by Evie Nichole
“All right,” Laredo groaned. “I’m awake.”
“Funny, but I didn’t really give a shit about whether or not you were awake.” Darren stood up and reached for a fluffy coffee-colored towel hanging on a nearby rack. He lobbed it at Laredo. “It isn’t about awake, you idiot. That little girl was terrified. She called me sobbing and screaming because she thought you were dead. She couldn’t get you to move. That’s bad, Laredo. Bad, like I can’t leave you alone tonight bad.”
“I’m fine.” Laredo struggled to his feet. Unfortunately for him, his tooled high-heeled boots slipped on the wet tile floor inside the shower and he went back down with bone-crushing finality.
“Yeah, you look awesome,” Darren said sarcastically. “You’re really ready to see your daughter and make her feel better about Daddy’s condition? You’re going to bed. I’m going to tell Bella that Daddy is just sick with the flu. And then tomorrow you can make it up to her. And you can stop drinking too.”
“Oh, that’s rich coming from you!” Laredo snarled. “How many beers have you had tonight? Did you drive over here drunk? I bet you’re over the legal limit right now!”
For some reason, it was unbelievably satisfying to be able to tell Laredo the truth and be in the right for once. “Actually,” Darren drawled, resting his forearm on the side of the shower and holding out his hand to offer help to his brother. “I had half a beer, which you interrupted because you interrupted my date. And I didn’t intend to have any more beers because I was driving and I wouldn’t want to risk anything happening to this woman.”
There was a long pause. Laredo was still sitting in the bottom of the shower. He stared up at Darren for what seemed like forever. Then he suddenly started laughing. The sound echoed off the shower walls and around the hollow tile of the bathroom. It sounded almost maniacal. The noise lifted the hair on the back of Darren’s neck and made him feel both defensive and pissed off all at the same time. It was not a good combination.
“It’s the teacher, isn’t it?” Laredo finally asked. Then he waved his hand around, which was more of a flop. “Or I guess she’s actually the guidance counselor. Right? That’s perfect, Darren.” Laredo laughed so hard he snorted and started to slide back down to the bottom of the shower floor. “You need therapy. She can provide it. I’d say the match is pretty damn near perfect for you! Of course, I don’t think she’s going to get much out of the deal. After all, you’ve got more skeletons in the closet than a haunted house. But maybe she’s into that.”
“You’re talking out your ass,” Darren said bitterly. “You don’t know what you’re saying.”
“Bullshit I’m talking out my ass.” Laredo flopped onto his side and started dragging his body out of the shower. He was soaked, his white dress shirt clinging to his muscular shoulders and his pants making a creepy squelching noise as the water was squeezed from the fabric with each movement of his body. “You’ve got that Carly bitch trying to shake you down for money every time you turn around. You’ve got a kid you’ve never met. You haven’t held a job since—well, let’s just say ever. And now you’re going to be an elementary school gym teacher?”
When Laredo put it like that, then yes it sounded as though Darren was really dumping his horrible situation right into Maggie’s lap. Was that how she thought of it? Darren had been feeling pretty good because Maggie had been so supportive in that idiotic confrontation with Carly. What if that had just been an act? Or what if Maggie felt sorry for Darren and was just trying to help him out with his custody issues? As much as Darren needed Maggie’s help to get his life together enough to be a part of Jaeger’s world, he didn’t want to impose on Maggie. That wasn’t what he wanted. Not now. Not ever.
“See,” Laredo said, turning the verbal knife. “Now you’re worrying about it. I get it. It’s pretty easy to stand there and judge me. But it’s not so easy to judge yourself.”
“You’re the judgy one,” Darren shot back. He shook his head. “You’ve always been that way. Maybe that’s why you’re so eager to believe that Dad is hiding some secret out at the Collins ranch.” Darren sucked in a deep breath. He needed to get out of here. He needed to get away from Laredo and get his brain back together. For some reason, his brother was always top-notch at taking all of Darren’s fears and dragging them into the light. “You can stay in here and deal with your own problems. I’m going to go check on Bella and make sure that she’s not the one having to suffer because you’re weak and you let Dad push you around.”
