Superb And Sexy

Chapter 6

Could this day have gotten any worse? Maddie wondered as Brody followed her through the house. She passed through the laundry room where Leena had some of her bras hanging up to dry. She ducked beneath them, but even when he ducked, Brody managed to hit a hanger. A black, lacy panty fell to the floor.

He bent and picked it up, the thing looking incredibly small and feminine in his hands.

With a sound that she meant to be annoyance but might have been something else entirely, she snatched it from him, stretching to hang it back up. As she moved, she felt him at her back. She always felt him, but more today than she ever had before.

She’d missed him.

Hell of an admission.

He was eyeing the rest of the drying lingerie, not saying a word but clearly thinking plenty. “My sister’s,” she said and walked on.

He followed. Of course, he followed.

She couldn’t shake him, and she sure as hell hadn’t managed to distract him either. She was definitely losing her touch. Stopping in the front hall, she looked pointedly at the door. He set a big, warm hand on the small of her back until she turned and looked at him.

She got that she’d inadvertently triggered all of his alpha male, drag-his-knuckles-on-the-ground tendencies. It was all over his face, in the hard angles of his jaw, in the set lines of his mouth, in the way his eyes were so intense and stormy and utterly focused on her.

He knew her far better than she’d imagined. Though how that was possible, what with him always doing his damnedest to keep his distance from her at work…

But she’d obsess about that later.

Much later.

She had bigger issues at the moment. Life and death issues. Leena’s. Hers.

And now his.

Because yes, she’d heard Rick’s message loud and clear. Her Uncle Rick expected Leena back on Stone Cay, and if she didn’t go, there’d be trouble.

There’d be problems.

There’d be blood. “Brody.”

“Maddie,” he said with shocking calm. A furious calm, if she wasn’t mistaken, but still.

“I’m on leave of absence,” she reminded him, not telling him that it looked like it might be permanent. Hell, she could hardly think it, much less say it out loud. “As in, I’m not currently working for you. So what’s happening in my life is none of your business.”

“That might have been true a few minutes ago. But now we’re related.”

“Stop it.”

“No, you stop it.” Yes, definitely fury. “What the hell is this all about, Maddie? Who was that asshole on the phone?”

She wasn’t moved by much, but him standing there in that tall, muscled package, wrapped by all that raw and dangerous male beauty made her swallow hard. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“Try me.”

Try him? That had been her greatest fantasy up until Leena had shown up and Maddie’s entire world of glass had shattered. Before that, she’d wanted to try him every which way possible, but that was going to be just a fantasy now, a remote one. She reached for the front door, but before she could open it, he placed his hand on the wood, effortlessly holding it closed above her head.

Facing the door, she eyeballed his arm, taut with strength. The fingers of his hand were spread wide. He had long fingers, scarred from all the planes he’d rebuilt. They were capable fingers, always warm, and the clincher…they knew how to touch. He’d held her face that time she’d kissed him, and if she closed her eyes, she could still feel them on her jaw. She’d spent a lifetime schooling herself against feeling too much, against giving away too much of herself, especially to men. But the men she’d been with didn’t make her nerves sing and her pulse jump by just looking at them.

Brody did.

“Maddie.”

“It was nice of you to visit. But as you can see, now’s not a good time.”

He lifted his hand and traced a finger over the exit wound on the back of her shoulder. “Are you feeling okay?”

She loved his touch. Way too much. “Yes.” Unfortunately, the man was a virtual mule when he wanted to be, unmovable, staunch in his opinions. On her best day, she might have gone toe to toe with him, no problem, using that voice of honey she’d perfected, her smile of ice, and the argumentative skills she’d honed well over the years. She was every bit as stubborn as he, and she would have won-she’d have seen to it.

But this wasn’t her best day, not by far. In fact, it was quickly gearing up to be one of her top three worst ever. “Don’t make me kick your ass out of here.”

“I think I can take you.”

With a sigh, she dropped her forehead to the door and just breathed. Not easy with well over six feet of solid, warm muscle encroaching into the personal space behind her.

