Becoming Maddie (The Casterhouse series Book 1) Read online

Pulling up outside the building that had Maddie’s flat in it, he stopped the truck and looked round at her. She was staring out the window with a completely vacant look in her eyes. It was obvious that she had a very thin thread holding on to her control. Without speaking to her Aiden open his door and got out of the truck. Still she did not move. Walking round to her side he opened her door, leaned in and undid her seatbelt. He body jerked suddenly. Turning her head from side to side she took in her surroundings.

  “I can manage.” She whispered to him.

  Aiden ignored her and lifted her out of the truck. The loose bits of her hair caught the gentle breeze and he had to fight not to curl one around his finger. Taking a hold of her hand he walked through the main door and up the stairs to her front door. Spinning her around, he held his hand up to her.

  “Keys.”

  Her face was dazed and confused as she looked up at him. He could see that she was getting ready to argue. Maybe that’s what he needed to do to bring her back to herself. Get her mad and work her up and then that look of downright terror will be gone from her eyes. If only he could burn it from his memory that easily.

  “Keys.” He said again.

  As he thought it would, her face cleared and she started to open her mouth to say more.

  “Don’t even bother.” He said. “Give me the keys and we can talk inside.”

  There was many things that he could see working away inside her head. But mostly he knew that she didn’t want him in her home again, why he didn’t know, but she definitely didn’t. Well she would have to just deal with it because he was going to get inside.

  “Aiden-.” she started.

  “I am not going to argue with you in the fucking hall.” He growled leaning down so he was on her level. “You need to be in your home with your dog and I need to make sure that happens. But most of all I need to make sure that you are safe from whatever’s scared the shit out of you on the phone. So give me the bloody keys.”

  There was a hushed moment as she battled with something and then slowly she took the keys out of her pocket and gave them to him. He opened the door and pocketed her keys and ushered her in before shutting the door on them.

  This was only the second time that he had been into her home. There was something about this place. Something about the feel of it. Something about it that touched him in a deep place, that warmed him in a way that he would not give up. It was welcoming and smelt of her. He had only held her in his arms once and for a matter of seconds. But he knew her smell and it made him warm too. Maddie’s flat was light and made you want to sit on the couch and stay a while. Or cook in the kitchen and laugh while you had a beer or wine round the breakfast bar. Most of all the rooms that he had seen made him want to see her bedroom. He had no doubt that it would reflect her as the rest of the flat did but what part of her?

  Marvin’s tale was wagging as he trotted from a big comfy looking red cushion in the living room area to Maddie. She bent straight away and gave him a full body rub down before burying her face into his neck. The Husky sat and seemed to cuddle her back as if knowing that his Mistress needed the support.

  “Please leave.” She mumbled in Marvin’s neck but Aiden knew it was directed at him.

  “No.” He simply said back.

  He watched as her shoulders tensed up and she pushed her face deeper into Marvin’s neck. He turned away from them and walked around the rooms. Looking out the windows and anywhere else that somebody could get in. He also took in anywhere that could see in the windows. Although Maddie’s flat was on a street there was a row of trees in the middle of the road that meant the houses on the other side are further away than normal. Just another thing he would add to his liking Maddie’s flat. The best thing about the view was the forest that you could see into. This always was the best side of Casterfield. Yep, Maddie really had picked a great one here. Maybe he was just fed up of the empty flat he had come home to after checking out of the hotel. Sighing he went back to Maddie and found her still hugging her dog.

  “Ruby.” He said softly. He walked over to her and bent down to help her stand up again but Marvin moved his head and growled at him. Dropping his hands he carried on. “Ruby call of the dog. I’m not going to hurt you.”

  She didn’t respond but instead shook her head. He didn’t move though. He stayed bent down waiting, giving her some time to realise that he wasn’t going anywhere. After a couple of minutes she lifted her head and looked at him. He could clearly see the pain but mostly he saw the downright terror that she was hiding…well trying too.

  What had happened on the phone? What made her act like all her worst nightmares had come true at once. If they had then he was going to find out what the nightmares were and get rid of them. He would not have that look of fear on Maddie’s face again. If it had been painful for him to look at he could only guess how much worse it was to feel it. He needed to know what caused it. The other thing he needed to know was how to stop it and stop it he would.

  “I need you to go.” She stated.

  “No.” He answered.

  “You can’t just say no!” she exclaimed. “This is my home!”

  He had to fight back a smile. Here comes the fire in her eyes. The ruby in here cheeks. He wondered just how far it went. Aiden was going to make sure that he wasn’t going to wonder for ever. But for now he would settle for bringing the fire to her eyes and the ruby to her cheeks. He really was loving that nickname.

  Chapter 6

  There were a ton of different things that she should be dealing with right now, the most important being curled up on her bed and crying her eyes out, but instead she couldn’t even get one man out of her flat. So again Maddie reminded herself that Aiden is not an ordinary man. What he was being, at the moment, was a massive dent in her plans.

  “You can’t just decide you’re not leaving.” She snapped.

  He gave an annoyingly hot half smile.

  “Yes I can.” He said back.

