Somewhere Only We Know (25 page)

"I'll put it on Emma's bill," Max said with a laugh. "I prefer the way she pays me back."

"I'll bet."

As he put his phone down, he saw Maddie coming out of the store with two grocery bags in her arms. He got out of the car to help her put them in the trunk. "Did you find everything you needed?"

"I did. We're going to be eating a lot of meatballs."

"I can't wait."

"Was that call important?" she asked as she got into the car.

"Yes. Max said Paul was arrested in Vegas for embezzling from his company."

Her eyes widened. "I always wondered if he'd tried to take money from them."

"He did. He's now being forced to cooperate with the cops in order to bring down his bookie's operation."

"What does that mean exactly?"

"It means you're not going to have to worry about him anymore."

"That would be a huge relief. I'm almost afraid to believe it's true."

"Max is going to check on the alleged photos that Paul told you about. He'll let us know if there's anything else to be concerned about."

"Okay, good. I guess I know why Paul stopped calling."

"It's possible you can levy some charges against Paul yourself."

"I just want to be done with him."

As much as he wanted Maddie to be finished with Paul, too, he hated the idea that the guy was going to get away with what he'd done to her. "You should make him pay for what he did."

"It sounds like he's going to be punished."

"For what he did to his company, not you." Anger rose within him. "He took everything from you, Maddie."

"But he didn't take me," she said, meeting his gaze. "I'm going to be okay. And I don't want to waste energy on him. I want to move forward. That's all you can really do in life. You fall down. You get up." She paused. "I know you want me to hold him accountable, and I'm probably letting you down again, but—"

"You're not letting me down," he interrupted. "Actually, your philosophy is probably a much healthier one than mine. You don't hold grudges, do you?"

"I try not to. Anger tends to hurt the person who's angry more than anyone else. Thanks for suggesting I get your brother-in-law involved, though. It is a relief to know that Paul is talking to the police and that I don't have to worry about his loan collectors coming after me." She blew out a breath and gave him a happy smile. "Let's go home."

"You got it," he said, thinking that he liked the idea of her calling his apartment home. He liked it quite a bit.

Chapter Seventeen

Despite the late hour, Maddie decided she didn't want to wait until the next day to try out some of Joel's recipes. While she headed into the kitchen to whip up some meatballs, Burke settled on the couch. He flipped on the Warriors game, relieved to see his team leading the Lakers by ten. Then he grabbed his laptop off the coffee table and logged onto his banking website.

It didn't take him long to push a couple of payments through, which was too bad because he'd been hoping that concentrating on his bills would do something to quiet the reckless urges coursing through his body, those urges getting a little stronger every time he caught a glimpse of Maddie.

She'd put some ear buds in and was listening to music as she cooked. He could see her add a little dance move every now and then. She was happy, he thought, sometimes humming with the music, sometimes muttering under her breath about ingredients and measurements. She was definitely caught up in what she was doing. He doubted she'd spared even a momentary thought to him since they'd come back to the apartment.

He wasn't used to coming in second to a meatball, he thought with a smile.

Judging by the delicious aroma drifting out of his kitchen, it was probably going to be a damn good meatball.

He watched the Warriors play for another half hour. Then he got up from the couch to see what was going on in the kitchen. He was a little stunned at how much Maddie was doing at once. She had every burner on the stove going, with a variety of frying pans and saucepans in use. She was also chopping onions faster than anyone he'd ever seen.

When she saw him, she gave him a cheerful smile, her green eyes bright, her cheeks flushed from the heat.

"What are you making?" he asked.

She pulled the ear buds out of her ears. "Bacon jalapeño poppers with ground turkey meatballs and chicken parmesan meatballs."

"Sounds interesting."

"The jalapeño popper is going to be hot. Do you like it spicy?"

He grinned. "The hotter the better, and I'm not just talking about meatballs."

She raised an eyebrow. "Really. I thought you might be more vanilla than spice."

"Those are fighting words, Maddie."

She laughed. "Am I wrong? You're a rule follower. You don't like to combine things that don't obviously go together. You think everything through before you do it."

"But when I do it, I do it really, really well," he said, moving close enough to her to see the tiny beads of sweat on her brow.

A darker gleam entered her eyes. "You're very confident. I will say that."

"I can back it up."

"Let's see if you can."

He thought for a second she was going to kiss him, but her quick move took her around him. She picked up a toothpick and stabbed one of the meatballs cooling in a bowl. She brought it back to him, holding her hand under the meatball to catch any drips.

"Ready?" she asked.

He saw the dare in her eyes. He was going to eat that meatball and enjoy it, no matter what it actually tasted like. He leaned forward and sucked the meatball into his mouth.

It was actually incredibly flavorful, the bacon and jalapeño mixing together extremely well. "That's really good," he said as he swallowed.

She laughed. "You sound surprised."

"I don't know why I am. You're an excellent cook."

"It's just a meatball, and not even my recipe," she said with a modest shrug.

"I suspect you made that recipe your own."

"Well, maybe a couple of tiny changes, but nothing significant."

"What are you working on next?"

"The chicken parmesan meatballs. That will do it for tonight. I'll do some other ones tomorrow." She paused, tilting her head to the right. "You could help me if you want."

He wanted to do pretty much anything with her that she wanted to do with him. "I'm not very good in the kitchen."

"Where's that confidence now?"

"I know my strengths."

"Why don't you help me roll the meat into tiny balls? It's ready to go."

"All right. Do I need a special spoon or something?"

"No, just wash your hands and then dig in. I'll show you."

He turned on the sink, washed his hands with soap and water, then dried them off on a paper towel. Maddie stood next to him at the counter as he put his hands into the spicy ground chicken mixture. It felt wet and gooey, and he wasn't all that excited to be mucking around in it.

