Chapter 24

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Roman

Maddie’s cheeks are shades of red I’ve never seen before, the blush spreading down her chest.

Is she embarrassed?

She shouldn’t be. What we just did was fucking beautiful. Never in my life have I had sex like that.

I’ve made plenty of women cum. I’m a giver in bed.

I’ve made them scream, but with Maddie, every feeling, every touch is amplified.

Mason is glaring at me like he knows. I didn’t agree to this lease deal with my head. It was a decision of the heart.

Business would demand that we proceed with the foreclosure. We could get the property dirt cheap and not have to worry about an owner of the property backing out of the lease or being a nuisance.

But I can’t do it. I won’t be the person who hurts Maddie.

I turn toward Maddie because she’s trying to tug her hand out of mine. But that only makes Mason rumble.

Glancing over my shoulder, I note that his gaze is fixed on my back.

Glancing down I see the scratches Maddie has slashed across my skin. Mason doesn’t assume the decisions are being made with my heart but with my cock, by the way he’s glaring at the marks.

It’s not wrong.

But it’s more than just the sex, and I know it. It’s the way I’m protective of her. The way I run to her every time she calls.

It’s the amount of time I spend on my knees because the sound of her cumming is the best sound in the entire world.

I turn back to Mason, standing in front of Maddie. My glare should say it all. Play nice.

I love my brother. I’d die for him. Kill for him. But hurting Maddie is a bridge I won’t cross. And he’s going to have to respect it. This is new territory for us. Mason is my idol. My father figure. But I’m a man and this is my woman.

I suddenly understand my brother Leo a great deal better. He’s been fighting Mason to gain some basic rules of respect for a long time.

But I’m not sure Mason is getting the memo.

He rises, his face black. “As I told Roman, this is a ridiculous amount of money for the size parcel we are discussing.”

“Oh,” Maddie whispers behind me. “I didn’t realize. I’m sorry.” Her hand comes to my back, her palm flattening out as her fingertips dig into my skin.

My arms cross over my chest. Mason is not an easy man. And all of his softness is reserved for his wife.

But he’s going to have to include Maddie on his very short list of people he treats with care. Or we’re going to have real problems.

“Don’t be sorry, sweetheart. The deal should be beneficial to both parties. That’s how deals work,” I stare at Mason, daring him to argue.

“It’s our job to pay her back taxes now?”

“Oh,” Maddie catches her breath. “Roman told you.”

Mason lifts a brow. He knows that I learned about the back taxes long before Maddie told me.

I bare my teeth, telling him without words to shut the fuck up. I’m going to have to come clean with Maddie. I know it.

But I don’t need Mason starting a trail of bread crumbs that I can’t control. My hands drop to my sides, my fists clenching. “I’m going to get a shirt.”

“Good idea,” Mason fires back, all spit and vitriol in his tone. “Pretend like you have a job and it’s a Tuesday at eleven in the morning. Oh wait. You don’t need to pretend. You do have a job and it is Tuesday at eleven.”

“Fucker,” I say back. Maddie’s hand is still on my back, her breath warm on my skin. I reach behind me and grab her hand, pulling her into the bedroom with me.

“Miss Reid can stay,” Mason says as we leave.

I feel Maddie’s hand shake in mine. Fuck that.

Mason is a shark in business. I don’t blame her for being concerned. I pull Maddie into the bedroom, knowing there is no way I’m leaving her alone with Mason. Letting go of her hand, I close the door, and cross to the dresser to grab a T-shirt, socks, and sneakers. “I need to have a word with my brother.”

I barely contain my anger as I say the words.

“Of course,” she answers, her arms wrapped around herself. “Should I go in the bathroom so you have some privacy?”

My shoulders drop. Maddie is one of the most honest and considerate people I know. “No, love. I’ll walk Mason out.”

“And the papers?”

“He can leave them here,” I call loud enough for my brother to hear. “We’ll worry about signing them later.”

“This is just the first step, like a purchase and sale,” Mason answers through the closed door.

“Then perhaps you should have been more polite,” I grit back.

I hear Mason sigh. Maddie’s hand comes to my arm. “Thank you, Roman. But I can sign today. It’s no problem.”

And she starts around me, heading toward the door.

“I will be right out,” I tell her, shrugging on the shirt. There is no way I’m leaving Mason alone with her for more than a few seconds.

My secrets aside, my brother is not bullying her into anything.

