Christmas in Magnolia Cove (12 page)

“I guess you’re right. Some things never change, Madison,” Wyatt said as he pushed past Kim and walked out of the house, slamming the door behind him.

Kim was left standing there, facing Madison, in shock.

“You can go too,” Madison said, walking toward her.

“What are you doing?” Kim asked incredulously.

“What do you mean?”

“Do you even know why he brought me here?” Kim asked.

“To throw it in my face?”

“You really are weird.”

“Thanks. Now get out,” Madison said, walking past her and opening the front door.

“Fine. But, you should know what a fool you just made of yourself. Wyatt confronted me in the square about you.”

“It didn’t look that way to me. You had your hands - and your lips - all over him.”

“I was trying to win him over and change his mind about making me apologize to you,” she said rolling her eyes. “The reality is this, Madison. Wyatt has feelings for you. I think he’s in love. He dragged me here by my arm to force me to confess what I did to you in school and apologize.”

Madison felt like the air had been sucked out of her lungs. What had she just done? She had promised to forgive him, yet she just took it all back in seconds.

“He did?” Madison stammered.

“Yes. And you just ruined it. Nice going,” Kim said as she walked out the door and down the street. Madison froze in place. She had to find him.

***

Sore ankle and all, Madison ran all through the town square looking for Wyatt. He was nowhere to be found. She went by his house, but all of the lights were off and his truck wasn’t there.

“Everything okay?” Brooks asked as he ran into Madison in the square again.

“I made a big mistake. I need to find Wyatt, but I don’t know where he is. Listen, do you know what assisted living centers are around here… just outside of town?”

“The only one I know of is Emerald Glen, why?” Brooks asked.

“He might be visiting his Mom. How far is it?”

“Too far to walk, especially with your ankle issue. Come on, I will take you,” he said as they hurried to his car.

As soon as they pulled up to Emerald Glen, Madison saw Wyatt’s truck sitting out front. She thanked Brooks and assured him that he didn’t need to wait for her. As she walked in the front door of the facility, she could see Wyatt kneeling beside a woman who looked far too young to live there. They were sitting in the common area, and he was rubbing her hand and talking to her.

Madison walked up behind him where he could not see her, but she could hear him talking.

“Momma, I sure wish you could understand me and give me some advice,” he whispered.

“What’s your name, young man?” she said back. He hung his head for a moment and looked back at her.

“It’s me, Wyatt. You remember me, don’t you? I’m your little boy,” he said pleading with her.

“Oh, yes, my Wyatt. You are a big boy, aren’t you?” she said, smiling as she stroked his cheek.

“Momma, do you remember falling in love with Daddy?”

“Clay? Oh, yes, he was a looker. He was my bad boy. My parents hated him, but that made me love him more,” she said smiling. Funny how she could remember things from long ago but not recent events.

“How did you know you loved him, Momma?” he asked her.

“Because a life without him would have been death.”

“What does that mean?” he asked confused.

“Death is the absence of life, my son. And a life without love is not worth living.” She smiled and went back to playing with the baby doll she was holding. He stood up and patted her on the head.

“Wyatt?” Madison whispered from behind him. He looked at her and turned around to his mother to hug her good-bye. Without speaking, he brushed past Madison and walked outside to his truck.

Madison followed, vowing not to give up on him. “Wyatt, please listen to me,” she begged as he opened the door to his truck.

“Listen to you? Why should I?” he asked.

“Because this was all a big misunderstanding.”

“Was it? Really? You thought that I was going to have meaningless sex with Kim Dixon, right? You thought that I merely spoke to her and all of my old teenage boy feelings came back, so I would forget that I was on a date with you and just boink the first girl I saw?”

“I didn’t know why you were talking to her…”

“How about asking me? Instead, you just lump me in with that jackass, Connor, and decide that I have no morals or values or feelings for you.” The hurt in his eyes was overwhelming for Madison. He put his hands on her shoulders and stared into her eyes. “When are you going to let this go?”

“Let what go?” she asked quietly.

“Let go of feeling less than. Let go of seeing Connor screw someone else? Let go of thinking that you aren’t worth it for a man to love you and protect you? When are you going to look in the mirror and see what I see? A beautiful, vibrant, smart, stubborn woman who deserves the world?” Tears streamed down her cheeks. She’d never heard a man speak words like that other than in movies.

Before she could answer, he picked her up and put her in the truck. When he climbed inside, he pulled her close to him and started the truck without a word. They drove in silence all the way to his house. This time, he opened her door and let her climb down on her own. Grabbing her hand, he pulled her inside.

In the darkness, lit only by moonlight, he pulled her close with his large, masculine hands.

