Again, a hand on her body, this time on her arm, stopped her, but this one didn’t feel the same. She turned and faced a different man, one who was much older and paunchier than the mysterious stranger who first got her attention. Her stomach seized as she realized that a security guard had finally caught wind of their shenanigans.
Damn. If only I hadn’t wasted all that time drooling over—
“Excuse me, ma’am, but you can’t go in there. There’s no wading in the fountains.” The gruff man pointed to a small sign staked into the ground stating exactly that.
“Oh, I wasn’t planning on wading. You see, I’m trying to get that stuffed teddy bear. One of my kids threw it in there by mistake, and I just need to grab it real quick. It will just take a mo—” She started for the fountain again and even got a toe in the lukewarm water before the guard grabbed her firmly on the arm and pulled her away.
“Ma’am, you cannot go into our fountains. I can get a maintenance man over here, and he’ll fish it out.”
Madeline took a deep breath. “Okay, that sounds fine. Right, Jasmine? That sounds good. We can get a real professional out there to save Teddy for you.” Madeline nodded and smiled encouragingly, hoping to elicit a matching response from the little girl.
The guard walked off a bit and spoke into a walkie-talkie. Between the static of the device and the use of police code, Madeline couldn’t really make out what he was saying. The guard nodded and returned.
“Well, we’re a little short-staffed right now and all our maintenance people are busy cleaning up around the café. Turns out some lady went ballistic and set her dog loose on the grounds. She had the little yapper in her purse and no one noticed, so they’re trying to chase it down and repair the damage.” The guard chuckled. “Apparently, it’s pretty amazing how much damage a three-pound Chihuahua can do.” He cleared his throat as he slipped the walkie-talkie back into its holster. “Unfortunately, what this means is that it’ll be about thirty minutes, if not more, before we can get one of our guys out here.”
Madeline glanced down at her watch and was startled at the time. She had to have the kids back at the children’s center in twenty minutes, and, including traffic, that meant she needed to get the kids in the car immediately or else they would all be late. Her colleague Erika was probably waiting for her with the other kids. Many of the parents worked on very tight schedules with a small window of opportunity to pick up their kids and couldn’t afford to wait around.
Double damn!
“But that won’t do. We need to leave now. There’s no time. What do we do?” Madeline glanced back at the teddy bear, its sandy brown fur now a dark mocha from moisture, and then to Jasmine. “Oh, Jazz, I’m afraid we might have to leave Teddy for now. But I promise we’ll get him later.”
Jasmine burst into tears and began throwing one of her trademarked tantrums. “No! No! No! No! We can’t leave Teddy.” After a moment, she took a breath, calmed herself as best she could, and looked up at her with those big brown eyes, the sight nearly breaking Madeline’s heart. She spoke softly. “Miss Maddie, he’s my best friend. I love Teddy.”
Madeline squatted so she could be face to face with the girl. “I know, Jazz, but you need to be brave, for Teddy, okay? We’ll figure this out.” She turned back up to the guard. “Isn’t there something we can do? Some way around this? I mean, it’s just a little water. What harm could it do if I just ran in real quick?”
“I’m sorry, ma’am, but that’s just the way it is. I can put it in the lost and found in the main office for you, but that’s the best I can do.” The guard shrugged.
In the tiniest whisper of a voice, Jasmine said, “No, Miss, no, we just can’t leave Teddy behind. We just can’t.” Her lip began to tremble again.
Even in all the excitement, Madeline remained aware of the heavy presence beside her. She turned when the mysterious stranger squatted down with them, as if they were three conspirators. He crooked his finger and lifted Jasmine’s chin.
“Don’t worry, sweetheart. I think I’ve got a solution. Now, promise me you’ll turn that frown upside down and show me a little smile.” Jasmine easily obliged, completely charmed by the stranger. “That’s a girl. Look at those beautiful pearly whites.” The girl giggled. She was missing her two front teeth. Madeline wished it was as effortless when she tried to get the kids to behave. “Okay, watch this.”
With that, the stranger got up and pounced into the fountain. He hadn’t even bothered to take his shoes off.
