by Jen Talty
Logan laughed, glancing toward his mother who shrugged. “She’s Catherine Sarich, the owner.”
“That can’t be possible.” The girl did a double take. “Why didn’t you say something?” She scowled, narrowing her eyes.
“I tried, ” his mother said.
“Oh.” The girl slammed the gear shift. “I guess I have the day off.”
Logan stepped back, wrapping his fingers over his mother’s hand, still resting on his arm. “You really need to be more direct.”
“That girl wouldn’t let me get a word in edgewise.”
“You still don’t act like a boss.” He tugged his mother toward the main house as the front gate closed. “And you make enough money owning the maid service that you don’t have to work here anymore.”
“I’m not having that argument with you,” she said, waggling her index finger in his face. “Dylan already gave me the lecture last night and I told him when one of you boys gets married and makes me a grandma, I’ll think about it.”
Logan shook his head and sighed. “You’re running yourself ragged doing both jobs.”
“Better than being bored playing bridge while everyone else talks about their grandbabies.”
He did his best to keep his focus on the side door to the kitchen as he passed the pool area. The woman laying on her stomach with the little red bikini, sun kissed skin, with her chin resting on her hands, looking right at him, was too much to ignore. He smiled, giving Mia a little nod.
“She’s still single.” His mother squeezed his biceps.
“I’m well aware.”
“Now that you’re living in Tampa you could ask—”
“I love you, mom. But you’ve really got to stop playing match maker.”
She looked up at him as he opened the back door for her. “I just want my boys happy and you all seem to be a little lost.”
It wasn’t that he and his brothers were lost. It had more to do with a restless soul. Nick had been the only one out of the four to even try settling down, but when his wife died, it nearly destroyed him. Maybe they were all just a little gun shy.
He looked over his shoulder. Mia stood, pulling a white meshy thing over her head. Perhaps he just hadn’t known a good thing when it had been right in front of him. He sucked in a deep breath and followed his mother into the kitchen.
“I’m happy.” He bent over and kissed his mother’s cheek.
“A good woman would be the icing on the cake.”
He laughed just as Mia entered the kitchen. Her sun-drenched skin glowed in the LED lighting. The white-mesh cover up didn’t cover anything. He cleared his throat.
“Hi, Mrs. Sarich. What was that all about at the gate?” Mia asked, dumping a Kindle on the table before going to the fridge and pulling out a flavored water.
“Mix up with the temp service,” his mother said, giving him that look she did when he was a kid and she wanted him to talk with someone. “I can’t believe Ida didn’t call me directly. She never calls the office since she knows this is one job where we almost never use temps. Not to mention we had drinks last night, so she would have told me.”
“You failed to mention that,” Logan said, scratching the back of his neck. “Have you tried calling her?”
“Not yet,” his mother admitted.
“Please do and let me know what you found out.” Logan pulled out his phone and texted both Jacqui from his team and Markus about making sure they ran the plates of the temp’s car. “I’ll need the temps name and address.”
“I’ll have to call the office for that.” His mother nodded her head in Mia’s direction “I should get to work. Since Ida isn’t here, I’ve got double the load.”
It took a lot of energy on Logan’s part not to roll his eyes.
“Well, you can take mine and Markus’ room off the list,” Mia said, leaning against the counter a little too close to where Logan had perched himself. The heat coming from her body set his skin on fire.
“I’ve already been told to stay clear of Markus’ disaster, but are you sure about yours?”
“I’m perfectly capable of cleaning up after myself.” When Mia smiled, her eyes sparkled like diamonds.
Her hip brushed against his and by the raised brow on his mother’s face, she noticed.
“All right then,” his mother said, smiling. “If you change your mind, let me know. I’ll be here until three.”
He counted to twenty before turning, spreading Mia’s legs with his broad body, wrapping his arms around her tiny waist, and pressing his lips against hers in a tangled mess of intense lust. Darting his tongue deep in her mouth, he swirled it around, tasting a fruity beverage, which might as well have been a double shot of Fireball.
