He grinned. "That won't stop me."
"Alex." Her shoulders drooped. She couldn't think straight with him this close, smiling at her like that. "I don't need this right now."
"What do you need?" came tenderly. "Tell me, and I'll do it."
Her gaze flew to his. "All I ever wanted was the chance to love you."
"Then give me the chance, baby." He mashed her up against the wall, cupping her face between his palms. "I love you."
She searched his gaze, her heart in her throat.
"I love you, Madison." She shook her head, but he held her still. "I do love you. I can't eat, can't sleep, you walk through my dreams. What else do I have to do to make you believe I'm ready for this?"
"This? See, you can't even say it. Commitment, Alexander. Marriage. You still act as if it's a death sentence. I don't want you that way, and you never asked." Pushing him back, she slipped into the house and closed the door.
Inside the house, Madison stood just behind the door, fighting tears and watching him through the window. She felt Claire move up behind her.
"Go to him, Maddy."
"I can't." He'll run when he finds out I'm pregnant, she thought. Love, marriage and kids didn't always go together. She couldn't allow herself to hope.
"Yes, you can. All you have to do is forgive him."
"It still hurts."
"And only he can heal the pain. Let him do it."
A pause and then, "Don't you think that if I had a chance to be with Mitch I would? But he's dead. Dead," she snapped, and Madison flinched. "But Alex is out there, waiting for his chance."
Madison let out a shuddering breath. "Pride is an ugly thing, isn't it, sister?"
"Yeah, and he's swallowing his for you."
* * *
In the middle of the night, Madison felt the sheets slip away and she turned in the bed. A figure loomed in the shadows. "Alex!" she hissed.
"Glad you still recognize me in the dark," he whispered, pulling her into his arms. He kissed her, deep and thrilling, loving the greediness of her mouth on his.
She tore her mouth away. "You can't do this. Daddy and Claire are—"
"Your father is spending the night with his woman in Bluffton, and Claire is over at her friend's place."
She slept naked, and Alex took advantage. He bent, closing his lips around her nipple.
Her breath caught, then shuddered softly. "Unfair," she gasped as he drew the tender tip deeper into his mouth.
"I know."
She sank back, pulling him with her. "Oh, Alexander. I've missed you."
"I love you, Maddy. I love you so much it hurts. Let me show you."
She trembled with want and didn't argue, didn't think, letting her love for him show by her touch as she peeled off his clothes. His hands were never still, and before she could take a decent breath, he smothered the curves of her breasts with wet kisses, licked a path up her spine. He drew patterns over her tattoo of Yosemite Sam, telling her he wasn't going anywhere. Ever. Then he tasted her sweet center with long flowing strokes and felt her tremble, felt her heave and sigh and call his name as the pressure of desire swelled in her. She opened for him, pulling him down on top of her, and in one smooth motion he filled her, without anything between them, risking all and risking his heart to win her back. He absorbed her into him, calling her name, telling her how much he adored her and it was different than before because he loved, and different now because he knew it.
He told her he wanted her love back, wanted to marry her, make babies with her, and she cried in his arms. He held her close, feeling her body clench around him and gave a final push, watching her peaking pleasure explode over her features and grip him.
Nothing in his life was better than when she was holding him inside her.
"I love you, Alexander," she whispered into the curve of his ear. "I always will."
Alex closed his eyes, murmuring his love and absorbing the completion she made in his soul. But when he awoke sometime around dawn and reached for her, the warm spot beside him was empty. Then he heard a noise and flicked on the light. Leaving the bed, he pulled on his jeans, fitting his shirt over his head as he stopped outside the hall bathroom. "Madison?"
"Go away."
"Damn, honey, you keep saying that, and I'm going to get a complex."
"Please," she cried.
He opened the door and found her sitting on the floor, her back braced against the tile tub. She was pale as a sheet.
"You don't listen very well, do you?"
"What's going on?"
"Nothing." She tried to stand, but made it as far as her knees before she retched into the toilet. Alex soaked a washcloth and, kneeling, he pressed it to her flushed cheeks.