Slow Burn

by Jamie Denton

  “Chocolate-covered cherries,” Debbie added. “And chocolate-covered raisins.”

  Tilly took the glass Debbie offered and handed it to Maggie. “Ooh,” Tilly said, “strawberries dipped in chocolate.”

  Maggie wondered if Cale liked strawberries. “Hmm, with champagne,” she added. Would Cale like strawberries and champagne…in bed?

  “For two,” Tilly added, then walked slowly back into the family room to the big comfy L-shaped sofa.

  Maggie and Debbie followed. Feeling slightly light-headed, Maggie took extra care with her steps. So far, all Drew had been right about as far as an evening spent with Debbie and Tilly was the chocolate. The girl talk, pajamas and strawberry margaritas had been a welcome and liberating surprise.

  “Anyone special in mind?” Debbie asked Tilly, settling back on the sofa.

  A slow smile curved Tilly’s lips. “Maybe.”

  Maggie sat in the corner section of the sofa and curled her feet beneath her. “Does he know?” she asked curiously. She herself was attracted to Cale, and she suspected the feeling was mutual, but she couldn’t say with exact certainty. Although, she thought, hiding a smile behind her glass, the odds were stacked in her favor after her outrageous behavior this morning. He’d looked so pained, she’d almost taken pity on him. Maybe she would have, if she hadn’t been suffering, as well.

  “He should.” Tilly took a sip of her drink. “He’s been flirting with me for weeks.”

  “Has he asked you out?” Maggie asked.

  “A couple of times.”

  Debbie set her glass on the table. She reached for the tin of fudge and hesitated, then snagged another piece for herself. “And you haven’t said yes?”

  Tilly wrinkled her pert nose. “I don’t know.” She turned to rest her back against the big square pillow propped on the arm of the sofa, then sat cross-legged. “I’m not sure if I want to get involved in another relationship right now.”

  “Tilly Jensen,” Debbie scolded. “It’s been over a year since you broke up with what’s-his-name. You should be more than ready.”

  “Ready isn’t exactly my problem.”

  Maggie took a sip of her drink and silently agreed. Her problems were vast, but being ready definitely was not one of them. When she wasn’t worrying about who or what she was, all she could think about was Cale. Since her little stunt this morning, making love to him was easily the most prominent thought.

  She let out a little sigh of pleasure. The fantasies were endless.

  Debbie adjusted her long, sapphire silk robe over her legs. “I meant for a relationship.”

  “Why can’t it just be about sex?”

  Maggie agreed with Tilly. “Really,” she added. “Guys do it all the time.”

  Could she make love to Cale and keep her heart out of the equation? Probably not, since she had her doubts about being the love ’em and leave ’em type.

  “Exactly my point,” Tilly said. “If they can have sex without all the hearts and flowers, then why is it still a crime if we do? ‘You’ve come a long way, baby,’ my ass.”

  “I suppose if that’s the kind of relationship you really want,” Debbie’s expression turned thoughtful.

  “Uh-oh, she used ‘the tone.”’ Tilly’s laughter held the slightest hint of caution. “Get ready, Maggie. Here it comes.”

  Debbie waved her hand in dismissal at Tilly. “You’re going to frighten Maggie away.”

  Feeling decidedly woozy, Maggie set her drink on the table. “I don’t think I scare that easily.”

  “Boy, I’ll say,” Tilly agreed. “Drew told me she put Ben in his place this morning and earned his respect. That’s not an easy accomplishment.”

  Debbie gave Tilly a stern look. “You’re changing the subject.”

  “Okay. Fine.” Tilly raised her hands in surrender. “Lecture away.”

  “I’m not going to lecture you. I was only going to suggest that after a while, sexual attraction fades.”

  “Isn’t that the point? And for the record, it hasn’t hurt Drew any.”

  Debbie looked at Maggie and smiled. “Drew’s really very lonely.”

  As fascinating as Maggie found the subject, Cale was the one who interested her. She wanted to know everything about him. His likes. His dislikes. What it’d be like to make love to him, she thought again.

