Page 22

Maddox

Mindy climbs up into the truck and proceeds to smash herself against the door like touching me would give her the plague. She’s never overtly acted fearful like this.

What’s going on in that head of hers? Is it me?

Why?

“Are you going to do something before she falls?” Canyon asks in the tactical whisper Ethan taught us oh so many years ago.

Fall? I twist my head to look at Mindy. She’s fallen asleep so hard her body is sliding forward. In a minute, she’ll be on the floor of the truck with a nasty bruise on her head.

“She works too much,” I mutter to myself while carefully reaching over to move her.

Canyon jams on the brakes when and idiot swerves in front of us, and I’m barely able to stop her body.

This won’t work. Instead of trying to settle her on the door, I pull her into my side. She doesn’t even move. If I didn’t know how hard she's been working for weeks and weeks, I'd be afraid that she’s in a coma.

Getting her seatbelt on takes a little more maneuvering.

“She’s going to kill herself if she keeps working like this.”

I know. I just haven’t figured out how to make her stop without firing her. And something tells me if I fire her, she’ll just go looking for another job. “I need to figure out the why.”

“What you need to do is actually ask her out then fix her life.” That’s Canyon, blunt to a fault.

“The way she just reacted makes me unsure if my attention would be appreciated.”

Canyon goes silent.

What is there to say to that?

I want to go feral, but I can’t.

Not yet.

How would I feel if it was not ever? My chest tightens.

***

The truck comes to a stop in front of a shiny new high-rise in a much nicer part of town than Mindy was from.

Too nice almost.

“Her boss lives here?”

“This is the address she gave me.” And I might have peeked a little into Adonis.

“He must have a trust fund.”

But he doesn’t. How is he affording this?

Is Adonis the reason for Mindy’s haunted eyes?

Those will have to be questions for later. I can’t procrastinate waking her up much longer, even though I don’t want to take my arms from around her anytime soon. “Mindy, we’re here.”

“Maybe we should just let her sleep?” Canyon whispers. “You can carry her up to her apartment.”

The idea of carrying her in…declaring my hold on her in front of Adonis

“I’m awake.” Her eyes open.

I move my arm from around her so that she doesn’t feel trapped.

Almost instantaneously, she jumps away from me.

Did I scare her again?

Am I falling for a woman who isn’t interested in me again?

What is wrong with me?

***

The thing about kids coming from the street moving into a dorm apartment is they all react differently when they first see it. Some dance with joy, others stare at it in shock, and a few cry.

What people don’t do when they move is not react at all.

There’s not a single emotion on Mindy’s face as she steps into her new apartment for the first time. All irritation aside about who she’s moving in with, this apartment should have evoked something even if it was just a, that’s pretty.

I detest the word pretty.

The thought of her living with that pretty boy—

“It’s your turn to chill out. You can’t kill him, no matter how much you want to.” Canyon whispers before following her in.

Yeah, but I can thrash you the next time we step in the ring.

Does the pretty boy box? That could be fun.

Canyon’s whistle pulls me out of my thoughts.

I step into the apartment. No way does this belong to a single guy. This place had to have the hand of a woman or a spectacular interior designer.

None of this was bought at the local discount store.

How is he affording this?

Adonis might need a little more of my attention.

“My room is supposed to be the one on the left down this hallway.” Mindy moves towards it. She’s again carrying a box, to my intense irritation. That woman needs to rest, not push herself anymore.

“Oh, you’re here already.”

And that must be Adonis. I turn around to see if the pictures I found were just good angles.

Doesn’t he have the decency to put some clothing on?

Adonis walks in half-naked. “Sorry, I wasn’t here to greet you. My weekly basketball game ran late.” He walks up to Mindy, taking the box from her hands.

She just stands there dumbfounded.

Throwing him out the window wouldn’t take much effort at all. That picture window should break pretty easily when I put his head through it.

He wraps an arm around her, and I see proverbial red.

This is not happening.

He’s not stealing her before I get a chance… Only you’ve had weeks to step up.

That’s going to change today. Well, tomorrow when I’m no longer her boss. Pit is going to hate me for this, but it’s the only way it works.

But if Adonis doesn’t take his hands off her soon, I’m going to smash his face in.

Is he harassing her?

The fake smile is still on her face. Is that a good sign or a bad one? “We should get all these boxes in.” I don’t even try to hide the anger in my voice. It would be pointless. I’m not that good of an actor.

Mindy, the person I didn’t want to scare anymore, jumps away from Adonis. “Of course.”

“You get settled in while I take a shower.”

Throwing him through the window is too kind.

Canyon nudges me and shakes his head.

For the first time, I’m glad that idiot came.

Though I might take him up on the offer of disposing of the body if Adonis touches Mindy once more.

Instead, I follow Mindy into her room. The fact that it’s on the other side of his apartment is little consolation.

She needs to get out of here ASAP!

The room is nice enough, but the lock on that door is flimsy. It would take someone Adonis’ size half a second to pick or break the door down.

Why can’t I just be a neanderthal and carry her out of here right now? Life would be so much easier.

“Thank you for all your help,” Mindy says as I set the last box on the stack.

Her tired eyes and pinched lips hurt to look at. “Why don’t we unpack for you?” Anything to take away a little of her load.

“You don’t have to do that. I’ll get to it later.”

When you should be sleeping? “We’ve got it. It’ll just take us a few minutes.” I move to open the box on the top.

Suddenly, Mindy is between the box and my body.

I don’t question how she fit or why she chose to physically intercede. My eyes lock with hers as our bodies collide. Hers draws me in with the promise of secrets revealed and unchecked passion.

Am I imagining it?

Don’t care.

My body leans closer to hers and my arms wrap around her back trapping her to me.

Everything in me demands I kiss her.

But I can’t take what’s not offered. She needs to say something or move just a little towards me to tell me she wants me to kiss her.

Just one tiny move and I’ll never let go.

“Are you two ready to get going—Oh. Sorry. I’ll be in the truck when you’re…um…done.”

Canyon can go out the window with Adonis. I barely hold in a groan as Mindy scoots away like a teenager found kissing in the corner. I’ve caught way too many of them in my time.

“Coming.” She chases after Canyon.

He’s going to be black and blue for weeks after we get out of the ring. I head out.

“Where are you going?” Adonis walks out of his bedroom.

Does the guy not believe in wearing a shirt? If I didn’t already hate him, I would now.

“We finished moving Mindy in,” Canyon answers before I can say something stupid.

Adonis reaches into his pocket, pulls out his wallet, and takes out two twenties. “Oh. Wonderful. Thank you.” He holds out one to me.

I’d rather starve to death than take money from this—

Mindy moves towards us. “Oh. There’s no need for that. Maddox is my boss and Canyon is…um…his security.”

Adonis looks between us. “Your boss? But I’m your boss.”

“I work a small job for him, taking care of a few snakes.”

Canyon gives me a look. She didn’t want anyone to know about this job.

Sexy, infuriating woman!