Unforgettable Heroes Boxed Set

by James, Maddie

  Isn’t this just hunky-dory?

  At least the water still ran, but better hurry up before it went cold. In total darkness, bending under the showerhead to get the remaining soap out of her hair, she felt for the side of the shower stall. Once the soap had rinsed off, she groped her way to the front and felt outside for the towel on the counter. Where was the blasted thing? There, her hand met terry cloth. She grabbed it, letting it drape down and began to dry off. Stepping out cautiously, her foot hit the mat. One down. As her other foot joined it, something ran over the first one.

  Screaming at glass-breaking pitch, she hopped from foot to foot, and lost her balance, slipping on the mat and falling to the floor. The towel fell out of her hands and plopped on the floor somewhere out of her reach. Crandall’s breath came in gulps, realizing her whole unclad body was now in vermin territory. The damned things were probably waiting to scurry all over her like some horror movie right off late night TV. By the thousands in regiments. She was mortified of mice. Damned thing that had attacked her was probably a rat. Jumping to her feet in fear, she bumped into the toilet. Thank God. Quickly, she climbed on top. Now what did she do? Wait for the lights to come back on?

  The door banged open and Zack stood there holding a flashlight like a spotlight on her naked body. “Sorry, are you sure you’re okay?” She saw his head dip as his eyes drifted from her bust line downward. The man didn’t budge an inch.

  Seeing the towel, she jumped down and grabbed for it, wrapping it around her torso and then jumped back on the toilet lid. “The least you could have done was turn around like a gentleman.”

  “Who said I was one?” He grinned. As she glared at him, she heard him chuckle. “Okay, already, I’m turning. I thought you were in trouble.”

  “There’s a mouse in here.” She sprang off the toilet in a high-hurdle move and beat feet out of the room. “Grab my bag please and set it on the bed, then find that hideous thing, now!”

  “All of this is over one little critter?” He chuckled again.

  She sat on the bed and drew her legs under her. “Get rid of the damned monster, and I mean now!”

  Minutes later, after a bunch of banging and shifting, he walked back out of the bathroom, holding the vile mouse by its tail. “See how cute?”

  “Honest to God, Zack, if you come any closer with that thing, I’ll spray you with mace!”

  “Wonder what you’d do to a rapist.” He shook his head. “Be right back.” He opened the outside the door and closed it behind him. She scrambled in her bag for a robe and threw it over her shoulders, quickly dropping the towel on the floor and belting the robe in place.

  As he entered again and shut the door behind him, Zack shone the light back on her. “Too bad you had to put on your robe.”

  “Too bad you had to have that flashlight.”

  “That’s all we have right now. Here’s hoping the electricity comes on by morning.”

  She heard him ease to the ground on the mattress. “By the way, if I forgot to tell you the first time we were in the same bedroom, nice body.”

  She refused to speak, but his words pleased her, washing over her like a warm blast of air.

  ****

  More than an hour later, Zack lay on the ground on the lumpy mattress and turned for the third time. He could tell by her thrashing, that she was also awake. “Crandall?”

  “Mmm-hmm?”

  “Does anyone call you anything else but Crandall?”

  Silence met his ears and he silently cursed himself for asking the question.

  “No one except for my dad when he was alive.”

  Oh shit. Now he’d gone and stepped on a memory. “I’m sorry. It’s just that Crandall is so all business. I thought maybe I could call you by something a little more, I don’t know, approachable”

  He heard the long sigh and the small whimper. He winced. Blast it, he’d hit a nerve. Damned if he weren’t good managing to upset people. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have suggested it. You know, I have a habit of opening my mouth and saying things that people take the wrong way. I swear I didn’t mean any harm by asking. I was just curious. See, Zack is kind of an unassuming name, like you’d meet me at a neighborhood social.”

  “Carly.”

  He smiled. “Your dad called you Carly?”

  “Yeah. His name was Carl. He said I reminded him of a female version of himself.”

  “Did you like it?”

