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She had just finished her last shift at the hospital. Starting Monday, she would finally be back in her clinic.
“Like I really need to shop?” Maddie asked Kara in a disgruntled voice. “There isn’t a damn thing Sam hasn’t bought me, including this brand new SUV. He needs to stop.”
“Um…hate to remind you of this…but aren’t you the one who gave me a lecture about the fact that I needed to deal with the fact that I was marrying one of the richest men in the world? I think you even said that I should let him spend his money on me because it makes him feel like he’s protecting me,” Kara reminded Maddie mischievously.
“Dammit. Yeah. I did say that,” Maddie mumbled. She had given Kara that lecture, but it felt so much different when it was Sam givingherthings.
“I hope we’re back before you guys need the jet for your honeymoon. At the rate Sam is moving, you might be married by morning,” Kara joked.
“He’d just get another one,” Maddie said, bursting into laughter. “He’s pretty damn capable of getting anything he wants.”
“I take it you wouldn’t protest,” Kara said with a chuckle.
Turning onto the street where Sam’s house was located, she answered, “No. Honestly, I don’t think I would.” It was the honest truth. She wanted Sam just that much. She’d marry him in a heartbeat.
“Just don’t get married without us,” Kara warned. “We want to be there.”
“I think we can wait,” Maddie answered with a smile.
“You better. And we will be shopping for dresses next weekend.”
“Okay, okay. We’ll go shopping,” Maddie told her friend happily as she turned in to Sam’s long driveway. “Have fun and take care of my godchild.”
“It’s been lovely,” Kara said with a sigh. “But I miss being home and I miss you.”
“I miss you, too,” Maddie replied softly.
“See ya Thursday.”
“Can you and Simon stop over?” Maddie asked as she brought her vehicle to a halt.
“Are you kidding? We’ll be there as soon as we get home. We need to catch up. Later, girlfriend.”
“Later,” Maddie agreed, disconnecting the call and cutting the engine.
Sam’s Bugatti was parked in the driveway, so Maddie knew he was home. Her heart leaped in anticipation, impatient to see his handsome face, bask in the warmth of his presence.
As she stepped out of the SUV, she marveled at how much her life had changed in such a short period of time. Before, she had dreaded going home to her empty house, her vacant personal life. Now, she couldn’t get home fast enough, couldn’t be with Sam quickly enough to satisfy her need to see him.
I’m not alone anymore.
Maddie knew her life was finally complete.
Bounding up the marbled steps, she unlocked and opened the door, feeling like she was finally home.
Maddie stepped into the shower with a delighted sigh, letting the decadent jets massage her body everywhere. She was tempted to linger, but her need to see Sam was greater than the pleasure of feeling the hot water relaxing her body. The temptation to go to the kitchen first had been almost irresistible. She could smell something delicious cooking, and she knew he was there. But she hadn’t showered at the hospital and needed to remove the stench and germs she accumulated during her long workday before she saw him, so she’d tiptoed through the house to the bathroom.
Quickly washing her unruly hair, she had just started spreading shower gel over her entire body when she felt the hard, unyielding presence of Sam’s body pressing against her back. He turned her, letting her back rest against the wall and two muscular arms caged her in, his palms resting against the wall of the enclosure on both sides of her.
Glancing up at him, Maddie’s whole body started to quake as her gaze roamed over his fierce expression, his eyes so intense and covetous that her body nearly melted into a puddle of liquid heat at his feet.
He was so big, so hot and so hers.
“I love you, Maddie. I love you so much that sometimes I can hardly breathe.” His hoarse voice was raw and emotional, raspy and rough. “I should have said those words years ago. I don’t know why I didn’t. God knows you deserve better, but you have all of me, every possession I own and everything that I am. I don’t know if that’s good or bad…but it’s the truth. I don’t exist without you.”
Maddie swallowed hard, her eyes riveted to his. This was Sam, unrefined and unpolished, the core of the man she loved. And he had never been so scorching hot as he was at this very moment, his entire being bared to her.
Tears flowed from Maddie’s eyes, mingling with the water from the shower. She lifted a hand and ran her palm over his cheek. “I love you, too. I always have. I never forgot you and I don’t think there was a day that I didn’t think of you,” she admitted honestly.