Fool for Love (21 page)

"I thought for sure you would come
back to me when I told you about the cancer," he said sadly.

"I wish I was a better person. I wish
I could forget what I saw that day in your apartment and be there for you
during your treatment. But I can't do that. The old Janey might've done that,
but I've changed in the last week, and I can't go back to who I was before I
saw you with her."

"I'd give anything to take that
back."

She was on the verge of saying she would,
too. "You know, you may not understand this, but in hindsight I'm kind of
glad I saw you. It probably stopped us from making a huge mistake."

"I'll never believe we would've made
a mistake by getting married."

"We would have, and it would've been
so much worse to find that out after the wedding."

He took her hand again, and she let him.
"It's really over?"

"I'm afraid so. But I hope we can
still be friends. I'll want to know how you're doing, how you're feeling, how
the treatment is going. Will you keep me informed?"

He nodded. "I'd like for us to be
friends, too," he said, reaching for her.

Engulfed in sadness, Janey leaned into his
embrace.

David kissed the top of her head and held
her tight against him. "I'm sorry I hurt you. After all the time we were
together, you deserved much better from me."

Tears burned her eyes. Since she couldn't
dispute that statement, she didn't try.

"Can I ask you something?"

Janey pulled back from him.
"Sure."

"Is it better with him? With
Joe?"

Her face heated under his scrutiny, and
she was grateful for the dark. "I'm not answering that."

His face lifted into a sad half smile.
"You just did."

After everyone left, Maddie cleaned up the kitchen
while Mac carried items in from outside. They worked together for about fifteen
minutes before she realized he was giving her one-word answers and otherwise
not speaking to her. A cold ball of dread lodged in her belly. She'd seen him
chase Joe after the confrontation between Janey and David but hadn't had a
chance to ask him what had transpired. By now she had a pretty good idea.

"That's the last of it," he said
as he put the grill utensils in the sink.

"It was a nice party."

"Uh-huh."

"Why don't we leave the rest for the
morning and head up to bed?"

"I'm going for a run."

"Now?"

"Yeah."

"But it's so dark! You could get hit
by a car."

"I'll wear a vest."

"Mac…"

He turned to her, and what she saw on his
face stopped her heart.

"Why don't we just talk about it and
get it over with?"

"Get what over with?" he asked.

"You're clearly mad at me."

"No, I'm disappointed."

"I couldn't tell you! You would've
lost it, and Janey didn't need that when everything else was such a mess. She
begged me not to tell you, and I agreed that was the best thing at the
time."

"So you chose her over me."

"No." Her heart ached from the
sadness she heard in his voice. "I'd never choose anyone over you or
Thomas. You know that."

"We have a deal, Maddie—a deal
you
insisted on."

"I know, and I was so torn, but I
thought you'd want me to do anything I could to help her. That's what I tried
to do."

"I wish you had told me. I would've
been cool about it."

She shot him a look full of skepticism.

"What? I would've been!"

Maddie went to him and curled her arms
around his neck. "Do you know one of the things I love best about
you?"

"No," he said, his body rigid and
unyielding. His arms dangled loose at his sides, even as she tightened her hold
on him.

"Your fierce love for your family.
It's overwhelming and beautiful and it makes you you. As much as you love them
all, though, Janey holds a special place in your heart. While you might wish to
believe otherwise, you would
not
have understood Joe hooking up with her
the same night she found David in bed with another woman. And you would
not
have believed Janey initiated it."

He tried to wiggle free of her embrace, but
Maddie held on tight.

"I guess we'll never know how I
would've reacted, because no one told me. Am I such a jerk that you guys got
together and decided to keep this from me?"

"It wasn't like that at all. We were
protecting you until some time had passed and you would've been more reasonable
about it."

"So I'm not a jerk, but I
am
unreasonable?" He reached for her arms to draw them down and away from
him.

"Mac, honey, come on. Try to
understand."

"I need to get out of here for a
while. I'll be back." With that he turned and dashed up the stairs to get
changed.

Frozen, Maddie watched him go, her heart
racing. He had never rebuffed her like that before, and she began to wonder if
she might lose him over this. "No," she whispered. "That can't
happen. It just can't."

But as she finished cleaning up her
sparkling new kitchen and got ready for bed, the thought nagged at her. A life
that had once been empty and difficult without him was now joyful and
magnificent—or it was until today. First her mother's disapproval and now this…
Just what they needed a week before their wedding.

Wearing one of the silk nightgowns he
loved so much, Maddie got in bed and pretended to read a book while she waited
for him. Her thoughts wandered back to the day she met him. He'd accidentally
knocked her off her big clunker of a bike when she was on her way to a
housekeeping shift at his parents' hotel. With her knee, elbow and hand
bleeding, she'd been unable to work at the hotel or help out at her sister's
daycare. Mac had stepped in for her, taking her place at both jobs so she
wouldn't lose either of them, and taking care of her and Thomas until she
recovered from her injuries. He'd been taking care of them ever since.

More than an hour passed before he finally
returned, sweaty and breathing hard as he came into the bedroom and made a
beeline for the shower without a word for her. He stayed in there long enough
that Maddie deduced he was still avoiding her.

