Maddy's Oasis (16 page)

The sensation that plagued her most was what
it felt like awakening with her body in Jake’s arms. She'd been
snuggled in the crook of his body with his arms around her.

Her face flamed as her body ignited at the
memory of his hot skin, solid muscles, and his thick manhood, which
was awake even if he was not. Never had she felt so comfortable, so
safe, so whole pressed against any man. In his arms, she'd had the
brief sense of invincibility: she could do anything with him
supporting her.

She straightened in her
chair. She remembered nothing of the night, but her inner thighs,
abs, and
down there
were as sore as her head. Both ashamed and aroused by the idea
of a night with Jake, she stared at the closed bathroom door of the
office.

The office felt cramped. It was gloomy and
smelly, though the AC was working full power. Duke was stretched on
his couch. Her eyes lingered on him.

She was falling for the difficult man. She
felt once again alone and isolated. Relationships were too complex
for one as involved in work as she was. Jake knew that already. It
would not take long for his eye to be drawn elsewhere to a woman
capable of paying attention to him, perhaps back to the beautiful
Lily.

She didn't like the thought of Jake wanting
anyone but her. Oddly enough, it made her want to cry, which only
confused her more.

She'd screwed up in too many ways to fix this
time. Yesterday was officially the worst day of her life. Ever.

She tapped her pen on the desk, needing to
keep her thoughts off her personal problems. She glanced at the
clock, relieved to see it was near three. With any luck, she
wouldn't see Jake at all!

Once again, her eyes fell to the bathroom,
from where the stench came. She rose, grabbed her cleaning
supplies, and crossed to it. She couldn't solve her own issues, but
she could solve the mystery of the stench. Determined not to waste
the day moping, she pulled her shirt over her nose and entered the
smelly bathroom.

It was growing ranker daily, like the rest of
her life, she realized in irritation. She spread a towel on the
floor and began to look around for the source of the smell. She'd
been waiting for the sewage tank below the trailer to spill over or
overflow, but it hadn't. The smell was not from the sink, the tiny
shower, the toilet, or the closet, yet it permeated the air.

She cleaned despite the smell. She scrubbed
the floor, the walls, the porcelain, and the shower and closets for
the second time in a week. There was not so much as a fleck of dust
within the bathroom, but she cleaned it all again. She threw out
the two magazines she had brought in, switched rolls of toilet
paper, and even let the water run in the sink and shower for five
minutes to see if the pipes themselves were rank.

In the end, she sat back on her heels and
gazed around with a frown. AdMarkg the shirt further over her nose,
she tossed her cleaning supplies and dirty rags in the small
cleaning bin.

Duke panted from the doorway, watching.

She climbed to her feet. She wiped down the
window sill again and knelt to pick up a can of Lysol. Her gaze
fell to the single air vent in the bathroom beside the spray, and
she paused.

Kneeling, she pried off the rusted vent. The
opening was narrow, less than the width of her hand, and too dark
to penetrate visually. She snagged a flashlight and shined it into
the dusty vent. Too far down for her to make out was what looked
like a trash bag.

She stood and took the flashlight. Exiting
the trailer caused her head to pulse angrily at the brilliant Texas
sun. Before she made it down the stairs, she was sweating and
smelling like tequila. Disgusted, she muttered a few curses as she
walked, followed by Duke.

She moved to the head of the trailer, where
the bathroom was located, then knelt to peer beneath. She made out
cinder blocks, wheels, the lines to the sewer tank and water, and
several sagging tarps attached to the trailer.

With a sigh, she crawled part way beneath the
trailer, shining the flashlight up under the bathroom. The entire
area was covered in black plastic tarp that had begun to sag in the
middle. It stunk as badly as the office. She estimated where the
vent would be and shined the light up, frowning to see the entire
area covered by the plastic tarp.

She scooted forward and drew her knees up.
She nudged something and glanced down, surprised to see a wallet
beneath her right knee. She left her flashlight to mark her place
and crawled out from under the office to open the wallet.

