I wrap up my conversation with Holly with a promise to call her as soon as I confirmed my sitter situation for next Saturday night. After our good-byes, I sit on the swing in the crisp October air, staring into the dark of night, and recall all those nights I cried myself to sleep over Drake. How can one person be so stupid? And not just once, but twice. You’d think that with the Drake drama, I wouldn’t be so stupid as to put my heart out there a second time. But no one ever said I was the brightest star in the sky. The fact was I wanted to believe in the magic of true love. But the one time I finally decide to open my heart again, that person rips it out and stomps on it, too. Is it so hard to find a guy who wants to relationship with you and you alone?
As I’m sitting on the swing, I see a shadow coming towards me down the sidewalk across the street. As the running figure crosses the street a few doors down and heads towards the sidewalk in front of my house, I realize that I know that shadow. It’s Maddox. As his swift, strong legs carry him along the sidewalk in front of my house, he turns his head and catches my gaze. He stops his jog and pulls the ear buds from his ears. His breathing is labored and his body is sweaty. I can hear the faint music from the ear buds and can tell it’s loud and edgy. Probably AC/DC if I had to guess.
“Hey, what are you doing out here?” he asks.
“Just enjoying what’s left of the nice evening weather. Out for a jog?” I ask. Well duh, Miss Obvious. Idiot.
“Yeah,” he says as he approaches my steps. “Mind if I join you for a minute?”
My brain almost shuts down, and I can’t think. Maddox wants to sit with me on my front porch? Hell. He actually sits down on my porch swing with me. I can’t help but wonder if it would be inappropriate to climb into his lap. Maybe lick his sweaty neck and rub my hands through his sweaty, messy hair? So I just shake my head, nodding my approval to join me.
“Can I get you a drink of water?” I finally get out.
“No, I’m good. So what are you thinking about out here all by yourself?”
There’s no way I can tell him what I was honestly thinking about so I decide to go the safe route and mention my conversation with Holly about Saturday night. “It’ll be good for you to go out for a night. Of course, Jake and I will be there after we get off work to keep an eye on you,” he says.
Great. Maddox is in big brother mode. “Well, I’m a big girl. I don’t really need you to watch out for me,” I reply, my tone kind of short.
I look over at him, and he’s staring at my chest. Not like a little glance, but full-fledged staring at my girls like he’s picturing what they look like under my shirt without my bra. My nipples pucker under his intense watchful eyes. He glances up and makes eye contact with me which causes me to blush. Not just a slight pink, but a full-fledged red faced ‘Oh my God it’s two hundred degrees out here’ kind of blush. He gives me that crooked half smile of his, not even embarrassed that I just busted him ogling my girls.
“Yeah, you’re not a little girl anymore,” he says after a few moments of silence. Well, I have no reply to that. Is he actually flirting with me? “Well, I better head back home and shower.”
And just like that - with those eight little words, I’m now picturing him in the shower. Crap. I stare at his sweaty shirt that is clinging to his upper body and picture it being peeled off his chiseled chest and thrown on the floor. The shower. I could definitely enjoy a shower with Maddox. He gives me another of his slow, sexy grins as if he can read the dirty thoughts going through my mind. Great. It would be my luck he really can read minds.
“See you Saturday night,” he says as he puts his ear buds back in his ears and heads back down my front porch steps. He turns and looks at me over his shoulder one last time before he takes off, jogging into the night back towards his house.
Hell, now I need a shower. A very cold shower. Why can’t I be attracted to a guy who is actually looking for a girlfriend, not just a quick fling? I sit for a few more moments lost in thought before heading back inside with the images of a very naked and very wet Maddox running through my mind.
It’s been the longest damn week ever. Jake and I were in and out of the squad car all week long. High school and college kids enjoying the last of the fall weather before it gets cold, underage drinkers, a few DUI’s, a couple of domestics, and a bunch of speeders. I’m definitely ready to let loose for a little bit Saturday night after work, but Jake doesn’t know the real reason why. It’s Saturday night and I get to see Avery, hang out with her and maybe share a few laughs with her.