Love Takes All

by J. M. Jeffries

  “What do you know?” Burgess demanded.

  “I put myself through Berkley working construction.” Hunter felt a small moment of satisfaction at the look on Burgess’s face.

  “Oh,” Eli said, disbelief in his eyes.

  Hunter could see Burgess didn’t think Hunter knew anything about construction. He probably thought Hunter was stupid.

  “I don’t like people looking over my shoulder. Maybe you better think about getting someone else to run maintenance.”

  “If you don’t like people looking over your shoulder, you must be in the wrong business.”

  Burgess looked shocked. He shook his head and walked away. After putting distance between him and Hunter, Burgess reached for his cell and was dialing as he walked out the sliding glass doors to the sidewalk beyond. Hunter wondered who Burgess was calling.

  Hunter headed toward his office. He needed to talk to Scott and have him keep his eye on this guy. Remembering his brother was meeting with security, he pulled his phone out and texted his brother about the collapse and Burgess’s odd behavior. Then he went to his office to wait for the safety inspector.

  * * *

  After the safety inspector left, Hunter went to Lydia’s office. He wanted to check on her, but she wasn’t there. He took the elevator to her floor and found her sitting on the tile floor of her living room surrounded by paint chips, carpet samples, fabric swatches and photos of spas that looked like she’d taken them off the internet. Maya sipped some sort of punch and sat cross-legged on the sofa punching hearts out of the paint chips and arranging them on a piece of construction paper.

  Hunter sat down on the floor with her. “Don’t you have an office?”

  “I do, but I can’t work in it and worry about Maya so I shifted everything up here.” She moved paint chips around and tilted her head to look at them from different perspectives.

  “So what do you think?” she asked, shoving a paint chip with various shades of gray at him.

  “These are nice colors.”

  “Gray is very sophisticated, I think.” She held the chips out at arm’s length and squinted her eyes. “But I’d like to see what other spas are doing. With all the different themes at the different hotels, I keep thinking how we’re going to stand out.”

  “Why don’t we take a couple of trips to the most popular casinos and hotels and see what they’ve done.”

  “I don’t want to copy anyone,” she said, tilting her head to look at the colors from a different angle.

  “Neither do I. We’re just going to steal ideas and come up with our own spin.”

  “I want to see Circus Circus.” Maya hopped down from the sofa and showed her mother what she was doing. “One of the girls in my ballet class loves going there to see the circus acts.”

  “Does Circus Circus have a spa?” Lydia asked.

  “I’m sure they do,” Hunter replied. All the hotels had spas, but the Mariposa having its own hot springs was a plus.

  “I’m a little uncomfortable taking Maya to a casino when Leon and David are being so...” She glanced at her daughter...“over-protective.”

  What a diplomatic way to put that, Hunter thought. “I don’t think you should be too worked up. They have themselves parked at the blackjack tables and if they continue to lose money the way they are, the spa will be paid for in no time at all.”

  “Maya, why don’t you go in your room for a bit so I can talk to Mr. Russell.”

  “Sure.” Maya picked up the paint chips she’d been playing with, along with her staple punch and pad of paper, and walked across the floor to her room.

  With Maya gone, Lydia’s face took on a worried look. “What’s wrong?”

  “We had a minor accident a little bit ago. Some scaffolding collapsed.”

  “Was anyone hurt?” She covered her mouth with her fingers, her eyes concerned.

  “No,” he said in an emphatic tone, allowing his irritation to come through.

  “There’s something else?”

  “I feel like the collapse wasn’t a random accident.”

  Her beautiful eyes widened. “Why would you think that?”

  He didn’t want to add to her burden but he wanted to be honest with her. “I don’t know, maybe I’m just being paranoid.”

  “How do you investigate something like this?”

  “I’m going to put Scott on it. He’s a bloodhound.”

  She frowned. “What happens if it wasn’t an accident?”

  “We find out who is behind the collapse and prosecute them to the limit of the law.”

  She studied him intently. “When you first showed up, I didn’t think you were really interested in helping your grandmother.”

  “I’m allowed to change my mind.”

  She laughed. “I thought that was only a lady’s prerogative.”

  Hunter grinned at her. She hadn’t lost her sense of humor despite having to deal with her stepsons. “And a gentleman always does what a lady wishes.” His grandmother had given up a lot to raise Hunter and his siblings. When she should have been doting grandmother, she ended up being a mother for a second term. “My grandmother expected us to conquer the world. We can afford time to help her.”

  “Not everyone feels that way about their parents, or their grandparents. It’s refreshing to see how much you love her.”

  Hunter moved some fabric samples around. “What about you?”

  She thought for a moment. “I love my parents, I really do, but I couldn’t wait to get away from them. While the other kids on my street were outside playing, I was taking etiquette lessons or ballroom dancing. When the kids were getting dirty at the playground, I was being taught how to walk properly, to hold my head a certain way and...” Her voice trailed off as she looked backward at the memories.

  “Your childhood doesn’t sound like there was much fun built into it.”

  She sighed. “Learning to be a lady takes a lot of time out of a girl’s life.”

