Stripped Read online

  “A little of this and that,” she evaded.

  “Well, it’s really good. Been a long time since I’ve had a home-cooked meal.”

  She shoved a spoonful in her own mouth. She wasn’t sure if he was pulling her leg on how good it was or if he was being sincere. After some of the places he’d eaten at, she couldn’t see how this didn’t taste like unseasoned dust.

  “I’m glad you like it.”

  “Momma makes this a lot,” Faith piped in. “It’s her famous casserole.”

  Thanks a lot, kid.

  “I like it,” Noah said. “This and spaggiti.”

  Another cheap one.

  “I bet your momma’s spaghetti is good.”

  She glanced up from the table and was again snagged by Jaxon’s blue eyes. He really did have amazing eyes, but more so now than two days before, because she’d seen them in a different light. She’d seen them soften on her son. Seen them fill with laughter, compassion, understanding. Seen so many more layers to a man she believed one dimensional.

  She’d been wrong. So very wrong.

  After they finished eating, she asked everyone their favorite part of the day. Noah and Faith’s both were feeding the ducks. Madison’s was watching the ducks attack Jaxon. And Jaxon’s was playing games with the kids.

  Afterwards, Jaxon insisted on doing the dishes. While he did that, she got the kids bathed and ready for bed. Again, she was struck with how nice it had been to have a little help. It wasn’t like he was doing much. But she appreciated every little bit he did do.

  As she pulled the covers up over Noah, she said, “We have to get up a little early in the morning, remember?”

  He nodded. “Racheal’s mom is going to watch us.”

  “That’s right. She’s going to watch you all next week, but I have to take you to her place.”

  Which was all the way across town. Not that she was complaining. The woman didn’t have to watch her two, but thankfully, having lived across the hall from Racheal for almost four years, she’d built a relationship with the woman. It just meant that she had to get up an hour earlier than usual.

  She kissed her son on the forehead and then moved over to Faith’s bed. If her bottom lip jutted out any more it’d reach the child’s chest. “What’s the matter with you?”

  “I don’t want to go to bed.”

  “Well, honey, I’m sorry. It’s bedtime. Same as every night.”

  She fisted her little hands and drove them into the mattress then kicked her legs. Madison jerked back, shocked. “Faith Walker, what has gotten into you lately?”

  The little girl then let out a muted scream between clenched teeth.

  Madison put a firm hand on her daughter’s arm. “Faith, you need to stop. Now. If you don’t there will be absolutely no television for the next week, do you hear me?”

  She started to cry. Madison climbed in the bed beside her and held her, troubled by Faith’s odd behavior. Something wasn’t right. Call it mother’s instinct. But this was abnormal. She’d give the doctor a call in the morning. She held Faith until she finally went to sleep, then she tucked the covers around her, and kissed her forehead.

  After she closed the bedroom door, she turned to find Jaxon sitting on the couch, staring off into space.

  “What’re you thinking?” she asked as she sat down beside him, but with enough space to still be respectful.

  He started a bit then smiled. “Honestly, about you.”

  She jerked back from the honest answer. “Me?”

  “Yeah.” He gave a soft laugh. “This weekend has been great…but eye-opening, don’t you think?” He picked up a lock of her hair and ran it through his fingers.

  At the unexpected intimacy, her heart galloped.

  “Eye-opening how?”

  “I thought I had you pegged. Mid to early twenties. The reason you were always so tired by the end of the week was because you were young and you were out partying it up. Kids, the struggles you face, never even crossed my mind.” He paused. “Madison, I’m awed by you.”

  She opened her mouth to say something, but found she couldn’t. Emotions were overwhelming her, closing off her throat. Pinpricks poked at the back of her eyes, horrifying her. She prided herself on keeping her emotions in check, in always being strong, but this week her emotions were all over the place.

  She looked away from him until she had herself collected. “It’s no big deal. I’m a mom. I’m taking care of my kids the best I can.”

  “But who takes care of you?” he whispered.

  She jolted at the question. “Excuse me?”

