Loving the Chase (Heart of the Storm #1) (19 page)

Maddi laughed again, stress and weariness giving way to a fit of the giggles, which Hannah caught as well. When they could breathe, Maddi held up her margarita glass and clinked Hannah’s. She’d missed this.

“God, we’re a mess. I’m sorry,” she said. “For leaving this behind. I won’t do that again.”

Hannah gave her a long look and nodded, clinking Maddi’s glass again. “To tonight.”

“To really good tequila.”

“To insufferable men,” Hannah countered.

Maddi laughed and raised her glass higher. “To future decisions—may they be smarter than we are.”

Hannah tilted her head and downed a large swallow. “Feeling confident about that one?”

“Not in the slightest,” Maddi said, making Hannah choke on her mouthful. “That’s why I need a witness.”

“Hey,” said Monroe, appearing at her side. “You okay?”

“Good,” Maddi lied. “All good.”

“You’re a horrible liar,” he said.

“So—Dad?” she said.

Monroe sighed. “A talk for another time.”

“He’s bowling now,” she said.

“Good for him.”

“I’m just saying,” she said. “He’s retired and he’s got hobbies and stuff. Mom says he’s different.”

Monroe just nodded. “Good for her.”

Maddi looked into the eyes so much like her own. “We need to do this more,” she said. “We live in the same city. Lunch or something.”

“Deal,” he said, pulling her nearly off the stool for a hug. “Gotta go right now, though. Call me when you’re back in the office.”

“Will do,” Maddi said.

“Be careful,” Hannah said, piping up for the first time like she’d just found her tongue.

Monroe turned around. “Totally will.”

There was a bit of long eye contact, and Maddi chuckled.

“Good to see you again, Hannah.”

“You too.”

Zach swept his front porch like a man possessed. He was. It was only six fifteen in the morning and he’d already cleaned out the pantry, the fridge, thrown out a bunch of magazines and stacks of junk mail he never got around to reading, and was seriously thinking about building some plant shelves for the bare front porch.

Not that he had any plants, but if he had shelves he might.

He stopped and leaned on the broom, rubbing his tired burning eyes. Wishing that the action would rub the previous night’s memory out of his mind.

“You all right?”

Zach’s head snapped up. Being remote as he was, he didn’t get a lot of traffic, and usually he heard it coming. Unless it was Eli, sneaking up on foot like a ninja warrior.

“I’m fine,” Zach said, frowning. “What’s wrong?”

Eli shook his head, stepping up on the porch. “Nothing. Just thought I’d take a walk.”

Zach scoffed. “Since when?”

“Okay, I came to smack you upside the head for dragging me to Deke’s and then leaving me there,” he said.

Zach went back to sweeping nothing. “You were fine. Monroe was there. Hook up with Valerie?”

“No,” Eli said. “Monroe had to leave and I rode home with Hannah and Maddi.”

A stabbing pain pierced Zach’s gut at the mention of her name. He gripped the broom tighter. “Sorry,” he said. “Just suddenly needed out of there.”

“So I noticed.”

Zach blew out a breath and met his brother’s hard gaze. “You have something to say?”

“She’s not one of your one-night stands, Zach,” Eli said after a pause.

Heat started at his core and flushed out to every extremity, setting all his nerves on end. Zach laid the broom handle against one of the porch railings and stepped closer, crossing his arms.

“Be careful,” he said softly.

A very subtle twitch of Eli’s eye told Zach he’d let on more than he should.

“She’s not your fiancée anymore, either,” Eli said. “You can’t keep messing with her like that.”

Zach’s eyes went wide. “Like—like
that
? You mean like she was messing with
me
? It takes two, Eli, and believe me, the sparks were going full circle.”

And he hadn’t been able to think of anything since. Since he got home, changed into sweats, and paced the floor. Stared at the ceiling. Went to the fridge for a bottle of water and ended up cleaning it. She’d been in his arms again for the first time in seven years, completely molded to him, moving with him, feeling so fucking amazing. And he’d nearly kissed her. Fucking hell, he’d come within seconds of it.

And he was pretty sure she’d been about to do the same thing.

“All the more reason to back off,” Eli said. “You have history, and we’ve got to work with her, Zach. She’s got to be able to focus on her job. You have to focus on
yours
.”

“I’m always focused in the field,” Zach shot back. “What I do out at a club is none of your business.”

“It is when it affects a friend of mine,” Eli said, crossing his own arms. “When it affects you. When I see she’s been crying and I watch you walk out like someone kicked you in the balls.”

“She was crying?”

