The Troublemaker Next Door (22 page)

A glance around the restaurant once more made him wonder why in the hell Brody had insisted on frou-frou for Tara instead of a real meal. Since Tara preferred beer and pizza to things he could barely pronounce, it couldn’t have been to impress her. Unless Brody was putting a move on their accountant, which no way in hell would Flynn approve.

At that moment, a hint of movement by a table at the end of the restaurant drew his notice. Maddie Gardner looked around the place, searching for someone. When she spied him, she lit up. God, she looked incredible.

“Here she comes,” Brody said under his breath. “Look alive.” In a louder voice, when Maddie reached the table, Brody welcomed her with a pleasant voice. “Hey, Maddie. Nice to see you again. What are you doing here?”

Maddie came to rest right behind Flynn’s chair, so he couldn’t see her expression. “I’m supposed to meet my roommates for dinner.”

“You could join us if you want and round out our table.” Brody nodded to a space next to him. “I don’t think Flynn and his date will mind.”

Not sure what the hell Brody was talking about, Flynn shot him a sharp look but said nothing when Tara’s hand covered his on the table.

Tara smiled. “Hi, Maddie. I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Tara.”

He would have given his left arm to see Maddie’s face, especially when Brody smirked.

“Nice to meet you, Tara.” The ice frosting her words gave him real hope for the first time since that phone call. “Flynn, I was actually hoping to talk to you again. Maybe when you’re done with your meal?”

Flynn took a deep breath and resolved to play his part. Maddie didn’t like him dating Tara, did she? She wanted to talk to him? How badly did she want the conversation?

Brody kicked him under the table.

“Maddie.” He turned and gave her a tight smile. “What did you want to talk about?”

There was a long pause.

“It can wait.”

“Well, I hope you have a nice evening.” He deliberately smiled at Tara. “I’m enjoying mine.”

He glanced back at Maddie but didn’t see anything more than her bland nod. The hand around her purse clenched tight though, and he fought the urge to grin.
Good. Get nice and jealous, Maddie. Feel it, baby. You care, I know you do.

“I’ll go look for Abby and Vanessa. Sorry for interrupting. Maybe we can talk tomorrow?”

“Call me. I have work with Brody first thing in the morning. Barring any major problems, I should be finished up by four.”

“You have to work first thing in the morning?” Tara pouted, sounding breathy and sexy all at once. “I was hoping we could go out after dinner.”

“Sure, Tara. But I can’t stay out too late.” He winked at her, and she winked back.

Maddie didn’t spare a glance at Tara. She glared at
him
, her whiskey gaze hot enough to burst into flames. “Fine. I’ll call you and set up an appointment.” She bit out the T, turned on her heel, and stalked away.

The table remained silent until she left the vicinity.

“Wow.” Tara blew out a breath. “You sure you two are over?”

“I don’t know.” She still wanted him, she
had
to.

“Flynn, you okay, man?” Brody frowned. “If I’d known you’d get even mopier, I wouldn’t have tricked her into coming. I kind of mentioned to Abby that we’d be eating here tonight. We all want to see you two talking again.”

And that answered how Maddie had happened to dine at the same restaurant this evening. She’d either left or she sat in another area, because he didn’t see her. He should have been upset with Brody’s meddling, but he was too tired of the whole mess to drum up much annoyance.

He spent the next hour trying to relax and laugh with Brody and Tara, who proved to be a good sport. Apparently Brody had filled her in on his pathetic partner and she’d been gung ho to help in any way she could.

Flynn wished he’d fallen for someone like Tara. A pretty, laid-back woman without half the hang-ups a certain redhead had in spades. The night drew to a close, and he left the pair with a promise to be in to work early and not looking like hell. The short drive back to his apartment seemed too long, and as much as he wanted to head straight to Maddie’s and get the confrontation over with, he forced himself to leave it in her hands. She’d done him wrong, not the other way around.

He could almost hear Brody nagging him.
Be
a
man. Suck it up, dipshit, and let the woman make her play. Then show her who
’
s boss.
Of course, this advice from a man who had yet to have a serious girlfriend in thirty-one years of life.

As Flynn slipped off his clothes and tucked into bed, he tried to see the positive in Maddie looking so angry. She’d looked like a woman on the verge of slugging Tara right in the mouth.

That had to be good, right?

