Kate Hoffmann – The Mighty Quinns: Dermot-Dex (страница 38)

He glanced over at the clock beside the bed. They had to get up in four hours if they were going to catch their train. Kieran reached out to set the alarm, then decided that there was no need. He wouldn’t get any sleep tonight, not with Maddie curled up next to him.

Kieran pulled her closer, wrapping his arm around her waist. He’d expected this trip to be an exercise in boredom, but it had become the exact opposite. With every minute he spent with her, he felt himself changing.

He liked not knowing what tomorrow held, not having a carefully constructed plan. For all he knew, tomorrow might be the most amazing day of his entire life—or a total disaster. But that didn’t matter. If he was with Maddie, then it would always be a good day.

3

MADDIE OPENED HER eyes to see the early-morning sun pouring through the hotel window. This time, she knew exactly where she was. She didn’t have to think about it or reach out for her itinerary. She was in bed, with Kieran Quinn, in Topeka, Kansas.

But one question came quickly to mind. What time was it? Weren’t they supposed to get up to get on a train at five in the morning? She pushed up on her elbow and wiped the sleep from her eyes, then peered at the bedside clock. It was 9:00 a.m. The train had left about three hours ago.

Maddie groaned and flopped back down into the pillows. Knowing Kieran’s penchant for schedules, he was not going to be pleased. And if the tickets weren’t refundable, he’d have something to say about that, as well. But then, if she made the prospect of an extra day in a hotel room more interesting, he might not complain.

He’d be happy if she had breakfast waiting for him when he woke up. Maddie slipped out of bed and fetched the menu from the nearby desk. She tiptoed into the bathroom and closed the door, then stared at herself in the mirror.

Her hair, still damp when she’d fallen asleep, was a riot of curls, falling in tendrils around her face. She grabbed the toothbrush she’d bought last night and brushed her teeth, then picked up the phone next to the toilet.

She ordered strawberry waffles, eggs Benedict, a Denver omelet, a basket of pastries, orange juice and a big pot of coffee. At the last minute, she added a side of grits and biscuits with gravy.

Drawing a deep breath, she smiled to herself. Spending an extra day in Topeka wasn’t in the plan, but she felt safe here. It would be nice to have some time to just relax with Kieran.

Maddie wandered back out into the bedroom. She picked up her cell phone from the desk and looked at it. She knew there would be multiple messages from her mother waiting in her voice mail and in her text box. A tiny twinge of guilt worried at her and she fought the temptation to call her mother and let her know that she was all right.

But if her calls and texts could be traced, she didn’t want to risk it. Her mother was relentless and would do and say anything to drag her back. Maddie just needed a few more days. Then she’d be able to deal with her mother in a more calm and rational manner.

Maddie set the phone down and crawled back into bed, curling against Kieran’s body. Her fingers toyed with the front of his shirt, stretched tight across his chest. He looked so sexy while he slept, his hair rumpled, his lips parted slightly and his arm thrown over his head.

Turning, she pressed a kiss to his neck. When he stirred, Maddie moved to his ear. He opened his eyes and looked at her, then frowning, he glanced over at the clock.

“We missed our train,” he said, his voice low and raspy.

“We did,” Maddie said, kissing his chin.

“I didn’t set the alarm. I didn’t think I would fall sleep.”

She brushed her lips across his. “You were definitely sleeping. You were even snoring.”

“I don’t snore,” he said.

Maddie kissed him again. “Just a little bit.”

“Well, you talk in your sleep,” he countered. “You carry on entire conversations with yourself. Last night it was something about a green dress and ear muffs and a blue purse.”

Maddie giggled. “I told you I was a little crazy. I’ve also been known to sleepwalk when I’m under stress. Once I was in San Diego on tour and I walked out into the hall of my hotel and locked myself out of my suite. My mother was still inside, so she let me back in. Which was a lucky thing, because I was stark naked.” She paused. “You don’t mind that we missed our train, do you?”

He looked at her for a long moment, then smiled. “No. I guess an extra day in this hotel isn’t going to kill us.”

