by Quint, Suzie
“Stop it.” Maddie pushed him away. “Don’t. I can’t—” She took several deep breaths. “You’ll undo me.”
“What? You’re afraid to lean on someone? You don’t have to be strong every minute, you know.”
“Yes, I do.”
He could see that nothing he could say would convince her, so he bit his lip to keep from trying.
“I should take Jesse home.”
“He’s still napping. You can wait ’til he wakes up, can’t you?”
She didn’t answer, but she made no move to get off the floor either. Zach stood and offered her a hand, pulling her to her feet when she took it.
Maddie stepped over to the crib. She crossed her forearms across her chest in an X, hooking her fingers on her shoulders, and looked down at Jesse. Zach came up behind her in the narrow space between the bed and the crib. Careful not to let the gesture seem sympathetic, he put his hands on her arms, just below her hands. Looking over her shoulder, he said, “Little kids amaze me the way they sleep. I swear a bomb could go off right next to them and they’d never even notice if they’re tired enough.”
“It’s like his bones turn to Jell-O,” Maddie agreed, her voice soft with love.
Zach dropped his chin onto one of Maddie’s hands and wrapped his arms around her from behind. She tipped her head so their temples touched. They stood like that for a while, just watching Jesse sleep.
Maddie’s hair smelled like pineapple and coconut and some other tropical fruit he couldn’t name. Zach closed his eyes and nuzzled her ear. She leaned her head back against his shoulder, giving him easier access. He turned her face and, as he was kissing the corner of her mouth, she turned in his arms. Their mouths found each other. She seemed to want passionate kisses, but Zach held back, afraid moving too quickly would frighten her, even if it was her idea.
Moving away from her lips, he worked his way back to her ear. When he nipped her lobe, she made a small, breathy noise. Zach couldn’t help chuckling. A shiver ran through her. She moved her hips against his groin, and it was his turn to tremble.
Her hands found their way under his shirt. The heat from her palms as they traveled up his chest made him want to crush her to him.
She didn’t push him hard, but the sudden pressure was enough to unbalance him. Half a step backward and his legs met the bed. He sat down hard. Before he could object, Maddie was straddling him, her knees against his hips, her skirt bunched high, almost to her hips. Her hands framed his face, keeping him from pulling away from her open-mouthed kiss.
Zach’s hand automatically went to her bottom to keep her balanced. His penis throbbed as though realizing that only a thin layer of clothes separated it from nirvana. He sank back on the bed, taking her with him. When this woman decided she wanted something, she didn’t beat around the jungle gym.
Zach slipped his hand between their bodies. Under her skirt, he found the top edge of her panties and slid his hand inside. She melted sideways onto the bed, giving him better access. Instead of giving her what she wanted, Zach brushed her clit. She drew a wobbly breath each time he teased her but didn’t quite enter her.
Good Lord, but she was wet and slippery already.
Zach’s jeans strained to contain him. Maddie stroked him through the denim. Zach froze, one finger on the verge of slipping inside her.
“Dammit, Zach,” Maddie said in a frustrated whisper, “if you’re going to do it, do it!”
“Is that your way of saying please?” he whispered back.
“If that’s what you’ve been waiting for, then yes.”
Zach slid his finger inside her. When he was all the way in, he rubbed her clit with the heel of his hand. Maddie’s mouth opened but she seemed to forget to breathe.
Zach could feel the tension building in her, like a soap bubble about to burst. He wished he’d managed to get his clothes off before she’d gotten to this point. He’d love to feel her melt around him, but if he stopped for that, she’d lose her momentum.
From the crib beside the bed, a thin whine pierced the room. An indrawn breath later, the whine became a cry. As the cry rose in volume, Maddie drew a ragged breath. She put her hand on Zach’s to still him, but it took her a few moments to move.
She’d been on the edge; he knew it, but the sound of Jesse crying was too powerful to keep her there for even the ten or fifteen seconds more she’d needed. Zach didn’t think he’d have the strength to pull back from the brink like that; it amazed him that she did.
