Hot as Sin (Contemporary Romance Box Set)

by Katherine Lace

  And the cat’s therapist. My thoughts drift to Madison.

  There’ve been more than a few women in my life, most of them not for very long. I’ve never run into anybody like Maddy, though. She seems to genuinely have no idea how desirable she is. I want nothing more than to convince her I want her. I sure as hell don’t have to convince myself. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted a woman as badly in my life. Even the fact she has a kid isn’t a turn-off, and that’s usually been a deal breaker with me. I actually like her kid, though. He’s fun to talk to, and he likes trucks. So he can’t be bad, right? I could deal with being a dad to a kid like that.

  That idea brings me up short. A dad? Me? How did my brain go down that path? I shake my head. Something’s short circuited in my thought process, that’s for sure.

  “We about done here?” Whitaker asks me, jerking me back to reality.

  The guys have been standing around waiting for me to give the order to head back to the station. When I focus on Whitaker, I can tell he’s amused by the fact I was just spacing out.

  “Yeah. I think we can start packing up.” I suit words to actions and start rolling up the yards of hose that need to go back onto the truck before we can leave.

  “Man, you were about a million miles away,” Whitaker adds, chuckling.

  “Probably thinking about that new piece of tail of his,” says Carter with a laugh. His choice of words pisses me off, but I let it go, knowing he doesn’t really mean anything by it. “She’s ho-o-ot.”

  “You’re just jealous,” I shoot back, “’cause the only thing you’re taking to bed tonight is your right hand.”

  The other guys laugh, shoving Carter in the shoulder.

  “So is it serious?” Whitaker asks. “She seemed really nice.”

  I shrug. “I’m meeting her folks tonight for dinner. I don’t know if that means it’s serious or not.”

  “Oh, that totally means it’s serious.” Whitaker nods wisely, his grin wide. He seems happier about the development than I am. Of course, I know it’s all supposed to be a big fake put-on so her parents will stop being assholes to her, but I don’t have to tell them that.

  “Guess you’ve boned her then, huh?” The hair on the back of my neck stands up at the sound of Curry’s voice. “What’s it like sticking it to a MILF?”

  My first instinct is to punch him in the throat. Nobody talks about my girl like that. Then I realize I just thought of her as “my girl,” and the mental twitch distracts me enough that I’m able to get myself under control before I beat his ass. Instead I just grin at him. It’s not a pleasant grin.

  “Well, I guess that’s none of your fucking business, now, is it, Curry?”

  “She must be damn good in bed to get you to think about taking on a brat for the rest of your life.”

  Whitaker gives Curry a sharp look. “Man, shut up, dude. Let the chief be happy.”

  “Chief,” Curry mutters, like it’s a filthy word. He’s got a chip on his shoulder about fourteen miles wide. I’ve noticed it before, but it’s never been quite so ridiculously obvious. Doesn’t matter. I’m not going to rise to his bait. I’ve got better ways to spend my time. “Good luck with that,” Curry adds. “No better way to fuck up a good slap and tickle than having somebody’s damn kid walk in on you.”

  I just shake my head. “I guess that’s why none of your damn kids ever call, huh?” Maybe that’s going too far—everybody knows Curry’s got a terrible relationship with his ex-wife and their two sons—but he asked for it.

  Curry shows his teeth in an ugly smile. “You have fun meeting the parents. I bet they kick you out on your ass.”

  “Maybe, maybe not,” I say, and wrap up the last of the hose. “I guess we’ll find out.”

  I stop my truck in front of a huge, beautiful house in a neighborhood so rich it’s making my teeth ache. This is where Maddy’s parents live? Holy shit. I don’t say it out loud; I don’t want Maddy to see me losing my cool over something so trivial.

  What the hell am I doing here, though? I feel completely out of place. My house is nice, and it’s in a decent neighborhood, but this is beyond anything I’ve ever experienced. The closest I’ve ever come to a house like this was when one caught fire a couple years ago.