  He heard her laugh softly against her covers. Nice save, Zack. Too bad it didn’t gain entrance under the covers with her.

  “Of course,” she answered him. “But it wasn’t stern enough to run a business. My proper name was a family surname on my mother’s side. My grandmother’s, matriarch of that side of the family. She made everyone tow the line if they wanted to or not.”

  “It does its job. In fact, when you get right down to it, I can’t think of another one that demonstrates as much authority. I don’t guess I could call you Carly?”

  Silence again. He cursed himself. Why did he always push things one step too far? Just when he had her opening up, he had to go and…

  “Okay, but not around anyone else.”

  He smiled. “Gotcha’. It’s our secret. I’m going to shut up now.”

  “Good,” she said. “Because I have to sleep so I can beat your ass into the ground.”

  He sighed. There was nothing like sweet talk to put him to sleep.

  Chapter Seven

  The next morning, they arrived by cab at the town fairgrounds. A crowd of a couple hundred people already milled around. Crandall stared at them, all dressed casually, most of them in jeans and cotton shirts. A platform was erected next to where the cab stopped. Getting out, Crandall watched as few kids laughed and, holding balloons, ate on snack bars. Brooks must have brought them with him.

  The man himself appeared, stepping out of one of the two tour buses at the back end of the field and raced over to them. “Well, well, here already. Come over to the side and away from these people, you two. Let’s pow-wow.” As they huddled the old guy smiled rubbing his hands together. “My folks and I got together and have decided to call this the Sweetheart Tour.”

  “What?” Crandall snapped up from a bending position and saw the shit getting ready to hit the fan. “What sweethearts?”

  “Two snacks just aching to come together and form the perfect union. Don’t you love it?” He started to laugh and stared back at three men in suits in the background nodding in unison. Turning back to them, he placed his hands on each one’s shoulder. “We tell the audience the snacks you two have are being voted on, but of course,” he said, lowering his voice, “it would really spice up the competition if the two of you started getting closer with each stop on the campaign.”

  “We’re not selling ourselves here,” Zack said, his voice firm. “Just our products.”

  “Of course you are, my boy,” he patted him on the back. “Still, it would be nice if you each were portrayed as the great American male and female. Sexy through and through, but you know, clean cut, not a blemish anywhere. Mom’s apple pie and the American flag. Nothing wrong with that, is there?”

  “I suppose not,” Crandall said, her eyes narrowing with distrust. This guy had probably already called the tabloids and fabricated some tale of lust and splendor in the country, complete with phony photos.

  “Of course, I’m assuming both of you have clean records, no scandals, people after you for money, no illegitimate children hanging around somewhere. No former lovers claiming you left them at the altar. No relatives in San Quentin. There aren’t any blights in your past, are there?” he asked. “I didn’t take the time to vet you, just taking what you say at face value. We want images of pure, wholesome people.”

  Crandall felt her heart sink into her stomach. “Of course not. We don’t have anything to hide, not me anyway.”

  Zack pushed his hair out of his face. “Me neither.”

  “Good.” Brooks climbed the platform. “Let th
e tour begin.”

  ****

  Flies lighting on her like today’s lunch special, Crandall brushed a lock of hair out of her eyes and smiled at the family in front of her. “This is the Rainbow Twister, fruit flavors every half inch with chocolate and caramel thrown in for extra taste.” She held one out. “Try one.”

  The little boy next to his mom reached for it and she smacked his hand. “Rainbow, eh? Is this a gay thing? A gimmick for an AIDs donation? What’s behind the name?”

  Crandall waved her hands in front of her. “Just rainbow, as in the sky rainbow, after a rain, hope for mankind after the great flood, gorgeous to look at. No gimmick.” People were too skeptical these days. Why hadn’t they made time for a focus group? She dug her nails into the underside of the counter and gagged as she realized she’d hit old gum deposited where it shouldn’t be.

  “Come on Scotty,” the woman said. “Let’s go try the man’s yummy cream thing.” The husband held up his hands in helplessness.

