Sexy/Dangerous

  She called the dogs to her side and the three of them jogged away from him and up the beach. She could feel his eyes burning her back, but it didn’t bother her at all.

  Ten

  The knock on Adam’s door wasn’t a familiar one. He called out, “Yeah?”

  “It’s Benny.”

  Curious as to what Max’s ex wanted, Adam went to the door.

  When he opened it, Benny smiled and said, “Sorry to bother you, Doc. Just wanted to give you your own copy of these.” He handed over a set of drawings and some photos.

  Adam gave them a quick glance. “What are they?”

  “Specs for the surveillance setups—motion detectors, cameras. Tells you where each unit is placed. Not sure if General Sherman would give you your own, so…” He shrugged as if that were explanation enough.

  Adam chuckled. “General Sherman?”

  Benny nodded and grinned. “Yeah. Cleopatra, Queen Makeda, Hannibal. Everybody who knows her has a different name for her. Woman is one of a kind.”

  Adam shook his head.

  Benny added, “Got a lot of Napoleon in her, too, but then if I knew how to kill a man twenty-five different ways, I’d be a bit arrogant, too.”

  Adam stared.

  “Yeah. Don’t let those gorgeous legs fool you. Girlfriend majored in extermination for a while.”

  Adam swallowed. “Why are you telling me this?”

  “So you’ll know who you’re dealing with up front. Me, I didn’t value her or treat her right, and now I regret every morning I wake up and she’s not beside me.” Benny held Adam’s eyes, then added, “Just so you’ll know.”

  Adam wasn’t surprised to hear that Benny still loved his ex-wife. Max seemed to be the kind of woman who cultivated memories a man would take to his grave. Assassin! He turned his mind away from that. “Thanks, man.”

  “You’re welcome. I got a few more details to handle outside, then I should be out of your way for good.”

  “Okay.”

  Benny started to walk away, and turned back, “Oh, and Doc?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I know better than to stick my nose in Max’s love life, so you’ll get no drama from me.”

  “Good to know.”

  Benny disappeared and Max closed the door. An assassin! Had Benny been telling the truth or just messing with his head? He had no way of knowing. Would his knowledge of who she’d been impact the attraction he had for the person she was now? He had no way of knowing that, either. The only thing he was certain of was that he needed some answers.

  At five that afternoon the workmen began packing up. They were done. Since it was Friday, everyone was looking forward to the weekend. Standing in the newly plastered and painted expanse of the living room, Max looked around, pleased. Proudly sporting new colors, light fixtures, and wall plates, the grand old house seemed to be smiling, too.

  When Adam strolled in, she gestured around the room. “Do you like it?”

  “I do. Never thought a cleaning and some paint could make this old girl shine.”

  “She does look good.”

  “Yes, she does. Thanks for doing this,” he said sincerely. “If it weren’t for you, I’d still be living with dust balls and cobwebs.”

  “True dat.” She chuckled.

  Benny walked in. He was carrying a couple of tool boxes. “My work here is done, Your Majesty. I’m heading home.”

  She smiled. “Okay, Benny. Thanks a lot.”

  “You’re welcome. Take care, Doc. Next time I’m up this way I’ll be looking to win some of my money back.”

  Adam grinned. “Any time.”

  Benny departed with a wave.

  Adam could see Max watching Benny long after he left the room. It made him wonder again how she really felt about her ex.

  As if having read his mind, she said, “You know, it would be nice if Benny fell in love so hard he couldn’t walk. Preferably with a woman who won’t give him the time of day.”

  Adam chuckled. “Women are so vengeful.”

  “Yep, and I’d buy VIP front row seats just to watch.”

  “Thought you liked your ex.”

  “I do, but if there is a goddess, and she is just, somewhere on the planet is a woman who will make him eat his socks before she says yes.”

  “I’m not going to have to eat mine, am I?”

  Max smiled. “Oh, I don’t know. Are you partial to cotton or manmade fibers?”

  “Whatever is cheap.”

