WEAKENED: The Manhattan Bound Series Book One

by Juliet Braddock

  “Stop, little one,” he admonished softly as he calmly reached out to hold her arms at her sides. “Settle.”

  “Yes…Mister Sir…”

  He took her hand, linking their fingers. Mister Sir. Fuck, she was so damn cute. With his other hand, he stroked her cheek.

  “You need to sleep. Lou and I will come by for you at noon tomorrow,” he assured her. “I feel like I’ve already overwhelmed you.”

  “Not overwhelmed…” she shook her head. “Intrigued…”

  As he stared into her eyes, he lost himself once again in his thoughts. Drew couldn't help but wonder if she'd still be around after he revealed those ugly secrets from which he had managed to divert the world's attention for so long. In fact, he doubted he'd see her after their date in a few hours. He'd convinced himself that she would simply run—as quickly and as wildly as she could—away from him.

  Lips caressing her hand, he hoped she couldn’t sense the troubled frown behind his smile. As he pushed himself out of the bed, a pang of guilt struck him. Shit, he hoped she didn’t think he was just leading her on. His life was just too fucking complicated to explain.

  Unable to resist his own temptation, Drew turned toward her dresser and picked up that old photo of the two of them together. Internally, he cursed himself. He wore that familiar pseudo-Drew smile on his face that he offered everyone standing at the stage door. Hell, he never realized that he…

  No. He refused to go there. He’d known Maxine for a mere two days. She was his project…his challenge…his…

  “Please stay with me tonight...just sleep beside me...” she begged again, her voice so small and sleepy. “Like last night…”

  So torn, he didn’t want to leave her...but he couldn’t stay. He was so afraid that those not so distant memories would crawl back into his thoughts again.

  His fingers splayed over her cheek, “I’ll see you tomorrow, little one,” he whispered. “Sweet dreams, sweetheart...”

  “But, Drew, we—”

  He placed a gentle kiss in her hair, murmuring, “Close your eyes. And when you open them tomorrow morning, you’ll be that much closer to our date.”

  While he disappeared through her bedroom door just as easily as he'd entered, she quietly obeyed and hoped that he'd keep his promise to see her.

  Although she realized that she was likely ready to have her heart sorely broken, she couldn't ignore her happiness for once. Ben was right. She did need to live for each moment, regardless of what the outcome might ultimately bestow. Silently cursing Drew for making such a hasty exit, she sighed and smiled as she reached out to pull Stuffy into her arms.

  “It’s all gonna be fine, right, Stuff?” she asked her old childhood favorite. “You agree. Now…let’s get some sleep…”

  # # #

  “You're early,” Drew noted and minded the time on his phone.

  Maxine skipped down the old concrete steps at eleven-fifty-eight that Sunday morning, wearing a high-waisted red linen blouse with a simple pair of black crop pants and red leather ballerina flats. It was shaping up to be a glorious Indian Summer afternoon, and as his eyes made their perfunctory survey, Drew's approval was evident in his smile. “And you're looking lovely this afternoon, Maxine.”

  She smiled at him and mumbled a shy note of thanks, all the while waiting to see if he'd kiss her...which he did not.

  Today, Maxine couldn't help but notice that Drew looked so very different than he did just hours before. Perhaps it was the jeans and navy blue Polo shirt or the mop of curly hair that was still damp from the shower that afforded him an air of relaxation. She was, so far, enjoying this playful side of the brooding actor he sometimes portrayed in real life.

  “So, I thought we'd picnic in Central Park this afternoon,” Drew said, his hand on her back, guiding her out to the car.

  Maxine knew they were close enough to walk it from the apartment, but she didn't fight him—didn't want to upset his apple cart before she had the chance to talk to him a bit more. Her anxiousness over his assessment of her worthiness had reached an all-time high, and while they’d only spent a few hours with each other so far, she wanted desperately to know where she stood in Drew’s life. Whether she received that answer that afternoon or not was still to be determined. However, Maxine wasn’t about to let the opportunity pass her by.

