The Wedding Party (The Wedding Date, #3)(52)

She smiled at him, that same wild smile from when she’d walked into his office. It unsettled him. She unbuttoned the top three buttons of the white shirtdress she was wearing, until it fell open to her pale pink bra. As hot as that kiss was, this was taking it too far. And she should know that. What was going on?

“What the hell are you doing?” At any other time, in any other situation, in any other place, he’d be delighted for her to barge in and interrupt what he was doing and start taking her clothes off, but not right now, on a Thursday afternoon, in his office in City Hall.

“What does it look like I’m doing?” she asked, unbuttoning two more buttons, until her dress was open to her waist.

He’d been standing frozen at his desk, staring at her. He’d be dead if he wasn’t excited by this, but he needed to end this. Now.

“Maddie.” He started buttoning her dress back up. “Stop this. What’s gotten into you? I’m at work; we can’t do this now.”

She pushed his hands away and pulled her belt off.

“I know you’re at work—that’s the fucking point.” She pushed him backward, until his butt hit the back of his desk. “Don’t you want to fuck me on top of your desk? You told me you did; you said it would be so hot. Well, now’s your opportunity.”

He had told her that, but he hadn’t been seriously suggesting that she come to his office in the middle of the day and start taking her clothes off.

She reached for his belt and unbuckled it before he could stop her. But as she reached for his fly, he took ahold of her wrists.

“We can’t do this right now. I’m at work. Anyone could walk in at any time. Including my boss, the mayor, who would rightly fire me on the spot. And including your best friend, the one who you’re desperately keeping it a secret from that you’re sleeping with me, remember?”

She pulled her wrists away and stepped back.

“She’s at a meeting in San Francisco. Along with your boss, by the way.” She turned away from him and buttoned up her dress with her back to him. “I texted her earlier to see if she was around, and she said she was just walking into the meeting, so I knew it would be a while. But never mind, you’re obviously too scared to take a little risk, even though it would be the hottest thing you’ve ever done in your conservative, boring, pathetic life, so I’m just going to go now.”

Ouch. He’d always known this thing would blow up when it ended; he just hadn’t quite expected it to happen so soon. Or like this.

“Fine. If you’re so self-absorbed that all you care about is yourself and what you want right now, and you can’t think about how your little stunt could affect me, then I guess you’re the person I used to always think you were. Enjoy the rest of your day. Lots of other people work in this building—why don’t you try one of them for your striptease routine, since it doesn’t seem to matter who you fuck right now.”

He started to turn back to his computer, but he couldn’t help but see the tears in her eyes. He’d said that to hurt her, but now that he had, he felt awful.

He walked back over to Maddie and looked at her. Something weird was definitely going on. Maddie could be a real bitch sometimes, but usually not like this.

He stepped around Maddie and stopped her from opening the door.

“Maddie.” He put his hand on her shoulder, and she shook it off. “Hey. What’s going on? Is something wrong?”

She threw her head back and crossed her arms.

“No, nothing’s wrong. Why would you think something’s wrong just because I want to do something fun for once, something adventurous, something spontaneous, something different from normal? Why does something have to be wrong? What if I just wanted a break from regular life, and wanted to live a little? Oh, right, I forgot; your version of living a little is to get Chinese food instead of pizza on a Friday night to go with your home improvement television shows geared toward middle-aged women. Why would I think I could rely on you to be there for me when I needed you?”

She reached for the door again, but again he blocked her.

“Hey. Can we just press the reset button for a second?”

The rage left her eyes, and her whole body deflated.

“Yeah.” She bent down to pick up her bag. “Sorry. I won’t bother you anymore.”

He looked harder at her. Oh shit, he knew what this was about. He felt like the biggest jackass in the world now.

“Your interview. It was today, wasn’t it? What happened?” He didn’t wait for an answer but wrapped his arms around her. He wasn’t sure if she would pull away again, but instead she nestled herself deep into his chest. They stood like that for a while, with him afraid to move, or say anything. When he stroked her hair, she started to sob.

She cried in his arms for a long time. He didn’t ask any questions; he barely moved. He just stroked her hair and rubbed her back. Finally, she took a deep breath and pulled away.

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked.

She shook her head, then nodded. He wasn’t sure which one she actually meant, and he was still kind of mad at her for her insults earlier, but he knew he couldn’t let her go home alone.

“Okay.” He looked around his office and shook his head. “Not here. I have a call later, but I can do it from home.” He threw his computer and phone in his bag and pulled his jacket on.