Flynn had a fitful night’s sleep. The next day, he and Brody wrestled with a busted pipe that had to be dug up and replaced, as well as tracing a leak in an upstairs shower. Tired and annoyed with the owner, who thought anyone could have done the job, Flynn asked the obnoxious husband why he’d bothered calling them since he apparently knew every goddamn thing. Then Brody stepped in and sent Flynn home.

He didn’t bother swinging by Mike’s, not wanting to possibly see Maddie before he had his head screwed on straight. Instead he headed home and slammed into his apartment, wanting nothing more than a cold shower to wash away memories of Maddie. Just a few minutes of peace wasn’t too much to ask. He’d stripped all the way down to his boxer briefs and was halfway through the living room before he realized he wasn’t alone.

He swung around and tackled the person behind him, landing hard on him—her.

“Maddie?”

She squeezed her eyes shut and moaned. “I’m sorry. You don’t have to beat it out of me.”

Astounded, he leaned up, concerned he might have hurt her. “What the hell are you doing in here?”

She shoved ineffectually at his shoulders. “Brody gave me his key.”

The feel of her hands on his bare skin had the same effect they always did. His cock hardened. He stared down at her, seeing the strain on her face, the shadows under her eyes. Her dark red hair spilled over the floor, the soft strands making him itch to bury his hands in the stuff.

“I needed to talk to you,” she whispered, her hands no longer pushing, but stroking his shoulders. “I was hoping to catch you alone. Not with that perky cheerleader you were sitting with last night.”

“Who?” He couldn’t think past the need to be inside her.

“We’ll talk right after, I promise.”

He frowned. “Right after what—?”

She pulled him down to her with surprising strength and kissed him. Pent-up passion, need, and frustration spilled into him with the strength of a tornado, and he returned the kiss with equal force.

He tugged her shirt off and made short work of her bra, baring her chest in seconds. Her hands somehow moved between them and buried beneath his underwear. She gripped him hard, teasing his cock with frenzied strokes. His slit was so wet, she slid over his shaft as if he’d lubed.

“Keep it up and I’ll come all over you before I’m in you,” he panted and sucked hard at her neck. The subtle scent of perfume and lust rolled off her in waves. Lightheaded, he could only give her whatever she wanted. Forgiveness, his head on a platter, his cock… He didn’t care.

He physically hurt, his cock stiff and throbbing with the need for release. He’d been celibate since she’d left, unable to touch himself without thinking of her.

He latched on to her nipples, sucking with sheer pleasure.

“Yes, Flynn. Oh yeah. I missed you so much.”

Words he’d been dying to hear for too long. But a part of him didn’t like her coming to him like this. Sexually starved for her, he’d take what she offered. But he wouldn’t let her get something for nothing. He couldn’t. To watch her deny their connection again would hurt too much. The woman had to know she needed him.

He shoved his hand beneath her pants and panties and speared her pussy with his finger. Christ, she was wet. Her heat surrounded his finger as he rubbed her clit, pushing her to the edge. He took comfort in the knowledge she still wanted him.

“You need my cock, honey? That why you’re here?”

It hurt to say, but he wanted the truth before he laid his heart at her feet
again
.

The woman took him by surprise. She let go of his cock and shoved at his chest. “I came for you, jackass. Not just your wonder cock.” Obviously angry, she yanked on his hair, and he expected her to push him away. God knew he didn’t have the strength to leave her.

Instead she tugged his mouth to hers and bit his lower lip. Not hard, but enough to shock him. The minute he opened his mouth, she shoved her tongue inside.

He rubbed against her, body to body, arching against the willing, warm woman who mattered most. He wanted to but couldn’t deny her satisfaction.

He leaned up and stripped off the rest of her clothes and his briefs, then put her right back under him. “Spread your legs.” It would be fast and furious, but they both needed this.

She did and clutched him to her, kissing him like a starving woman.

He nudged her thighs wider and found her wet entrance. He plunged inside. The ecstasy of her flesh around him was intense. He lost himself to the feel of her, her scent and touch. So familiar, yet she stoked his primal desires and stirred his buried anger.

He pounded inside her, for once not concerned about her climax as much as he was about reminding her where she belonged. And each thrust brought pleas for more from the stubborn redhead.