  We get out of the truck, and when I come around to join her on the passenger’s side, she reaches up to check the collar of my button-down shirt. She’s so nervous her hands are shaking. I grab them with both my own.

  “It’s all right, Maddy. It’ll be fine.” I give her a quick kiss on the forehead. “I promise.”

  She takes a deep breath and nods. “My parents are going to be watching every little thing. Just bear that in mind. They’re…”

  “They sound shitty,” I suggest when she can’t seem to come up with the right words. I don’t understand why they would make her bend over so far backward just so she can follow a lifelong dream. Parents are supposed to support your dreams, not drop anvils on them.

  She shakes her head and smooths the front of my shirt as I let go of her hands. “They’re just my parents.”

  She leads the way up the sidewalk to the front door. The entryway on its own is intimidating enough. These are people who have a lot of money and like to be sure everyone knows that. Maddy presses the doorbell, and a moment later the door opens.

  Her parents are both standing in the entryway. They’re dressed like they’re going out for dinner, and her mother is even fully made up. I see a slight resemblance in the shape of her face. Her dad is tall and has a long, almost gaunt face. He looks like he might have a stick up his ass.

  “Mr. and Mrs. Bowan,” I say, and stick my hand out. “It’s great to meet you. I’m Jesse.”

  Mom puts her hand out immediately, but Dad seems to be giving me a once-over while trying to act like he’s not.

  “Nice to meet you, Jesse,” she says. “I’m Lydia, and this is Gregory.”

  Gregory, I note. Not Greg. Lydia releases my hand, and I extend it to Gregory. He takes it, but seems reluctant. Hard nut to crack, I guess. “Nice to meet you,” he says, but it’s not terribly sincere.

  “Dinner is almost ready,” Lydia tells us. “Why don’t you come sit in the parlor for a few minutes with your sister while I finish up?”

  The parlor. Wow. I don’t think I’ve ever known anybody who had an actual parlor. It proves to look much like a living room, but with fancier furniture. There’s a younger woman and a man already seated in the room.

  “Jesse,” Maddy says. “This is my sister, Melinda, and her husband, Jeff.”

  I shake hands again and have a seat. “Where’s Christopher?” Melinda asks.

  “We dropped him off with a sitter.” Maddy says it lightly, like she didn’t spend fifteen minutes telling the poor girl exactly what to do in case of any potential emergency. I know. I was there.

  We engage in light, typically awkward small talk for a few minutes, then we’re escorted into the dining room. Its all weirdly formal. I’ve had dinner at friends’ houses, and it’s never been like this. This is like having an audience with the queen or something.

  The food’s damn good, though. I haven’t had steak this tender in a long time. There’s a lull in the talk while we dish out food and start to eat, but after the first few bites settle and Melinda and Jeff have delivered their updates, Maddy’s dad turns his attention to me.

  “So. Jesse. What do you do for a living?”

  “I’m a firefighter.” No shame in that, I tell myself, although it seems pretty plebeian in these surroundings. “How about you?”

  “Stocks,” he says, but that’s all I’m going to get, because he continues, “You went to college?”

  It feels like the temperature in the room has gone down about twenty degrees. I can feel Maddy tensing up in the chair next to me. Even Mel and Jeff seem put off by the intensity of the interrogation. I wonder if they know something about Maddy’s deal with her father—that she has to have a boyfriend to get the money she needs to go to sch
ool. It’s all so petty.

  “Football scholarship,” I tell him. “Full ride. Studied fire science.”

  He gives me a narrow look. “Fire science? That’s a thing?”

  “Yes, sir, it is.” It’s going to be like that, is it? Fine. I can handle him.

  “So you’ve got, what? A bachelor’s degree?” He looks like he’s just waiting for me to step into some kind of muck. And I know I’m about to, at least as far as he’s concerned. I’ve got a sudden urge to look toward Maddy for support, but I quell it. I’m here to support her, not for her to support me. And I know what this guy will say, and I know how to handle it.

  “No,” I tell him. “I didn’t actually graduate.”