Part of her hoped it was Jake’s, thereby
giving her an excuse to see him. Another part of her panicked at
the thought. She hesitated and then opened it.

To her surprise, none other
than Alex Hollon’s face peered back at her from the blue and white
driver’s license. She flipped through the wallet, wondering how he
could ditch the project
and
his wallet without so much as a phone call to the
office. Of course, by this time, he would have called Nigel begging
for money.

Alex was predictable like that.

She scooted forward and rose to place the
wallet out of Duke’s reach on top of a stack of wrapped cement
blocks. She patted the dog as she returned to the office for
scissors. There was no way around cutting the black plastic tarp;
she was sick of the smell. She imagined some small animal getting
trapped in the vent and suffocating in the tarp.

Retrieving a pair of scissors, Madeleine
looked around for her phone to call Mr. Howard’s office and let
them know she had Alex’s wallet. She gritted her teeth as she
remembered Jake had taken her phone the previous night. She'd been
in too much of a rush to leave in the morning to search his
clothing for it.

With a grimace, she returned to the painful
Texas sunlight and crouched once more at the side of the trailer.
Her headache was worse, and she promised herself she'd leave as
soon as the workers did this day. No part of her wanted to remain
when she wanted nothing more than to lie in bed.

She crawled beneath the trailer again and
paused beside her flashlight. She shoved the scissors through a
taut part of the tarp and began to cut.

Duke growled but remained in place. She
concentrated hard on maneuvering scissors and the stubborn tarp.
She cut with her right hand until it started to cramp before
switching to her left.

Suddenly, the tarp split of its own accord.
The familiar smell washed over her anew, far more powerful, as
something thudded to the ground before her, kicking up dust. She
coughed and covered her nose and mouth, gagging. The dust settled
once more to reveal the source of the smell.

For the first time in her adult life,
Madeleine screamed.

Jake and Toni were close enough to hear the
piercing scream. It jarred both, and Jake’s gaze flew toward the
office. He sprang forward before the older man and slowed as he
reached the trailer, circling it.

Madeleine paced madly, muttering and wringing
her hands while Eric stood slack-jawed to the side, phone in hand.
A snarling Duke had cornered Mark and forced the pretty boy from
back east onto a stack of bricks.

“Eric!” Jake called, jogging toward the pale
man. “What happened?”

As he neared, he realized Madeleine was
having some sort of breakdown. Her breathing was panicked enough
for her to hyperventilate soon, her eyes wild and face
blanched.

“I don’t know. I heard her scream … ” Eric
said.

“Duke, heel!” Jake bellowed. He strode
forward and caught Madeleine’s arms, stopping her mid-pace.
“Madeleine!”

She looked up at him, green eyes glazed and
unfocused.

“I found Alex. I found Alex,” she
whispered.

“Sweetheart, what’s wrong?” he demanded,
alarmed. He gave her a mild shake, and she blinked.

“I found Alex,” she said again.

“Found Alex?” Toni repeated as he paused
beside them. “Here?”

Her eyes watered, and she nodded. “I found
Alex.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Toni asked of
Jake. Jake focused on the distraught woman before him. Her body
trembled, and she was growing paler.

“Let’s get you inside,” he said, steering her
toward the trailer door.

“No!
” The single word was accompanied by a sharp jerk as she
pulled away.

Jake was beginning to think the woman had
completely lost it. Her face flashed red as anger pulled her out of
the odd madness. She lifted a trembling hand toward front of the
trailer and pointed.

“I found Alex.”

Dread slid through him. She met his gaze.
Toni moved away, trailed by Eric, to the edge of the trailer. Toni
bent and looked. Madeleine turned away. Jake watched as Toni
started to crawl beneath the trailer, stopped suddenly, and darted
back out. The older man met his gaze with a look of horror and
disgust.

“C’mere, sweetheart. I think you’re done for
the day,” Jake said as gently as possible. He took her by one arm
and started in the direction of the trucks parked a short distance
away.

“Duke,” she murmured.

He glanced at her, upset to see the normally
self-controlled woman so shaken.

“Duke, come!” he called over his
shoulder.