And he was encroaching.

Not that her body minded. Nope, it had apparently disengaged from her brain and was making a break for freedom.

But then he did something that made it all the more difficult. He stepped even closer so that she actually felt his thighs brush the backs of hers. His chest did the same to her back, and then, oh God, and then she felt his breath on her temple.

She had to close her eyes. Don’t turn around because then you’ll be in his arms, and you just might be stupid enough to kiss him again, get lost in him…

He slipped an arm around her waist, hard and corded with strength. Adrenaline and something else, something much more dangerous to her well-being, washed through her veins, followed by a high tide of stark desperation.

If she pushed back against that body, she could rub all her good spots to his. No.

Yes.

Her mind continued to war with her hormones, but then he leaned in, just a little, and put his mouth to her ear. “Tell me one thing, at least.”

She swallowed hard because he even smelled good. Sort of woodsy and so very, very male. She could feel her heart racing, which was at complete odds with his, beating slow and sure and smooth. Damn it. She was supposed to be slow and sure and smooth! “What?”

“Where’s Stone Cay?”

Oh, God.

“I can look it up, but I’m going to guess…The Keys?”

“Bahamas. It’s a small private island in the Bahamas.”

“Okay.” He sounded relieved to be getting somewhere, but that relief would be short-lived because he wasn’t going to get any further.

Nope.

“Do you think I can’t see your fear?” he murmured, his mouth still so close to her ear that his lips brushed against her lobe when he spoke. “That I don’t know how unlike you this is?”

His lips brushed her skin again, and her entire body began to hum. “That was Leena’s fear,” she managed. God. He was too close. And he was too raw, too masculine, and far too big for the small hallway.

“But it’s you now. Right here, right now with me. Afraid.” As he spoke, his mouth moved against her, his warmth seeping into her chilled bones and with all that hard strength up against her, and it was too much, making her squirm to free herself.

He merely pressed up against her, fully now, so that he couldn’t take a breath without her knowing it, and vice versa.

“Talk to me, Maddie.”

Impossible. With all that testosterone wrapped in sinew pressing against her, his face so close she could feel the stubble from his jaw brush hers, and that intoxicating scent of frustrated man, she could hardly think. Talking? Forget about it.

“Are you in trouble?”

Truth? Trouble was her new middle name. She bit back her short bark of laughter because it would have come out sounding far too hysterical. Plus, she might not have been able to stop. “No.” And there went another lie. Hope Santa wasn’t listening, but it was for Brody’s own good…

“Jesus, Maddie, come on. It’s all over your face.”

She imagined it was. At some point between Leena showing up and realizing Rick was on her tail looking for blood and then the guy of her secret fantasies arriving in his Camaro-chariot, Maddie had lost her ability to hold it together, much less hide her emotions.

She really needed to get a grip on that pronto. Showing emotion was dangerous, both to her physical well-being and to her heart and soul.

Not that she was worried about her heart and soul. Nope, at the moment, it was mostly her physical being she had concerns about.

And Leena’s.

And if she didn’t shake Brody, his as well. God. Was she in trouble? Hell, yeah. The worst sort of trouble. But she could handle it.

She always did.

Except this time…this time, there was a small part of her that had doubts, a small part of her that said her luck had finally run out and the past she’d been one step ahead of for ten years just might have caught up to her. “There’s some trouble,” she admitted.

“Your sister?”

Okay, maybe she could admit that part, too. “It’s a misunderstanding. Nothing we can’t handle.”

Look at that, another lie right off her tongue. They were really racking up today.

“Let me help.”

No. Definitely not. Not with Rick involved, not with her past hanging out, leaving her feeling way too exposed. So was the way Brody was holding her with extreme care, making sure not to put too much pressure on her shoulder, but she couldn’t get free-a bit demoralizing given all those years of self-defense classes she’d taken.

Squirming did nothing but make her extremely aware of their position, of her butt snugged to his crotch, for example, and how she wished they were in this position for another reason entirely.

