Superb and Sexy (Sky High Air Book 3) Read online

  “Yes, that’s what happens when some asshole put his hands all over you instead of using the metal detector.”

  “It was fine.”

  “Are you kidding me? He just did it as an excuse to feel you up, and you expected me to just stand there and let it happen.”

  “Yes, I did.”

  This, like so many other things, boggled his mind. “Why? Why would you want them to do that to you?”

  “Why would I want—” Eyes flashing, she broke off and yanked him into the bathroom. Slamming the door, she flipped on the shower and the sink and flushed the toilet. Then in the noise of all the running water, she came right up to him and pushed him back against the door so that their bodies bumped. His mind immediately went from frustrated to lust in zero-point-four seconds, and then she went up on tiptoes and put her mouth to his ear.

  Oh, yeah—

  “It had to happen.”

  When the words sank in, he blinked.

  “I didn’t want him to use the metal detector on me,” she whispered, then stepped back while he just stared at her.

  And that’s when the truth sank in. Of course. She’d smuggled in a weapon, possibly two. When he could speak, he hauled her back up against him and put his mouth to her ear because while he might be slow, he was not a complete idiot. “You think the room’s bugged?”

  “No, but just in case,” she whispered. Hunkering down, she unlaced her boot, during which time his brain hiccupped and went to another place. He couldn’t help it, so help him God, he couldn’t, but kneeling at his feet the way she was, it felt…erotic. Unintentionally so, yes, but he couldn’t seem to stop thinking about sex, as inappropriate as that was. If she so much as lifted her head, her mouth would be just about even with his—

  “See?”

  He stared down at the boot she’d removed and the knife that lay inside.

  At the quick rap at the bedroom door, they both jumped. Maddie slipped back into her boot just as the door swung open to reveal a small, dark-haired, olive-skinned woman in her late forties wearing black trousers, a white blouse, and an apron.

  “Hola, Leena.” The woman’s voice was cool, but oddly enough, her eyes were warm. “You’ve come home and brought a man. This I had to see for myself.” She looked over at Brody, taking him in with a careful sweeping gaze. “I’m Rosaline.”

  “Brody West.”

  “You married my Leena.”

  He looked at her “Leena.” “Yes.”

  Maddie hadn’t said a word. In fact, she’d gone still as stone, just staring at Rosaline, which was such an oddity all in itself, Brody took another look at his “wife.”

  She was surprised.

  And pleased, very pleased. It was in her shiny eyes and the flush in her cheeks.

  “Of course I’ve come home.” Maddie’s voice sounded thick with…emotion? “I always do.”

  Not seeming to notice Maddie’s barely suppressed joy, Rosaline sniffed derisively. “I suppose you have laundry.”

  Maddie swallowed hard, and if Brody didn’t know better, he’d say she looked overcome. “Don’t I always?”

  “Yes, you—” Rosaline suddenly went as still as Maddie, staring at her for a long beat before slowly lifting her hand to her mouth. “Oh,” she breathed softly. “Oh, you’re not Leen—”

  Maddie crossed the room in quick strides and gripped the woman’s arms, shaking her head.

  Rosaline appeared to be blinking back her own tears as she cupped Maddie’s face. “Oh, look at you. Look at you.”

  Speechless, Maddie nodded, and Rosaline pulled her in for a hard hug. They stood there like that for another moment, then Rosaline pulled free and surreptitiously swiped at her eyes. “I have work.”

  But neither shifted away, both clearly moved. Finally Rosaline made another quick dab at her eyes with her apron before quietly leaving, shutting the door behind her.

  Maddie let out a low breath, closed her eyes for a moment, then turned back to Brody. Once again, the knife was in her hands. “Rosaline’s been the housekeeper here for many years, and I—I missed her.”

  He nodded, then looked at the gleaming, sharp as hell-looking knife in her hands. That she’d had the guts to smuggle it in, that she’d even thought they might need it told him volumes, mostly all the stuff she’d left out about this little family reunion.

  Then came another knock.

  Maddie’s gaze met his. “That’s not Rosaline this time.” She slipped the knife back into her boot, calmly and quietly flipping off the water before straightening and facing him. “Show time,” she said. “Husband.”

  Chapter 20

  Leena’s workshop was at the cellar level. Maddie had never spent much time in the huge, expansive space built beneath the house, but Leena had. It was where she designed and created, and to this day, Maddie didn’t know how she’d spent so many years down here with no windows and no hint of whether it was night or day outside in the real world.

  Tiny Tim had brought her down here, along with Brody, who had flatly refused to wait upstairs in the bedroom.

  Rather than argue with him, Maddie had forced a sweet laugh and had hugged him tight. “Oh, honey,” she’d said gaily for Tiny Tim’s benefit, waggling her eyebrows suggestively. “You should stay in the room and regain your strength for later.”

  “Ah, man,” Tiny Tim had groaned. “Come on. Don’t talk like that around me.”

  “Can’t help it.” Maddie rubbed up against Brody like a cat in heat. “Why don’t you leave us alone for a little while?”

  “Good idea,” Brody said, hands going to her hips. “Go away, Tiny Tim.”

  Rick’s man pulled Maddie free from Brody’s grasp. “She has a job to do. She’ll do it.”

  Brody pulled her back to his side.

  “Dude,” Tiny Tim said warningly.

  “Dude. Back off.”

  Instead, the muscle-bound MIB stepped closer and once again, reached for Maddie, who actually slipped a hand into her purse for her gun, because this was it—she was going to have to protect Brody right here, right now—but then Tiny Tim backed off and took them to the cellar, and things were okay.

  At least as okay as they could get for the moment.

  Now Maddie stood in the middle of the workshop, surrounded by the stone walls, commercial lighting, and all the top-of-the-line tools and equipment filling the place, feeling what was beginning to be the norm emotion for her today—panic.

  She stared down at the huge metal table spread with several different drawings, all of the same design, a timeless, classical 18k gold, pearl, and gem pendant, the gem—a large sapphire—being the whole reason for this operation.

  Beyond the worktable was another with parts laid out for her—18k yellow gold sheet, 18k yellow gold round wire, gold bezel, and the gems themselves—not the original sapphire but a most excellent replacement.

  At her disposal were all the tools required, and Maddie took her first pause.

  She was really going to have to do this.

  She took in the goggles and face shield, the pin vises, hammers, ring clamps, the saws and files and pliers, the rest of the layout tools, and so much more and did her best not to take a big, obvious gulp.

  “If you need anything,” Tiny Tim said, jerking his head to a white telephone on the wall. “You know the drill. Just pick that up.”

  “I’ll need food,” Maddie said, doing her best Leena impersonation. “Good food. All fresh.”

  “I’d think being married would take the spoiled out of you.”

  “Think again. That is, if you can think.”

  Tiny Tim sighed.

  “Don’t forget, fresh.”

  “I told the boss to get Maddie for this one,” Tiny Tim muttered. “I told him, sure, Maddie would just as soon rip your throat out as be nice to you, but at least she wasn’t a princess. No one listens to me.”

  Maddie turned away from the tools to look at him with narrowed eyes. “Maddie hasn’t been here in years.”