by Rita Herron
"Yeah." Reid scowled, and Chase tried to sit up straighter. "Uh, yes, sir. I plan to stay on." If I can just bold my head up.
"And you're familiar with the lay of the land, the price range, the type of clientele we're targeting."
Chase nodded, gripping the desk with white knuckles when the room swayed.
Lance picked up the conversation. "You can look at the homes Chase has designed so far and examine our work, and you'll find we've used top-notch materials and come in with a fair price."
"Yes, well..." Mr. Wainright shuffled his dark glasses down on the bridge of his nose, glaring at Chase. "I have heard rumors about problems on-site. And we all know Mr. Holloway is fairly new at this business. As you gentlemen are."
"We can handle the project," Lance said. "Check out our work for yourself."
"And I've dealt with the contractors we were having problems with," Reid assured him. "Everything's back on track. We should have the first set of homes ready for the tour next week."
Wainright tilted his head sideways, studying Chase. "Are you all right, Mr. Holloway?"
Chase leaned in the same direction, trying to focus on Wainright's face.
Wainright's eyes bulged in his head. "Mr. Holloway, have you been drinking?"
The pain pills must have been stronger than he remembered. Or had he taken two instead of one? Let's see, Maddie had given him one before she ran out, then he'd taken another one when that one hadn't worked....
Lance's hand tightened around his arm. "We're sorry, Mr. Wainright. Mr. Holloway threw out his back last night and is taking pain medication."
"Oh, I see," the man said, disapproval still edging into his voice.
Chase pivoted to apologize himself but lost his balance. The room spun like a Ferris wheel, and Chase saw black just before his head landed in his soup.
* * *
"I'm afraid there's nothing to tell." Sophie blinked, and Maddie realized her friend's eyes looked suspiciously moist. "Your brother simply doesn't like me. I think it's time I accept it and—"
A rattling at the door interrupted Sophie. Someone was knocking.
Maddie rose and opened it, surprised to see Lance and Chase standing outside.
"Come on in," she said, her teeth clenched at the thought of her brother hurting Sophie.
Lance gave her an odd look, then ducked his head and climbed inside. Chase wobbled in none too steadily, a sickly pallor to his face. She instantly gave him her chair and ordered him to sit. He didn't argue, but dropped into it, a testament to his pathetic state of health. Or was he yellow from being a coward—too afraid to tell Lance about the two of them?
"What are you doing here?" Maddie asked Lance.
Lance's gaze flashed to Sophie, the tension palpable between them.
"I came to drop these off." He handed her the keys to the Victorian home.
"How did the meeting go?"
"Fine until Chase passed out."
Maddie frowned and saw Chase sink lower in his chair as if he were a child being reprimanded. She wondered if he'd mentioned their relationship and was waiting for the ball to drop. Instead Lance turned on Sophie.
"What are you doing here, Miss Lane? I thought we understood each other last night."
Sophie twisted her hands on top of the small table.
"I understood you perfectly, Mr. Summers. But Maddie's my friend."
His scowl said it all.
"Lance, what in the devil is wrong with you?" Maddie asked, suddenly furious at the entire male race. "I've never seen you be so rude to anyone in my life!"
"I don't like nosy busybodies."
Red flashed on Sophie's cheeks.
"Of all the nerve!" Maddie swatted her brother.
Sophie stood, her small fists on her hips. "I'm not a busybody, Mr. Summers. I bring the news to people, provide entertainment—"
"And—"
"That is quite enough, Lance Summers." Maddie pounded her fist on the table. "I think you'd better leave."
She glanced at Chase who'd remained suspiciously silent. The big chicken. Obviously he hadn't told her brother about them, or Lance would have said something.
She didn't know whether to cry or to hit him. She spied a carpet sample and almost reached for it. Maybe she could beat some sense into both of them. But Lance was already backing out of the van. Sophie folded her arms and stared after him, anger flashing in her vibrant eyes. "Under the circumstances, I think it would be better for all of us if I took my business someplace else, Mr. Summers."
