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Chapter Seven

“You haven’t been looking so good lately,” Kai told me.

“Is it my hair, or is it my nail polish? Oh, let me guess, it’s my make-up.”

My brother chuckled. “Well, at least your sense of humor is still intact. Is it because Maddie hasn’t been around?”

I took a long pull from my water bottle. Kai and I had been running off and on for over two hours. We kept on the trails. That way, he could keep a good pace and the ground was level.

It had taken a while for Kai to open up and tell me the extent of his injuries. Bullet fragments in the upper spine and a prognosis that he’d never walk the same again. But here was my brother. Running. He was one tough son-of-a-bitch.

Right now, we were resting at the base of an old hemlock tree.

“Yeah, it’s Maddie. She’s been keeping me at arm’s length since she found out that I was based in California and was home for months at a time, and still didn’t reach out to her.”

“Ouch. You sure she’s just mad about California? Or is she afraid of something else?”

“I’m ninety-nine percent sure it’s California. But hell, maybe you’re right. Maybe it is something else. Shit, now I have to think more. Thanks, Kai,” I said sarcastically.

“You’re welcome.” He bowed his head to me. The little shit. After all, I was born four minutes before him. He should show his elder brother some respect.

“According to Lettie, you two were thick as thieves growing up. Is that true?” Kai asked me.

“Yeah, that’s true. We’ve been friends since kindergarten, up until our senior year.”

Kai gave me a sideways look. “Just friends?”

“I started to get other ideas at the end of our junior year, but Maddie wasn’t thinking that way, so I tamped it down and started dating other girls. Maddie didn’t mind. We stayed best friends.”

Kai grabbed a granola bar out of his pack and offered me half. “That’s hard to believe.”

“How do you think I felt? But that’s how it was. I think it was because I was dealing with my mom, and she was busy protecting her sisters from her mom’s bad choices. Something romantic just wasn’t on her radar.” I ate the granola bar and washed it down with water.

“Huh. Are you thinking about changing that now?”

“Abso-fucking-lutely.”

Kai chuckled. “That’s how Marlowe and I saw it. I wasn’t sure that Maddie was catching on, but Marlowe says that she is definitely interested in you.”

“That’s how I’m reading it.”

“So why in the hell are you letting the past and her big brother stand in your way?”

“I’m just biding my time. I grew up with Maddie. When she’s mad or sad or confused, she needs time to brood. If I go in too soon, I’ll get my head bitten off. I need to wait for her to come to me.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Kindergarten to senior year. Yeah, I’m sure.”

Was I? It had been three days. Maybe she had changed. Maybe I was wrong.

Dammit all to hell .

I stood up. “Is it time to head back?”

“I’ve got another half hour in me before heading back.” Kai smiled as I held out my hand for him to grab.

“Let’s hit it.”

* * *

I was parked in the back left corner of her office parking lot. I watched as the delivery guy went in with the hundred-and fifty-dollar bouquet of flowers. Whoever heard of spending that damn much money on flowers? Still, I was trying to make a statement. I knew she was in there, because I had spotted her Jeep.

She’d told me that Wednesdays were the days she tried to catch up on administrative stuff. I had the flowers delivered at four o’clock so that I could catch her in the parking lot as she left, in case the flowers didn’t work, and she didn’t call or text me.

After a half hour with no call or text, I tried to console myself with the thought that she was on a phone call or in a meeting.

“Yeah, sure.”

Time for Plan B.

I’d driven to Nashville to pick up a five-pound sampler tin of Leon’s candy. It had a mixture of homemade pralines, turtles, pecan rolls, and caramels. In my junior year, I had gotten her a one-pound tin, and I had received a hug and a kiss on my cheek that I still cherished to this very day. I was dying to find out what a five-pound tin would get me.

I tossed my phone on the passenger seat next to the chocolate tin and waited for five o’clock to roll around. After five, with no sight of Maddie, I turned on some music and listened to Linkin Park and Foo Fighters.

