by Tina Beckett
Suddenly, he wanted to hear that laugh again. He bent closer. “I would offer to take you upstairs and show you what you’re missing...” When her eyes widened, he realized how the suggestion sounded. “Upstairs, as in the party going on in the fifteenth-floor ballroom.”
“Oh.”
Was there a tiny bit of disappointment in that single word?
Of course not. It’s all in your imagination, bud.
“How about a cup of coffee instead? I want to make sure that asthma attack is all the way under control.”
“Coffee sounds wonderful, but I can’t go anywhere dressed like this. I need to go home and change.” She hesitated. “I have coffee there.”
He gave another half smile. “You do? Is that an invitation?”
“Well, I...I mean if you want to join me, that would be okay. And no one’s there at the moment.” She shook her head. “Well, I mean my cat is there, and my sister is...”
Her voice trailed away.
“Your sister is there? With the cat?”
“No.”
There went those white teeth nibbling at her lower lip again. “But the coffee is there. With the cat. Right?”
“Yes. Why don’t you stop by for a cup? It’s the least I can do to say thank you.”
“No thanks necessary, but I would love to. Especially if you won’t agree to run by the hospital for a quick checkup.”
Something told Kaleb he should be heading in the opposite direction, back toward the elevators...back up to the safety of the fifteenth floor, where his obligations lay. But something about seeing Madeleine in that suit made him want to find out if there were other things about her he didn’t know. Not that he knew her at all. But he wanted to. If only to satisfy his curiosity. So one cup of coffee it was. And then he would be on his way back to his own life. In his own high-rise apartment.
* * *
Maddy squirmed on the beige leather seat of Dr. Kaleb McBride’s luxury car. What had started out as a halfhearted invitation—one she had not expected him to accept—had somehow ended up with her riding beside him.
She could not believe she was bringing him—a man—to her place. It had been ages since she’d had a guy over. Well, Kaleb wasn’t a guy, exactly. He was a...a colleague. She had always been tongue-tied around the resident bad boy of West Seattle Hospital, so she’d learned the hard way to keep that tongue firmly planted on the bottom of her mouth. She’d allowed one man to reduce her to a stuttering mess. Never again.
Still, she couldn’t resist a quick sideways glance at the figure in the driver’s seat. Then she slouched lower into the smooth upholstery. There was a reason the nurses at West Seattle whispered about Kaleb long after he strode down their hallways.
Inky dark hair curled over the collar of the man’s equally black tux, and warm brown eyes had flirted with her as easily as he flirted with every other woman at the hospital. Only Maddy had usually been immune, switching on her anti-charm force field and aiming it at any man who ventured into her personal space. So far, it had worked. Up until now. When she’d forgotten to hit that internal panic button. Thanks to her asthma. The feel of Kaleb’s fingers cupping her chin as he’d administered her medication hadn’t helped any.
Okay, she could explain away all of that. She’d been oxygen deprived. But what she didn’t understand was why she hadn’t told the man the reason Roxy wasn’t at her apartment: it was because she’d gone on a girls’ night out, with the person Maddy loved more than anything on this earth. Her daughter.
None of that was any of his business, right? He was coming to her house to have a quick cup of coffee. To make sure her asthma attack really was over—just as he’d said. There was no need to tell him about Chloe. It wasn’t as if her daughter were a deep dark secret. Her friends at the hospital all knew about her.
But not the circumstances surrounding her birth.
She shook off the thought. That was behind her. A year had gone by since she’d moved to this city, and she loved it here. It was huge, compared to what she was used to. She could actually get lost here. Well, not lost, but she could blend in. No one knew anything about her. Not like in the tiny town of Gamble Point, Nebraska, where you “couldn’t belch without the whole county knowing about it,” according to her father. She still missed him.
She needed to call her mom to let her know she was still okay. Still out of reach. She had Roxy to thank for that. Her sister had given her a precious gift: a new beginning in a brand-new city. She owed her big-time. And if putting on a slinky cat costume could help cover a little of that debt, Maddy would do it a hundred times over.
“Are you cool enough?”
“Wh—what?” She glanced over to find Kaleb fiddling with the climate-control buttons. “Oh, yes. I’m fine, thank you.”
This was a stupid idea. She should just have him drop her off at the nearest corner. She could catch a cab back to her place.
But it was too late, and if she tried to explain now she’d only wind up blurting out something that would make her look like a foolish child. As if she hadn’t already looked like one when he’d come across her splayed on the ground in her costume.
Debt or no debt, Roxy was going to pay for that for sure. Although watching Chloe’s eyes light up when she’d seen her dressed up as a sexy cat had made the whole fiasco of an evening a little less humiliating.
“Go down two more stoplights and then turn left. My building will be on the right.” In truth, she also didn’t want to have to call Roxy and admit that she hadn’t lasted even an hour. Barely even twenty minutes. Nor had she met her date. But none of that was her fault. Something in the costume had messed up her airways. But she had a feeling Roxy would think she’d simply wimped out on her.