“You’re mine, Maddie. My
girlfriend
.” He fucked her deeply, stroking against her body with each pass, determined to make her beg. “My lover. I’m fucking
my
woman.” He added a twist to his pelvis and felt her entire body clench. Then he forced himself to stop.

“Flynn.
No.
Don’t stop. Oh God.
Flynn.
”

“Say it. Tell me you belong with me.” He sucked on her breast, biting her nipple while using his weight to still her movements. He ached to come, but he refused to let her take the easy way out.

“Yes, yes. I’m yours. Please, Flynn. Make love to me.”

Make love, not fuck. Semantics, but he knew the difference. And so did she.

Flynn pulled out before shoving deeper inside her. He made love to her with long, drawn-out thrusts. She cried out, scratching his shoulders as she squirmed around his cock.

“Mine. I’m going to fill you. And then you’re going to lick me off, suck all your sweet cream off me, and make me hard again. You’ll watch me fuck your mouth, and you’ll beg me for it, won’t you?” he ended on a moan when she clamped down on him and keened his name as she came.

“Maddie, yes, yes.
Oh
fuck
.” He poured into her, lost in the connection while his scorching orgasm left him weak and shaky. He lay there, in her, so close he could feel her heartbeat. God, he loved her so damn much.

He tried to pull it together as he caught his breath. Then Maddie took charge.

She rolled them over onto his back so she could move off him. Despair struck, that she would leave now that she’d gotten what she’d come for. She stunned him by kneeling by his side, her hair like a fire around her face, framing innocence and carnal knowledge in those big brown eyes. She watched him with a soft, wondrous smile. The look of a woman in… love?

She caressed his legs, his hips, his cock. “Do you want me to beg you now? Or should I wait until you’re coming down my throat?”

He groaned and flopped an arm over his eyes, trying to remember exactly what he’d said in the heat of the moment. The temptress leaned close and took his semi-erect cock between her lips.

“Maddie.” He wished to hell he could get his hard-on right back. She licked him, and knowing she tasted herself turned him on. But fuck, she’d drained him. It would take him some time to get his strength back. “So is all this because you saw me with Tara last night?”

As he’d meant her to, she pulled away and glared at him. “Yeah, let’s talk about your new
girlfriend
.”

Oh hell no. He deserved an apology, not more of her anger. “What do you care? You made it plain you didn’t want me. I was nothing but someone to make you come, right, Maddie?”

She blinked back her hurt, but he saw the tears. He felt like a horse’s ass, yet he wanted her to be honest with him.

“Tell me the truth. Am I just a stand-in for Ben? What’s the difference between me and him? Or me and all the other assholes you’ve dated?”

“Shut up for a minute and I’ll tell you.” She raked back her hair, the flyaway strands giving her a wild appearance. He’d never seen her look sexier. Her tits were heaving, her nipples hard. Her slender belly quivered, and he wanted to trail bites across the creamy flesh then…

Maddie’s eyes narrowed when she saw where his attention had wandered, but he only raised a brow.

“What? This is what you came here for, right? An orgasm. Shouldn’t you be on your way?” He was being a real asshole, but he couldn’t stop pushing. He wanted his redhead to come apart, to fly at him, shout at him, scream. Anything but glare and seethe in silence.

“I came to apologize,” she said through gritted teeth. “I shouldn’t have said what I did, and not in front of Ben.”

Not what he’d wanted to hear. He sat up, not liking her looming over him. He felt vulnerable enough. “Sorry. I guess you should have waited until your foot prince left.”

He’d intended the words to be snarky, but instead of annoying her, he made her laugh.

“Foot prince? Yeah, he was that.” She chuckled, her laughter misplaced, at least to him. “Okay, Flynn. I love you. Now would you please shut the hell up and let me apologize?”

He sat, stunned, and waited for her to finish. Could she mean it? Should he believe her? Because he wanted to, so fucking much.

Maddie sighed. “After my lame apology over the phone, I was going to find you and beg you to take me back. But I had a few emergencies at work, and I chickened out. I had no idea how to tell you how wrong I was. You didn’t deserve any of that argument, and I’m so incredibly sorry if I put you through half the hell I’ve been through. So when I saw you at that awful restaurant, I figured I had the perfect opportunity to apologize.” She glanced down at herself and huffed. “As usual, you screwed everything up.”

“Me?”

The glare she gave him shut him up.