Oh, Laredo didn’t like that. He cursed and tried to struggle out of the shower, but his body wouldn’t quite obey any direct commands from his nervous system. “You need to remember that I’m the one standing between the rest of you jackasses and Dad. It’s me taking all his crap for you. Remember that the next time you judge me, Darren. Remember.”
The last words were delivered in a mumble. Darren realized as he shut off the shower light that Laredo had sort of passed out once again. He was tilted on his side at least. That meant if he threw up again, he wasn’t going to choke on his own vomit. And as for the mess in the study? Darren was going to happily leave that for Laredo to clean up himself. There was nothing like alcohol puke on a ten thousand dollar hand-woven rug to drive home the real consequences of stupid behavior.
Chapter Twenty-One
Maggie had always wanted children of her own. She loved kids. It was one of the reasons she had decided to pursue a school counseling degree instead of going into private practice and dealing with regular adult clients day in and day out. Now, as she settled her shoulders against Bella’s white wood headboard and felt the little nine-year-old snuggle close, Maggie knew that she was very ready to be a parent.
My biological clock is booming.
“Ms. Brown?” Bella’s voice sounded heavy with sleep. “Are you going to stay here all night long?”
Now that was an interesting question. And Maggie didn’t actually have an answer to that one. “I’m not sure. But I know that your uncle Darren and I will stay until we’re sure that your daddy is okay and that you’re safe. We won’t leave you here alone.”
“Okay.” Bella heaved out a big gusty breath, and less than ten seconds later, Maggie heard a snore.
“She asleep?”
Maggie looked toward Bella’s open doorway and spotted a familiar-looking shadow. The upstairs hallway was dark except for a small nightlight near the floor some distance between Bella’s bedroom and the staircase down the hall. The whitish-blue glow was muted and did almost nothing to reveal Darren’s expression.
Carefully disentangling herself from Bella’s arms, Maggie tucked in the little girl and then tiptoed back across the plush carpeting to the hallway. “Yes. She’s out. She was very worried that we were going to leave her here.”
“Meaning that she doesn’t trust her daddy to stay with her,” Darren muttered. “Great parenting, Laredo.”
Maggie bit her lip and stepped further into the hallway. She really didn’t want to have this conversation anywhere near Bella’s ears, even when the little girl was asleep. There was no telling how much Bella would retain. Maggie gestured to Darren, and the two of them stepped out toward the landing of the house’s main staircase.
The two-story home was a maze of galleries, staircases, and too-big rooms. Even Bella’s suite included a bedroom, a playroom, and an en suite bathroom. It was more than any nine-year-old could possibly have needed, but Maggie could not imagine how lucky the young lady would be when she got a little older and really wanted that space for sleepovers and afternoons spent with friends listening to music or gossiping about boys and school.
“Now.” Maggie gently touched Darren’s forearm. “How is your brother?”
“My brother?” Darren took Maggie’s hand and began gently kneading the muscles in the center of her palm. His touch was gentle and soothing. “Laredo is currently in his shower. The lights are off and he’s passed out again. He’ll have a puddle of vomit to clean up in his study in the morning.
He’s going to have a fierce hangover. And honestly, I’m not sure what’s really wrong with him.”
“Is this about your dad and the family business?” Maggie was only guessing, but it seemed like everything with these Hernandez men traced right back to their father and their ranch. “The ranch is almost a bad thing. You know? I mean the whole lot of you seem stressed out about it. You bicker about it. You complain about working in the family business. You constantly talk about how much you don’t approve of what your brothers do or how your father runs the business.”
Darren didn’t speak for a long moment, and Maggie thought she might have overstepped her bounds. Her stomach knotted with apprehension. What if she’d made him mad? What if he was upset that she had said something so negative about his family? Darren had said things before, but many people felt like only family could complain about family.
