Sexy/Dangerous (6 page)

Adam was in the middle of his morning run. He supposed he should have left Max a note explaining his whereabouts, but he’d needed to get out of the house. The sun was just coming up, the air was clear, and the only sounds were the circling gulls, the water lapping against the shore, and his measured footfalls. The daily two-mile jog along the beach kept him in top physical shape and usually helped clear his mind as well, so he could focus. The solitude often made him feel like he was the only person in the world, and he did some of his best thinking on these runs, but this morning his mother was on his mind, and he had company. Running alongside him was Ossie the rottweiler. The dog seemed to be trying to turn him into a friend, but Adam wasn’t about to add a rottweiler to his buddy list. His hope was that Max would know how to stop this attempt at dog bonding. Yes, he had carried the dog in from the storm last night, but that didn’t mean he wanted to get married.

Max let Ruby out through the patio door and then followed her outside. She still had no idea where Ossie had gotten to, and she assumed Adam was in his lab. Ruby began to bark, and Max looked down the beach. The surprising sight of Dr. Adam Gary jogging alongside Ossie made her walk to the edge of the patio to get a closer look. Sure enough, there they were. Ossie was running easily and the doc was, too. Adam had the stride of a trained athlete; smooth, easy, and he looked real good in his shorts and sleeveless sweatshirt. On a more serious note, she wondered if he’d heard anything from Myk concerning his mother. Max prayed the woman wasn’t in danger. If she were, this baby-sitting operation would take on a more deadly tone. Down on the beach, he was hitting the stairs and Ossie was loping up the face of the dune.

Max’s back reminded her that she hadn’t taken the pain meds she’d promised it when she got up, but she wanted to check out the Ossie and Adam connection first. When he reached the patio, he bent over to catch his breath, then checked his watch. After a few moments he straightened, wiped his face on the towel hanging on the wrought-iron railing, then looked her way.

Max found it hard to ignore the hard lean muscles of his brown legs, but said easily, “Morning.”

Still winded a bit, he nodded. “Morning. How’s your back?”

“It’s been better, but I’m okay. Did Myk call?”

“No.”

She sensed the tight response was rooted in his concern, and she wasn’t mad at him for it. She noticed that Ossie was standing right next to him. “Ossie seems to have taken a liking to you.”

“Yeah.”

Max studied Adam’s face. He didn’t look real happy. “It’s probably because you rescued him from the storm. I told you they were loyal.”

“He slept in the office with me last night, too. Can you make it stop?”

Max felt bad. “Sorry.” She called Ossie, “Come here, boy.”

He trotted to her side. Max got down to his level, aching back and all, and said quietly, “The doc doesn’t like you hanging around. You make him uncomfortable. No more playing shadow with him, okay?”

Max looked up at Adam’s tight face, then back to the rottweiler. Ossie sat and gave a soft whimper. Max stroked his back. “I’m sorry.”

“He acts like he’s disappointed.”

A terse Max didn’t respond.
How can a brother who’s supposed to be so brainy be so clueless?
Instead, she struggled to stand straight again. Trying to hide her wincing, she told him, “I have to get something to eat. Did my dinner get put away last night, I hope I hope?”

Adam could see how much pain she was in and it concerned him. “It’s in the fridge in my lab. There’s a microwave down there. I can heat it up if you want.”

Max was pleased by the offer. “Thanks.” She needed to take her meds but she needed food first.

“Be right back.”

After his departure, Max slowly made her way inside, too, and wondered if he was genuinely trying to be nice or just attempting to atone for hurting Ossie’s feelings. Deciding that an answer wasn’t necessary, she eased herself down the living room wall until she reached the
floor, then sat and waited for her own personal Einstein to bring her breakfast.

When Adam returned, he was carrying a plate holding her warmed-up food in one hand and a carafe of coffee in the other. Seeing her seated on the floor made him embarrassed that he had no furniture for her to sit on. She was the type of lady a brother wanted to be on his best for, and show his best to, and all he could offer was a spot on the old wood floor.

He was handing her the plate when his phone vibrated against his waist. “Excuse me.” He took the call. It was Mykal Chandler and he had good news.

Adam placed his hand over the phone for a moment and said to Max, “They found her. She’s in Senegal.”

Max saluted him with a forkful of yams. “Yay!”

He grinned and returned to Myk’s voice. The two men talked for a while longer, then a visibly relieved Adam closed the phone.

Max asked, “Feel better?”

