Swallowing hard, she laid down a few feet away, sinking into the muck, letting it ooze into her hair and clothes as she gazed up at the sky, beyond the floodlights she had positioned around the perimeter. Her smile lingered. Fun? When was the last time she had any? And why with Max Whitfield?
“Move your arms and legs like this,” Max coached.
Looking over, she watched him do the angel thing. “I thought it was only for snow.”
“Snow. Mud. Whatever’s on hand.”
Giving in completely, Annabelle mimicked his movements, slooshing her limbs through the layer of mud.
Reaching out, his fingers brushed hers and he held her hand as they moved together.
She should be mad, at the very least. This mishap would delay the job. But right now, she wouldn’t trade this feeling or this moment for the world. Her body floated. Her heart sang.
Max was a very dangerous man to have in her life.
Chapter 13
“Squish. Suck. Splat,” Max said under his breath as he carefully made his way into his house, his damp clothes caked with dried mud. Before he turned the motor of the SUV off, he checked the dashboard clock. 1:35 a.m.
Where had the time gone?
Mud fights and angels turned to getting back to the chore at hand. Working beside Annabelle, in awe of her expertise, he put his full back into it, trying to salvage what they could.
They’d done a decent job—well, as much as possible. Her small crew would return in a few hours to scope out the rest of the to-do list and figure out a workaround for that slight sprinkler pipe issue. Digging up their section proved easier than expected and patching it had been her genius temporary solution.
He couldn’t contain a smile.
“Irish,” he said softly, liking the feel of her name on his lips.
With that thought, his mind went back to the earth-shattering kiss. “An experiment.” He snorted. So dang soft and sweet. And too willing.
Annabelle had surprised him when she dropped her hesitancy and went full-out with it. Bold. Hot. Sexy.
A quiver of desire racked his body now. “Maybe it’s the chills. Yep, that’s it. I’m coming down with something from the water and dirt.”
Why couldn’t he admit the truth to himself?
“Okay, sparks fly whenever I see her. So what?” he muttered, slipping off his gunked up shoes in the utility room. “It’s not a thing, just a thing.”
Next, he shucked off his stiff dirty socks and tossed them in the laundry. “Maybe the trash would be better.” His shirt soon followed. “Shower coming right up.”
The lone dim light in the living room helped Max navigate through the dark kitchen and to the hallway.
Somewhere along the way, he sensed something. Turning back, he nearly jumped as he saw his brothers waiting for him. “Guys?”
“Shhh!” Danny pointed to Paige curled up in a chair, sleeping.
“Sleepover, Jay? You guys don’t do that here.” The couple made it a point not to do anything untoward in this house out of respect for his brothers and Paige. The gossip columns would have a field day with that kind of thing.
Jonathan held up a stack of brochures and papers. “What’s this?”
Max frowned. “What’s going on?”
“You tell us.” Danny yawned.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. But let me jump in the shower and I’ll be back in ten.”
“Max, we’ve been waiting up for you.” Jay rubbed a hand over his eyes while reaching out with the other hand and switching on the lamp on the table beside him.
He shrugged and looked down at his messy condition. “I was helping…a friend with a job.” That much was true. Well, he wasn’t so sure about the friend part. It had already jumped from that one dimensional relationship by leaps and bounds, if it ever had been that simple between them.
Paige shifted, knocking the blanket off her shoulder in her sleep.
Concerned, Max went to drag it over her, but Jay got there first. Closer to his brothers now, he noted the worry in their features. His middle clutched. “What’s wrong?”
“You quit law school,” Jay said with a grim look.
Found out! “I can explain.”
“You filled out the application for the police department.” Danny’s voice throbbed with pain. “I found all of them while putting your clean clothes away this afternoon.”
Max gulped hard. “I was going to tell you…” When? No time was a good time.
“Seriously?” Jonathan’s eyes burned bright with accusations. “You know how we feel about this, man. Jay talked you out of it ages ago. You were down with that.”
This was worse than he imagined; he faced the firing squad. “I thought I could, but I’m bored to tears in class. All talk. No action. That’s not me.”
“My contracts,” Jay chimed in. “You know the language. You’re good. No, great at it. You’re the only one I trust to check them out.”
“I can still do them.” He had a knack for the legal mumbo jumbo. And Jay insisted on paying him for his expertise. “I’m not ditching that or you guys.”
“But what if you die?” Danny’s brutal honesty hung in the air.
Silence pulsed.
“I can’t promise I won’t. But I can promise I’ll do everything in my power to not let that happen.” The need to protect others burned bright. Justice was close on its heels. “It’s my calling.”
Jay let out a gusty sigh. “Just because you were there with Dad when he was shot and killed at the convenience store?”
Visions of that horrible night whooshed back as if he were that little five-year old kid again. His father and he had witnessed the holdup: the gunman cold cocking the small, older female clerk in the head because she couldn’t get the cash out quick enough for him, his father stepping forward yet with a hand behind him to protect Max.