“You’re right.” His voice was so low that she almost didn’t catch his words.
Maggie blinked and wished that she could see more of his expression in the darkness. “I am? How am I right?”
“You make a good point.” Darren sighed and ran his fingers through his wavy dark hair. “Our family spends a ton of time being upset about the ranch, complaining about it, and feeling as though we can’t walk away from it. I haven’t been out there in years. It’s almost two hours to the ranch house from the Denver city limits. My brother Cal is the only one who actually lives out there. He enjoys the ranch life. I can’t stand it.”
“What about it turns you off?” Maggie wondered out loud. “I’m sorry, but from an outside perspective, it seems like a really awesome thing. The operation is huge. You’re talking about hundreds of thousands of acres of land. There are horses and cows, and I’m sure you have other animals too. It’s quiet, and it’s private, and you can get away from the city to just enjoy yourself.” Maggie gave a little laugh as she thought about something one of her coworkers had recently told her. “People pay tons of money to vacation in places like that.”
“You’re talking about dude ranches.” Darren gave a snort of amusement and leaned over to rest his forearms on the railing. “That’s not even the same thing. The animals on a dude ranch that get herded, counted, bought, and sold are human guests. It’s stressful to try and accommodate people like that.”
Maggie rolled her eyes and punched him in the pectoral muscle. “You’re totally missing the point! I’m not suggesting you guys start a dude ranch. I’m just saying that there are lots of people who would pay money to be able to do the chores you find annoying.”
“And that’s only because they don’t have to do them every day and their lives don’t depend on them.” The bitterness in Darren’s voice touched Maggie deeply.
It was plain that they weren’t going to get anywhere with this discussion about the Hernandez ranch. Maggie decided to change topics. “Are you going to take me back to my car?”
“Actually, I don’t feel comfortable leaving Bella.” He scratched the back of his neck, and even in the dark, she could tell he felt awkward. “Would you be willing to stay here with me?” He held up his hands palms out, obviously defensive. “I’m not trying to get you into a bed or anything. We can stay on the couch right up here in the loft if you want. I just don’t trust Laredo to be there for Bella if she has a nightmare or something.”
“Of course I don’t mind.” In Maggie’s mind, she was running through a dozen scenarios that would not have her wearing the same clothes to work two days in a row. Did she have a spare set or something in her car?
He pointed to the second-story loft that overlooked the great room downstairs. “I’ve slept on this couch before. It’s not bad.”
“I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
Darren moved toward the couch and kicked out of his boots. “Are you going to join me?”
Whoa. This was suddenly moving very fast. Except it wasn’t. The likelihood of the two of them having a sexual encounter of any kind on the couch in Laredo’s loft was pretty low. In fact, Darren had already said that nothing was going to happen. Besides, did Maggie want something to happen? She was confused about that. She wasn’t the type of woman to jump in and out of bed with every man she went out with. And Darren had quite the history.
He lay down on the couch and seemed to be settling himself. She heard a wide yawn. “You coming?”
“Yes, just a—just a minute.”
Maggie took off her shoes and set them by the end of the couch. Her legs were bare. She was in a skirt. He had already had his hands up her skirt. Now she was going to lie down beside him. What did that even mean in the big scheme of things? Did it mean anything?
Maggie felt incredibly nervous and stiff as she settled onto the couch beside Darren. He had his head at one end and his feet at the other. She probably could have put her head at the opposite end and her feet by his shoulders, but that would have seemed weird. Plus, she really didn’t want to put her feet in his face. What if they smelled?
So, instead of worrying about it for a second more, Maggie just sat her bottom down between Darren and the front edge of the couch. She gingerly stretched out and tried to balance so she didn’t roll off.
Unfortunately, that was easier said than done. Her butt felt as though it was falling off the edge, and she could have sworn she was about to take a nosedive. Suddenly, she felt Darren’s gentle hands grabbing her shoulders. He wrapped an arm around her and hauled her closer to his side. He seemed to turn so that more of his back was pressed against the back of the sofa, and their fronts were pressed together.