"Don't be afraid to put some elbow action in it," she encouraged, as he grabbed a chunk and started to roll it in hands.

"It feels kind of disgusting."

"Just imagine how good it's going to taste at the end."

"If you say so. I hope I don't mess these up for you."

"You can't really do it wrong at this point." She pulled out a tray. "Just put them on here when you're done."

While he felt rather clumsy on the first few meatballs, he quickly got the hang of it and soon had two trays ready to go into the oven. While Maddie took over, he washed his hands and the bowl, then helped her straighten up the kitchen while the batch of meatballs turned to a golden brown.

Twenty minutes later, she pulled the trays out of the oven and said, "Look at your work. Not bad, right?"

He nodded, somewhat impressed with his own efforts. "You're a good teacher."

"Well, it was nice to turn the tables on you for a change. And you weren't a bad student, probably better than I was back in our tutoring days."

"Definitely better than you were."

"I think this is going to work out," Maddie said.

For a moment, he had the crazy idea she was talking about the two of them working out, but then she tipped her head toward the meatballs.

"I like making meatballs, and Joel's are particularly good," she continued. "I don't think he was bragging about how successful his truck is. These are perfect for lunch or dinner, especially if we add in rice or pasta."

"Or turn them into a meatball sandwich." He liked how caught up she was in her new venture. There was definitely a part of him that thought she was making a mistake by not taking a job in an established restaurant, but there was another part of him that really admired her nerve and willingness to take risks.

He risked his life every day on the job, but those were calculated risks backed by training and experience. He wasn't as good as Maddie was at trying new things. But that had started to change since she'd come back into his life. No one had ever pushed him the way she did. Actually, she didn't push him, she just offered, and whatever she was offering, he always wanted to accept.

She covered the trays of meatballs and slid them into the refrigerator. "I guess that's it for tonight."

"It is almost midnight."

"I didn't realize it was so late. I lose all track of time when I'm cooking."

"You were having fun."

"I think you enjoyed it, too."

"I did," he admitted. "You always bring the fun, Maddie."

"That's what life is supposed to be about." She paused. "At least, that's what I've always thought. But your goals have probably been more serious."

"They have been, but you've reminded me that there's another side to life."

"A wild side?" she teased.

"Wild, spicy, sexy, fun." He moved a little closer to her with each word. Then he placed his hands on her waist, loving the way her eyes turned a shadowy green at his touch. Her gaze was so expressive. He could read her emotions in her eyes, and right now those emotions were all over the map. He saw desire but also restraint, eagerness warring with caution.

"We can fight or we can surrender," he said.

"Are those our only choices?" she asked, meeting his gaze.

He slowly nodded. "I think so."

She licked her lips. "I don't know what to say. You scare me a little."

"I thought you were fearless."

"There's always been something about you, Burke. A line I was afraid to cross."

"Why?"

"I don't know why," she said helplessly. "Maybe because I think you'd ask for more than I want to give. You expect a lot from people."

"All I expect from you is—you. I don't want to change you, Maddie. I don't want you to be anyone other than who you are, because who you are is who I want."

She stared back at him with those luminescent green eyes, and he felt more nervous than he had in a very long time.

"I want you, too," she said softly. "I've wanted you since I was fourteen years old, but if you look at the pros and cons—"

He cut her off with a shake of his head. "I know you're not looking at the pros and cons, and neither am I. Not tonight anyway."

"You really think you can live in the moment?"

"You underestimate me, Maddie." He lowered his head and kissed her on the mouth, pulling back just as she parted her lips. He leaned in and pulled her hair away from her ear long enough to whisper, "And by the way, I don't like vanilla. So if that's what you want…"

"It's not," she said a little breathlessly.

"Then let's see what we can cook up together."

"I like the sound of that." She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him back in for another kiss. "I could do this all night," she murmured against his lips.

"I'm counting on that."

* * *

Maddie didn't know how they got from the kitchen to the bedroom. She couldn't remember how their clothes came off. But when the back of her knees hit Burke's bed and she fell into the soft mattress with Burke coming down on top of her, she felt like she was living out every fantasy she had ever had.

Burke enveloped her with his kiss, his touch, his overwhelming desire—a desire that was matched only by her own.

She quickly realized that Burke's thoughtful, deliberate plan of attack worked really well in the bedroom. He wasn't impatient or self-centered. He didn't want to get anything over with; he wanted to get it all right—so right.

She sighed as his mouth trailed down her cheek and into the corner of her neck, shivered as his tongue slid lower, tracing her collarbone, traveling around the peak of her breast, teasing and tasting and driving her a little bit mad.

She ran her hands up and down his bare back, loving the play of his muscles under her fingers. He was strong and powerful. He took the lead like the natural leader that he was. And she let him. She wanted to be at his mercy, because so far he was showing her that he knew exactly what to do.

His hands, his lips, his breath—were everywhere. Each touch lit up her nerve endings. She had to fight against her own impatient tendencies as Burke showed her that not only could he live in the moment, he could make every minute last as long as possible.

It was one peak after the next. He drove her crazy. Fight or surrender, he'd said, and she knew now that surrender was the only option. What a beautiful surrender it was.

And then she found a way to turn the tables on him. Now it was his turn to take the pleasure she was giving, to suffer the delicious torment of her mouth exploring his body.

When they finally came together in a rush of pent-up need, she felt like she shattered into a thousand pieces. The years they were apart slid away. The pains of the past were crushed by amazing pleasure.

She hadn't felt trapped, but when the guard walls around her heart came down, she realized that Burke had just set her free in a way she'd never expected.

Afterwards, she rolled onto her side, her head on his chest, his arm around her shoulders, their hearts pounding down to a steadier beat.

She ran her fingers through the wiry strands of hair on his chest, loving how solid Burke felt beneath her.