“Much. Myk said she’s on her way back to the States today. He’s going to have someone watching her as soon as she touches down.”

“Good. What about your stepdad?”

“Toronto. Myk’s made contact with the police there and they’ve promised to keep an eye on him until he comes back to the States. Myk’s people will take over then.”

“Sounds like all the bases are covered.”

“Yes it does. He’s going to send some FBI agents around to see them when they get back, to tell them the government’s got me on lockdown until the prototype is finished and that I’ll call them when I’m done. Since
they’re used to me being out of touch when I’m working, they won’t worry.”

“Now if we can find out who sent the e-mail, maybe we can all relax.”

Adam nodded. Relax and go back to debating with himself why being mesmerized by a green-eyed sister named Max was a bad thing. He watched her eating her ribs. Her fingers were stained with the sauce, and the sight of her elegantly sucking them clean made him hard as a length of pipe. “I’ll get us some coffee cups.”

His abrupt exit made Max look up quizzically and wonder if she’d missed something, but because she had no way of knowing, she went back to her breakfast.

When her plate was clean and her stomach stuffed and happy, Max gulped down the meds with some water, and was one contented cookie. Adam was seated on the floor nearby drinking his coffee and enjoying his morning with her. Over his coffee cup he said, “Breakfast with ribs and yams has to be different.”

“Different is a breakfast of roasted Peruvian lizards,” she countered.

Adam stared.

“They tasted like stringy pieces of burnt chicken. We cooked them on sticks over a pit.”

Adam made a face and drank down some coffee. “Have to admit—never had the pleasure.”

“There was no pleasure involved, believe me,” she tossed back with amusement in her voice. “Just necessity.”

Adam smiled. He decided she had to be one of the most intriguing people he’d ever met. Roasted lizards.
He wouldn’t eat lizards if someone offered him a million dollars. “Do you like your life?”

Max nodded. “I do. Not many people have seen sunsets all over the world.”

“Or eaten lizards in Peru.”

Their smiles met and they studied each other in the silence that rose between them. Max said, “Underneath all that science, you’re not such a bad guy, Doc.”

“You’re not too bad yourself.” Adam wondered what it might be like to watch sunsets with her.

Kaitlin walked in then. Neither of them seemed glad to see her but she was so caught up being herself she didn’t notice. “Why are you two sitting on the floor?”

Max said, “We’re having a picnic.”

Kaitlin rolled her eyes. “Adam, I’m going for breakfast. Want me to bring you something?”

“Yeah. The usual.”

“Okay,” she said, then added, “I really wasn’t doing anything in your room yesterday.”

Adam said wearily, “Just get breakfast, okay?”

Today’s attire was blue. Blue shoes, skirt, blouse, and pearls. “Okay. Back shortly.” She shot Max a frosty look then departed.

When she was gone, Max cracked, “Maybe she’ll get lost and not come back.”

“We should be so lucky.”

They both grinned.

Max said, “I need to get up and get this day started.” She glanced at her watch. “The workers will be here in one hour. Is there anything in your lab or in your room that needs to be added to their to do list?”

“Not that I can think of.”

“What about Ms. Thang’s room? And where is it, by the way?”

“Which room did you take?”

She told him.

“Then she’s down the hall and around the corner. Can’t miss it. There’s a monogrammed K on the door.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Nope, and I’m pretty sure she doesn’t need any work done. It’s pretty pimped out as it is.”

“Pimped out?”

He grinned. “When you see it, you won’t believe it. Trust me.”

Max shook her head. “So what are you going to do today now that you don’t have to worry about your mom?”

“Shower so I can be out of the way when all the hammering begins, then head to the lab.”

Max’s meds were finally kicking in, but getting to her feet was still a pain-filled struggle.

Adam could see the discomfort on her face. “You ought to be in bed.”

“I don’t have one.” Finally on her feet, she took a few seconds to catch her breath.

“Then use mine. You didn’t have a problem taking it last night.”

Max’s guilt returned. “Sorry about that, but I really needed to lie down.”

“Evidently,” he said softly.

She looked up into his eyes. “Thanks for helping with my bra.”

“Now how is a man supposed to answer something like that?”

Max had no idea but she enjoyed seeing him flummoxed. “I’m sure you’ll come up with something.” Tossing him a smile, she made her way to the stairs and disappeared.