  “No you can’t.” She snapped again. Yes she was aware that she sounded like a child fighting with another kid in the playground but he had to go now!

  Aiden had other ideas. He walked over to the sofa and sat down. Lifting his legs he crossed them before putting his feet on the coffee table. He really was making himself nicely at home.

  “What do you think you are doing?” she added snottily.

  He looked at the sofa then up at her.

  “I’m sitting on the sofa.” He replied with a full grown smile this time.

  Maddie couldn’t help herself she actually growled at him causing Marvin to jump with surprise. She stood and moved further into the room looking at him.

  “I meant…” Taking a deep breath Maddie tried to hold onto her temper. “What are you still doing in my flat?” Quickly she held up her hand before he could even answer. “It doesn’t matter, I don’t care, Just get out!”

  He ignored her as if she hadn’t even spoke the last and answered the first. “I’m not leaving till you tell me what happened on the phone.”

  Maddie let her head drop. What could she do to get him out of here? Call the police? Maybe she should leave that as a last resort. At least her temper was taking her mind off crying. Sadly what it was doing was building the sense of urgency she had to move on to another place and never stop moving on.

  Spinning away from him she went to the kitchen, opened the fridge and pulled out a beer. Maddie wasn’t really a drinker but she liked to keep something in fridge just in case the mood took her, which it did sometimes when her thoughts got black, which it did when a man made himself comfy on her sofa in her home, in her sanctuary!

  “I could take one of them.” Aiden said from the couch.

  Clenching her fists to control her retort she took another massive pull on her beer and then replied. “You better hope that you have some at home then.”

  Ignoring his chuckle she walked to the free space in front of the door and put her beer down on the drawers. Determined to come u
p with a plan she started pacing backwards and forwards. She could just ignore him but he was actually really difficult to ignore. Really, really difficult.

  Why couldn’t he just let it go? There had been nothing that he could have heard that would have made him so interested in that call. Sure she may have been a bit freaked out when the call came in but he really does have nothing to do with it.

  “Why do you need to know so badly?” Maddie demanded her voice full of exasperation.

  Aiden slowly took his feet off the table and placed them on the ground. Then he turned to look at her pacing back and forwards. He gave her a half smile before turning away, standing and walking into the kitchen area. He got himself a beer, opened it and then walked to stand in front of her. Maddie had stopped pacing to watch him with her mouth hanging open. Then right in front of her he put the bottle to his mouth and took a long drag. It was hot to watch. Irritatingly.

  “Help yourself why don’t ya.” She challenged him having decided to ignore her traitorous body.

  Aiden took a couple of steps forward so that they were toe to toe. It was way too close for her, she was fighting to not move back, but she wouldn’t show that weakness. So what if his closeness was making it difficult for her to breathe normally and his delicious smell was filling her senses. So what if she could feel the heat pouring through the little space between them and warming her body, and so what if Maddie hadn’t even realised how cold she was till then.

  Maddie was so cold.

  Looking up into his eyes and away from his very impressive chest she could see the heat in his eyes. It was then that Maddie knew that Aiden was totally aware of what she was thinking and how her body was reacting to his closeness. He somehow knew that her nipples were starting to pay attention to him and her pulse was all over the place. Mind you he could probably see her nipples. Maddie quickly crossed her arms over her chest to try and hide the evidence. Aiden saw and raised one eyebrow.

  “What has you so wound up about me knowing what that call was about?” he asked, his voice low but clear. “It clearly shook you up and now I want to know about it.”

  Taking a deep breath Maddie tried to clear her head. It didn’t work.

  “It’s none of your business.” Her voice came out husky.

  Aiden’s warm caramel eyes took her in. From head to toe. Then he gave a half smile.

  “Because you’re my business.” He stated.

  Maddie choked on an inward breath, Maddie is his what?

  “Excuse me!”

  He moved in a little closer. This time Maddie did try to pull back but he put a hand up to her back straight away. Then slid it round her body so that he was holding her close to him. His other hand moved up and tucked some of her hair behind her ear. Her body had gone rigid frozen. Any words she might have said were locked tight in her throat and as for moving away…well he had a very tight hold of her. It didn’t help that her body didn’t want to be any further away from him.

  “I said you are my business.” He said softly but in a way that made it clear he believed what he was saying.

  “I’m not.” Maddie replied. “I’m nothing to do with you.”

  Moving his head half an inch closer he stated, “You’re completely my business.”

  She could feel his breath on her lips causing them to tingle so she licked her top one. Straight away Aiden’s eyes shot down to watch the movement when they flicked back up to hers they were almost black. Maddie found her tongue coming out again to wet her lips that were impossibly dry. Once more his eyes shot down to watch.

  “Do you even know what you’re doing?” Aiden asked his voice throaty. It sound liked it came from a place deep inside him that touched a place deep inside her.

  Maddie’s body started swaying in the slight distance that was left between them. As if that place inside him wanted hers to be as close as possible. The need to run her hand through his hair made her fingers twitch. Thinking about other parts of him made other parts of herself twitch.

  “I would kill to know what you are thinking right now.” Aiden whispered just before his lips touched hers.

