Maddie and Wyn (42 page)

“Damn, Ashworth,” she began, confirming his intuition. “Going back to work is going to be a real letdown after this.” She stretched under him, arching her long lush frame like a cat. “You really know how to make an afternoon quickie feel like a marathon midnight delight.”

With great reluctance, Wyn lifted off of Maddie, hissing as his cock slipped from her body. Plopping on his side next to her, he used her arm as a pillow and ran his fingertips across the smooth skin of her belly. “You are the boss,” he grumbled, but kept his voice light. “You could blow work off and play hooky for the rest of the day with me.”

A sudden shadow crossing her gaze, Maddie pulled her arm from under his head and sat cross-legged next to his hip. “You know I can’t.”

“Hey, hey.” Hauling himself up to sit next to her, Wyn took Maddie’s hand in his. “I know you need to get back to work. I was just teasing.” Holding eye contact, he lifted her hand and kissed the back, then tucked it against his belly. “Your dedication to the garage is one of the million things I admire so much in you.” To prove himself, he stretched across the rug and began gathering her clothes for her. “Here.”

Her cheeks heating, she murmured, “Sorry about that. I guess it’ll take some time to one hundred percent nail and read each other’s teases and tones.” She took her hand back, but gave him a half grin as she did it, and started getting dressed.

Wyn went ahead and began putting his clothes on too. “We’ll figure each other out along the way. It’ll be fun learning all the little quirks I don’t yet know about you.”

After finishing tying her boots, Maddie hopped to her feet, the coveralls billowing and unzipped around her body-hugging shorts and tank top. “I’ve already learned you have a penchant for yard work and gardening.” She reached down, arm extended to help pull him to his feet, and asked, “Did your interest develop in order to maintain the garden at your old house after your mother passed?”

Mention of the old cottage stabbed Wyn in the gut, and he stumbled into the stair banister.
Damn it.
Guilt spilling onto the floor, he swallowed the rancid taste in his mouth and his body tightened like a bow.

“Shoot.” Rushing to him, Maddie wound her arms around his waist and pressed a kiss to his heart through his T-shirt. “I’m sorry. Again. I didn’t realize you’re still struggling when your mom is mentioned.”

His throat squeezing overtime, Wyn fought an inner battle not to hide behind a happy face and a joke. “It’s not my mom,” he admitted, forcing out the truth. “You made me okay with her death a long time ago.”

“Then what?” When Wyn didn’t answer right away, Maddie, her brow furrowing, stepped back. “After what we’ve exposed to each other on the front porch…If we’re not going to keep being real with each other then what are we doing? Keep talking to me, Wyn.” She clutched his hands in hers, shaking him, her focus pinpoint on him, unblinking. “Don’t slide back to that ‘stoic all the time’ place now that you’ve gotten the toughest parts about your dad out. We’ve got to keep building on that. Both of us.”

Exhaling—
I can keep doing this
—Wyn revealed, his voice thick with emotion, “After what I did to you on that back porch of my old house, knowing how much you loved the place, I could never go back out there and admire the garden my mom loved so much. That’s why I sold the house and started renting an apartment. I had to. Knowing how many good times we shared in that cottage, I couldn’t stomach being there after I hurt you so badly.” Wyn tugged her out onto the porch, down the steps onto the front lawn, and turned her to face the enclosed, gated garden. “I know how much you always wanted a pretty garden, and when I saw the mess this one was still in, I was worried like hell I’d ruined them for you forever. That’s why I’m trying to fix this one for you. I’m not done yet, but when I am, I want to make a new one with good memories, ones that will hopefully become stronger than the bad ones you have associated with the old.”

A sheen of moisture suddenly filmed Maddie’s eyes. Her smile wobbled, but her focus didn’t. “You are so sweet to fret about things it never occurred to me you would. That back sunroom and garden at your old place did die for me that night; I won’t lie to you about that. But the state this garden was in when you moved in, it’s not because of those bad memories. I’ve just been crazy busy with the garage, and I’ve been focusing on inside the house first, and this garden is overwhelming with its neglect, and I didn’t know where to begin.” Taking a deep breath, Maddie put both hands over her heart, as if trying to hold emotion in. “I can’t begin to explain how touched I am that you’ve taken on the task of bringing this garden back to life for me.”