The gunman turned and began shooting up the place, wounding another customer. His father lunged and grabbed the gun, wrestling with the guy. The gun went off and his father lay limp. The gunmen shoved his father off him. Before running, the guy stared at Max straight in the eye and then took off running. They caught him hours later, because of Max’s eye-witness account and detailed description.
His father had died a hero, saving the clerk, the other customers, and his own son. And somehow, even at such a tender age, Max had recalled the incident in order to get the bad guy.
It changed Max to the core. Everything before that moment was a blur. Everything after that moment was a mission.
“I have to,” he whispered to his stunned and shaken brothers. “I feel it’s my duty. To serve and protect.” If only he’d been able to stop it before it even happened. Their lives would have been so different, so much better. Maybe now he could for some other kid.
One after the other brother heaved a great big sigh, letting the tension out and allowing the news to sink in.
“You do that for us,” Danny admitted. “It makes me feel good. You know, someone always looking out for me.”
“Me, too,” Jonathan agreed.
“Me, three.” Jay grinned sadly.
“And me,” Paige said sleepily. “Or should I say, me four?”
Max and his brothers chuckled.
The ball of fear and anxiety siphoned out of Max, slow and long. He’d disappointed them. He knew that. But, at least, they weren’t going to stop him.
He’d done everything to protect them. Now the tables were turned. He’d have a heck of a time protecting himself out there. He’d do his damnedest to do that.
Would he be good enough? Could he protect himself for them?
***
Sleep eluded Max. He didn’t toss or turn, just had his hands clasped behind his head on his pillow and stared up at the blank white ceiling in the dark.
On the fringes, after his long, hot shower, he’d heard the muted voices. Jay had returned from bringing Paige home and Jonathan had waited up.
The words weren’t
distinguishable; however, the tone was.
Even now, it kicked him in the gut.
“I was afraid of this,” he muttered, realizing the reason he’d put it off wasn’t only to not upset them, but to stall the hollow ache in him.
Protecting them from the truth seemed the right thing to do. However, it also shielded him from the deep well of guilt that clung to him now.
Max had let his brothers down.
Jay had worked hard to provide for them: safety, shelter, a life together. Their sense of security was shaken up once again.
Losing both parents at a young age, they’d formed an unbreakable bond, leaning on one another.
He could only imagine their worst fears were renewed. The possibility of losing someone else they loved caused all those old ghosts to be rattled awake.
Blowing out a pent-up breath, Max sat up, grabbed his pillow and flung it across the room. It hit the door with a dull thud and slid to the floor.
“That’s it for me. No more wallowing.”
The antsy feeling danced along his nerve endings. He shoved it aside long enough to jump out of bed and yank on his gym clothes.
In minutes, he was scribbling a note for his brothers before heading out the door.
“Three thirty in the morning,” Max grumbled under his breath as he drove down the empty street. “I should be sleeping like a baby.”
With the window down and the music turned up, Max steered the SUV toward the round-the-clock gym he and his brothers used. In less than six months, his brother Jay would open one of his own, adding to his growing businesses. He did it for them, the brothers, and now for his future wife.
“Our lives will all change when Paige and Jay marry.” A slice of shock rippled over him. A part of him didn’t want it to happen, but it was time.
“Jay, oh God, I should have talked to you alone. Don’t go thinking I’m quitting this family. I’ll step up and take over the other two.”
Stopping at a red light, Max shook his head, wondering how he’d gotten here. Miles from the gym, he’d taken a right when he should have taken a left. Once the light turned green, he touched the accelerator and realized King’s was just a few blocks away.
“Bruno,” he said, smiling. “No accidents, right?” Glancing in the rearview mirror, he checked for other cars and finally knew why he’d come out in the dead of night.
The place was closed up tight, lights off, and parking spaces empty. Max stood in front of the store, waiting for the night guard to answer his knock.
“Yo, Max,” the cheerful security guard called out, unlocking the door. “You lost?” He pushed open the door and allowed Max inside.
“Kinda. Got time to talk?”
“Sure thing. I’ve got rounds in ten, but you can tag along if you like.”
“I like.” The opulent store with only dim lighting on seemed at rest. “Great ol’ gal, isn’t she?”
“Been good to me.” He ushered him into the small, compact office. He keyed the mic on the radio twice and put it down. “Sign for get your butt over here and quick.”
“Newbie?”
“Another one who doesn’t get the drift, if you know what I mean.”
“Bruno,” the voice on the other end of the radio squawked back. “Did you hear that? What was it?”
“Me,” Bruno answered, shaking his head at Max. “I don’t think I’ve got in in me to break in another one.” He pressed down on the switch and said, “Come to the guard station. I’ll take over.”
The sigh of relief whistled through the line.
“Scared of his own shadow, that one.”
It took less time than Max imagined for the skinny kid to get back to the office and for Bruno and him to head out on rounds.
“What can I do you for, son?” Bruno walked the floor and Max tagged along, watching the seasoned guard check and recheck locked display cases, doors, and corners.
“You love this place, don’t you?”
“Is that all you came to find out?” His grin softened the question.
“I’m thinking of a career change.” Not thinking, but actually doing it. “Law enforcement.”
