WRAPPED: The Manhattan Bound Series, Book Two

by Juliet Braddock

  “You’re stalling…”

  Eyes glossing over her with innocence, he asked, “Stalling for what, little one?”

  “Oh, I can play just as slyly as you, my fox…”

  “Get in the car, Sassypants,” he ordered, but he was smiling. “And muster up some of that patience and fortitude we’ve been discussing…”

  Maneuvering the sharp curves on the way from Tom’s house into town where there was a short stretch of local businesses, Drew cruised along and took the time to enjoy the scenery. With the show’s opening only days away, there would be no time for even a quick trip anywhere anytime soon.

  “Sassy Maxine loves it when Kind Sir orders her around…” she said, shifting in the seat against the belt that crossed her torso.

  “Sassy Maxine's going to the treehouse when we get back,” Drew said. “If she behaves…”

  Drew had gotten used to making love with Maxine both morning and night since she’d been sleeping over. This little dry spell was about to send his dick into a state of dry rot.

  “Oh, we can turn around right now if you'd like,” she suggested, hopeful.

  “Silence, wench. I want to see the highlights of your first twenty-one years on earth...”

  In truth, there just wasn't a whole lot to see in this neck of the woods, but Maxine gave him the quick tour, pointing out her elementary school, the grocery store where she'd worked in high school, her favorite playground as a child. There was also the library, which had long been shut down due to lost funding, and the boarded up studio where she’d taken ballet classes as a child. She left no details out when showing Drew the sights.

  In a solemn moment, they also stopped by the cemetery where Judy had been laid to rest. The stones were set among thickets of trees, mere shadows of the grand wealth the town once exuded. Most of the graves—remembrances of titans of industry from long ago—were well over a hundred years old, and the chapel that sat upon the property had long been abandoned. However, Judy insisted that’s where she wanted to be buried. She’d always loved the calmness of the old graveyard, and she thought she might have some company in death with the old souls around her.

  Judith Anne Kirk’s headstone was the newest on the property, and Drew recognized it immediately. Again, Maxine revealed yet another side of herself. Nothing could break her concentration as she knelt down upon the cold ground to caress the photo of her mother that had been etched into the granite surface. She didn’t speak a word, communicating with her mother in silence. Sometimes, she didn’t need to talk to tell Judy everything that was on her mind. Judy just knew and understood.

  Drew had his own moment, as he longed to meet that lady who gave him Maxine. In death, she lived in her daughter’s heart, and he already knew that he would have adored her. Just as quietly, he thanked her for giving him the greatest gift of his life, and he promised Judy that he’d take care of Maxine—at all costs.

  As they left, Maxine attempted to wipe her tears away with the back of her hand, but Drew’s lips were quick to kiss them away.

  Afterward, they stopped at a small coffee shop, and as they waited at the door to be seated, Maxie raised a curious brow before she called out, “Jordan? Jordan Joseph?”

  Maxine couldn’t believe she actually spoke those words from her own lips, and covered her mouth the second she said them. Six months ago, she would have likely asked Drew if they could go elsewhere for a bite to eat without further explanation. However, Maxine was no longer afraid to face the ghosts of her past.

  Slowly, the young woman turned around from the table where she stood filling ketchup bottles, and nearly spilled some on herself when she spotted Maxine. She wasn’t a tall girl—wasn’t pretty either. She had coal black hair that she kept short with dark brown eyes that never seemed to show even a hint of sympathy.

  “You don’t remember me, do you?” Maxine asked. “Oh, that’s a shame. I guess I’ve lost a little weight since we last saw each other. Maxine Kirk. How are you, Jordie?”

  “Who…are you?” she asked, wavering on her tennis-shoed feet. However, Maxine clearly saw the recognition in those nearly black eyes.

  “Oh, you know me. Maxine Kirk—maybe ‘Maxie Pad’ rings a bell?” Maxine continued on, thoroughly amused by herself. “It must be a relief to have a job right now in this economy. This region of the state is just in such shambles right now with unemployment and poverty.”