He turned just his head so that once again his jaw brushed hers. The feeling shouldn’t have stopped her heart and made her belly quiver, but it did, and that just pissed her off. “I think this qualifies as you butting your nose in where it doesn’t belong. You don’t let me do that to you.”

“Are you kidding?” he asked with a low laugh. “When you’re at work, you butt into my life every damn day of the week.”

“Oh, you mean when you’re in your office, all pouting and edgy and barking at the rest of us?”

“Excuse me. Pouting?”

“That’s right. Pouting like a woman over your deep, dark secrets.”

He choked on that, then went silent a moment. “I have no secrets.”

“Uh-huh, and you’re an open book.”

Now he let out a low huff of frustrated air, which disturbed the hair on her temple and a whole bunch of things inside her.

Too many things.

Damn it. She couldn’t keep it together with him here. “You’re hurting me.”

At that, he pulled back so fast her head spun. Her relief was short-lived, however, because then his hands were on her waist, gently but inexorably turning her to face him.

So she played chicken and closed her eyes.

“Maddie. Look at me.”

No, thanks. Because she could stand here, just like this, close to him without being too close, being able to smell him but not see him, for a good long time.

Forever, maybe, except then her body gave her away by swaying toward him.

Traitorous body.

“Maddie, goddamnit.”

She sighed and opened her eyes.

His held hers and wouldn’t let go. “I know you want me gone so you can take care of this ‘misunderstanding.’”

“It is a misunderstanding.”

He rolled his eyes. “Whatever. But as your husband, I’m equipped to help.”

“Why? Because you have a penis?” She struggled for patience and decided she needed a moment to cool off. Giving him a little push to clear her path, she walked away.

Walked away and rubbed at the spot in the center of her chest that ached like a son of a bitch because she needed one last lie. The king of lies, she thought as she climbed the stairs. Something that would make him think he was helping and get him the hell out of here.

Leena hadn’t wanted to leave her sister alone with the tall, dark, and absolutely attitude-ridden Brody, nor did she want to step up and say so.

She wasn’t good at stepping up, especially to men. One look at her life would tell anyone that. She hadn’t stepped up to Rick, and he’d single-handedly ruined her life. She hadn’t stepped up when Manny had wanted her and she hadn’t wanted him. She hadn’t stepped up when she’d become attracted to one of the men she’d helped Rick rip off, leaving that man, Ben Kingman, in possession of one gorgeous and very fake diamond ring, which was all her fault…

God. Sometimes, she really hated herself.

She paused to listen to how her sister was faring with her boss and heard Maddie say “Don’t make me kick your ass out of here.”

See? Maddie didn’t let anyone push her around; she took care of herself.

How Leena envied that because she wasn’t any better at taking care of herself than she was at standing up for herself. Actually, she wasn’t good at much, really, except for creating truly original, one of a kind, beautiful jewelry on spec for whoever happened to have money in their pocket to pay Rick for such things.

Yeah, she was good all right. Real good.

Not that she was proud…

Of course, the swindles had all occurred against her will and with the threat of all sorts of Sopranolike violence if she didn’t keep her trap shut, but she doubted the law would see things her way. If Rick was ever even caught.

Rick had promised her he wouldn’t be. And that going to jail was nothing compared to what he’d do to her if she ever turned him in. For herself, she didn’t care.

Okay, she cared.

But for Maddie…tough, resilient, brave Maddie who’d gotten away on her own, who’d done so before she’d had anything to be ashamed of, who’d managed to make a life for herself, which she deserved…

Leena couldn’t, wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize that.

But you already have, just by coming here…

Ashamed, she closed her eyes. She’d screwed up again. Always…

Giving her sister some privacy, she moved out the back door and stood on the deck, then reached into her pocket for a cigarette before remembering she’d given up all the things that were bad for her. Wishing she’d left herself that one vice, she wandered into the woods, eyeing the towering pines, the wildflowers swaying in the breeze, everything so beautiful and in its place.

She’d never found her place. She’d never belonged.

And hell, if that wasn’t an overly dramatic, self-pitying thought, when she’d given up both dramatic and self-pitying thoughts along with the cigarettes.