The dog bounded past them, stopping beside
the truck. Jake opened the passenger door to allow woman and dog
in. He turned, his gaze lingering on the trailer. Eric was on the
phone and pacing, while a pale Mark stood near him. Toni jogged
toward the truck, and Jake waited for him.

“I’d say he’s been there awhile,” Toni said
quietly. “That’d explain that god-awful smell. If we'd left the
office in the shade of the building, it would've taken a few more
weeks for that smell to get so bad.”

“Damn,” Jake murmured. “You call the
police?”

“Yeah, but you know how they are. They’ll be
here when they’re here,” Toni said. “Where you taking her? I’ll
send them your way.”

“Home with me,” Jake said. “Just call when
they’re on their way. I’ll see if I can’t get her to calm down.
Maybe some of Kitty’s cooking will help.”

“Warn her against eating the beans,” Toni
advised. “They’ll make her more miserable.”

“Send the men home. We’ll close the site
until the police can take care of Alex,” he said.

“Will do." Toni hesitated and stepped closer.
“You think this has anything to do with Cortez?”

Jake had considered the same with an
uneasiness that made him alarmed for Madeleine’s safety.

“I don’t know,” he answered just as quietly.
“I’ll see what I can get from her once she’s calm. Javier might
have some insight.”

“Police won’t do any good if
it is Cortez,” Toni warned. “Watch your back,
mi hijo
.”

He slapped Jake’s arm, turned, and trotted
back to the office. Jake watched him with a frown. The idea of
Madeleine being coerced or in danger was not something he expected
to enrage him. He drew a deep breath and walked to the truck.

She was hugging Duke when he
climbed in. For the first time ever, he wished the damn dog hadn't
come along at all. If Duke were out of the way, she might be
hugging
him
.

He looked her over. She still trembled but
was regaining some color. Her breathing had steadied, and she was
aware enough to pull on her seatbelt. Satisfied that she was not
about to flip out even worse, Jake started the car and blasted the
AC. He waited until they reached the smooth highway before
addressing her.

“You okay?”

She took awhile to respond. Her face was
pressed against Duke’s neck, her arms slung around him.

“Yes,” she said in a small voice. “I’m sorry,
Jake.”

“For what?”

“I thought I was good at taking care of
myself, but you always have to rescue me.”

He almost smiled at the frustration in her
voice.

“No problem. Makes a man feel useful,” he
returned.

He reached out to touch her. Her soft hair
was tied in its normal bun at the base of her neck, and he stroked
it before touching her face. Though he could not see it, her cheek
was wet.

“Ah, sweetheart, you kill me with your
tears,” he murmured.

“I’m not crying,” she said stubbornly.

Jake chuckled.

“You’re not taking the right way to the
hotel,” she said.

“Not going to the hotel."

“Where are we going? I don’t really … I want
to clean up before talking to the police.”

He heard the tremor in her voice; it only
reinforced his fierce need to take her somewhere safe and protect
her from the mountain of events the weekend had inflicted upon
her.

“Kitty’s got something cooking for you,” he
said.

She was silent another long moment. He braced
himself, expecting an argument or a command to return her to her
hotel.

“Okay,” she whispered.

She leaned away from Duke against the window
and was soon dozing. He patted the panting dog, appreciative of the
beast despite its ability to charm Madeleine in a way he could
not.

He wanted nothing more than to stop the truck
and take her in his arms until she calmed. Instead, Jake tightened
his grip on the steering wheel until his knuckles were white.

Everything about the project was doomed, he
brooded.

They reached the hacienda and drove slowly
down the dirt driveway to the whitewashed adobe house. Madeleine’s
eyes were dry but rimmed with red. Black shadows smudged the
delicate skin beneath them.

Jake stopped in front of the quiet house and
hopped out of the car, followed by a panting Duke. She exited more
slowly, her exhausted face turned up to the sun’s warmth.

He closed the door to the truck and drew her
into his arms. He expected resistance and relaxed when she leaned
into him. Tension melted from her body as his arms circled her. He
nuzzled her hair with his cheek.