Maid to Order (6 page)

Faced with such an awkward evening in his company she was nothing but pleasant and brave. Either way, by the time the waitress returned to ask if they wanted anything else so she could bring the bill, Rusty found himself a little disappointed that the time with her was coming to an end.

He’d missed working out at the gym with Ronnie, Seth and Ian and hadn’t even called them to let them know he wouldn’t be there. Which was completely out of character for him. A part of him feared that if Amy knew he was missing out on other plans she would rush through dinner. Instead he chalked it up to his friends getting a little of their own treatment, since they’d dissed him a few times in the past.

Rusty found he wasn’t willing to give Amy an excuse to end this evening prematurely, regardless of how odd it felt from time to time. The waitress returned and informed Amy that she’d ran her card and asked her to sign a receipt. Amy smiled at him like a Cheshire Cat knowing that once again she’d bested him… found a way around him.

“I gave them my card on the way to the restroom because you are
not
paying for dinner after the way you busted your very nice butt for me today. I really do appreciate everything,” she said, smiling another gloating grin at him.

After dropping Amy back off at the bakery, ensuring that she made it safely inside her vehicle and watching her drive away, he headed home himself. He was physically tired but could not shake the stupid smile he wore until walking in the door to his house he eyed his dining room table and his gun cabinet.

The realization hit that after tomorrow this job would end as well. He’d made a promise to Amy though so his own personal issues would once again have to wait until another day.

After a quick shower, he’d just laid down when his cell phone rang. Looking at the display and seeing Ian’s name there he answered, knowing he should explain himself.

“We missed you tonight. Did you get lost between your house and the gym?” Ian asked.

“No, I certainly did not. You know damn well a real man doesn’t get lost. If you need gossip material for your next girl’s night out with your lovely wife and Ms. Reynolds… then just know that I had a better offer for this evening. That’s all.”

“She didn’t happen to come with a ready supply of cupcakes… now did she?” Ian asked with a chuckle.

“I’m afraid that Ms. Carlton lacks the maturity I seek in a female companion. However, I am curious why you never chased her down for yourself. I thought blondes were your thing?” Rusty asked in return.

“Courtney had already caught me in her web before I ever actually met Amy. She’s a real sweet woman though, so you might want to rethink your ideas on
maturity
. What’s the worst that could happen if you asked her out? Being turned down sucks but if she were to say yes… wouldn’t it be worth the risk of rejection?” Ian laughed.

“I’m going to bed since its extremely late and I might suggest you do the same,” Rusty replied.

“Should we expect you at the gym tomorrow evening?” Ian asked with an even heartier laugh.

“I don’t answer to you, Sergeant. If I show up then I show up. If I don’t then don’t concern yourself with where I am or who I might be with,” Rusty said.

Ian only laughed louder so Rusty hung up on him and, after crawling into his bed, he laid awake for several minutes unable to get warm hazel eyes and a dimpled cheek out of his mind. Forget that she was probably at least ten years younger than him, she was also way to pretty for him. She could easily date male models, movie stars or extremely wealthy men with looks like that. A grumpy old man with far too many emotional scars was way beneath her pedestal.

Pretty or not, this business of her leading him around by a very short choker chain was going to come to a screeching halt. He didn’t take orders… he gave them. Her brash words and attempts to flirt with him were also fixing to stop as well.

Tomorrow would be his last day having to deal with her but he’d be damned if he left her with the impression that he wasn’t man enough to stand up to her attempts to seduce him into doing her bidding. His
appetites
didn’t control him and if she wasn’t careful she’d find out that they were just one more tool in an arsenal of weapons at his disposal for dealing with the likes of women like her. Manipulation was an adversary he’d beaten many times.

He was in a real mood by the time he arrived at her shop the next morning. Dreams of her sweaty, smiling and completely naked while wrapped around him had been totally unexpected after years of absolutely nothing other than absolutely horrific visions of death and destruction.