  “As if.” Tilly’s laughter deepened. “With all the women he has falling at his feet? That man doesn’t have time be lonely.”

  “You two are very close, aren’t you?” Maggie asked in an effort to derail her fantasies of Cale before they started up again.

  As if, she thought and stifled a giggle.

  Tilly nodded. “Ever since we were kids, and I beat him up for running over my dolls with his bike. I think we were around seven or eight years old at the time.”

  “They’ve been inseparable ever since,” Debbie added.

  “Have you and he ever…?”

  “Oh, good grief, no.” A mock shiver shook Tilly’s thin frame and she giggled. “I did have a crush on Ben, though, when I was in the seventh grade. He thought I was a pest.” She took a sip of her drink, then giggled again. “He still thinks I’m a pest.”

  “That’s because to him, you’re the sister he never had.” To Maggie, Debbie said, “All three boys were always looking out for Tilly.”

  The impression of loneliness Maggie had experienced during breakfast with Cale and his brothers returned. Her free-association exercise this afternoon had led her to believe that she did in fact have at least a semblance of a family, somewhere. In particular, a father. But for reasons she couldn’t quite explain, the man in her vision didn’t seem completely real to her. Although she remembered him, she couldn’t exactly say she knew him.

  There, she realized suddenly, stood the cause for the loneliness and longing that continued to cloak her. She felt a lack of belonging. Cale and his brothers. Their aunt. Even Tilly, whose status was merely that of a longtime family friend, they all belonged. Maggie didn’t think she’d experienced the true sense of family, of being a part of a greater whole, in a very long time.

  Tilly pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. “Do you know how many dates I didn’t have because of the Perry brothers? Drew and I were at the Farmer’s Market a couple of weeks ago and ran into Neal Turner. The poor guy’s still afraid to speak to me.”

  Debbie shook her head. “I don’t remember him.”

  “You should. In high school Cale got a two-day suspension for clocking him one in the jaw.” Tilly turned to Maggie. “They were in the boys locker room when Cale overheard Neal bragging to a couple of his buddies that once he got what he wanted, he was dumping me.”

  “Oh, my,” Maggie murmured, although she really wasn’t all that surprised, the man had a protective streak wider than the Grand Canyon.

  “Do you know how hard it is to get a date for the prom when half the guys in high school are terrified of being pulverized if they make one wrong move?”

  “Cale took you to your prom,” Debbie reminded her gently.

  Tilly issued a short burst of laughter. “Out of guilt. It was his fault no one else asked me.”

  That sounded like the Cale she knew, Maggie thought. “Has he always been so…”

  “Protective?” Tilly supplied.

  Maggie nodded.

  “For as long as I’ve known him,” Tilly said. “He collected more strays than the local animal shelter, the humane society eventually put him on their rescue list. Isn’t he still a member?”

  Debbie nodded. “I never knew what he was going to bring home next,” she said. “At one point we received a warning from animal control because Cale had too many animals.”

  “We still think it was the nosey old biddy who used to live across the street that turned him in,” Tilly added. “She hated just about everyone in the neighborhood. My dad let Cale keep a few of his pets in our backyard until he found homes for them.”

  “Your poor fat
her.” Debbie chuckled softly at the memory. “He had no idea how much of an ordeal that would turn into, did he?”

  Tilly’s brown eyes filled with affection. “The goose just didn’t like Dad.”

  Maggie’s heart gave a sharp tug. She couldn’t help wondering if she was just one more stray in need of saving in Cale’s mind. “He hasn’t changed much, has he?”

  “No,” Debbie answered. “Not really. No one was surprised when he decided to become a paramedic. He’s been saving people and animals since my brother passed away.”

  Maggie thought of the image of her father. The only emotion she could honestly attach to the memory was a strong sense of curiosity to know more about him. “That must’ve been so difficult for all of them,” she said.

  “Losing both of their parents, especially when they were all so young…Well,” Debbie said, “it’s bound to have an effect. I see it, even if they can’t, or won’t.”

  “Oh, absolutely.” Tilly agreed solemnly. “Drew won’t let any woman get too close. Cale still thinks it’s his job to save the world. And I’ve never been able to figure out what makes Ben tick.”