  “Who takes care of you, Madison?”

  “I don’t need anyone to take care of me. I’m an adult. I can take care of myself.”

  He studied her a very long uncomfortable moment. “I may have worded that wrong for someone as strong as you. How do you take care of you?”

  She blinked at him, then jumped to her feet and walked across the room. “I don’t understand what you’re asking.”

  “You work two jobs. Two kids. No family. You have a neighbor who helps, but she has two kids herself. So how do you take time for yourself?”

  She stayed silent for a long time.

  “I already know the answer, Madison.”

  “Then why are you asking me?”

  “Because I want you to voice it.”

  “Why?”

  He stood and walked to her. He brushed the back of his fingers over her cheek. “I’ve watched you fight back tears. Twice. All because I’ve done something nice for you. Don’t think I haven’t noticed. You’ve been neglected for far too long. It’s time to let someone take care of you.”

  She stepped back from him, mostly because his warmth, his words, were so inviting. But they were dangerous. Unrealistic. She could lose herself in this man. Less than two days under his attention and she had already started thinking crazy thoughts.

  Would it be nice accepting what he was offering? Hell yeah, it would. But what happened when he left. When his extravagant bachelor’s life called him back and she was left alone again?

  But a part of her wanted to accept this. Even if it was temporary. Even if it meant getting hurt in the end. She’d been doing it alone for so long.

  “I can’t.” She stepped back further. “Depending on someone else has brought me nothing but disappointment. It always falls on my shoulders. I always have to stay strong. I can’t, for one moment, believe someone else will be there to pick up the slack. I can’t.”

  He stared at her for a moment, then gave a sharp nod. “Fair enough.” He pulled her forward again, placed his lips on her forehead. “I’ll see you at work tomorrow.”

  Then he left.

  She stared after him, feeling the imprint of his lips on her skin.

  The abruptness of his departure left her feeling uneasy. Jaxon Sutherland didn’t back off that easily. The fact that he had left her wondering what in the world was he planning.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Madison shut off her computer then gathered her stuff to leave for the day. Everyone else had already split and the place was quiet for a change. So far it had been a weird week…and it was only Wednesday.

  One noticeable difference was that playing barista to her boss, Jaxon Sutherland, had been stricken from her daily responsibilities. Not only had he been making his own coffee, each morning so far this week she had walked in to find a hot cup of double mocha espresso waiting for her on her desk. The coffee shop variety too, which had to be putting him back a pretty penny.

  Jaxon had to be coming to the tail end of his budget. She’d give him credit though. Instead of going out for lunch like he usually did every day, she’d caught him scrunching his nose over one of those fifty-cent Styrofoam soup in a cup deals twice this week and he’d had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich today.

  She’d invited him to dinner each night and he’d accepted, but last night he’d been adamant about cooking. Having gone into his office earlier in the day to g
rab something off his desk, she’d found his computer open to ‘100 Ways to Cook Dinner for $5 or Less’. The gesture had almost made her heart expand out of her chest and she’d gushed her thanks. He’d seemed pleased with her reaction.

  The Sloppy Joes with a side of Tater tots had been the best dinner ever.

  Smiling to herself, Madison slung her purse over her shoulder. The man was a billionaire. And he’d fretted over that meal as if he’d been making a five-course dinner.

  She stepped out of her cubicle and looked up. Jaxon was pacing his office, scrubbing the back of his head with his hand. From the way his blonde hair was pointing in multiple directions, he’d been doing it for a while.

  Frowning, she leaned against the doorframe and crossed her arms. “Is everything okay?”

  Every muscle in his back stiffened, then he spun to face her. “Madison. Uh. Yeah. Hey.” A flush crept up his neck and into his cheeks.

  Interesting. She cocked her head to the side. “Are you sure?” she asked slowly.

  There went that scrubbing again. What in the world was on his mind?

  “Um. I have a problem.” His cheeks went from a pinkish flush to an all-out crimson. Good Lord, the man was embarrassed.

