Satisfied she’d collected everything she needed, Skylar took a cleansing breath and walked into the living room, half expecting him to be long gone. Instead, she found him peeking through her blinds and the sight made her breath catch. It was the first time she’d gotten a good look from the rear. His back was so wide it stretched from one side of the window to the other. The T-shirt was tight enough for her to make out the slabs of muscle running along the length. His left bicep bunched up like a huge boulder. However, his blue-jean-encased ass had her stepping back and losing a few brain cells.
Thanks a lot, spirit. I’d think you’d want me focused. Not going to happen.
Chapter 9
Skylar had to stifle a moan when Maxim moved over to the bookshelf and bent down to look at her family pictures. The man had the most perfect butt she’d ever seen. Even with the jeans covering it, she could tell it was firm and muscular. He picked up one of the photos, and she cleared her throat. He turned around and lifted the frame, his eyes questioning.
“My dad. If you can’t tell by the hair, that’s me with my head stuck under the hood with him. He was a mechanic, but spent his free time restoring his ‘70 Chevelle SS. I loved that damn thing. It had a 454 big-block engine and purred like a dream. I’d try to help him every chance I could. I think I got in the way more than anything else, but he never complained.” Skylar glanced down at her short nails and grimaced.
“I spent the majority of my senior year with grease under my nails. It drove my granny crazy. Let’s just say I didn’t have any guys beating my door down to take me to the prom.” She looked up and frowned.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. That’s why I asked. Is something wrong? Okay, why are you grinning now? Did I say something funny?”
Maxim chuckled and put the picture back on the shelf.
“Everything is fine. In fact, it’s more than fine.” He took a step toward her and then stopped. He looked like he was waging some sort of internal battle before he strode forward, snatched her duffle from the floor, and headed for the door.
“Come on, we need to get on the road.”
“You’re a very confusing man, Maxim. Wait! I think I forgot something.”
He stopped at the door and turned around. “What?”
Skylar glanced around the kitchen, snatched a long-handle pot off the stove, and starting walking toward him. She raised her palm when he threw her a strange look.
“Don’t ask. Humor the crazy woman. Okay? Looks like I need a damn pot. Hell, I don’t know. Maybe we’ll have to camp out or something. I quit questioning it a long time ago.”
Maxim snorted and pulled the door open.
Skylar squealed when a dark figure leapt in front of the door and kicked Maxim square in the gut. He grunted and staggered two steps backward into the living room, but quickly caught himself before he toppled over. The duffel slammed into the coffee table. Skylar felt the blood leave her face upon hearing the fierce bellow that filled the air like a menacing beast from a child’s darkest nightmare. It was coming from Maxim as he rushed the guy before he could fully enter the room.
By time she made it to the doorway, the attacker was hanging over the side of the balcony railing. If not for the fierce grip he had on Maxim’s hair and T-shirt, he would’ve been flat on his back on the ground. Maxim’s head was twisting further to the side with every hard yank of his braid, and it pissed her off.
A surge of adrenaline hit her bloodstream, and Skylar acted on instinct. She bit deep into the stranger’s forearm. He screamed in pain and released Maxim’s braid. The pot slammed right into the asshole’s nose as she’d intended, and he let go of the shirt in an instinctive effort to protect his face. She heard him cry out as his arms slipped through the jacket Maxim gripped firmly with both fists. She heard a loud thud as the man slammed onto the pavement below. Despite the fall, he staggered to his feet and disappeared into the shadows.
Jackknifing up, Maxim looked like a madman. His eyes were wide, nose flared, lips peeled back from his teeth, and his muscles were quivering like a racehorse ready to jump at the first bell. He stared at her as if she was from another planet. Half-crazed herself, Skylar lifted the pot high in the air and shook it.
“See? Not so crazy now, huh?” The hysterical claim seemed to snap him out of whatever state he’d fallen into. His voice sounded strangled and gravelly as he barked out his command.
