any words out of her mouth, she was so stunned. What on earth was Alex Fraser, casino owner, doing in Paradise, Nevada, let alone in Joe’s Diner?

“Mr. Fraser. I—uh—enjoy your breakfast.” Like an idiot—a shell-shocked idiot—Maddy spun on her heel and all but ran back to the kitchen, where she could at least put a counter between Alex Fraser and herself.

Behind the counter, she leaned over the ice bin, trying to cool her flushed cheeks. What was he
doing
there? Part of her screamed that he couldn’t possibly have been there to see her, and the other part was equally as certain that it wasn’t a coincidence that he was in her place of work, in her little city, which was close enough to Vegas but still a bit of a drive.

Why was he there, in her safe zone? Hell, she wasn’t stupid—she knew why. She’d felt that connection between them, a palpable thing in the air, drawing them together.

Still . . . this was her bubble, the place where things were always the same. If she stepped out and forced herself to do something uncomfortable, well, that was her prerogative—but
she
chose the place;
she
chose the time.

This wasn’t her choice, at all. And following on the heels of the news that she should be expecting a call from Nathan, she felt nauseous.

“Are you okay?” Joe was the owner of the diner. He was tall and lanky, with reddish gold hair that was scraggly and the barest hint of a matching beard. His eyes were startlingly green and full of concern as he spoke to her.

“I’m . . . I’m fine.” Maddy struggled for the words, though she was unable to muster up an accompanying smile. How did Alex Fraser have such an effect on her? For the entire year that she’d lived in Paradise, she had been indifferent to the opposite sex. Changing that was something she might consider putting on her bucket list at some point . . . just not yet. She wasn’t ready.

Could a woman ever really be ready for Alex Fraser?

“You don’t look fine.”

Maddy liked Joe. She really did. But right at that moment she wanted him to leave her the hell alone. Mustering the shreds of her composure—and again marveling at Alex Fraser’s ability to turn her into a witless idiot—she straightened and smiled at Joe.

“I’m good, Joe. Just warm.”

“Take care.” Joe reached out for a strand of her hair before jerking his hand back. Maddy studied the hand hovering awkwardly in the air, puzzled.

“Right.” With that, Joe retreated hastily into the kitchen, leaving her staring after him.

She couldn’t even contemplate his gesture at that moment, not with Alex Fraser eating whole-wheat pancakes that weren’t even on the menu across the room. Joe did the majority of the cooking at the diner, and he specialized in grease. It was no surprise that Susannah had likely fallen all over herself to assure Alex that his special order would be taken care of, but she must have had to bat her eyelashes extra hard to convince Joe to follow through.

She’d have to think about Joe’s strange actions later, when her mind had space for it. Right now she had her hands full with worry and excitement over Alex, who took priority because Joe’s near touch didn’t bring butterflies and nerves and want and need all rolled into one tangled ball in her stomach the way Alex’s did.

Maddy looked across the room to where he was sitting. He was watching her intently, his coffee cup hiding his lips, but she got the impression that he was amused.

Right. She wasn’t the first woman to work herself into a state over him, of that she was quite certain.

Ducking back out of sight, Maddy considered her options. She could hide in the kitchen until he left, begging Susannah to take his table. Or she could be an adult and warm up his coffee, make small talk, and present him his bill.

In her heart she knew that the latter was the only option that she would really consider. No matter that she’d embarrassed herself in front of him with her awkwardness, as with the first time they’d met, she felt the strange connection between them pulling tight, drawing her to him like a moth to the light.

She wanted to be around him, wanted to spend time with him, whatever she had to do.

Mumbling as she grabbed the coffeepot, Maddy chanted to herself.

I will not do anything dumb.

I will not do anything dumb.

I will not do anything dumb.

Then he looked up and smiled at her, and she felt herself blush.

•   •   •

A
lex sat back, watching intently as Maddy approached his table with a smile on her face. He suspected she was going for friendly, but the look she had achieved was closer to hysteria topped with a forced smile.

He didn’t mind making her nervous—a little bit. It was a heady feeling for a Dominant, knowing that he had an effect on the woman in his sights. However, he’d also been told by a past lover—or several—that he was scarily intense at times.

He didn’t want to scare the little doe, so he made a concerted effort to appear relaxed. Not an easy feat when every muscle in his body tensed up the moment she and her delectable little body got near him.