  “Maybe it’s time you learned to have fun now. Tomorrow we’re taking Maya to Circus Circus and having a great time.”

  Lydia brightened. “Sounds like fun.”

  “Miss E. used to take us to the one in Vegas all the time. I had tons of fun. So, it’s a date.”

  Lydia clapped her hands. “Good. I’m in need of some serious fun.”

  “Can fun be considered serious business?”

  “Of course it can. I’m going to have to work at it.”

  There was a little part of him that thought that was sad, but a bigger part of him was glad that he could help her with that too. “We’ll go for lunch tomorrow and Maya can spend the afternoon enjoying everything the midway has to offer. And you’re going to leave all your worries about Leon and David packed away in a closet and have mindless fun.”

  “I don’t think I’ve ever had that. You might have to bring instructions.”

  Hunter shook his head. “Having fun needs no instructions.”

  She sighed. “I wouldn’t be too sure about that. But I do have one rule.”

  His eyebrows rose. “And that is?”

  “No more kisses.”

  He pulled back slightly. “I don’t think I like that rule. I enjoyed our kiss.”

  “I did, too. I have so much on my plate, I can’t balance it all.”

  “It was just a kiss, Lydia, not a lifetime commitment.” The memory of her soft, yielding body so close to his sent a bolt of desire cascading through him. And from the look on her face, she felt it, too. “All right, no kisses tomorrow.” He would back off. At least for the moment. But he intended to kiss her again. And maybe again. She was a woman who was meant to be kissed.

  “Thank you. My dating experience is very limited. Maybe dating experience isn’t the right word.” />
  “We need to rectify that.”

  “We’re not dating,” she said hastily as a pretty flush covered her cheeks.

  “If you say so.” He pushed himself to his feet. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” He would allow her to think she was in control, but she wasn’t.

  He left her still sitting on the floor staring at the paint chips scattered among the fabric and carpet samples. How was he going to show her a romantic time with Maya around? What he needed to do was win over Maya. Maya was a great kid, a little lacking in the fun department, but he would take care of that for both of them.

  He liked having a plan. He found himself whistling as he headed toward the elevator.

  Chapter 5

  What did one wear for a casual lunch/casino investigation tour? Lydia had no idea. She stood in front of her closet dressed in a robe, her skin still damp from her shower. She had casual clothes that worked for a casual lunch at a club, but not a circus.

  “I don’t know what to wear,” Lydia said with a sigh.

  Maya reached in and pulled out denim jeans and then rummaged through Lydia’s dresser drawer and pulled out a blue cotton shirt. “Wear these, Mom. They’re comfortable.” She dug through the bottom of the closet and pulled out an old pair of flats.

  “Yes, but...”

  “Mom, you want to be comfortable.”

  Not too comfortable, Lydia thought. Maya ran to her bedroom to get dressed. Lydia pulled her clothes on and sat on the bed to put on her shoes.

  “I like Mr. Hunter,” Maya said from the doorway.

  Lydia studied her daughter. She liked Hunter, too. “You do. Why?”

  “He’s nice and doesn’t talk to me like I’m three years old.”

  Lydia tilted her head to look at her daughter. “Who treats you like you’re three years old?”

  Maya sighed. “Leon and David.”

  “Sometimes it’s hard for grownups to relate to other people’s children.”

  “Leon doesn’t like children,” Maya said with a wisdom way beyond her years.

  Startled, Lydia stared at her daughter. Maya was correct, but Lydia didn’t want to let her know she agreed. “How do you know that?”

  “Because the only time he and David ever talked to me is when you or Daddy were around and then they asked me stupid stuff. Like do I enjoy playing with dolls. I’m not going to have to live with them, am I?”

  “No,” Lydia said. “Definitely not.” Never. David and Leon might think they had the upper hand, but Lydia knew better.

  Maya sighed. “David told me I was going to live with them. I don’t want to.”

  Lydia gathered her daughter into her arms ready to cry. Her heart raced and her anger at the two men grew. They had no right to talk to Maya. “You are not going to have to live with them. Ever.”

  “Promise?”

  Lydia forced back tears. “Promise. Put your shoes on. We’re meeting Mr. Hunter in the lobby in ten minutes.”

  Maya released her and flew out the door and a few minutes later came back with her shoes. She sat on the floor and put them on. “You promise I won’t have to live with Leon and David?”

  “I solemnly promise.” A part of her still worried that they would win their case and she would lose Maya. If it came to that she would take Maya to Europe, where they’d have a harder time trying to get custody. There was no way she’d let Leon and David have her baby.

  The elevator was slow to drop. Maya hopped on one foot and looked excited.

  “Circus Circus is a casino for kids, right?”

  “No, it’s more a family friendly casino.”

  “What does that mean?” Maya asked.

  Lydia loved the fact that Maya asked questions. She encouraged her daughter’s curiosity. Her own childhood had been more silent. Lydia’s parents disliked answering her questions. Her mother’s maxim was “children were seen and not heard.”

  “They have activities for children to do.”

  “Do they have poker for children? Can I play? Miss E. has been teaching me.”

