Montana Reunion by Soraya Lane Page A

smiled. “But I’ll be back again as soon as
this event is over.”
    “To be with your
dad?”
    Maddison didn’t say anything for a moment, like she was figuring out how to answer, what
to say. He shouldn’t have asked, but part
of him wanted to hear her say that she was coming back for more than just her
father.
    “Jack, what are we doing?”
    He raised an eyebrow. “Eating
dinner?”
    She laughed. “You know what I
mean,” Maddison said, voice low now. “I mean are we
actually going to take this further or are we just playing around? What you
said before about whether this could be real one day…”
    He laughed. “Playing does sound kind of fun,” he teased.
    Jack saw the slight tremble in her
lower lip, the dart of her eyes – all signs he remembered from childhood. She’d
been so daring, but sometimes he’d seen her crack when she’d hurt herself more
than he’d realized climbing trees or when she’d been trying to prove herself to
the other boys. He’d pushed her too far.
    Jack stood and walked around to the
other side of the table. “I was just teasing,” he told her, pulling out the
chair beside her and tugging it close before sitting down. “It’s not that I’m
not thinking what you are, I just don’t have the answers. Not yet.”
    Maddison slowly turned her body until their knees touched, bumping together as he leaned
forward and reached for her hands. Her smile was shy, but it was there.
    “Do you want to marry me?” he
asked. “Because if you don’t, I can always settle the estate
in court. I’ll never let this land be stolen from me, Maddison , never. So you don’t have to do this unless you’re
absolutely sure. Maybe we should just take some time, think it through. There’s
no hurry.”
    She was nodding, but he could tell
that something was still troubling her, that there was something simmering away
behind those eyes even though she wasn’t saying a word. They’d only talked
about marriage an hour ago, had agreed to take it slow, but something was
spooking her. It was written all over her face.
    “So what do you say?” Jack asked,
squeezing her fingers against his. “ Maddie ?”
    She tilted her face when he said
her name, stared at him, then pulled her fingers from his.
    He
was losing her. She was pulling away…
    Holy fuck.
    She launched at him so fast, so
unexpectedly, that he wasn’t prepared. His chair tipped as Maddison grabbed him around the neck, arms looping around him as she fell into his lap,
knees alongside his thighs, locking him into place. Her lips, so soft and pillowy last time they’d kissed, were insistent this time;
rougher. And he liked it.
    This wasn’t the Maddison he knew. This wasn’t the girl who’d
been balking at the idea of whatever was happening between them earlier, the
girl who’d been bashful in the kitchen cooking their dinner.
    And he’d been wrong about losing
her. Something had changed, but for the
better.
    “Hey,” he said, trying to catch his
breath as she stared down at him, mouth still so close to his. Jack had one
hand tangled in her hair, the other on her butt.
    “You can’t hurt me, Jack,” she
whispered, pressing her forehead against his. “Just promise you won’t hurt me. Promise? I need to hear you say it.”
    Right now he’d agree to anything
just to get back to what she’d started. But
he wasn’t going to lie to Maddison . “I promise,”
he said honestly. “So long as you can promise me the same.”
    She must have agreed, because one
minute she was staring at him and the next she was kissing him like a woman
possessed, her lips like fire against his, tongue teasing like she was thinking
about a whole lot more than just kissing.
    And
damn it, so was he.
    Maddison was clutching him tight, nails digging into his shoulders, like she had no
intention of stopping any time soon.
    Jack placed
both hands on her backside, fingers inching up to touch the curve of her waist,
down to the firmness of her thighs and back