Maddie and Wyn by Cameron Dane Read Free Book Online

front door, and stepped outside.
    In the minutes afterward, Maddie had stood there still and silent, certain she’d just witnessed something much too private, something beyond her scope of abilities to help. At the same time, her chest panged with this terrible aching tightness, not for herself but for Wyn. On automatic she’d grabbed all her outerwear, put it on in record time, and slipped outside.
    Uncertain, but silently telling herself she was eighteen now and not a kid anymore, certainly capable of being a friend, Maddie followed the path away from the cars and cabin, toward a person her gut told her was in need. At the end of the trail, next to a creek, she reached a sitting area carved out of old trees and spotted Wyn on one of the beautiful makeshift benches, hands shoved into his pockets, staring straight ahead into the darkness.
    Stepping carefully, Maddie walked in front of Wyn and took a seat next to him on the bench. The moon and soft ground lighting cast Wyn in shadows, but Maddie didn’t need anything stronger to see that Wyn hadn’t twitched so much as a muscle upon her arrival.
    For the first time since knowing Wyn, Maddie couldn’t feel the warmth his body normally emanated so powerfully. She shivered, but scooted closer to him, for once grateful for her height and strength and size, praying maybe some of the body heat in her would reach across the small space between them and envelop him.
    Sitting so close to Wyn, Maddie stared ahead too, tucked her gloved hands in her coat pockets, and crossed her booted feet at the ankles in a mirror of him. “The creek is beautiful and bursting with goodness this time of year, isn’t it?” She kept her voice chipper and amiable as she stared at the frozen, not-at-all-lively water source. “The way the crystal-clear water trickles over the smooth stones, and the little fish swimming, and the birds who land on the rocks to indulge in a drink of water.” She made a happy sound and wiggled on her seat, painting a picture that couldn’t be farther from the barren visual before them. “So inviting. I always like to come sit here at this time of the year, most especially in the cold and dark, and challenge myself not to strip down to my skivvies and jump right in. It’s very hard to resist.” She nudged him then, shoulder to shoulder, and asked, “Is it the same for you?”
    “I’m not in the mood, Maddie.” Only Wyn’s lips moved, and not more than enough to spit out the terse sentence. “I’m not on my game enough to hold my own against you.”
    “I wasn’t trying to jab you, Wyn,” Maddie promised, her voice tightening as new nerves kicked in. “I was hoping to cajole you into talking, and maybe even smiling too.”
    He shook his head, and his entire frame tensed up even more. “No.” That one word, shot with the precision of a bullet, tore into flesh and pierced Maddie’s heart. “Go away. I need to be alone.”
    Shame and embarrassment flooded Maddie with clammy cold, and she wanted to slink under the bench and disappear forever. Insecurity took hold, invading her heart and mind. Who was she to give comfort to a man who’d never asked or expressed an interest in a real friendship with her? She was nothing, barely eighteen, not even a full mechanic yet, while Wyn was college educated and an officer of the law trained to deal with heightened and dangerous situations without losing his composure. I should go.
    Maddie pushed up from the frigid bench, started to cross in front of Wyn to leave, but something in her soul screeched at her to stop. He needs someone to be here for him more than you need your own personal comfort or to save face. You can’t leave him out here by himself.
    Forget looking like a statue, Wyn was a mountain in front of her, giant and unmovable. Maddie took a seat on a stump designed to be a footrest, without possessing a clue about how to create even a tiny crack in Wyn’s foundation. She had no skills in this area, let