Page 37 of Long Hard Road

Waking to find Madison standing over me, dressed in her skimpy sleepwear and looking so damn angelic in the moonlight was easily one of the highlights of my life. It was quickly topped when she climbed on top of me and let me kiss the fuck out of her.

“Where do you want to start?” she asked, primly folding her hands in her lap.

I had a lot of questions, but some were more urgent than others. “Let’s start with why you left Nashville.”

“Okay.” Her voice had grown quiet. “This isn’t going to be easy to tell you. It’s embarrassing.”

“I got food poisoning in Iraq and threw up on myself and shit my pants at the same time.” I nudged her with my elbow. “It can’t be more embarrassing than that.”

Her tiny giggle healed a crack in my heart that I didn’t know was there.

“You remember those fake relationships I told you about? I explained how they weren’t real but they looked real to everyone else. One of those guys went a little rogue after the planned breakup.” She was so hesitant to continue that it took a lot of restraint for me to not push her to continue.

“Do you know who Adam Colligan is?” she asked.

“The baseball play?” I scoffed. “Yeah. He hit my little brother in the head with a fastball in the playoffs last year.”

“So you already know that he’s an asshole.” Her thumbs tapped together in a steady rhythm. “Adam got a little attached to me while we were fake dating. Or, rather, he got attached to my fame and wealth. He liked how all the young women ran out and bought his jersey when the first pictures of us together went public. He tried to get me to agree to keep up the charade for a few more months, but I just couldn’t do it. He had the personality of a piece of cardboard that thinks it’s the hottest piece of cardboard in the world.”

I had to laugh at the imagery. Based on what my brother Noah had told me about Adam Colligan, that sounded like an accurate description.

“He got pissed when I refused to do what he wanted. So he went on one of those shows where men sit around talking shit about women and he told them insanely detailed information about our sex life.”

“But it was a fake relationship?”

“Yes, exactly. He made it all up. Doesn’t matter, though, because everyone except our inner circles believes it was all real.” She dropped back onto the cushions and closed her eyes. “I’m very careful about who I let get close to me. I know the lengths that a lot of people will go to for fifteen minutes of fame. We are always careful with these arrangements.”

“The background checks and NDAs?” I guessed.

“Yes. Those are non-negotiable. Adam just didn’t give a fuck. He knew that once he said those things it would be too late for me to do anything about it. I could sue him for the violation, but what good would it do? People would just think I’m a bitter ex-girlfriend.”

Her long lashes fluttered over her pink cheeks and her lips were pressed together. She was doing her best to hold back her emotions.

“Want me to have Noah throw at his head the next time they face each other?” I offered.

She laughed and turned her head to me. “No, but thanks for the offer.”

“Anytime.” I leaned back and mirrored her posture so our heads were turned toward each other on the cushion. “Tell me more about Ellison.”

“You don’t want to know what Adam said about me?”

“If it’s all lies, I don’t need to hear it. I’ll just get pissed and have no way to take out my anger. Let’s focus on what I actually can do.”

“You can’t hit Eli. Even if he deserves it.” Her hand covered mine on the cushion between us. “I had a different security team a few years back. My parents had hired them and frankly, they weren’t very good. One day, some crazy guy walked right into my house while I was home. Stood in my kitchen without a stitch of clothing on and asked me to marry him. My bodyguards hadn’t even noticed him walking through my front door.” She shook her head in disgust. “I was on tour with Skylar Hart a few days later and told her what had happened. She told me to lose those idiots and recommended Ellison to me. I’ve never had an incident like that again.”

“Okay, but did you accept the proposal?” I had to joke about it because the reality of what had happened was too horrifying to ponder seriously. A crazy man had walked right into her home and no one had been there to protect her.

“The ring was a cock ring. What do you think?” A devilish twinkle appeared in her eyes and hearing her say the word cock made my own twitch to life.

“I mean… was it at least impressive?” I joked.

“The ring or the cock?”

“You’re going to have to stop saying that word,” I growled.

“Need another cold shower?”

I took a deep breath that did nothing to still my rushing blood. “Angel, there’s not enough cold water in the world to tame my desire for you.”