Far From Heaven

A chill lanced through her, jerking her spine straight. Her boss hadn’t actually said that. David had never said that. Her mind supplied it all on its own.

It couldn’t be true, could it? Had her mother seen these things too? Something had driven the woman to drugs. Hell, if someone had waved a syringe full of blissful emptiness in front of Madeleine’s nose right then, she might have shot it up without a second thought. It was enough to raise the hairs on the back of her neck.

I will never do that. I will die first. She chanted it over and over in her head, but the idea wouldn’t leave her mind.

Her boss sent her home for the night. Apparently Dana had informed him of the state she’d found Maddie in earlier. They probably thought she was having a nervous breakdown. They wouldn’t be far off the mark.

Thankfully she didn’t have to see David, since she went out the back. The image of the redhead he was with was burned into her memory, though. Maddie could tell she was tall, even folded into her seat. Probably leggy, too, considering the long, sleek length of her toned arms. Her glittery tank dress had been almost the same shade as that magnificent hair. So had her lips. They had been curled with amused pity for the poor clumsy waitress who doused an old lady with ice water.

If she’d known Ash’s number, she’d have him on speed dial by now. She needed him to lick her wounds again tonight. And lick her in other places. Until she screamed, until she forgot.

She had almost made it to her Jeep when rapid footsteps began beating a path toward her. As she opened her door, she glanced over to see David almost upon her, his stride brisk.

She tried to jump in her car, but he grabbed her arm with one hand and the door with the other, keeping her from fleeing. “Maddie, please, listen to me. Just two minutes and I’ll let you go.”

“Fuck you.”

“Don’t be like that.”

“To hell with you, then. Isn’t that what you said to me last night? And exactly how am I supposed to be? Oh, it all comes clear now. You’re an a**hole. Let me go before I start screaming.”

“It’s not what it looks like, I promise—”

Her blood rushed in her ears. “Hmm, let’s see. You don’t have a sister, or any hot female friends or relatives that I’m aware of. This is someone I’m not aware of, and someone I seriously doubt you just met today, so… I’m just doing the math, here.”

He blew out a breath and ran a hand through his hair, watching the distant traffic on the freeway for a moment. She locked her gaze on her shoes. “And you brought her here,” she finished quietly.

“I thought you were off tonight. And this is where she wanted to go.” She sensed him flinch at the admission without actually seeing it.

Her instinct was to launch at him with her fingernails, but she might actually do him physical damage. So she stood rigid as a statue, afraid if she so much as twitched a muscle it would undo all of her hard-won control. “How long, David? And who is she?”

Now she was only torturing herself, but she had to know. Had to.

“She works in my building. I’ve known her two months. But I swear I never cheated on you, Maddie. Tonight is the first time we’ve ever been out together.”

“Bullshit.”

“What reason do I have to lie to you at this point? What would I gain? If I’d been f**king her, I’d tell you. But it really doesn’t matter if you believe me or not, does it?”

“So you weren’t f**king her, but you wanted to. Well, I feel much better about this whole thing.”

“If you can’t be adult about this—”

“And you are? You don’t know how bad I want to slap your face right now. I thought you were better than this, I really did.”

His eyes narrowed, twin pools of darkness barely catching the dim light from the overhead lamps. “You didn’t seem too broken up about the whole thing last night. At least not enough to stop you from spreading your legs to some f**king stranger. Yeah, I watched you leave with him. I even followed because I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Thought maybe you were just giving him a ride for some reason, thought surely you wouldn’t do something like that. I tried to call you because I was worried about you—you don’t even know that guy.” His mouth twisted bitterly. “I guess your mouth was too occupied to talk.”

She wanted to retort to that, but choked on the words. He wasn’t choking on his; he aimed them at her like darts, and her heart was the bull’s-eye. “So don’t stand there all insulted because I decided to move on, baby. You’ve got me beat by a mile.”

“That’s great, judge me when I’m sure you couldn’t wait to get into her pants while we were still together. That is, if you’re telling the truth, which I doubt.”

“At least I ended things with you first.”

“Yeah, you’re a real gentleman. Get out of my sight, David. And if you wouldn’t mind, stay the hell out of my restaurant.”

A smirk marred his features. She’d once thought he was damn good-looking, and yeah, she guessed he was. But now the very qualities that had drawn her to him turned her stomach. Nothing about his face was interesting. Cookie-cutter handsome. Like a thousand other guys. Now Ash, on the other hand…

“Well, after that episode tonight, it might not be yours for very long,” David said.

It took a moment for the words to register because she was actually caught up in a mini-fantasy about the tiny, almost imperceptible dent in Ash’s chin. Once they did, she couldn’t bring herself to do much more than frown at her ex. Now he was being deliberately hurtful for no good reason.

