He climbed out of the truck and moved to her side. “Where is your apartment?”
Mandy pointed to a door and then moved in front of him. His attitude was off-putting. He acted eager to help, but he also seemed like he was agitated by her very existence. This wasn’t the same guy who had bought her a bag of M&Ms when she was a depressed teenager, or driven her home during a snow storm so she wouldn’t freeze. Still, he’d gone into the Marines after high school, she reminded herself. That had to change a person. Maybe he was just a different guy than she remembered. She hadn’t known him all that well, after all. He was Ally’s older brother. It’s not like they were best friends.
Mandy pulled her keys out of her purse and opened the door to the apartment. James stilled her when she moved to shut the door once they were inside, instead dropping to his knees and taking a closer look at the locking mechanism.
“This isn’t a very good lock,” he said.
“What’s wrong with it?”
“Well, I could pick it in about a minute flat,” James replied. “That means it’s not a good lock.”
Mandy’s doubt was written all over her face. For some reason, James felt the need to prove he was right. “Watch.”
James stepped back outside and shut the door, separating him from the tempting blonde inside. “Lock the door,” he instructed.
Mandy rolled her eyes, thankful he was on the other side of the door so he couldn’t see her reaction. She obediently moved over to the door and flipped the lock. Then, for a reason she couldn’t quite identify, she also quietly slipped the security chain in place.
James pulled a small kit from his pocket and went to work on the lock. He smiled triumphantly when he heard the lock tumble and pushed the door open, expecting to see a wide-eyed and impressed Mandy standing on the other side. Instead, the door only opened a few inches and then fell back. She’d engaged the security chain.
James furrowed his brow when he heard her laugh on the other side of the door. “Very funny. Are you going to let me in?”
“How can I be sure you’re not dangerous?” Mandy teased.
James tried not to smile, but he wasn’t entirely successful. “Open the door.”
Mandy unhooked the chain and pulled open the door, blocking him from entering her apartment. “I only let strange men in my apartment if they have pizza.”
“Pizza, huh? I’ll know for next time.”
Next time? Mandy couldn’t help the static burst of energy that coursed through her at the sight of James’ flirty smile. For a second, it was like she was in middle school again. The feeling only lasted a moment, and then James took a step back.
“So, um, where is your office?”
Mandy gathered herself together quickly. I am not fourteen anymore, she reminded herself. I’m a grown woman. I’ve done grown-woman things with guys way hotter than him. Okay, maybe not way hotter –but they were still totally hot. Mandy forced her gaze back to James, who was watching her with a puzzled expression.
“Did I lose you somewhere?”
Just the past, Mandy thought. “No. The office is over here.”
James followed Mandy to a small hallway, glancing through the open first door in the walkway and catching a glimpse of her bedroom. For some reason, and he had no idea why, he felt the need to walk into the room. He fought it.
Mandy stopped in front of the doorway that led to the second room. “It’s here.”
James moved into the room and looked around. There wasn’t a lot here. A desk. A laptop. Some bookshelves. His gaze wandered over the titles on the shelves. “Lord of the Rings?” He raised an eyebrow as he looked back at her.
If he was expecting her to be embarrassed, he was going to be disappointed. “It’s my favorite book. I read it for the first time when I was twelve.”
James searched his memory. Now that he thought about it, he had quite a few aged snapshots of her reading a book under a tree in his head. “I remember you liked to read.”
“You don’t?” Mandy asked, bristling at the way he said “read.”
“Not really,” James admitted. “I guess you could say I’m not much of a reader.”
“That doesn’t surprise me.”
Now James was the one bristling. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“Just that you don’t look like a big reader,” Mandy said, enjoying having the upper hand for the first time this afternoon. “You look like more of a gym guy.”
James glanced down at Mandy’s toned thighs. “And you don’t go to the gym?”
“I take a book with me when I go,” Mandy teased.
James relaxed a little when he realized she was merely taunting him and not casting aspersions on his intelligence. “You had me going there for a second.”
Mandy raised her eyebrows, her face suddenly becoming serious. “Thank you for doing this.”
James became uncomfortable under the scope of her thoughtful eyes. “You’re practically family,” he replied, immediately wishing he could take the words back. He certainly didn’t think of her like a sister.
“Thanks,” Mandy repeated, reaching her hand out to touch his arm instinctively. She immediately wanted to pull it back, but the sparks she felt when she touched him were intense and they took her by surprise.
That was nothing compared to the surprise that James felt when her small fingers ran over his forearm. He snatched his arm away from her before he realized what he was doing, trying to ignore the surprised (and slightly hurt) expression that washed over her face.
“So, you don’t think anything was taken?” James said, trying to break the uncomfortable silence.
Mandy regained the control that had momentarily fled when James acted like she’d infected him with leprosy when she dared touch him. “As far as I can tell? No.”
“Are all your important papers here?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, do you still have stuff up at your parent’s house?”
“Oh, um, no,” Mandy replied. “My parents actually got divorced when I was in college.”