Her hands squeezed his shoulders, before she dug her fingers into his flesh, dragging them down his shoulder blades, across his back, and cupping his ass.
Hoisting her up on the counter, she wrapped her legs around his waist. He managed to slip his hands under her mesh cover up, pressing his palms against the curve of her back. Her silky-smooth skin, mixed with the coconut scented sunscreen, allowed his hands to glide over her body, covering every inch of her exposed skin as possible.
All he could think about was removing her bathing suit bottom and ramming himself deep inside her, leaving her begging for more.
“Logan? Oh my, well….excuse me.” His mother’s voice echoed across the kitchen. “Sorry to interrupt.”
Quickly, he unwrapped Mia’s legs and eased her between the counter and his body. She dropped her forehead to the center of his chest.
“Something wrong?” he questioned unable to turn around, still holding Mia in his arms.
“I’m not sure,” his mother said. Her voice filled with confusion that he wondered if it was caused by what she just saw or why she’d come back into the kitchen in the first place. “Ida just texted back saying she got a voice mail this morning not to come to work.”
“From who?” Logan took in a deep breath before cupping Mia’s face and looking into her wide blue eyes.
“From the office. But I never had the secretary call her, so this has me concerned.”
Swallowing his pride, he kissed Mia’s cheek before stepping away from her and turning to face the wrath of his mother. “I don’t like the sound of that. Where is Ida now?” Mentally, he tried to force the heat of embarrassment from consuming his face.
His mother gave him that same sideways glance she’d given him the day he’d got caught with his pants down. Her lips drawn tight, tilted head, arched brow, but if he wasn’t mistaken, she also had a twinkle in her eye. “Ida decided if I didn’t need her, she’d go get a mani-pedi, which is where she is right now.”
Mia stayed behind Logan, her head still pressed against his back.
He reached in his back pocket for his phone, grazing Mia’s mid-section. “Is your secretary new?”
“She’s been there about six months or so.” His mother folded her arms across her chest. “Seems like a nice girl. Always on time. Polite.”
“I’m going to get Dylan or Nick to come to the house. I want to go talk with Ida and your secretary.” Logan didn’t like the time line of when the secretary started and when Mia and her brother were hired by DANA Corp.
“Too bad Ramey couldn’t come home. Ah… to have all my boys in one place. When was the last time that happened?”
“Two months ago, in South Africa.” Logan laughed, but immediately stopped the moment his mother gave him the evil stink eye. “Can you let Ida know I’m coming?”
His mother nodded. “What about the secretary? I need to talk to her anyway and find out why on earth—”
“It’s best you don’t call her and let me make a surprise visit.” He tried to side step Mia, but she followed his movement, her fingers still pressed against his shoulder blades, driving him crazy.
“You think my secretary might be involved with this plot against Mia?” His mom tilted her head.
“I don’t know, Bu
t I’m going to find out.”
“Should I be doing anything?” His mother turned her head in the other direction, taking a step to the side.
“Business as usual.” Logan reached back and tapped Mia’s hip. “Go about today like you would normally do.”
His mother nodded. “Mia, dear, are you going to hid behind Logan all day?”
Mia’s head double thumped against his back. “No,” she said meekly.
His mother smiled. “I guess I will go to work.”
Mia stepped beside him.
“You two be careful where you choose to wrap yourselves around each other. We don’t need another incident,” his mother said as she turned and walked out of the kitchen.
Logan slowly closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath, before opening them again.
“There is something wrong with us,” he whispered, looping his arm around Mia, and pulling her tight to his body. “Because I still want to do this.” He pressed his lips against hers in a tender kiss.
She fisted her hands and pounded them on his chest. “Sex,” she said, her breathing labored. “We need to have sex. Get it out of our system. Then this won’t keep happening.”
He laughed. “With our luck the entire town will walk in on us.”
