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DIXON

Madison sleeps in the second bedroom of the suite. We’ve got a list of places to visit tomorrow, and I’m more hopeful than I’ve been in years. Sipping my scotch, I’m waiting for Ella to get back to me about what she’s found. The line clicks back on.

“Sorry.” She mutters.

“No problem.”

“So, the stalker used a courier to send the package. It appears he, and I’m using the word, ‘he’ because most stalkers are men. He mailed the letters from around the city, but one came from Phoenix.”

“Phoenix? Was she being stalked in Phoenix?”

“I don’t think so. The Bobcats’ security team hadn’t received anything. I assume Madison hasn’t mentioned any other issues.”

“She hasn’t. If the person who sent them was in Phoenix, and is now in Dallas, it ratchets up my concern.”

She pauses. “Mine too. I got her itinerary for her photo shoot from Lily for December. I assume you’re going?”

“Yes. Though I hope this stalker thing is long worked out before that trip.”

“I’ll put it on the books. We’ll send you down in the smaller CPSP jet.”

Perks of knowing billionaires. “Thanks. We’ll be in tomorrow night.”

“Make sure you remind her to keep that panic necklace on.”

“Oh, I am. I don’t plan to be far enough from her that she’ll have to use it.”

She coughs. “I wondered when the possessive Dixon was going to show up. Just remember you work for CPSP, so keep it professional.”

“I will. Thanks Ella.”

I stand under the hot water spray in my shower, trying to wash off the restlessness from the night before. With Madison sleeping in the adjacent bedroom, my cock couldn’t settle and frankly neither could my heart or mind. I’m impatient to see her. My hand stretches down as I grab my cock, stroking up. I’ve never felt like I felt when I made love to Madison. It was the first and last time my heart engaged in sex.

MADISON

We stroll through Central Park. It’s wilder than I’ve seen in photos. Birds chirp in the trees, but it’s the sound of the zoo that captures my attention. I’m finishing the hotdog from the vendor cart and it’s better than I expected. Dixon finishes eating two in the time it takes me to get half of mine down. He hands me the soda cup we’re sharing, and I take a sip.

“We’ll have time to grab a nice dinner before we head out tonight. Thoughts about what you want to eat?”

I smirk. “You’re always so interested in feeding me.”

“Of course. I love to watch you eat. It’s one of my favorite pastimes.”

He’s wearing me down. “What the fuck is going on, Dixon?”

He gently pulls my arm and leads us to a bench. “I think you should call me ‘Preston’.”

My forehead furrows, my brain scrambles for a pithy response but all I come up with is his first name. A name I’ve never used before. “Why Preston?”

He pulls out his phone and taps it, handing it to me. “Listen.”

I take the phone and put it to my ear. He’s talking like he’s leaving a message. “I’m sorry, Madison. I fucked up. Brian is making me leave you without telling you. I’ve just left you in bed. I was planning to go for a run and then waking you and making love to you again. Maybe leaving is for the best.” He exhales. “This is so hard for me to admit, but you scare me.” He laughs, and it sounds like when someone is nervous. “I never imagined finding someone to claim as my own. It’s probably why I didn’t give a second thought to marrying Meredyth. She was the safe choice. I knew she’d never want anything else from me. But you, you’ll demand everything from the man you choose, and I wasn’t ready. I had a dangerous job. It wouldn’t be fair to commit to you and then get killed. So, I’m going to bide my time until the stars align, you realize I’m the man for you, and forgive me. Then we can be together. Hopefully I won’t continue to fuck it up as we go along. Oh, I should have told you about my marriage.”

Madison watches a young family as they stroll around our bench. It’s time for me to come clean. I take out my phone to open the recording app and press play. I hold the phone out to her as she turns her head to me.

“What is this?”

My voice narrates my thoughts about Madison from a few weeks before. “I made a mistake in leaving you without saying goodbye. I can only imagine how much I hurt you when you realized I had left. I cringe at the thought that you might never forgive me. Please forgive me…” She hands the phone back to me and I press pause.

“There are hundreds of messages like that. Most of them are on the cloud, which I had to buy more space because of all of them.”

“When did you leave this message?”

“It was after I left you that morning after hunting.”