  Cool as a slab of ice, Jordan allowed the comment to slide. That guy, though, hovering behind Maxine with the piercing blue eyes…he was just far too hot. Tall. Chiseled jaw. Perfect skin and bright white teeth. He was probably gay, Jordan reasoned, because no straight man that fine would be hanging around Maxine Kirk.

  “Yeah…” she said somewhat lazily, then raised a snooty and suspicious brow. “Where are you working?”

  All of those ugly years that she spent crying over this nasty girl had suddenly blossomed into something so powerful for Maxine. She was no longer that weak little chubby child. In fact, it was Jordan who seemed to have gained quite a bit of weight. While Maxine certainly wasn’t proud of her eating disorders that were actually prompted in great part by Jordan’s torment, she did indeed find the solace of schadenfreude in every last one of those extra pounds.

  “Don’t you know it, I had to move to New York City to find something in my field,” Maxine said. “I’m doing publicity for a number of Broadway shows. I’m working with the press—managing media for a number of celebrities. So far, it’s been a lot of fun…and I’ve always loved New York.”

  “Oh…celebrities?”

  Always mindful of her man, Maxine didn’t miss a trick, and she noticed that Jordan’s eyes hadn’t left Drew since she struck up this little conversation with her nemesis.

  “Yeah, you know, all the A-listers seem to be doing Broadway now,” Maxine said. “Shucks…you know, I'm so rude…I should have introduced the boyfriend here. Jordan, this is Drew McKenzie.”

  “Pleasure…” Jordan said and extended her hand and popped her shoulders back to enhance the cup of her breasts in her tiny t-shirt, only to meet Drew’s rebuff and quasi-polite nod. This was Maxine’s show, and she owned the spotlight.

  “We’re in town visiting my father for the holiday,” Maxine explained. “We’re both so busy with work—and Drew’s big show is about to open on Broadway soon—it’s hard to get back. But it was just divine to see you today, Jordie…and good luck to you…”

  Those words made Jordan seethe, but she couldn’t help but to pull out her phone the second Maxine turned her back to Google this Drew McKenzie guy.

  As her eyes glossed over the screen, Jordan nearly thought she might have to pick them up and put them back into their sockets. There he was in her image search, standing next to Maxine in a tux at some party, all smiles with his arm wrapped around her like a boa constrictor. Fuck, he was just too gorgeous. She had to know more…

  Hell, this McKenzie guy had his own Wikipedia page! That was strange. One usually had to have some sort of fame to merit his own entry. Onward, Jordan clicked.

  James Andrew “Drew” McKenzie, (b. March 21, 1981), is a noted actor and singer, known for his brilliant tenor voice. The two-time Tony Award Nominee and heir to the luxury McKenzie Department Store franchise is also known for his charity efforts within the Broadway community and with the families of missing children. Once regarded as one of New York Society’s most eligible bachelors, he has recently been dating theatrical publicist Maxine Kirk…

  “Fuck…” Jordan mumbled. “Fuck you, Maxine…”

  # # #

  When Maxine slunk into the booth, Drew covered his face with the menu. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt such a sense of pride and embarrassment at the same time in my life.”

  “Oh, I can go back and really get nasty if you’d like…”

  “Maxine…” he groaned.

  “She was so scoping you, Mack,” Maxine said and cracked her knuckles. “Nobody ogles Naughty Sassy Maxine’s man…”


  “Believe me, even in my bachelor days, I wouldn’t have looked twice at her…” Drew assured Maxine. “She’s rather boyish looking.”

  “God, that was almost as good as sex!” Maxine said and tossed her head back, prompting Drew to fear a repeat of the diner scene in When Harry Met Sally.

  “I’ve taught you how to orgasm in silence,” he reminded her. “Be mindful.”

  Paging through the menu, Maxine muttered, “Could be having one in the treehouse right now.”

  “On to things of greater importance here,” Drew began. “Was that really the girl who bullied you?”

  “No, Drew, I just decided to tell some random stranger how incredible my life is to incite absolute jealousy.”

  “Mouth, Maxine…”

  “Naughty Sassy Maxie is out in full force today!” she cheered herself on, much to the disgruntled look upon Drew’s face.

  “So help me, I will take you back to your dad’s house and put you in the corner of your room while I go out on the grand old town with Tom today…and you won’t see your treehouse until our next trip here!”

