In the interim, though, he’d be leaving London tomorrow for another round of secret talks, this time with a Danish arms dealer with ties to everything from automatic weapons to black market F-16s. All for a price. If the man could deliver on his claims, he knew he would be able to cross off one more item on his now shrinking to do list, and that pleased him as well.
Max awakened around six-thirty in the morning, stiff but rested. The folded down seats in the back of the Honda had served as a makeshift bed for her and the dogs. Not exactly five-star accommodations, but for one night it hadn’t been bad. Lying in her sleeping bag idly stroking the warm backs of the still snoozing rottweilers, she thought about the day’s plan. Before going to sleep last night, she’d spent a few hours on the phone with Myk and on her laptop contacting contractors from a list of trusted companies. Many of the workers would begin arriving this morning, so she hoped Adam Gary was ready. He probably wasn’t, but that’s why she had been assigned: to get him ready whether he was down with the program or not.
When Max and the dogs entered the house a short while later, Kaitlin was dressed and in her pearls. Since Max hadn’t seen her driving in or out, she assumed the Chihuahua had spent the night on the premises. “Morning, Kaitlin.”
“Good morning,” she replied, barely parting her lips. “You don’t have to make Adam breakfast, I’m on my way to pick something up.”
Since Max hadn’t seen any food in the house anyway, she shrugged. “Fine with me. I need a shower. Which bathrooms work?”
“Mine does, but I’m not sure about the others.” She then added pointedly, “And no, you may not use mine.” She then fished around in her designer handbag. Pulling out her car keys, she looked up at Max and said, “And I mean it.”
Max wondered if the girl knew just how close she was to being smacked. “Any cleaning products around?” If the dust and cobwebs flourishing everywhere else in the house were any indication, the bathrooms would probably need a good scrub-down before they could be used. If they worked at all. Max had been using a small one off the ’50s kitchen for her needs until now.
Walking away, Kaitlin tossed out, “Look in the kitchen under the sink.” Today’s skirt was red, tight, and short. The heels, spiky as the patent leathers she’d worn yesterday, were red as well. All booty, no brain, Max said to herself, then she and the dogs headed for the kitchen.
She took a look around at the kitchen and swore this was the same one Aunt Bee used to cook in for Opie and Andy. Tossing that silly thought aside, she walked to the sink. Inside the small cupboard she saw a can of bathroom cleanser and a half-used bottle of dishwashing liquid. That was it. No sponges, no disinfectant, no nothing. Sighing, she grabbed the cleanser.
Last night she had been so disgusted by all the cobwebs and dust infesting the bedrooms, she hadn’t even bothered to inspect the bathrooms. So this morning she took her first look at the one connected to the bedroom she planned to have as her own. To her relief, the small bathroom wasn’t bad. The cabbage rose wallpaper was hideous and peeling in spots, but there was a small pedestal sink, an ancient-looking but functioning toilet, a tub, and a shower head. There was no shower curtain but the rusted rod to hold one was in place. The faucets appeared to have been copper once upon a time but were now green with age.
Max turned on the water in the tub and a reddish brown stream spewed out.
Ruby barked at it.
“Yuck, is right,” Max told her, patting the dog’s neck. Ossie took one look then walked out. Max watched him find a spot on the far side of the bedroom, where he laid down as if to say, Call me when you’re done. She smiled.
It took a while for the water to run clear, but the way it swirled down the drain indicated that the pipes weren’t plugged, which was good. Max shook cleanser into the now wet tub. Finding a small roll of paper towel inside the cabinet door above the toilet, she used some sheets to scrub the white enamel until it glowed.
She had concerns, though. Every time she turned the water on, the pipes in the wall set up a racket like they were trying to shake loose. Hearing it, she was glad she’d had the foresight to include a plumbing service in the folks coming out to evaluate the house today. It sounded like their expertise might be needed.
Now that the tub was clean, Max raced the dogs out of the room and down the stairs to the car so she could grab the overnight bag holding her toiletries. She’d cart in the rest of her luggage later. Laughing, she raced them back inside, almost knocking over the returning Kaitlin and her bags of fast food breakfast.
