Raising Madison (The third book in the 'The girl in the attic trilogy')

(26) Raising Madison

Raising Madison

Chapter 26

Preston’s POV

Brooklyn slipped into the water and we spend the next few minutes swimming and playing with Madie. She really enjoyed it but after a while she started getting cold and fussy.

“We’ll take her,” Brooklyn’s mom said from behind us, startling me a bit. Her parents seem like really nice people but I was still hesitant. Brooklyn’s mom must have noticed.

“I’ll take good care of her, we’ll have some ice cream and then I’ll show her the puppies,” she said, looking excited at the idea.

“Okay, do you want to go get some ice cream with the lady?’ I asked Madie, and to my surprise she nodded her head yes.

“Ice cream,” she half yelled, forgetting about the fact that she was shivering. I laughed and helped her out of the pool.

Brooklyn’s mom smiled at me and then took a hold of Madie’s hand. I watched as they walked away and headed into the house.

“You don’t have to worry, my mom love kids,’ Brooklyn stated, pulling my attention back to her.

“I can’t help it,” I replied honestly.

“I understand," she said as she turned her face away from me, a distant look in her eyes. I knew what she was thinking about immediately and moved closer to her, the water splashing slightly.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Yeah,” she replied and then took off swimming to the far end of the pool. Why did she do that? Was she trying to get away from me?

I followed her, the water feeling great against my body. It has been a long time since I’ve been in a pool.

“Why did you do that?” I asked when I reached her. She looked directly at me and I could see tears in her eyes, causing my heart to break at the sight and all I could think was that I wanted to make her feel better.

“This is just, I don’t know. You’re being so nice to me and I don’t deserve it.”  she replied, looking away. Her words angering me.

“Stop talking like that, you deserve to be happy, you deserve the best of everything,” I said as I reached out my hand and gently brushed her cheek.  I could see she was surprised by my touch. I was too but her skin felt so soft and I didn’t want to stop. I cupped her face in my hand and gently turned it so that she had to look at me. She looked nervous and I felt terrified.

“I like you Brooklyn, a lot, and if you’d give me a chance I’d like to try and make you happy,” I whispered, the words sounding both right and wrong at the same time.

 I could hear her breathing pick up pace.

“What does that mean?” she asked, her voice a whisper.

“I’m not sure, we’ll have to figure it out as we go, but I do know that I really want to kiss you right now,” I answered, wondering if I’ll actually be able to do it. I wanted to but at the same time I wanted to run and hide, my guilt barreling up inside of me. She didn’t answer, instead she moved her hand onto mine, which was still cupping her face, and squeezed it. I took it as a sign that she wanted me to kiss her too and decided to do it before I chickened out.

I moved closer to her, until our faces were so close that I could feel her warm breath on my lips. She smelled delicious

“We’ll take it slow,” I whispered. She nodded her head in agreement and then my lips were on hers. It felt strange kissing her, I never thought that I would kiss anybody again except for Katie s but it felt good, in fact, it felt incredible. Her lips were soft and I wanted more. I wanted to be closer to her.  She placed her hand on my bare chest, causing shivers to run through my body. Her touch felt amazing but I knew I had to stop. I promised her we’d take things slow and if I wanted this to work it was probably a good Idea so I pulled away and watched her carefully while trying to stay calm, knowing that if I freaked out now it would ruin everything.

She looked a bit flustered but smiled at me, causing my heart to skip a beat.

“We should go look at the puppies,” she said, her eyes sparkling happily.

“The puppies,” I stated as I moved away from her and pulled myself out of the pool. When I turned around Brooklyn was staring at me, she blushed slightly and started getting out as well.

I tried not to look at her while she was drying off but failed miserable. She is gorgeous. Once we were dressed we headed inside, Brooklyn leading the way. I followed close behind wondering if I should take her hand or not but before I could decide we reached a room at end of the hall and Brooklyn stepped inside. I followed her and felt relief fill my body as soon as I saw Madie. She was sitting on the floor with Brooklyn’s mom and dad with a small puppy on her lap. She seemed completely enthralled and my heart warmed with happiness. It was the cutest thing I have ever seen. She noticed me but quickly turned her attention back to the little dog. She leaned forward and kissed it on its head, in return the puppy started licking her face. She giggled and looked back up at me so I made my way over to her and sat down on the floor. Katie joined us and picked up one of the puppies, looking at it fondly.

We played with the dogs for a while and then headed outside to eat. Brooklyn’s parents talked to us happily, making me feel at home. It was nice. When we were done eating Madie started getting fussy. She was tired and I probably had to get her home.

I said goodbye to her mom and dad and felt a bit disappointed having to leave.

“I’ll call you,” I said as I put Madie in her chair.

“Okay, Brooklyn agreed.

“Oh, and there was something I wanted to ask you,” I said, turning to face her.

“Yeah?” She questioned, looking curious.

“Yeah, I was wondering if it would be okay if I took you to your school dance?” I asked, causing her face to light up.

“Yes, that would be…,” she started saying but trailed off.

“What were you going to say?” I asked, wondering what she was thinking.

“Perfect,” she replied, blushing. She is so sweet.

“It’ll be better than perfect,” I replied, taking a step closer to her. I reached out and gently wrapped my arms around her. She hugged me back so I pulled her even closer, causing her body to melt against mine. It felt amazing to have her so close to me and when I pulled away my head was reeling.

Can I really do this? I wondered but I knew the answer. Yes I can, it might be difficult but with Brooklyn I felt like anything was possible.