  He leans back a bit in his chair. It’s the kind of body language that says he knows he’s about to chew me up and spit me out. Maddy’s hand lands on my knee under the table and squeezes.

  That’s a much more intriguing development. I put my hand on top of hers and keep my focus directly on Gregory.

  “That’s interesting,” he says. “You got a football scholarship and then threw it all down the toilet? I’ll bet your parents loved that.”

  He thinks he’s got me on the ropes. This guy’s a bully, plain and simple. “They were devastated, actually. Very upset about the whole situation. Especially since I dropped out of school to help take care of my sister.” I let a small piece of silence fall, and just when I can tell Gregory is about to make another comment, I sucker punch him. “She died a few months ago.”

  His mouth snaps shut. I almost want to laugh at him, but there’s also a sharp sense of guilt that I’m basically using Lacey as a weapon. That’s not right. She’d bash me upside my dumbass head if she were here right now.

  Lydia chimes in, breaking the tension a bit. “That seems very admirable of you. And I’m very sorry to hear about your sister.”

  Mel and Jeff, who’ve been hanging tensely on the conversation as well, join in the sympathy. I give them a smile. They seem nice. I wonder how this set of parents managed to produce a couple of decent ladies like Mel and Maddy.

  The conversation fades back to small talk for a few minutes, then Gregory says, “So, what are you planning to do with your career as a firefighter? Is that an upwardly mobile position?”

  I almost want to laugh at him. He walked right into that one. “I’m interim fire chief.”

  At the exact same time, Maddy says, “He’s interim fire chief,” and we look at each other. It’s a moment. I grin. Having moments right now is good. It’ll add to the evidence that we’re a Very Serious Couple.

  I turn back to Gregory and wave a tiny imaginary flag. “Vote King! The election’s coming right up.”

  Jeff and Mel both chuckle. I get the impression they’re enjoying seeing Dad get pushed into a corner.

  “That’s good to hear,” says Greg in a tone that says, “Fine, you little shit, let’s see what else you’ve got.” “It’s good to know you’ve got a good career foundation.” Then he chuckles. “It seems so strange, though, to see you with someone like my daughter.”

  I lean over the table a little. “Oh? Why’s that?”

  “You’re obviously very motivated. You’ve got a sports background. Madison never bothered with sports—she just played video games and sat around reading comic books. Wasting her time and spending my money on nonsense. Then when she could have gone to college…well, I’m sure you know how that turned out.”

  I’d really like to punch this guy in the nose. I mean, why not? I know how to fix it back up afterward. “Yes. I do. She went on to meet me in an apartment fire.” I turn and give Maddy a look that I hope looks devoted and loving. I’m so pissed at her dad at this point, though, that I might just look like a rabid weasel. Ah, well. I’m giving it the old college-dropout try, at least.

  Lydia is obviously surprised, and a little upset. “Madison. There was a fire?”

  Maddy is quick to reassure her mother. “It wasn’t in my apartment.”

  “Everything was fine,” I add. “There was one apartment that took some damage, but that was all. We just had to evacuate the building, and that’s when I met Madison.”

  I hear a small sound from Mel. When I glance her way, I see she’s holding back a laugh. Maddy must have told her the whole story, shower curtain, graphic nudity, Neanderthal behavior and all. I grin at her.

  “That’s a relief. I don’t understand why you don’t tell us these things, Madison.”

  “Nothing happened. It really wasn’t important in the long run.”

  “You could have been killed.”

  “Nope.” I put an arm around Maddy. “I was there to save her. All is well.”

  “But what about Christopher?” Lydia looks directly at me. She’s tossing the ball to left field at this point—I have no idea what she means.

  “Christopher was at Mel’s place,” Maddy says, but she sounds fairly confused, too.

  “No, that’s not what I mean. What about Christopher, Jesse? Are you willing to take care of a child that isn’t your own? Can you be a good father figure to him?”

  I open my mouth, then close it again, blinking. Jesus. Left field wasn’t an exaggeration. In fact, she might be throwing the conversational ball in from the other side of the fence.

  “Mom!” Maddy says, obviously embarrassed. “We’re just dating.”