“Sorry!” Max called to her, but by then the dogs had bolted up the steps and Max was last again. Damn!
Not caring if Kaitlin tattled to the principal in the basement about her and the dogs running through the house, an invigorated Max stripped out of her clothes, turned on the water gently so it wouldn’t splash out of the tub, then stepped into the shower’s weak but warm stream. The pipes began their knocking. That worry, coupled with not knowing how long the hot water would last, made her wash quickly. When she finished, she reached to turn the hot water spigot and it came off in her hand. Alarmed, she tried to shimmy it back on, but her efforts only increased the water force until it was roaring out of the shower head like the Hoover Dam. It happened so fast, she was under assault before she realized it. The pipes were screaming and so was she as she fumbled to turn it off. The pounding force had the ancient shower head spinning like Linda Blair’s and throwing water everywhere. It finally ripped free and the spray blinded, cursing, Max felt for the Cold. It turned, but not off. Water as frigid as the Bering Sea began pelting her full force. She screamed at the shock and stumbled out of the tub. The dogs began barking with concern outside the door, and a soaked Max stared at the water now pouring out of the shower pipe. It was coming too fast for the drain to handle. Water began backing up into the tub at a rate that signaled disaster if it weren’t turned off soon.
She grabbed a towel and quickly fastened it around her wet self. She ran for the stairs with the dogs on her heels.
As Max came tearing down the steps, she spotted Kaitlin. “Where’s the house’s shutoff valve?”
“What?” Kaitlin’s eyes were large as saucers as she looked the wet Max up and down.
“The valve that turns off the water!”
“What are you talking—”
Max was already on her way to the basement.
In the lab, Adam was staring at equations on his computer monitor when a sound unlike any he had ever heard before began emanating from the pipes. It wasn’t unusual for them to make a groan or two when water was turned on because it was an old house, but this sound? Sensing something wrong, he saved his work and hurried to the door, opening it just as Max was about to knock.
She shouted, “Where’s the water shutoff valve?”
Stunned, Adam looked at her in the towel she was clutching to her wet body and blinked. He was so busy staring at her long legs, the damp glistening slope of her bare arms and shoulders, and the soft tops of her dewed breasts rising above the towel that he didn’t hear the question.
“Where’s the damn valve?” she shouted again.
Adam shook his mind to clear it. “What?”
“The shutoff valve! Where is it?”
“I don’t—”
She cursed. “Find a flashlight. Come on!”
Speechless, he watched her and the dogs run off. Hearing the pipes roaring like a wounded beast seemed to wake him up, though. He hurried into the lab, grabbed a flashlight, and took off in pursuit.
Max found the water heater in a space not too far from the lab and hoped the valve would be on a wall someplace near, but it was dark as hell. She couldn’t see a damn thing and she was having a heck of a time trying to hold onto the towel. Feeling her hands along the wall while praying the water upstairs hadn’t overrun the tub, she toyed with the idea of just turning the water off at the water heater. That would stop more water from coming into the tank, but the water already in the tank was feeding
the shower’s pipes and would continue to flow until it was empty. Suddenly, there was light. “Hallelujah! Hand it here.”
He gave up the flashlight, and she focused the beam on the dark walls. Snaking it up and down, she finally found what she was after. The small wheel was positioned about waist high. Accustomed to relying on the dogs, she said, “Ossie, quick. Come hold this.”
The big male trotted into the light. She placed the barrel of the flashlight in his mouth, and the dog held it trained on the spot while she tried to turn the valve. It was stuck. Straining, she said, “Dammit, turn!”
She tried again, but it refused to move. She tried again, groaning with the effort, and lost her towel in the process. Embarrassed but cool, she snatched it up, wrapped it around her once more and hoped Gary hadn’t fainted.
Adam was certain that quick glimpse of perfection would have left him blind had he been a character in a Greek myth. He had to shake himself to keep the scene from playing over and over.