Slipping out of bed, she tugged the
nightgown over her head on the way into the bathroom and stepped into the
spacious, steamy shower.

He startled when she put her arms around
him and hugged him from behind. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Hugging you."

"I thought you were asleep."

"Were you hoping I'd fall asleep if
you stayed gone long enough?"

"Maybe."

Maddie urged him to turn around. "I
could never sleep knowing you're mad with me."

"I'm not mad."

"Disappointed. Same difference.
You're not happy, so I'm not happy."

He shrugged. "It's all so screwed up.
How could Joe let that happen, especially when she was such a mess?"

"It was all her. He tried to tell her
it was a bad idea, but she worked on him until he caved. I'll tell you what I
told her earlier: I think she was halfway in love with him before any of this
happened with David."

Mac shook his head. "I don't think
so."

"I do."

"And what makes you so smart?"
he asked with a hint of amusement that buoyed her sagging spirits. "You
haven't known us that long."

"Janey said the same thing,"
Maddie said with a small smile and a lot of relief. At least they were talking.
"I happen to know that when a man pays special attention to a woman, when
he looks at her like she's the most beautiful creature in the world and hangs
on every word she says, of course she starts to have a little crush on him. How
can she not?" Reaching for his bottle of soap, she smoothed some over his
chest and was gratified when his lower half sprang to life as she massaged him.

"And you have some experience with
this, do you?"

"Mmm hmm.
Recent
experience."

His face shifted into that devilish grin
she so adored. "I know what you're doing."

"What am I doing?" she asked,
full of innocence.

"You think if you get me all worked
up that I'll forget you kept something rather important from me after we made a
deal to never do that."

"It was wrong of me, Mac. I know that
now, and I knew it then. But it was what Janey needed at the time, and I
really,
really
want her to be my very best friend. Do you know how long
it's been since I had a friend I like as much as I like her?"

He combed his fingers through her long wet
hair. "How long?"

"Since my friend Sydney used to come
for the summers with her family when we were in high school. We were so close,
but we grew apart when she stopped coming out. I saw her a couple of years ago
when she was here with her family."

"She's Luke's ex-girlfriend, the one
who lost her husband and kids, right?"

Maddie nodded, still saddened by her
friend's terrible tragedy. "Yes." Maddie had written to her after the
accident but hadn't heard back from her.

"Well, you'll be glad to know I've
decided to forgive you."

Maddie looked up at him, a smile tugging
at her lips. "Is that so?"

"I asked you to help me take care of
my sister, and that's what you did. I suppose I can't fault you for not
breaking her confidence."

"She's all grown up, Mac, and she has
to follow her own heart, even if it leads her to Joe."

"I know that," he said through
gritted teeth.

"Wouldn't you love to see them
together?"

"Of course I would. I just can't bear
the idea of any guy—even him—taking advantage of her."

"He didn't, Mac. I promise you, he
didn't. He tried to tell her it was a bad idea, but she convinced him it was
what she wanted."

"Are they together now?"

"Not officially. They'd planned to
keep it quiet until after the wedding. I'm not sure what'll happen now that
David blasted them out of the closet."

"So what? Joe spent a couple of
nights with her and that's that?"

"They've got a lot to work out."
She squeezed out more soap and massaged her way down his back to his muscular
backside.

He groaned. "Your evil plan seems to
be working quite well," he said, glancing down at his erection.

Maddie giggled and ran soapy hands over
his most sensitive parts.

"Mmm." He reached for her and
pulled her in close, capturing her mouth in a deep, passionate kiss.

"Will you do something for me?"
Maddie asked when they came up for air.

His hands moved over her, awakening her
body. "Anything."

"Don't run away the next time you're mad
or disappointed or upset. Stay with me and work it out?"

"I will." His hands coasted over
her back. Suddenly, he lifted her and pressed her against the wall.

Maddie gasped when warm skin met cold
tile. She ran her fingers through his wet hair and then skimmed them over the
stubble on his jaw. "Promise?"

"I promise." He kissed his way
up her neck and rolled her earlobe between his teeth.

Maddie arched her back, seeking him.
"Mac…"

"Tell me what you want."

She clutched a handful of his hair and wrapped
her legs around his hips. "You. Only you."

He entered her in one swift stroke that
stole the breath from her lungs.

She held on tight as he took her hard and
fast against the wall. "Oh,
God
, Mac…"

When he bent his head to suck on her
nipple, they reached the finish line at the same exact instant.

Maddie came back down to find him gazing
intently at her.

"I love you so much," she said.

He kissed her nose. "I love you,
too."

"I was so afraid…"

Mac leaned into her, keeping her pressed
tight against the wall. "Of what?"

"That I'd lose you over this. We had
a deal, and I didn't keep my end of it."

"Let's make a new deal, okay?"

She nodded.

He moved the damp hair off her face and
trailed his finger over her cheek. "No matter what happens, no matter how big
a fight we have or how mad you make me or how crazy things get, I will never,
ever leave you."

Her eyes filled with tears.
"Never?"

He shook his head. "I couldn't
possibly live without you. Or Thomas."

Maddie wrapped her arms around his neck
and clung to him. "I could never live without you, either. Not for one
day."