“Stay here. Don’t move an inch.” He threw the jacket to the side, ran down the stairwell, and disappeared into the night.
Torn between obeying and chasing right after him, Skylar glared into the darkness as if the act alone could make the shadows go away. Shit! What if there are more of them? Worked up into a tense frenzy, she almost fell to her knees when she saw Maxim jogging up the sidewalk from the other direction.
Skylar met him at the top of the stairs and didn’t even flinch when he opened those big arms and snatched her up against his chest. She clung to his body and melted against his strong muscles. As soon as she felt him clamp tightly against her back, she released her held breath. He was breathing heavily and she could feel his heart thundering against her palm. He smelled like cinnamon and sweaty man. She fucking loved it. His chest rumbled against her cheek when he finally spoke.
“Are you okay?”
She buried her nose between his pecs and nodded. She had no clue where her voice had gone.
“I saw him jump into a car. There was another guy driving. Black Tahoe. I couldn’t get the plates. Did you recognize him, sweetness?”
She croaked out a, “No,” and felt him rub her back.
“Damn, Skylar. You knocked the shit out of him. You’re a little hellcat. I’m impressed. Thanks for helping me.”
Reluctantly, she extracted herself from his arms and backed up. She looked up into his eyes and swallowed hard.
“No, thank you. I’m sorry you got kicked. Are you okay?”
Maxim nodded, reached down, and picked up the jacket he’d thrown to the side. He searched the pockets, paused, and pulled out something from inside. His brows lifted, and his eyes locked onto hers. She felt her stomach drop when he handed the photo over. It was a picture of her at the dig site. She was kneeling in the dirt with Dr. Martin and knew it’d been snapped three days ago. Someone had been watching them long before the jewel had been discovered.
“That’s your name and address on the back, Skylar. This wasn’t an unplanned attack. Now tell me what the hell is going on.”
Skylar felt her world cave in. How could she explain something so surrealistic without coming off like a loon? He may say he believed in spirits, but add a murder and a jewel the size of his fist into the equation and he’d run for sure. If spirit wanted him to know about the artifact, it would give her a clue, right? The only thing spirit had done was bring him in as her protector and then promptly disappear. That point was quite obvious now.
Breaking away from the intensity of his eyes, Skylar looked down and realized she still had the pot clasped in her hand. She went with her first instinct. Divert. She walked past him, went to the kitchen, and tossed the pot into the sink. She wasn’t surprised that he’d followed right behind her. She swiveled around and sighed.
“Turn around. I need to fix your hair.”
His brows drew together and his lips parted. He looked at her as if she’d lost her mind—totally expected.
“You want me to do what?”
“You heard me. Turn around. I need to do something simple to calm myself down. Either I’m about to start washing a lot of clean dishes, or I can fix your hair. Your choice.”
His lips squashed into a straight line and then he heaved out a frustrated breath.
“Fine!” He whirled around and presented his screwed-up braid to her.
She walked calmly around him, grabbed her brush from her purse, and snatched the footstool by the couch. She swore she could feel his eyes boring a hole into
the back of her head. Settled in place behind him, she set the brush on the kitchen counter, stepped up on the stool, and easily slid the leather bind from his hair. She saw chills race across his arms. He swayed slightly and placed his palm on the counter. Oh, you like having your hair messed with. This is good.
Skylar took her time unraveling the braid, scratching her fingers lazily across his skull and down through the surprisingly silky strands. She took a second to stop and admire how damn sexy he was with his hair hanging loose and wild down his broad back. She could imagine how decadent it would be to have it flowing over his shoulders and caressing her skin as he hovered above her. She snapped out of the daydream when he cleared his throat and his back muscles tightened. Damn! Focus, Skylar, focus.
Snatching up the brush, she hadn’t made three full strokes through the tresses before she saw his shoulders relax. His head lolled back on his neck, and she took full advantage. Over and over she passed the brush across his scalp and down to the tips until the mass was gleaming in the glare of her kitchen light. She ran her palm down the full length, just because she could. She leaned forward and whispered close to his neck.