When Maddie began to push herself up, Zach withdrew his hand. She picked Jesse up from the crib and rocked him back and forth. “I’m sorry. He doesn’t like waking up in strange places.”
“That’s okay. He’s a boy. He’ll get over that as he gets older.”
Maddie gave him a questioning look. “Is that a sexual innuendo?”
“There wasn’t nothing ‘innuendo’ about it, darlin’.”
He thought Maddie was fighting a smile. If she was, it was a battle she lost; he saw that much before she turned away to walk across the floor with Jesse, even though the boy’s cries were already subsiding.
“I suppose you’ll be leaving now.”
“I should get him home.” She ran a finger inside Jesse’s diaper. “But I should change him first. Do you mind—?”
“Not at all.” Zach got the diaper bag while she laid Jesse on the bed. She had the matter-of-fact touch that he’d seen other mothers use on their children.
“Where’s his bonnet?” she asked when she was done.
“You’re not going to put that girlie bonnet back on him, are you?”
“Where’s his bonnet?” Maddie repeated, her tone brooking no argument.
Zach dug it out of the diaper bag.
Bonnet properly in place, Maddie hoisted Jesse to her shoulder. Zach had no choice but to let her walk out the door. Before she could reach for the diaper bag, he picked it up. “I’ll carry this.”
“Are you sure?”
“You’d rather be loaded up like a pack mule?”
Once outside, she led him to an old dove gray Lincoln Continental Mark IV. Zach felt his eyebrows lift. It was a classic in perfect condition. And it was larger than a good many boats.
“This can’t get good gas mileage,” he said, gently running a finger over the Cartier signature on the opera window.
“It’s a pig,” Maddie said as she strapped Jesse into his car seat.
“No, it’s a tank. But it’s a beautiful tank.” He opened the passenger door and swung the diaper bag onto the seat. “What is it? A ’?” Zach asked as he walked around to open the driver’s door for her.
“’.” Maddie slid behind the wheel and looked up at him, one hand on the arm rest ready to pull the door closed. “Uhm—thanks. Thanks for everything. For getting me the interview, for babysitting Jesse, for … everything.”
Zach smiled. ‘Everything’ had come close to being a whole lot more than babysitting. “So when are you going to fix me supper?”
“What?”
“Isn’t that what a woman does to thank a man for … everything?”
He could see the struggle on her face. Part of her wanted to agree, part of her was reluctant. He was afraid the reluctance was going to win.
“Look, Rach makes sure I eat well when I stay here, and I’ll grant you the food’s a sight better than I get out on the rig, but it ain’t home cooking, and I’m craving a home cooked meal. Something simple like meatloaf with potatoes and gravy would have me rolling over like a pup begging to get his belly rubbed. Is that really too much to ask?”
She bit her lip. “I—I think I could manage that.”
Zach would have liked it better if she’d agreed without being guilted into it, but he’d take it.
“Where and when?” he asked.
“Well, if I don’t have to work … tomorrow night?”
“Perfect. About seven?”
Maddie nodded, like a person agreeing to the time of her execution.
&nbs
p; “Where do you live?” From his wallet, Zach pulled out the small pen he always carried.
Maddie took a deep breath. That was it, Zach thought. The source of her reluctance. Did she think he couldn’t get it off her job application? If she put down her real address. A disturbing thought. He didn’t know where it came from, but somehow it wouldn’t surprise him.
She gave him an address in the heart of what he called student-ville. He wrote it on the edge of a twenty dollar bill, then closed the car door for her.
As she drove away, the license plate caught Zach’s eye. He smiled. Between the number six and the word RIDE was the silhouette of a rodeo bronc rider. If she was a rodeo fan, his family would love her.
Chapter Six
“What are you drinking today, Zach? Kinda early to be starting Snakebites,” the bartender said as Zach straddled a stool.
“No Snakebites today, Pete. That was … an occasion. Kind of a remembrance.”