James was surprised. He hadn’t kept up on the Barker Creek gossip throughout the years, but he still thought he would’ve heard about this. “I’m sorry.”
Mandy shrugged. “It’s okay. It’s been five years now. They both got remarried afterwards. My dad was married three years before he died.”
James jerked like he’d been shocked with a cattle prod. “Your dad died? God, Mandy, I’m so sorry.”
“Um, yeah, it was about four months ago,” Mandy said, turning her head so James wouldn’t see the tears that were suddenly swimming in her eyes. She’d done her mourning – and she’d done it hard. She was surprised that the emotions were overtaking her again.
James took an uncertain step toward her, moving an arm over her shoulders. She was surprised that he was suddenly all right with touching her, but the resurgence of grief had knocked her off her game and she let him envelop her in his warm arms. She lost herself for a second, burying her face in his heavily-muscled chest, hoping that she could collect herself before she completely dissolved into a crying jag.
James tightened his arms around Mandy’s small frame, resting his chin on top of her head and marveling for a second about how comfortable this felt. She was still Mandy, he reminded himself. She was still the same girl that he knew when he was a teenager. She was just older now. And hotter. Crap, so much hotter.
Mandy moved away from James. “I’m sorry. That was undignified.”
James reached up and wiped a falling tear from her eye. “It’s not undignified. It’s normal.” James ran his thumb down the side of her face and then caught himself, slowly pulling his hand away and swallowing hard. “Why don’t you let me see the back side of your apartment? Is there another way out?”
“Um, yeah,” Mandy said, tamping down the warm feelings James was roiling up inside of her. “This way.”
Mandy led James back out into the hallway. This time, he stopped
in front of her bedroom and pushed the door completely open. It was a small room, with a big set of windows above the queen-sized bed. He moved through the room, trying to step around the crumpled bra and underwear on the floor without acknowledging that he’d even noticed them.
Mandy’s face colored as she stooped down and picked them up, dumping them in the hamper like they’d never been there. “What are you doing?”
“Checking the windows.”
“Why?”
“To make sure they’re safe.”
“They’re windows with locks,” Mandy offered. “I don’t know how much safer they could be.”
“You’re on the first floor,” James reminded her. “It’s never safe on the first floor.”
Mandy frowned. “It’s not like I plan on being here forever.”
James glanced over at her, stopping his window tests so he could focus. “You’re going to move?”
“My lease is up in three months,” Mandy replied. “The probate on my dad’s will should be done then. I’m going to use part of my inheritance to put a down payment on a house.”
“Probate?” James raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah, the will has to go through probate. It takes about six months.”
James considered how to ask the next question. He knew Mandy’s dad had been fairly well off. Even if her mother took half of that in a divorce, that was still a large chunk of change to consider. “Is anyone fighting the will?”
Mandy was surprised by the question. “Like who?”
“You said your dad got remarried,” James said. “Was your stepmother unhappy with the will?”
Mandy shook her head immediately. “Sheryl is nice,” she said. “They’d only been married three years. Dad left her the house and some money.”
“But you got the bulk of the estate?” James pressed.
“Yeah.”
“How much money are we talking?”
“Why?” Mandy teased. “You’re not going to try and seduce me for the money, are you?”
James blushed furiously. Seduction had been on his mind since he walked into the bedroom. Who cares about the money? “No.”
The red flush creeping up James’ neck wasn’t lost on Mandy. Maybe she wasn’t the only one to feel that spark? Or, maybe (and far more likely) she was imagining it all because she still had a crush on Ally’s older brother. Good grief, maybe she was still in middle school.
“I’ll get about a million dollars after taxes,” Mandy admitted.
James raised his eyebrows in surprise. A million dollars wasn’t what it used to be, but to someone living up north, it was more than enough to live off comfortably for a couple of decades. “And you’re sure your stepmother wouldn’t try and hurt you to get the money?”
Mandy scoffed at the suggestion. “She’s a sweet woman. Trust me. That’s not the way she thinks. She’s set.”
James nodded in agreement, although he made a mental note to make sure that Finn ran the stepmother just to be on the safe side. The presence of the bed in the room was starting to make him uncomfortable – like he wouldn’t be able to control his hands in a second if they stayed – so he edged his way to the hallway door. “Um, the rest of the apartment?”
“Do the windows meet your approval?”
James shook his head. “Not in the least. I’m going to have a guy come out here and upgrade all of your locks.”
Mandy’s eyes widened. “You are?”
“Yeah, this place is too easy to get into. I’m guessing you have sliding-glass doors out in that living room, and that’s just begging for trouble,” he said. “Are you sure you can’t get out of your lease early?”
“And go where? I don’t have enough money to buy a house yet,” Mandy reminded him.
James grunted in agreement. “And that’s why I’m having a guy come out and fix your locks.”
Mandy sent James an unreadable look, a bevy of emotions fighting for supremacy in her chest. “You’re kind of bossy. You know that, right?”
James shot her a wide smile. “I’ve been told.”
Mandy couldn’t help that little thrill that coursed through her. Something told her he was probably bossy somewhere else, too.