Before Wyn could do more than part his lips, Maddie put her finger to his mouth and stopped him. “But more important to me, you have to release yourself from all this old self-hatred and guilt. I’ve forgiven you. Now you need to forgive yourself. We need a clean slate moving forward. Neither one of us should have to live with the stress of worrying about saying the wrong thing about a garden or a sunroom or fathers or, whatever, if you hear about a coworker who cheated and you want to talk about it, you need to know that you can without setting off dormant bombs inside me. I need to know I can do the same with you.” Rising up on her tiptoes, Maddie cupped Wyn’s face in her hands, keeping him close. “Can you forgive yourself? Not for me anymore, but now for you?”

An automatic yes sat on Wyn’s tongue, his need to please this woman etched deep into his very marrow. Looking into her eyes, so open and accepting, much as on that first night she’d kissed him, he gave her the truth in his heart, as she deserved. “I’m going to work on it every day; that’s what I can give you right now. While I work on letting go, I promise to respect the strength I know you possess, and never again tiptoe around subjects or particular words with you. You’re a battle-scarred warrior and you can handle anything. I know that now. You’ve told me so, and I’ve seen it with my own eyes,” he sucked in a ragged breath, “and I trust you.”

She beamed at him. “I can work with that. You’re strong too. I know you’ll get there. Now give me a kiss—” turning her head, she offered him her cheek, “—because as much as I wish I didn’t today, I really do have to get back to work.” Finally, she zipped up her coveralls.

Aching with love for her, Wyn brushed a gentle kiss across the lovely, rosy bloom on Maddie’s cheek. “And I’ll get back to the garden,” he told her, adding sincerely, “I really am enjoying the work.”

“I’m glad.” Bouncing up, Maddie smacked a quick, loud kiss on his lips. “See you tonight.” Waggling her brows up at him, she spanked him on the ass, laughing the sexiest, sweetest damned sound, as she backed away in the direction of the garage. “Cook me something nice for dinner.”

Watching her almost skip backward, still looking at him, Wyn stood up straighter, more easily than he’d done in years. “You got it.”

Maddie blew him a kiss from twenty feet away, and finally turned and jogged across the gravel street onto the field.

Maddie was about a dozen feet into her trek across the grass, while Wyn, his heart still pounding so hard with love he swore he could see it through his T-shirt, muttered, “Who am I kidding?” and sprinted across the lawn and road.

Coming up alongside Maddie, he slipped his hand in hers, loving how she instantly twined her fingers with his. “My schedule is pretty flexible today,” he offered lamely, but sincerely. “I thought I’d walk you back to work before I start.”

Glancing up at him, Maddie grinned. Twinkling laughter at his puppy dog behavior shone in her eyes. “Happy to have your company.” She bumped her hip to his. “Ashworth.”

Growling happily, he bumped her right back. “M and M.”

Maddie’s gasp filled the blue-sky-white-clouds day, and she punched him on the arm. “You’ll pay for that tonight.”

Laughter coming from his gut, Wyn swung Maddie in front of him, into his arms. “I look forward to your brand of torture.” His mind could hardly conjure the endless ideas she certainly must have from all of her erotic novel reading, and he groaned in anticipation, his cock still pleasantly warm from their encounter on the rug. “You’re very, very good at everything naughty you do.”

Her grin a sexy mix of cheeky and sultry, Maddie wound her arms around his neck and tugged him down until their lips were mere inches apart. “I aim to please.”

“You most definitely succeed.” Wyn closed the distance between them and claimed her mouth with a kiss, hungry to sip from her cherry lips again.

Maddie kissed him back, eagerly, to Wyn’s great pleasure.

He did eventually finish walking her to the garage. In between kisses and caresses and words of love from both of them, the trip simply took four times longer than usual.

Maddie walked into Corsini’s with a bounce in her step and a smile on her face, and Wyn tucked his hands in his pockets and whistled his way back to his new home, a place he would get to live for the rest of his life with the woman he adored.

With the twinkles of early morning sunlight breaking through the trees and bushes around her, Maddie wandered through the garden, running her fingers lightly over every flower, statue, tree, fountain, and bench she passed. The garden wasn’t so formal any longer, and Maddie loved that Wyn had instinctually known she would want something colorful and whimsical, but also easygoing, a place she could relax on her own or just as easily invite family or a group of friends over to entertain.

