“I take it you wouldn’t protest,” Kara said with a chuckle.
Turning onto the street where Sam’s house was located, she answered, “No. Honestly, I don’t think I would.” It was the honest truth. She wanted Sam just that much. She’d marry him in a heartbeat.
“Just don’t get married without us,” Kara warned. “We want to be there.”
“I think we can wait,” Maddie answered with a smile.
“You better. And we will be shopping for dresses next weekend.”
“Okay, okay. We’ll go shopping,” Maddie told her friend happily as she turned into Sam’s long driveway. “Have fun and take care of my godchild.”
“It’s been lovely,” Kara said with a sigh. “But I miss being home and I miss you.”
“I miss you, too,” Maddie replied softly.
“See ya Thursday.”
“Can you and Simon stop over?” Maddie asked as she brought her vehicle to a halt.
“Are you kidding? We’ll be there as soon as we get home. We need to catch up. Later, girlfriend.”
“Later,” Maddie agreed, disconnecting the call and cutting the engine.
Sam’s Bugatti was parked in the driveway, so Maddie knew he was home. Her heart leaped in anticipation, impatient to see his handsome face, bask in the warmth of his presence.
As she stepped out of the SUV, she marveled at how much her life had changed in such a short period of time. Before, she had dreaded going home to her empty house, her vacant personal life. Now, she couldn’t get home fast enough, couldn’t be with Sam quickly enough to satisfy her need to see him.
I’m not alone anymore.
Maddie knew her life was finally complete.
Bounding up the marbled steps, she unlocked and opened the door, feeling like she was finally home.
Chapter 15
Maddie stepped into the shower with a delighted sigh, letting the decadent jets massage her body everywhere. She was tempted to linger, but her need to see Sam was greater than the pleasure of feeling the hot water relaxing her body. The temptation to go to the kitchen first had been almost irresistible. She could smell something delicious cooking, and she knew he was there. But she hadn’t showered at the hospital and needed to remove the stench and germs she accumulated during her long workday before she saw him, so she’d tiptoed through the house to the bathroom.
Quickly washing her unruly hair, she had just starting spreading shower gel over her entire body when she felt the hard, unyielding presence of Sam’s body pressing against her back. He turned her, letting her back rest against the wall and two muscular arms caged her in, his palms resting against the wall of the enclosure on both sides of her.
Glancing up at him, Maddie’s whole body started to quake as her gaze roamed over his fierce expression, his eyes so intense and covetous that her body nearly melted into puddle of liquid heat at his feet.
He was so big, so hot and so hers.
“I love you, Maddie. I love you so much that sometimes I can hardly breathe.” His hoarse voice was raw and emotional, raspy and rough. “I should have said those words years ago. I don’t know why I didn’t. God knows you deserve better, but you have all of me, every possession I own and everything that I am. I don’t know if that’s good or bad…but it’s the truth. I don’t exist without you.”
Maddie swallowed hard, her eyes riveted to his. This was Sam, unrefined and unpolished, the core of the man she loved. And he had never been so scorching hot as he was at this very moment, his entire being bared to her.
Tears flowed from Maddie’s eyes, mingling with the water from the shower. She lifted a hand and ran her palm over his cheek. “I love you, too. I always have. I never forgot you and I don’t think there was a day that I didn’t think of you,” she admitted honestly.
Hearing Sam say that he loved her nearly made her come undone. Yes, she knew he loved her, but hearing his primitive declaration had her heart fluttering in an unsteady pulse and her breath coming in and out of her lips in ragged puffs.
“I love you, Sunshine. I love you. I swear I’ll make up for every time I didn’t tell you by telling you so much that you’ll get sick of hearing it,” he whispered in a husky voice next to her ear as he lowered his head to nip at her ear lobe.
Not possible. Maddie knew she could never get tired of hearing Sam tell her how much he loved her. She couldn’t regret the fact that she had never had those particular words said to her before, because Sam had been the first to say them, and it was almost surreal.
His mouth covered hers, stealing her breath, mastering her lips, thrusting his tongue between her teeth. Sam’s effect on Maddie was to take every bit of rational thought she may have had right from her head.