“That tart you were with last night made me lose my head. I was so jealous. It killed me seeing you with her. I had plans to… Oh hell. Flynn, I was a bitch to you from day one. Not my fault, really, because I was having a really bad day, and there you were, the enemy, looking incredibly handsome, sexy, and in control while I ranted and raved like a crazy woman. The next day, you were so
nice
.” She drew out the word like a curse. “And so hot in your underwear. You really shouldn’t walk around in those if you don’t want to get jumped.” She glanced at a similar pair lying on the floor next to them.

He couldn’t help grinning.

“I’m a sucker for good abs.” She bit her lip. “And a nice package. You’re that and more. Flynn, you make me laugh. You made me cry too, and I’m not pretty when that happens.”

“I know.”

She scowled, and his heart threatened to burst from his chest. She held up a hand. “Let me finish.”

He nodded.

“I said a lot of things I regret. I’m sorry I flipped out on you.” She took a deep breath and let it out in a rush, but she didn’t break eye contact. “I appreciate you mentioning me to the Weirs. I did call them, and the job sounds perfect.” She blushed, which amused him, considering she’d just been thoroughly fucked and still sat naked in front of him. “I guess she also heard of me through a few friends I still have at Hampton’s. So it wasn’t just your recommendation that got me the job, but my work for them as well.”

“Like I told you. They wouldn’t hire you if you weren’t good.”

“Okay, okay. You told me so. I know. I was wrong. Capital W wrong. It’s just, you don’t know. I haven’t talked a lot about my past because I don’t like thinking about it. I never went into how hard it was growing up, but I think that’s where a lot of my issues stem from. Don’t get me wrong. I always knew my mom loved me, but she worked so hard. I used to feel like she’d have had an easier life if I’d never been born.”

He frowned.

“I know, stupid to feel that way. She loves me to death. But we grew up pretty poor.”

“Maddie, money isn’t important to me—”

“Not to me either, which is weird, right? I should be hunting a rich man.”

He shifted. Truth to tell, between his work and Cam’s investment strategy, he didn’t worry overly about money. Mostly he worked hard because that was what he knew.

“But for me, it’s not about wealth, though I wouldn’t say no to it. It’s about not having to struggle like my mom did. I just wanted to prove I could make something of myself. I put myself through school and interned my ass off for a great job—or what I thought was a great job. You met me on a downswing.” She gave him an apologetic grimace. “Instead of super-confident Maddie, you got the world-is-going-to-end Maddie. I was afraid I’d be back cleaning houses and waiting tables.”

She brushed back a tear. He wanted to comfort her, but he didn’t want her to stop talking.

“You’re so successful at what you do,” she continued. “It made me feel like I wasn’t. This job is new to me, and I’m making mistakes.”

“Maddie, we all do. Brody and I have been in business together for years and we still make them.”

She nodded. “I know. I’m stupid. It’s just, you’re not like the other guys I’ve dated. Flynn, you matter to me,” she confessed in a whisper. “I started falling for you, and I was afraid.”

Though she tried to resist, he pulled her into his arms but kept a small distance between them so he could see her face. “Oh baby. Why? I’d never hurt you.”

“But you would if you left. In case you can’t tell, I like you a lot.” She sniffed, and her eyes filled. “I didn’t want to give you the man-up or man-out speech. All of my exes always manned out.”

He hugged her tight and kissed her tears away. “I’m not
them
, Maddie. I’m not going to settle for your ultimatums. It’s not clingy to want to spend time with you.”

She smiled through her tears. “Not when it’s you. You’re so strong. You make me feel safe. I just,” her voice caught on a sob. “I was so scared you’d leave, so I pushed you away first.” She wiped her nose with the back of her hand. “I’m so gross right now.”

He chuckled. “Funny, I was thinking I’ve never seen you more beautiful. Those watery eyes, that pouty mouth. Maddie, you’re intelligent, you don’t take any crap from anyone, and you’re sexy as hell. But I’ve met plenty of women who fit that description. It’s you, what’s inside you, that’s what I miss when we’re apart. Look, I’m not the most sensitive guy. I make mistakes. I love your body, so yeah, sometimes when you’re talking, I’m imagining my dick between your lips, or my mouth on those beautiful breasts of yours.” He loved seeing her flush. “But when I’m inside you, it’s different. It’s like I’m giving you something more.”