It was still afternoon. Soon, the out-of-town business types would finish up their work days and the nearly empty bar would start to fill up.
“Sol’s friend? The one that used to stay here?”
“Yeah. I was out on the rig, so last night was kinda my memorial for him. Jake and I thought it would be appropriate to drink his favorite drink. Gimme a Lone Star long neck.”
“Sorry for your loss,” Pete said, getting the beer from the cooler. He popped the top and set it in front of Zach. “Kinda odd though. Hardly ever get asked for Snakebites, and then you boys and the lady on the bar are both drinking ‘em on the same night.”
Zach stopped with the beer halfway to his lips. “The lady on the bar? The one who applied for a job here today?”
“Yup.”
How weird was that? It couldn’t mean anything though. Unless it was a sign from God. If it were a sign from God, Zach had no idea what it was a sign of.
“Do you still have her application?” Zach asked.
“Claudia took it. It’s probably in her office.”
“Is she in there?”
“I think so. But she might have left while I was getting drinks for the table on the patio.”
Zach left his beer on the bar and went looking for Claudia. There was no answer when Zach knocked on the office door. He tried the knob. Finding it unlocked, he stepped in. The lamp on the corner of her desk was on, and papers were stacked tidily on her desk. She’d probably stepped out for just a minute. Maybe a quick trip to the ladies room.
Zach picked up the application on the corner of Claudia’s desk. Applicant’s Name: Susan M. Grey. Above the block containing the middle initial, Claudia had written in blue ink “Maddie.” Pay dirt.
Heart beating a little fast for fear he’d get busted, Zach ran a copy, front and back, of the application and then of the sheet clipped to it. He put the application back on Claudia’s desk and started folding the copies on his way to the door.
He braked hard as it swung inward, just missing his nose.
“Zach!” Claudia said in surprise.
“Hey, Claudia.”
She frowned. “What are you doing in my office?”
“Just needed to copy something.” He held up the folded sheets for her to see.
“There’s a copier in the main office you could use.”
“I know, but I didn’t remember I needed a copy ‘til I had a beer in front of me. I didn’t figure you’d mind.”
“I don’t like people in my office when I’m not here, Zach.” Claudia stepped behind her desk. “I know you feel at home here because your sister is the concierge, but please ask next time.”
Zach did his best to look abashed. “Sorry. Next time I will,” he promised as he skated out the door.
He finished folding the sheets into eighths. They were bulky but they fit into his shirt pocket. After he finished his beer, Zach went up to his room, eager to examine them.
Right off, he saw the street address Maddie had given him had a zero in it; the one on the application had a tail that made it look like a six.
Only a six block difference.
It could just be an accident, but Zach didn’t think so. He was pretty sure the one she’d given him would turn out to be real. Claudia would likely never know she’d been given a phony address, but Zach would since he was showing up for supper.
Her work history listed two bars in Oregon. Zach furrowed his brow. A couple of roughnecks he’d worked with were from Wyoming. The plates on their cars had the same silhouette that was on Maddie’s. He looked over her application again, searching for any mention of the state, but there wasn’t one. So where’d the plates come from?
Just to confuse things further, the reference she gave was neither Wyoming nor Oregon.
Under education she listed a high school in Oregon. He’d never realized how little actual information job apps required. Starting from the top, Zach went over it again, trying to glean something useful. Aha! Her social security number. There was information imbedded in the number. The first three identified the state where the number was issued; the second two, he thought, at one time had been the year it was issued, but he wasn’t sure if that still held true. He could either go downstairs and get Rachel to let him use a computer or he could find a library. He winced at the thought. They’d made him learn computers in school and, for the most part, he’d done okay with spreadsheets and such, but he hadn’t got along well with the Internet. As he was debating his choices, someone knocked on the door.
“C’min.”
His brother Jake walked in. “Hey, bro!”
Zach put Maddie’s application down. “What are you doing here? No, let me guess.” He eyed the backpack Jake carried. “Rach wants you to check my arm.”