Maddie dipped her nose to an early growing sunflower, letting the bright yellow petals tickle her nose. Passing through the center courtyard of the garden, Maddie laughed along with the happy chirps of the birds. Under her bare feet, the cool pavers, with the occasional weed starting to poke through the bricks, tickled her toes. Strolling along a center path, she made her way to the back of the enclosed garden, which now featured a custom wood table that spanned the width of the space, a table big enough to allow twenty people to enjoy a meal together. Made with Wyn’s own two hands, through a lot of enjoyably amusing frustration and trial and error on his part, the table was the pride and joy of Maddie’s special garden.

Running her hands over the smooth, weathered surface—
this beautiful monstrosity will get great use today
—Maddie smiled as her breast swelled with an extra dose of love.

No longer words spoken aloud, Maddie whispered in her mind,
“Are you there, Mrs. Corsini?”
and waited for just a heartbeat, although she no longer believed she would get a response. She had not had contact with the spirit since that afternoon in the parlor, and she had to believe the ghost’s soul had finally found peace and moved on.
I know you must be full of the brightest light now
—Maddie’s heart smiled—
knowing Nico and Jayden are together.

Crossing the backyard toward the enclosed garden, Wyn broke the morning quiet. “I love catching you doing that.”

Maddie’s heart skipped a beat for Wyn, as it always still did, but particularly in the morning when he was still mussed and rumpled, barely awake, jeans hanging low on his hips, wearing nothing else.

She turned and leaned against the table. “Doing what?”

“Smiling when you’re all by yourself.” Mugs in both hands, Wyn entered the garden through the open back gate, adding, “Even though I know you’re happy, there’s something about seeing you smile when you don’t think anyone is looking that grabs my heart a little tighter than anything else.”

Maddie hopped up to sit on the table and crossed one leg over the other in a tantalizing pose. “Almost a year together and you still know how to sweet talk me and make my panties damp.” She pulled the hem of her short nightgown up the side of her thigh to her waist, revealing nothing but skin. “Ooh my, never mind. I’m always so ready for you I didn’t even bother to put panties on at all.”

Moaning something gruff, Wyn reached her and bussed a kiss to her cheek, the stubble on his jaw scraping wonderfully against her skin. “Christ, I love your mouth and mind. Here.” He held out a mug of steaming coffee. “Careful. It’s still real hot.”

New butterflies emerging and flapping around inside her—
oh goodness, it’s really time
—Maddie put her hand against the front of the mug. “Not this morning.” Emotion scraped her voice raw. “Not any morning for a while.”

“Why?” At first Wyn’s forehead scrunched, and then Maddie watched as the color drained from his face and the light went on in his eyes. “Oh.” The mugs fell to the ground, clattering across the pavers, and his hands went over his mouth. “Really?” The word was muffled by his fingers.

Not afraid, knowing this was just pure shock on his part, Maddie grinned in the face of Wyn’s chalky pallor. “Congratulations, stud.” She held her arms out wide. “You’ve officially knocked me up.”

“Oh shit, oh fuck, oh God.” Wyn paced in front of her, repeatedly glancing at her sideways and then swearing again. “Really?” Losing the curse words, he dropped to his knees in front of her and clutched her waist. “We’re really having a baby?”

Her throat lumping terribly, Maddie tenderly brushed her fingers through Wyn’s tousled hair. “So the doctor tells me. I got the call with the results of my blood test late yesterday afternoon.”

Looking up at her from his kneeling position, Wyn whistled as dew sparkled in his dark eyes. “Motherfucking amazing.” He kissed her hand. “I love you, Maddie.” So very gently, he put his big, strong hand against her belly. “I already love you too.”

Her voice catching, Maddie clutched Wyn’s hair, barely holding down an ugly cry. “We love you just as much.” Leaning over him, she kissed the top of his head. “You’re amazing too.”

Pulling her hands into the warm cocoon of his, Wyn rose to his feet, his spot firmly between her thighs. “Are you going to marry me now?” He asked the question he’d put on the table a dozen times in less than a year. “Finally?”

The butterflies took off in Maddie’s stomach again. For the first time since they became a couple, she took a breath and gave Wyn a different answer. “How about we set a date for after the baby comes?” No more refusals, she was ready to make everything with Wyn legal.
Almost.
Touching her belly, she added, “I don’t want her ever thinking we tied the knot so fast just because of her, like it wasn’t really our choice, but just an old fashioned necessity.”