23. Madelyn

CHAPTER 23

MADELYN

I parkmy car in the driveway at The Wild Peach. As I look out at the orchard, I get that same feeling I had the first time I got here. That everything just feels right. I’m not sure what it is about this place, but it almost feels magical. At least to me it does.

I walk up the stairs to the house and am about to walk in when I hear Asher say, “Hey.”

He’s sitting on the porch swing, and I release my hold on the door and turn to him. “Hey,” I whisper.

He pats the seat next to him. “Come here.”

I go to sit next to him, and he puts his arm around me. “You know what I was thinking about today?” I ask.

He holds me tighter, and his voice drops. “What?”

“You need to add a deck onto the back porch. It would be nice to be able to sit back there and see the orchard under the moonlight. Don’t you think?”

He turns in his seat so he’s facing me. He has one hand on my back and the other on my knee. “Yeah, I think that’s a great idea.” He blows out a suffering breath. “How did today go?”

I shrug, searching his eyes for any indication of what he’s thinking. “It went well. They have a smooth operation. The property is beautiful, and they offered me a good salary, a house of my own, benefits…”

I let my voice trail off because the more I say, the tenser he becomes. “It’s an hour away,” he says. “I know it’s not ideal, but I can come see you on the weekends.”

I sit up a little straighter. “You want to see me?”

“Fuck, Maddie, I messed up so bad yesterday and I’ve regretted it since you left.”

I put my hand over his and thread our fingers together. I choke out the words. “How? How did you mess up?”

“I messed up when I told you that we were temporary and that you should go. I shouldn’t have said that to you because it was a lie, Maddie. I know we haven’t known each other long, and I know there are a hundred reasons why I should let you walk out the door, but I can’t do it. As soon as you left, I ran to the house to see if you’d packed all your things and taken them with you. In that instant, right before I knew your things were still here, I felt what it would be like to not see you again, and it was hell. I don’t want to go through that. I know I’m being selfish, but I can’t let you go.”

I suck in a breath. “You can’t?”

He shakes his head and brings his hand up to cup my face. “No, I don’t want to. We have a connection, and I don’t want to let you go. I looked it up on the map app, and Evers Orchards is not that far. I can come and see you.”

I wipe a tear off my cheek. “Do you know how many trees I’ve pruned in my life?”

He seems taken aback at the change in the subject. “Hundreds,” he answers as he tries to dry my eyes.

I nod. “Yeah, hundreds, but today was the first day I really thought about what I was doing.”

“What do you mean?”

“We prune the trees to get rid of the diseased branches. That way the tree is healthier and the fruit is better.”

He nods.

“Yeah, well, after they made the offer today, I asked to think about it. I wanted to walk around their orchard and think things through. I was worried about making the wrong decision.”

He nods, and his jaw hardens.

“Well, I watched the men working, pruning the trees, and it hit me. I figured it out.”

After I pause for a few seconds, he shakes his head. “What did you figure out?”

“You think you’re saving me.”

He shakes his head to disagree, but I keep talking. “You once told me that you would never take your pleasure and give me pain. If you thought you were holding me back in any way, you wouldn’t do it. You were pushing me away not because you didn’t want me or that you thought this was a fling but because you thought you didn’t deserve me. You think I deserve something that I don’t even want.”

He opens his mouth to say something and then closes it again.

“Say it,” I encourage him.

“You deserve better.”

I wait for him to continue, and when he doesn’t, I know I have to find some way to show him reason. “First of all, I don’t think there is anyone better than you, Asher Wild. Yeah, you might be a little grumpy, but you have made me feel more special than I’ve ever felt in my life.”

“You are special, Maddie.”

I tilt my head. “I deserve to be with a man that is going to care if I have my EpiPen or not. I deserve a man that wants to take me for golf cart rides under the moonlight. I deserve a man that sees me upset and decides he’s going to help me like you did with my parents.” I put my hand to the side of Asher’s face, and he leans into my hold. “I deserve a man that’s going to get me a heating pad when I have cramps and a man that will make sure I have an orgasm—hell, multiple orgasms that I didn’t even know I was capable of.” I lean into him. “You’re that man, Asher. I want you to be that man.”

He pulls me to him and settles me on his lap. “I want to be that man, too.”

I loop my arms around his neck. “So it’s settled.”

He nuzzles his lips against my neck. “I’m sorry, Maddie. I’m sorry for letting you leave here thinking that you didn’t mean anything to me when the exact opposite is true.”

“I forgive you.”

He chuckles as he kisses up my neck and then nips at my ear. “You should make me grovel, baby.”

I pull back to look into his eyes. “I missed you today. I forgave you before I even got back into Peach Springs, Asher.”

His lips caress mine, and I take full advantage of his kiss. I can’t help but shift on his lap, and I feel his erect manhood poking against my hip. I pull my lips from his. “You missed me too.”

It’s a statement, not a question, and he nods his head in agreement. “I missed you, too.” He sucks in a ragged breath.

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

He traces his fingers across my eyebrows, down my nose, across my cheeks. It’s like he’s committing it all to memory. “How long do we have?”

“How long?” I ask him. When he’s touching me, I have trouble keeping up with what he’s saying. “How long? What do you mean?”

His voice is strained. “How long until you report to Evers?”

My eyebrows raise. “Are you firing me?”

“Firing you? No, of course not.”

“Good.” I laugh. “Because I thanked them for the opportunity, but I told them that I preferred to work with peaches.”

His body tenses under mine. “You’re staying? You’re not leaving?”

With no doubts at all, I answer him. “Yeah, I’m staying.”

He envelops me in his arms and holds me tight against him. His whole body shudders as he holds my body to his. “I do have a few conditions, though.”

He pulls back and promises me, “Anything. Anything you want, it’s yours.”

“Two things.”

He nods. “Anything.”

I hold up one finger. “No more lying to me.”

“I didn’t—” he starts and then shakes his head. “Right, okay, I won’t ever lie to you again. Even if I’m doing it to protect you or because I think I’m doing what’s right. I won’t lie to you again.”

I nod. “Good. And from now on, we sleep together. I waited for you to come to me last night and ugh, it was horrible when you didn’t show up.”

He leans his forehead on mine. “If I’d come to your bed last night, I wouldn’t have been able to let you go, Maddie. I couldn’t.”

I put my hands on each side of his face. “Good. That’s exactly what I want. Don’t let me go, Asher. Not again.”

His voice is thick with emotion. “I will never let you go, Madelyn Weston.”

I kiss his lips, and when he tries to deepen it, I pull back. “Now take me to bed and show me how much you missed me.”

In one swoop, he picks me up and carries me through the house. He takes me to my bedroom and kicks the door closed behind him. He lays me on the bed and then climbs in next to me. I look down at the two of us. “We have way too many clothes on.”

He nods. “I know, but there’s something I need to tell you.”

Oh, no. I had worried I was taking things too fast, and I don’t want him to feel like he has to say anything. “You don’t have to… I’m here with you, and that’s all that matters.”

He looks deep into my eyes. “I fought it, Maddie. I fought it hard. But I can’t let another second go by without telling you. I fell for you and I fell hard. I love you.”

I push him to his back and lie across his chest. There’s no way to stop the smile from forming on my face. “I love you, too.”

He leans up. ‘You love me?”

I shrug. “How could I not?”

His hands go to my ass, and he pulls my lower body until his manhood digs into my belly. He leans up and kisses me and then pushes me to my back. As he starts to undress me, he says, “You won’t regret this, Maddie. I’ll make sure that you never regret choosing me.”

I pull at his shirt. “I like the sound of that, but let’s have less talking and more action, Mr. Wild.”

And he does just that.