“You may not think I give a shit,” Eli said, ignoring his question. “But I do.”

“Why was she crying?”

He pointed out to the sky. “Focus, Zach,” he said roughly. “You can’t think like you’re supposed to when someone’s all up in your head.”

“Jesus, you and Harlan,” Zach said, turning to pace. “I’m glad y’all have what I should do all figured out for me. Because damn if I should be left to my own devices.”

“You’re dwelling in the past—” Eli yelled.

“You don’t know what the hell I’m doing!” Zach yelled back. “You don’t pay attention long enough. So get off your high horse and get the hell off my porch,” he seethed. “I stopped needing a dad years ago.”

Eli’s eyes flashed and every muscle in his face tightened. “Be careful,” he said through his teeth, echoing Zach’s words.

Zach didn’t go up to the house until four in the afternoon, with the thought that one, they’d already done all the prep work and the interviews and anything else he would fucking wing it. And two, he didn’t need a whole day with Maddi at every turn, breathing the same air and trying to avoid looking at him. Going later meant wrapping up and sitting down with the family so that his mom could get her fix of the nightly dinners she was so damn tickled about lately.

Hannah thumped him as he walked in. Which was actually a good thing. Kept him from looking around the room like a pathetic teenage boy with a crush.

“Where were you today?” she asked.

“Ow!” Zach said, rubbing the back of his head. “Working,” he said. “I was working.”

“Bullshit,” Hannah said. “More li—”

“Zachariah Chase!” came his mother’s voice from the kitchen. “Is that you I hear?”

“Oh, shit,” Hannah mumbled, walking away lest she be tainted by association. “Full name, boy, you’re toast.”

“Thanks.”

“Where’ve you been?” his mother asked, rounding the doorway from the kitchen, hands on her hips.

“I had things to do today,” Zach said, eyeing Eli and then meeting her gaze again. “I do have other things to do besides stand around here.” His mom’s left eyebrow rose and paused and hovered there, and he was instantly ten years old and leery and worried and sorry at the same time. She had that way. He blew out a breath and scraped his fingers through his hair. “Sorry. It’s been—a day.”

Her eyebrows went back to their normal position, hiding behind her glasses.

“Well, answer your phone,” she said. “We tried calling you. It was photo day for the promo ads. Pictures of the family.” Walking up to him, she grabbed his chin. “Pictures. Of the family. Together. At no charge,” she added.

“You and Hannah are photographers,” Zach said in her same overly emphatic tone. “You can do this anytime.”

She waved a hand. “Totally not the point. Answer your phone from now on, Zach. Don’t make me worry.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said, making her wink and walk away with a smirk.

“Do me a favor, will you, and go knock on Maddi’s door. She went to change before dinner and I’m afraid she might have passed out. She was pretty tired today.”

So she didn’t sleep, either.

Zach glanced at the others, busy coming in and out of the kitchen. A couple of the crew members still lingered—Rudy and others that had crossed over from crew to friends in the past week. Eli was ignoring him, he and Simon hovering in the doorway with plates in hand, talking about the weather rolling in tonight. No one else to pass the buck off to. He could probably ask Rudy to go get her, but that would be lame.

“If she’s tired, let her sleep,” Zach attempted, but his mother turned around and gave him the eye again. He sighed. “Fine.”

He rubbed at his face as he walked down the hall. Maybe she’d be asleep and not hear. Maybe he’d tap really quietly and walk away to make sure she didn’t hear.

“Maybe you could grow a pair, you big pussy,” he muttered.

Deep breath outside Hannah’s old room, and he rapped one knuckle on the wood. On the upside, if he had to face off with her again, it couldn’t be in a safer place. Maddi standing in Hannah’s room was like holding kryptonite. He could never touch her in his sister’s room.

Last night had just been a lapse in judgment. A few too many beverages combined with some not-so-smart choices. He and Maddi were ancient history, with a top score in chemistry, that’s all. They could do this. They could be grown-ups. And professionals.

Then the door opened. And fuck if his heart didn’t stand up and wave.

Chapter Seventeen

M
addi wondered if she could pretend she was asleep and just not answer. The quiet was just so nice. She’d gone to change into her favorite baseball jersey shirt and cutoff sweatpants, almost out of rebellion. So what if she came to the table looking ready for bed? She just wanted some comfort time to herself, damn it. And after yesterday’s episode and last night’s—thing, she could definitely use some time to think. She’d been so nervous about seeing him, and then he didn’t show all day, making her disappointed. Because she was clearly a hormonal twit now with no sense whatsoever. Alone time was necessary.