  Max shook her head. She felt her phone vibrating, and freeing it from her belt, said to Adam, “Excuse me a minute.” Into the phone, she said, “Yeah?”

  It was Portia calling to give her an update on the mysterious e-mail sent to Adam a few days ago. They talked for a few moments, then Max replaced the phone. “Portia traced that e-mail to a server in Russia. Apparently, the perps are pretty good at hiding themselves because she’s run into a dead end. She’ll keep trying, though.”

  Adam nodded.

  “You haven’t received anything else?”

  “Nope.”

  “Okay.”

  In spite of Adam’s good mood, he continued to be haunted by Benny’s startling revelation. Was she really as deadly as he’d claimed? Were the hits government sanctioned or was she a freelancer for hire? Adam thought he might have seen too many movies because his imagination was running wild. He needed answers and had no idea how to approach her about getting to the truth. For a moment he contemplated what to do, then said, To hell with it. “Did you really kill people for a living?”

  Max stiffened. Her green eyes became distant, emotionless, and she tossed back, “If you’re asking, you already know the answer, and since Chandler would never breach a confidence, you must’ve been talking to Benny.”

  Adam didn’t reply. The chill now emanating from her made him wish he’d kept his damn mouth shut. Benny, too.

  “That’s not something I talk about. Maybe some other time.” Then she added coolly, “I’m sure you want to get back to work. I’ll let you know when dinner’s ready.” And she walked away.

  Adam wanted to bang his head against the wall.

  Max went into the kitchen and hoped rattling some pots and pans would bring down her temper. As she cut up a whole chicken into fryable parts, she wanted to gut Benny. How dare he! She knew without a doubt that he’d done it on purpose. He’d probably wigged out when he saw them kissing, and this was his way of sabotaging whatever might be happening between her and the doc. She slammed the knife down on the joint that separated the leg from the thigh wishing it were Benny’s neck instead. Damn him! And he wondered why she’d divorced him. She severed the second leg joint with the same emotion.

  From behind her, she heard Kaitlin ask, “Who’re you mad at?”

  Max turned on her like Linda Blair.

  Kaitlin took a wary step back. “Whoa. That mad, huh?”

  “Madder. What can I do for you, Kaitlin?” Max set the skillet on the eye of the stove and angrily slapped in large spoonfuls of Crisco.

  “Just wanted to find out what you said to my father that sent him running back to Grand Rapids.”

  “Why? Are you mad, too?”

  “Oh, no. I wanted to say thanks.”

  “When did he leave?”

  “Right after I saw you two talking down on the beach. He was hot when he came inside. Told me he’d see me in a few days, and roared off in his car.”

  “Good.”

  “But what did you say?”

  “Apparently nothing he wanted to hear.”

  Max got out the flour canister and dumped a cup of the contents into a large Ziploc bag then added seasonings. She could feel Kaitlin’s eyes on her back, but went on about what she was doing. Whatever the young woman had come to say, she was going to have to say it. Max was in no mood to play What Are You Thinking? with a girl with a crazy daddy. I’m going to geld Benny!

  Kaitlin asked, “Is it okay if I eat with you all?”

  Max shook her
head with bittersweet amusement. “Sure. There’s plenty. Anything else?”

  “No,” Kaitlin said softly. “I’ll—talk to you later.”

  Max didn’t turn to watch her go.

  But once she was alone again and the chicken was frying, she paused and replayed the conversation with Adam. He didn’t impress her as the type of person who condoned political assassination, and now that she had some years on herself she didn’t either, but back then she’d been twenty-five, full of herself, the government’s power, and looking for adventure. Yes, she’d done some things that she saw as morally repugnant, which is why she’d gotten out of the business, but she had no more idea how to explain that to him than she had the ability to change her past. Guess that’s that. Whatever had been trying to bloom between them was probably history now. Men like Adam didn’t bring home former assassins to meet the folks—not that she was after all that, but…She sighed. She sensed they could have had a good time because she liked him; even the geeky parts of him were sweet. Now he probably wanted nothing to do with her, and she couldn’t fault him. With that in mind, her assignment to him went back to being just that—an assignment—and when it was completed she and the dogs would be moving on.

