Free Desire for Love (The Club #13) by S.E. Gilchrist Page B

want to hear anymore. Her hand fumbled for the
door handle.
    “I did it to protect
you.”
    Her eyes snapped open.
She flung off his restraining hand and whirled around to glare at him. “So
paying a guy in order for you to have sex with me, was your way of protecting
me?”
    “It wasn’t like that.”
His eyes pleaded with her to understand. His rigid posture screamed extreme
tension. “I saw you weeks ago, at a baseball game. You were watching your
brother play and I was there with Aaron and his family.”
    He wet his lips.
    Madeline fingers curled
into the palms of her hands. “And?”
    “Geez. You’re not going
to believe me.” He shook his head. His eyes were shadowed, their brilliant
color dimmed. “Can’t you trust me when I tell you, I only have your best
interests at heart?”
    A little of her rage and
disappointment dissipated in the face of his obvious distress. He’s acting
so genuine, but is it real? Oh Lordy, I so want it to be real. “I
admit you’ve been…I guess…supportive since my life went down the sewer.”
    “That’s a start.” He
dropped the bags in his hands and they landed with thumps on the floorboards.
Reaching out, he cupped her face, tilting her chin upwards while his thumb ran
lightly across her lower lip. When his mouth came down to meet hers, she didn’t
turn away.
    His kiss was tender,
protective. To Madeline, his caress felt like he was promising her forever. But
then it was over before it had really started and already he was moving away,
stepping off her porch, walking down the path. Out of my life.
    Then about to open his
pick-up’s door, he yelled, “I’ll be back, babe. And soon.”
    He threw her a broad
grin.
    Then he was gone, leaving
her standing at her front door staring down the street, wanting desperately to
run after him. Is this what love feels like? This gutted, agonizing roil of
pain clashing with my hope and longing to trust him?
    “Hey, sis,” hollered
Matty from the living room. “Your mobile’s ringing. Aren’t you going to answer
it?”

Chapter Seven
    “I
don’t think you should go. I think you should wait until Harrison comes back.”
Matty stuck his lower lip out in the way he used to do when he was a toddler
and about to throw one of his, thankfully, few tantrums.
    If he really is coming
back. The words clung to the tip of her tongue
but she caught herself before she could utter them. Her brother spoke as if he
had no doubts of Harrison’s return. If only I could be that positive.
    “Uh huh,” muttered
Madeline, taking one last look at Matty’s mutinous face before turning away and
grabbing her car keys off the kitchen counter. “I won’t be long. Sasha said it
was urgent and to do with the missing money. I need to do something to help
myself. If what she says is true, then I’ll have physical proof that Roberta
was the instigator behind the bet and a thief, not just the one throwing about
accusations.”
    “There’s another storm
front heading for Karim.”
    “I’ll be careful. Anyway,
I won’t be gone that long.” She crossed the room and kissed his cheek. “You
could unpack for us or even better, do some school work. Do something for me
first, though. Call Harrison and tell him where I’ve gone.”
    “Will do, sis.” The
relief in his voice made her smile.
    “Thanks, Matty. I’ll see
you later.” Lifting a hand in an airy wave, she walked out the door, ensuring
it locked securely behind her and sloshed her way to the Chevy.
    The drive to the Club
took longer than she expected as the slush on the roads had frozen to ice. She
kept her car to a bit above a crawl, ignoring the horn of an irate driver
behind her and who eventually swung out and overtook her before speeding off
with a spurt of mud and ice spinning up into the air. What a jerk. Without her wheels chained, it would only take for her tires to lose traction
for a split second and her car could spin out of control.
    By the time she arrived,
her hands felt like