Mad Love (Hearts Are Wild): Hearts Are Wild (17 page)

“Sorry.”

She cupped Madison’s cheeks in her small warm
hands. “He’s told me quite a bit about you. I know all about where
you’ve come from, and seeing you now, you’re better too. Together,
you’re better. That’s something to hold on to.”

Madison nodded. She couldn’t think of
anything to say and she feared anything she
did
say would
disappoint Lisa. In the short time she’d come to know Toby’s
mother, Madison had grown to respect and admire the woman. She’d
raised an amazing family with unconditional love and wasn’t shy of
telling them if they were out of line even now, with all of them
adults.

No. Madison definitely didn’t want to
disappoint Toby’s mother.

Lightly patting Madison’s cheeks, Lisa said,
“You think on that. I’m going back out with the family.”

Before this conversation, Madison had known
what she and Toby had was special. At first she’d believed it had
to do with him being the only guy to give her sexual pleasure, but
it had soon become obvious to her that sex wasn’t all they had
between them.

She had no idea how Toby felt. If his
affection went as deep as Madison feared hers did. Having never
been in love, she couldn’t be sure, except the thought of being
without Toby… Her stomach cramped, her chest ached, constricted,
making it hard to breathe.

Was this what love felt like?

And if it was, what should she do about it?
Tell him?

It didn’t seem prudent to do so when she
wasn’t certain.

“Hey, everything okay in here?” Toby walked
up behind her and slipped his arms around her waist. “That dessert
ready yet? I’m dying to try it.”

Plastering on a smile and scrubbing her mind
clear of her jumbled thoughts, she turned her head and pressed a
kiss to his jaw. “Almost. Want to grab plates and cutlery for
me?”

“Sure.” He let her go and spun her around.
“But first, I want some of my favorite kind of sugar.”

His mouth came down on hers and she opened.
Melting into the kiss—into him—Madison sank into the pleasure
zipping through her veins. Toby’s kisses always set her on fire.
The way he swept his tongue into her mouth, the way he demanded
while giving her everything, it sizzled and fizzed and
consumed.

He broke away. “Wow. Okay. Hold that thought.
We’ll get back to that after everyone leaves.”

She smiled. Her face was flushed and she was
certain if she went outside right now, everyone would know what her
and Toby had been doing. “I need to finish the dessert.” Sticking
her head in the refrigerator for a few minutes to get the whipped
cream should cool her down.

Stepping away from Toby’s heat, she opened
the fridge door and stood in the cool air wafting out of the
opening.

Toby moved in beside her. “I could do with a
bit of cooling off myself.” He glanced down.

Madison followed his gaze to the erection
tenting his pants. A giggle escaped her.

“I’m not finding this funny.” Toby rearranged
himself. “I can’t go out there and face my mother like this.”

“The advantage of being a female.”

“Really?” He arched an eyebrow and directed
his stare to her chest. “Because…”

Looking down, Madison saw her nipples were
hard and attempting to poke holes in her top. “Oh god.” She slapped
her hands over them.

Laughing, Toby pulled her into his arms.
“Have I told you how much I love your tits?”

“Only every time you get your hands or mouth
on them.” She shivered, thinking about the stroke of his hands, the
wet heat of his mouth.

“I’m not sure you appreciate my devotion. I
think I’ll have to remedy that later.” He squeezed her ass, lifting
her to her toes. “And your ass. I’m really,
really
devoted
to your ass.”

Madison moaned and dropped her forehead to
his shoulder. “Stop. We’ll never be able to go back outside at this
rate.”

“If we don’t return, do you think they’ll
just go home?”

“No.” She shoved him away. “Get the plates
and cutlery.”

Smiling, he gave her a love tap on the ass as
he passed her to do her bidding.

She trembled from head to toe, and even after
standing in the open fridge door and sucking in several deep
breaths of cold air, her nerves were so jangled she could only
think of one thing.

Toby spending the rest of the night showing
her his appreciation.

Toby craned his neck and lifted his ass out
of the seat to see over the crowd.

“Who the hell are you looking for?”

He swiveled back to face Adam. “No one.”

