Page 57 of King of Ruin
“Maddie, we offered you ten times that.”
“Yes, but for the house too. And this is just one corner of the yard, right? How big does the vent need to be?”
I shake my head. “I’ll come up with a number that’s fair. And while we’re at it, you should be exempt from the taxes anyway. We’ll get the paperwork filed.”
“Really? You’d help me do that?”
Christ. This woman kills me. I’m a real estate developer. She should ask me to hang the moon for her. “I’d do a lot more than that, Maddie.”
“He’s midwifing a cat,” Jack calls from the kitchen. “I think you ought to ask him to build you a state-of-the-art facility for your rescues. He’s putty in your hands, young lady.”
I glare over my shoulder at Jack.
“That’s crazy,” Maddie laughs.
My glare disappears. Because I’d do it. And a great deal more…
CHAPTER TWENTY
Maddie
I collapse onto the bed.How can watching a cat give birth be so exhausting? It’s been hours since Thomasina birthed what I hope is the final kitten. Four babies are all tucked in with mama in the whelping box that Jack ended up going out to buy.
I stretch on the bed, my muscles soar from a day spent hunched over.
It was glorious. Nothing makes me happier than taking a creature who would have suffered alone, and giving them all the love and support they need.
My grandmother would have said that I wanted to be whatever little bird or squirrel I brought home.
Maybe she’s right. Maybe I help helpless creatures because I feel like one too. I’m at the world’s mercy so much of the time. But no matter the reason, I can’t stop caring for the sick and wounded now. It’s how I find joy.
Which is why I actually kind of love the idea of helping Roman. Not that he’s one of my wounded creatures. But still. Ijust want to do it for him. Show him…that he matters to me. That I care.
He walks into the room, stopping. I can feel his gaze as I stretch. “Do you ache as much as I do?”
“What are we aching for?” he asks, moving closer. My lower legs hang off the bed. His knees come between mine, softly pushing them apart. His hands settle to either side of my chest on the bed, his body leaning over mine. “Because I’ve had an ache that’s been building for days.”
My brows lift as I stretch my arms higher over my head. “Even after this morning?”
“Especially after this morning.” And then he slowly lowers himself until his lips brush over mine.
He starts to pull back and I rise to keep my lips against his. All right, maybe I’ve been aching for him all day too.
Because he sat with me for hours watching over a cat. And when my back started to ache, he leaned against the apron of the couch, pulling my back into his chest while he rubbed my shoulders.
His scent wrapped around me then, just like it’s wrapping around me right now.
He pulls away a bit further, until I can’t follow any more and I collapse back on the bed with a dissatisfied click of my tongue.
He chuckles in response. But he doesn’t come back to my lips. Instead, he kneels down, taking off first one of my shoes and then the other.
He slips off my socks and then slides his hands up my legs until he catches the waistband of my leggings.
I lift my ass because I have no intention of slowing any of this down. I want Roman’s hands on every inch of my body and then I want to trace every angle of him.
I want to feel every ripple, every muscle until I know him as intimately as I know myself.
But he short-circuits my intentions when he gets the leggings halfway down and then plants a kiss on my lower stomach.