But the thought of Miss Lou coming to check on her warmed her heart and sent her padding to the door on her bare feet, a tired smile on her face for her second mom who always worried about her like one of her kids. Except when she opened the door, her eyes traveled upward, a surprised little intake of breath sending tingles over her skin.
Shit.

“You aren’t your mom,” Maddi said, nervously chuckling to cover.

“Nah, she’s shorter,” Zach said, holding a hand at chest level.

Maddi let her gaze drop there. To where she was nestled in last night.
Shit, don’t go there again.
She’d been there all day.
Eyes, back to his eyes, his face.
Not necessarily better, since she had to do a drive-by on his mouth on the way there and that brought back how close she came to kissing him. How close they came to a huge mistake.

Somehow, she dragged her gaze all the way up to his eyes and didn’t let the look there take her down. A look that reminded her of—how he used to look at her. Of how things used to be. Swallowing hard, she put the smile back on her face and crossed her arms.

“Sorry, I thought it was her knocking.”

“She sent me to check on you,” he said, his voice softer than normal. “You all right?”

Maddi laughed, probably a little too loud, and then cleared her throat. “Yeah, just—a little tired. Didn’t—”

“Didn’t sleep?” Zach finished. “Yeah, I know the feeling.” He looked away finally, thank God, and Maddi noticed the tired look around his eyes. He gestured with a tilt of his head. “Supper’s ready.”

He didn’t wait, thank God. He just walked off, leaving Maddi in a flush of heat, in her bare feet, looking for her flip-flops and wishing she’d gotten a pedicure. Damn it, it was awkward again now. They’d finally gotten to a sort of neutral faking-it kind of comfortable, and now even the faking was gone. All there was, was the echo of her words and the fresh memory of being wrapped up together, his scent all over her.

Maddi’s eyes automatically drifted to the place they couldn’t seem to stop landing. Last night’s clothes. The chair across the room holding her folded-up jeans and Hannah’s red blouse. The red boots leaning up against it all like a tease.
Yeah, you remember us, how we took you all around that floor and then knocked toes with those snakeskin Stetsons of his.

“Job,” Maddi said under her breath. “Blakely. Tornadoes.”

There. Three reasons to stop looking at those damn clothes before she gave in and went to smell them. To bury her nose in that blouse and breathe him in.

“Supper’s ready,” she whispered, looking away and walking out the door.

That was possibly the longest, most tasteless meal of Zach’s life. He heard the conversations, heard the laughter, the talk about the incoming weather, the excitement that always surrounded a potential run. He forked roast and rice and gravy and green beans into his mouth methodically, and tried to get his head in the game like everyone kept telling him to.

Maddi was quiet, too, on the other end of the table, although she did speak up when Eli started talking about the run tomorrow and about being ready to go at a moment’s notice. When she said they’d be there early to wire them up, and the crew already had both vehicles camera-and-sound-ready with a studio van to follow, Eli started stabbing his meat with a vengeance.

Good times.

Later, Zach was wishing Eli would stab
him
. Everyone was flopped and draped around the family room with the TV on, all talking at once like they all lived there again. Maddi was sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of the fireplace, looking so fucking adorable in her ratty old baseball shirt and what appeared to be sweats she’d sliced off at the knees. The neckline of her shirt was missing a button, and he could see the inside of her right breast when she leaned forward. He closed his eyes and tried not to go to the place he’d been going all day. Tried not to remember how soft she felt pressed against him, how smooth her skin was under his hands. The smell of her hair. God, she was killing him.

Then somehow, in the chaos of Hannah and Quinn resurrecting the macarena and Simon trying to best them, Maddi disappeared. Zach didn’t know how she could have even gotten to her feet without him noticing, but she did. She’d managed to escape to her room again.

Shit, he needed to just go home.

“Y’all, I’m headed out,” he said, standing. “Probably a long day tomorrow, so . . .”

“Not far behind you,” Simon said.

Hannah got up. “Well, I’m going for dessert first,” she said. “I saw ice cream in the freezer.”

“Butter pecan,” his mom said, pushing off the couch, Eli giving her a hand. “Quinn, you want some, too?”

“Nah,” Quinn said. “I need to get home, too. Give me a ride, Simon?”

Zach smirked as he watched every conceivable thought go through Simon’s head.

“No problem, Little Bit.” Simon said.

Zach thumped him in the head on his way out. “See y’all tomorrow.”

He glanced down the hall as he passed, resisting the urge to go knock on her door again.
Keep walking. Keep your head in the game, boy.

