Maddie woke up slowly. Her bones felt like liquid and it was all she could do not to go back to sleep right there and then.She turned on her side, her eyelids opening languidly, her eyes falling on a pair of baby blues."Hey." His voice was like warm honey.Memories of the last few hours flashed through her mind, flooding her with warmth. The way he was looking at her was not helping either."Slept well?"She tucked her hair shyly behind her ear. She bit her lip, curbing her smile. She couldn't believe how shy she was feeling. And of course, the dratted man knew what he was doing. "Probably the best sleep I've had."He cocked a brow. "Probably?"She cocked her brow back. "Mmm-hmm. What about you? Slept well?""I didn't sleep.""Why?""I got carried away with watching you sleep. I just couldn't bring myself to take my gaze away."She searched his eyes. "That is not all, is it?"He fiddled with a strand of her hair. "What do you mean?""Drew??" She didn't know why he thought playing d
Maddie walked in on Drew and Aiden having a kind of meeting at the breakfast nook. A meeting that was quite serious, judging by the frown on Drew's face.Drew's head turned just as she retraced her step, his gaze landing on her.He smiled. "Hey, babe." He stretched his hand to her in invitation.She ceased her escape and went to him. She slid her hand in his and allowed him to pull her in for a good morning kiss."Slept well?"She smiled. "Was there ever a doubt?"His eyes crinkled, deepening his smile.She turned to Aiden. "Hey, good morning, Aiden.""Morning, Maddie."Drew tugged her hand. "Join us.""Alright." She sat on the chair between them. "Wanna tell me what's going on?""Remember the mole we planted in the production and finance department?" When she nodded, he continued, "Aiden has an update on what is going on in the production department."Aiden took over. "Kendall, the lady we placed in production, somehow has been unable to get to the mixing station.""What do you mean
Aiden must have thought they were joking about the blind date thingy.Actually, at first Maddie had been joking. But then she thought about the pros - only pros, no cons, not when it was Aiden in the picture - and she realized that it was worth pursuing. While Aiden was not going to fall in love on the first date and suddenly decide to dive into the dating waters, it was still a dip of his toe in said waters. According to Drew, all of Aiden's first dates were always events; functions and dinners.Never private. Never intimate. It was like he went the extra mile to ensure that there was no assumptions or expectations either on the lady’s side or on the side of the press. She knew what it felt like to hope fcor something so bad, only for it to be taken away from you. And when that happened, it hurt like dickens to ever try to hope again. She heard somewhere that hope deferred made the heart sick. What the author forgot to add was that sometimes the heart never recovered. Of course,
The first day Drew publicly embarrassed Kendall was a day that should be recorded in the book of the company's history. More because of his employees' reaction than anything else.That morning when he arrived at the office, he greeted nobody, just headed straight to his office. Subtly alerting the employees that the boss was in a foul mood.Five minutes after arrival, he had stormed out of his office, clutching some papers — the papers had been Aiden's idea. His friend claimed that it added to the dramatic effect.So there he marched, clutching some papers and barged into the production room. The people there were startled. Some greeted him, but he ignored them."Kendra!" He bellowed. Kendall moved towards him, her head tipped up in a sign of haughty defiance. "The name is Kendall, not Kendra.""I just might be inclined to remember it if you had submitted a report that isn't riddled with errors. It makes me wonder if you can even spell your name correctly.""What do you mean by error
"So what's the occasion?" Aiden asked, checking himself out on the car's window.Aiden was an oxymoron. He dressed like he didn't care about how he looked — no, that was not exactly it. It was more of a 'he couldn't be bothered with fashion, clothes were just things to cover one's body' situation. And yet, the guy could hardly pass by a mirror or glass without checking himself out.When Drew asked him to join them for dinner and told him to dress casually, she didn't expect him to show up dressed in black ripped jeans and black tee under black bomber jacket.All that was left were leather gloves and a Harley. He already had the tats and haircut."Things are a little tense in the office." Drew said. "I need this reprieve with my two favorite people.""Well," Aiden slipped his hands into his jacket's pockets. "What were you expecting? When the boss keeps detonating at the slightest provocation, you can't expect the employees to be dancing kumbaya.""I think the right expression is sing
Aiden is mad at me, Madeline.” Drew’s voice blared through her phone’s speaker, echoing in the kitchen.She chuckled. She turned her head from the frying pan towards her phone. “Well, what were you expecting? We both knew that there was no way Aiden would take it nicely, but it was a risk we were willing to take.”“It was not really that bad, was it?”She cringed. “It wasn’t. If one liked a barbie talkative. Which obviously Aiden doesn’t.” Eleanor didn’t stop talking throughout the dinner. Perhaps it would not have been so bad if she had not been so intent on knowing everything, being in on every inside joke, and digging deep into the soils of their histories. For Aiden, who was really a private person, that had been a big strike against her.“How was I supposed to know that Bammy’s sister’s cousin was going to turn out that way?”“From the way the family tree sounds? How can she be Bammy’s sister’s cousin but not be his cousin?”“I told you the other time you asked. Lillian is Bammy’
“No!” Aiden shook his head vehemently. His friend shot him a ‘seriously?’ look. “I can’t believe you have the guts to ask me to accompany you and Maddie to another friends only outing. After what you did in the last friends only outing you invited me to. I’m pretty you’ve heard that idiom that says ‘once bitten, twice shy.’”“Come on, Aiden. I am sorry. I didn’t know Eleanor would be…you know...”“Reminding me that you were the one that chose that barbie as my date is not going to make me forgive you faster.”“Fine. Come to this outing not for my sake, but for Madeline’s.”“Last I remembered she was the brain behind the blind date, the one who has somehow decided that I need to be thrown into the dating waters.”“Now, you are exaggerating.”“I am not exaggerating, Drew. There is a reason I do not date and you know it. I expected that as my friend you would guard my decision. If nothing else, you would respect it, not gang up against me.”“Even if that decision is not exactly good for
Maddie picked her tote bag off her bed and hurried out of the room. She really needed to stop keeping Drew and Aiden waiting. Aiden had been around since eight a.m. The time they all had agreed to. Which was forty-five minutes ago.Sincerely, it was never her intention to take so much time. It was just that choosing a cloth that was not revealing too much skin but still had the ability to cause Drew’s jaw to drop was no easy feat.Her messy bun bounced as she raced down the stairs into the living room. Aiden seemed to be playing a kind of game with Bane and Marlowe. Drew was talking with a young man who she didn’t know but who seemed to be a close friend of her husband.“I am ready. I am sorry for the delay.”Drew’s head shot up. His eyes crinkled in a smile of pleasure, sending a shot of satisfaction through her. “You are always forgiven, Madeline.” He stood up and stretched his hand to her. “Come meet Adrian, Aiden’s brother.”She looked at Aiden. “You have a brother?”Once she had