The amazed Adam drained the last of his coffee. He’d planned on insisting that she spend the day in bed, but she’d somehow managed to make him forget all about it with her outrageous self. Burying fantasies of helping her out of more than just her brassiere, he supposed the only thing he had left was to clean up after their picnic. He set the cups on her plate and grabbed the empty carafe. As he took a look around to make sure he had everything, his eyes strayed to the dogs outside on the patio. He could see Ruby looking out at the water, but Ossie was lying by the door, watching him with sad liquid eyes.

Adam’s guilt gave him a tug. Had he really hurt the dog’s feelings? Realizing how ridiculous that sounded, he stashed the dishes in the bathroom sink, then headed to the shower. When Kaitlin returned he’d eat breakfast and get to work, but in the back of his mind he knew he was going to spend time wondering what type of bombshell his “friends” from Madrid would lob next.

At nine A.M. sharp the workers began arriving, and
once again the house was plunged into a beehive of activity. The hard-hat-wearing queen bee, feeling better now that the pain meds were working their magic on her sore back, spent the morning directing traffic, supervising the installation of the new kitchen appliances, and answering questions like what to do about the colony of wasps currently living in the downspouts on the front of the house and how long would the power be off. The electricians had turned off the juice at nine-thirty. It was now 10:45.

At 10:55 the power came back on and Max, flanked by the helmet-wearing dogs, continued her rounds.

Kaitlin had taken off right after breakfast, saying all the noise was giving her a headache, then added, “I’m going to the mall. I’m through playing your unpaid slave.”

As the girl stalked off, Max took a deep breath and prayed for the patience she was going to need to keep from smacking Kaitlin every time they met.

By the end of the day the kitchen’s new sink, dishwasher, and appliances had been installed, and the kitchen walls were primed and painted and waiting for the new cabinetry scheduled to be hung tomorrow. It pleased Max that she would no longer have to forage for food. She’d even found a local grocery that delivered, and the new fridge was stocked and ready to rock. She hadn’t seen Adam since their peaceful morning, and she made sure Ossie stayed close and didn’t wander down to the cellar to say howdy. Content with the new kitchen, she happily started dinner.

Downstairs in the lab, Adam lifted his head. He smelled pork chops. Who was cooking pork chops? At first he thought he might be imagining the down-home aroma, but it was way too succulent to be imaginary. Somebody was frying pork chops, and he got up to go find out who.

He didn’t know why he was surprised to find Max standing over the skillet in the kitchen with a long-handled frying fork in her hand. As far as he knew, Kaitlin didn’t know a ladle from a can opener.

When she turned around, she said, “Hey. Do you want to eat?”

He met those green eyes and said, “If it’s as good as it smells, yes ma’am.”

She gave him one of those smiles he was beginning to crave and said, “There are plates and silverware in that box over there.” She moved some of the pots from the stove and set them on the newly installed countertop. “Help yourself.”

Max back was mad that it hadn’t had any pain meds since noon. She’d been so busy with the workmen she
hadn’t had time. Now, she wished she’d made the time. Between the dull ache and the stiffness, she wanted to lie down, but eating overrode everything. This would be her first home-cooked meal in a long time and she planned on enjoying it, messed up back or not.

Adam couldn’t believe the food. There were pork chops, wild rice, broccoli, corn bread, and spiced fruit. “You make all this?”

“Ruby made the corn bread,” she told him, “but I did everything else.”

Kaitlin walked in. “There’s some man named Benny at the door. Says you’re expecting him?”

Max replied. “I am, let him in. I’ll be right there.”

“No need, babe,” the male voice said. “You know how I hate being kept waiting.”

Max turned, and there stood Benny’s six-foot-two-inch handsome self. She smiled broadly and went to get a hug. “How are you?”

“Still trying to recover from you leaving me, girl,” he said, looking down into her eyes.

She chuckled. “Yeah right. What’s the latest pole dancer’s name?”

“Lola.”

“Lord.”

He kissed the top of her hair.

She could see both Gary and Kaitlin staring on in interest, so she made the introductions. “This is Dr. Adam Gary and Kaitlin Kent. Benny Watson.”

Adam came over and shook Benny’s hand. “Nice meeting you.”

Kaitlin walked over to the dark-skinned Benny and said, “Pleased to meet you, Mr. Watson.”

Benny gave her the smile that rendered most women mindless. “The pleasure’s all mine, baby girl.”

When Kaitlin giggled, Max rolled her eyes and said to him, “Benny, if you want to eat, grab a plate. The doc and I will be outside.” Then she added drolly, “I’m sure Kaitlin will show you where everything is.”