  “Okay.” She had never, ever seen Jaxon Sutherland so out of sorts. “What is it?”

  He worked his jaw for what felt like forever, his gaze jumping around the room, never really meeting hers. Whatever was bothering him was something he didn’t want to voice. Concerned, she pushed off the doorframe and stepped toward him.

  “I’m out of money…and I’m out of gas.” His gaze stopped jumping and he blatantly avoided eye contact by staring at the adjacent wall, his jaw tight as steel.

  She froze mid-step as everything in her being, her soul, heart, softened. She knew exactly how he felt right now. The overwhelming panic of being penniless and having no gas and having to battle that prideful part of yourself while asking for help. It was a sucky feeling. But there was a huge difference here.

  He didn’t have to ever feel like this. There was no real reason for this moment.

  He could’ve easily dipped into his account to add a ten or twenty to his budget and she would’ve never been the wiser. So for Jaxon to not think about doing something like that and instead keep to the terms of their deal and put himself in such a vulnerable spot said a lot about the kind of man she was coming to believe he was: good, decent, giving.

  As much as she wanted to continue having him as her neighbor, it was time to let him off the hook.

  “Jaxon. Listen, you have nothing more to prove to me. My opinion of you changed by the end of the first day. I was wrong, and I don’t easily admit when I’m wrong. So let’s forget this entire thing, okay?”

  His gaze shot back to hers. “No. I agreed to a week. I’m going to finish the week.”

  “Now, you’re being bullheaded.”

  “I like to finish what I start.”

  “Okay, then.” She pulled out her wallet.

  Backing away, he cringed and shook his hands. “God, no. I can’t do that. Can we carpool? I’ll give you gas money Friday when the challenge is over.”

  If that made him feel better…

  “That works for me. Do you have enough gas to get home?”

  His grimace answered her question, but he said, “I was on fumes getting here. I was panicked I was going to stall out before I pulled into the parking lot.”

  The perplexed look on his face was so endearing she couldn’t stop herself, she walked over to him and placed a kiss on his cheek. His eyebrows went up. “What was that for?”

  She didn’t really know herself. It just felt right. “Because.”

  Smiling, he rubbed his cheek. “I think I need more becauses.”

  Chuckling, she started for the door. “Come on, Romeo. If you’re riding with me, I have to pick up the kids. You coming over for dinner?”

  “Does a bear shit in the woods? I’m on cup ‘o noodle soup for the rest of the week for lunch. I’m mooching off you for dinner.”

  At that, she laughed outright. She loved his open honesty. “Mooch away.”

  As he fell into step beside her, he sent her an apologetic look. “Unfortunately, this also means no more espressos for the rest of the week.”

  “Hmm.” She nudged him with her shoulder. “If you’d not been buying me espressos, you’d have money for gas. Not saying I didn’t love the thought, I did…just saying.”

  Jaxon sighed. “Yeah. Hindsight, you know. I kind of forgot about gas. I thought I was doing good using coupons to get you the espresso.”

  She stumbled to a halt, staring at him. “You used coupons?” Disbelief saturated her words.

  “Well, yeah. I couldn’t afford full price or I would’ve run out of money faster.”

  So many thoughts darted through her mind at the same time, how amazing he was, how ashamed she should be about how wrong her first impression had been, how lucky she was that she’d been given the chance to get to know the real him. Overwhelming thoughts, overwhelming feelings.

  She rushed forward, grabbed the sides of his face between her palms and tugged his head down, latching her lips onto his. The way he instantly wrapped his arms around her waist and hauled her tight against his body made her aware he’d been wanting this moment for as long as she had. Parting her lips, she invited him in. The tip of his tongue teased hers. A soft moan slipped past her throat. It’d been so long since she’d been kissed.

  Jaxon walked them backwards until her back met the wall. One of his hands slid up her arm to her wrist then lifted it above her head before doing the same to the other one. He raised his head, his breath warming her face as his gaze seared into hers. She loved being held down—loved male dominance. At the club, she played a part. A dominatrix who made men beg to touch her. They were never given her permission.