  “Okay! I shall behave herein…”

  Suddenly, however, a familiar voice called out across the restaurant, startling them both into submission.

  “Maxine Elizabeth Kirk—is that you, darling?”

  “Or…not…”

  Drew’s eyes squinted, then darted around in search of their intruder. All he wanted was to have a spin around town, a nice little breakfast…and then a quickie to satisfy them both up in that damn tree.

  “Hurry. Hide me under the table. I’ll fit!” Maxine scrambled, but she was only partially kidding. She could recognize the clunk of those heels as they skittered across the linoleum floor any day, and the heavy scent of Chanel No. 5 nearly choked her with its foreboding odor. “You might have Aunt Frannie, but I’ve got Aunt Tessa…”

  “There you are! You know, I thought your Daddy said on Facebook that you’d be home! Oh, it’s been so long, Max! How are you? Oh, I am so excited to see you! How’s New York? Is this the boyfriend? Saw your picture on Facebook, too! You’re a big Broadway star, right? Oh, you’ll have to friend me. Tessa Moore-Grady-Baxter-Maxwell. Maxine’s Aunt. She never posts anymore! We have so much to catch up on! Get up and give me a hug!”

  Maxine still visited Facebook. She’d just adjusted her settings so that her mother’s only sister couldn’t view her posts. And she was sure that Aunt Tessa was the only woman in the world to use all of her ex-husbands’ names in social networking.

  Five years Judy’s senior, Tessa was quite a character. She had two children, both older than Maxine, and she was always quick to make a comparison. Money was truly the only thing that mattered to Tessa, but bragging rights to anything came in at a very close second.

  Behind the scenes, her son and daughter did miserably at school. In fact, her son flunked out his senior year of high school due to his massive consumption of pot. Tessa, however, wouldn’t tell anyone that they had anything less than perfect records. Through the grapevines, Maxine had also heard that her other cousin had two abortions in the last couple of years—three if she believed her unreliable source, too.

  Judy and Tessa never really got along—especially after Judy met Tom. Tessa was always looking for a wealthy man who was usually out of her league, and Tom’s love for her sister just wasn’t enough.

  Before she met her first husband, and in between all of her marriages, Tessa allowed her credit card debt to pile up. She’d think nothing of buying clothes that she couldn’t afford and dropping infinite amounts of money at the country club that was located a couple of towns over, sipping cocktails and flirting with every man who didn’t wear a ring on his left hand.

  Maxine could always remember the stilted relationship between her mother and aunt, but Judy never allowed her sister’s brash commentary to bother her. In fact, Maxine had made it a point to avoid her at all costs after her mother’s funeral. She had her own life to live, and she had plenty of love in it.

  Now, as Tessa stood at the table in her chunky mink coat—a gift from her second husband—she slapped on that fake smile, all the while seething over Maxine’s success beneath the surface.

  Just looking at her made Maxine laugh, though. Tessa had a lovely dark brown hair that she insisted on dying jet black, and she lined her eyes with a layer of black kohl so thick that Maxine thought she looked like a raccoon. Now a bit round in the middle, she was far too large for the designer label clothing she often stuffed herself into. But she always wore that damn coat, those heels, and that perfume…all of which had been funded in some way by all three of her ex-husbands.

  “Sorry, I’m Drew,” he reached his hand out toward Tessa. “And yes, I am Maxine’s boyfriend. Would you like to join us?”

  Maxine moved to kick him under the table, but Drew caught her foot right between his legs.

  “I would love to!” Without any regard for the look of protest upon her niece’s face, Tessa took a seat next to her. “Oh, what a polite young man you are! So tell me about this job, Maxine, and tell me all about your dad’s trip. I can’t believe he went!”

  “You know what Mom used to say—what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

  With a snort, Tessa giggled. “You are so funny, Max! Oh, I would love to come up and visit. Maybe with my next husband…” she said with a wink and nudge of her elbow to Maxine. “Or maybe I’ll find my next husband in New York. Every man up there is rich!”