But when I come out, he’s got her hand in his, leading her toward the counter. “My apologies, Maddie.” His tone now soft and gentle. “I miss my wife and I’m afraid it’s made me…difficult.”

“You’re always difficult,” I gripe back, sitting on the couch to put on my socks and shoes.

“True,” Mason smiles, helping Maddie into a chair. “Let me read the clauses out loud to you so you know what you’re signing.”

“Thank you very much,” Maddie answers. “I don’t know what Roman has shared but I can see the outlines of things. Blurs. But reading is not something I’m able to do under the best of circumstances.”

Mason sets himself to explaining each clause, Maddie nodding along. When he’s done, he hands her a pen. She wraps her fingers around it. “Could you…would you mind just placing my hand in the appropriate place?”

I’m next to her, my hand clasping her free one. Maddie has gotten better and better at maneuvering my apartment. It’s times like this, I’m reminded of how much more difficult life must be for her.

I bend over, brushing my lips over the shell of her ear, even as Mason places her right hand just above the line for her to sign.

His eyes meet mine over the top of her head. Is he starting to understand how vulnerable Maddie is? And, even though she has every reason not to be, how generous she is too? She came back out for Mason’s comfort.

Or did he just want her to sign? It’s tough to tell with my brother.

She signs the paper and then gently sets down the pen. “Roman has mentioned Charlotte several times. Please send her my regards. And I sincerely hope you make it back to her very soon.”

“Thank you, Maddie.”

She hesitates for a moment, her fingers squeezing mine. “And thank you for your efforts to find Kate.”

“I think we might be thanking Kate, if she patched Luke back up.” Mason runs a rough hand through his hair with a quick glance at me. Does he know something I don’t? Has he heard from Luke? His voice wasn’t filled with the worry I’d heard last time Mason and I spoke about our cousin.

Maddie nods. “I’m sure she did. But my guess is that, just like me and Roman, Luke is taking care of her now.” She squeezes my hand like she’s thanking me.

The words hit me like a gut punch.

“Maddie, I’m going to see Mason out.”

She nods. “Of course.”

I bring her hand to my lips, brushing her knuckles with my lips, before I let her hand go.

I walk to the elevator, Mason following. I don’t say or do a thing until the doors close. Without warning, I take a swing, clocking him in the fucking jaw.

His head snaps back as he falls against the wall.

Leo and Mason go rounds regularly, but I rarely physically fight with either of my brothers. They’re so much older than me, it’s not been our dynamic. Luke and I were a different story. We fought like two junkyard dogs.

But today, the rules change.

I let Mason recover, squaring my shoulders as he shakes off the hit and charges toward me.

He’s going to ruin his Armani suit, but he doesn’t seem to care, as he grips me around the waist, crashing my back into the elevator wall, his shoulder pushing into my solar plexus.

I get another good hit in his face, hard enough that he stumbles back, and then it’s me who grabs him around the chest and sends him back into the far wall.

We’re going to have to replace the elevator.

“What the fuck, Roman?!” Mason roars as he gets me a good one right in the eye.

I let go of his body, but my face is up in his face. “You are going to play nice with Maddie from now on, is that understood?”

“It’s a billion-fucking-dollar deal.”

A calm I haven’t felt my entire life washes over me. I don’t care.

I don’t care about the money. The casinos can fuck off. I love my family, but Maddie is my future.

I’ve been groomed to be Mason’s replacement. I’m good at it. Good at the details. At making deals, at running companies.

But that isn’t what I want. It’s on the tip of my tongue to just quit. Leave the whole thing.

But the doors slide open, Jack leaning against the Civic.

He takes one look at us and chuckles. “I see you had that talk.”

“Yeah,” I answer. “We had that talk. The one where Mason is going to mind his manners and treat Maddie like she’s his next sister-in-law and not some throw-away pawn in his Las Vegas power game.”

“Our Las Vegas game,” Mason points a finger at me.

“Is that the game where I try to fuck over the sweetest, most innocent woman on the planet? The very one who risked her life for me? Who signed those papers for you? You can fucking have that game, Mason. I don’t want it.”

And then I turn and get back into the elevator, punching the button. “And I want an update about Luke. I know you know something. I could hear it in your tone.”

I catch Mason’s shocked stare right before the doors slide closed. I let them close.

I’m going back upstairs to hold the woman I love. I think it’s time I told her how I feel.