Damn it.

Out here in no-man’s-land, she didn’t hear any voices, raised or otherwise, which meant Maddie had either kicked some Brody ass or she’d gotten rid of him. She still couldn’t believe that Maddie would actually work for someone like him, someone so…nerve-wrackingly big and bad and…undeniably sexy.

If one was into nerve-wrackingly big and bad and undeniably sexy.

Personally, she was not. Nor had she expected Maddie to be. But it’d been a long time since Maddie and Leena had been together. Things had changed.

A lot of things. With a sigh, she went back inside, where it was quiet, very, very quiet. “Maddie?”

“Up here.”

Leena found her in the master bedroom, looking through the small, intricately carved wooden box that had belonged to their mother.

That surprised her. Maddie wasn’t sentimental; neither of them were.

They’d never really been given a chance to be.

Maybe Leena wasn’t the only one feeling a little pessimistic about their future. “Where’s Brody?”

“Hopefully thinking about leaving soon.”

“Hopefully?”

“Don’t worry. He’s not a problem. I’ll figure it out.”

“You could just tell him the truth.”

“No, I can’t,” Maddie said. “That would leave a loose string, someone who knows.”

“You said you trust him.”

Maddie stared at her. “Well. That’s a new word for you. Trust.”

Leena lifted a shoulder. “I just think that it seems like maybe…maybe there’s something more between you two than just work.”

“If there is, it no longer matters.”

Because of The Plan.

Guilt stabbed at her, hard. “Maddie-”

“Forget him a minute.” Maddie pressed a photo into her hand. “This is what I wanted to show you.”

Leena looked down at the old picture of the two of them in the Halloween costumes, missing their front teeth and pretending to be superheroes, and along with the guilt came a new and completely unexpected surge of emotion.

Love.

“We were both strong then,” Maddie reminded her. “We can both be strong again.”

Leena lifted her gaze from the picture and looked at Maddie. In her sister’s eyes was more of that love, and that swamped her, too. Her heart couldn’t take any more, but she could admit this. “Yes. You’re right.”

A smile crossed Maddie’s mouth. “I like the sound of that.”

“But Maddie? I’m still going to go say good-bye to Ben-”

“Leena-”

“No, listen. Please. You have to understand. For years, I’ve gone about my life with my eyes closed, letting Rick rule my whole world. But I can’t keep pretending not to see what’s going on around me anymore. I have to change. And to do that, I have to face what I’ve done.” She took Maddie’s hand. “I have to try to make it right.”

“By admitting your part in criminal activity to Ben, a man who can use that admission to press charges against you?”

“By not being shallow. By growing a backbone.”

“Okay, give me a minute.” Maddie pressed her fingers to her mouth. “I admire the thought, but Jesus, Leena-”

“I know, but I have to right that wrong if I’m going to go on. I have to, or I can’t go on.”

Maddie stared at her, both deeply impressed and deeply terrified. “I want to pull the older twin card here and say fine, but you’re not going alone. No way in hell.”

Leena’s eyes were filled with an admirable steely determination. “I know I’m doing the right thing. And you’re only four minutes older.”

“Five minutes.”

Leena smiled. “Older sister or not, I’m doing this. And then we can put The Plan into motion. The Vanishing Off The Face Of The Earth Plan.”

In that moment, Maddie realized something a little shocking-all this time she’d thought of herself as the stronger of the two of them, but that wasn’t actually true.

Leena was the stronger.

Because unlike herself, Leena was going to actually have her good-bye.

Don’t worry so much,” Leena said softly. “It’s time for me to take care of myself.”

“Fine. But I’ve got your back.”

Ten years of karate classes and other various self-defense classes would have both of their backs, as well as the gun in her underwear drawer and the knife she always had strapped to her thigh because it never hurt to be prepared.

“You’re always going to try to take care of me, aren’t you?” Leena asked.

Maddie hesitated. “I guess I am.” She waited for Leena to object, but her sister surprised her.

“I’m glad,” Leena said and hugged her hard. “To The Plan then.”

“To The Plan.”