“I’ll be fine. I don’t care about the tabloids.” Sitting here in the safety of my living room, imagining potential future tabloid articles didn’t bother me. I figured I could handle anything they dished out, if they dished at all.
“You say that now.”
I nodded in agreement. “I do. So when I start freaking out, remind me that I don’t care.”
She giggled. “Done.”
I filled her in on all the details of Walker’s past and the things he had confessed to me about his friends and his mom. She nodded vigorously, insisting that it all made perfect and total sense. Keri hopped on the Walker train before tickets were even available for purchase. She loved this entire scenario which was now my life, and refused to feel bad about that fact.
“Honestly, Madison, I know you may not see it right now, but this is all pretty amazing. Your story is romantic as hell, and when people find out about it, they’re all going to storm the beaches of Malibu in search of their own summer romances. I couldn’t have scripted anything this perfect if I tried. No one could.”
I closed my eyes and smiled. “Trust me, Ker, I think it’s pretty amazing myself. Part of me still can’t believe it.”
“Well, believe it.”
After giving her a squeeze good night and thanking her for buying dinner, I stretched my arms over my head and sauntered into the kitchen, discarding my trash before heading toward my room.
“Madison?” Keri’s voice made me pause and I angled my head back toward her. “You’ll get another job. I’ll help you look, okay? And I’ll talk to my dad to see if he knows anyone who needs an assistant.”
“Thank you.” I pursed my lips together as I continued down the dimly lit hall, the realization that I could only deal with one thing at a time hitting me square in the face.
“Now go get your man!” Her voice trailed down the hall and I went to my room, slamming the door shut behind me.
Glancing at the clock, I noted the time; a little after ten p.m. It was too late to look for work, but it wasn’t too late to deal with Walker. My heart flipped inside my chest. I could feel it dancing away—probably to one of his songs—as I pressed the buttons to call his number.
He answered on the second ring. “Are you trying to kill me?”
“What are you talking about?” I giggled into the phone.
“I told you that I’d be going nuts until I talked to you. You’re driving me crazy.”
“And I told you I’d call you tomorrow. It’s not even tomorrow yet.”
“It’s almost tomorrow.”
I laughed and glanced at my clock again. “Not even close.”
“You haven’t answered a single text.”
“I was talking to Keri about everything.”
Walker’s tone turned even more serious. “Listen to me, Madison. I can’t have you running away from me. I know you needed some time today to process and work through everything, but don’t push me away. I don’t like it. I want to be the one you run to, not the one you run from.”
My defenses prickled at his bossiness. I didn’t normally like being told what to do, but in this case, I found myself liking his demands. “I’m not running away from you. I just needed a minute to work through my own head.”
“You took hours.”
“You’re being ridiculous.” I closed my eyes and shook my head, secretly enjoying how much he wanted me.
“No. What’s ridiculous is how fucking crazy I am about you still. Even after all these years. The moment I saw you in the dark with that sparkly thing on your head, all of these buried emotions came rushing back. It’s cheesy and I sound like a girl, but it’s the truth. I’ve never once forgotten about you. Not completely.” He blew out a breath. “And now that you’re back in my life, I don’t plan on letting you get away from me again.”
“There’s so much we don’t know about each other,” I admitted, one of my fears working its way to the surface. What if he’s not the same? What if I don’t like who he’s become? What if he doesn’t like me the way he thinks he does?
“That’s true. But I want to get to know every single thing about you, to hear about every moment I’ve missed. I want inside your brain, your thoughts, your heart, your pants.”
A loud laugh ripped from my chest at his last want. “You would.”
“I’m male.”