  God bless the guy. He was a saint.

  Crandall frowned as her thoughts strayed. This wasn’t going very well, and the whole gig was up if Zack or Brooks ever found out about the lawsuit involving Pretzelicious. She closed her eyes momentarily, seeing the papers still floating before her eyes. She couldn’t believe they’d arrived on her lawyer’s doorstep just before she took off for the first stop on this tour.

  Quinn, her attorney, and her father’s before her, had told Crandall there was nothing to worry about and the allegations her father had stolen the recipe for the pretzel coating were ludicrous. “Come on child,” he’d said. “Why would someone wait until now, fifty years after your dad first started selling these things in his store?”

  However, his eyes had almost bugged out of his head after he spoke to the attorney who’d filed for the complainant. Xavier Washington, his client, was not only her business nemesis, the majority stockholder and CEO of Washington Enterprises, but the son of her father’s childhood sweetheart, the same woman who’d helped him start Drake’s Bakery. Xavier was also the disgusting nerd who used to make passes at her all the way through high school. Leach!

  Quinn told her the man wanted fifty-one percent of the company. Make that thief and leach.

  “Not in this lifetime,” she swore under her breath. She’d saved this company. Okay, after almost losing the little money her dad had left her when he’d died. She could honestly say she’d kept it from swirling down the drain. She hadn’t had a social life. All her time and energy had been poured into making this business, and by God, one sex and money-hungry crook wasn’t taking it all away from her. That was why this stab at the AVC enterprise was so important.

  She stared across at Zack as she rubbed old gum off her nails with a napkin and then poured hand sanitizer over her hands. Look at the way he smiled and flirted with the women. Damn, the good looking SOB. Every woman here wanted him for lunch, forget the double cream salt, whatever it was. She grinned, feeling wicked. Why not play into Brooks’ image of the perfect couple? It would take Zack for a whirl and certainly do great things for her now aching libido.

  She left her spot and sauntered over to where Zack was peddling his wares. Slipping behind the table, she smiled. As he gave out “yet another” cream cake, Crandall grabbed his head between her hands and spun him around. “Sweetheart, you are taking the world by storm. I am so proud of you. And to think, in just a year or less, our companies will join in one great family enterprise.”

  His eyes stared at her in disbelief, his eyes widening in surprise and then narrowing once again as his pupils dilated with desire. Then, he grabbed her shoulders and, with a devilish grin, descended on her mouth.

  The minute his lips met hers, she knew she was in trouble. He tasted even better than before, like the best chocolate milkshake she’d ever had. Better. His tongue had a wicked way of making her forget she was breathing, much less she was still standing up in his arms. She was only remotely aware flashes from cameras were popping off like popcorn kernels and people had begun to buzz like bees around their table.

  “I’ll have some of that,” a woman said. “Which snack is doing that to the two of you?”

  Crandall broke the kiss, staring into his green eyes, and felt like her world tilted. “That was…

  “Orgasmic?” he asked. “Oh no, babe. You think you’ve already experienced it? The best is yet to come.”

  He stood there with a goofy grin on his face. How dare he act unaffected? “The Rainbow Twister,” Crandall said, in a huff. “That’s the one that plays havoc with your self-control.”

  Everyone surged toward her table.

  ****

  “What did the manager say about changing rooms?” Crandall asked.

  Zack glanced at her and saw a totally different woman than the one who’d arrived yesterday. Her hair was down and flowing around her shoulders, her cheeks still pink from their kiss and the surge from winning their competition when everyone charged her table and ate all of her pretzels. At the moment, looking at how beautiful she was right now, he didn’t care if he lost.

  “Funny thing, the manager didn’t give me much of a fight,” he told her. “Especially when I brought up the mouse. Anyway, he said he must have been wrong about the guy showing up for the rooms, but they still deserved the rooms if they did come, since he’d paid him for the rental. However, we could move into one with a better setup. Even gave me my two hundred and forty dollars back.”

  “What’s the catch?”

  He smiled. “It seems the room he’s giving us has a queen bed.”

