“Buck up, Golden Boy, you got a wife and a baby on the way out of the deal. Ol’ Tulip is just getting a facelift.” With a playful wink, Janey and her camera disappeared into the crowd of well-dressed partygoers.
I was officially free, and I was completely done waiting for Maxine to make an appearance. If she wouldn’t come to me, then I’d have to go to her. “See you guys, later. And thanks. For everything.” I didn’t wait for a response because I wasn’t expecting one. No matter how much we all griped about our duties, none of us minded helping in any way we could.
But now it was time for more personal matters. I crossed the ballroom with a purpose in my stride, ignoring any and all attempts to delay me any further. I would offer up apologies later and promise to offer my time to make up for my rudeness, but not now. My legs carried me closer and closer to the hall where the kitchen was located, heart pounding as I passed empty door after empty door, too nervous to prepare what I wanted to say to convince her to talk to me.
The kitchen door swung open just as I reached for it and I jumped back to avoid a black eye or a broken nose. Then I caught a glimpse of purple fabric, silky and smooth and so damn touchable it made my fingers twitch. “Maxine.” The word came out on a shocked breath, and that’s just what I felt as I took in the sight of her.
She froze in the doorway, feet propped at an odd angle that only drew my attention to the sexy black shoes that gave her mile-long legs. “Derek. Hi.” Her words were as shocked as mine and, notably, there wasn’t a trace of anger or bitterness. And certainly no hate.
Thank goodness.
“Hi, back,” I told her with a smile, taking in the flush of her pale porcelain skin and the way red tendrils brushed against her shoulders and collarbone. “You look stunning, Maxine.”
Her smile hit me right in the solar plexus and I returned one of my own as she shyly tucked a strand behind her ear. “Thanks. You look… handsome, too.”
It was awkward between us, but it was the endearing sort of awkwardness of two people who’d made some mistakes but weren’t willing to throw in the towel. Yet. “Thank you,” I told her sincerely, noting the heat in her eyes as she took in the sight of me in a tuxedo. I’m not ashamed to admit I puffed my chest out a little more. “I wanted—”
“I need to talk to you.” Maxine smiled.
I smiled back. Apparently, we both had things we wanted to say, and that was a damn relief. “You go first,” I told her, summoning every ounce of hope I could muster that we were both still on the same page.
Maxine smiled and leaned against the wall beside the kitchen. I grabbed her hand in mine, clasping it until our palms were pressed firmly together, and pulled her down the hall. No way was I about to tell Maxine how I felt with kitchen chaos noises in the background. We stopped in the middle of the hall, far enough away from either end that we could at least pretend it was a private moment.
“You’re not like my ex,” she said quietly.
My shoulders sank with relief at her words, but it wasn’t exactly a heartfelt declaration, so I worked hard to school my expression and temper my excitement. “Thanks?” I wasn’t exactly sure how to respond, so I did it with a smile.
Maxine’s laugh came out sexy and deep, low and intimate like it was just for me. “What I mean is that he never learned his lesson. I forgave him, and it only made him a more prolific cheater.” She shook her head and when her gaze met mine, her head tilted to the side and she wore an expression that looked a lot like affection. “I think that you, Derek, have a more impressive learning curve than that. Or am I wrong?”
As her words sank in, a slow smile crept across my face that matched the warmth that spread through my body. “You’re not wrong. In fact, you were more right than I wanted to admit.” I took her other hand, needing to feel as connected to her as I possibly could in the moment. “I couldn’t stop thinking about your words. Four seconds. Four damn seconds.” I shook my head, still in disbelief over how insensitive I’d been. “I can’t say I know why I didn’t do any of the things you mentioned, but I should have. I know that now and I understand how it must have hurt you. I have no fucking excuse, Maxine, but I am sorry. So damn sorry. The thing I ever want to do is hurt you.”
She smiled, but I got worried as her hand slipped from mine. When it cupped one side of my face, I leaned into it and pressed a kiss to her palm. “I believe you.”