Well, too bad. Maddy was a grown woman who could make her own decisions. And leaving her hometown with her daughter had been one of those decisions. Matthew hadn’t even tried to follow them. Then again, he’d be arrested if he came within a hundred yards of her, according to the courts. He wasn’t allowed to see Chloe. In fact, he hadn’t even asked to visit her. And if Maddy had her way, he’d never get the chance. Too much tainted water had passed under that particular bridge. Her ex had never wanted to have kids in the first place...had been disgusted when her birth control—because he couldn’t be bothered to think about those kinds of things—had failed. As her pregnant body had begun to change, his disgust had morphed into something sinister. Something...
She shook herself from her thoughts just as Kaleb pulled up to the entry of her modest apartment complex. “Is there a key code?”
“No, just push the button on the panel.”
He did and the single-levered barrier went up immediately. Kaleb slid into the dark parking garage, following the reflective arrows painted on the pavement. “Could someone get into the building itself through the garage?”
She frowned. “Yes, but we haven’t had any problems.” At least they hadn’t in the year that she’d lived there. And most of the people in the building knew each other. A stranger would be noticed.
Kind of like in her hometown? She shrugged off the thought. “There are also cameras in the garage and in the hallways.” She’d been shocked by the high cost of rent and by the security measures that came with living in a big city. But she’d come to love the anonymity afforded by a city with over six hundred thousand residents.
Sliding into one of the ten guest spots, he nodded. “Glad to hear it.”
Before she could twist around and reach into the backseat for the head to her sister’s costume, Kaleb had already retrieved it and was out of the car, heading around to her side. Just as he opened her door, something pinged from her purse.
Ugh. Her cell phone. And she had a pretty good idea who it would be. Roxy. The last person she wanted to text with right now. She could just ignore it until she got to
the safety of her apartment.
What if something was wrong with Chloe, though? She climbed from the car and freed her phone from her purse, noting Kaleb’s frown as she glanced down at her screen.
“It’s Roxy.” She didn’t know why she was explaining.
We’re headed for that place with all the paraphernalia for Chloe’s doll. Having a blast. Hope you are too.
A blast? Not quite. But a few of her muscles relaxed. Chloe could spend hours in that particular shop, which meant they wouldn’t drop by the apartment anytime soon. She quickly typed Okay, have fun! and then dropped the phone back into her purse. She made no mention of the fact that she was arriving home with an attractive man in tow. A man whose name was most definitely not Max, nor was he from the masquerade party.
And if she had her way, Roxy would never know that Kaleb had been here. It would be her little secret. After all, that was one thing she’d learned she was good at. Hiding the ugly truth from everyone around her.
She glanced up at Kaleb. “I’m on the fifth floor.”
Modest by Seattle standards, her apartment had everything she and Chloe needed. It was only one bedroom, but she’d got around that by converting the tiny study into her daughter’s bedroom. There was a park right around the corner that Chloe loved to go to, so Maddy never really felt trapped. And she couldn’t afford anything bigger. Not yet. Once she’d been at the hospital a couple more years she’d be eligible for a pretty substantial raise. Maybe then they could move to a nicer place. When Chloe started elementary school, they would need something bigger. But for now, the apartment was just right.
They went into the lobby, and Maddy pressed the button on the elevator, hearing the creak as it broke free from whatever floor it was on and began to slowly descend to ground level.
“How’s your breathing?”
“Fine.” Even as she said it, she realized why he was asking. His proximity had caused her lungs to start working harder, wheezing a little—kind of like the elevator—as they pulled air into her lungs and then pushed it back out. To prove she was okay, she sucked in another breath and then let it rush back out. “You would never even know I’d had a problem.”
Kaleb made a noise. She wasn’t sure if it was a snort of doubt or if he was agreeing with her assessment. Whatever it was, she was ignoring it. Because she did not want to have to explain that having him behind her was doing a number on her organs. All of them, not just her lungs. Her swirling thoughts, jittery heartbeat and shaky legs were all warning signs.
She shouldn’t have brought him here. Her apartment was her one safe place. The spot she and Chloe could be totally themselves.
The elevator arrived, spitting out a puff of chilled air as she and Kaleb stepped through the doors. Kaleb moved to the opposite wall of the compartment, and she couldn’t help but smile at the sight of him carrying that cat’s mask. From where she was standing, she could see quite a few strands of her hair clinging to the stark black fabric of his tux. They must have got stuck in the mask when he’d pulled it off her. “I’ll have to loan you my lint roller before you leave.”
When his head tilted, she nodded at his trousers. “I evidently shed as bad as a cat does.”
Oh, Lord, she’d been trying to make a joke, but he probably thought she’d been eyeing his pants this whole time. “Not that I was staring. I mean...” Her words faded when she realized she was only making things worse.
His mouth cranked up on one side in a way that made his left eye narrow slightly, craggy lines webbing out from the corner of it. Her breathing went wonky all over again before she schooled it back to normal.
Dumb, dumb, dumb. This was one of her more stupid moves.
Thankfully the elevator decided not to prolong her misery and rolled to a halt. She was across the tiny foyer as soon as the doors opened, sliding her key into the lock of her apartment.
Once inside, she took the mask from him and waved to the front room. “Make yourself at home, and I’ll be right back.” She zoomed into the kitchen, only to stop when Jetta went tearing past her to check out the intruder.
