Jill Shalvis - Superb And Sexy

“Ah, man,” Tiny Tim had groaned. “Come on. Don’t talk like that around me.”

“Can’t help it.” Maddie rubbed up against Brody like a cat in heat. “Why don’t you leave us alone for a little while?”

“Good idea,” Brody said, hands going to her hips. “Go away, Tiny Tim.”

Rick’s man pulled Maddie free from Brody’s grasp. “She has a job to do. She’ll do it.”

Brody pulled her back to his side.

“Dude,” Tiny Tim said warningly.

“Dude. Back off.”

Instead, the muscle-bound MIB stepped closer and once again, reached for Maddie, who actually slipped a hand into her purse for her gun, because this was it-she was going to have to protect Brody right here, right now-but then Tiny Tim backed off and took them to the cellar, and things were okay.

At least as okay as they could get for the moment.

Now Maddie stood in the middle of the workshop, surrounded by the stone walls, commercial lighting, and all the top-of-the-line tools and equipment filling the place, feeling what was beginning to be the norm emotion for her today-panic.

She stared down at the huge metal table spread with several different drawings, all of the same design, a timeless, classical 18k gold, pearl, and gem pendant, the gem-a large sapphire-being the whole reason for this operation.

Beyond the worktable was another with parts laid out for her-18k yellow gold sheet, 18k yellow gold round wire, gold bezel, and the gems themselves-not the original sapphire but a most excellent replacement.

At her disposal were all the tools required, and Maddie took her first pause.

She was really going to have to do this.

She took in the goggles and face shield, the pin vises, hammers, ring clamps, the saws and files and pliers, the rest of the layout tools, and so much more and did her best not to take a big, obvious gulp.

“If you need anything,” Tiny Tim said, jerking his head to a white telephone on the wall. “You know the drill. Just pick that up.”

“I’ll need food,” Maddie said, doing her best Leena impersonation. “Good food. All fresh.”

“I’d think being married would take the spoiled out of you.”

“Think again. That is, if you can think.”

Tiny Tim sighed.

“Don’t forget, fresh.”

“I told the boss to get Maddie for this one,” Tiny Tim muttered. “I told him, sure, Maddie would just as soon rip your throat out as be nice to you, but at least she wasn’t a princess. No one listens to me.”

Maddie turned away from the tools to look at him with narrowed eyes. “Maddie hasn’t been here in years.”

“Damn shame, too. She was a lot less work than you. No offense,” he said to Brody.

Maddie shook her head. She didn’t remember this guy, not at all. But he clearly remembered her. She glanced at Brody, then at Tiny Tim again. “So you remember Maddie?”

“You know I do.”

Careful. “How would I know?”

“Oh, like you don’t remember how she’d crank her music late at night. It drove you crazy. You’d yell and scream, and she’d just stand on her balcony and stare at the sky for hours, that music blasting loud enough to rattle the windows.” Tiny Tim smiled in fond memory. “With her light on behind her, we could see right through her pjs.”

Maddie had to speak through clenched teeth. “And you know that because…”

“Because me and the guys would fight for space below on the pool deck.”

Her stomach executed a triple gainer, and it took her a minute to speak. “Perverts.”

He grinned broadly. “Ah, come on. Maddie knew. She had to know.”

“She didn’t.”

“She wanted us to watch.”

“Are you kidding me?” She felt disgusted. Disgusting. Her fingers clenched on the hammer in front of her as a hot hatred filled her for this place and the people in it. “She was sixteen. A kid. Practically a baby-”

“Maddie was never a baby. She was always thinking, always trying to get a step ahead of the boss.”

“Her uncle. Who should have been protecting her. Us,” she added when his eyes narrowed in surprise. She was breaking her cover, and in that moment, she didn’t care. She wanted to kill him.

Brody came close, slipped an arm around her. “Honey? You getting low blood sugar again?”

Honey. That broke her concentration, having Brody call her honey. “Yeah.” God, she needed air. Or something. “Food.”

Tiny Tim gave the martyr sigh again. “Same old demands.”

Leena. You’re Leena…Maddie needed to believe it. She also needed a grip, a big one, especially with Brody all ears, soaking up bunches of information that she hadn’t wanted him to have.

Tiny Tim shrugged, apparently unconcerned about the hammer in her hand or the urge she had to smash it over his head. “Pretty damn ungrateful. Rick fed and clothed you both for years, kept a roof over your heads when he could have sent you away.”

“There was no one to send us to.”

“Exactly. He kept you out of the goodness of his heart. And that wasn’t easy. You two were a handful, especially your sister. She was wild and out of control.”

“She was not out of control.”

“She required a strict hand.”

There was a difference between a heavy hand and abuse, but she wasn’t going there. Not with Brody suddenly looking ready to do some violence of his own. “I have work to do.”

“Yeah.” Carefully, Tiny Tim took the hammer out of her hand and set it down. “Maddie was most definitely different. She’d have had the balls to come at me with that thing. She had a set of cajones, that girl. Not to mention more curves on her bones than you.” He looked her up and down. “Though that’s changing a little bit now. Guess marriage is agreeing with you.” He reached out to touch, and two things happened simultaneously: Brody straightened to attention, and Maddie smacked Tiny Tim’s hand away herself.

“Don’t touch,” she said through her teeth.

“Married,” Brody said through his.

With a last careless shrug, Tiny Tim left.

The tension didn’t. In fact, the silence was oppressive. Pretending she didn’t feel it, she pulled the stool out from beneath the worktable.