  “Taking me into the forest, Mr. McKenzie?” she asked, reminiscing back to his comment the night before as they gazed at the park from the top of the Empire State Building.

  With a smile, he buckled her in, chuckling as he pulled back to fasten his seatbelt. “If you will, little one...”

  Already, Maxine could feel the tides rising again once he settled himself next to her and didn't bother to move his leg, which he held ever so casually still against her calf. Resisting the urge to reach out and place her hand over his knee, she opted instead to bite the inner cheek of her mouth. She knew she had to keep a clear head. She needed to talk to him. However, all sense of lucidity seemed to float away in the breeze every time Drew was near.

  Lou was driving again, and for a moment, Maxine wondered if that poor man ever got the chance to sleep. She pondered just what it was like to work for Drew McKenzie, and she felt a bit sorry for that strong-armed man behind the wheel. As she already knew, Drew had a tendency toward the temperamental. With a sigh, Maxine only hoped this happy mood would endure the afternoon.

  Drew was still smiling when the car stopped just short of the East 79th Street Transverse. After plucking the huge picnic basket from the trunk, he returned to retrieve Maxine, and took her hand in his. “Ready for our next adventure, little one?”

  “Lead the way...”

  Following him through a small thicket of trees, Maxine tried to glance around casually, clandestinely playing tourist for the afternoon. There were so many people on all sides—tossing Frisbees, riding bikes, roller blading, chasing after toddlers, playing fetch with their dogs. Life was all around them, and abundantly so.

  Drew chose a spot, only somewhat secluded, which surprised Maxine. Perhaps she'd taken his teasing about playing amongst the trees just a little too seriously, she thought as she watched his methodical placement of the picnic blanket.

  He gestured for Maxine to join him on the red and white checkered blanket and began to unpack their brunch of chilled champagne, a selection of imported cheeses, plump grapes, and baguettes from his favorite French bakery, Pain D'Epices. She knew she probably shouldn’t get used to this luxurious treatment.

  “Drink?” he asked, tipping the champagne bottle ever so carefully to reduce the foam.

  “Thank you, Kind Sir,” Maxine said, raising her glass to him. “And thank you again for the gift that was delivered to me this morning. That wasn't necessary...”

  “Actually, Maxine, it is necessary,” he began and took a sip before continuing. “Your phone predated the laptop.”

  His urgency in getting her a new iPhone 6 baffled her—especially when he hadn’t yet decided if he wanted to keep her.

  “Well, I appreciate your sentiments, but this is all too much.”

  “You know, Maxine, things are not going to work here unless you trust me,” he said, his eyes filtering again with that chilly, icy blue stare. After taking another swig from his glass, he swallowed, then turned to face her once more. “That is...if you choose to stick around.”

  “Drew, why do you keep saying things like that?” Maxine asked without hesitation. “And how am I supposed to make any decisions when you really haven’t disclosed a single thing about yourself or offered me any reason as to why I might not want to move on past our Friday deadline?”

  “Have another glass of champagne, little one,” he suggested with a little too much nonchalance for Maxine’s current mood.

  “I don't want another glass just yet,” she stood her ground. There was something so fierce yet fearful in his eyes—taciturn, even—but Maxine refused to look away. For a moment, she thought that maybe she had chipped just a little b
it of stone away from the façade, and she realized that it was Drew who needed that extra shot of courage. Something hiding beneath the surface of his thoughts frightened him, too.

  “Why don’t we just sit back and enjoy this lovely little brunch you put together?” she suggested, taking command.

  Clearly, the shift in control left him a bit flummoxed, but he was still smiling as he leaned back on his elbows and stretched out on the blanket. “Why don’t we, Maxine?” he said, now with a trace of amusement rising in his tone. “You know, I’d love to hear more about your mother, if it’s not too painful to discuss. I can see that she had such a great influence on your life—on the woman you are—and I’d love to get to know her through you…”

  With a reminiscent smile, she traced her thumb around the rim of her glass, pondering where to begin. Although defeated by Drew's reluctance to reveal more of himself to her, she actually didn't mind talking about Judy at all. As long as she had a chance to tell those who would never meet Judy about her life, she kept her mother's memory fully alive.

