Maddie and Wyn by Cameron Dane

game, liked to sometimes shock her brothers with her rough language, but in truth she had little experience with men. But from what little gossip she’d heard from her few casual female acquaintances, none of them fantasized about such raw and primal behavior. She didn’t know what to make of her primitive sexual daydreams, other than that with every minute she spent with Wyn, her own feelings would weaken her much more than anything he could do.
    More than her intense sexual response to him, Maddie was positive she could already smell Wyn in her house, on her things. She’d grabbed her keys from the bowl in her living room this morning, and she swore the hint of his very light, spicy cologne lingered in her couch cushions, where he’d probably watched TV before going to bed. And just as bad, he’d showered the night before, and when she’d gotten up to use the toilet, the bathroom was still steamy from his shower. She’d always hated a stuffy bathroom before; it would annoy her to no end if she had to shower right after Devlin during the time they’d shared an apartment. But last night, she’d walked into that wave of foggy heat and the little hairs on the back of her neck had woken up and her nipples had twisted into tight points under her nightshirt. She’d imagined Wyn slick with hot water, a towel wrapped around his waist, shaving, and she’d envisioned herself stripping down to nothing, rubbing against him from behind, openly letting him feel her so-very-natural response to his beautiful body.
    Where she sat now, Maddie sucked in a breath. Her cunt pulsed with life, signaling her body’s desire to make these little visions a reality. She shifted in her chair, but the pulsating in her core would not abate.
    This is not good. Mad at Wyn or not, still hurt by him or not, Maddie was not afraid of him. She was afraid of herself. So Maddie stayed in her office and did some paperwork that could have waited for the next day. She hid, and all the while called herself a coward.
    * * * *
    Like a Jack-in-the-box, Maddie sprang up in bed, fully awake. Moonlight streamed through her open windows. She ran to the closest one, paused for the barest of seconds to confirm what she already knew she’d see—the white shadowy figure in the garden—and then bolted out of her room.
    She raced to Wyn’s door. Just as she started to wrap her hand around the knob, it was yanked open from the other side. Wyn appeared, glorious in cutoff sweats and nothing else, service weapon secured in his right hand, his short hair disheveled in tufts and spikes like a little boy hastily pulled out of bed for school in the morning.
    Maddie parted her lips to say, “The ghost,” just as Wyn stated, “I heard the gate squeak. Stay here,” and pushed past her to the stairs.
    Screw that. Unlike Wyn, Maddie knew there would be nothing outside for him to find.
    Only a dozen feet behind him, Maddie tore down the stairs as fast as her legs could carry her and sped through the open front door and down the porch steps. Wyn had already disappeared into the garden, calling out his presence, calmly but clearly stating anyone in the area should reveal themselves with their hands held above their head. Maddie held back outside the garden fencing, waiting while Wyn did his official search.
    Only when Wyn circled back to the front did she enter the area. Following him to one of the benches, she watched as he threw himself down onto the cushioned metal. Maddie paced on the paver pathway overrun with weeds.
    “Nobody there, huh?” Maddie asked, although it wasn’t really a question. Pair Wyn’s visible frustration with an obvious lack of a suspect in custody and Maddie had all the answer she needed.
    “Not anymore.” Wyn’s tone was clipped as he returned his firearm’s safety to its locked position and set the gun on the bench. “I clearly wasn’t fast enough to catch him.”
    With a quick look around the garden, Maddie mused, “Or able to locate the