“Let me try,” he said.
When his eyes met hers, Max gave him a look that dared him to say anything about her towel. He didn’t, but she swore she saw him smile as he turned away.
“What is this thing again?” he asked, straining with the effort to turn the old valve.
“Your water shutoff valve. Controls the water coming into the house.”
He stopped. “Really?”
“Yes, and if you don’t hurry the hell up, the whole upstairs is going to flood. The faucets in the shower broke off and the water is on!”
That seemed to get his attention. Finally, strength prevailed over rust and age and the valve began to turn. Max listened to the pipes. They were still clanging. “More,” she told him. “More.”
He turned the wheel until it wouldn’t turn anymore, then came silence.
Max wilted with relief.
He asked her, “Now, how did this happen again?” All he could think about was her nude frame.
Max took the flashlight gently from Ossie’s mouth, then related the story.
When she was done, he said grimly, “I suppose I should get the pipes looked at.”
“You think?” she asked, then added, “How can you not know where your shutoff valve is?”
“Never needed to know. I’ve lived in apartments and condos most of my life.”
Max shook her head at his ignorance. Growing up, her mama Michele made sure she and her sister JT knew as much about keeping the house maintained as they did about applying makeup. “I’m going to dry off. There’s a thousand people coming today, and the first thing they’re going to fix is that plumbing.”
“A thousand?” he asked, sounding alarmed.
“More like two thousand,” she tossed back, just to mess with his mind. She slapped the flashlight into his palm, then she and the dogs left.
Alone now, Adam trained the light back on the valve. Who knew? And who knew he’d be shown one of the sweetest female bodies he’d seen in quite some time. Not that he’d been eyeballing her, but his mind’s camera must have been because his memory was filled with vivid flashes of those long golden legs, small perfect breasts, and the way her trim waist flowed into that gorgeous behind. He shook himself. He’d been celibate by choice for the past two years because of the demands placed upon him by his research. Women were a distraction he couldn’t afford while bringing the Black Satin Project to life. Even now, with the prototype in the final stages, concentration was vital and discipline essential, but as the vision of her bending over to pick up the towel replayed itself yet again, the image set off a stirring in his groin that was achingly familiar.
Upstairs, Max put on her clothes, then used a towel to mop up the water in the bathroom. Luckily, she’d found the valve before the tub overflowed and disaster struck, but the walls and the floors were still soaked. The memory of losing her towel came back to embarrass her, and she wondered what Gary had thought of the accidental striptease. She’d tried to play it off by acting as if it weren’t a big deal, and he seemed to do the same, to a point. Had he been smiling or not? It hadn’t been one of her best moments and she’d been embarrassed, but she hoped he didn’t think she’d dropped it on purpose. She knew that there were women who did dumb things like that to catch a man’s eye, but she wasn’t one of them. Gary was cute, and had that pirate look about him, but he wasn’t really her type. Making love with him would probably be like being immersed in ice water. She preferred her loving at a much higher temperature.
When Max and the dogs came downstairs, they found Kaitlin at the front door arguing with six or seven men dressed in work clothes and holding tackle boxes in their hands. Apparently, Ms. Chihuahua was playing guard dog again and trying to make them leave, but the men arguing and shaking work orders in her face weren’t buying it.
Max stuck two fingers in her mouth and let fly a piercing whistle that quieted everyone in mid-shout. In the silence, she and the dogs walked forward. “Gentlemen, I’m sorry for the confusion. I’m the housekeeper. I didn’t tell Kaitlin that you were coming. My bad.”
The men were staring at her as if she had just stepped out of a UFO. Max didn’t know if it was her height, her color, her skinny blue halter top, jeans, or matching blue boots, but since she was accustomed to folks staring at her, especially men, she let them look while she said, “Is there a plumber here?”
A Black guy raised his hand.
Max smiled. “Okay, I’ll see you first. The rest of you give Kaitlin your names, make yourselves comfortable, and I’ll be back to put you to work.”