“Hey, what the hell do you think you’re doing?” the guard yelled as he pushed through the small crowd of kids, trying to get to the man. “You can’t do that. The sign says no wading.”
The stranger easily sidestepped the guard’s attempt at capture and grabbed the bear, tucking it under his arm like a football. The guard continued to chase him around the fountain, but he could never quite reach from the sidelines. The man splashed around as he ran, thoroughly soaking himself, including the most god-awful-looking shorts Madeline had ever seen. She figured he must have scrounged them up from the discount bin at the Salvation Army. She had procured some excellent finds there in the past, but for every decent-looking piece of clothing, there were scores of hideous ones.
Madeline’s cell phone rang. She looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Erika. Shit.
“I know, I know, we’re running late, but I’m trying to get out of here as soon as I can,” Madeline said the instant she answered the call.
“Well, you better hurry your ass up. The last thing I want is to pull up to the center with a bunch of angry parents waiting. I’m parked at the front entrance so all you have to do is grab the kids and hop in the bus. But seriously, you needed to be here, like, five minutes ago. What the hell is going on? It sounds like a circus.”
“I’ll explain later. Bye.” Madeline snapped her phone closed and slipped it back into her messenger bag. She looked back up to gauge the progress of Operation Bear Rescue. The man continued running in circles around the fountain, evading the guard and making a complete fool of himself in the process. But the kids loved it, and the man seemed to know it as he hammed it up for them, purposefully letting the guard get really close only to run off again. She hadn’t seen all of them so jubilant since…ever. The kids always had their moments, but it was never an all-out display of pure elation. Not a single child looked troubled or sad or angry.
For a bad dresser, the man was devastatingly handsome, Madeline thought. He looked naturally athletic, and his wet shirt clung to his chest so she could see the contours of his chiseled body. She realized she could stare at him all day, but unfortunately, at the moment she didn’t have the time. The man made one more lap around the fountain before Madeline finally caught his attention.
“Excuse me, sir. Can I have the bear please? We really must be going. We’re running awfully late.” Madeline pointed at her watch. The man nodded and smiled. His teeth were so perfectly straight and beautifully white he could’ve been an actor in a toothpaste commercial.
“Here, catch.” He tossed the bear at her, and she clumsily caught it in her arms, pinning it tightly to her chest.
She looked down and realized she’d squeezed the bear too tightly. The wet bear had soaked her top, and her bra was clearly visible now underneath her sundress. It wouldn’t have been quite so embarrassing if her nipples hadn’t also been so damn hard, from the chill or as a reaction to the man, she didn’t know. Then an utterly mortifying realization hit her. She turned her attention back to the crowd and saw that both the guard and the stranger stared at her, or more like ogled.
“Sorry about that,” the stranger called out with a shrug and a smirk. To her chagrin, the guard initiated a high-five, which the handsome stranger reciprocated.
Men. She rolled her eyes so high she thought they might pop right out.
Madeline quickly counted heads to ensure that all the children were accounted for and herded them toward the botanical garden’s main entrance. “Come o
n, kids, let’s get a move on. Erika and the others are waiting in the bus.”
“Wait!” the man called out. Madeline turned to see him hobbling out of the fountain, but the guard held him back. “My name’s Garrett. What’s yours?”
By the time she registered the question, she was too far away to answer. Not that it mattered. She’d probably never see the man again.
She saw Erika waiting in the bus with the door open, and she hustled all the kids in. They did one final head count and took off. Madeline plopped down in the seat behind Erika so they could see each other through the mirror poised above the driver seat.
“What happened to you?” Erika’s piercing green gaze looked Madeline up and down through the mirror. “Why are you all wet?”
“It’s a long story. One of the kids,” Madeline turned around in her seat and scanned the rows of little faces behind her and said loudly, “Antoine, took Jasmine’s bear and threw it in a fountain.” The kids snickered as Antoine stood, pumping his arms up and down like a bodybuilder. Located in South Dallas, the youth center Madeline worked at allowed kids to attend once they started kindergarten and they could stay until they graduated high school. Generally, the older kids would become mentors for the younger ones. At thirteen, Antoine wasn’t old enough to be a mentor, but he still should’ve known better.