  “She was one-of-a-kind,” Maxine began, her teary eyes still sparkling under the rays of the warm autumn sun. “People either loved her or hated her.”

  Popping a grape into his mouth, he recoiled a bit. “Which side would I have taken?” he asked rhetorically, but Maxine decided to answer.

  “I think you would have liked her,” Maxine assured him. “She certainly liked you…”

  “OK, now I'm blushing,” he teased, then leaned over to slip a grape through her already open lips. He was staunch in making sure that he kept her well-fed. While Maxine attempted to find this charming, she realized, too, that his efforts could grow old rather quickly. “But she's the one who introduced you to the arts—to the theater?”

  “There was always one Broadway cast album or another playing in our home,” Maxine reminisced. “Evita, Pippin, Company—La Cage Aux Folles, was one of her faves. We used to drive my poor dad crazy. But he put up with us.”

  “Tell me about him, Maxine,” he encouraged. “What’s his name?”

  “Thomas Stephen Kirk,” Maxine replied, narrowing her eyes, “and he keeps a very close watch on his only daughter—even from afar.”

  “Uh-oh,” Drew sat up. “I’m guessing that’s a threat?”

  “Only if he takes the shotgun out of the gun cabinet…” Maxine was only half-kidding.

  “Come on! He doesn’t really keep an arsenal…”

  “Oh, yes, he does!” she insisted. “He’s an avid hunter, especially during deer season.”

  “Ah, venison…” Drew shook his head, trying to wrap his city slicker thoughts around the whole concept of shooting Bambi. The thought of spending any time in the woods for the sheer purpose of shooting an animal left him rather horrified.

  “We just call it ‘deer meat’ back home…”

  Swallowing his sour disdain for this conversation, he simply had to ask, “Do you…you don't go out into the woods with him, do you?”

  “Nooooo,” Maxine giggled. “I cried when my goldfish died. I’d never survive one of his expeditions. I’d stand between him and that next buck until he retreated!”

  To put a hard stop to the terrifying conversation about her father’s favorite pastime, Drew continued on. “So you’re an animal lover?”

  “Yup—especially cats,” she said. “We had to put little Dolly to sleep not long before I left, and it…” She stopped to shrug off her sentiments. She didn't want to cry in front of Drew. Now he’d certainly think she was nuts, getting sentimental over her cat. “I grew up with her. My dad rescued her from a neighbor's tree when I was very small. And it was like another part of my life that left me again. I’d lost another remembrance of my mother. She loved that cat.”

  “Pets are like family. I always wanted one—a kitten, a puppy…hell, I would have taken a hamster. But my dad always refused.” He took her hand, held it for a moment, and then brought it to his lips, cursing himself for unwittingly upsetting her. “I’m sorry, little one. You’ve had too much heartache, and you’re still so young…”

  “Why don’t we talk about you a bit?” she asked again now that she had shared a bit more of herself. “Tell me what Wikipedia hasn’t revealed to me about Drew McKenzie…”

  “Oh, Maxine,” he shook his head. “What’s there to tell? I’m very close to my family—my parents and my younger brother—and I admire your connection with your mom and dad.”

  “It’s far more important than most people think,” she agreed. “Even when you come from a small family like I did.”

  Sometimes, Drew wondered if he'd still be alive if it weren't for his own. “Let's see…what else?” he thought out loud. “My brother Adam and I are as different as night and day. He's a serial entrepreneur and spends most of his time lounging on the beach while I actually work in the city…”

  “Really? That’s all he does?”

  “Pretty much, but he has the money to afford himself that lifestyle,” he said. “He dropped out of college and blew his trust fund on a startup. Within a year, he made it back tenfold—while I waited tables in dives in Hell’s Kitchen and ran around the audition circuit, living with roommates in small, cramped apartments and saving my trust fund for bigger and better things.”

  “I can’t see you as a waiter,” Maxine said.