“You do?”
She nodded. “I do. You’re a good man, Derek. Smart and kind, funny, charming, too. Even handsome.” She smiled again, looking slightly chagrined at the admission. “I need you to do better, though. I know a hot doctor is a hot commodity, and that’s especially true in a small town, but I can’t worry that I’ll see another woman with her tongue down your throat again. Or that Callie will see it.”
Her last words were another punch to the gut, another slash across my heart. “I’m sorrier than you’ll ever know that Callie saw that. I never… shit, I never wanted any of that to happen. Tell me what I can do to—”
Maxine held a hand up to stop the flow of words and I snapped my lips shut. “I know you’re sorry and I know you didn’t want it, and I have no desire to rehash that particular part of our past.”
I took a step closer, feeling more confident that this woman was about to be a big part of my future. “What do you want, Maxine?”
“I want to know you’ll do better, Derek. That I mean enough to you that you’ll try. I want to know that you won’t make me regret trusting you again.”
My arms slid around her slim waist and pulled her close, so close that I could see that delicate strip of skin at the base of her throat fluttering like a butterfly on a breeze. I wanted to press a kiss to that spot, but not yet. “I’m going to do even better than that, Maxine. You can trust me. You can trust me with your heart, with your daughter, and with your life. You are precious to me, both of you. I love Callie as much as I love you.” Did I say that last part out loud? The shocked look in her blue eyes told me I did.
“You… do?” The way her voice went up an octave at the end of the question made me smile.
The smile grew as I nodded. “I do. I love you, and I’m going to prove it to you until there are no doubts about my feelings. Until you know, down to your bones, that I love and respect and cherish you, and then I’ll keep proving it to you because that’s what you deserve. You should wake up every day of your life knowing you’re loved. I want to make you feel that way, Maxine. Every day.” My heart raced as the words poured out of me, words I’d never said, never wanted to say to another woman.
And the woman before me stood there with a slow sultry smile on her face. “That sounds kind of wonderful, Dr. Cahill.”
A low growl escaped at her words. “You have any idea what it does to me when you call me that?”
She shook her head with a flirtatious laugh and pressed a soft kiss to my lips. “No, what?”
“Minx.” I let out another growl and took her lips in a slow, hot kiss that melted away any worries that might have lingered. With every swipe of my tongue against hers, every moan of hers that I swallowed, my confidence grew. Confidence in myself and confidence in us. Me and Maxine. I pulled back, eyes glazed and breathless as hell. “I really do love you, Maxine. I don’t know when it happened or when I realized it, but you’re mine.”
“Yours, huh?” I nodded, and she let out another saucy laugh even as tears swam in her deep blue eyes. “I kind of like the sound of that.”
I did, too. I don’t know how long we stood there, smiling and staring at each other as happiness held us in a private, intimate bubble. Eventually, though, that intimate bubble was burst by the sound of a throat clearing behind me. We turned at the same time and, for our efforts, we were rewarded with a blinding flash of light and the suspicious click of a camera. A digital one.
“Looks like we got another one, girls!” Betty Kemp held her fist out for bumps from the rest of the meddling matchmakers, which now included Janey and her ever-present c
amera. Beside her was Eddy, the source of the first photo.
Maxine groaned first and I joined in, even though it really was difficult to be upset with them when their meddling had gotten me the woman of my dreams. She was here, in my arms, her soft feminine weight pressed against me—and I couldn’t be happier. “If you ladies will leave us be, I promise to give you all the credit for getting us together.” My grip tightened on Maxine’s hips and my fingers tingled with the desire to drag her into an empty room and have my way with her.
Elizabeth grinned and shook her head. “Where’s the fun in that? Eddy, snap some photos so we can document another success for our social media page. Maybe after we’ve hooked up all the Hometown Heroes, we’ll take our business on the road.” She arched dark, sophisticated brows, daring us to contradict her.