I kept my eyes open partway and focused on the back door where employees were coming out. At seven-thirty, I was getting damned pissed. Not because of no acknowledgement for the flowers, but because it was dusk and soon to be dark, and there was no sign of Maddie. Only one of the two lonely parking lot lights came on, flickering weakly, while the other one didn’t even bother lighting up. Neither light was close to Maddie’s Jeep, not that it mattered since both were obviously broken. There was one spotlight over the employee entrance that practically screamed, ‘Here I am, come get me’.

Since the only other vehicle in the parking lot was mine, I highly doubted she was coming out with someone, unless, pray God, there was security in the building who would be walking her out. I stewed and stewed and stewed as I waited for her. Finally at eight-thirty, the employee door opened. And it was worse than I imagined. Maddie was wearing a short trench coat and boots. I thought she must be wearing a skirt that ended, hopefully, right above her knees, because it wasn’t showing below the trench coat.

Of course she was alone.

She rolled her shoulder to better haul her satchel and purse up higher. She had her keys in her hand. At least that was something. At least she wouldn’t have to stop to and rummage through her purse when she got to her car.

That was all. That was the one thing she’d done right. Hell, she hadn’t even looked around the parking lot to realize there was only one truck in it. Did the woman have any self-preservation instincts at all?

I watched as she crossed the parking lot. I got out of my truck. I didn’t want to scare her, so I called out.

“Maddie, it’s me, Beau.”

She quickly did a quarter turn. “What the hell? You scared the hell out of me!”

“Better me than some random asshole,” I continued to shout as I stalked over to her. “What in the hell are you doing leaving so late at night, without somebody to walk you out to your car?”

She dangled her car keys at me, and I saw a gray tube hanging from them. It was a can of pepper spray.

“If someone has a gun, that’s not going to do you a whole hell of a lot of good.”

“If someone has a gun, it’s not going to do the two of us a whole hell of a lot of good, now is it?” she responded sarcastically.

“At least tell me you own a gun, considering the work you do.” I begged.

“It’s because of the work I do that I don’t.”

I ran my fingers through my hair. “You’re driving me crazy here.”

“What in the hell are you doing here, anyway?”

“I was waiting for you.”

She rolled her eyes at me. “I got that part, but why? I told you I needed some time. But the flowers were nice. Amy loves them.”

“Amy?”

“The girl I gave them to. She’s a new employee. She’s somebody that came out of the foster care system and is going to night school while she works for us. She’s a great girl. Hard worker.”

Of course. Of course, she gave away the flowers.

“Did you bother to read the card?”

“Thank you for not trying to write a poem.”

Now I was getting mad. We’d been over this shit. I’d spilled my guts.

“Jesus, Maddie, aren’t you going to cut me any slack?”

“I guess we’ll never know, because you didn’t give me the time I asked for.”

“Think about it, I’ve laid it all on the line for you ever since I saw you. I even went easy on you when we played pool.”

Her eyes sparkled and she took a step toward me. “You did not go easy on me. You’re not that great of a player.”

That got her motor revving. This was good.

I slowly smiled. “Yes, I am. I could have cleared the table at any time.”

She shoved a finger into my chest. “That is total bullshit. I let you win because I felt sorry for your pathetic ass.”

“I call bullshit. I handed that last shot to you on a golden platter. You screwed it up because you wanted to spend time with me.”

“That is not true. Take it back!”

I was clearly saying I had thrown the game and it was driving her nuts. Served her right; now that I saw how late she left the building every night, that was going to drive me nuts.

“I won fair and square.” I said. “You choked.”

Even in the dim light, I could see her face getting red. I hadn’t seen her like this in ages. I’d forgotten just how much fun it was to wind Maddie up.

“Come over to my place tonight. I have a guest room and an extra toothbrush,” I cajoled.

“You are not the better player,” she pouted. “Anyway, I really need to go home. I still have paperwork I need to get done.”

I eased her satchel off her shoulder. “I’m stealing this for the night. You’re going to be of no use to your kids tomorrow if you stay up all night going over cases.”