On the other side of Adam, Cooper laughed.
“Did you invite Madison?”

He lasered a dark look his younger brother’s
way.

“Jesus. You’re in love with her,” Coop said
with a shake of his head.

Love? He wanted to fuck her ten ways to
Sunday every damn day and couldn’t stand it when they weren’t
together, but love… He wasn’t in love with Mad. Was he?

“My god you’re idiot. Coop’s right.” Damian
leaned forward in his seat. “You’re totally in love with
Madison.”

“What the hell would Coop know?” Toby
grumbled.

Adam laughed. “I’d think him and Zac were the
experts on that subject, so if he says you’re in love with her then
you are. What say you, Zac?”

Zac studied him from where he sat on the
other end of their brotherly row. “Yep. Totally know the signs. And
they’re flashing neon red right across your forehead, big
brother.”

What the fuck?
Why was his love life
suddenly to topic of conversation? “What the hell did you put in
the beers, Damian?”

All his brothers laughed at him and Toby was
on the verge of punching the closest one when Cooper tipped his
chin, indicating something behind Toby.

“Here comes the love of your life now,”
Damian added.

Whirling around in his seat, Toby watched Mad
make her way down the aisle towards their row. She’d worn blue
jeans and a jumper in a deep green that set off her creamy skin and
blonde hair. The sweeping curls—left down, the way he like
them—moved around her shoulders, played peek-a-boo with her tits
and had his palms itching to tangle his fingers through the strands
he knew from experience were silky soft.

Holy shit!

It slammed him like a front-row forward.

He was positively one hundred percent
completely in love with Madison Keibler.

“There ya go. Now you get it,” Coop said
behind him.

“Fuck. What the hell do I do now?” he asked,
a little in awe of the emotion filling him.

“Make sure she doesn’t get away, dumb fuck.”
This sage wisdom came from his oldest brother.

“How?” Toby mumbled.

“Shit. If I knew that, I wouldn’t be spending
most weekends screwing nameless women at the club,” Damian
answered.

Toby didn’t have the time or the brainpower
to work out that little nugget of info from his oldest brother.
Right now, all he could think about was how to make Mad his.

Permanently.

He smiled, the stretch of his lips growing
wider the closer she came. Politely excusing herself from the two
men on the end of their row, she turned side-on and shuffled past
them to the empty seat beside Toby.

“Hi.” She leaned in and kissed him.

He was too stunned by his epiphany to return
her kiss, and she’d taken her seat before Toby realized he wanted
more. Grabbing her hand, he wove his fingers through hers and
settled their joined hands on his leg. “Do you want a drink?”

“I’m good at the moment.” She leaned forward
and looked past him at his brothers. “Hi guys.”

He ignored them and concentrated on Mad.
“Ready to see a professional game live?”

“Yes. What game are we watching?”

“Dogs versus Dragons,” Adam answered.

“I got that from all the supporters on the
way in, but what game is it?” Mad sat on the edge of her seat and
peered down at the field.

“Umm…” Adam glanced at him and shrugged.
“Round six.”

Toby chuckled. He knew what she was
asking.

“No. What
game
? Soccer, Union,
League, AFL— what game?”

Adam’s mouth dropped open. “You don’t know
what
type
of game we’re watching?”

“Toby just said it was a footy game.” She
shrugged. “I’ve never been into sport so I don’t know a football
from a soccer ball.”

“Well first, it’s League, and second, Soccer
is not footy.” Adam punched Toby in the arm. “How could you let
this woman’s lack of footy knowledge go on for so long? Move over.
I’ll teach her.”

“Not a chance, big brother.” Toby turned his
back on Adam and with two fingers under Mad’s chin, brought her
gaze to his. “You ready for a crash course?”

“Yes. So this is the code you used to play,
right?”

“Yep. The St. George Dragons are my old
team.”

“Really? Is that the team you go for
then?”

“I’m partial to them but growing up, we were
Roosters supporters. Dad still goes to all their home games.”

“So we’re going for the Dragons?”

“Yes.”

“Are they good?”

