Chapter 23

23

Madeline

"Holy fuck, that was amazing!" Leigh is buzzing in a way I've never seen, her entire body filled with excited energy as we make our way out of the airport.

I'm glad to have four security guys guiding us because it's hectic in here. It's taken us probably ten times as long as it should have to get through the airport, but that's because I want to stop and talk with the people who enjoy my music and support me. This is important to me. I wouldn't get to do what I love if not for them.

I slide my sunglasses in place as we step outside into the sun. "It really was," I agree with Leigh. "That was my favorite concert to date."

She smiles. "I truly love that you just called half an hour singing in an airport a concert. I'm not sure there are many singers who would do that."

"Any time I get to sing for people is a concert to me. I will never take any opportunity for granted."

"And that is why I will continue putting up with your Hottie McHottie's shenanigans that get me into trouble with Judy. I never want to work for anyone who doesn't care about people the way you do."

God, I adore her and wish we hadn't taken so long getting to this place in our working relationship. "I never imagined you ever using the word ‘shenanigans.'"

"Well, the definition of shenanigans is playful and reckless behavior not intended to cause harm, so it's not really the correct word in this scenario since it caused me harm. Possibly, high jinks would work better."

I do my best to keep a straight face. I'm actually not sure if she's being deadly serious or if she's fucking with me. "Have you memorized the dictionary. Like, do we know the definition of high jinks?"

I'm treated to one of her stern looks. "We do, but your high jinks discourage me from wanting to share it with you."

I can't keep my laughter in a second longer, and while Leigh tries to hold her stern look, she fails and is soon smiling and rolling her eyes at me.

She quickly gets back to business though, always the one to keep me focused when I get distracted. We wait at the curb outside the airport for our car and go over the interviews I have scheduled for this afternoon. My security team stand behind us while we talk. Leigh is in the middle of telling me that Judy isn't feeling well and may not be meeting us at the next interview as planned when I spy Tucker's yellow Mercedes Maybach driving our way.

When it pulls up at the curb and Tucker steps out, I armor up, recalling Hayden's advice. From the feral expression on my ex's face, I think my lawyer was right.

"Get in the car," he snarls. "We need to talk."

"It truly is lovely the way you boss me around, Tucker, but those days have come to an end. I'm not getting in your car. If you want to talk, we can do that here."

He rips his sunglasses off and I'm hit with his ferocious glare. "You're a piece of work, Madeline, that's for damn sure. You flashed your tits and legs at me all those years ago, and here I am, being taken for a fucking ride by your lawyer after giving you the world." He stops talking, his glare intensifying, turning into something truly menacing before he continues. "You'd do well to rethink all of this because if we get as far as me signing that contract and giving you millions, you will wish you never met me."

"I already wish I never met you, Tucker."

He sneers. "You'd still be writing shitty songs in a trailer park if you'd never met me. And if you steal my money, that's exactly where I'll fucking send you. Back to the hovel I found you in."

"Your money?" The violence I felt when I told Darren to never call me sweetheart again the other day rages to life under my skin. "It's half mine, and if my songs were so shitty, you would never have put your name to them." I move closer to him at the same moment I sense Ethan's presence. I'm too far gone on this violent energy though to turn and see if I'm correct that he's now standing near me. Getting in Tucker's face, I allow the storm of anger consuming me to run wild. "You will sign that contract and you will give me my money that you stole from me. And go ahead and do your best to screw with my career, I'm not going anywhere."

When his nostrils flare and his hand flicks out to squeeze tightly, painfully, around my arm, Ethan's protective streak is unleashed and I realize I wasn't imagining him here. He's on Tucker in an instant, wrenching his hand away and shoving him back. He puts himself squarely between us and growls, "Don't ever put your fucking hands on her again."

Tucker turns his fury toward Ethan as a crowd mills around us. "Keep the fuck out of this. You might be sticking your dick in her but this shit is between Madeline and me."

Every muscle in Ethan's body locks and his voice drops to a low, dangerous rumble that vibrates along my skin when he says, "This shit is done, Brandt. There's nothing left between you and Madeline. If you have anything to say to her again, you'll do that through her lawyer. And you'd do well to never say anything like that about her again." He jerks his chin at Tucker. "Now, get out of my sight before I'm tempted to punch the fuck out of you."

Before I see it coming, Tucker takes a swing at Ethan. He's unsuccessful, though, because Ethan blocks the punch in time, stopping Tucker's fist from connecting with his jaw. Ethan slams both his hands to Tucker's chest and pushes him back again, hard enough this time that Tucker crashes into his car with a heavy thud. Ethan then closes the gap between the two of them and says something to Tucker that I can't hear.

When he steps away from him, he looks down at me, his expression furious but his eyes gentle for me, grips my hand firmly, and says, "We're going." His tone implies that no argument I make will dissuade him.

I don't have any reason to argue, and when I walk away from Tucker, I do that without so much as one final glance. Ethan's right: there's nothing left between Tucker and me. If I never see him again, I'll be a happy woman.

Ethan ushers me and Leigh into our waiting car that's parked behind Tucker's and climbs in after us.

"Wow." Leigh's the first to speak as the car starts moving. "Just wow." Her eyes are wide. "I knew Tucker could be an asshole, but I never knew he could be that much of one."

Ethan's watching me closely, his body still strained, his face still tense.

