Page 100 of The Encounter
He rolled her onto her back and settled a knee on either side of her hips, brushing himself over her swollen center. Her eyes darkened and her voice caught.
“I’m going to make love to you again,” he said.
She only nodded, and then he pressed himself into her. It seemed that falling in love with someone could keep him going all night, so that was exactly what he did.
31
Afew days later, Kailynn had Chase representing her as they reviewed the contract sent over by Prestige. Maddie took a picture of Kailynn signing the contract, so Kailynn would have a physical memory of the career-turning event.
Kailynn insisted on giving Maddie a raise for getting her a part of something she had always wanted for her career. Maddie no longer needed to worry about bills with her new raise. She could put a substantial amount of money toward her loans and projected she would have them paid off in only a few years.
Along with her new raise, Kailynn had given Maddie another commission check for the dresses that had been sold from more referrals. Life had finally gotten to a point where Maddie didn’t have to stress over anything financially. She had a roof over her head, food in the kitchen, a retirement plan set up, and a plan to reduce her debt to nothing in a short amount of time.
In her eyes, nothing could be better.
Almost.
Maddie flipped through Celebrity Status, holding her breath as she came across another article about her.
Surprise, surprise.
But the article stopped her short. Her breath caught as she stared at the headline.
Madelyn Carter’s Home-Wrecking Journey
She blinked as she saw the name she never expected to see again: Brad Colver—The married man who led her on for months before she found out he had been lying.
Madelyn Carter, Jace Locke’s new squeeze, had been dating a man named Brad Colver while she lived in New York. Colver, a married man, told Celebrity Status that Carter knew he was married when she solicited him for a relationship.
‘Maddie enjoyed dating me despite me being married. She said it made our relationship exciting,’ Colver said during our interview. ‘We used to sneak around a lot. But most of the time we ended up back at her place.’
When asked what he thought of Carter dating Locke, Colver said, ‘It doesn’t surprise me. She’s likely after him for his money. That woman is swimming in debt. She left me as soon as she realized I couldn’t help her financially since I had my own family to support.’
Maddie saw red. There wasn’t a single piece of truth to this article aside from their names and the fact that she had dated him. She had no doubt in her mind that Samantha had to bribe Brad to get that information for the article. He was damning himself in the process for his ten minutes of fame and likely a large sum of money.
She dropped her head in her hands and growled. Actually growled.
“You okay over there?” Kailynn said.
Maddie’s head snapped up. She had completely forgotten she was at work and was supposed to be eating lunch. Instead, she was reading a trashy tabloid with her salad pushed off to the side. Her stomach rolled, and she took a deep breath.
“How bad is it this time?” Kailynn nodded her head toward the tabloid that sat in front of Maddie.
She picked it up and handed it to Kailynn before dropping her head on the desk.
The silence that passed felt like hours as Kailynn read the article. When she finally heard Kailynn let out a breath, Maddie assumed she was done.
“Well, I know this isn’t true,” Kailynn said.
Maddie looked up. “You do?”
“Of course. I know you’d never do that. Plus, you’ve told me the story.” Kailynn leaned back in her chair. “I wonder what Samantha was paying him to get him to say all that.”
Maddie scrubbed her face. “I’m sure he got a hefty sum. Oh my God, Kailynn. What am I going to do? She’s trashing my name. People are going to believe it!”
“I could ask Chase about suing her for defamation.”
As much as Maddie wanted to do that, she knew Samantha wouldn’t be held liable. She got Brad to make all the statements, so it would technically be him that would need to be sued. In that case, it would be a he-said-she-said situation that probably wasn’t worth dragging out over several months.