  Just as Drew opened his mouth to retort, Maxine kicked off her shoe and wiggled her foot past the clench of his thighs with the tip of her big toe heading straight for his cock. He knew this little game she was playing. He forced her to sit down with her aunt…so she’d take it out on him in the most potent way she could possibly imagine.

  “Sometimes it’s hard…to find the right guy in a city like Manhattan,” Maxine said, as she tickled her toes along his inner thigh. “So many egos…so many cock-sure men who think they know everything…”

  “Well, how did you meet Drew?” Tessa winked. “Know anyone who’s looking? A divorced dad…? Uncle?”

  “Sadly, they’re all taken,” Maxine informed her. “Except for maybe your Uncle Ernie…but he’s a bit of a…footstool…”

  “Getting back, Maxine…to answer your aunt’s question…we met at a party for a theatrical charity,” Drew began, his eyes narrowing in on Maxine. “When she tripped into my lap…”

  Giving her foot just a gentle nudge against that seemingly ever-present bulge in his pants, Maxine insisted, “Not quite in your lap…but I did arouse some controversy by spilling my champagne on you...”

  Never one to think about anyone but herself, Tessa remained oblivious to their play. “Ha! You two are just hilarious. Maxine, I never knew you had it in you. You were always so serious.”

  As their own sexual banter carried out over Tessa’s trite attempts at conversation, Maxine found her arousal spinning out of control. The tips of her nipples literally poked against her bra, and the fact that he wouldn’t allow her to wear panties left her worried about leaving behind a little puddle on the red leather booth. They were never going to make it past his car. In fact, they were probably going to get arrested for public indecency, she just knew it!

  She couldn’t say good-bye to Aunt Tessa quick enough as Drew paid the bill and left their server a hefty tip. Of course, though, Tessa couldn’t leave without taking a selfie with her niece to post on Instagram—that niece “who lives in New York City and is dating a real actor on Broadway,” as she would caption the picture. Perhaps Maxine would have to just block her completely.

  “Bye, Aunt Tessa!” Drew waved from behind the wheel as he started the car. “And you, Maxine…”

  “Yes?” she said as she bounced in her seat.

  “I cannot adequately punish you today, but so help me, when we get back to New York…”

  Running her tongue over her lips, she leaned in closer and whispered, “Yeah…?”


  “You are going to learn how to behave—one way or another, Maxine,” he said. “For now, though, my little slut, I am gonna fuck you so hard that you’ll still feel it when you walk into work on Monday. Playing footsie with my cock with your aunt sitting next to you…who the fuck does that?”

  “Someone who hasn’t had sex in a couple of days,” she squeaked. “And someone who loathes her aunt.”

  Now he was speeding, and Maxine was confident that a cop had to be sitting on the side of the road in wait. That’s all they needed to prolong their abstinence.

  “Fucking stoplight!” Drew brought the car to a skidding halt and then grabbed himself right through his jeans while they waited, twisting and turning in his seat.

  “Pull over and I’ll blow ya in the trees over there…”

  “Where the hell is my whip when I need it?” Drew moaned, then raced through the light just as it turned green. “How fucking far are we from your house?”

  “Up the road just a little—slow down!”

  Gravel fluttered through the air behind the car as he swerved into the driveway, muttering the lyrics to “Into the Woods” under his breath.

  “Now is not the time to sing showtunes!” Maxine cried as she climbed out of the car and jogged along toward the backyard. Now, she knew full-well why he chose this outfit for her. It would be easy to take off in tight accommodations. Oh, she loved how that man always thought ahead.

  Tom was outside at the back of the house, stapling up the last strand of Christmas lights, when Maxine and Drew ran through the yard, apparently chasing each other. Nothing made him happier than seeing his little girl so footloose and carefree for probably the first time in her life. It made his own heart flutter to see her falling in love.

  However, before Tom even had the chance to say hello, Maxine took off running even faster toward the back of the property, giving herself a lead over Drew. “Last one there's a rotten egg!”

  “Not fair, Maxine. I don’t know where I’m going…” Drew bellowed as he finally caught up to her at the edge of the woods and followed her through the maze of brush and fallen logs and trees. He watched her every maneuver and every little turn carefully. The last thing he wanted was for Maxine to take a fall in the middle of nowhere.