"Fine." Lance dropped to the ground and stalked toward his car.
"Don't worry, Soph." Maddie wrapped her arm around Sophie. "We'll find another builder to help you. And we'll go down to that voodoo shop on River Street and buy a Lance doll and stick pins and needles in it tonight."
Chase stood, weaving sideways, and clutched the door to climb out, pausing to stare at her. Maddie's gaze caught his, questions thrumming through the air. Was he going to tell Lance about the two of them? Was it over between them before it had really even started?
Then the moment was lost, and he staggered out of the van, leaving all of the questions behind.
"Make that two voodoo dolls," Maddie muttered. "One for each of those stubborn, dumb men."
Chapter 21
That night Chase took a muscle relaxer and crawled in bed with a heating pad, determined to banish the horrible day from his mind. Seeing Maddie after they'd made love, after the humiliating experience at the hospital and the meeting, had his emotions skittering in a dozen different directions.
And seeing Lance had brought on the guilt. His best friend trusted him and he'd let him down. No question about that.
The bigger question now—what was he going to do about his deception?
Break things off with Maddie? Never touch her again?
He groaned in misery and twisted in bed as the erotic images from their lovemaking taunted his mind. Even in pain, his body hardened with want at the memories.
Why Maddie? Why couldn't he have felt this kind of heat with Daphne? Or some other anonymous woman who simply wanted sex with no strings and no relationship. A woman he wouldn't have to face at work, a woman who wasn't connected to Lance and Reid, a woman who wouldn't mess up his life...
A woman who wouldn't eventually want all that romance garbage. How did she stand all those flowers in her little van anyway; they'd made him nauseous.
Finally the pills worked, and he floated into a restless sleep. But the next morning, he woke, feeling irritable and disjointed, the dreams that had dogged him all night haunting him. Dreams of Maddie.
Maddie's pleased smile when he'd praised her work. Maddie's spunk and determination to succeed. Maddie's struggle to be independent in spite of the odds, in spite of her brothers' overprotectiveness. Maddie's sexy eyes whispering erotic promises to him in the dark, telling him he was wonderful. Maddie loving and giving herself to him, climbing on top of him, offering her virginity...
Him being smothered by a truckload of those damn roses.
He bolted upright, a sickening realization dawning. Maybe he was actually falling in love with... no.
Not Chase Holloway. He was a man who liked to be alone, a man who needed no one and wanted no one to need him. A bachelor forever.
A man who literally owed his life to Maddie's brothers.
The rest of his dreams rushed back to slap at him, knocking some much-needed sense into his befuddled brain. The horrible fight his parents had had the night before his father had gone berserk and killed that man. The day the sheriff had carted his father off to jail for murder. The night his mother had dropped him off at the orphanage. The way she'd coldly walked away and never looked back. The day he'd gotten into a fight at school and wound up on the bottom of ten boys. The ugly names they'd called him. Lance and Reid dragging the boys off his battered body, defending him.
Feeling weary and confused, he crawled from bed, climbed in the shower and dressed for work, deciding he neede
d a firm wake-up call. He'd drive by the orphanage today to help himself refocus. Seeing where he'd come from would put where he was going back into perspective.
A half hour later, he drove down the long winding drive, parked in front of the ancient cold structure, and stared at the building that had been his home more than ten years. The house he'd shared with sixty other homeless, faceless, boys whose parents had either died and left them without relatives or anyone who wanted them, or abandoned them because they didn't care. Painful memories rushed back. His father and mother fighting, his dad in a rage, ruining his life because he'd been obsessed with Chase's mother, his mother saying she'd grown tired of them both...
He couldn't become that obsessed with Maddie. He couldn't let his emotions and feelings and lust for her control his future.
And he refused to give in to his emotions and feel sorry for himself because of his past.
