“Anything you need. Everything.” I seal my lips over hers, my tongue plunging into her mouth as I anchor her to the wall with my hips, sliding my hands up from her thighs to her ass, gripping both cheeks firmly and helping her move.

  I’m rock hard, leaking into my boxers at the feel of her in my arms, her hot cunt sliding over my dick, body trembling and her scent surrounding me. It’s been years since I dry-humped against a wall, and it’s so fucking hot I’m about to combust, pleasure a tight fist at the base of my spine.

  I would be embarrassed by how quickly I’m riding the edge, but this is Maddy, the girl of my literal goddamn dreams, and she sucks on my tongue as her hips writhe and she pants into my mouth. Needing to taste more of her, I skate my lips over her jaw, licking down her neck, the salty taste of her skin making me feral for more of her.

  All of her.

  When I nudge the shoulder of her sweatshirt aside and nip at her collarbone, her moan is so loud that I lift a hand to cover her mouth and lean in close to her ear. “Quiet, baby,” I murmur, rolling my hips in time with her increasingly frantic thrusts. “Unless you want everyone downstairs to know what we’re doing right now.” Her legs tighten and I chuckle, arousal pulsing through me. “Well, what do you know,” I drawl quietly, splaying my hand over her ass and squeezing harder. “Smart, gorgeous Maddy Wright likes the idea of everyone in this house knowing she’s dry humping my rock-hard dick against the hallway wall.”

  I flick my tongue against the sensitive skin behind her ear before sucking lightly, and Maddy inhales sharply. Her head drops back against the wall, and she squeezes her eyes shut, her arms locking around my neck as her hips grind frantically. Her uninhibited movements almost shove me right over the edge, but not yet.

  Not without her.

  “No way, Wildcat. Open those pretty eyes. Remember what I told you last time we were together. When you come for me, you look at me. Every time, baby.” When her eyelids flutter open and meet mine, heat and need glaze the mossy greens. Lust and tenderness and something else I’m not quite ready to explore tangle up inside of me until I’m right on the precipice. “And there will be more times, Maddy. So, so many times. Because when something feels this good, this right, you don’t fucking stop.”

  Taking my hand off her mouth, I slide it back onto her ass, dipping my fingers lower to graze her pussy over her leggings as I grind against her, bending my knees to hit her in exactly the right spot.

  “Oh my god, don’t you dare fucking stop,” Maddy mumbles, meeting me stroke for stroke, her breaths coming in sharp, shallow pants and a deep flush spreading from her neck to her face. “I can’t…I’m gonna…Cameron, fuck.”

  Her needy voice reverberates in my head as pleasure swims in my veins. Wanting to be closer, needing to be closer, I seal my mouth over hers, thrusting my hips in earnest and swallowing her cries as her entire body tightens, legs shaking as she comes. The wet heat of her orgasm seeps through her leggings, and when she sucks my bottom lip into her mouth, biting down, the shock of pain has an explosion of pleasure shooting up my spine.

  “Goddamn,” I groan, thrusting one last time before I detonate, cum painting the inside of my boxers. I lock my knees to keep from collapsing as the waves of my release threaten to take me under. I come for what feels like forever, rolling my hips to wring every ounce of pleasure out of us both.

  When it finally ebbs, I spin us again so I’m leaning against the wall, Maddy settled in my arms. She drops her head onto my shoulder, hot breath gusting against my neck, her heart hammering against mine. Sliding a hand up to cradle her head against me, I press a lingering kiss to her forehead, breathing her in. We’re both a little sweaty, and the inside of my boxers is a sticky mess, but it’s been a long time since I felt this content. This settled. Like for this small moment in time, everything I need is right here.

  “I can’t believe we just dry humped against a wall,” she says into my neck. “It’s so high school.”

  Chuckling, I trail a line of kisses over her jaw. “It matches the hickey I gave you that first night.”

  “You came in your pants, right? Like, that’s what just happened?” She lifts her head, and her flushed, freckled cheeks, the way a few strands of red hair cling to her damp face, have a wave of tenderness washing over me. I lean in, taking her mouth with mine, long and slow, pouring all the feelings I don’t yet have words for into the kiss.

  “Sure did,” I murmur against her lips, unable to pull away. “That’s what you do to me. You make me crazy, Maddy. You’ve been making me crazy for seven weeks, and I’m just glad I get to hold you again. You feel perfect in my arms.”

  “Jesus,” she mutters, pressing her forehead to mine. “When you say things like that, it makes it really hard for me to remember all the reasons I should be staying away from you.”

  Lifting my head, I slide my hand around, splaying my fingers over her jaw so she can’t look away. “Baby, we just made each other come against a wall in your parents’ house. When I kiss you, I feel everything. There is no staying away. Not anymore.”

