Chapter 12

"I don't want to fight you anymore, Madisyn." He said quietly, taking a slow step towards her, waiting to see if she would bolt. "I should never have laid my hands on you and I apologize for that."

"We both lost our tempers and I'm sorry too, Mark." Her voice was soft and low, watching him kneel down to be eye level with her and hissed when he took her bandaged hand in his own. "It'll heal, it's not broken." Madisyn assured him, seeing the anguish in his eyes and knew it was probably because she was Jack's daughter, his mentor, and he'd laid his hands on her. She also had to admit it felt incredible having him touch her again, fighting back a shiver because she didn't want him thinking she was afraid of him. "I didn't mean to punch you, I really didn't..." Tears swelled in her eyes as her voice cracked, looking away from him to blink them away.

"Don't cry, Madi, please." He murmured, knowing he was going to hell for laying a single finger against her. "Darlin, I won't ever put my hands on you again, I promise." Mark took her face gently in his hands, turning her back to look at him, seeing the tears. This was his purgatory. "Madi, please..."

"Hey boss, I brought you back your food, with the extra sauce for..." Randy stopped, staring at the two before him. "Mr. Calaway."

Mark didn't let go of her like his first instinct had been to do, knowing that would have made him look guilty for something and he hadn't done anything this time.

Tears flowed over his hands as she stared into his eyes, wanting to tell him how she felt, having carried this burden with her for years. "Put it in the kitchen, Randy." She instructed in a cracked voice, loud enough for him to hear, and could feel her chest constrict tightly at the turmoil in Mark's green eyes. Without even thinking about it, Madisyn hugged him tightly around the neck, being careful of his nose because she didn't want to hurt him anymore, knowing that had to be painful. Her entire body shook as she cried harder, her tears soaking his neck, his scent being the only thing that tried calming her down. "I'm sorry...I'm sorry..." She kept repeating, meaning for it more than just socking him in the nose.

Randy rolled his eyes and carried the food out to the kitchen, dropping it unceremoniously onto the table, not really caring if he smashed something. He had just seen something disturbing. He had seen love, in her eyes, for Mark. How the fuck could anyone -especially Madisyn of all people- love that cold, uncaring bastard? Grunting, he dropped down into a chair and stared broodingly at the floor.

"Shhh, it's alright, darlin'." Mark soothed, having no idea that there was a very upset Randy Orton in the kitchen, focused entirely on the woman in his arms. He sat down in a chair, pulling her onto his lap and let her cry, having no idea what she was apologizing for at this point. "Madi, stop, you have no reason to be sorry, for anything, darlin'. Shhh..."

Not even Madisyn understood her feelings for Mark or why they ran so deep, so strongly. Oh what he didn't know...Madisyn just leaned against him while he comforted her, remembering the last time they'd been in this predicament, but she was wearing clothing that protected both of them. She was an emotional wreck and was sorry for her father, sorry for punching Mark, for not admitting how she truly felt and anything else that she might've done. She wanted Mark, why was it so hard for her to give into her feelings to him?

'I don't want to be rejected.' She thought, her heart breaking at the thought of him telling her that they'd be better off not mixing business with pleasure or staying friends would be wiser, something along those lines.

He had always wondered why she felt like she couldn't say what was on her mind to him, now Mark knew. Because of his temper, because he was capable of hurting her, just like he had done yesterday in a fit of rage. After a few more minutes of soothing her before gently setting her on her feet, Mark reached for the box of tissues on the desk, holding them out to her quietly.

"You should try to eat some of your lunch, Madisyn." He said softly, rising from the chair. He wondered what she was thinking right now, and knew he had forfeited any right in asking the minutes he had snatched her up.

She nodded and watched as he began walking out of her office, Madisyn feeling a wall building between them and felt her heart pound even harder if that was possible. "Mark, wait..." Madisyn swallowed hard when he turned to face her, green eyes full of sorrow as she blew her nose and wiped her tears away, along with her makeup, the words building in her throat threatening to spill out. She opened her mouth to speak and that fear of rejection instantly took over, the surge of courage she felt moments ago completely vanishing. "There's food in the kitchen for you. I got you orange chicken with sweet and sour sauce." As soon as he disappeared from sight, Madisyn stumbled back to sit in her chair, burying her head in her hands.

Mark didn't even bother going to the kitchen, just headed upstairs to his apartment. The beautiful thing about living on site meant he could rearrange his hours and, as the body wasn't needed today, he was going to extend his break just a bit longer, needing some space away from the woman who he was beginning to realize, held something very precious to him in her hands. Every time he thought she was finally going to say whatever it was she had been trying to say...she stopped.

Randy was suddenly hungry again, trouble in paradise.

Madisyn didn't eat her food, in no way, shape or form hungry, but planned on taking it home with her. She stayed until late in the night, feeling drained emotionally, physically and definitely mentally. Sighing, she closed and locked up the office, shutting off the lights with her Chinese dangling in a bag along with Mark's lunch he hadn't touched either. Sighing, Madisyn glanced up at the ceiling and contemplated bringing it to him, nodding, heading out and walked around the building up the stairs to his loft. She took a deep breath and brought her hand up, knocking three times.