She frowned. “How do you know?”

I brushed back a lock of her dark curly hair that had slipped out of her ponytail, then cupped her cheek. “I know because you would always knock yourself out helping me all night on some test or with some paper at a cost to you. It wasn’t til our junior year that I stopped doing that shit to you.”

“I liked helping you.”

“To your detriment.”

Maddie’s bottom lip stuck out in a pout. She had such kissable lips. I was so hungry for her, but I had to get past all the hurdles we had before I could get to that point. And hell, even if I got through all the hurdles, would she ever un-friend-zone me?

She let out a frustrated sigh. “Jesus, Beau. Do you think I don’t know how to take care of myself?”

“I think you work so damn hard taking care of everyone else that you forget to watch your own back.”

Her breath hitched, but she covered it fast.

“Go home,” I said, softer now. “Eat. Sleep. Let your brother make you laugh because he’s an idiot. But don’t think for a second that I’m done, because I’m not.”

“You’re impossible.”

“No, I’m determined.”

I grinned. I’d forgotten my ace in the hole. I turned and raced to my truck. Even as I ran, a voice in my head wondered if I should let go.

I ignored it.

Yeah. Like I was ever going to give up. That wasn’t what a Marine Raider did.

I grabbed the tin and turned back around. I saw Maddie still standing where I’d left her, watching me. I looked her dead in the eye and stalked her way. She started backing up toward her Jeep. Yep, she was catching on. There was no way this was over.

When we both reached her Jeep, she looked up at me, her chin jutting out.

“What now, Beaumont?” she asked belligerently.

I thrust out the big tin of Leon’s candy.

She eyed it with suspicion, then looked back up at me.

“It’s not going to bite.”

“Yeah, but you might,” she muttered.

“At least you’ve got that right.” I grinned. “Here, take it.”

Her eyes flicked back to the tin, then back to me, her expression guarded.

I rolled my eyes. “Come on Maddie, it’s not a bomb. It’s just candy.”

She bit her lip.

“You remember, honey, it’s the good stuff.”

She took it reluctantly, turning it over in her hands. When she saw the weight of it written on the cover, her eyes narrowed. “Five pounds. Are you trying to bribe me with chocolate, sugar, and, hopefully caramel?”

“Would I do that?”

She caressed the tin like a lover and I felt my body heat up. “I’m just reminding you of the one time in your life that you actually liked me,” I said desperately.

Her lips twitched as she looked up at me. “One time, huh?”

I took a step closer so we were toe to toe. “Maybe two times.”

She swallowed and licked her bottom lip again. Fuck, she was killing me. She looked down at the tin that she had continued to caress. I could tell she wanted to open it. I remembered how she had dived in and glutted on the pralines back in high school. She’d only saved one for me.

She looked up at me from under her lashes. “You’re not fighting fair,” she whispered.

“Never intended to.”

She looked back down at the tin, then her clear green eyes looked into mine. “This doesn’t mean I forgive you. You know that, don’t you?”

I chuckled. “It wouldn’t be any fun if you did.”

She let out a small huff, then turned to her Jeep and pressed the alarm. I heard her mumble something about big, cocky men. Or maybe it was something about big cocks. A man could only hope.

I watched as she slid inside her vehicle and started her Jeep.

She rolled down her window. “Drake’s last night here is tomorrow. Trenda’s throwing a party. She invited Kai and Marlowe and asked me to invite you.”

“Does this mean you’re inviting me?”

“I suppose it is.”

“What time and what can I bring?”

“Seven o’clock. No need to bring anything. Trenda will have too much as it is. And quit being so polite, it’s fucking annoying.”

I grinned.

“What are you going to wear?”

“Bite me, Beaumont,” she said as she pulled on her seatbelt.

“With pleasure,” I murmured. “With pleasure.”

I caught her opening up the tin and popping a caramel into her mouth just before she drove away.

I took my time walking back to my truck and looked up at the broken parking lot lights. First thing tomorrow I’d be having a few words with the property management company.