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I wake with Madison curled around me, her cheek resting on my chest as she sleeps soundly. It’s the most beautiful sight, and for once, I don’t want to get out of bed. I can’t think of anything more important than being here with her — not work, not a social event, not anything. I can already hear Leo having fun downstairs with Mom, the TV blaring in the background.
Overcome with a wave of awe, I hold Madison closer and gaze out of the window, watching the city wake up. It looks brand new today. She makes me feel like I’ve stepped into a new universe entirely. I understand now what is meant by rose-tinted glasses. Nothing is gray or dark when I’m with her.
Still, worry over what comes next presses in on me. I’m going to have to tell Brandon the truth sooner or later, and I know for sure that I’m going to lose my best friend. A pang of pain slices through me, but it isn’t enough to drive me out of bed and away from her.
Nothing is.
She moans pleasantly, shifting as her eyelashes flutter open. Groggily, she looks first around the room and then at me. Automatically, a sweet smile curls on her lips, sending my heart aflutter.
“Morning, sweetheart.”
Though the change is subtle, I notice it. She stiffens against me, her smile falling. “Morning.” Her voice is sexy, still hoarse with sleep, but I’m more concerned than turned on.
Don’t call me that, is what she said that first time, when I used the term of endearment only to mock her. It feels like a lifetime ago — which is probably why I’d forgotten until now. It was more than just distaste. She reacts to the name like she’s been struck by an angry fist.
“What is it?”
She shutters all at once, drawing away and leaving me cold. “Nothing.”
Before she can evade my scrutiny, I catch her wrist. “Baby… Please, talk to me.”
She takes a ragged breath, and my own chest aches. Tucking knotted strands of hair behind her ears, she finally looks at me through hazy eyes. “He used to call me that.”
“The asshole ex in Italy?”
She nods, and my stomach sinks. Slowly, testing the waters, I kiss her shoulder. “I’ll try to remember not to call you that anymore. I’m not him, Madison.”
“I know.” She turns to me, our noses brushing as she cups my jaw. “I just don’t want to remember him anymore. That’s all.”
“Then how about I make you forget?” Before I can pull her in, fuck away those memories, my door swings open. Despite having borrowed a spare T-shirt last night and thus being perfectly decent, Madison uses the duvet to cover herself as Leo bounds into my room.
“How come I never get to have a slumber party?” Leo pouts, bouncing over my legs to cuddle me. I hug him tightly, grinning.
“You’re not old enough yet. Maybe when you’re thirty.”
“That’s so long!”
Madison giggles, though she’s still rigid as though she’s unsure how to act around him. I understand. Yesterday, she was Leo’s nanny. Today, she’s so much more.
Still, she pokes Leo in the ribs with that same playfulness as always. “Somebody’s been drinking chocolate milk this morning.”
Indeed, Leo has a brown ring around his mouth from a glass of his favorite beverage, which comes out much more often whenever Mom is around to spoil him.
I wipe it off with a tissue from my bedside table, then get up, yanking on a pair of sweats over my briefs. When you have a kid, you don’t get to sleep naked — even if I was very close to doing so with Madison last night. I don’t miss the way she ogles me as I pull on a loose shirt.
I wink at her before Leo sees, then abruptly switch to Dad Mode. “I’m going to go talk to my mother. How about you two watch TV in here for a minute? I’ll bring you breakfast soon, okay?”
“Okay.” Madison smiles, and immediately, Leo crawls under the covers. She grabs the remote and switches on the flatscreen, lost in conversation with my son.
They’re so damn perfect that leaving them makes me ache. God, what is happening to me?
This new sense of bliss doesn’t last. I head down the steps to find my Mom grimacing apologetically. “I tried to catch him, but he’s too quick for an old woman. I hope you were both decent up there.”
She raises an eyebrow just to show that she knows about Madison’s presence.
Fortunately, I no longer have any reason to hide it, so I just fold my arms across my chest. “We were. He’s up there watching TV with her. Thanks for watching him last night.”
“Of course. You know I’ll always jump at the chance to see my two favorite boys.” With crinkled eyes, she pats my cheek, the smell of her opulent Chanel perfume wafting around me and reminding me of a childhood I’d rather forget. Ever since her comment about me being like Dad, my past has been haunting me. Maybe that’s why I finally took the plunge with Madison last night, too: I don’t want to wind up alone like him.