There was no answer. When Mark had come up, he had removed the dress shirt and shoes, and laid out on the bed. He had been meaning to just rest a bit, get his mind back in order, but had fallen asleep instead. When she knocked again, the half shut door opened a crack. He had fallen asleep on his stomach, with his head resting on his folded arms, feet hanging off the edge of the bed.

"Madisyn..." He sighed in his sleep.

Chewing her bottom lip, Madisyn slowly pushed the door open more and stepped inside, closing it behind her gently. He was sleeping, she felt like a complete idiot invading his space like this, but wanted to make sure he was alright. Not to mention she had his lunch from earlier, stopping when she bumped into something hard, which was the coffee table. Sighing, Madisyn adjusted her eyes to the darkness and found the fridge, placing the food inside of it and closed it, hoping he didn't get mad at her for sneaking in to give it to him.

When she heard light snoring, Madisyn slowly headed in that direction and knew this was Mark's bedroom, treading on dangerous grounds. She saw the huge figure in the bed and stifled a giggle at the way his feet dangled off the edge, shaking her head. Madisyn went to turn to walk out and froze when she heard her name, thinking he'd woken up, but when she turned to face him again, he was still deep in his slumber...and he was groaning her name.

Mark was indeed sound asleep, sound asleep and dreaming about her. Obviously unconscious to the fact that he was being watched, Mark groaned her name again, reaching a hand beneath him to adjust himself. His face almost pained, he rolled onto his back, his hand slipping down the front of his undone pants, slowly beginning to stroke himself, eyes darting back and forth beneath his closed eyelids, his dream obviously a very good one. Blue eyes widened in shock as Madisyn's jaw hit the floor, not believing what she was witnessing. She knew she could walk out right now, but her feet were glued to the floor, her mouth completely going dry.

"Oh god..." She whispered when he actually began stroking himself up and down, the movement not missed by her and Madisyn could feel her body engulf in flames, wondering if he had sex dreams about her often. When he growled, Madisyn closed her eyes and wanted to touch him, to help him with his current problem, knowing it was very wrong. 'Just walk out, walk out right now.' She mentally coached herself and slowly took a step back, hearing her name again, suddenly deciding to take a chance. "Mark..." She moaned out very softly, almost like a whisper, backtracking when that made him pump faster.

Almost impatiently, he arched his hips upward, his eyebrows knitting together and growled before pushing his pants down enough to free his massive erection, unintentionally displaying it to the woman he couldn't know was in his bedroom, encouraging him to continue. "Madi, I want you, darlin'!" He rasped harshly, continuing to pleasure himself. When he heard her moaning his name again, he hissed his approval, his hand moving smoothly over his cock, lubricated with his own pre-cum.

"I want you too, Mark." Her mouth was watering at the sight of his throbbing cock as she walked further into the room, standing far enough away to where he couldn't grab her, but wanted to egg him on more. "Oh Mark fuck me please!" Again it was very soft so she didn't disturb his rest, tempted to join him on the bed, but Madisyn couldn't do it. That would be a whole other level of humiliation and she was taking the chance at getting caught watching him, also being cautious. "I love you Mark, please take me..." There she'd said it and nearly jumped when he an even louder growl escape him, already heading back to the door as he pumped his cock even faster, the muscles in his arm bulging.

When Madisyn whispered that she loved him, Mark was finished. He bellowed out her name as he came, his hand speeding up as he drew his climax out for as long as possible. Finally giving himself a few, lazy strokes before letting both his dick and his hand drop. A few moments later, his eyes opened, his head raising off the bed, looked down at himself and groaned.

"Great…" He muttered, not bothering to move, still feeling the fading tingles of pleasure from his dream romp with Madisyn. "God...what am I going to do?"

Madisyn was on her way back home, having snuck out as soon as Mark released, hoping he hadn't heard her. She didn't know what to think, wondering how long he felt that way about her. Had he been having sex dreams of her besides that one? Madisyn had found out one thing tonight and that was Mark felt something for her, whether it was lust or love, and that was enough to maybe finally come clean to Mark how she really felt.

Then again, maybe it was all a figment of her imagination.

Mark rolled out of his bed, glancing at the clock and knew he had slept the day away. Only to wake up after apparently jerking off to a dream about the one woman he would never be able to have, who was terrified of him because he had lost his temper and jerked her up by her shirt like she was some kind of punk. Not to mention grabbing her arm so hard he had left bruises in the shape of his fingers. Disgusted with himself, he peeled off the slacks and kicked them aside. Cursing himself out for the mental slip, he stormed over to the fridge and opened it, spotting the Chinese, which also explained the sudden scent of Madisyn that he was distinctly smelling, glancing down when his cock began to twitch.

"I swear to God, I will shut the refrigerator door on you." He growled to the silence, slamming it shut, his appetite ceasing.