Mad Love: Madison (5 page)

“You know I’ve always wanted to get a look inside
one of those apartments.”

Madison stood on the curb and glanced toward the
window on the third floor. “My sister’s probably in bed right now, but you know,
I was thinking about throwing a party sometime in the spring. Maybe I could
give you the grand tour then.”

He scowled slightly as he turned his attention to
the street. “Well, I’d better get going.”

She thanked him again for the ride before
shutting the door and hurrying to her apartment door, trying very hard not to
slip on the light sheet of snow and ice that had accumulated in the last hour.

Once safely inside her apartment, she set the box
on the floor by the door and kicked off her shoes. She was hanging up her coat
when the phone rang.

She glanced at her watch. “Who could be calling
now?” she wondered, retrieving the phone out of its cradle. “Hello?”

Her eyebrows went up when she received no answer.

“Hello,” she said again in a light singsong voice.

She was just about to hang up when she heard a
soft click and then the sound of someone’s ragged breathing. A man’s strained
voice came through the other end in a harsh whisper. “Ten.”

Madison’s brow furrowed. “Ten, what?”

Silence greeted her.

“Hello?”

Her sister, Sarah, appeared at the door to her
bedroom, yawning. She pushed her long blonde hair out of her face and sleepily
stared at Madison. “Who called?”

“I don’t know.” She glanced at the door as she
hung up the phone. “Just a wrong number,” she said, pushing the lock into
place.

~N
INE
~

S
ATURDAY
, DECEMBER 23
^RD

5:45
P.M.

Sarah
stood in the center of Madison’s bedroom and surveyed the clothes laid out on her
sister’s bed. She put a finger to her lip. “Hmm…dinner, and maybe some
dancing.”

Madison belted her robe tighter as she stepped
out of the bathroom. Bending over at the waist, she dried her long black hair
with a towel. “That’s what he said.”

“He didn’t say where?”

“Nope, but I have a feeling it’s going to be
casual.”

Sarah picked up a pair of designer jeans and
tossed them to her sister. “Never assume that.”

Madison gave Sarah a wry smile as she
straightened up. “Thanks,” she said pulling the jeans off her head. A button
down shirt and a sweater soon followed. “I can dress myself you know,” she said
as she folded the clothes and placed them inside the dresser.

“You know how I love playing dress up. I rarely
get a chance anymore.”

“Derek would take you out in a heartbeat.”

Sarah’s blue eyes widened. “Derek, from your
office?”

“Yes,” Madison said as she reached for her comb.
“He’s got a crush on you.”

“Oh, so that’s why he keeps coming by work. I
thought he just liked our steak sandwiches.”

“So?”

Sarah blinked expectantly. “So, what?”

“What do you think about him?”

The younger girl tilted her head to the side.
“He’s nice.” A slow smile crossed her face. “Very nice. Friendly. Outgoing.
Charming. I bet he comes from a good family too. A fine upstanding boy.”

Madison looked at her sister curiously, surprised
at the slight bite in her tone. “Yeah and…?”

Sarah shrugged. “I wouldn’t say no if he asked me
out.”

Must have been her imagination. “Good,” Madison
said with a grin as she tossed the towel into the hamper. “Becca will be so
pleased.”

Sarah reached forward and picked up a figure
hugging purple silk gown. “What does Becca have to do with this?” she asked as
she held the dress up.

“She’s playing matchmaker and I’m not wearing
that.”

“Why not?”

“I doubt he’s taking me to a gala, besides, I’m
planning to wear that for the New Year’s party.”

Disappointed, Sarah pressed the dress into
Madison’s hands before turning back to the bed. “What about this one?” She held
out a royal blue backless cocktail dress. “Very sexy.” She nodded to herself. “Yep,
this is the one. He’ll love it.”

“How do you know?” Madison asked carefully
hanging her New Year’s Eve dress back up. “You never met the man.”

“I don’t have to have meet him to know that
you’ll look beautiful in this. Are you going to wear your hair up?”

“I think so; might as well take advantage of the best
feature of the dress.”

Sarah turned to the full-length mirror and held
it in front of her. “I haven’t seen this before. Where did you get it?”

Madison reached forward and pulled the dress out
of her sister’s hands before she could get any ideas. “A couple of months ago.”
She laid the dress back on the bed before reaching into her closet and picking
up a pair of heels to go with it. “You’ve never shown this much interest in my
dates.”

Sarah flopped down on the bed. “You’ve never
talked about any of them the way you talk about Ethan.” She tossed her wavy
blonde hair over her shoulder and propped her head up on one arm. She reached
toward Madison’s nightstand and the framed picture of Ethan that Becca had given
to her. “He’s pretty hot,” she said studying his face.

Madison smiled. “He’s okay.”

“Try to remember everything that happens tonight.
I want details. I live vicariously through you now.”

Madison’s smile fell. “You could call Derek.
There’s no reason for you to spend tonight cooped up in this apartment.”

“I have no intention of spending tonight cooped
up.” She turned to the clock on the nightstand. “Speaking of which, I better
get going.”

“Where to?”

Sarah rolled off the bed and started for the
door. “Work.”

“Again? I thought you were off tonight.”

“One of the other girls quit. Tips are too good
to pass up. I’ll get home a little after midnight. Don’t wait up.”

Madison grimaced. “I’ll come by to walk home with
you.”

Sarah paused at the door. She looked back at her older
sister with a soft smile. “You don’t have to. Emily’s working tonight too. She
only lives a block from here. I can walk home with her.”

