The Troublemaker Next Door

by Marie Harte

  “I know I made mistakes with you.” Her mother talked right over her. “I showed you how to be strong. You’re one of the hardest workers I know. But sometimes, in a relationship especially, you have to give and take. I never had that with your father because we were so damn young. I spent my youth trying to prove myself to my parents, who only ever saw what they wanted to see. But honey, I see your successes. I know you’re smart.”

  Would she still think that if she knew Maddie had quit her job?

  “When it comes to business, you have a terrific head on your shoulders. But your heart? Not so much. Don’t do what I did. Don’t bury yourself in work and forget about living. If you don’t trust, you won’t get hurt. But you won’t live either.” She could almost see her mother making that stern face and shaking a bony finger at her. “I know what Ben and those others gave you. Sex may be necessary at times, but it won’t fill your holidays and special moments with joy. It won’t hold your hand and walk with you to the movies. And it won’t make you less lonely either. You need to find a man who fulfills who you really are.”

  God, not this again. She wanted to crawl under a rock when her mother mentioned s-e-x. Though they always spoke openly with one another, Maddie at times wished they had more secrets. “Okay, Mom. I’m hearing you.” Way too clearly.

  As if her mother had conjured him with talk of sex and fulfillment, Maddie watched a way-too-familiar face round the corner onto Queen Anne. Dressed in jeans and a green T-shirt that clung to every ridge and divot of muscle, Flynn McCauley strutted down the sidewalk like he owned it. He nodded to several people along the way, the hottie obviously a mainstay in the Queen Anne district. Drawing closer, he approached the coffee shop as if pulled by invisible strings.

  Despite trying not to look directly at him, she knew the second he saw her because his eyes widened and his lips curled.

  Great. She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him since Sunday. This would only add to her sleepless nights. Before she could get up and sneak back inside, he waved at her. There went her chance to indulge in a good dose of self-preservation.

  “Hello?” Her mother raised her voice. “Maddie? Are you still there?”

  “Sorry.” Time to check for signs of drool. Good Lord, Flynn was hot, and way too much to handle while speaking with her mother. With her luck, her mother would insist on a conversation about available men while Flynn hovered nearby. “I have to go, Mom. I love you. Talk to you next week, I promise.”

  Her mother sighed. “I know, I know. You don’t want to hear it. I’m sorry, but someone needs to tell you how to—”

  “Mom. I really have to go.”

  Her mother muttered under her breath and finished with, “Fine. I love you too. Bye.”

  Maddie disconnected just as Flynn sidled up to her table. She forced a natural smile and tried to ignore the racing of her pulse. “Well, hello, Flynn.”

  “Maddie Gardner. My day is looking even brighter. Mind if I sit?”

  Resigned, she nodded. “Sure. Have a seat.” Out of the corner of her eye she saw a woman at the table behind Flynn ogling him. To help him out and no doubt prevent him from a future case of something contagious, she raised a brow at the woman. “Can I help you with something?”

  The woman blushed and turned around, no doubt embarrassed to be caught staring. Smug and not sure why, Maddie tried to view Flynn’s surprise visit as nothing more than a chance meeting between acquaintances. No reason she should be feeling so nervous or excited. This was Flynn, her neighbor’s brother. He’d fixed her sink, for heaven’s sake.

  She hadn’t realized she’d been tapping her fingers on the table until Flynn glanced down at her hands.

  “You okay?”

  No. I’m not. I want to have smokin’ hot sex with you then send you far, far away, wouldn’t paint her in a favorable light, so she blamed her mother. “I just talked to my mom. I’ve been better.”

  He chuckled. “Hold that thought.” He returned minutes later. But he’d been gone long enough to allow her to get her hormones under control.

  Or so she’d thought. When he sat and focused all that male attention on her, her palms started to sweat.

  He tipped his head back and took a deep draught from a bottle of something orange. She couldn’t look away from the cords of his throat as he swallowed.

  He finished half his drink and smacked his lips. “Man, I needed that. So tell me about your mom.”

  She concentrated on her cup and intentionally eased her clenched thighs. Then she took another sip of coffee before speaking. “How much time do you have?”

