Read Online Maddie and Wyn by Cameron Dane - Free Book Online Page A

the cry emotionally rather than physically, she said, “But maybe between us it’s time to attempt something new.”
    Both of Wyn’s dark brows shot halfway up his forehead. “Like a real friendship?”
    “Yeah.” He held back giving her more, and a claw of doubt scratched at her, making her voice drop to a whisper. “If you want it.”
    Coming upon the steps to the cabin, Wyn paused, braced against one of the bottom posts. In the background Maddie could see the party still going at full swing behind the curtainless windows, but she stayed focused on Wyn, trapped, her breath held while waiting for his response.
    Hands tucked into the pockets of his sweatshirt, the zipper tucked all the way up to his chin, in that moment a bear of an imposing, brash guy became just a real, true imperfect but genuine human in Maddie’s eyes.
    “I’d take a stab at friendship with you in a heartbeat, Maddie.” The light in Wyn’s steady stare backed up his words. “You already took the first step with me tonight. You saw me in a bad place and you helped me out of it.” He cleared his throat, and his shoulders went rigid as he looked toward where the benches would be beyond the trees. “I won’t forget how you came looking for me tonight to help. And you did. A lot.”
    For one reason only, the revelers inside became important to Maddie. “Do you feel okay enough to face the party again?”
    Wyn swung to look at the cabin, took a moment, and then nodded. “Yeah, I do.”
    “Good.” Nodding too, Maddie took a position at the center of the stairs and crooked her arm to him in welcome. “Let’s go.”
    Looking skyward again, Wyn muttered something she couldn’t decipher, and then linked his elbow to hers. “You’re a special person, Maddie. A rare find.” He laughed out loud, something from deep in his gut. “I knew it the first time you called me a douche.”
    Waggling her brows, soaring on the inside, Maddie regally escorted Wyn up the steps. “Here’s hoping you still think that when we kiss again in three years.”
    “Good Christ.” Wyn crossed himself, but she knew he wasn’t religious or truly offended by her cheekiness. “You are too much.”
    “I know.” One last time to sustain her for the next one thousand and ninety five days ahead she would have to hold back, Maddie leaned up and pressed a fast kiss to Wyn’s stubbly jaw. “But that’s why you like me.” Before he could protest that she’d broken any rules, Maddie pushed open the front door to Aidan and Ethan’s party and dragged Wyn back inside. “Come on. Let’s get you a drink.”
    They entered the wave of partiers and pushed through the wall of music and people, without a soul looking up at them, nobody the wiser that Maddie and Wyn had ever been gone. But Maddie knew. And Wyn did too. Everything had changed tonight. The world ahead for the two of them was wonderful. Neither one of them would ever be able to go back. They couldn’t…
    * * * *
    …Wyn’s voice broke through Maddie’s memories and wrenched her back to the present.
    Standing at the entry to her kitchen, in sweats and a faded Redemption Police T-shirt, Wyn watched Maddie with an intensity that quickened her pulse.
    “Your cheeks have the same pretty coloring on them right now as they did the first time you kissed me.” Scratching his hand over his heart, something almost wistful softened his blunt features. “Christ, you were sexier and more tempting to me in those ten layers of clothes that night than any picture or movie I’ve seen with a woman in a bikini since. You were captivating, Maddie.” His Adam’s apple moving hard, Wyn stepped into the kitchen and took a seat across from her at the table, his voice rough as he added, “You still are.”
    A different picture from the past flashed before Maddie’s eyes, and the too-vivid sight from four years ago stabbed at her soul.
    She shot up, his flattery already a distant memory. “You have a funny way of showing it