  Maggie wanted to know what made Cale tick. His collection of strays, his reasons for becoming a paramedic all made sense to her on a psychological level. By saving those around him, he subconsciously fulfilled some childhood fantasy. The effect wasn’t exactly what she’d call adverse because he was kind, generous and possessed a deep caring nature. Still, she’d begun to sense he held back a part of himself. She didn’t believe him to be in the emotionally bankrupt league, scorned by a woman or crippled by his past, but something lurked in his psyche that prevented him from truly giving all of himself.

  Debbie leaned forward to cover the half-empty tin of chocolate. “Ben’s more complex,” she offered by way of explanation to Maggie. “He keeps things to himself more than the other two. After Joanna died, Alex, my brother, stopped caring about everything. Ben took on a lot for a kid his age.”

  “Do you mind if I ask how their mother died?”

  “In a fire,” Debbie said quietly. “She was one of the first women firefighters in the state, and quite proud of the fact. Joanna and Alex worked in separate fire stations, and usually different shifts for the most part, but occasionally they’d have a scheduling conflict so I’d watch the boys for them.

  “A fire started one night in the garment district. Joanna and her team were one of the first on the scene, but by the time they’d arrived, the fire had already began to spread to the neighboring buildings. Engine crews from all over the county were called in to assist, Alex’s being one of them.”

  Sadness engulfed Debbie’s soft blue eyes. “The fire moved to what was supposed to be an abandoned building, but the team found out some transients were trapped on one of the upper floors. Joanna went in with three other firefighters.

  “She did manage to save them, but something went wrong. The ceiling collapsed and trapped her. Alex tried to save her, but by the time he was able to reach her, it was too late. She’d not only suffered from smoke inhalation because her helmet had been knocked loose, but her burns were extensive. All the doctors could do for her was make her as comfortable as possible.”

  Maggie’s heart broke for the young boys who’d lost their mother so tragically.

  Debbie rose from the sofa and walked over to the stereo to add more CDs to the changer. “My brother never got over losing Joanna,” she continued, resuming her seat. “He really did try at first for the sake of the boys, but he’d lost his heart in that fire. He had nothing left to give them. He was only thirty-eight when he died of a massive coronary less than two years later.”

  An image flashed in Maggie’s mind, then vanished before she could fully grasp it, leaving behind pain that reached deep into her soul.

  Was what she experienced for Cale, she wondered, and the loss he and his brothers had suffered? Or was it much more personal?

  She downed her margarita, saddened by the knowledge she might never know the answer.

  10

  “A JOB? You’re serious?”

  Cale flinched at Maggie’s squeal of delight, then winced when hot coffee unexpectedly singed the tip of his tongue.

  He stifled a curse. What was his aunt thinking, offering Maggie a job? Didn’t she realize Maggie could very well be what she’d been trying to tell him all along—a criminal? Or, at the very least, an ex-con?

  All night, during his shift, he’d wrestled with the conclusion he’d drawn. Questioning Maggie about the memory she’d had of her father would be a useless endeavor because he already knew from experience that her powers of recollection were limited. He’d tried several times to arrive at another less-incriminating explanation for her dream that made sense, but he always came back to the same conclusion. Maggie LaRue, which might not be her real name, was quite likely a jailbird.

  Debbie handed him a paper towel to wipe up the mess he’d made on the breakfast bar. “You bet I am,” she said brightly to Maggie.

  “But…” But she might be a criminal! Cale wanted to say.

  One look at the sheer delight on Maggie’s sweet face and the words died on his lips. No matter what conclusions he’d drawn about her, he simply didn’t have the heart to trample her happiness over something as simple as a job in a bookstore. “Can you legally employ her when she doesn’t have a social security number?” he asked lamely.

  Debbie stood and gave his shoulder a reassuring pat before clearing away the last of the breakfast dishes. “Don’t you worry about it. It’s only part-time temporary, and I really could use some extra help around the store a couple days a week for a while.”

  Not willing to give up the fight too quickly, he asked Maggie, “Won’t it be a little much for you? You’re supposed to rest.”