“Well, wasn’t that a nice little walk down memory lane for you.”

Not fooled for one instant by the calm cool in his voice, she sat at the stool and resisted setting her head down on the table and giving in to a moment of self-pity.

She didn’t do self-pity.

Ever.

Spreading out the designs, she didn’t look at him. She didn’t need to in order to sense his escalating tension and anger. It was in his careful control of his every movement.

“You okay?” he asked.

Lifting her head, she met his gaze.

He’d asked the question softly, but she could tell he was doing his best not to tear something apart.

“Yes.” She had no choice but to be okay. The two of them were locked in down here; she knew that without checking the door.

They’d remain here until Rick decided she’d done enough work for the time being, or maybe he wouldn’t send anyone for them until she was completely finished.

Or maybe he’d figure out she wasn’t Leena and he wouldn’t come at all. Yeah, she was okay…

Except she wasn’t. She was the opposite of okay, really, because she couldn’t breathe and the walls were closing in on her.

Brody took a step toward her, but she held up a hand to ward him off.

Because she was fine.

Suffocating but fine.

“Fuck this,” she heard as if from a great distance, and then two strong, warm arms slipped around her.

She closed her eyes. A silly defense, she knew. Silly, and pathetic, but she still couldn’t breathe. “Brody?”

“Yeah?”

“Promise you won’t say I told you so.”

“Why would I say that?”

“Because I’m going to say something.” She set her head on his chest. “I’m glad you’re here.”

Cupping her jaw, he tilted it up to his, and then those pewter eyes were holding hers, his fierce and determined. “I won’t throw that back in your face until this is over.”

“Fair enough.”

“You’re not breathing.”

“Trying.”

“Try harder.”

She did, and he waited patiently, nodding when she managed. “Okay, then. Let’s get this over with.”

It was exactly what she needed. If he’d given any more sympathy or worse yet, pity, she’d have probably fallen apart.

And he knew it.

Knew her.

God, she could really fall for him.

Damn it.

Slapping his hands away, she stepped back and faced the table. She had work to do.

And a plan to get back to.

If she ever found Leena, that is…

“You can do this.”

Yeah. He stood just behind her, so strong and sure.

So capable.

Fitting so effortlessly into her life the past two days. Walking away from him was going to be the hardest thing she’d ever done. But she’d face that when she got there. With new resolve, she reached for the bezel and gold sheet and got to work.

Wearing goggles and a thick apron, Maddie hunched over that worktable for four hours, and for most of that time, Brody watched her, stunned by the amount of work involved in creating a piece of jewelry.

About an hour in, Tiny Tim brought a tray of fancy finger sandwiches that were nothing but a bite each.

He’d have rather had McDonald’s.

“Trust me,” Maddie told him at one point, the goggles magnifying her baby blues to huge proportions. “This really shouldn’t be taking this long.”

Meaning Leena could have done it faster. But certainly not better for Maddie paid excruciating attention to detail, and he supposed she had to. It had to look professional. Better than professional.

It had to look designer.

Brody didn’t envy her the job, but he sure as hell wished he could help because he was not used to standing around with nothing to do but worry.

“Nearly there,” Maddie told him. “I just have to solder the bezel and ornamental border onto the gold sheet.” When she’d done that, she reached for a small handheld saw. “And cut around the border so the edges aren’t visible from the front.” She tapered the backing sheet so that it flowed smoothly into the round wire border. “The stone is translucent,” she murmured, head bent over her work, goggles in place, tongue caught between her teeth in concentration, “so the light can enter the stone from behind.” She stopped and shook her head at herself as if surprised to find she’d remembered more than she’d thought.

“You ever think about cutting some corners?” And speeding this process up? he continued to himself.

She tipped her goggles up to her forehead and slanted him a look. Her shiny auburn hair was standing straight up above the oversized, thick goggles, and there was just something about the way she sat there looking like a tech geek that revved his engines.

Unbelievable, but even here in the middle of deep shit trouble, she did him in.

“You can’t cut corners,” she said.

He arched a brow, implying that yeah, she could, and maybe she should. After all, maybe if she did some shoddy work, Rick’s little game would be exposed. And how in the hell that would be a bad thing was beyond him. Leena would be incriminated, but surely, she could come up with some sort of a plea that the law would buy.

And yet he could tell by the look on Maddie’s face that it wasn’t a gamble she was willing to take.

Finally, Maddie stepped back from the worktable and dusted off her hands. She stood there a moment and let out a long breath, then moved to the white telephone on the wall. “Done,” she said into it and hung up.

Tiny Tim showed up in less than five minutes.

“Charter boat,” Maddie said. “Now.”

Tiny Tim shook his head. “Wind’s up. Got an advisory. The boat’ll be here at seven AM but not before.”

That was not good news.

They were led back to Leena’s room, with Brody sticking tight to Maddie, his hand on the small of her back. She shot him a look, but he didn’t give a shit. Until they were out of here, and by that, he meant off this fucking island and back on the continental US of A, he was peanut butter to her jelly.

Because no way in hell was he giving anyone another chance to touch her, feel her up, or so much as insinuate violence.

He was done with all of it. Done with pretending to be quiet and meek, done with pretending not to care when people leered at her, done with pretending not to know that this entire compound was filled with criminals. Bullshit, all of it, and he was getting her out before anything happened.

As they crossed the main living room toward the stairs, they saw Rick sitting on an artful but probably incredibly uncomfortable love seat with a woman on either side of him. All three were in bathing suits, holding drinks, laughing.