Wow, how things could change over the course of a day. If not for Ash, and the way he’d made her feel last night, she would probably be a sobbing mess hanging on to David’s leg right now, begging him not to leave her. But she’d never been more serious in her life when she looked him in the eye and said, “You’re obviously proud of what you’ve accomplished with this whole situation, so run along and revel in it. And give my regards to what’s-her-face in there. She probably did me a favor.”

“You’re kidding yourself if you think she’s the only reason we’re here right now. You’re a mess, Madeleine. A f**king mess.”

She was opening her mouth to reply when a new voice spoke up, one that sent shivers up her spine and set her pulse throbbing between her legs. “I believe I heard the lady ask you to leave her alone.”

Ash emerged from around the other side of the car adjacent to Maddie’s Jeep. She’d have run from the look on his face if it had been aimed at her. Since it was directed at her ex, the urge to end up a grateful heap at his feet was almost too much to resist. What was he doing here?

David didn’t look nearly as happy to see him. He drew himself up to his full six feet—Ash was taller, she noticed with no small amount of glee—and squared his shoulders. God, please don’t let them start brawling here. “This is a private conversation, if you don’t mind.” His voice lacked the confidence to make the words much of a menace.

“I mind. The conversation is over.”

That voice, on the other hand…

Maddie watched David’s reaction, anticipating the worst possible outcome from this scenario. He didn’t respond well to threats and he hated to be the first to back down. Judging from the malice rising off Ash in waves, she suspected the same of him. Even though his expression remained calm, almost dispassionate, it was the frightening nonchalance of one who didn’t doubt his strength or abilities for a moment. She needed to step in now, or this could get ugly fast.

“He’s right. I’m done speaking with you, David. I can’t imagine there’s anything else that needs to be said. Right? It’s through, we’re over, and keep in mind that was your choice. So just…leave me alone.”

He finally tore his intense gaze from Ash’s face and fastened it on her, but thankfully the rigid line of his jaw relaxed a bit as he looked at her. “Yeah. Right. Fine.” With one final searing look at Ash, he turned and strode toward the restaurant. She watched his retreating back for a moment, feeling numbness settle in the pit of her stomach. That was good. Numb was good. Her old trusty defense mechanism coming to her rescue yet again, just as it had so many times throughout her life. She only wished she didn’t need it so damn often.

“Another embarrassing moment you’ve witnessed,” she commented, feeling Ash move to her side. She tipped her head back slightly to look at him. “What are you doing here?”

His delectable lips quirked at one end. “Obviously, I’ve been following you.” She cocked an eyebrow at him, and the tilt of his mouth turned into a full smile. “Kidding. Just happened to be leaving from over there and saw you.” He indicated the bar next door, its parking lot separated from the restaurant’s by only a curb with a strip of greenery. “Does seem pretty weird, huh?”

“More than a little. You weren’t with a date, were you?”

“After you? No one would compare.”

Maddie rolled her eyes, but a piece of her turned cartwheels from the sweetness of it. “Oh, that was good.”

“It was, wasn’t it? Good enough to…” He frowned, staring at something over her left shoulder. She looked behind her, but couldn’t see anything except the usual scene: the bar, the parking lot, the freeway.

“What is it?”

His face had undergone a transformation, from good humor to a glower she couldn’t even begin to interpret. She waved a hand in front of his face, and finally he snapped out of it and looked down at her. “What?” he asked.

“What, what? What do you see?”

“Nothing. So where are you going now?”

“Home.” Do you want to come? She didn’t want to ask that question, not at all. She didn’t need to get in any deeper with this guy, because the day of weirdness she’d spent unable to exorcise him from her every thought had unnerved her. Her intense reaction to his mere presence now scared the hell out of her. Already, she was wet, clenching her thighs together against the emptiness burning at their apex. Her br**sts felt heavy and needy beneath her bra, her n**ples chafing against the simple cotton.

She should be mourning a lost relationship, but she hadn’t given it much thought at all until she’d walked into the restaurant tonight. She should still be upset, numb—and maybe she was—but she wanted to drag Ash into her Jeep and f**k him raw right here.

God, he was so good. It was knowledge of that goodness that kept her from stopping him when he suddenly slammed her back against her car with a kiss that scrambled the last of her coherent thoughts into mush. “Shit,” she gasped against his lips, and he chuckled. His mouth burned against hers. She’d forgotten about the freaking heat he generated. Instantly, her skin warmed everywhere he touched her, and she thought she might be sweating from mere contact with him in no time. When they got back to her place—and there seemed to be no question now that was where they were headed—she was going to stick a thermometer in his mouth.