  “Nonsense,” Debbie answered before Maggie had the chance to respond. “It’ll keep her mind occupied on something other than her problems.”

  Maggie flashed him one of her irresistible smiles. “I want to, Cale. It really could help me if I have something else to keep my mind busy.”

  “It’s settled then,” Debbie proclaimed before he could issue another protest. “You can start tomorrow. I’ll pick you up about nine-thirty.”

  Maggie pushed her bar stool back and stood, holding on to the waistband of her blue pajama bottoms. “I can’t thank you enough for this, Debbie.” She hesitated, her eyes filling with uncertainty for a moment before she wrapped her slender arms around Cale’s aunt for a brief hug.

  The minute she let go of the waistband, the pajama bottoms drooped, slinging low on the curve of her hips. The matching cami inched upward, revealing yards of luscious skin. Cale stared, appreciating the view more than was wise.

  “And, you,” She turned to face him, her eyes still sparkling with sheer happiness. “I’ll be able to start repaying you for all you’ve done for me.”

  He waved away her offer, not trusting himself to keep his opinions to himself. Emotions crowded him, making him edgy. Concern for his aunt that Maggie could very well be the criminal she feared herself to be. Worry that Maggie would do too much when she was supposed to take it easy, thereby slowing her recovery. Confusion over his own inability to completely reconcile the sketchy facts they were both learning about her past with the woman who charmed his family and insisted on repaying him for a few clothing items.

  Lust wasn’t the only emotion ranking high on his list of concerns. He’d be a liar if he denied his attraction to Maggie, or that she was slowly coming to mean more to him than just another woman in need.

  Keeping his distance would be the smart thing to do. Too bad he was feeling a whole lot like the village idiot.

  Time to face facts, pal. Maggie is a walking, talking paradox you might never fully understand.

  Oh, but the enjoyment of unraveling all those secrets was way too tempting.

  “I won’t be long,” Maggie said. Her gaze still held a light-heartedness destined to give his conscience a sharp jolt and fill hi
m with guilt.

  He let out a resigned sigh and took a sip of his coffee while his aunt explained to Maggie where to find the towels, as well as how to use the temperamental taps of the shower. He made a mental note to call a plumber for his aunt first thing Monday morning.

  The crossword puzzle from the Sunday paper sat on the bar. It mocked him. Just as the memory of Maggie’s kiss-swollen lips taunted him with that three-letter word for aroused.

  After Maggie disappeared upstairs, Debbie poured herself another cup of coffee then climbed onto the bar stool across from him. “You got something on your mind, Cale?”

  Did he ever. His thoughts were scattered and made about as much sense as Maggie’s faulty long-term memory. He set the mug in front of him and wrapped his hands around the warm ceramic. “You don’t know anything about her,” he said, “and you’re giving her a job.”

  Debbie lifted a pale blond eyebrow. “Neither do you,” she reminded him. “And she’s living with you.”

  “She’s not living with me. I’ve just offered her a place to stay. It’s not the same thing.”

  The knowing smile and patient expression on his aunt’s face told him loud and clear she saw straight through his flimsy argument.

  He looked away and stared into his coffee, warring with the decision to enlighten Debbie of the inconceivable, yet possibly true, details surrounding Maggie. For the briefest of instants, he almost wished he could be more like his brothers. Especially Drew. With his blithe approach to women, he wouldn’t give a rip what dark secrets lurked in Maggie’s past. Come what may, he’d be damned sure they both reveled in plenty of sensual delights during the time they did have together.

  Cale wasn’t at all like Ben, either, he realized. Ben never would’ve gotten himself in this position in the first place. Ben might have offered his assistance to Maggie in a much less involving manner, and he never would have brought her into his life the way Cale had done.

  “What is it, honey?” Debbie asked him quietly.

  He looked back at his aunt, who he loved with all his heart. Debbie was the only mother he’d known since he was just a kid. She hadn’t even been the age he was now when she’d assumed sole responsibility for her nephews, and never once in all the years spent raising them could he remember her ever putting her needs and wants before their own.