  “But…”

  She trails off as I slowly swipe my thumb over her bottom lip and then lean in to cover her mouth with mine. Maddy sighs into the kiss, her whole body relaxing against me. I know there is a lot to talk about. A lot of obstacles in our way. But standing here, with her wrapped in my arms, my only thought is that she is who I’ve been waiting for, and nothing that feels this right could ever be wrong. “We don’t have to know everything tonight,” I say, stroking her cheek with my thumb. “We can keep whatever this is quiet for as long as you need. Whatever makes you comfortable. Just be here with me, Wildcat. Let’s figure it all out together.”

  Her eyes drop closed, and she lets out a long exhale that sounds like surrender before opening her eyes to look at me. “Okay.”

  Warmth rushes through me at the certainty in her voice. The trust in her eyes. I nod, pressing my forehead to hers again, knowing we’ve probably already been upstairs for too long, but wanting to stay in this bubble for just a little longer. “Okay,” I whisper, my eyes dropping closed and my arms tightening around her.

  “I knew it!”

  The sound of Olivia’s voice pops that bubble and we both jolt, Maddy sucking in a breath as she unwinds her legs from my waist and drops down to the floor. She tries to take a step away, but I wrap an arm around her waist to keep her secured to my side as we both turn to see Olivia and Maddy’s mom, Emma, standing there looking at us, massive smiles on both their faces.

  “Uh, it’s not what it looks like?” Maddy glances up at me, and instead of seeing the panic I expect at being discovered like this, I see a wicked little glimmer in her eyes, and I can’t help the grin that spreads across my face.

  “Nah, Wildcat.” I tug her closer to me and drop a kiss on her head, turning to look at Olivia and Emma. “It’s exactly what it looks like.”

  Maddy laughs a little and shrugs. “He’s right; this is exactly what it looks like. But let’s maybe keep it quiet, okay?”

  Olivia gives us a sly smile. “You mean you don’t want Brian to know that his Director of Sports Psychology and his star offensive lineman were doing…whatever it is you were doing up here during dinner?”

  “We were just talking.” Maddy tries for casual, but I know she fools no one when Emma snorts out a laugh.

  “Does just talking make your hair look like it was attacked by a swarm of birds and your cheeks bright red? Oh honey, please,” she says when Maddy lets out a groan and reaches up to try and fix her hair. “One day, ask me about the time your dad and I hooked up in an empty office at the arena.”

  “And you can ask me about my early tryst with Brian in an office at the stadium. And in the bathroom at my brother’s house,” Olivia says with a grin.

  “Ugh, no.” Maddy shakes her head vigorously, as if the motion will dislodge the images Emma and Olivia planted. “I won’t be asking either of you about either of those things, and now I have to go bleach my brain. Why can’t anyone in this family just be normal for once?”

  Emma shrugs, unphased. “Because we’re not normal. Not one single one of us. That’s why we’re the best.” Taking a step forward, she lays a hand on Maddy’s cheek and one on mine, looking between us. “It’s obvious there’s something here. A big, complicated something you probably weren’t looking for and definitely didn’t expect. But I can tell you from experience that sometimes, those things are the best things.” She looks at Maddy and studies her before nodding, like she’s seen what she needs to see. “No one gets to decide what happens next except for you.” She says that quietly, her eyes never leaving her daughter.

  “Brian will have your back, you know. And don’t bother to apologize again for asking me to keep a secret from him,” Olivia says when Maddy opens her mouth. “I love you, Mads. You’re my sister, and this is girl code stuff. When you’re ready, you can tell him yourself.”

  “It’s…complicated,” Maddy says. “My job…”

  “I know,” Emma says. “Just because it’s complicated doesn’t mean it’s not right.” She turns to me with a smile. “Welcome to chaos, Cam. We’re really glad to have you.” Emma reaches up and wraps her arms around me in a hug that screams mom, and it has an unexpected swell of emotion tightening my chest because just like when I was at Olivia and Brian’s house, I think that here, too, is the big, chaotic family I thought I missed my chance at, the woman I’m crazy about right at its center.

  “I’m glad you’re the one,” Emma whispers so only I can hear. “She’s been waiting for you.” She breaks away and looks between us with laughter in her eyes. “You might want to make yourselves a little more…presentable before you come back to dinner.”

  “No shit,” Olivia says, raising her eyebrows at us. “You both look…well…that mirror is going to be your friend.” She gestures to the bathroom before she and Emma turn to leave, their laughs echoing all the way down the stairs.

  “Well, that happened,” Maddy mutters.

  I open my mouth to respond before realization barrels into me like a freight train, and I look down, biting back a groan as embarrassment courses through me. “Holy fucking shit,” I mumble.