Four
After a restless night of sleep, thoughts of James doing something else besides testing the windows in her bedroom waking her up every hour, Mandy made her way to work the next morning. She stopped at the security station, dropping her purse on the conveyer belt, and sipping from her coffee cup absentmindedly as she waited in line to walk through the metal detector.
She was so lost in thought she didn’t notice one of the building’s security guards ambling over to her. “Hey, Mandy.”
Mandy choked on her coffee, thanking some unseen force that she managed to keep it in her mouth instead of spewing it on her white work blouse. “Hey, Clint.”
Clint smiled when she finally met his gaze. Mandy sighed internally. Clint was a nice guy. Too nice, in fact. It was obvious that he had a crush on her – much like the one she had on James – and he went out of his way to talk to her every chance he got.
There was nothing wrong with him. He was even kind of cute, in his own way, that is. He was tall, maybe an inch shorter than six feet. Instead of the muscle James was wrapped in, Clint was all long legs and gangly arms. Mandy had a feeling he got his workouts in front of the television.
“So, do you have any big cases today?” Clint asked.
“I don’t think so,” Mandy replied. “Just the normal stuff.”
“Ah, that’s too bad,” Clint said.
Mandy forced a smile onto her face. She could only hope she didn’t sound this desperate when she tried to talk to James. “I guess.”
Once she got through the security line, she was happy to see that Clint had been distracted by one of the secretaries from the civil division. She hoped he had varied interests so he would forget about her. She got in the elevator, pushing the button for the sixth floor. Once she got to the main hallway, she turned right and let herself into the bowels of the courthouse with her security pass. She made her way down to her office and set about getting her files organized for the day, trying to force thoughts of James out of her head as she did. She wasn’t surprised when Heidi, the court stenographer, popped into her office a few minutes later.
“Hey, girl,” she greeted Mandy with a wide smile.
“I love your dress,” Mandy said automatically. Heidi loved clothes and fashion. She was plump, so she spent a lot of time picking out the perfect outfit to flatter her assets – which were really large and impressive on top and really round and voluptuous on the bottom. She knew her body and she knew how to dress for maximum attention. Today, she was wearing a gauzy floral dress with a flair skirt and dangerously high heels.
“Thank you,” Heidi replied, obviously happy with the compliment. “I got it last week. You don’t think it shows too much cleavage, do you?”
Mandy glanced down the ‘V’ in the dress and tried to hide her gulp. There was a whole ocean of boobs in there. “No. It looks great.”
“Thanks,” Heidi said again, prancing around gleefully. “I’m hoping that Chad notices.”
Mandy stifled her groan. Chad Cooper was one of the assistant prosecuting attorneys for Macomb County. He was incredibly handsome. Unfortunately, he knew it. He’d worked his way through the bulk of the secretarial and clerk staff at the courthouse. He was running out of options but, even if he did react to the obvious hints she was dropping, it would only be for a night and Heidi would then be crushed for months. “You’re better than Chad,” Mandy informed her. “You should pick someone else.”
Heidi frowned. “I think he’s just misunderstood.”
“I think he’s a walking venereal disease,” Mandy countered. “To each their own.”
“You wouldn’t say yes if he asked you out?” Heidi sniffed.
He’d asked her out; more than once, in fact. Mandy didn’t tell Heidi that. “Nope. He’s all yours.”
Heidi’s eyes narrowed as she regarded Mandy. “You look different.”
“What?” Mandy asked, her eyes widening in surprise.
Heidi ran her hand over her lip, considering. “You look different. Did you get some last night?”
Mandy’s mind flashed to her previous night’s dreams. “Not exactly.”
“Okay, spill. Why do you look so different if you didn’t get any? By the way, you should totally get some. You’re on the dry spell to end all dry spells.”
“I’m not on a dry spell.”
“Oh, honey, if this isn’t a dry spell, I’d hate to see what you consider a dry spell. If I looked like you, I’d be having sex with men for sport,” Heidi said.
Mandy rolled her eyes. Heidi was one of her best friends, but she didn’t consider telling her about her problems. As much as she loved Heidi, the girl was a gossip. The last thing she wanted was her private business spread around the entire courthouse. “I just saw some old friends from home last night.”
“Boyfriends?” Heidi asked, her eyes sparkling.
“They are boys,” Mandy replied. “They’re the older brothers of my high school best friend. So they’re not boyfriends. They’re just boys who are friends.”
Heidi bit her lower lip. “I don’t know.”
“Let it go,” Mandy said pointedly. “I have to get these files ready before court.”
Heidi took the hint and left, but not before casting one more doubtful look in Mandy’s direction. “I still think something is up. You know I’m going to find out.”
Mandy was worried she would do just that.
BY THE end of the work day, Mandy was exhausted. It’s not like working in the court system is a joy, but days like these were enough to send her screaming over the edge.
“I can’t believe we had six wife beaters in one day,” Heidi said once they were in the elevator heading to the first floor. “What a bunch of asses.”
Deadly Intentions (Hardy Brothers Security Book 1) Page 3
