Maxie (Triple X) (21 page)

She held him as he came, his hips spasming as the pleasure rode him hard.

He braced one hand against the wall, and Maxie realized he was carrying all her weight. She reached for the slick floor with her toes.

“I’ve got you,” he grunted in her ear.

He caught her other leg before she could slide it down. He was still inside her, but he wasn’t making any attempts to disconnect their bodies. They looked at each other, eyes blinking as the water still poured over them.

“Right where I want you.”

Maxie let out a shaky breath. Her muscles were weak, her insides were quivering and warmth was emanating deep inside her belly. She hadn’t known sex could be like that. So hot and intense, desperate and demanding, yet thoroughly satiating and emotional.

Her eyelids drooped, and she rested her forehead on Zac’s shoulder.

“All right.” His voice was gruff as he tucked her wet hair behind her ear. “I think it’s time we found Sleeping Beauty a bed.”

When Sunday morning rolled around, Zac was holding Maxie. They were lying together on her big king-sized bed, but as close as they were, a twin would have sufficed. Their bodies were spooned together with her back pressed against his chest. Her bottom cushioned his softened cock, and her toes rubbed his shins.

He could hear people moving about in the kitchen downstairs, but he was nowhere near ready to get up. He spread his hand wider over her stomach and felt her breathe as her chest slowly rose and fell. She was awake, he knew, and it encouraged him that she seemed too comfortable and content to move.

She wasn’t sneaking away this time.

“Zac?” she said.

“Yeah?”

“Can I ask you a question?”

“You can ask me anything you want.”

She ran her fingertips along his forearm. “If your family is in Chicago, why did you leave? Why did you come here?”

He let out a long breath. He didn’t want to talk about that. Not now. “It was a good career move.”

“From big-city detective to small-town sheriff?”

He nuzzled her hair. It had dried in wild waves that made him want to curl it around his fingers. “Just because a place is small doesn’t mean it doesn’t need law enforcement. Besides, it was a promotion.”

“But there’s not as much going on here. We don’t have a drug problem or gangs or murders.”

“Thank God for that.” Every place had drug problems, and bad things happened even behind a small-town’s closed doors, but she didn’t need any more truths smacking her in the face.

She went quiet, but her fingers stopped tracing the bones in his wrist. She wanted honesty, he realized, something that had been pretty amorphous in their relationship.

“I needed a change,” he admitted.

“Has it been for the better?”

He soaked in the sensation of her body against his. “Yeah. A lot better.”

The room fell quiet again. The morning sun was brightening the room, and flecks of dust glowed, suspended in midair. He watched them for a moment as they danced around with nowhere to land, nowhere to ground them.

“I did undercover work for a long time,” he said. “Deep cover. I was good at it, taking on roles and getting into places nobody else could. It was a rush.”

Her hand covered his, and she intertwined their fingers. “Until?”

“Until I got a bit too good. My brother, Mike, was the one who called me on it. I’d missed our mother’s birthday dinner, and he gave me an earful. We nearly had a knock-down, drag-out fight.”

“Why did you miss it? Were you busy working?”

“Nothing I couldn’t have gotten out of, but undercover work is intrusive. It splits your life right down the middle. You have to protect your personal life at all costs but open yourself enough that the wrong people believe you. It’s a really fine line, and I was beginning to cross it.”

Her grip on him tightened. “You weren’t starting to go bad.”

He pressed a kiss to her ear. “No, I had a firm grasp of what was right and wrong, but I’d become so focused on fighting the battle that I’d closed off my real life. I had barely any contact with my family. I hadn’t talked to friends in months. My sister didn’t recognize me the one time I dropped by her house. I’d lost weight and had gotten pretty grungy to fit my cover.” He let out a hard breath that stirred her hair. “Somewhere amongst all the lies, I lost myself.”

“But here?”

He nuzzled against her, loving the feel of her supple, warm body. “Here, I think I’m finding my way back.”

A sound left the back of her throat, and she rolled over to face him. Concern shone in her eyes. “I’m sorry.”

He cupped her face. Her expression was so guilty he couldn’t imagine what was going through her head. “Sorry about what?”

“I put you right back in that situation again. I made you lie.”

He gave her a wry look. “You mean pretending I was your boyfriend?”

This undercover role he’d been playing with her had been anything but typical. Undercover didn’t usually mean under the covers, but this had nothing to do with his job. Everything he’d done with her had been purely personal.

Make that extremely personal.

He slid one of his legs between hers. They’d made love several times over the course of the night, but he was ready for more. “It’s worked out pretty well, hasn’t it?”

A sexy blush came over her cheeks, but Zac frowned when she didn’t say anything.

He watched her carefully. Morning had arrived. The sun had risen over the hilltops and was glinting off the river. Downstairs, coffee cups clinked and conversation murmured. “Are you going to tell them about us today?”

She traced the line of his collarbone. “I’m not sure what to say.”

What was there not to be sure about? They’d started out as a lark, but all that had changed, hadn’t it? There was no reason to continue with the pretense now. She had her family tree. He’d agreed to play the part of her boyfriend until they’d learned the truth. Now they had it. Why not be upfront about everything?

“What’s happening between us, Maxie?” he asked point-blank. Apparently, it was something he needed to know too. He knew how he felt, but she’d just admitted she’d been flying by the seat of her pants. “Are we getting caught up in our two-man show, or is this for real?”

She bit her lip. “I…I
want
it to be real.”

Zac’s heart sank. He pulled his arm away from her shoulders, and lines of stress reappeared on her forehead.

“But you don’t know for sure,” he said flatly. His heart hit bottom, and the impact hurt. She’d been giving off mixed signals, but he’d thought she’d been right there with him. “Well, last night was pretty damn clear for me.”