Making it out the front door, hearing his own footsteps creak on the wooden porch, he almost felt victorious. He’d made it in and out without any other slips, trips, or falls. And then he looked out across the driveway to the other side of the yard.

“Son of a bitch.”

In the dusky pretwilight haze, he saw Maddi sitting on the tailgate of his dad’s old truck, looking up at the sky as the light wind that was kicking up lifted her hair. Her flip-flops hung from her toes as she swung her legs back and forth.

He could just keep going. He could keep walking. He didn’t even have to pass her to make it to the road. At the very most, he could give a wave or a bye and just go home. And yet, his feet had different plans.

And when her gaze dropped at the sound of his shoes on the gravel, walking toward her, his heart threatened to break his damn ribs.

“Miss Lou send you again?” she said with a small smile.

Zach shook his head and stopped a few feet away. “We thought you were in your room,” he said, gesturing toward the road. “I’m headed home.”

Her eyes darted that direction. “Oh, okay.”

“What are you doing out here?” he asked.

Maddi shrugged. “Just sitting. Listening to the quiet.”

He chuckled. “Not a lot of that, lately.”

She smiled and widened her eyes. “No.” He watched in reverence as she fluttered her eyes back closed and breathed in deep. “Plus I love it right before a storm. The air is—different.”

“Charged,” he said.

She opened her eyes and looked at him. “Yeah. Thicker, heavier, like suddenly your movements matter.”

He lost his tongue for a moment. Other people never understood that.
She
had never even understood that.

“Since when—I thought you hated storms,” he said.

She shook her head. “I love the rain. I love thunder.” She narrowed her eyes. “That’s a shot we should do. Of you sitting out here like this and talking about it.”

He blew out a breath as the moment went away. “Shit, Maddi, not everything has to be about the show.”

“Excuse me?”

“Don’t you remember what it’s like to just experience things?” he said. “Like what you were out here doing?”

Maddi scoffed. “Really? And in your job? You can stop and just
experience
it?”

“That’s different.”

“No, it’s not,” she said. “When you’re working, nothing else matters. Nothing,” she emphasized. “You may see this show as a fun little experiment to jack around with, but I need it. I can’t afford to just
experience
things.” She looked away. “Especially around you.”

Zach nodded, feeling strangely knocked off balance. “You’re right. Sorry.”

She visibly deflated at his lack of argument, and her expression went soft. “Zach, I—I’m sorry,” she said. “Ignore me. I’m a ridiculous mess right now.”

She was beautiful. And sexy as hell. That buttonless flap of her shirt kept flowing open and closed, and there was a rebellious strand of hair that kept blowing into her face that he wanted very much to tuck behind her ear. Nothing in front of him looked like a mess.

“You wear it well,” he said, the words falling out of his mouth without thought.

She smiled and shook her head, looking back at the sky. “You’re so full of it.”

Yeah, that was him. Totally full of it.

“Well, I should go,” he said, backing up a step.

“Okay,” she said softly, looking back at him. “See you tomorrow.”

He backed up another step and turned. Made it two steps and stopped, a thought washing over him. A thought he had no fucking business having. He turned back around.
Don’t do it. Don’t say it. Don’t fucking say—

“Come with me?”

It was out of his mouth before he could do a damn thing about it. And the quick inhale and flutter of her eyelashes told him volumes.

“Zach,” she said, her knuckles going white on the tailgate door.

“To see my house,” he amended, ignoring the rush of everything carnal and emotional that took off like a fucking freight train within himself as well. “To see—” He stopped and ran his fingers through his hair. What the hell was he doing? “I want to show you something. Something no one else knows. Well, Harlan knows, but—”

“But he’s Harlan,” Maddi said, smirking.

“Exactly.”

She took a long slow breath, meeting his eyes blink for blink. There was no damn way he could look away, especially with the silent questions flying back and forth. It was a bad idea. He knew it. She knew it. She’d just given him all the reasons they needed to keep things business. There were so many better answers for her to give, for her to do. She should say good-night and go in the house. This house, not his house. The one with the people in it.

“Okay,” she said, sliding down and brushing off her backside. “Show me.”

Shit. Shit. Shit.

That was the song that was playing along with every landing of her right foot. What was she doing, going to Zach’s house? She’d just spewed this whole lecture about keeping things professional, and in the next breath she was following him down the road like a lovesick puppy. Good God. It was like every single time she made a decision to stay away from him, to go the right direction, she automatically did the opposite. It was playing with friggin’ fire, quietly walking this road with him, going to his house, where there were no people to keep her head straight. Nothing but Zach and too much history and—no.