“I’m counting on it,” he replied, still smiling down at Kaitlin.

Max fixed her a plate, Adam did the same, and the two of them walked onto the patio.

A breeze was blowing gently in off the lake. Out on the horizon a freighter could be seen slowly making its way upstream. Adam asked, “How long have you known Watson?”

“Seven or eight years. He’s one of my ex-husbands.”

A stunned Adam stopped and stared, but she walked over to the new patio table and took a seat beneath the colorful umbrella as if she’d said nothing at all.

Adam followed and took a seat. Unable to hide his astonishment, he asked, “
One
of your ex-husbands? How many do you have?”

“Two.” She met his eyes without a hint of shame, then shrugged. “Sometimes things don’t work out. How about you? Any exes?”

“Two. Fiancées.”

“Ah. We have something in common,” she said, pausing for a moment to take the pain meds her sore back had been begging for.

He cut into his pork chops. “I guess you could say that.” He forked a piece of the meat into his mouth and groaned, “Oh, this is good.”

“Why thank you.”

“No, thank you for this great food.”
Fine and can
cook, too?
Adam felt as if he’d died and gone to heaven. “Not many people work with their ex.”

She shrugged. “Benny’s a good man, but monogamy wasn’t—isn’t—his thing.”

He looked up. “Thus your question about the pole dancer?”

She smiled. “Yeah. It’s a running joke now, but when I was married to him it wasn’t funny. At all.”

Adam saw her in a new light. Because of her vibrant, headstrong ways, he’d assumed she’d be the one doing all the heartbreaking. “How’d you get into security?”

“After I resigned my job in Detroit no other police department would hire me, so I started my own firm because I had bills to pay.”

“What happened in Detroit?”

“My partner shot a kid, then planted a gun to make it look like a righteous shoot. On the stand, I told the truth. The powers that be didn’t like it and they asked me to resign.”

“So, you did.”

“Yeah, and then I got the best lawyer I could find, sued their lying butts, and won.”

“Good for you.”

“In some ways, yes, but they won, too, by keeping me from working.”

The conversation slid into silence. Adam found himself wanting to know all he could about this unconventional woman. He would never have expected her to have two bad marriages. She’d told him about Benny’s infidelity, and it made him wonder about the circumstances surrounding her other ex. Had he been unfaithful, too, or had she been the cause of the breakup?

Benny stepped out onto the patio and said to Max,
“I have to find a motel and get a room. Kaitlin’s offered to drive me around.”

“Okay. See you later.”

Benny waved Adam’s way. “Nice meeting you, Doc.”

Adam said, “Same here.”

Once they were alone again, Adam asked, “Is Kaitlin in trouble?”

“Up to her weave.”

He chuckled, then left the table to go back inside and grab a couple more pork chops.

When he returned, he said casually, “Do you regret the divorce?”

She chuckled. “Oh no. Benny and I can work together, play poker together, whatever, but that’s as deep as it gets. Benny’s about drama, and I’m too old for that these days.”

“You play poker?”

She nodded.

“You any good?”

Her eyes flashed humor. “I’m okay. You play?”

“I used to in college and med school.”

“You any good?”

“I used to be.”

She checked him out over her fork of rice. “Well, whenever Benny’s around, a game’s sure to follow and he’s very good. Just so you’ll know.”

“Thanks for the warning, but I don’t have time for poker.”

“You don’t have time for much of anything, do you?”

He met her eyes and found himself wondering what it would be like to wake up and see those eyes each morning, but in reply to her question, he shrugged.

“All work and no play makes doc a dull boy,” she pointed out.

“Some women like dull.”

“They’re lying.”

Adam laughed at that. He couldn’t help it. “Oh, really?”

“Any woman who claims she likes dull is lying not only to her man but to herself. Bank it,” and she used her fork for emphasis.

Adam didn’t want to admit how much he was enjoying her. “Thanks for clearing that up.”

“No problem. Just one of my many services.”

“Think you’ll ever get married again?”

She seemed to consider the question for a moment and then shook her head. “Nah.”

“Why not?”

“Not into being controlled or sitting at home while my husband is out looking for fresh honey.”

“You sound bitter.”

“I’m allowed.”

“Not all men are that way.”

“Probably not, but I’m done with the heartache.”

Adam wondered if she was this honest with everyone. “So you’ve sworn off men.”

