Patience

Chapter Eight

Madison was counting the cash in the register for the third time. She could not quit thinking about Cale. He had looked incredible in his dark jeans and white T-shirt. She huffed out a breath then started counting a fourth time.

She was finally heading out of the store with just enough time to get home and shower before Cale arrived. Her phone started ringing as she was locking up. She dug through her purse, finding the darn thing in the bottom.

Her finger hovered above the screen when she saw Justin's face. He had told her he would call when they were on their way home. Madison debated her options. She could answer and hem-haw around the truth, answer and tell him the truth, or just ignore the call. Madison ultimately decided to ignore Justin's call.

She only had a brief time to feel guilty before her nerves took hold of her again. Madison had never felt this way; she was completely on edge. She wanted to tell Cale how she was feeling, but worried about his reaction. They were friends. That's all they had ever been. The question looming now was if it would still be all they ever would be?

And what about Justin? Madison had met him at the local coffee shop shortly after he had moved to town. They had hit it off immediately. She wasn't really open to dating at the time, wanting to focus more on the store, but he wouldn't take no for an answer.

Hadn't he earned better treatment?

It was decided. Madison would enjoy catching up with her old friend while waiting on her boyfriend to get home.

"He's a rock star for crying out loud."

# # #

Cale felt as nervous as he did on his first date, which had been many, many years and women before. In fact, he hadn't actually dated much since high school. There had been a few short-term flings with the occasional model or aspiring actress, but other than the red carpet, most of their "dates" had occurred in the bedroom. He tended to be more of a "it's over before sunrise" type of guy.

Madison answered the door in nothing but her terry cloth robe with soaking wet hair. It was as if someone had sucker punched him right in the gut. He had never found a woman so sexy. All of the corsets, bustiers, and thigh-highs he had seen paled in comparison to her worn-out, short robe.

When he finally found his tongue, he managed a reply as lame as he felt.

"Delivery." He held the pizza boxes up as if he were waiting for her to take them from him.

Madison smiled and stepped aside to allow him entry.

"Come on in. There's beer in the fridge if you would like one."

Cale walked slowly into the studio apartment. He set the pizzas on the island counter before walking toward the stainless steel refrigerator. He definitely needed something to cool him down.

He grabbed two beers, offering one to Madison. She thanked him as she accepted the cold bottle.

"I thought I would be ready by the time you got here; I'm just gonna run and throw on some clothes. I'll be right back."

Cale nodded. "I'll just make myself at home."

Every time she awarded him one of her seemingly shy grins, he was hit with the urge to kiss it from her face. Had she always been shy around him? No, he thought, something had changed for her too.

"You took the words right out of my mouth. I'll be back in just a few minutes."

Cale sipped his beer as he walked around the living room. There were lots of photographs hanging on the wall amongst the art and smaller, framed ones sitting across the mantle and spots like tables and shelves. He paused to inspect a black and white print of Madison and Justin. Cale had never met him in person, but recognized him from photos on Madison's Instagram account.