  Down in the lab, Adam could smell the chicken frying, but all he could see was the look in Max’s eyes when she walked off. Instead of working on the prototype, he needed to be working on a twenty-first century version of Mr. Peabody’s Way-Back Machine so he could go back in time and slap a hand over his own stupid mouth. She’d looked so devastated and angry, he’d wanted to immediately pull her into his arms and whisper how sorry he was for even bringing up such a personal question. Too late. He dropped his head into his hands. For all of his off-the-chain IQ, he felt dumb as a box of rocks, and he had no idea how to fix this, or even if it could be.

  He heard what sounded like scratching on the door and looked up. Then he heard the bark. Ossie? He went to the door, opened it, and sure enough, there stood the big male. He was carrying a small folded piece of paper in his mouth. Adam’s wariness of the dog’s teeth kicked in again, but his curiosity was stronger, so he reached down and gently tugged the paper free. Opening it, he read the one word. Dinner. When he looked up, Ossie was walking away.

  To Adam’s disappointment when he entered the kitchen, she wasn’t there. The piping hot food was set out on the table so he could help himself, and there was a full place setting along with a big glass of green Kool-Aid, but no Max. He left the kitchen, walked to the patio door and looked out. He spotted her seated down on the beach with the dogs. The three of them were watching the waves and the gray sky day fade into evening. The wind had picked up and was buffeting the thin red windbreaker she wore. He sensed her pensiveness and wondered about the myriad feelings churning inside himself. This is the reason you can’t have women in your life, the voice in his head pointed out. Especially a woman so far beyond your reach you have no business even talking to her, let alone wanting her the way you do.

  Turning away, Adam went back to the kitchen, fixed himself a plate, picked up his Kool-Aid and silently carried them down to the lab.

  Max didn’t see much of Adam over the next few days. She assumed he was knee deep in his work. His absence suited her just fine but she did miss their interaction.

  One night, unable to sleep, she drifted out onto the balcony of her freshly painted, newly furnished bedroom and looked out over the inky lake. The warm breeze ruffled her long nightshirt as she silently stood in front of the wrought-iron railing. She had seen many moons shining down on many bodies of water all over the world. Rio, San Francisco, Sydney, Hong Kong. Each location had its own special feel but all seemed to draw her. She was a creature of the night; always had been. Even growing up, many a night her mother had found her sitting outside on their porch in the dark, gazing up at the stars, while everyone else in their small town outside of Austin was asleep.

  “Girl, it’s three-thirty in the morning. What are you doing out here?”

  “Looking at the stars. Do you think the ones here are the same ones people see in China?”

  “I don’t know but you can go to the library and find out. For now, get in the bed! You got school in the morning!”

  Max smiled at the memory. Her mama had been wearing that ratty old pink chenille bathrobe she and JT hated so much, and she’d had those fat, old school, pink foam curlers in her hair. Max had gone to bed, and to the library the next day, but the facts and pictures only seemed to spawn more dreaming. Hopes of seeing the world was one of the reasons she’d joined the Corps; that and the juvenile court judge who gave the then eighteen-year-old Max the choice of signing up for the military or being incarcerated until she turned twenty-one for stealing her third car in six months.

  She’d chosen the military, of course, and by doing so, got to see firsthand what the stars in Asia looked like. She’d also gotten the opportunity to grow up, something her poor mama had been praying for. Through it all though, she continued to be drawn to nights like these.

  Max had turned to go back inside when she spotted movement down on the beach. It was Adam, and he was jogging with the dogs. She looked at the lighted face of her watch. Four A.M. She wondered if he’d been having trouble sleeping, too, or if the run was a way to clear his mind. Either way, she was glad that he was dealing with the dogs head-on, and that they seemed to have taken to him. Other than that, she told herself that Adam Gary’s personal issues weren’t her concern. She was here to protect him, and if she had to shoot someone to keep him safe, she hoped he wouldn’t mind.