  There was no small gentle kisses leading into more. No it was straight into the deep stuff. Aiden’s arm pulled her tightly to him so that Maddie was completely flush with his body. She could feel her breasts pressed up against his rock hard chest and his hips cradled hers. But as amazing as that was it all paled in comparison to the feel of his soft lips kissing hers, the rough brush of his beard against her chin and cheeks. He ran his tongue along her lips asking her to open hers and right then she just didn’t have the strength to say no. As soon as Maddie parted her lips Aiden’s tongue slipped in and proceeded to rock her world.

  Maddie found her legs had no will to hold her up anymore so it left her no choice but to wrap one arm around his neck, a hand to run through his hair (at last) and his arms to hold that little bit tighter. Although Maddie hadn’t even been sure there was any more space to take up.

  Gently Aiden started to slow the kiss and pull his mouth away from hers. What he didn’t do was let go or loosen his hold on her at all. Maddie’s head was in a daze. She couldn’t think straight at all. He had taken control of her body and for the first time her brain didn’t mind. It was loving the ride it was being taken on.

  “That’s why you’re my business.” Aiden stated quietly.

  At his words the Aiden induced fog in her brain was gone. Everything came into sharp, almost painful, clarity. What was she doing? Pulling away from him so quickly that he didn’t have a chance to stop her (or more likely he let her pull away). Maddie took several steps back and put the sofa between them. Looking at anything but him, as she tried to catch her breath and think about her next words, she spotted Marvin laying on his red cushion asleep.

  So much for him protecting his Mistress.

  Glancing at him quickly she saw that Aiden was stood in the same spot but looking at her. His arms crossed and resting against his chest. His legs spread shoulder width apart. His lips were giving her a hotter than hell half grin that said he knew exactly how much that one kiss affected her. His hair was more ruffled than usual and it was her hands that had messed it up. Maddie clenched her fist and tried to ignore how much that turned her on. She clenched her thighs too.

  Taking that all in, she looked down at her feet and focused on catching her breath. Maddie needed to be as cool about this as he was. To have him somehow know that she had only ever kissed one other man beside him would just be the last nail in the coffin of her self-respect and pride. More than that she didn’t want him to know how much she had enjoyed it and was fighting to not walk round the sofa and jump him. Although, going by that hot half grin, he knew that part already. It made her want to ignore that he was even there and pack her bags now. Not that he would let her.

  No, she needed to think about a way to get him to leave. There was no way that she could tell him about what happened on the phone but maybe she could tell him about something else. It had to be good enough to have him leave her alone. Thinking quickly she decided on something that she felt was harmless for him to know.

  “I had always wanted a dog when I was growing up.” Maddie started, not looking up from her feet and because of that she missed his eyebrows raise in surprise. “I asked my mum and dad a million times and they always said ‘no’. Never told me why just said ‘no’. Then when I was older…” Maddie coughed and turned to look out the window, “…well…I just couldn’t have one. So when I got this place I knew the first thing I was going to get was a dog. I looked for puppies but decided I wanted to help a poor dog that needed a second chance.”

  Aiden uncrossed his arms, took a pull on his beer and went to stand in front of the window so that he was in her line of sight. Not that it mattered because, although Maddie was looking that way, she wasn’t seeing anything. Her mind was in the past. Her mind was working through what to say without giving more away.

  “I picked a rescue kennel and went as soon as I coul
d. Knowing that there was a dog waiting for me to rescue it was just too much for me to not go as soon as possible. When I got there the guy behind the counter decided he knew what kind of dog I wanted and only showed me the ones that were small and cute.” Maddie shook her head remembering the old annoyed feelings. “They were cute and I would have loved to have saved them but I wanted a dog I could take on a walk for miles and have huge doggie cuddles from. Finally I managed to convince him to show me there only big dog at the time and there Marvin was.”

  At the sound of his name Marvin’s ears picked up and looked at her. Maddie smiled back at him. She had decided not to tell Aiden the real reasons why she needed a bigger dog, well one of the reasons anyway.

  “He was huddled in the corner and growled at me. Actually I think he growled at everybody.” She carried on. “Looking at him I knew that he was going to be my dog. The guys face said that he thought I would be back in a day but no matter how hard it got, and it got really hard, I never thought once about getting rid of him.”

  Maddie tapped her leg, Marvin stood and trotted over to her straight away. He sat at her feet while she tangled her fingers in his fur.

  “It took us a while to mesh together.” She smiled down and her dog. “Didn’t it buddy? Lots of me sitting on the floor waiting on you getting used to me.”

  Aiden straightened and walked towards her, putting his beer down on the table, he stopped in front of her and lifted her chin with a couple of fingers under it. He bent down slightly so that they were eye to eye.

  “That’s a good start Ruby.” He said softly.

  Maddie held her breath again and snapped mentally at herself to ‘pull yourself together Maddie’. Why could she not be stood near this man without either feeling the need to make out with him or run away from him in fear? Right now she didn’t know which feeling was winning, she just knew that she didn’t want to be in this situation at all.

  More to the point when would Aiden share why he called her Ruby?

  “I don’t think you realise how much you shared about yourself in telling me that.” He said still softly.