CHAPTER 6
MIA ADJUSTED HER baseball cap as she followed Logan into the small office of Hunter’s Maid Service, named after the original owners who’d hired Logan’s mother thirty plus years ago. Mrs. Sarich’s first assignment had been the newly married Vanderlin’s and from the very first cleaning, they insisted Catherine and Ida be the only housekeepers they sent. Eventually they hired the duo full-time, but after Mrs. Sarich’s husband died, she took a part-time position, which resulted in her deciding to purchase the agency.
“May I help you?” A young redhead sat behind a large metal desk, pencil in hand with an open textbook. Her mouth gapping open as she had the nerve to give Logan the once over.
“My name is Logan Sarich and I’d—”
The girl dropped her pencil. “Your mother isn’t here right now and I don’t expect her in until 3:30.”
“I know,” Logan said with a tight tone. “She sent me to get some information for her.”
“What do you need?” The girl leaned back in her chair, folding her arms.
“What’s your name?” he asked.
“Bonnie.” The redhead narrowed her eyes, glaring at Logan.
Mia glanced at Logan, who stared back at the girl with a tight jaw.
“You told Ida not to go to work. Why?” Logan sat in one of the chairs across from the desk, so, Mia followed his lead.
For the first time, Bonnie looked in Mia’s direction, but not for long. “Someone from the Vander-whoever’s place called stating they only needed Mrs. Sarich today.”
“It’s Vanderlin,” Mia said with an even tone. “And who specifically called?”
“I think her name was Mia,” Bonnie said. “And I remember the caller ID came up with that name as well.”
“That’s Mia.” Logan pointed. “She didn’t call you. So, let’s try this again. Why did you tell Ida not to go to work this morning?”
Bonnie sat up taller, tugging at her blouse as if to close it. “I told you. I got a call.”
“On the office phone?”
Bonnie nodded.
“Let me see the phone,” Logan barked.
Bonnie didn’t waste any time pushing her chair back and standing. “You can scroll on the small screen to see who called and when.”
Logan stood, towering over the petite redhead. “I hate these fucking things,” he muttered. “Mia?”
“Sure thing.” Mia made her way to the other side of the desk, picked up the receiver and hit the arrow button, scrolling through numbers until hers came up. “That’s my home phone.” She held it up for Logan to see. “I did not make that phone call.”
“I think you owe me an apology,” Bonnie said.
Logan planted his hands on his hips and turned. “Explain to me why you called the temp agency for a replacement and sent them to the Vanderlin home.”
“Excuse me?” Bonnie screeched. “I did no such thing! You’ve got some nerve—”
“Give me the number to the service.” Logan let out a long breath, before turning around. “I apologize, but we’ve got a situation and I don’t have time for games.”
Bonnie narrowed her eyes. “You’re a jerk,” she said under her breath.
Mia ignored the statement and sat down behind the desk and rolled out the keyboard tray.
“What are you doing?” Bonnie asked. Her scowl deepened.
“I set this system up for Mrs. Sarich and I know most requests for temps are done through a portal.” Mia pulled up the terminal, entered her information and then the program she wanted opened. “Nothing here indicated a request was made.”
“I still want to call,” Logan said, holding his phone up. “Number? Please? Anyone?”
“It’s speed dial five.” Bonnie stepped back. “I need to use the bathroom. Is that okay with you?”
“Yes,” Logan said sharply.
Once Bonnie closed the unisex door, Mia said, “What is your problem?”
“You don’t recognize her?”
“She’s what, twenty-five tops? Why would I know her…oh…she’s Rock’s little sister, isn’t she?” Mia almost never thought about Rock, who’d been the bane of her and her brother’s existence. Rock had made it his mission to sabotage every science or technological project Mia and her brother did in high school, even after Rock had been transferred to private school.
Logan placed his hand on her shoulder, leaned over and snagged what looked like a name plate. He held it up and read the name: “Bonnie Rockmann.”