  Max had taken to bringing him meals on a tray and leaving it in front of his door. She’d then knock to let him know he had food and head back upstairs. Later in the day she’d venture back down to pick up the tray and replace it with whatever meal was next. This morning, just as she was coming down the stairs, he opened the door. Three days had passed since seeing him on the beach, and he looked like Jim Beckworth, the famous Black mountain man. His beard had grown out, there were dark circles under his eyes, and the unwashed smell of him was enough to make her take a step back.

  “Hey,” he said tiredly.

  “Hey,” she responded. “You okay?”

  “Just tired.”

  “Breakfast?”

  “Maybe later. Need to walk, clear my head.”

  “Okay.”

  And he was gone.

  For the next week, Max spent her days making sure he stayed fed, ordered a bunch of books online so she could catch up on her reading, and played with the dogs to keep them sharp and in shape. Nobody heard from Dr. Sylvester Kent, and Max and Kaitlin settled into an odd sort of truce.

  “So, what is your degree in?” Max asked as they lay out on the patio’s chaise loungers while the dogs played in the surf and the sunshine.

  “Marketing.”

  “Then what are you doing here? Besides your daddy, of course.”

  “I got laid off six months ago. Daddy said Adam needed a secretary, and since I was having trouble finding something on my own, I said okay.” Then she added, “The other stuff, the marriage and all that, well, that was daddy’s idea, too.”

  She turned so she could see Max’s face. “He was Adam’s graduate advisor, and back then Adam used to come to the house a lot for dinner and help with his work and stuff. I’ve had a crush on him since I was probably fourteen.”

  Max was surprised by the girl’s honesty, if that’s what it was. “And your father knew?”

  “Of course. He always told me that when I got older, Adam would marry me.”

  Max was floored. “And you believed him?”

  Kaitlin came to her own defense. “I was fourteen. Daddy was God, and besides, Adam was always nice. Yeah, he was older but he never treated me like a little kid, until I moved in here and started throwing myself at him.”

  Max simply shook her head. “Well, there isn’t a woman alive who hasn’t done something stupid because of a man, so don’t beat yourself up. Tell me this, though:
What brought abut this change in your attitude?”

  “Benny.”

  Max scanned her eyes. “Benny,” she echoed doubtfully.

  “When he came in here with that waitress, I felt hurt and cheap, like maybe I had been nothing more than a booty call. Then when I sat out here, I admitted to myself that that’s all I was for him.”

  “That’s Benny.” Max had her own beef to settle with Mr. Watson. She wondered if she’d be able to restrain herself and act like an adult the next time they crossed paths, or if she’d shoot him on sight. She leaned toward the latter. “Made you grow up a little bit?” Max asked quietly.

  Kaitlin nodded, saying, “Yeah. I thought about my life while I was out here that night and realized I’m twenty-five and I don’t have one. There’s stuff I want to do, and see, and maybe be, but none of it has to do with being here shilling for Daddy because he wants his fame back.”

  Max was impressed. “You’ve been thinking about this?”

  “I have.”

  “So what are you going to do?”

  She shrugged. “Look for a job, and in the meantime try and be a real secretary to Adam. Have you seen how much mail he gets?”

  “No.”

  “Some of it is related to his work but most is from the women who saw him in Time magazine last year.”

  Max was confused. “These are fan letters?”

  “No, marriage proposals.”

  Max grinned, “You’re lying.”

  Kaitlin shook her head. “Nope, there were almost a thousand last time I counted.”

  Max found that amazing. “Has he written any of the women back?”

  “No.”

  That didn’t surprise Max. Something similar had happened to Chandler’s brother, Drake Randolph, now the mayor of Detroit. Drake had also appeared in a magazine spread, but unlike Adam, Drake reportedly answered each and every one of the thousands of letters he received. “I can’t see him taking the time to do all that.”

  “Me, either, which is why I suggested he let me send them a form letter thank-you note.”

  “What did he say?”