“Their season has started off all right. Too
early to tell if they’ll make finals but on paper they’re good, and
they’ve performed well in their games so far,” Toby explained.

“Is this the same code as the school team
played the other week?” Mad chewed her bottom lip. “I really should
have Googled the rules.”

“No. That was Union. I’ll give you the basics
and explain anything more in-depth as it comes up in play. How’s
that sound?”

“All right. Go.”

Toby barely got the list of players’
positions out before Mad’s eyes started to glaze over. She might be
a genius who skipped grades, but it appeared the rules of League
were beyond her. “How about we just watch? It might be easier to
point out the rules as they happen.”

“Yes, that might be best. It
is
a
little confusing. All those people on the field at once…”

Beside him, Adam chuckle behind his beer. “I
can’t believe you’re dating a girl who hasn’t a clue about the
sport you live and breathe for,” his brother muttered.

Turning to his brother, Toby smiled. “I know.
But I
don’t
live and breathe for the sport. Never
did.”

It might have looked that way to others, but
Toby had always known he’d be a teacher. He just happened to be
good at football and like most things he did, he did them to
succeed. And until he’d blown out his knee, he’d been at the top of
the game.

***

“Hey!” Madison jumped to her feet. “He can’t
do that!” Spinning to look at Toby, she asked, “Can he?”

“No.” He shook his head. “It was a cheap shot
because they’re losing and frustrated, plus time is ticking
down.”

Dropping back into her seat again, she
glanced at the huge scoreboard at the end of the field. “Three
minutes left?”

“Yep.” Toby patted her leg. “Don’t worry.
We’ve got this.”

He meant the Dragons, but since the first
whistle blew it had been ‘we’. As though being a spectator made you
one of the team. She’d really enjoyed the atmosphere of the game.
Liked being among a large group of people wanting the same outcome.
It was strange but thrilling to sit here in the middle of it—to be
a part of it.

For the next few minutes she sat on the edge
of her seat, counting down the seconds. Toby and his brothers did
the same, and when the final siren blasted through the stadium,
Madison jumped to her feet with all the other Dragons supporters
and cheered.

Throwing herself into Toby’s arms, she gave
him a smacking kiss. “Thanks for inviting me.”

“I take it you had fun then?” he asked with a
mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

She grinned. “Maybe a little bit.”

“Good. Another new experience for you.”

“One I want to do again. When’s the next
game?”

“They play every week,” Adam leaned in to
say. “And thank you, Madison, for making today’s game more exciting
than usual.”

“I did?”

“Your enthusiasm, regardless of your
cluelessness, was fun to watch.”

“Wait. I think that’s a backhanded
compliment…” Madison glared at Toby’s brother.

Adam laughed. “Not what I intended. Are you
joining us for dinner?”

“Oh, you’re all going to dinner?”

“That was the plan, but if you don’t want to
go, we don’t have to,” Toby said.

“You go. Have dinner with your brothers. I’ll
go home.” She didn’t want to intrude on their male bonding time.
Within ten minutes of arriving at the game, she’d worked out that’s
what this day was about for them.

“Ah, let’s see…go home with you, smelling all
sweet and warm, or go have dinner with my beer-smelling,
ugly-mugged brothers…? No contest. You win hands down.” Toby
wrapped an arm around her waist.

“Do we get that option?” Damian asked.

“Nope.” Toby slid his other arm around her
and picked her up. “She’s all mine. Get your own.”

Madison squealed when he started to walk
away, carrying her. “Put me down.”

“No. Can’t risk one of them stealing
you.”

She laughed. “No chance of that
happening.”

Serious eyes met hers. “Promise?”

Madison wasn’t sure what to make of Toby’s
sudden mood switch. But it was easy to give him what he’d asked for
though. “Promise.”

“Good. Let’s get out of here.”

“If you put me down we could do that
quicker.”

“But I like you in my arms.”

“I know, and I promise to let you carry me
again when we get home.”

His eyes dilated, the pupils expanding to
swallow up the dark brown. “Will you be naked,” he whispered.

A shiver went through her. “If that’s what
you want.”

“Oh, I want. I want and want and want. It’s
my permanent state with you.”