Instead he let anger at the circumstances, at the other kids who'd been cruel to him, drive him forward. He'd planned to prove to them he could be somebody, and he damn well was going to do that. The company, his business was the key.
His determination renewed, he shifted into gear and headed toward the subdivision. First, he'd meet Maddie and explain that any kind of physical relationship was over. She'd certainly understand—after all, he couldn't imagine her telling her brothers that she'd slept with him. They'd both let the moment—the atmosphere with that damn decadent rug, the wine, the close proximity in which they'd been working, the mood—get out of hand. Their libidos had done the talking.
But not anymore.
Now, common sense would bulldoze right over those hormones.
Yes, he'd tell Maddie it was over, then he'd find Lance and Reid, apologize for passing out at their meeting the day before, tell them Maddie had the decorating thing under control so they needn't worry and pour himself into drawing plans for the next phase of the development.
After all, in the cold light of day, Maddie was probably thinking the same thing.
* * *
Maddie shivered, surprised at the chilly spring morning. Unusual. Normally by 11:00 a.m., the temperature in March had risen to the sixties, maybe seventies.
Or maybe her anger at Chase and Lance was making her cold.
Angling her clipboard on her hip, she breezed through the Greek Revival mansion, checking off the furniture and accessories she'd ordered, making sure everything was in place. Only a few more days until the tour. Excitement bubbled inside as she imagined a stream of people admiring the exquisite homes and the furnishings she'd handpicked herself. Wall coverings, window treatments, antiques... She was proud of the results.
She hoped her client list would explode after the tour. Then she could pay off her loan and retrieve her mother's pendant without her brothers learning she'd used it as collateral.
Determined not to neglect a single detail, she tagged the items to indicate where they'd been purchased in case a potential buyer expressed interest in acquiring an item with the home. The task had taken her the entire morning. Just as she was winding up in the downstairs exercise room, she heard footsteps above.
"Maddie?"
Chase?
Excitement warred with anger. How was he going to act today?
He'd been in pain the day before, and the medication had affected his behavior, but she'd half-hoped he'd call this morning. When he hadn't...
No, maybe today they'd talk, they'd make love again, everything would be perfect....
"Downstairs, Chase. I'm in the weight room."
She heard his boots pounding on the floor above, the steps creak, the sound growing muffled as he walked across the carpeted basement rec room. A knot of anxiety pressed against her chest, her breath whooshing out when she saw him lean inside the doorway. Just as he had when she'd first met him, but he was even more endearing now than he had been then.
He looked even taller today, his shoulders broader, the overly long strands of his hair still damp from his shower. She could smell his soap and aftershave all the way across the room, or maybe the scent had been imprinted in her memory forever.
A sheepish grin curved the corner of his wide mouth. "Hey. What are you doing down here?"
"Just making a list, checking it twice," she said, indicating her clipboard.
"Everything looks great."
"This house is all ready for the show. I'm starting to get excited about the tour." Her stomach fluttered. "And a little nervous, too."
"You don't have any reason to be nervous," he said in a husky voice. "You've done a super job. Lance and Reid are going to be proud of you."
His praise thrilled her, reminding her of the conversation they'd had the night they'd make love. God, she wanted him again.
His eyes seemed to pick up on her feelings, and she silently cursed herself for being so transparent. But why hide—why not go after what she wanted?
Because he might not want you.
His smile faded into seriousness. "I, Maddie... we need to—"
Lord, she wasn't ready to talk. "Have you seen the exercise room?" she asked instead, moving toward him. "The weight set, treadmill, Stair Master—everything you need to get your heart rate going is right here in this room."
His gaze tracked the contents, then rested on her, that loneliness she'd sensed calling out to her. Then hunger flickered across his face, and his voice dropped to a husky whisper. "Yeah, everything I needs right here all right."
She gently lay her hand on his heart, her own heart racing when his pulse quickened. His chest felt so strong, so solid, so masculine. Her body responded with a tingle of want that rippled through her, settling in a pool of heat at her very core.