“Got it in one.”
“It’s no big deal, just a flesh wound.”
“That’s what I told Rach when she said the bullet went clean through.” Jake sat down on the edge of the bed and got a pair of scissors from his bag.
“She called you last night?”
Jake nodded. “Let’s see your arm.”
Zach held it out. Jake started snipping at the bandage Rachel had put on the night before.
“I thought it took her a long time to come back with the first aid kit, but I told myself it just seemed that way coz I was in shock.”
“You’d’ve been in an emergency room before you knew it if it wouldn’t have caused a big dustup. They report gunshot wounds, you know.”
“Rach’d let me bleed to death on the floor before she’d bring that sorta trouble into her hotel.”
“Yup.” Jake examined the hole in his brother’s arm. “So this was the hot brunette at the bar?”
“Yeah.”
“How far away was she when she shot you?”
“About six feet.”
“Hell, if she can’t shoot any better than this, you oughta marry her.”
“She didn’t really mean to shoot me—”
“Of course she didn’t; she’d only just met you.”
“Thanks a lot.” Zach paused. “You ratted me out, didn’t you? You told Rach I had my eye on her.”
Jake sighed. “I didn’t mean to. I was hoping you’d connect with her, but you know there ain’t no delay between my brain and my mouth when I been drinking. I ran into Rach on my way out. She came up to your room to make sure you weren’t fornicating in her hotel, didn’t she?”
“No, she called my room to make sure I wasn’t fornicating in her hotel. That’s what got me shot. It must have sounded like I was arguing with a suspicious wife.”
“How come she’s like that?”
“Rachel? She’s scared of Mamma.”
“Mamma? What’s Mamma got to do with it?”
“You know Mamma’s always been suspicious of what goes on in big city hotels. Rachel don’t care what anyone else thinks, but she wants Mamma to approve of what she’s doing with her life.”
“She’s never going to get that less’n she gets married and goes to having bamb
inos.”
“She knows that. It don’t keep her from wanting Mamma’s approval. But if she can’t get it, at least she can make sure Mamma’s suspicions don’t turn into outright censure. Truth is, I kinda get where she’s coming from.”
“You do?”
“I’m not married, am I?” Zach said. “In Mamma’s eyes, it’s okay for a man to wait longer to marry, but sooner or later, I’m going to start feeling the pressure, too. You, you’re lucky. Eight years of schooling’s gonna buy you a truckload of extra time.”
Jake paused in wrapping Zach’s arm. “Surely Mamma don’t think we’re gonna save ourselves for marriage?”
Zach shrugged his free shoulder. “Maybe. Or maybe everyone just figures if Mamma don’t know about it, she can keep on believing whatever makes her happy. I do know Rachel don’t wanna take the chance Mamma’ll blame her for corruptin’ any of us.”
“Do you think Rachel’s still a virgin?” Jake asked.
“If you asked me that about any other girl her age, I’d say ‘hell, no.’ But Rachel?” Zach lifted an eyebrow. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
“Well, at least we can presume your hot brunette ain’t no virgin.” Jake finished securing the bandage. “That is, if you’re sure she shot you on account of Rachel’s call and not defending her honor.”
Zach felt his lips pull into a smile. “I can pretty much guarantee that her honor was well on its way to being compromised. Not as compromised as it was about to be, but at least she’s no virgin.” Thinking about Maddie again reminded Zach about his current problem. It occurred to him that he had another option for finding out about her. “Hey, I need you to look something up for me on the internet.”
“Whadda ya need?”
“I need to know,” Zach picked up the application, “what state issues social security numbers that start with zero-zero-six.”
“Is that all? Thought you was gonna give me a tough one.”
“Little brother, they’re all tough ones to me.”
Jake craned his neck to see what Zach held. “Is that a job app?”
“Yeah.”
“Her job app?”
“Yeah.”
Jake took the paper from Zach. “How’d you get this?”