“Oh, no. I didn’t say that,” she said, chuckling. “Men do have their uses. They’re good for poker, going to games with, even hanging out with, but not for saying ‘I do’ with.”

Adam wondered about the men in her past. Men being men, there were undoubtedly some who had tried to cage her. With her height and beauty, she was as exotic and as compelling as something mythical, and a man’s first instinct would be to hoard her like dragon
treasure, but if she were as complex a personality as he sensed her to be, she probably didn’t do cages well.

Max didn’t mind the personal questions. Allowing him to know more about her personal side was a good way to build trust. She also hoped him getting to know her better would keep the ice breaking. “So tell me what it was like growing up with famous parents.”

“Great, crazy, sad.”

He quieted, and Max saw him look out toward the lake as if reliving a memory only he could see. She said softly, “Not trying to bring back old pain.”

“No, it’s okay. When you’re fifteen and your parents divorce it rocks your world.”

She gently moved her now empty plate aside. “Back in the day, I remember seeing pictures of you in
Jet
magazine, but I never realized you and that boy were the same until I read your file.” His mother was the award-winning African American essayist Lauren McDonald Gary, his stepfather the legendary R&B singer Raymond “Sweet Ray” Gary. Sweet Ray adopted Lauren’s five-year-old son Adam as his own a few days after their marriage in 1972. Max remembered her mother recently describing the marriage of Lauren McDonald to Sweet Ray Gary as being equivalent to Marvin Gaye marrying Alice Walker.

“I was lucky in the sense that my mother never denied Pops visitation,” he said after taking a swallow of the lime Kool-Aid she’d made to go along with the dinner. “Even though they were divorced, Ray and I still went fishing when he came off the road. He took me to Cedar Point and Niagara Falls, showed up at my high school football games whenever he was in town. He was a great father but he was a mess as a husband.”

“There’s that marriage thing again. See?”

He smiled. “Thinking back, Pops was a lot like your Benny. Never met a female he didn’t want to know better.”

Max nodded her understanding. That was definitely Benny’s problem. She wondered how Kaitlin was faring, then shook her head because she already knew how it would play out. “Neither of your parents remarried.”

“Nope. They won’t admit it but they’re still in love with each other.”

“You think so?”

“I know so. They’ve been doing the tango around each other for twenty years, but Mama’s a lot like you—doesn’t want her heart broken again.”

“Smart woman.”

“Way too smart for Pops. He actually thought she was going to put up with him catting around because all his other women had.”

“But she wasn’t like his other women.”

“Bingo.”

Max wondered if she’d ever get to meet Black America’s favorite divorced sweethearts.

The dogs were lying in the sun soaking up the warmth of the concrete patio, and as the conversation between Max and Adam slowed, Ruby trotted over and gave Max a little bark. To which Max replied, “Okay. Let me take these dishes inside and we’ll go.”

Adam looked up at Max as she gathered her plate and silverware. “What’s she want?”

“To go play. Ossie, grab the Frisbees.”

The two Frisbees were stacked faceup on the patio near the steps, so Ossie walked over, picked up the two yellow discs with his teeth, and waited.

Adam was amazed.

Max saw his reaction and said, “Doc, you’re a scientist. You of all people should know how incredibly smart some dogs are. I don’t know why you keep acting so surprised.”

“You’re right, but truthfully, after what happened to me, I didn’t care to know a thing about dogs, let alone whether they were smart or not. This is the longest I’ve been around canines in my life.”

“And you seem to be doing okay.”

He shrugged. “We’ll see.”

“Hand me your plate, I’ll take it in with mine.” She then gave her sore back a few tentative twists. The meds had kicked in but she wasn’t sure she was ready for an extended workout. “I don’t know if my back is going to like tossing Frisbees.”

Just then Benny stepped out onto the patio. “Hey babe.”

Max was surprised to see him. “Hey. Did you find a place?”

“Yeah. What time do you want me here in the morning? We didn’t talk about that before I left.”

“Nine
A
.
M
.”

He smiled that dark angel smile. “Okay.”

“Do me a favor before you go?”

“Sure.”

“I hurt my back yesterday and the dogs want to play Frisbee. Can you give them about thirty minutes?”

“No problem.” He removed his jean jacket and asked Ossie, “You ready, my brother? Let me take the Frisbees.” Ossie brought them over. Benny tossed one vertically, caught it, and asked Ruby, “Ready, baby girl?”

Ruby barked.

Max grinned.