  “No, I’m afraid you can’t play poker, or gamble. You have to be twenty-one.” Amused, Lydia kissed her daughter on the forehead.

  “Then why have a family friendly casino?”

  “Because the job of a casino is to separate you from your money.”

  “I have money.”

  “You’re still too young.”

  “Miss E. and I don’t play for money,” Maya continued. “We play for M&M’s.”

  Lydia worried that anyone listening to this conversation would question her mothering skills and be inclined to take Maya away from her right then and there. She loved Miss E. and Miss E. was great with Maya. Lydia didn’t mind that Miss E. was teaching Maya to play poker, but she was a bit of uncomfortable knowing that Maya wanted to play for money. Did she have budding card shark on her hands?

  “Why are we going then?” Maya asked.

  “We’re going to have some fun and check out the competition. You’re going to be my test market.”

  “What’s a test market?”

  “When companies decide on a new product, they test it in small areas to a small group of people before selling it to a large group of people. Test marketers are very important.”

  The elevator stopped at the lobby. The doors slid open.

  “So this is like a job. Am I going to get paid?” Maya asked as she dragged Lydia into the lobby. She stopped briefly at the edge of the pond. Several koi rushed toward her. Maya had started feeding them and the fish seemed to recognize her. Maya pulled some pellets out of her pocket and tossed them into the water. The koi raced to grab the food.

  “You’re going to get fed because food is very important. You can play all the games you want.”

  Maya giggled. She straightened and glanced at the lobby. “I can’t wait. Is it okay if I beat Hunter at the games?”

  Lydia stopped and looked at her daughter. “Why would you think that?”

  “Because Grandma is always telling me I’m supposed to let boys win because I’m a girl. She said it doesn’t matter how much better I am at something.”

  “No, you’re not to let boys win just because you’re a girl.” Lydia’s voice was firm. This was exactly the attitude she hated. She would have to talk to her mother. Lydia wanted Maya to be smart and independent. She didn’t want her submissively catering to some man.

  Hunter waited for them at the front desk. He wore washed out jeans, a white cowboy shirt open at the neck and boots. Lydia half expected him to pull out a ten gallon hat, but he held a baseball cap instead. Maya skipped up to him.

  “Are you going to play games with me today?” Maya asked him, looking up.

  “I’ll be happy to play games with you.” Hunter looked a little confused and Lydia hid a smile.

  “Good. I’m not going to let you win because you’re a boy and I’m a girl.”

  Hunter looked curiously at Lydia, who shrugged. “I can live with that.”

  “My mother insists that when she plays with boys she lets them win so their fragile egos don’t become permanently damaged,” Lydia explained.

  Hunter chuckled. “I’m not going to let her win either.”

  Oh, great, Lydia thought. “How old are you again? Seven?”

  Hunter grinned. “I don’t think a man’s ego ever gets beyond the age of seven. I read an article recently that said men don’t mature until their early forties.” He leaned close to Lydia and whispered in her ear. “I was going to let her win, I was just going to make her work for it.”

  “Just promise me one thing,” Lydia whispered back. “Don’t do that. She has to earn her victories.”

  He nodded, respect showing in his eyes. Lydia wasn’t used to men respecting her. She took Maya’s
hand and started toward the doors, uncertain how she felt.

  * * *

  Circus Circus was loud. The café was nicely situated. They had a table overlooking the midway, where they could see people walking back and forth along with a prime view of a juggler, who stood on a small platform and juggled watermelons.

  Maya ordered a hamburger and was eating it as quickly as she could, anxious to get to her games.

  “Where is she putting it all?” Hunter asked, leaning his elbow on the table.

  Lydia sat with her hands in her lap. In her house elbows were not allowed on the table and she couldn’t entirely shake off her childhood. “I don’t know.”

  Maya looked up. “In my tummy.”

  “But you’re so skinny. I worry your tummy will burst.”

  “Nope.” Maya shook her head. “I take ballet lessons and I’m going to be taking riding lessons starting tomorrow. Do you see the juggler? I think I want to learn to juggle.”

  “When will you fit in your schoolwork?”

  “Maybe I can stay up until nine-thirty.”

  “We’ll work it out. Slow down, pumpkin,” Lydia said. “You’ll get an upset stomach.”

  “But I’m too excited. And you’re eating too slow.”

  Lydia understood that. She had things to do, too. As a child, dinner with her parents had taken forever, with her mother always chastising her to be ladylike, to sit up straight, to chew her food with her mouth closed or other little criticisms. Maya ate fast because she wanted to experience everything she could as fast as she could. Lydia would never dampen her enthusiasm.

  Hunter took a huge bite of his hamburger and started chewing.

  “Hunter,” Lydia said.

  He mumbled around the food unintelligibly.

  “I can translate that,” Maya said. “He says hurry up we have things to do.” She popped a french fry into her mouth, giggling.

  Lydia laughed. She knew when she was defeated. “What do you want to see?”

  Maya pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket. She unfolded the paper. “I want to see the Chinese acrobats, the Russian circus and the trained dogs. We have to hurry; the Chinese acrobats start their show in half an hour.”