“A cop? I couldn’t do it. People bug the you-know-what out of me.”
Max chuckled. “You don’t say.”
“And the car thing. I don’t drive.”
“You? Didn’t realize that about you.”
He waved his unlit flashlight back and forth. “That’s between you and me, you hear?”
“Understood.” He strolled through the store, taking note of the marble floors, plush seating areas in each department, elegant clothing, high-end products behind glass cases, and the incredible window displays.
“So why me? Dolly’s husband, Edward, is the ex cop.”
“He’s next.” Max had avoided the man only due to the fact his sweet wife talked a lot. She’d spill the beans without even knowing there was something to hide.
“You looking for advice or a way out?” He flicked the light on and focused it on the back of the Beauty Bar. It landed on the huge poster of Jay and Paige for the hair care salon ad they’d posed for ages ago.
“Huh?”
Bruno fixed the beam on Jay’s face. “He know about it?”
“Just found out.”
“Ah, now I’m getting a better picture.” He grinned. “Nice couple.”
“That they are.” He sighed. “I don’t know why I’m here or why I came.”
“Come on, just keep walking. You’re stuck with me until the end of my rounds, so talk to me, Max.”
“I met this girl…” Why did he bring up Irish?
“Now this is getting interesting. Go on.”
“She’s funny and stubborn and adorable and she has a kid and I don’t have time for a relationship.”
“Or to take care of anyone else,” Bruno said, hitting the nail on the head.
Max halted and stared at the guard. “How did you know?” I didn’t even know it. It made so much sense, though. Investing himself in someone else, someone incredibly special would automatically bring out that side of him.
“Age, I guess. Watching people. Figuring them out. Goes with the territory.”
“She’s feisty and smart and all I want to do is protect her from herself. And sometimes me.” He could barely admit the last.
Bruno led the way up the still escalator to the second floor. “Did she ask?”
“Ask what?” Max rushed to keep up with the spry man.
“To look out for her?”
“No, but it’s only natural for me to want to.”
The mic keyed and squealed. “Brun…o…door…”
“Of all the times…” Bruno barked into the radio, “Yo, what door on what floor?”
“Top. Propped open. Forgot to close it.”
“You going out on the roof again? You know that’s not allowed.” He practically growled and then put the radio back in the holster. “Kids.” He muttered it like a swear word. “Come on, Max.” He pointed to the ceiling. “Let’s shut this down tight first.”
He followed close on the older man’s heels as they climbed the next two floors. “Should she have asked?” He tried to pick up on the earlier conversation.
“Does she want your help? Maybe she can do it all on her own and doesn’t need you.”
Midway up the last leg of the escalators, Max halted. “What do you mean she doesn’t need me?” He hadn’t thought of that, nor did he want to. What else could he do for her? That is, if he wanted to, than assist?
“Is she helpless?” He turned back and said, “Hop to it, Max.”
He recalled her small, yet homey place, the incredible job she did on the backyard, and her business. “Not helpless.” In fact, he’d done little help, but a whole lot of creating messes in her life.
Bruno mumbled something and disappeared around a corner. Max rushed to follow and headed for the door the guard was halfway through already.
The exit sign beamed bright as Max went unde
r it, propping open the door with a nearby rock. Darkness swooped in and Max gazed around at the large empty space and the Dallas skyline.
“Yep, that’s what I thought. He had a smoke up here.” Bruno ground the cigarette butt under his shoe. “Just not right.”
“This is some place you have here, Bruno.”
“Quiet time. I take my meal up here every chance I can get. Just got the word, King’s will be developing this place. Outdoor events, maybe some weddings. A little of this, a little of that.” He shrugged. “It’ll be nice and comfy up here soon.”
“Great idea. I hadn’t heard yet.” Paige worked as a wedding dress designer, Jay did a series of ads for the store, and the Whitfields were always welcome at the King family homes, so this must be in the development stages or they would have heard before now. “Something new?”
“Hot off the press. Barely thought up by Dex, the mad scientist, no less. He just got a promotion to head of product development. You heard about him and Madison, right? Dolly’s long-lost daughter?” He shook his head, smiling, and waved a hand around. “Now, time crunch to get it done. Less than three weeks to opening the wedding wing, so Charlie wants to unveil this place, too.”
Max walked the area. His shoes made echoing sounds on the concrete. He came to the edge and looked over and back again at the guard. “Ideas?”
“Benches, flowers.” Bruno shrugged. “Maybe a fountain.”
His antenna went up. He knew a certain someone who had a picture postcard backyard. “As in water?”
“Hoping it’s chocolate, too.” Bruno chuckled, the rich, hearty sound piercing the night.
“Got anyone in mind yet?” Could he do this for her? Gigi said business was slow right now.
“Not in my realm of knowing…”
“At the moment.” He knew the guard had his finger on the pulse of this place. “If I give you a name, a business name, could you pass it along maybe? And keep me out of it?” The adorable sign on the side of her truck seared in his mind. Mermaid Landscapes and Waterworks, with a caricature of Irish with her red hair. Mermaid style.
“Hmm…is it about the girl?”
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