“That’s no reason to be mad at her.” Mia hit star five and it rang once.
“Gypsy Temp Agency. This is Kia. How may I direct your call?”
“Hi Kia, this is Bonnie over at Hunter’s Maid Service. Someone sent a temp to a job of ours today, only we didn’t call for one and I thought I’d give you a heads up before anyone got in trouble.”
“Oh dear,” Kia said. “Let me check. Can you hold?”
“Sure thing.”
“That’s scary how well you pulled that off.” Logan squeezed her shoulder.
The phone clicked. “Hi Bonnie. This is weird. We have no work order for any maid temp today anywhere.”
“Huh,” Mia said. “Maybe I have the wrong temp agency. Thanks for your time.” Mia hung up the phone and took Logan’s hand who hoisted her out of the chair. “I want to remotely access your mom’s system.”
“You think she was hacked?”
Mia arched her brow. “I didn’t make that call this morning and my system was hacked.”
The sound of a toilet flushing and water running reminded Mia that Bonnie was still in the office. “You really didn’t need to be so mean to her.”
“Yeah, I did,” Logan said.
Bonnie stepped into the office. “I was hoping you two had left.”
“We’re heading out right now.” Logan took Mia by the biceps. “Thanks for the help.”
“My pleasure,” Bonnie said with a spoonful of sarcasm laced with a bucket of snobbery.
Logan practically dragged Mia to the Jeep before opening the passenger door.
“You need to explain your rudeness,” Mia said.
“I should have told my mother what that little bitch did.” He slammed the door shut.
It took a lot for Logan to call anyone a nasty name. He generally let things go quickly, or things simply rolled off his back. So, whatever this chick did, it had to be bad. Mia touched his arm as he turned the key in the ignition. “What did she do?”
“When Dylan was seventeen, he dated her. About a month into it, she started sending him naked selfies.”
“That’s all the rage these days.”
He glared at her as he looked over his shoulder to pull out of the parking space. “Dylan participated as
well.”
“I sent you a naked picture a few times.”
Logan punched the gas, tires spun, burning rubber as the Jeep skidded into traffic. “When Dylan broke up with her, she went a little pyscho, hacking into his Facebook account and posting a few naked shots of him.”
“Wow. That’s crazy.”
“I had to call Markus to help get them down and see if we could prove she did it, but Markus said it came from the IP address from our home so we couldn’t prove it was her, but Markus managed to mess with her just enough that she went away, for good.”
“You called Markus and not me?” Now that hurt.
“I intended on calling you, but Markus was home and he said you were in the Bahama’s with some dude. I think he called him the Dicky Dude, whatever that means.”
She laughed. “That was Dicky Fargo. Neither Markus nor my parents liked him very much.”
“Markus said your taste in men went south after I left, and he didn’t think you could go any lower than me.” He glanced her way and winked.
She smiled, warmth spreading across her stomach. “So, what happened in the end with naked photo saga?”
“Dylan took one on the chin, saying he ‘accidently’ posted them. He didn’t want to stir any more trouble. My poor mother. Not a single Sarich boy managed to get through school without getting caught with their pants down.”
Mia scowled. “You should have nailed the little hussy.”
He patted her leg. “I was more concerned with my baby brother. It was horrifying when your father walked in on us, I can’t image what it must have felt like to have some hussy post a picture of your...well, what was worse was to have your mother think you did it.”
“I think they both equally suck in different ways.” She laced her fingers through his. “But I never regretted being with you, ever. I think I’d like to be with you again.”
“When this assignment is over, I might be down with that.” He flashed a grin as he turned into her condo parking lot. “For old time’s sake.”
“I hope it’s over soon, because I really don’t want to wait.”
He groaned. “What building is yours?”
“Building 3.”
“That’s the one right on the water, yes?” The Jeep rolled over a couple speed bumps, sending his hand a little closer to the edge of her mini skirt.