“Here,” he murmured. “This should make it easier. I don’t want you to feel like you’re falling off all night.”
She meant to say thank you, but the only thing that came out was a yawn. How was she suddenly so sleepy? Forget sleepy. It was so comfortable being here on the couch with Darren that she was gradually being lured to total relaxation. Her muscles began to loosen, and she felt her eyelids growing very heavy.
His hand began to lazily stroke her arm. Up and down her forearm, up to her bicep, and then up to her shoulder before he headed back down to her wrist. Darren lifted her hand and gently threaded her fingers with his. He began rubbing each finger as though he were trying to give her a hand massage. The touch was delicious. She’d never felt like that before. It wasn’t sexual. It was something more. Once again, the only word that came to mind was cherish. She felt special and very cared for in a way that she’d never experienced with anyone else.
She pressed her cheek to his chest. The warmth of his skin beneath his T-shirt was intoxicating. Rubbing her face gently across the soft cotton fabric, she memorized the contour of his chest. She could feel just a little soft springiness as the hair pressed back against the cotton. She moved her other hand over toward the center of his chest and placed her palm flat on his abdomen. The rippling muscles beneath his clothes left her feeling lightheaded with admiration. This man was strong. He had the ability to be rough and coarse. But he was lying here touching her as though she were made of glass. It was flattering.
His hand moved to her hair. He threaded his fingers carefully through the tangled strands and patiently worked them free. He smoothed the thick locks down her back and over her shoulder and seemed to never get tired of touching the stuff. She felt spoiled in that moment. She felt as though she was the sole focus of his world, and she liked it. In fact, Maggie never wanted this to stop.
Wriggling a little bit, she moved her leg carefully until she was all but straddling his side with one knee thrown over his body. She inched up until her face was close to his. Then she leaned in and let her lips whisper a path over his cheek and his jaw. She loved the contrasting feel of the whiskers on her lips and the way his skin was tougher and just far more masculine than hers. He tasted spicy. She gently flicked her tongue along his throat and felt his Adam’s apple move. She was affecting him. She could tell. It made her feel as though she could conquer the world. If she could make this man tremble, then she was queen o
f just about everything.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Maggie could not have said what woke her. The green numbers on the clock across the room on the entertainment center read 4:30 a.m. So early. In fact, she could not remember the last time she had been awake this time of morning. She was a horrible morning person. Generally speaking, Maggie would roll out of bed at the last second, get in the shower, and then go to work with her hair still damp. It helped that she didn’t have to be at work until nine in the morning. The teachers had to be there much earlier, but that would certainly not have worked for Maggie.
“Good morning.” The sleep-roughened whisper came from Darren. She practically felt it rumble up through his chest. “Did you sleep?”
At some point in the night, she had pretty much rolled completely onto his chest. Their position was shockingly intimate at the moment. She was stretched out on top of his body. Her legs were between his, and their groins were pressed against one another. She could feel a hard bulge between them, and it sent a little shock and a thrill through her body that swept a bit of the sleep-addled feeling from her brain.
“I think I slept pretty well, actually.” Maggie was sort of surprised since couch sleeping was not known for making anyone wake up rested. She wriggled herself into a slightly more upright position.
He grunted and wrapped his arms around her. “I don’t know if you want to move like that, sweetheart,” he told her gruffly. “Having you this close is making my body a little crazy.”
“Is that right?” She wriggled again, feeling deliciously naughty. Then she stretched herself as far as she could until her toes were brushing his and her lips were touching his neck. She nibbled a little bit on his throat. “Because I feel like I’m really enjoying all of this moving around. I need to stretch, you know.”
“Oh, is that right?”
He reached down and cupped her bottom. She gasped when he pulled her hard against him. The friction between them was incredible. The heat and the pressure were making everything south of her belly button heat up to the boiling point. She moved her lips from his throat to his jaw. Then she put her hands on his shoulders and pulled herself a little closer to his mouth.