“Coffee, Mr. Fraser?” Alex nodded without speaking, trying to repress the images of her naked and bound under him. His cock swelled as he caught a whiff of that amazing floral scent that seemed stamped into her very skin.

Clearing his throat, he shifted his napkin on his lap, suddenly appreciating the stiffness of the cheap paper. In any other situation, he wouldn’t have been the least bit shy about letting a woman know the effect she had on him.

This
woman, though—if Maddy knew that he’d gotten hard just watching her denim-clad hips walking across the diner to him, he was pretty sure that she’d freak out and run.

It was that attitude exactly, combined with the faded blue jeans that molded to her thighs and ass, the simple white T-shirt through which he could see the barest hint of her lace bra, the skin he wanted to touch, open entirely to his stare on a face that was free of makeup . . .

Maddy Stone seemed to lack pretense, and Alex found it incredibly refreshing. Even though her insistence on playing a game of blackjack when it clearly terrified her was still a puzzle, he didn’t think she was the game-playing type.

He thought of Lydia, of so many of the women who had come after, and shuddered inwardly. Never again.

“Ouch! Fu—mmm.”

Alex looked up sharply as Maddy started to cuss, swallowing the expletive before she shouted it out in front of the entire diner. He had been vastly pleased to catch her sneaking a look at his face as she refilled his coffee, but the result was that she hadn’t watched what she was doing, and now coffee had overflowed from his cup onto her hand. She hissed as it burned, scalding the skin, her free hand barely catching the pot before she upended the entire thing in his lap.

He was momentarily sidetracked when she sucked the burned fingers between her full, rosy lips, trying to soothe the skin. When he realized that she’d hurt herself, his expression darkened, and he had to hold himself back, wanting to pull her into his lap, to soothe the burn with his own tongue.

Since he was pretty sure it would scare the hell out of her, he refrained, though he couldn’t vanquish his frown.

Nothing should mar that beautiful skin of hers. Nothing.

“I’m sorry.” Maddy cringed, probably realizing that she’d shouted a profanity halfway across the diner.

Alex furrowed his brow at her. “You need to be more careful. You can look at me anytime, babe, so pay attention when you’re doing something where you could hurt yourself.”

Though irritation flashed over her features, Maddy opened her mouth, probably to reiterate her apologies, he thought. Unable to resist touching her any longer, he shook his head and held out his hand. “Let me see.”

Warily, Maddy let him take her injured hand in his own.
Interesting
. Alex felt an electric jolt travel up his arm as his fingers closed over the soft, fragrant skin.

Alex owned a lot of things. One of them was a wine bar with a dark side—a BDSM club. Though he preferred private scenes to public, he’d go when the urge struck him and as such had had the opportunity to touch plenty of eager submissives.

Some, though attractive, had left him cold. Some had turned him on.

None had made him feel this kind of slow, wicked burn.

“It’s a shame to injure skin like this.” Slowly he lifted her fingers to his lips and brushed one soft, soft kiss over the top of them. He placed the hand that he’d touched back on the smooth surface of the table gently. “That cream does look beautiful with a touch of pink, though.”

Her mouth fell open completely, her eyes wide as marbles to match. Alex felt a frisson of pleasure slip into his veins at his ability to affect her.

“Are . . . are you in town on business?” Ignoring the burn on her hand, though it had to be painful, Maddy pulled a bar cloth from her apron and mopped at the spill in front of Alex as if she needed something to do. As she lifted the coffeepot to refill his cup, she looked over her shoulder and winced.

Alex followed her glance and caught the eye of a man from behind the counter. The man was tall, on the rangy side, with messily spiked red hair and stubble.

He also seemed pissed off. Alex glared right back, none too impressed.

The guy had better not be pissed with Maddy about spilling the coffee, or anything else, for that matter. Sure, he didn’t know the woman well, but the way she appealed to the Dominant inside of him . . . well, he knew that he’d go to great lengths to make sure she became his. When it came to Maddy, he was starting to feel just obsessed enough to pick a fight over another man looking at her the wrong way.

Maddy turned her attention back to Alex’s cup, making sure that she stopped pouring well below its white porcelain rim. His attention pulled immediately back to her, Alex waited until she was done to answer her question.