Kaitlin was staring, too, but as if Max had lost her mind.
Max gave her a wink then walked off with the brother plumber and his two-man crew.
For the rest of the morning, the plumbers worked on the pipes and bathrooms. Painters stripped wallpaper and brought in dry wall. Brick masons were turned loose on the crumbling archway adjacent to the house, and electricians roamed the place in search of frayed wiring. Even though all the contractors had passed NIA’s security checks, she kept an eye on them nonetheless. By noon the house was a hive of noisy activity and Max was the queen bee.
To Max’s surprise, Kaitlin was a good second in command. Armed with a clipboard and a no-nonsense attitude, she made sure the workmen stayed on task and turned a withering eye on anybody trying to hit on her. Her dislike of Max was still intact. She spoke to Max as little as possible. But she took care of business, and that’s all Max cared about.
In the basement, Adam threw up his hands. How in the world was he supposed to concentrate with all the racket going on upstairs? Hammering, drills, men yelling back and forth. This is not going to work. He’d agreed to have a few things done to the house, not erect the Sears Tower.
Planning on giving somebody a piece of his mind, he left the lab and went to find the woman in charge.
The upstairs looked like a construction site. He’d never seen such chaos. Noise, men carrying paint cans, women carrying lumber, saws going, plaster dust everywhere. He looked around for Blake. He didn’t see her or her dogs but he did see Kaitlin.
He yelled angrily over the wail of circular saws, “Where is she?”
“Kitchen!” Kaitlin shouted back. “I tried to stop her!”
Grim, Adam set out in that direction. He was so intent upon his mission he walked directly into the path of a wheelbarrow. “Hey! Watch out!” the man pushing the thing warned loudly. Adam jumped out of the way just in time. Cutting the man a look, he moved on.
The state of the kitchen left him speechless. The place was so torn apart it looked like a pipe bomb had gone off. The sink was gone, the stove disconnected and pushed aside. A man with a sledgehammer was knocking holes in the wall. She was on the far side of the room wearing a yellow hard hat and watching the workers removing the countertops. When had he authorized that? More amazing were the dogs. They had on canine versions of hard hats that looked like miniature bike helmets complete with chin straps.
“You need a hard hat in here, man,”
one of the men carrying out the countertop said to him.
Adam had no intention of putting on a hard hat. Instead he turned to Max and gritted out, “May I speak with you please, Ms. Blake?” Then he added for emphasis, “Now.”
She met his eyes and shrugged. “Sure.” But before leaving she said to the dogs, “Ruby and Ossie, stay back out of the way.”
When the dogs backed up, Adam shook his head, latched onto her arm and very gently but pointedly bum-rushed her out onto the patio. Turning her loose, he asked, “Who said you could turn this place into mayhem?”
“You,” she said firmly. “You said to do whatever I thought necessary, remember?”
Adam did remember. He also remembered her losing her towel, and that only added to his mood. “I didn’t know it would be all this.”
“The house is crumbling around your ears, Doc. Weren’t you with me this morning when I starred in Waterworld, or was that a clone?”
He sighed angrily and looked away. “I can’t work with all this going on.”
“Then do something else for a while. Watch the news. Take a walk.”
Max saw Kaitlin on the other side of the glass watching them. She had her clipboard clutched tightly against her chest and her face was grim. Max asked, “Will you please tell me what is the deal on her? Are you two engaged or what?”
“Not engaged. Although her father would like that.”
“Who’s her father?”
“Dr. Sylvester ‘Sly’ Kent. Helped me get my first lab. Now he wants to be my first father-in-law. She’s the bait.”
Max thought she understood the girl’s attitude now. “She’s cute if you like them young.”
“I don’t.”
The eyes staring into hers were frank; male.
Oh my, Max said to herself. Leaving that alone, she brought the conversation back to more immediate issues. “The electricians need to cut the power so they can do some rewiring. What day is good for you?”
Adam could smell the faint notes of her perfume, and it was as distracting as she. “None.”