  “What?” Maddy asks, before following my gaze down. To the dark wet spot right on the front of my jeans. “Oh my god,” she says, choking back a laugh.

  “Are you laughing at me?” I say slowly, narrowing my eyes are her.

  “No,” she manages, a giggle escaping her lips before she slaps a hand over her mouth. “Definitely not. I’m definitely not laughing at the fact that you just had a whole conversation with my mom and my aunt with cum on the front of your pants.”

  “Fuck.” I groan, collapsing against the wall, wondering if I press hard enough, whether I can fall through it and disappear forever. “I’m thirty-four years old. I have two kids. I’m a professional fucking football player. I’m not a damn teenager.”

  “Oh, you’re definitely not,” she says, eyes heating as they rake over me. But when they drop to the front of my pants, she giggles again. “Except, I mean, cum. On your pants. Right there.”

  Letting out a growl, I grab Maddy and press her against the wall, one hand on her hip and the other coming up to collar her throat. When my eyes drift down to her lips, her laughter dies, replaced by a sharp inhale and the hammer of her pulse against my hand. “That’s not just my cum, beautiful girl.” Leaning in, I kiss one cheek, the other, her forehead. “Don’t think I didn’t feel the way you soaked your leggings when you came for me. The way you made a mess of me. I can’t wait to feel it with nothing between us.” Dropping my head, I run my nose along her jaw before crashing my lips to hers in a wet, filthy kiss.

  “Jesus.” She gasps when we break apart. “Only you could make cum on the front of your pants sexy.”

  We look at each other for a beat, then two, and it’s Maddy who breaks first, tossing back her head and cackling. She sets me off, and two seconds later we’re both leaning against the wall, laughing hysterically while we hold onto each other to keep from collapsing to the floor.

  We laugh until our sides ache and tears steam down our faces. When we finally recover, I kiss her breathless before we clean ourselves up and go back downstairs to finish dinner. And I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow or the next day or the one after that, but for now, for this night, everything feels just about perfect.

  Me

  I don’t like the way my bed feels without you in it.

  Maddy

  So weird considering I’ve never been in your bed.

  Me

  True, but I do know what it’s like to feel you wrapped around me, and I wish that’s where you were right now.

  Maddy

  That seems like it would be complicated with two kids sleeping down the hall.

  Me

  True, but a guy can dream.

  Maddy

  He can. A girl can too.

  Me

  You dream about me, Wildcat? Because I sure dream about you.

  Maddy

  No but seriously, do you have to work at the swoon, or does it come naturally?

  Me

  With you, Maddy. Only with you.

  Maddy

  *fans self*

  Did your kids have a good night?

  Me

  Ethan was thrilled to tell me he ended up with seventy-four Reese’s Cups. It’s his favorite candy, so he counts how many he gets every year and tries to beat his record.

  Maddy

  And did he?

  Me

  By 17.

  Maddy

  That’s boss behavior.

  Me

  I knew you would like that. You take candy very seriously.

  Maddy

  As everyone should. I’m sitting in bed right now eating the M&M’s I bought for trick-or-treaters.

  Me

  Did you even get any trick-or-treaters? We were at your parents’ house until pretty late.

  Maddy

  I’m never home in time for trick-or-treaters because of Halloween dinner, but I buy candy anyway.

  Me

  So you can eat it in bed when you get home?

  Maddy

  You know me so well.

  Me

  I’m starting to think I do.

  Maddy

  And Riley? How was her night?

  Me

  She and Zoe and a couple other friends from the play had a Wicked themed movie night. In costume of course.

  Maddy

  Let me guess…she was Elphaba?

  Me

  Got it in one. Green face paint is a bitch to get off, it turns out.

  How did you know?

  Maddy

  She seems like the kind of girl who would like herself a complex character.

  Me

  She, herself, is a complex character.

  Maddy

  The best girls are. We contain multitudes, Cameron.

  Me

  I miss you.

  Maddy

  Are you getting sentimental on me?

  Me

  Always.

  Maddy

  I’ll see you at work tomorrow.

  Me

  But I can’t kiss you at work and tell you how pretty you look and that I like the way you say my name when you come.

  Maddy

  No, you definitely can’t say that.

  I’m sorry it has to be this way but it just…does. For a while. I don’t know how long. I haven’t figured it out yet.

  Me

  Together, Wildcat. We’ll figure it out together. However long it takes, we’ll figure it out.

  Maddy

  You think we can?

  Me

  I know we can.

  Maddy

  How do you know?

  Me

  Because you’re the first woman who has made me feel again in ten years, and that means something. Plus, persistent, remember? When I want something, I don’t stop until I get it, and I want you. I think you want me too.