Oh, no! Expecting to hear curses at any moment, she headed back the way she came. But when she reached the living room, she found Kaleb on his haunches, stroking long fingers over her cat’s black fur, rubbing one of his cheeks and murmuring in low tones. When she moved forward to pick the animal up, Kaleb again beat her to it, scooping up the young feline and tucking him into the crook of his arm. “I take it this is the cat in question?”
Her cat was not a fan of being sandwiched in someone’s arms, but right now he looked as if he was anything but unhappy. “Yes. His name is Jetta.”
“Jetta. It fits him.” He moved to a corner of the sofa and lowered himself into it, still stroking the cat. More shedding hair for his tux, but the man didn’t seem to mind a bit. Nor did Jetta, who was lapping up the attention. “Do you want any help? With the coffee?”
She was staring again.
“Oh. Um, no. I’ve got it.” She started back for the kitchen before turning toward her visitor. “How do you like it?”
“Hot and sweet.” That crazy tilted smile went off again. “My coffee, that is.”
Yikes. A shiver went through her.
“I understood what you meant.”
How lame could she get? Evidently very, judging from her answers so far. She picked up the pace, practically skidding around the corner into the kitchen, where she leaned against the wall and drew several deep breaths, hand over her heart.
For twenty seconds she remained that way, eyes closed, wondering what it would be like for Kaleb to undress with those strands of her hair still attached to his clothing. Oh, Lord, she’d better get that image out of her head pronto. And she was still in her cat suit. Maybe she had time to run back to her bedroom and change. While she was there, she could call out to him in a seductive voice and ask him to—
“Madeleine? Are you okay?” Fingers touched her hair and her eyelids jerked apart.
Horrified that he’d found her daydreaming about him, she rattled around for a response before she noticed he had her purse in his hands. She’d left it in the entryway.
“I’m fine. Is something wrong?” Funny she should ask that question, because something was wrong. With this whole scene. She hadn’t been affected by a man in years, and this wasn’t the time to start.
“Your phone pinged. I thought it might be something important.”
Taking the purse from him with shaking fingers, she reached in and took her phone.
Chloe wants to run home to get her doll so she can try on the clothes. We’ll swing by and grab it and then head on our way. Hope you’re having fun at the party!
Her sister was coming here. Now. Oh, no! She was bound to get the wrong idea! And worse, Maddy didn’t want Chloe seeing her in their home with a strange man.
Kaleb must have seen something in her face, because he took a step closer. “What is it?”
“My sister is coming over. She’ll be here in about ten minutes.”
His brows went up. “And you’d rather she not find me here.”
“I know it sounds weird and crazy—”
“This whole evening has been an interesting mixture of weird and crazy. But I understand, and I’ll see myself out. Just one question.” Tilted smile came back for another visit. “What exactly does a person wear under a cat costume?”
Maddy laughed. Partly at the audacity of the question and partly at the irony of her answer. Not that he would see her in her black leotard. In another life, this might have ended differently. Parts of her were warming up, and she’d love nothing better than to explore a quick no-strings dalliance with a man who was too handsome for his own good. And for hers.
“They wear a catsuit. What else?”
“What else, indeed.” He twirled a strand of
her hair one last time, before leaning in and kissing her cheek. “I’ll see myself out, Madeleine Grimes. But I would like a rain check for that coffee.”
“Okay.” She waited for what seemed like forever before she heard her front door click softly shut. And then she sank to the floor a shaking mass of fear, relief...and disappointment.
CHAPTER TWO
WHAT WAS HE doing here?
He wasn’t sure. Respiratory Therapy was two floors above where his office was located. Part of his job was in the hospital itself, but he had to be ready to leave for the luxury hotel across the street at a second’s notice. Or one of its sister hotels, which were sprinkled around the city.
The hospital had partnered with the swanky investment group, and, honestly, it suited him perfectly. He’d never liked being trapped in the sterile confines of a hospital. Too many bad memories. When his life had taken a turn for the worse, Kaleb had had to endure the pitying glances of colleagues and nursing staff until the bitter end, when his wife—also a nurse—had had an affair with another doctor. It had been the final tragic straw in a marriage that had been spiraling downhill.
So why was he walking across the floor to see a woman who had caught his attention in the strangest of ways? Maybe because he didn’t quite believe the surreal experience had actually happened. And because the image of the woman lounging around in something akin to a slinky black wet suit had haunted his dreams for the past two nights. And then her mention of a catsuit. He’d had to look up what that was. And while he was pretty sure some of the images hadn’t been what Madeleine meant by the term, he would have loved to have been there when she stripped herself down to it.
He was here to assure himself that the Madeleine he was acquainted with was indeed the cool, aloof woman he’d known before that asthma attack. And to make sure she really was okay. She’d acted shaken the whole time he’d been in her apartment, and if her sister hadn’t been on her way home, he might have insisted she get checked out.
Arriving in front of the door of her office, he hesitated, wondering if he should turn around and head back to the safety of his own corner of the hospital. But he was here now. And if he left now, the nurse he’d asked about her whereabouts was bound to ask Madeleine if he’d found her.