“Sit down before I pull this bus over!” Erika rolled her eyes with a smirk, then turned her attention back to Madeline. “So how’d you get it out?”
Madeline spoke more softly, trying to keep the conversation just between them. “Well, this strange man came up and he…he just jumped right in.”
“He just jumped right in?”
“He just jumped right in. I don’t know. It was ridiculous.” Madeline giggled as she remembered the way he looked, splashing around, the way the droplets of fountain water glittered around him, seeping into his shirt, plastering it against his muscled flesh. And that million-watt smile could charm the pants off anybody.
I wouldn’t mind if he charmed my pants off. Madeline felt her body flush with heat. She cracked a window open and gratefully let the cool breeze waft against her skin.
“What was that look on your face?” Erika asked, startling Madeline out of her reverie.
“What look? I didn’t have a look. Shouldn’t you be keeping your eyes on the road?” Madeline blurted out in one breath.
“Madeline Spencer, you are trying to hide something.” Erika’s smile turned wide and deviant. “Don’t even try. Your face gives you away every time.”
Madeline cringed. Erika was right, and she knew her friend wouldn’t let her off the hook easily. Not until she had wrested every last thought and detail Madeline had out of her.
“It’s nothing. Anyway—”
“Kids, I’d like your attention please,” Erika said loudly. “Did anybody notice anything interesting with that man who jumped in the fountain?”
Madeline could just kill her. She sank down in her seat as all the kids started talking at once.
“Whoa there. Okay, why don’t y’all go one at a time? Let’s start in the back. Kenneth, go ahead. You look like you’ve got something to say.”
“That guy was funny lookin’. He had on these crazy pants.”
All the kids started laughing.
“He jumped around like he was insane, splashing everywhere.”
“And that security guard was chasing him around, too,” another child volunteered.
“But he couldn’t catch him ’cause the man was too fast. He was all zipping around,” Kenneth finished.
“And you should have seen the way he looked at Miss Maddie,” Juliette said with a taunting tone.
“Ooh, and how she was lookin’ at him,” another girl finished.
“I think Miss Maddie was drooling, too.” The kids, especially the older ones, all erupted in laughter again.
“Oh, really? Is that so, Miss Maddie?” Erika asked.
“No, that is not so. Now, everyone sit back down,” Madeline said. “End of discussion.”
* * * *
Garrett laced his fingers together behind his head and leaned back against the park bench that faced the fountain he had recently run around in. The image of that woman’s succulent breasts swaddled in a lacy bra beneath a shirt so wet it was translucent had him grinning from ear to ear. They looked so beautiful, so tender, so damp. He’d wanted nothing more than to cup those breasts in his hands while gently toweling them off only to lave them with his tongue to repeat the process over again.
“You still thinking about that chick’s tits?” the guard asked as he stood beside the bench. “They sure were pretty little things.”
The guard licked his lips and held his hands out as if weighing them in his hands the way one would fresh produce, like two ripe melons. A pang of possessiveness hit Garrett hard in the gut as he watched the man fantasize about the female stranger who had so unexpectedly piqued his attention. His hands itched to ball up and slam into the guard’s face to teach him a thing or two about respecting his future woman.
“No, I’m not, and you shouldn’t be talking about a lady that way anyway. Didn’t your mother teach you any manners?”
“Didn’t your mother teach you how to dress?” The guard chuckled as he pointed out Garrett’s ensemble.
Garrett rolled his eyes and leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. “Har, har.” He looked at his watch, noting with ambivalence that the alligator band was now saturated with water. Where the hell was Bea? Did she always have to be late to everything? Right after his mystery woman had disappeared, Garrett had called his sister to bring the family check book, as he had failed to bring it or his wallet with him that day. Whatever damage he had caused, he could afford to repair and then some. Once a check was signed and given over to the guard, he would be free to go and find that beautiful, mysterious damsel.