“Did that feel good?” She smiled when all she got was a low moan and a soft sigh as a response.
Setting the brush aside, Skylar separated the strands into three evenly spaced sections and quickly weaved the hair into a perfect braid. Tie in place, she slid her palm down the sexy tail and allowed her hand to continue along the tightened muscles next to his spine. She stopped just above the waist of his jeans. He was now standing completely straight and holding his breath. She moved her hand away and gripped his bicep. It felt like concrete with a thin layer of soft skin over it.
“I really don’t know what the hell is going on, Maxim. As soon as I figure it out, I’ll tell you.” Dragging her finger along the bottom of the tattoo peeking out from his right sleeve, she tapped against each letter of his middle name. She didn’t think it was possible for his muscles to get any harder.
“Will you tell me about this tattoo one day? I have a feeling that there’s a very important event behind that one as well.” She pressed her forehead against his back when he nodded. Skylar released his bicep, backed off the stool, and hoped her legs would keep her upright. She was surprised when he spoke in a hushed, quiet voice.
“I know there’s more to your story, Skylar. I hope you can tell me as much as you can. I won’t push you for the full deal, but I need you to trust me. I can’t protect you if you keep things from me. Can you at least try?”
Skylar took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Trust—such an easy thing to say, but so hard to prove until it’s too late.
“Come on. I’ll tell you as much as I’m able. I want to be on the road and away from here before I do.” She was relieved when he didn’t argue the point.
“Okay, then.” He kept his back to her, lifted the duffel off the floor, and waited for her to grab her purse. He held his hand up, flung the door open, and took a quick look down the balcony and stairwell.
“It’s clear.” He surprised her by grabbing her hand and leading her to the Hummer. His eyes didn’t stop darting around the entire area until they were well away from the apartment building.
Staring straight ahead, Skylar kept her eyes on the highway, but could see him glance over at her every few minutes. She took a deep breath and hoped he’d at least slow down before he shoved her from the vehicle. She cleared her throat and dove right to the point.
“I was visited by an entity and it asked me to take care of something. I did, and it’s been downhill from there. I told you about my boss’s death, but I didn’t tell you how. Dr. Martin was murdered. Someone trashed my room at the hotel while I was taking care of the request, and the police discovered him after investigating my break-in. Someone ransacked his room, just like mine. I hauled ass out of Rome as fast as I could. I’m supposed to go to Texas, but I don’t have a clue as to where. Maybe it’s Austin. I just don’t know, yet.” Skylar glanced over to get a pulse on his mood, but he kept staring straight ahead with no expression. He surprised her when he spoke in a calm, measured tone.
“So what are you supposed to do for this spirit when you get to Texas?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Why not?”
“I’m supposed to keep that to myself. It was adamant. Besides, I’m still waiting for the exact instructions on where and how.”
“Were any other rooms trashed, or was it just you two?”
“You’re pretty smart, Maxim. It was just ours.”
“So, this thing that you did for the spirit, did it lead to your boss’ death?”
“No. I’m positive of that. He made a decision to do something long before I received the visit from the entity. I wasn’t aware of what he’d done until the spirit led me back to his office. He was probably dead before I ever finished with my task.”
He nodded slowly, his thumb beating a slow tempo on the steering wheel.
“If I’m interpreting this right, then whatever decision he made, the thugs that killed him think that you’re involved.”
“That’s my guess.”
“Are you involved?”
“Not exactly.” She grimaced when he huffed out a breath.
“Damn, Skylar, you’re giving me a brain cramp here.”
“I’m sorry. It’s not my choice.”
“Do you have any idea who might’ve killed him?”
“I have a theory, but I could be wrong.”
“Let’s hear it.”
“I can’t.”