I turn and slug my fist into his chest. “So, you’ve shared everything to this imaginary message app, but not me?”

He pulls me into his arms. “I’m sorry. I thought it would be best to wait until you were ready, and then I realized I can’t make that decision. I kept myself at arm’s length, keeping tabs on you from afar, but not engaging except when we ran into each other. That was wrong. Let’s start over. I’m claiming you, Madison. That’s why I want you to call me Preston. So, we can put the past behind us and start fresh.”

I push back. “Dixon, I don’t need to call you something else. I don’t know if I can just start over.”

He sets his forehead against mine. “Please try. I want to be the man you deserve. I want to build a life together.”

My brain is struggling to absorb the plethora of information. “What makes you think you’re ready now?”

He whispers. “I think about you all the time. You’re the most important thing in my life. When I think of the future, I think of you. I’m retired. I can follow you anywhere you go.”

Squeals and chatters from monkeys in the zoo break the surrounding silence. I kiss his cheek. “I need time to…”

I hug her tight. “Take the time you need. I’m not going to leave you ever again.” I stand and take her hand, helping her to rise. “Let’s go see those obnoxious monkeys.”

DIXON

Madison sleeps against me as I chat with Cameron on the flight back to Dallas. He’s another Campbell cousin and one of the owners of the Quad. “How’d you guys put together the Quad?”

“There are six of us who talked about figuring out how to live near each other. Our grandparents, of course, offered us land to build on at their ranch, but we wanted to be in the city. My brother, Calder, happened upon three of the properties in the area for sale. He went in search of more property to make a larger complex. The abandoned hotel needed a lot of work when we bought it at an auction. The warehouse where we made the condos was the perfect place for us all to live together.”

I nod. “You’re lucky to have family.”

His brow lifts. “You don’t have family?” I glance to the sleeping woman next to me as Cameron smiles. “No other family?”

Shaking my head, I stroke Madison’s arm. “I’m an orphan. I had group homes and one good foster home. My foster mother was kind, but she took in kids to supplement her income, so no. No other family.”

“That sucks, man. Does she know how you feel?” He gestures to Madison.

I chuckle. “She’s figuring it out. I gave Madison access to the messages I’d left myself over the years, so she has a good idea how much she means to me. Now, I just need her to forgive me for being stupid and let me in.”

The plane wheels run along the tarmac at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. I nudge Madison. “Sweetheart, wake up.”

Her head pops up as her eyes ping open. “Sweetheart?”

I chuckie. “Yeah. Might as well move this thing along.”

The flight attendant opens the door as Madison wipes her eyes. “I’m sorry. I think I slept the whole way.”

“No worries. I love sleeping with you.”

Her eyes snap to the man getting up across from our seats. He smirks. “I didn’t hear anything. I’m not the one to go and tell tales.” He pretends to lock his lips with a key. “I’m heading to my grandparents’ ranch, but there’s an SUV waiting to take you two back to the Quad.”

“Thanks Cameron.”

Madison thanks him as he heads down the stairs. She turns and slugs my chest. “He’s going to think we’re sleeping together.”

“Well, you slept with me, so he probably already does.”

The flight attendant waves like the cartoon penguins as we go through the door and take the stairs to the ground. A man steps away from the idling SUV. “Your luggage is in the back. Thanks for flying Campbell Air.” He chuckles like it was the best joke ever spoken as I roll my eyes. I hold the back door open as Madison climbs into the back seat.

The CPSP driver asks. “Where to Mr. Dixon?”

“Back to the Quad.” It’s late. My watch reads after one in the morning, and my hands are itching to touch Madison. I have to admit her demeanor has changed as she’s listened to my messages. Little touches and her sleeping on me have my heart hoping. Her hand drifts to my leg.

“Why does everyone call you Dixon instead of Preston?”

I lean in to her. “Last names are more commonly used in training at the beginning. And when I got to the SEALs, there was a guy with the last name, Pressman, so it just made sense that they called me by my last name.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“Are you hungry?”

She shakes her head. “Well, yeah, but I don’t have food at the apartment and nothing is open.”

My body jerks, ready to burst with a great idea. “Let me make you an early breakfast before you head to your apartment.”

Her eyes bear into mine as her inner debate works out her answer. “Sure. That’s nice.”