She looked at him like a doe in the headlights. But she still didn’t say anything.

“And I thought I was the actor.” He swung his feet over the side of the bed. When her fingertips brushed against his back, he moved.

“Zac, wait.”

He’d waited around long enough. Picking up his gym bag, he walked away without looking back. “You let me know when you figure it out.”

Chapter Eleven

Setting up the booth was easier on the second day than it had been the first. Lexie and Roxie knew where things went, but Maxie wasn’t focused. She hung another dried flower arrangement but didn’t take the time to determine if it was centered.

She was miserable. She and Zac had had a terrible misunderstanding. She’d never seen him in a bad mood, but she’d hurt him. Simply by not knowing what to say, by getting all tongue-tied and, damn it, by being timid.

She grabbed a box of fancy ribbons she’d tied into bows and began setting them out for display. Last night she hadn’t been shy. She’d thrown her worries into the wind—or make that the water spray. She’d felt safe with him, wanted and protected. If he hadn’t noticed, she’d gone a little crazy over him in return, but this morning he’d put her on the spot. When he’d asked her what was happening between them, she hadn’t been able to find an answer.

She was an idiot, pure and simple.

She liked him. She was falling for him like Indigo Falls over those colorful rocks, but the fact that he’d had to ask how she felt had brought up her old insecurities and doubts. She’d thought she’d shown him. When she’d realized that he needed the words, it had been too late.

Frustrated with herself, she dropped the box to the ground and kicked it under the table.

“I thought you wanted those sachets up front,” Roxie said.

Maxie looked down and realized the bigger bows were hiding them. “Right. Sorry.”

She straightened the mix, but when she turned, she nearly knocked over a stack of painted ceramic pots. Roxie caught them before they could topple over. “What is up with you?” she asked.

“Nothing. I…I just haven’t had my coffee yet.”

“God, let’s get you some. I’ll buy you a cup from the chatty girl a few booths down.”

“No.” Maxie reached for Roxie’s arm, but missed. With the way her stomach was churning, she really didn’t need to add kerosene to the mix. “That’s all right.”

“You need it.” Roxie grabbed her pocketbook, but her arms fell to her sides when she stepped outside the booth. “Shoot, they don’t seem to be open yet.”

Maxie stepped outside to look. Becky was a morning person, so it was a bit surprising that she hadn’t started brewing yet. There was movement at the Java Mama booth, but both Becky and Martin seemed to be rushing around searching for things. Apparently, her stomach had lucked out. “That’s okay.”

“Coffee does sound good.” Lexie moved a garden gnome so it stood next to one of its brothers. “Is there somewhere else we can get some?”

“The Iguana makes good coffee to go.”

“Do you want me to make a run?” Cam came from the back where he’d been stacking boxes. They were nearly ready to open up for business.

“Get me a mocha latte, would you?” Roxie asked.

“I’ll take a cappuccino,” Lexie added.

“Maxie?” Cam said.

“You really don’t need to go,” she protested.

“I spent a good chunk of my early career as an errand boy. What would you like?”

“Coffee with cream and sugar?”

“Got it.” He was reaching into his pocket as he walked away, but stopped when he pulled out the keys. “Mind if I take the van?” He’d served as driver on the way over.

“I’m not going to make you walk,” she teased.

He smiled at her, and it made her feel a bit better. At least one guy wasn’t upset with her today.

But he wasn’t her guy.

“Is something the matter, Maxie?” Lexie rubbed her arm comfortingly. “You don’t seem to be yourself today.”

“I have a headache,” she answered truthfully. It was about to split her head right open, but it went well with the ache in her heart and the hole in her stomach.

She needed to talk with Zac. She had to straighten everything out, but in order to do that she had to take the initiative. Unfortunately, her chutzpah had gotten up and left. She didn’t know where or how to even start. He’d been intimidating enough when she’d spied on him in his uniform from behind potted plants. She didn’t know how she’d ever approach him now that things had gotten so convoluted…and they’d become lovers…

Her cheeks heated, and she turned into the booth. “I think I have some aspirin.”

She found some water to help the pills go down, but once Roxie and Lexie learned she wasn’t feeling well, they insisted that she rest in the shade. The heat hadn’t pumped up to uncomfortable levels yet, but the sun was bright. She sat on a stool they’d brought and lay her head in her hands.

She was reverting; she could feel it with every fiber of her being. That hand that used to snatch her back from doing things had her by the throat. It had thrown her to the ground and was sitting on her. She was frozen, unable to do the things she wanted to do.

The things she
needed
to do.

“Maxie?”

She lifted her head at the sound of yet another male voice.

“Wrong sister.” Lexie smiled and pointed. “She’s sitting on the chair.”

“Ah.” Martin pulled up straighter, but his cheeks flushed. “I didn’t really think you were the sheriff’s cousins, you know.”

“Of course, you didn’t. That was just a little inside joke between us, right?”

“Right.” He rubbed his hands in his habitual circular motion, but then seemed to remember the reason for his visit. “Have either of you seen an extra cashbox lying around?”

Maxie glanced into the booth. Her own gray metallic box was right where she’d put it. “No. Why?”

“Becky can’t find hers.”

“Oh no.” That wasn’t good. Maxie had left most of the money she’d made yesterday in the safe she had at the flower shop. The bank had been closed by the time things had wrapped up. She’d only brought enough today to make change, but that wasn’t an insignificant amount of cash for a small business like hers. It had to be the same for Becky. “Has she checked her van?”

“I just looked there.”

“Have you tried calling the coffee shop? Maybe she left it behind by mistake.” Maxie knew how confusing things could get. There was so much to keep track of. Fortunately, with the crew she’d brought, nobody had taken their eyes off The Green Thumb’s cashbox.