“I’ll be there,” she said as her gaze
unconsciously flew to the scar on her sister’s cheek. It wasn’t so noticeable
now. She could barely see it under the soft pink rouge as it curved along
Sarah’s cheekbone.

Madison quickly averted her eyes and then felt
silly for doing so. Sarah wouldn’t mind her looking. She liked to joke that the
scar made her seem tough and scary; as if the thin scar would scare people away
from the beautiful five feet four former ballerina with golden hair and bright
blue eyes.

“There’s no reason for you to worry about me,”
Sarah said with a laugh. “I’ll be fine. I promise someone will walk home with
me. Besides, I’m a big girl.”

“That didn’t stop that creep from mugging you,”
Madison said quietly. “Safety in numbers.”

Sarah made a face. “Safety in numbers,” she repeated
in disgust. “My friend, Zoe, was with me at the time, remember? It happened in
broad daylight too. He knocked her out cold before he attacked me. She wasn’t
much of a deterrent to him.”

“She was five feet two. I’ve got three more
inches than her and you know that I’ve been taking self-defense classes—”

Sarah crossed her arms in front of her chest. “So
have I, and I’ve pinned you each time we’ve gone.” She lifted one blonde
eyebrow. “So has Mrs. Kleinfelter, who’s seventy-two years old.”

The corners of Madison’s lips turned up in a
quirky way. “Well, maybe I need you to walk me home.”

Sarah laughed. “Maybe we should ask Mrs.
Kleinfelter to join us.” She glanced back at the clock. “I’ve got to get ready
or I’m going to be late. Have fun tonight, Madison.”

“I plan on it,” Madison said as she combed out
her hair. When she was finished, she walked back into her bathroom.

She picked up her hairdryer and turned her
attention to the mirror. Several minutes went by as she dried her hair, only
stopping to call out to her sister when she heard the front door slam shut with
a loud bang.

She turned off the dryer and set it down on the
counter, waiting for another sound.

“Sarah? Did you hear that?” she called out as she
belted her robe tighter. When she received no answer, she left her bedroom and
walked to her sister’s bedroom across the hall. She checked Sarah’s bathroom
before moving on to the spare bedroom next to Sarah’s, then the office, and
finally the living room.

Her gaze zeroed in on the unlocked door. Feeling
a chill creep up her back, she rushed to the door and bolted it before turning
and surveying the living room.

Nothing was out of place.

Moreover, there certainly wasn’t anyone here. She
checked each room while searching for her sister.

She lifted a hand to her head with a sigh. “I’m
becoming paranoid,” she said as she returned to her room. “I really need to
relax or I’m—” She stopped at the foot of her bed and stared.

Her brow furrowed in confusion as she looked
around the room. “Where’s my dress?”

She bent over and looked on the other side of the
bed. Finding nothing, not even the shoes that she had laid out, she spun around
and began a search of her room, only stopping when she found her dress hanging
back in the closet.

Still frowning, she slipped it off the hanger and
carried it into the bathroom.

§

9:34
P.M.

Madison
melted into Ethan as the band began to play a slow, soft melody. She tipped her
head back and stared up at the skylight above her head.

Slowly, her eyes drifted closed as he expertly
led her around the dance floor. She didn’t even have to think of the steps, her
body instinctively responding to his slightest touch.

She opened her eyes again and found him staring
at her with a slightly amused smile.

Blushing, she turned her head away and tried to refocus,
which was no small feat. Here she was in the grand ballroom of the best
restaurant in the swankiest hotel in town, and dancing with the most handsome
man she had ever seen in her life. She’d have to be dead not to be affected.

She felt Ethan lean in close. His lips brushed
along her ear sending shivers down her back. “Did I mention how beautiful you
look tonight?”

She turned back to him, her breath catching on a
hitch.

If anyone was beautiful, it was he
, she thought, suddenly
at a loss for words. “Beautiful, huh?” she managed to get out after a moment’s
hesitation, her voice huskier than normal.

“You do, but then,” he said spinning themselves
around to avoid another couple, “you always look beautiful.”

She dropped her gaze to his chest as he spun them
around again, leading her across the dance floor. Every brush of his legs
against hers sent currents of desire through her.

She closed the distance between their bodies,
needing to feel all of him against her. She wanted him with every fiber of her
being and each day the feeling only grew stronger and stronger. She just hoped
he was falling as madly in love with her as she was with him.

She tilted her head back slightly to look up at
his face.
Kiss me
, she thought desperately as she said, “Thank you. It’s
a shame it has taken you so long to ask me out, finally. I’ve been trying my
best to get your attention for months now.”

He looked at her in surprise. “What do you mean
by finally? We’ve been dating for months.”

Her eyebrow arched. “Well, this doesn’t bode well
for our future since I don’t remember any of these dates.”

“There was that fabulous lunch two weeks ago.”

Madison tipped her head back. “Oh the lunch.” She
scrunched up her forehead. “That was a date?”

His fingers lightly travelled down her bare back,
causing currents of electricity to race up her spine. “You sat so close to me.”

“I arrived late for Nicole’s impromptu office
meeting. It was the only seat available.”

“Then we got to know each other over delectable
pastries.” He twirled her around and toward the back of the dance floor.

“Hmm, I remember introducing myself. I don’t
remember eating any pastries. If I remember correctly, all the donuts were
already gone by the time I arrived.”

“I tried to share mine.” He looked up at the
skylight. “Then later we bonded over a gourmet lunch.”

“A ham sandwich is your idea of a gourmet lunch?”

“While watching the sunset over the buildings
across the street.”