  He grinned. “Come on. She can’t be that bad. You’re nice enough. Kind of.”

  She liked his teasing. “Funny guy. My mother calls me once a week. Sometimes, if I’m lucky, once every other week. She loves me and she means well, but she’s always trying to tell me what to do.”

  “I know the feeling. Hell, my mother lives a few streets down from Mike’s. I see her all the time because I practically live at his place.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. Funny I hadn’t seen you before last week. I mean, I’m there practically every Friday. We play cards, the four of us. Me and my brothers and Brody.”

  “Seems like a nice crowd.” A sexy crowd. All of his brothers looked alike. Strong, handsome, and too tempting to a woman who wanted little to do with men. Even Brody had been more than attractive, and she wasn’t into blonds.

  “They are. Except for my nephew. He’s a schemer. Too smart for his own good.” Flynn smiled.

  The clear affection for his family gave her another insight into his character, one she couldn’t help liking. Maddie didn’t come from a large family, by any means, but she’d do anything for her mother, Vanessa, or Abby. Blood or not, her extended family meant everything to her. Something she and Flynn seemed to have in common.

  “Colin’s cute. He looks just like your brother.”

  Flynn frowned and took another sip of his soda. “Mike’s a friggin’ taskmaster. After you left the other day, he made me clean the place from top to bottom. Like he had nothing to do with the beers and half a pizza that disappeared in his big mouth.”

  Flynn looked so put out. She had to laugh. “That’s nothing. I think Vanessa does white-glove tests when we’re not around.”

  He chuckled. “Your house looked barely lived in. Trust me. You want to see a mess, you should see Brody’s work in progress, as he calls it. He’s a pig.”

  “But not you?”

  “Nah. I like to be organized. Can’t function if I can’t find my crap right away. Of course, I’ve been told that’s because I’m always late for everything, so I need it where I can find it before I have to dart out the door.” His phone buzzed right then. “Hear that? My alarm so I won’t be late. I’m turning over a new leaf.” He winked at her.

  “Late for what?”

  “I’m due to meet Brody for a consult on a new job.”

  “Oh. Do you guys have an office around here?”

  “No. I left my truck at Mike’s while we worked out of Brody’s. I need to pick it up and drive to the customer.”

  “Well, good luck on your consult.”

  He stood to leave, and she already missed his company. Which was stupid. He was nothing more than the neighbor’s brother. Besides, she’d see him soon enough at the coming barbecue.

  “See you Saturday, right?”

  “You’re reading my mind.” She nodded. “I’ll be there. It’s really nice of your parents to invite us.”

  “Well, you can thank them by showing up and being extra nice to their charming son.”

  She blinked at him, all innocence. “Which one?”

  “That would be me. Feel free to ignore the other Neanderthals hanging around for a free meal.”

  Before she could comment, he leaned down and shocked her by planting a kiss on her cheek. The warmth in that simple touch locked her body up, frozen in suspense to see what more he might do.

&nb
sp; Flynn didn’t pull back right away. He stayed so close she could feel his breath against her mouth, could almost taste the sweet orange that lingered on his lips. “See you soon, Maddie.”

  Then he stood and left, carrying his bottle as he whistled his way across the street. He didn’t look back once.

  She didn’t look away from him until he turned out of sight. Holy hell, but the temperature had escalated in the last few minutes. She downed the rest of her lukewarm latte and fanned herself.

  She needed to find a way to deal with her odd reaction to the man before Saturday. She almost wished she hadn’t agreed to go, but she refused to shy away from the party because he made her uncomfortable. It would have been almost easier if he’d done it on purpose, but he couldn’t know how he affected her.

  Maddie Gardner dealt with conflict; she didn’t let it deal with her. She’d told Fred Hampton to shove it, had lived for over a year with a small-scale dictator who hated the word dust, and had neatly fielded another call from her mother. She could handle Flynn McCauley.

  She hoped.

  On her way back home, she ran into Jed, a friend of Vanessa’s she’d once met at a party. He seemed nice, safe, and uninteresting. Just the way she liked them, according to her mother. They chatted for a few minutes then parted after she promised to pass on a message for him.