  “He needs a father figure in his life, Madison. We’ve talked about this.”

  “Yes, I know.” Maddy’s face is reddening, the tips of her ears turning pink. I love it when I make her blush like that, but when other people do it to her, it makes me angry. Especially when it’s her own damn family. “But don’t you think it’s a little early to be discussing that?”

  “You brought him over,” Gregory adds. “You must be serious about him.”

  “Hey, whoa.” I lift my hands, hoping I can get the conversation back under some kind of control. As if it was ever under any control in the first place. This family is batshit. “What is this? A formal interview to be Maddy’s husband?” I say it jokingly, but it doesn’t do much to defuse the tension. “Should I have brought my resume and maybe taken a drug test before we came over?”

  Mel chuckles. She at least seems to be on Maddy’s side.

  “Besides,” I continue, “Maddy says she’s going to veterinary school. It’s not like she needs anybody to support her. Vets make good money, you know.”

  “After investing hundreds of thousands in college to learn to work with animals of all things.”

  This is Gregory. I’m unsurprised that he has less than charitable thoughts about dogs and cats. I haven’t seen any signs of pets in the house, undoubtedly because they’d clash with the decor or something.

  “If you’re going to go to medical school, you might as well be a real doctor.”

  Lydia tosses her napkin aside, and I think maybe she’s finally going to stand up to her annoying husband. Instead she says, “Madison, I don’t understand why you want to get an advanced degree, anyway. You’re a woman. You should stay home and take care of your child. He needs a steady presence, and that’s where you’re failing him by not having a man in your life.”

  Wow.

  “Look at your sister,” Lydia continues. “She—”

  “Oh, no, Mom.” Mel lifts both hands, warding off her mother’s comment. “Don’t drag me into this. I stay home by choice so I can work on my art. What Maddy wants to do with her life has nothing to do with what I want to do with mine.”

  “But you cook and clean, and—”

  “So do I,” says Jeff.

  “I don’t think either of you understand that we’re trying to see to Madison’s well-being here, and that we want the best for our grandchild.”

  Maddy shoots to her feet, and the room falls completely silent. “Your grandchild’s well-being is best served by him having a happy mother. A fulfilled mother, who can show him it’s awesome to be able to follow your dreams and build the kind of life you want for yourself.”<
br />
  I reach for Maddy’s hand, but she jerks it away.

  “You have never wanted me to be myself. All you ever did—all you ever do—is complain that I’m not what you want me to be. I don’t want my son to grow up feeling like I sacrificed my life for him, or that I’m disappointed in anything he chooses for his own life.” Her face has gone bright red. “You know why I want that for him? Because it’s something I never had.”

  With that, she spins and stomps out of the dining room. With no idea what else to do, I follow her.

  I catch up to her just short of the front door. “Don’t you want to see what’s for dessert?”

  She gives me a deadly glare over her shoulder and doesn’t answer. She’s out of the house and stomping back toward the truck before I can respond.

  “Maddy—”

  “Just take me home.” Her voice is sharp, but I can hear an edge of tears in it. She stops next to the truck and adds, “Please?” without turning to face me.

  “Sure. No problem.” I unlock the truck and open the door for her, offering her my hand to help her into the passenger seat. I take my time walking around to the driver’s side, then pretend I’m having trouble getting the door open so she can take a few more seconds to compose herself. By the time I get into the car and put the keys in the ignition, she’s mustered up a little bit of a smile.

  “Sorry about that.”

  I shrug. “Everybody’s got weird relatives.”

  “I mean about storming out. I probably shouldn’t have.”

  “It’s all right. Really.” I probably would have stormed out a lot earlier, had I been in her position. I ease out of the driveway and into the street.

  “I just made everything harder on myself. They’ll never cosign on the loan now.”

  The way Mr. and Mrs. Anachronism treated her, I’m thinking the whole plan was probably a no-go from the beginning, but I’m not going to tell her that. “At least I learned a few things,” I say instead.

  She gives me a look, her brows compressed. “Like what?”