"He never spoke to me like that while we were together," I say to Leigh, but I'm also getting this out there because I don't want Ethan to think I would be so stupid as to stay with a man who treated me like that.

Leigh's phone sounds with a text, then another, and another. She pulls a face. "I imagine you're about to have another video go viral. And I think I want to withdraw my earlier statement about being okay with Hottie's high jinks."

When she shifts her attention to her phone, Ethan places his hand on my thigh and leans in to ask me quietly, "You okay, Miller?"

I look down at his hand. I like it there. I like it a lot. It makes me feel safe for some reason. Like he won't allow any harm to come to me.

Meeting his gaze, I nod. "Yeah. I'm holding my head high and keeping on going."

His eyes search mine for a beat, like he's making sure for himself that I really am okay. "Good."

With that, the tension eases from his shoulders, from his face, and his mood lightens a little. Not fully, though. I think Tucker really got to him and that it may take him some time to rid his system of that.

"Why are you here?" I cock my head. "And did you actually give up your grandpa ways and go on social media to find me?"

This earns me a smirk. And then his hand comes to the nape of my neck to hold me while he bends his mouth to mine for a very un-Ethan-like quick graze of our lips. "I checked out your Instagram. Found a little thing called Stories." Another smirk before another brush of his lips over mine. "I had a gut feeling about your ex running into you today."

His reason for coming is short and sweet but there are a thousand unsaid words sitting between us, along with a million butterflies.

"If we were alone," I say just loud enough for him to hear, "I would be on your lap right now."

His grip on my neck tightens. "I'll take a raincheck on that."

My gaze drops to his mouth and I think about all the things I want him to do with that mouth tonight.

"Miller," he growls softly, "Don't look at me like that."

I pull my bottom lip between my teeth and smile as I lift my eyes back to his. "Did I tell you I'm expecting a parcel to arrive today?"

"No." He keeps watching me, waiting for me to elaborate because he knows I'm going somewhere with this.

I turn into him and place a hand to his chest. "It'll be filled with panties I know you have a fetish for."

The lines that crinkle around his eyes are lines I'm beginning to live for. "Red ones?"

"I got you all the colors, Black. We can start with red."

"Fuck," he groans. "It's gonna be a long afternoon thinking about that."

I pat his chest. "You could distract yourself by learning the meaning of some acronyms. I'll have Leigh text you a list of the most commonly used ones. It'll help you keep up in life."

"Smartass." But this gets me his mouth again.

When he gives it to me for nowhere near long enough, again, I grumble, "What's with the quickies? I am not here for them."

He chuckles. "I kinda like this whiny version of you."

"Well?"

"Babe," he says and I melt, "you're working. I'm trying to respect that."

Leigh takes this moment to interject her thoughts. "You could have tried to respect that this morning."

I laugh and angle my body back to face the front of the car as Ethan looks around me at her.

"When should I expect to start regretting that?" he asks, his tone light and fun, making me think he's moved on from the Tucker encounter.

"Oh, Hottie, you have no idea," she says before glancing out the window and announcing, "Okay, you two, we're here. You've got five minutes." She looks at Ethan. "If you decide to get all handsy, or dicky, I won't hesitate to get back in the car with you and make things real awkward between the three of us."

"Dicky?" Ethan's amused. "Do you two sit around daily and come up with as many outlandish concepts as you can?"

I grin, knowing that he's referring to my talk of the FBI listening in on his phone calls, but Leigh just gives him her best scary look and says, "No sex, Hottie. Keep your dick to yourself."

Once we're alone, he pulls me onto his lap. "We need to introduce our assistants to each other. Troy is just as in my face with shit as Leigh is. They'll be fucking in no time and then I'll have your filthy mouth whenever I want without being ordered to stop." His hands are up under my T-shirt by the time he finishes talking and he's got them all over my breasts.

"Are you seriously groping me like a teenager right now, Black?" It's a good thing there's a screen between us and my driver.

"Fuck, yes." He bunches my shirt up so he can get his eyes on my boobs. "You try being me and see how long you can go without touching these tits."

"You went days without doing that when we met."

His eyes find mine as he slows everything down. "If we'd met under different circumstances, it wouldn't have been days."

I stare at him. There's so much to say but only minutes before I have to go. I press my body to his. "How long are you staying in Nashville?"

"I have to leave tomorrow. Callan's coming home from his honeymoon and I want to spend some time with him over the weekend before he gets busy again with work and life."

"I like that you told me why, but you didn't have to."

"I told you I'm in this with you, Maddie." He gently sweeps a strand of my hair away from my eyes. "For me, that means sharing things about my life like this with you. I don't know what you've had before with guys, but I'm into transparency. No secrets, no lies."

"No games," I say softly, threading my fingers up into his hair at the nape of his neck, loving every word coming out of his mouth.

He nods. "No fucking games."

I hold his gaze for a long moment before saying, "I want all of that too. And I also want a proper Ethan kiss. I'm not letting you go until you give me one."

"An Ethan kiss?" His lips quirk.

"You don't do anything fast when it comes to kissing or sex. I've decided this must be your trademark."

His eyes show how entertained he is by me. "Your mind is fucking fascinating with the shit you come up with."

"Jesus, Black." I grow impatient. "Are you gonna hurry up and kiss me before Leigh gets back in the car and starts—"

His mouth cuts me off and he finally, finally, gives me the kiss I want.