December 21st
Bren,
Merry Christmas.
I'll see you again soon.
Dad.
—
When we got upstairs, I used the bathroom first before collapsing onto the mattress to wait for Madie to finish getting ready for bed. I had almost dozed off by the time that she slipped into the room. But then I immediately jerked awake at the sight of her.
She was wearing that skimpy robe—the same one she'd worn around the beach house whenever she wanted to get my attention. Okay, maybe that wasn't why she wore it. But that was always what happened.
Madie walked across the room slowly, glowing in the white silk that was like a mixture of snow and moonlight. Her strawberry hair draped over her shoulder in long waves, and she'd put on the necklace I gave her.
Shit, I was pretty positive that was the only thing she had on, besides the robe.
Madie kneeled on the mattress at the end of the bed. I rolled onto my back and raised a brow, wondering what was happening in that pretty head of hers.
"I love the necklace," she said softly. "Thank you."
"It looks great on you. Matches your eyes."
"My eyes?"
"Yeah, the blue is similar."
She frowned, and I wondered if I had said something wrong. But then she muttered, "I didn't know you paid attention to that kind of thing."
I laughed at the irony. She had no fucking clue just how much I paid attention to everything. "I've never told you that I'm obsessed with your goddamn eyes?"
She shook her head.
"Well, I am. People always say that eyes are the windows to the soul and shit like that. And I always thought that was crap. Until I met you."
A soft grin replaced the frown on her face. And there was a little bit of pride in her voice when she said, "That's just because you love me."
Hearing her say that made me smile. But I had to disagree. "You think that I can see your soul because I fell in love with you?" She gave a little shrug, and I threw a hand back behind my head, resting it there. "Nah, Madie. It's the other way around."
I could see the gears working in her head as she thought through what I was saying. And then she blinked slowly, closing her eyes for a moment before looking back at me. Her gaze was glimmering. "You're going to make me cry again."
"That wasn't my intention. I'm just feeling sentimental tonight, I guess." My throat tightened, emphasizing the point painfully. But I managed to swallow and added softly, "I've never felt happiness like this."
Because that was the hard truth of it. I thought I knew what happiness felt like growing up. It wasn't something I had experienced a lot, but I thought I'd felt it in fleeting moments. But it was nothing compared to the emotions that had flooded me today.
"You make me so happy, too, and I'm sorry that I couldn't give you more," Madie said, invading my thoughts with her quiet voice.
"Don't, Madie. Don't even—"
"Just listen, Bren."
I took a deep breath. And then I listened.
Madie's eyes smiled at me while she spoke. "The fact is that all I can really give you are pieces of me. But I want you to have them. I want you to have all of them."
"Madie," I groaned. She was fucking killing me tonight. My heart literally wasn't going to make it.
She crawled forward, straddling her knees on either side of my feet before sitting up again. And that's when I realized that I actually wasn't going to survive. Because Madie's fingers were undoing the tie around her waist, and then it was hanging open. She dropped the tie onto the bed before confidently spreading the robe open so I could fucking devour the sight of her. Not even a scrap of lace remained beneath the silk. It was just skin. Everything was exposed. For me. And everything was perfect.
Fucking hell.
It was paralyzing how much I wanted her, how much I loved her, and I completely froze. How many times was she going to do this to me? How many times was she going to turn me into a speechless idiot?
"Bren?"
"Hang on." I put a finger up. "I'm taking a mental picture of this, and then I'm gonna kiss the shit out of you."
She threw her head back, laughing. "You could just take a real one," Madie said as if it was the obvious thing to do.
My eyes, which had been busy raking over every inch of her, flicked upward. I needed to see her face. It was twitching with amusement.
And something else.
"Are you...serious?"
Madie didn't reply. Her mouth stayed the same, just a small playful smile curving across her face. But the rest of her body told me everything. She posed for me, bringing one arm above her head so her tits perked up, the necklace I got her laying between them. Her nipples hardened, and I couldn't help but swear beneath my breath. Madie tipped her head back and looked down at me beneath thick lashes. And then she widened her stance, her legs parted purposefully.
"Madie?" I didn't even realize how heavily I was breathing until I tried to speak. My voice was all tangled emotion. Stripped down, bare, raw. Like her as she stood before me.
"I'm serious, Bren."
That voice of hers—it was like a fucking aphrodisiac.
With a shake of my head, I reached for my phone, even knowing that I'd probably only capture her outline considering how dark the room was. But fuck, I wanted it. I wanted this moment forever.
And she was going to give it to me. Because when I lifted the phone, Madie's smile turned seductive.
And so I snapped the picture. And then I stared at it. Shit, she was something else—an absolute vision. The light coming in from the window gave the photo an unearthly, bewitching glow, and it was honestly the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.
She. She was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.
"Tell me to delete it, and I will," I said with a throaty rasp, glancing back at her and hoping to hell she wouldn't tell me to delete it. I swore to myself that I'd hide it away so no one would ever see it except me, but god, I didn't want to delete it.
"Don't delete it." Her voice was raspy, too. And soft.
Thank fuck.
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure." She dropped onto all fours, crawling toward me. The robe slipped off further, uncovering more of that skin. "Unless it's bad?"
A strangled laugh made its way through my lips. "Bad? Baby, no." But then I looked at the photo again and reconsidered. Dropping my voice, I flicked my gaze back to hers and added, "Well, on second thought...maybe. But only because that picture does make me want to do very bad things to you, Madeline."
She sucked in a breath but then recovered, swatting my chest with a throaty laugh. "Oh, stop."
I laughed too, even though it was one hundred percent not a joke.
Madie sat straight up, straddling my waist. Then she shook her head, smiling down at me. "So... it's good?"
I chuckled. "It's more than good."
Good was the understatement of the year. Fucking jaw-dropping was more like it. "Did you want to see it?"
"No. I trust you. Besides, it's for you, not me."
"Well," I said, sighing and throwing my phone back on the bedside table so I could attach my hands to her hips. "If you see me spending way more time on my phone now, you'll know why."
With a laugh and a shrug, Madie replied, "Go ahead. I'm pretty obsessed with the face you make when you look at me, Bren. It makes me feel...good." She took a little breath and then added softly, "It makes me feel more than good."
Her gaze roamed my face for a moment before dropping slowly down. Bright eyes worked their way over my torso, over my arms. I could feel the heat rising to the surface of my skin in response to the way she was looking at me. And hell, it felt good.
More than good.
I waited until she glanced back at my face before murmuring, "I know exactly what you mean."
Madie bent down. Her breath fanned across my lips, teasing me as I waited for her close the distance. "It's almost like..." She cut off, and I wasn't sure if it was because she didn't know how to describe it or if it was because of how I had taken to skimming my palms up her sides. Gooseflesh rose beneath my fingers.
I wasn't sure why Madie grew silent, but I decided to finish the sentence for her.
"Magic, baby. It's like magic."
"Yes," she breathed out, long and slow, torturing me. After a moment, she whispered, "Bren?"
My brain was fogging over with the need to do something about our closeness. The need for her. "Madie?"
She started giving me little moans of appreciation as my fingers continued to trace their way over her skin. But between her moans, she sighed, "It's time for you to kiss the shit out of me, now."
Holding her tightly around the waist, I flipped us over so I was on top, and she was a warm, tempting presence beneath me.
And then I kissed her.
Everywhere.
🤍
I'm all about a little holiday magic.
Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend!
Xoxo