“Where’s the fun in letting the whole town know that it was Sabrina Worthington who actually got us together?” Even Maxine gasped beside me, but she also laughed.
“That was impressive, babe.”
I looked at her, surprised by the endearment, and winked. “Babe? I like that.”
She grinned so wide it nearly split her face. “Me, too.”
Was it possible to love someone so much in such a short span of time? I didn’t know and I didn’t want to ponder it too hard—not when Maxine was in my arms, eyes filled with love and longing that matched my own. I took advantage of our closeness and kissed her, once again shutting the world out of our moment. I kissed her until the only sounds that existed were the sounds of our mouths, fused together in the pursuit of pleasure. Until she moaned and pulled back, gasping for air.
“Maxine, you naughty girl.”
She laughed and shook her head. “You know they only left so they could spread the word that they got us together, don’t you?”
I shrugged. “You’re already mine, so I don’t care how the story goes. As long as it ends with you here, in my arms, I’m happy. Ecstatic, even.”
Maxine melted into me and it was the greatest feeling on Earth, to have a strong woman like her lean against me for support. “Then let’s go show off our happiness.”
“I love the way you think,” I told her, clasping our hands together. We were a team. A partnership. “Let’s go make our debut as a couple.”
“Yes, let’s,” she agreed. “But first…” The words came out on a sexy purr and then Maxine’s body was pressed up against me and her lips were on mine, kissing me slow and hot until my blood boiled.
When we finally re-entered the ball, I had a goofy, totally-in-love grin on my face that I couldn’t wipe off, even if I wanted to.
And I didn’t want to.
Not until there was no more breath in my lungs to tell her I loved her, which I planned to do every single day of our life together.
THE END
Hero Boss
Stevie Maddox was the last person I would have hired.
Or kissed.
Or slept with.
Somehow, I managed to do all three despite her being all wrong for me.
But she’s funny. Sweet.
Sexy as hell.
And I can’t stop thinking about her…
I just have to convince her this is more than just an office romance.
Stevie
“What in the hell do you think you’re doing?” I looked up from the computer, where my focus had been trained for the past two hours, and my gaze slammed right into a pair of angry green eyes. Angry, but beautiful eyes that weren’t quite mossy green and not quite forest, but somewhere in between. And definitely angry. “Well? I asked you a question.”
He hadn’t really asked so much as barked the words at me but saying so now would only poke the bear. No, not a bear. A beast. The man I guessed was my new boss was a big beast of a man, with shoulders so wide he had to turn just to get into the office and a broad chest that even his pricey Oxford couldn’t contain. His narrow waist suggested that at some point in time he’d been an athlete—that, and the way he carried himself, graceful and sure. He had ashy blond hair that would probably curl if he ever let it grow long enough, and those green eyes, well, it made him one hell of a package. A big, sexy, and very angry package.
“I won’t ask again.”
Right. He wanted to know what I was doing here.
“I’m updating the filing system. This one, if it can even be called a filing system, is out of date. Way, way out of date. My guess is you have plenty of money you haven’t been paid yet.” How could a man with his pedigree, if his business partner was to be believed, run his business this way? “Do you need something?”
I was his assistant, after all. It was part of the job, as it always was. I didn’t love it, but I could handle it.
The beast’s nostrils flared. “I need for you to tell me why you’re on my computer doing anything at all to my filing system.” I opened my mouth to tell him exactly who I was, but he held up two big paws—I mean, hands—and glared. “Step away from the computer.”
This whole routine was already getting tired, but I needed this job, so I stood, slowly, summoning every dollop of patience I had, and stepped away from the computer. With my hands up. This was Texas, after all, plus it was guaranteed to piss him off. “I’m your new vet assistant. Your business partner, Eddy, hired me.”
The older woman was a little bit kooky, but she was nice and blunt, which made her my kind of people.
“Eddy hired—” His words cut off abruptly and he shook his head as a few more choice expletives spilled from his mouth. “Eddy is in no position to hire anyone. Period.”