“Listen, buddy, how much longer is your sister going to take?” The guard crossed and uncrossed his arms, clearly losing his patience.
“You have my word as a gentleman that I, Garrett Ellis of Ellis Enterprises, will make a sizable donation to the gardens to make up for my little dip in the fountain. You don’t have to stand there guarding me.”
He eyed Garrett suspiciously. “You keep repeating that you’re so-and-so Ellis, but I’ll believe it when I see it. With no I.D., do you really think I’m gonna let some schmuck off the street just disappear after what you’ve done? You’re in a lot of trouble, mister.” The guard pointed his nightstick at Garrett as he spoke.
“I left my I.D. in—”
“Yeah, yeah, your other pants. Whatever.”
Just when Garrett thought he couldn’t take another minute more of this, he heard the distinct sound of his sister’s pointy shoes clicking along the asphalt.
“Garrett, what the hell is going on? I just got off the phone with Darla. She’s hysterical.” Bea adjusted the leopard-print Birkin bag on her shoulder and extended her hand to the guard, completely ignoring Garrett. “Hello, my name is Bea Ellis. I’m this numskull’s older sister.” In reality, Bea was only older by about three minutes. If Garrett had known at the time how much his sister would hold those three minutes over his head as evidence of seniority, he was sure he’d have tried harder to be first out of the womb.
After releasing the guard’s hand, Bea dug into her purse. “I hear we’re making a donation today.” She turned and looked at the fountain over the top of the sunglasses perched on the tip of her sloping nose. “Twenty-five thousand dollars should cover the cost of replacing the water, plants, and any sea creatures living in there. What are those? Lily pads?” She pulled out a pen and her checkbook, holding the pen as she waited for the guard to respond.
“Umm, sure. There were only plants in the fountain, but I guess that sounds about right.” The guard seemed mesmerized by his sister. Maybe the glare from her platinum blonde locks blinded him, Garrett thought, amused.
“All right, then. I’ll make it out to the Dall
as Arboretum.” Bea scribbled on the check and tore it from the book, handing it to the guard.
“I could escort you to the main office, ma’am. That’s where the check will go.”
“No, that’s fine. Why don’t you take it over there while I have a little talk with my brother?” She glared at Garrett. The guard nodded slowly and sauntered off toward the office, as if not even registering his sister’s completely patronizing tone. It amazed Garrett the way an attractive woman could so totally disarm a man, even one who carried a big stick and a shiny badge.
He counted his lucky stars he wasn’t one of those saps who had that issue. He had never had problems holding his own with a woman.
“I’m assuming the date with Darla didn’t go well?” Bea looked down at Garrett with her hands on her hips. Even though he couldn’t see her eyes hidden behind her Gucci sunglasses, which made her look like an insect, he could see the barely noticeable ridges in her forehead that should have been expressive wrinkles. Even Botox couldn’t completely conceal the fact that she was glaring at him.
“No, it didn’t. And don’t expect me to go on any more of your dates. I don’t want to be with any woman who just wants me or Dalton for our money. Expecting anyone to find love that way is preposterous and one of your stupidest ideas to date.”
“You’re wrong.” Bea sighed and her lips pooched into a pout. “Come on, just one more date. You owe me. I don’t know what you said to Darla, but she’s beyond pissed. It took three security guards to chase her and her Chihuahua around, and she had to be sedated.”
“They sedated a Chihuahua? That must have been what was under the damn table.” Garrett chuckled.
“No, they sedated Darla. But she’ll be fine. I called for a car to pick her up and deliver her safely to her condo, but because of your insensitivity, I’m going to have to go over there later and smooth things over.”
“All you have to do is get her another rich man, and she’ll forget about me in no time.”
“That still doesn’t account for why you won’t go on another date for me. Melissa Jennings is a catch, and I know that you and Dalton would love her.” Bea reached into her bottomless pit of a bag and took out her date book and began flipping through it. “We could schedule something for next weekend.”
Mitchell, Ava and Holiday, Sydney - A Bride for Two Tycoons [Male Order, Texas 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 2