  Jaxon had it. He knew it. Without asking.

  And he’d turned the tables. Clenching her teeth, she tugged at her restrained arms.

  She wanted to touch him. He refused her wishes. And it was so fucking hot.

  A wolfish smile came to his lips as his grip tightened a tad more. She yanked a little harder and tried to take his lips for a kiss. He pulled his head back as an enticing growl of approval vibrated out of him then he recaptured her lips. There was nothing gentle about this kiss. It was rough, thorough and consuming. Her nipples puckered, her clit pulsed. Her entire body throbbed with lust. Whimpers escaped. She needed him. For one brief moment, he pressed the entire length of his body against hers and she felt the hardness of his cock against her stomach. Then he released her and stepped back, breathing hard.

  Jaxon shoved a hand through his hair. “As much as I want to, I’m not fucking you here in the office, Madison. That’s too cliché. Not that I haven’t thought about it, trust me.”

  What was he talking about? Stepping away from the wall, she straightened her clothes. Then his meaning hit and she laughed. “Ah. The whole secretary boss scenario. I thought that was a popular sexual roleplaying fantasy. You can actually do the real thing.”

  He scowled at her. “We’re not going to.”

  “What are we going to do then?”

  “Right now, we’re going to get the kids.”

  She liked the way he said that—a little too much. Like they were a family, which wasn’t how he meant it, of course. He was just stating what they were setting out to do before they’d gotten distracted. But the “we’re” stood out in that sentence. They weren’t a “we’re” though. She couldn’t forget that.

  As they made their way to the car, there was a weird silence between them. It wasn’t awkward, per se. Like a new awareness, but neither of them was certain yet what it meant. Once they were in the car, that feeling didn’t change. Madison put on the radio for a distraction and a commercial came on about a cruise.

  “You ever been on a cruise?” she asked Jaxon, trying to get a conversation going.

  “Billionaire, Madison. If I want to go s
omeplace, I’m not going to do it with three thousand other people.”

  Usually a pretentious comment like that would’ve gotten under her skin, but it didn’t anymore. She saw the humor in it now. “Touché,” she said with a chuckle.

  “What about you?”

  “No. Cruises have never really interested me. Actually for the same reason you just said.”

  “What kind of things do?”

  She thought for a moment. “I don’t know, really. With the kids, there are a lot of things I can’t do and, either way, I don’t have the money, so it’s not something I think about often.”

  “Often. So there’s something.”

  She sent him a crooked smile then turned her eyes back on the road. “You’ll think it’s stupid.”

  “Try me.”

  “It’s not someplace I want to go. It’s something I’d like to do. I’ve always wanted to go zip-lining.”

  He blinked at her. “That’s it? Out of everything you can think of…zip-lining?”

  She shrugged. “It looks like a lot of freaking fun. Ever done it?”

  “That’s not something that has ever been on my bucket list.”

  “Why not?”

  “I’m more of a sail around on a yacht sort, not extreme thrills.”

  “I guess skydiving would really freak you out?”

  He blanched and she laughed.

  “I’m joking. I’d never jump out of a plane. I wanted to see your reaction.”

  “Yeah. You’re a real comedian.”

  A comfortable silence fell between them for the rest of the drive. However, as Madison parked in front of the brick ranch home, nerves hit her stomach. When she’d agreed to give Jaxon a ride, she hadn’t thought this far ahead. She needed him to stay in the car, but didn’t want to come across as rude by saying so. “I’ll only be—”

  But he was already opening the door. She resisted the urge to groan. Oh well, he was about to hear an earful about her daughter. So far this week, Racheal’s mother had not been giving Faith a great report. She’d say the day would start off, “just peachy,” but as the afternoon wore on, Faith’s outbursts and anger would increase. Afraid the seizures might be behind the behavior, Madison had called their neurologist, trying to get an appointment, but the earliest he could get them in was next week. The appointment couldn’t come soon enough.