Maxim pulled the Hummer over. He flipped the flashers on, released his seatbelt, and leaned toward her. Despite the very serious look he was throwing her way, she instinctively knew this man would never harm her. She felt like a jerk for pulling him into this mess.
“Skylar, you can lock down whatever the entity made you do, but I don’t believe for a minute that it would be upset if you tell me what might be chasing you. You said it yourself. This spirit gave you a vision of me where I said I’d protect you. How in the hell am I supposed to do that if you won’t tell me what I’m battling?”
Skylar felt her shoulders relax. “You know, you make a valid point.”
He smiled and patted her knee. “Well, there you go. Contact it and ask if it’ll make you feel better.”
“I can’t. It sort of disappeared.”
“Disappeared?”
“Yeah. I haven’t gotten even a twinge of its presence since I saw you.”
He snorted.
“Well, maybe the thing’s busy bugging the hell out of some other poor woman until your turn comes again. What makes you so special?”
Skylar laughed and punched him on the arm.
“Okay, fine. I get it.”
“So, spill it.”
“Cerano Tullius. He’s the head of the company that sent us to Rome. I can’t be positive that he’s involved, but he was sending someone to meet Dr. Martin. I was assuming they were coming from the states, but they could’ve been local. Maybe things got out of hand, or it’s not related at all and someone else took a crack at him. Hell, I don’t know.”
Maxim leaned back against the seat and drummed his fingers on the steering wheel while he mulled over the new information. Damn! She wanted to pull the jewel out of her purse and toss it on his lap. All he wanted to do was protect her and she was playing fucking charades with him. It was so unfair. She took a deep breath and tried to reach out to spirit. She got nothing but dead air. She watched Maxim’s lips form into a tight line.
“Okay. So, what I’ve got here is a bad decision and two ransacked rooms. Obviously, they were looking for something that he wasn’t willing to provide. If they killed him before hitting your room, then they didn’t find it and thought you might have it. Am I close?”
She snorted.
“Do you moonlight as a detective on your days off, Maxim?”
He smiled, snapped his seatbelt in place, and started the Hummer. Th
ey drove for five minutes, and she couldn’t take the silence any longer.
“You’re not going to grill me anymore?”
He chuckled. “Do you want me to?”
She frowned. “No, not particularly. What made you change your mind?”
“Easy. I have everything I need to know.”
“You do?”
“Yep.”
“Care to share?”
“You have a lot of nerve.”
She popped him again. “You know what I mean.”
He grinned and then his expression grew serious before he looked back to the long stretch of highway.
“Simple. You have information about Dr. Martin’s bad decision and your spirit told you to keep a lid on it, so I’m not going to bug you about it anymore. You’re under enough stress as it is. I’m assuming the entity wants you in Texas to do something about it and that’s why you feel you have some form of involvement in what happened at the hotel. Part of my job is to get you where you need to be. The other is to make sure the assholes that are willing to kill you for this mysterious information don’t touch a single hair on your head. If they do, they die.”
Skylar stared at his profile, unable to formulate words at his adamant declaration. He was willing to kill for her. She took the hand he extended out to her and felt comforted by its warmth. Skylar leaned back against the seat, closed her eyes, and hoped to see the ball of white light in her dreams. She wanted to thank it for finding this precious man.
Chapter 10
Maxim squinted against the bright sun rising like a ball of hot lava above the horizon, cursed, and flipped the visor down. He rubbed his eyes and decided it was time to find a place to pull over before he drifted into another lane. Seven straight hours on the road and he was ready to park his dead ass. If Skylar hadn’t kept him awake with her hilarious stories of the dynamic between her granny and father, he might have ran off the road long ago.
Glancing over, he couldn’t help but smile. His little storyteller was fighting to stay awake. Her lids would droop and as soon as her chin hit her chest, she’d straighten in the seat. Seconds later the process would start again. If not for the seatbelt, she would’ve tumbled headfirst into the floorboard. She was so damn cute.
Fueled by Lust: Maxim (Siren Publishing Classic) Page 8