  Yet during the pleasant walk home, thoughts of Flynn, not her cousin or work, constantly intruded. And it bothered her.

  Maddie had future plans that didn’t include a guy. Period.

  She tapped the cell phone in her back pocket, not surprised she still hadn’t heard from Ben. They’d dated for a few months, been friends for even longer. Then they’d ended, and not one message from him asking about her pending promotion. Sure, her job had ended badly, but Ben didn’t know that. They couldn’t at least be friends? After all, he’d been the one to demand she leave, not the other way around.

  Well…in theory.

  She wondered why her few relationships had devolved from new and exciting to okay sex to the big breakup. A definite pattern, she thought with resignation. Like most relationships, once the newness wore off and her partners no longer felt like king of the mountain for having conquered her, they demanded too much.

  Her roommates hadn’t been fortunate with Cupid either. So why did Maddie continue to dwell on relationships lately? It seemed like every time she turned around she thought about that amazing kiss on Sunday that had gone on forever but still hadn’t been long enough. She found herself staring at the bouquet he’d brought her, making stupid excuses to visit the kitchen just so she could see evidence Flynn had been there.

  What was it about him that nagged at her? She’d asked herself that question over and over, and after today she thought she’d come up with the answer—they had sexual chemistry. A natural connection and no big deal.

  But she couldn’t remember any of her past lovers having such an effect on her. No matter how much she tried, she couldn’t make herself forget how good Flynn’s lips felt on hers.

  Biology was such a bitch.

  Once home, she stepped onto her porch when a familiar voice called out to her. She turned to see Mike and Colin approaching. Mike walked, Colin skipped, and she couldn’t help smiling at the pair.

  “Hi, guys.”

  “Hi, Maddie.” Colin looked much more cheerful than the last time she’d seen him. He also seemed to be missing a tooth.

  “Colin, I think something’s wrong with your mouth.”

  He smiled, displaying a gap in his upper teeth. “I lost a tooth! I got two whole dollars too.” He dug into his pants and pulled out two crumpled dollar bills.

  “Wow. I think the most the tooth fairy ever brought me was a new toothbrush.”

  “Sorry to hear that.” Mike smiled.

  He stood a few inches taller than Flynn. They looked a lot alike, but whereas Flynn made her pulse race, her appreciation for Mike ran more to aesthetics. A handsome man with raw appeal and muscles on top of muscles. He also had that soft side to him, apparent whenever he looked at his son. But there was that same bland safety she’d felt earlier with Vanessa’s friend. She liked that.

  “Would you guys like to come in? I’m in charge of dinner tonight.”

  “What are you eating?” Colin asked and took a step forward.

  Mike grabbed him by the collar. “Colin.” He shook his head. “We just ate hot dogs. Actually, I wanted to invite you and your roommates to a barbecue this weekend. My parents like to have them, and it’s past time we welcomed you proper. McCauley shindigs aren’t to be missed. Plus, we owe you a public apology. Your first dealing with Flynn without the rest of us to keep him in line. I’m sorry for that.”

  She laughed. “He’s not that bad. Besides, I think I was the one who scared him. It wasn’t a good day to be a man in my house.”

  Mike nodded. “I’ll bet.”

  “Anyway, I already told Flynn we’d love to come. I talked to Abby and Vanessa, and they have nothing going on Saturday. What should we bring?”

  Mike didn’t answer.

  “Mike?”

  “Sorry. I was thinking. If you have a favorite dessert, bring that. Otherwise, just bring yourselves.” He paused. “So when did Flynn ask you about this weekend?”

  “Sunday, and I just saw him half an hour ago at Starbucks. Why?”

  He shrugged. “No reason. I just thought I’d nag him about communicating with the rest of us. Boy has no head for sharing information. Never has.” He sighed.

  She tried not to laugh again. The notion of Flynn as a boy didn’t fit. She could see his stomach and that chest in her mind’s eye. The scent of oranges over his lips… It was as if her memory had stuck a picture of him on a Post-it note and tacked it to her brain. “If it’s a problem, we can—”

  “No, no. My mom is dying to talk to you all. Whenever she gets a chance to talk to women, she’s excited. Too many men in the family.”