“Madison, you can’t lump me in with the old high school Wyatt or the cheating jerk, Connor. If you want to be with me, you have to accept who I am now.”

“I do accept that, Wyatt. Kim told me why you brought her there. I had no idea…”

“You didn’t give me a chance. You didn’t trust me the first chance you got. That bothers me.”

“I know. I was wrong. I’ve been hurt so many times,” she said.

“So have I, Madison. But, if you can’t trust me, then we need to end this,” he said.

“I am so sorry, Wyatt. I took out my anger at Connor on you. It will never happen again. I promise you,” she whispered looking up. Unable to resist, Wyatt pressed his lips against hers with ferocious passion, and they both knew that the Harvest Festival wasn’t to be that night.

Intensity boiling over, Madison took Wyatt’s hand and led him into his bedroom. This time, she hoped there would be no argument, no logic, no reason why they couldn’t be together. She had wanted this since the moment she saw him bent over his truck looking for his toolbox… before she knew who he was.

As they stood by the bed, the full moon lighting up his room in the most romantic way, all she could hear was the symphony of their excited breathing. Sliding her hands under his thick Henley shirt, she searched out his washboard abs. Rubbing her hands up and down, she finally slid the shirt up and over his head, throwing it across the room.

Taking her lead, he slid his hands under her shirt, pulling it up over her head and tossing it as well. Standing there in her lacy black bra and a pair of jeans, she looked so sexy in the moonlight, he thought. Her eyes looked like they had flakes of silver dancing off the streaks of moonlight filtering into the room through the plantation shutters.

“Wyatt, I want you,” she whispered in his ear. “Only you.”

He picked her up and tossed her on the bed like he was some kind of sexy Neanderthal. She laughed as she bounced about a foot off the bed. He stripped out of the rest of his clothes while she did the same. He reached up and pulled the clip out of her hair to let her red locks flow down across her chest. He’d never seen her with her hair down before, and it took his breath away.

Straddling on top of her, he kissed her ear, her neck and her collarbone, but this time he moved his mouth down to the valley between her breasts. She ran her fingers through his thick hair as she arched her chest to welcome him. His mouth found her right breast as he alternated rubbing her nipple with his thumb and then with his tongue. She felt like she was dancing on a livewire with powerful shocks running throughout her body.

His mouth moved down her body to her belly button, her lower abdomen, and then found the bundle of nerves between her thighs. Pushing her legs open further, his tongue began to tease her there, circling around her bud. She writhed beneath him as he held her hips in place. Arching her back, she experienced an explosion unlike anything she’d ever felt. In her mind, she thought
“Connor who?”
and giggled to herself.

“Are you laughing at me?” he asked, looking up as he slithered up between her legs.

“No. Just admiring your work,” she whispered as she pulled his mouth over hers.  “Do you have protection?”

He reached into his nightstand and pulled out a condom. Moments later, he slipped it on and repositioned above her. Staring deep into her eyes, he entered her and rocked over her. She held onto his back and searched for his lips as his intensity quickened.

“Madison…” Just hearing him say her name brought her to the edge all over again. She felt his body tighten as she allowed herself to release all over again, and then they were a jumbled pile of heat and exhaustion tangled together in his bed.

“Wow,” she whispered.

“You can say that again,” he said with a smile as he laid on his side looking at her. He ran his fingers through her beautiful red hair which was splayed across her pillow as she stared at the ceiling.

“Your hair is stunning when you wear it down like this,” he said.

“You think so?”

“I know so. But now every time you wear it down, I will be thinking naughty thoughts,” he said with a laugh.

***

Madison and Wyatt were inseparable for the next week. They spent a lot of time at the house trying to get it ready for the December tenth opening. Madison was in rare form directing every minor detail that went on in the home. Wyatt was turned on by her take-charge attitude when it came to interior design. He’d never seen her as forceful and sure of herself as when she was designing.

They spent nights at his place enjoying each other in ways she could have never imagined. He had never felt anything like this before in his life, either. While Madison was busy preparing the house for the opening in a couple of nights, Wyatt was hard at work on something totally different.

“Hi, Wyatt. What are you doing here?” Brooks asked as he turned to see Wyatt standing at the entrance to his family’s dairy farm.

“I need your help for Madison,” he said with a smile.

“Is she okay?”

“Yes, but I owe her something, and I want to deliver. Can you get Samantha and meet me at my house in about an hour? We have some quick planning to do,” he said.

***

“Wyatt, I don’t understand. Where are we going? I thought we were going to rent a movie and snuggle up in bed tonight?” she whined as she nibbled at his neck.

“I told you. I am taking you out on a special date. Humor me, okay?” he said with a wicked grin. “Put on the dress that I’ve laid across my bed.”