"Are you feeling better today, Chase—up for a workout maybe?"
* * *
Chase stared at Maddie, the words he'd practiced saying on the way over evaporating into thin air at her breathless invitation and the desire written so plainly on her face.
Desire for him.
Her finger traced a teasing path along his neck, down the center of his chest, to his groin where she reached down and boldly cupped him. "I missed you yesterday."
"I..." What was he supposed to tell her? "I missed you, too."
No, that wasn't what he meant to say.
But he couldn't find the words. Or the determination to think of them. Or the willpower to resist her and walk away.
The allure of her deep-set dark eyes, the flicker of her tongue, the way she wrapped her leg so seductively around his thigh and tucked her womanhood into the heart of his sex... his body thrummed with instant arousal, and all his reservations died. Lights dimmed in his brain, and he forgot where he was or why he shouldn't have this woman—because everything seemed so right. So perfect.
With a moan of pure primal lust, he grabbed her to him. His tongue beat a foray along her body as his hands stripped her clothes and tossed them aside. He took her fast and hard and deep against the mirrored wall, against the barbells, on top of the exercise mat where she sprawled, her legs spread in invitation, her whispered moans and pleas orgasmic in themselves. And when she cried out his name in a thunderous sound of rapture, he growled and let his release spill into her depths, grinning as her hands clawed down his back, pulling him so deep inside her he thought he might be lost within her warm, loving chambers forever.
Lying sideways, she draped herself across him so he received the most tantalizing view of naked butt and cleavage, and his breath rasped out, his sex straining for her again. His heart was beating so fast he swore it sounded like horse hooves all around him.
No... footsteps.
"Maddie, Chase?" Voices drifted from the floor above, in the foyer.
"Dear heavens, it's Lance and Reid," Maddie said in a panicked whisper.
He took one look at their naked, sweat-slicked bodies, Maddie's panties still around her ankles, his underwear and jeans hanging on to one boot, Maddie's hair tousled and wild around her face, the bite marks on her neck—had he put
them there?—and totally freaked.
"We have to hide!"
Jerking her up, he yanked his pants up to his waist and raced to gather their clothes, where was her bra? Had she even been wearing one? He couldn't remember taking it off. And his shirt, where had she thrown it?
Maddie grabbed their shoes, frantically searching for a place to hide. "In here, the closet."
He nodded, spotted one of his socks dangling from the treadmill, yanked it down, then ran into the closet with her.
"Hurry, get dressed in case they find us," he whispered.
"I think they're going upstairs first."
"How did they know we were here?"
"They probably saw our cars."
"Good grief, I can't see, it's dark." Maddie grabbed her bra and slipped it on, her elbow jabbing his face. "I can't get the clasp," she said, pivoting so her bare back brushed his chest. His sex automatically jutted toward her backside, and he groaned in agony.
"Shh," Maddie whispered.
He fumbled with the clasp. "I can't get it!"
"Just give it to me." She yanked off the bra and dropped it to the floor. He stuffed the lacy contraption in his jeans pocket while she dragged on her silk blouse and began to work the tiny buttons.
"Some of the buttons are missing," Maddie whispered.
He winced, remembering he'd popped them in his haste to get her naked, and tried to help her fasten the few remaining little pearls. God, he'd been like an animal. The buttons were probably on the floor. Or the exercise mat. What if Lance or Reid found them?
His leg hit a paint can, making it rattle, and his heart nearly stopped. He halted the can's movement with his foot, then reached out to hand her the hair clasp. Unfortunately she reached for the clasp at the same time, jabbing her finger with the end.
The whites of Maddie's eyes shone in the dark as her eyes widened. "Oww!"
He covered her mouth with his hand. "Shh."
She nodded, then grinned devilishly and licked at his hand.
He yanked his hand away. "Maddie, stop that!"
Footsteps and voices sounded again.
"They're coming down here!" Maddie whispered.