  Colin thumped his chest. “Yeah. I’m a man. My tooth is totally gone.” He tried to stick his tongue through the opening.

  “We won’t keep you any longer. See you on Saturday. Two-ish.” Mike handed her a note. “The directions are on there. The folks are just two streets over and down a quarter mile. Tan house, blue shutters. Lots of cars in the drive.”

  “Thanks, Mike. See you, Colin.” She watched them turn and leave, then entered the house to cook…something. Hmm, hot dogs. That and some macaroni and cheese—now that sounded good and easy.

  An hour later, as Maddie cleared her dishes from the table, Vanessa bitched about the meal, despite the fact that she’d arrived home late and should have been grateful to eat anything prepared at all. “I hate hot dogs.”

  “I know. That’s why I made them.”

  Abby crossed her eyes behind Vanessa’s head.

  “I saw that.”

  “You should have been a schoolteacher. The dreaded Miss Campbell. Oooh.” Abby raised her hands in mock fright. “I have work to do. Maddie, if you or teacher-creature needs me, I’ll be on the computer.”

  “It’s not teacher-creature,” Vanessa grumbled as she ate her hot dog. “I hate when she calls me names.”

  “And yet the shoe fits.” Maddie grinned. “I saw Jed Rawlins today. He told me to remind you about coffee supplies. Something about creamer?”

  Vanessa sighed and shrugged out of her suit jacket. She wore her hair in a bun, the escaping strands actually softening her face. But far be it from Maddie to tell her cousin she looked pretty. Pretty had no place in accounting.

  “You know, if Jed put half the effort into work as he does into taking coffee breaks, we’d probably be the preeminent firm in Seattle.”

  Maddie found Vanessa as intriguing as she sometimes found her annoying. Unlike her, Vanessa didn’t seem to have any confidence issues. A rock of solid self-love. Not selfish or arrogant, just a woman happy with herself and her place in life. An oddity among women everywhere, but there she was.

  “Jed would do
better to be more like me,” Vanessa continued, talking with her mouth full. She downed her carb-loaded macaroni and cheese like a Hoover set to high. “I’m too busy doing my damn job to worry about sugar, creamer, or the who’s-dating-who chatter by the watercooler.”

  Maddie blinked. “Do they really have watercoolers at your work? I thought that was just an expression. ‘Watercooler talk.’”

  “Yeah. We do. It’s purified water. Not bad, but I bring my own.”

  The queen of self-sufficient would. Maddie sighed.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Have you ever had a problem in life you couldn’t solve? Ever had a problem too big to handle on your own?”

  Vanessa paused. “Nope.”

  “Bitch.”

  Vanessa smiled. “Jealousy will get you everywhere. There’s nothing I like more than envy.” She glanced down at the crumbs on her plate. “As far as hot dogs go, I guess these things aren’t bad. Mac ’n’ cheese isn’t either.”

  “Want to lick the pan?”

  “Sure.”

  Maddie grimaced as her cousin took every piece of macaroni from the pan and ate it. “You should be really, really fat. How is it I eat one hot dog and my butt explodes? We’re related. I should have your metabolism.”

  “Must get it from your dad, whoever he is.”

  And that’s one of the things Maddie truly appreciated about Vanessa. She didn’t coddle or softly gloss over hurtful details. She went straight at life with a one-two punch. Because Maddie knew Vanessa loved her, she normally didn’t take her comments as digs, but rather as unfortunate truths.

  “But look at it like this. Aunt Michelle is a pretty redhead too, but she burns two seconds in the sun. You must get that Mediterranean skin from your dad. So big ass, but nice skin. It all evens out.”

  “I actually never thought of my ass as big, but thanks.” Maddie shook her head, amused and not sure why. Her gaze caught the flowers that looked as fresh as they had when she’d put them in water.

  “Hmm, more quiet thoughts about Flynn. I wonder how you’ll react to your studly plumber this weekend.” Vanessa carried her plate to the sink and washed the dishes. The woman would have a coronary if a dish remained dirty longer than five minutes.