  His sinister laugh prompted a giggle from her. “I was a fucking awesome waiter, I’ll have you to know. I always got the best tips.”

  “The fact that you’re kinda cute didn’t hurt your cause,” she reached out and playfully pinched the dimple in his chin, “did it?”

  “Oh, stop!” he mocked her playfully. “Now you’re lying.”

  “I won’t stop. And I want to hear more!” she said, crawling closer toward him. “You know all about my little world and my lack of experience—”

  Catching her hands before she had the chance to place them on his broad shoulders, he said, “No, I don’t know everything about you, and I think there are a few things you’re not telling me…”

  “Likewise,” her eyes narrowed in a challenge.

  Easily, he could have downed that whole damn bottle by himself, and that was so very unlike Drew. He drank socially—never to afford himself the bravery to seduce a woman. But she'd certainly made a quick impact on his entire rationale—or lack thereof—since she so clumsily stepped into his carefully guarded life.

  Oddly, even without the champagne draining his faculties, he wanted nothing more to trust—to confide—in this affectionate and sensitive young woman. He’d purposefully left her alone in her bed just hours ago to retreat to his own alone time with his thoughts. Even in the midst of her emotional ups and downs, he could sense the compassion that swelled within her. She’d been to that dark and terrifying pit of life, too, but she also chose to take that pain, learn from it and muddle forward as best she could. While she didn’t recognize it in her somewhat naïve self yet, he could already sense the strength she mustered just to carry on. He feared, though, that they could so easily drown each other in their collective sorrows.

  Setting his glass inside the picnic basket so as not to spill a single drop, he reached for both her hands and held them against his chest. “I can admit that I’m ignoring the obvious right now,” he said softly. “I know you know about the kidnapping, Maxine, but now—in this very public place—isn’t the time for a discussion.”

  “Drew…” Pulling a deep breath into her lungs, she squeezed his fingers as tightly as she could, and held his gaze. “I…I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be so pushy. We’ve just met…”

  “And I’ve already asked you far more than I should have at this point, so I apologize,” he said. “How about we just table this for a little later?”

  “That’s very fair, and I respect that,” she agreed. “But since we’re being honest with each other, will you at least tell me about your experience—what relationships you’ve had?”

  Her words tightened his muscles, constricting his gri
p on her delicate fingers.

  “This makes you feel uncomfortable, too,” she observed.

  How he fucking hated to admit to weakness, but he had no other choice in the matter. Maxine was on to him. “Yes, it does.”

  “Fess up, McKenzie. I’m waiting…and I have all day.”

  As he closed his eyes, he dropped his head in what appeared to be shame. She could only surmise that his list of love affairs was so long that he was too embarrassed to cop to his lothario lifestyle. She knew all about his antics from the gossip pages. In fact, she saw him in action just the other night! Drew was never short on his supply of waiting and willing women.

  “You know, I’ve only had three serious long-term relationships,” he said finally, still brimming with reluctance to reveal more.

  That disclosure, however, came as quite a shock to Maxine. “So you’re dispelling your playboy image?”

  “Oh, the press has always speculated,” his face curled with scorn. “Long before I even had my first real role on stage. Comes with the ugly territory of New York society.”

  While she wanted nothing more than to hear every last detail of these three women who came before her in his life—if she even had a place in it—she couldn’t ignore his emotions either. Since he was talking, she had to listen. “You seem bitter—about relationships...”

  “No, just detached,” he said and rolled his shoulders.

  Drew loathed any discussion about his past dalliances, but Maxine seemed to have found a way to coax him into anything—even breaking his own damn rules of dating. Of course, she had preconceived ideas of what he’d done and who he’d done it with, but in reality, she had no perception of the truth. He didn’t just fuck anyone. In fact, his parameters were so specific that he’d often found himself so alone that he drifted into isolation.

  “So tell me about the women you dated,” she said, breaking his thoughts.

  “Are you interviewing me, Maxine?”

  “Hey, I majored in journalism,” she justified her actions. “It’s in my blood.”

  “None of them were anyone you might suspect,” he began. “I don’t date actresses.”