Maddie crawled on top of him, stretching her body out over the length of his. He groaned softly as the friction of their hips teased at his morning erection. “I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” she teased. “You’ve never spent a day in bed with me.”

“And just what do you have planned?” he asked, his hands smoothing over her waist to rest on her naked backside.

Maddie reached for the buttons of his shirt and slowly undid them, one by one. “I think maybe we should get you out of this shirt.” With every inch of chest she exposed, Maddie kissed his warm skin. A soft dusting of hair ran from his collarbone to a spot beneath the waistband of his jeans.

He had the most incredible body, Maddie mused as she skimmed her palms over his chest. He was slender, yet muscular, the body of a man who enjoyed physical activity but probably never set foot in a gym. He was a real man, not one of those strange celebrity hybrids who merely looked like the ideal.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” she replied. “What are we going to do?”

“Mess around?”

“Don’t you want to?” she asked.

He reached up and ran his fingers through her hair, pulling her close to meet his gaze. “Maddie, there’s nothing I want to do more then spend the day making love to you. Let’s get that clear right off the bat. But I don’t want you to think that I’m expecting it or that it’s not going to mean anything.”

“You’re getting all serious on me,” she said. “I thought we were having fun.”

“I don’t want to be just one of those candy bars you buy. After you get a taste, you toss me aside and move on.”

Maddie frowned. “What exactly do you expect from me?”

“I want you to consider the fact that once we do this, it might change everything. We might just discover that there’s something more to this than we imagined.”

“I might want to eat the entire candy bar?”

He chuckled. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

Maddie shook her head. “There you go again. You constantly overthink things. You need to learn to stop worrying and just react.”

She ran her hand down his belly, dipping beneath the waistband of his jeans before retreating. “How does that feel?”

“Tempting,” he said.

She bent over and kissed his nipple, her tongue lingering for a long moment. “How about that?”

“That’s very nice,” he said.

“Now, you try it.” She watched as he drew his hand along her hip before gently cupping her breast in his palm. Maddie closed her eyes as delicious sensations coursed through her body. He brought her nipple to a hard peak, rubbing gently with his thumb through the soft fabric of the T-shirt.

“What were you thinking?” she asked.

He grabbed her waist and rolled her over, then slowly tugged the T-shirt up to reveal her belly. He pressed his mouth to her warm skin, moving higher until he found her breast. Slowly, he teased her with his tongue. Maddie felt every nerve in her body come alive. Desire surged through her veins like a river of fire.

“I was thinking you might just be the most beautiful woman I’ve ever touched.”

A soft rap sounded at the door and Maddie sighed. “I ordered breakfast. Could you eat? Because I’m really hungry.” She crawled off the bed and headed to the door, pulling his T-shirt down over her backside.

Kieran sat up in bed and watched as the waiter rolled the cart into the room and handed Maddie the check. She quickly signed it and gave it back to him, then shut the door after he stepped into the hall.

The cart was loaded down with food and she pushed it over to the bed, then poured him a cup of coffee. “I love this,” she said.

“Breakfast?”

“No, breakfast with you. It’s such a nice way to start the day.”

Maddie set the plates of food in the center of the bed, then removed the covers, revealing her choices for breakfast. She dragged her finger through the hollandaise sauce from the eggs Benedict and put it in her mouth. “Umm, that’s going to be good.”

“What am I going to eat?” he teased.

Maddie plucked a fresh strawberry off the plate of waffles and held it out for him. “Stop complaining.”

He dug into the Denver omelet, setting the plate on his lap and balancing the coffee cup on a nearby pillow. “So, what’s the plan for today? I’d really like to get out and take a walk if the weather is decent. I feel like I’ve spent the last week sitting on my ass.”

“I kind of thought we could spend the day in bed,” she said.

“Breakfast, walk, then back to bed,” he said.

“All right. But before we go out again, you have to help me do my hair.”

“I know nothing about hair.” He reached out and slipped his fingers through the curls around her face. “Are you sure you want to cut this?”