Superb and Sexy Read online

  pressing against her, his face so close she could feel the stubble from his jaw brush hers, and that intoxicating scent of frustrated man, she could hardly think. Talking? Forget about it.

  “Are you in trouble?”

  Truth? Trouble was her new middle name. She bit back her short bark of laughter because it would have come out sounding far too hysterical. Plus, she might not have been able to stop. “No.” And there went another lie. Hope Santa wasn’t listening, but it was for Brody’s own good . . .

  “Jesus, Maddie, come on. It’s all over your face.”

  She imagined it was. At some point between Leena showing up and realizing Rick was on her tail looking for blood and then the guy of her secret fantasies arriving in his Camaro-chariot, Maddie had lost her ability to hold it together, much less hide her emotions.

  She really needed to get a grip on that, pronto. Showing emotion was dangerous, both to her physical well-being and to her heart and soul.

  Not that she was worried about her heart and soul. Nope, at the moment, it was mostly her physical being she had concerns about.

  And Leena’s.

  And if she didn’t shake Brody, his as well. God. Was she in trouble? Hell, yeah. The worst sort of trouble. But she could handle it.

  She always did.

  Except this time . . . this time, there was a small part of her that had doubts, a small part of her that said her luck had finally run out and the past she’d been one step ahead of for ten years just might have caught up to her. “There’s some trouble,” she admitted.

  “Your sister?”

  Okay, maybe she could admit that part, too. “It’s a misunderstanding. Nothing we can’t handle.”

  Look at that, another lie right off her tongue. They were really racking up today.

  “Let me help.”

  No. Definitely not. Not with Rick involved, not with her past hanging out, leaving her feeling way too exposed. So was the way Brody was holding her with extreme care, making sure not to put too much pressure on her shoulder, but she couldn’t get free—a bit demoralizing given all those years of self-defense classes she’d taken.

  Squirming did nothing but make her extremely aware of their position, of her butt snugged to his crotch, for example, and how she wished they were in this position for another reason entirely.

  He turned just his head so that once again his jaw brushed hers. The feeling shouldn’t have stopped her heart and made her belly quiver, but it did, and that just pissed her off. “I think this qualifies as you butting your nose in where it doesn’t belong. You don’t let me do that to you.”

  “Are you kidding?” he asked with a low laugh. “When you’re at work, you butt into my life every damn day of the week.”

  “Oh, you mean when you’re in your office, all pouting and edgy and barking at the rest of us?”

  “Excuse me. Pouting?”

  “That’s right. Pouting like a woman over your deep, dark secrets.”

  He choked on that, then went silent a moment. “I have no secrets.”

  “Uh-huh, and you’re an open book.”

  Now he let out a low huff of frustrated air, which disturbed the hair on her temple and a whole bunch of things inside her.

  Too many things.

  Damn it. She couldn’t keep it together with him here. “You’re hurting me.”

  At that, he pulled back so fast her head spun. Her relief was short-lived, however, because then his hands were on her waist, gently but inexorably turning her to face him.

  So she played chicken and closed her eyes.

  “Maddie. Look at me.”

  No, thanks. Because she could stand here, just like this, close to him without being too close, being able to smell him but not see him, for a good long time.

  Forever, maybe, except then her body gave her away by swaying toward him.

  Traitorous body.

  “Maddie, goddamnit.”

  She sighed and opened her eyes.

  His held hers and wouldn’t let go. “I know you want me gone so you can take care of this ‘misunderstanding. ’”

  “It is a misunderstanding.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Whatever. But as your husband, I’m equipped to help.”

  “Why? Because you have a penis?” She struggled for patience and decided she needed a moment to cool off. Giving him a little push to clear her path, she walked away.

  Walked away and rubbed at the spot in the center of her chest that ached like a son of a bitch because she needed one last lie. The king of lies, she thought as she climbed the stairs. Something that would make him think he was helping and get him the hell out of here.

  Leena hadn’t wanted to leave her sister alone with the tall, dark, and absolutely attitude-ridden Brody, nor did she want to step up and say so.

  She wasn’t good at stepping up, especially to men. One look at her life would tell anyone that. She hadn’t stepped up to Rick, and he’d single-handedly ruined her life. She hadn’t stepped up when Manny had wanted her and she hadn’t wanted him. She hadn’t stepped up when she’d become attracted to one of the men she’d helped Rick rip off, leaving that man, Ben Kingman, in possession of one gorgeous and very fake diamond ring, which was all her fault . . .

  God. Sometimes, she really hated herself.

  She paused to listen to how her sister was faring with her boss and heard Maddie say “Don’t make me kick your ass out of here.”

  See? Maddie didn’t let anyone push her around; she took care of herself.

  How Leena envied that, because she wasn’t any better at taking care of herself than she was at standing up for herself. Actually, she wasn’t good at much, really, except for creating truly original, one of a kind, beautiful jewelry on spec for whoever happened to have money in their pocket to pay Rick for such things.

  Yeah, she was good all right. Real good.

  Not that she was proud . . .

  Of course, the swindles had all occurred against her will and with the threat of all sorts of Soprano-like violence if she didn’t keep her trap shut, but she doubted the law would see things her way. If Rick was ever even caught.

  Rick had promised her he wouldn’t be. And that going to jail was nothing compared to what he’d do to her if she ever turned him in. For herself, she didn’t care.

  Okay, she cared.

  But for Maddie . . . tough, resilient, brave Maddie who’d gotten away on her own, who’d done so before she’d had anything to be ashamed of, who’d managed to make a life for herself, which she deserved . . .

  Leena couldn’t, wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize that.

  But you already have, just by coming here . . .

  Ashamed, she closed her eyes. She’d screwed up again. Always . . .

  Giving her sister some privacy, she moved out the back door and stood on the deck, then reached into her pocket for a cigarette before remembering she’d given up all the things that were bad for her. Wishing she’d left herself that one vice, she wandered into the woods, eyeing the towering pines, the wildflowers swaying in the breeze, everything so beautiful and in its place.

  She’d never found her place. She’d never belonged.

  And hell, if that wasn’t an overly dramatic, self-pitying thought, when she’d given up both dramatic and self-pitying thoughts along with the cigarettes.

  Damn it.

  Out here in no-man’s-land, she didn’t hear any voices, raised or otherwise, which meant Maddie had either kicked some Brody ass or she’d gotten rid of him. She still couldn’t believe that Maddie would actually work for someone like him, someone so . . . nerve-wrackingly big and bad and . . . undeniably sexy.

  If one was into nerve-wrackingly big and bad and undeniably sexy.

  Personally, she was not. Nor had she expected Maddie to be. But it’d been a long time since Maddie and Leena had been together. Things had changed.

  A lot of things. With a sigh, she went back inside, where it was quiet, very, very quiet. “Maddie?”