“I can’t stop the boys from fighting, but Tamsin won’t go through it.”
His mother chuckled. “I don’t know. The way Tamsin is, she’ll demand that she gets a chance to fight.”
“Not happening.”
“You’re not going to stop her from falling in love.”
Maddox chuckled. “I’ll try.”
“Mom. Dad,” he said, gaining their attention.
They both turned to him.
“What is it?” Charlotte asked.
“I’ve found my woman.”
Jacob watched as his parents smiled and moved toward him. “That’s awesome news. Congratulations,” Maddox said.
He looked toward his mother. “She doesn’t have a clue how I feel. Did you? Did you know how you felt about Dad?”
His parents shared a look, a private look that made him crazier than anything.
“Who is it?” his father asked.
“Louisa Moore.”
His mother winced. “That’s going to be a problem.”
“Why? What’s wrong with her?”
“It’s not her that’s the problem. Her parents are the problem. They’re going to try to wrangle for a part within the family,” Charlotte said. “And they’re not the kind of people we want associated with us.”
“You were willing to let Riley fight my brother.”
“Riley was the only one willing to make the call. His parents didn’t have a clue when we called to arrange the fight,” Maddox said. “I’ve heard the twins are a good pair, but their older brothers are petty criminals. Their parents are not much better.”
“I can’t control the way I feel about her. I was only close to her, and I needed to touch her, to be with her.” He couldn’t even begin to describe the way his feelings were consuming him. It was unlike anything he’d ever felt before. The need to follow her, to hold her was so strong, and no woman had ever made him want to do this. Sure, he liked to fuck women, and he’d screwed plenty of women in his time, but none of them had ever held him like this.
Lou hadn’t even wanted him, yet he’d felt this consuming desire to claim her.
None of it made any sense to him. He didn’t like it, not one bit.
“That’s how it is.”
“Lou had no idea. She knew who I was, but there was no feeling in her eyes or anything.” He’d always assumed that his woman would feel the same as he did, yet that was turning out not to be the case.
“I never once said your woman would even realize you existed,” Maddox said.
“I think I better handle this one,” Charlotte said.
“I better go and have a chat with our son’s future parents-in-law. Seriously? The Moores?”
“Yes.”
His father walked away, shaking his head.
Charlotte chuckled. “Don’t mind him. He’ll get over it, or he’ll keep moaning about it until he realizes that you don’t have a choice.”