She had mentioned that he was a stubborn man but now, staring up at him and seeing the genuine anger and confusion on his face, I wondered if I should have waited to talk to him. I’d wanted to, but Eddy insisted he was busy and happy to have her deal with all the details. Dammit, this is what happened when you didn’t think first, just acted. It was kind of my specialty and, oddly enough, exactly why I needed this job to start with. “Well, Eddy did hire me, and I need this job. Now you’re telling me you don’t even need an assistant?” Arms folded, I looked at the big man in the deep green shirt with darker green buttons. He looked like the last doctor I’d worked for—the only difference was his patients were animals.
“No, I’m not saying that,” he conceded and blew out a long breath.
“But you don’t want me to be your assistant?” I didn’t look exactly like what anyone wanted in an executive assistant, but I more than made up for it by being excellent at my job. Stuffed-shirts didn’t mind the nose ring or row of studs that went up my left ear when I made their lives easier than their wives did.
“I didn’t say that, either.”
“You’re not saying much of anything, Dr. Henderson.” When he blinked, I lowered my arms, enjoying the small smirk that played across his mouth. “And the state of your filing system says you could use the help, so what is it? The piercings?”
Guys like him always judged a book by its cover when their covers never matched the contents inside.
“I didn’t say it was anything!” He smacked his hands on the round edges of the circular reception desk. “You’re frustrating, you know that?”
It wasn’t the first time I’d heard that, so I nodded. “I’m not the one turning away a damn good assistant because she doesn’t fit my own preconceived notions.”
His green eyes narrowed to slits and his nostrils flared, harder this time. I had to clench my jaw and school my features into a bored expression. He was intimidating, but he wasn’t scary. “Got me all figured out, don’t you?”
“No, and I don’t want to figure you out. I want a job, and this happens to be a job I’m damn good at. I don’t get what the problem is because you won’t tell me.”
After a few long moments of silence, his shoulders dropped in resignation. “There’s nothing wrong with my filing system.”
That’s what he wanted to focus on? Okay. “So, you have twenty-seven different horses with a hoof infection
to check out today?” His face paled at the information and I knew I’d proven my point, even if I’d had to exaggerate it a little bit. “I didn’t think so. Do you have any idea who’s current on their bills and who’s delinquent?”
“No.”
“I already have a list running. Or should I toss it out because this business is the one special business that doesn’t need to turn a profit?” My specialty was small businesses just like this. Give me a few months and I’d have this place running like a well-oiled machine.
“Who are you?” The question, this time, was asked with a little less venom than before so I smiled and held one hand out.
“Stevie Mattis. Organizer and assistant extraordinaire. Eddy said you needed help and it’s a pay bump from my last job, so I accepted.” And I kept my hand there, dangling alone in the air until he did what every proper southern boy was raised to do: be respectful.
His big hand swallowed mine up. It was hot and oddly smooth. Too hot. I snatched my hand back to avoid being burned and waited for him to say something. Anything. “One week. We’ll do a one-week trial run to see how well we work together. If it doesn’t work out, you won’t try to get my grandma to change my mind.”
I frowned. “Dude, I don’t even know your grandma.”
His eyebrows arched high. “Eddy is my grandmother. Not my business partner.”
After a beat of silence, a loud laugh erupted out of me. I shook my head at the sheer Hallmark-ness of it all. “A meddling grandmother, huh? I never would’ve guessed. She doesn’t sound all that grandmotherly.”
“Well, that’s Eddy. Do we have a deal?”
Damn straight, we did. “Yep.” I was good at my job and I knew by the middle of the week he’d be asking me to stay, so I wasn’t worried. “Eddy said you take your coffee with two creams and two sugars, is that right?” He nodded and I turned towards the small break room in the back. “I’ll grab you a cup while you get settled. Then we can talk about whatever is on your mind.”
Misters of Love: A Small Town Romance Boxset Page 30