  “Zack, there’s no way …”

  Like hell there wasn’t. He glanced over at her. She refused to meet his eyes. She was just trying hard to back off, but all her hormones were saying, yes, yes. He just knew it. She had to still want him as much as he wanted her, and there was no way he was going to stop until he was, once again, buried deep inside her and staring down at her beautiful expressive face. But first he had to sell it, and that was one thing at which he excelled.

  “Look, I can just dump the pillows from the little loveseat onto the floor and sleep on them, if you insist. But, I swear I won’t try to assault you if you’ll just let me sleep in the bed. After last night, I’m exhausted.”

  She nodded, her eyes still darting. Okay she didn’t believe him. Truth was, he didn’t believe himself, but to hell with sleeping on the floor. He’d better try harder, sell this like he did a business deal. “Okay, how about this? If I make a move toward you without your expressed permission, I will forfeit the whole tour.”

  She smiled slowly. “Okay. I accept that deal. How about signing a statement?”

  He did a double take. “You want me to sign a piece of paper saying I won’t make a sexual move on you?”

  She nodded. “You betcha. I don’t give up anything I’ve fought for without crossing all the T’s and dotting all the I’s. I’ve already made one mistake.”

  Wincing he stared at her. “That hurts.” Exhaling slowly, he nodded. “Okay, but if you make a move first, all bets are off. Write it all out. I don’t suppose you want it notarized?”

  She pulled a stamp and an inkpad out of her briefcase. “Just so happens…”

  He sank onto the loveseat. “Sorry I mentioned it.”

  Four hours later, after showering and getting into bed first, Zack lay on his side away from Crandall and wished he’d never suggested this in the first place. Just her scent drifting over him was driving him crazy, much less the little whimpers she made as she changed position, obviously experiencing as much discomfort as he was having. For two adults to be playing an old nineteen fifties sitcom routine wasn’t only archaic, it was insane. Especially considering the wild nature of their last encounter.

  “Crandall?”

  “Mmm-hmm?”

  “You know, maybe an all or nothing approach wasn’t such a good idea. I mean, there’re a lot of steps between holding hands and full-blown intercourse.”

  “What’s
your proposition?”

  He grinned, turning over and inching closer to her body. Spoken like the businesswoman she was. “How about a little more than holding hands?”

  He could feel the mattress shake from her nervousness, or was it excitement? “Details, Zack. How much more?”

  “Oh, I don’t know, maybe a little bit more kissing, some holding, a little petting …”

  “Stop right there. No hands or any other body parts anywhere the light doesn’t shine.”

  Damn. He sighed. “Okay, done deal. I don’t have to have this notarized as a codicil, do I?”

  Almost as soon as the words left his mouth, Crandall had shifted to full frontal and had him in a lip-lock. Damn, when a deal was done with this one, she implemented pronto. He grabbed her, his knuckles digging in her back and groaned. God, she was good. All, warm sizzle and hot syrup pouring over his sex-starved body. Shit, he was liable to come in his shorts for the first time since he was a kid. What was it about this woman that made him feel like he was eating potato chips? One time just wasn’t enough.

  At her sigh against his mouth, he surged forward, claiming her mouth as if he’d never cease surrender. She joined him in a playful twisting of tongues, both of them splaying their hands across each other’s back. As he took one arm and reached in front, he tenderly cupped a breast, just the perfect hand size. He flicked his thumb across her nipple, and she moaned, then ground her pelvis into his groin, as if she couldn’t get close enough. Darned woman didn’t want anything where the light didn’t shine, but she was sure urging that to happen.

  As she reached inside his briefs and grabbed his cock, it was his turn to moan. Oh, yeah. Now she’d crossed the mark. If she played with him much longer, she had no choice, because it was going to end up where he wanted it to be, sunk deeply in her red-hot, wet and waiting core. Just the thought of her warmth, the way she’d formerly rocked against him, screaming out his name and digging her nails into his back, had him gasping from just the foreplay.