I lean back in the seat. “That’s me sweetheart. Mr. Nice.”

She scoffs. “I’m pretty sure ninety-nine out of a hundred people who know you would disagree.”

I move my arm around her in the seat, whispering. “The only person’s opinion that matters, is yours.”

Twenty minutes later, we pull into the underground garage beneath the Quad. “When do you have practice later?”

“Oh. We don’t. There aren’t any games this week, so we have today off.”

By the time we get out of the elevator and make the turn to get to my apartment, my cock is so hard it’s going to have a permanent zipper indentation. There is no way in hell she’s going to let me lure her to my bed. I’ve never wanted anything more. Opening the door, I set her bags in the living room as we head into the kitchen. “Pepper, onions, and tomatoes in your eggs with a little shredded cheddar on top?”

She beams. “Wow. You’ve got a good memory.”

“Yeah. Like I said, I love to watch you eat, so I pay attention.” I move into the kitchen and set out the pan and grab ingredients from the fridge. “Will you have free time one evening this week?”

Her eyes bore into the back of my head as I stop myself from turning. I need to be patient. She sighs. “Yes. Why?”

“Oh. I thought I might take you on a date if you’ll let me.”

She sputters. “A date?”

“Yeah, a date.” I crack the eggs and drop in shredded cheese. Then I grab the bread and drop two slices into the toaster. Waiting. She doesn’t make me wait long before she answers.

“Yes.”

My heart pounds in my chest at her answer. Patience has never been one of my virtues, but I’m learning. A few minutes later, the omelets are done and as I plate them, I ask. “Do you still like to hunt?”

“What?”

Oh yeah, now I’ve caught her off-guard. “Hunt. Do you still hunt?”

“To be honest, I haven’t gone hunting since that trip with you.”

“That’s a shame. Let’s go.”

“On a date?” She sputters again.

“No. when the season is over.”

She blows out her breath. “Who says we’ll be talking at the end of the season?”

I hand her the plate and move to sit beside her. “I do.”

“Pfft.” Her focus falls to the plate before her as she swipes the fork into the omelet. Her smile is my undoing. Watching her eat makes me happy. I never thought of myself as the nurturing type of man, but making her happy and giving her what she needs could easily become my obsession. She brings her eyes to mine. “This is so good.”

“Anytime, sweetheart.”

“There’s that word again. I haven’t decided to forgive you yet.”

I move within inches of her ear. “Sure, you have. You’re here. You wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t forgiven. Admit it. You’ve decided to start over with me. Haven’t you?”

She shrugs. “I can’t seem to stop myself.”

I raise my hand to tuck the loose tendril behind her ear. “Eat your food, so you can get to bed.”

As she finishes her last bite of omelet, licking her lips, she glances at her bags, sitting in the living room. “I should get going.” The statement hangs in the air waiting.

“I’ve got a guest room. You could just sleep here and go home in the morning.”

Her forehead crinkles in thought. “Guestroom?”

I slip my hand around her neck and finger the hair on the back of her neck. “Unless you want to sleep in my bed.”

Her lips twitch and my cock springs to attention. “And if I say I don’t want to do anything with you in your bed.”

Smiling, I pick up her empty dish and carry it to the kitchen. “Sleeping is just fine for an activity.”

On cue, her hand covers her mouth as she yawns. “I’d like that.”

I step back to her and take her hand in mine. “Want a t-shirt to wear or do you still sleep in the nude?”

She smirks. “I’ll take a t-shirt.”

Sadness creeps up from the depth of my soul that she’s choosing to wear a shirt because she doesn’t trust me. I think she actually does, but she doesn’t want to admit it to herself. We head to the back of my apartment, walking into my bedroom as I flip on the light by my bed. I open the third drawer of my wood dresser and hand her an old SEAL shirt. She pulls it from my hand and escapes into the bathroom. I strip off my clothes, down to my briefs and climb into the far side of the bed. She steps out as I lift the corner of the bedding as an invitation to join me.

“No funny business.”

I nod as she snuggles down into the bed. I touch the light to turn it off, dropping the room into near complete darkness. “Good night, sweetheart.” I place my arm across her waist and will my cock to relax. It’s only moments and her breathing softens. She’s asleep.