Instead of waking up with his heart nearly about to beat out of his chest or in a cold sweat, he’d woken up with the best erection he’d had in years. Like a horny teenager lacking control of his own balls, he found himself awake at three thirty in the morning. Taking a shower and attempting to chase the images of a very young but hot woman who called him Sir like it was a lover’s pet name out of his head.

That was why she had better knock off this trying to lead him on thing today because he was hanging on by a very thin rope that was fraying around the edges. Upon entering the shop he was bitch slapped by the smell of confection sugar and cake. The whole place smelled like her. He’d barely walked in the door when she came bounding over to him with a worried look on her face.

“I’m so far behind and I even came in early this morning. I forgot to take Grudge out this morning before I left the house. I need you to go to my apartment and let him out and walk him around a little bit,” she ordered holding her keys out to him. “It’s just a couple of blocks up the street…”

“Ms. Carlton… if you can’t take care of the animal, perhaps you shouldn’t have him,” he barked at her.

Unlike the day before her face lost its normal sweet smile which was replaced with a look that told him how hard she was trying to bite her tongue to keep it from telling him to go straight to hell. She was even hotter when she was mad and again his body reacted against his will.

“Things aren’t always this crazy… and I certainly don’t always forget to… take care of him. This festival is eating up way more of my time than I expected. If you would please see about taking my dog out for me, I would greatly appreciate it,” she bit out.

Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were shooting daggers at him. He’d never wanted to kiss a woman so bad in his whole life. Grabbing the keys from her hand instead, he headed back outside.

“It’s the apartment on the left… blue building… down there,” she yelled while hanging out the door to the shop and pointing her finger in the direction of her apartment. “Can you also take the box on the front porch inside?”

Finding the apartment, he unlocked the door, hefted the large box on her porch inside only to be verbally assaulted by an ankle-biting and overweight Pug. The animal wasn’t trying to hurt him, merely show him whose territory he’d entered as loudly as possible.

“Stop that,” he growled back at the dog who then whimpered and backed up before launching into another tirade of barking.
Great a yappy mutt to finish off his already horrible morning.

Finding a leash for the dog near the back door, he managed to latch it to the dog’s collar as it chewed on his boot. Then the dog’s pea sized brain associated the leash with a walk and it nearly tore his arm off heading toward the front door. Good grief, didn’t she even attempt to teach the
dog
manners?

It took him nearly ten minutes to get the dog to understand that they weren’t walking anywhere unless Rusty was the one leading where they went. Once authority was established between them the dog was able to keep up with Rusty’s strides regardless of his abominable girth and only stopped to sniff periodically. Knowing he needed to get back to the shop and help Amy, he finally stopped in a grassy area and waited for the dog to find a spot.

Much like his owner, Grudge tested the limits of Rusty’s patience as he continually sniffed around but did nothing else. Establishing dominance in this situation was just as hard as it was with Amy. He was thoroughly aggravated with the dog by the time it finally finished its business and they were headed back to the apartment.

Once back at Amy’s place it took him a few more minutes to unhook the dog and get the mutt to stop biting at his boot so he could get back out of the house. The dog needed exercised more than just walking him once a day as his weight implied. However, he’d done what Amy requested and now he could get on with this day.

The only thing the dog had managed to do was keep him from snooping. The only thing about her home life he’d gathered was that she was eccentric and messy.
Like Smurfette on crack actually.

Rusty was becoming so fascinated by Amy that he was like a woman with a new lover in that he wanted to know every detail about her. That bothered him because he was putting stock in something that would never pan out. The sooner this weekend was over the better. He was no longer cut out to handle the feelings that the little beauty brought out in him and wasn’t interested in
relearning
the concept either.

Upon walking back into the shop he caught a glimpse of long blonde hair flying just beyond the faux wall as though Amy was running. Her part time employee Renee looked like she’d just arrived since she still held her purse in one hand. Upon seeing him, Renee glanced in the direction that Amy had disappeared as though he needed to see what she was looking at.

Walking around the counter so he could see beyond the wall, he could tell she was panicked just by the frazzled look she wore and the quick sudden movements she made. Approaching her he touched her arm and she glared up at him.

“What took you so long? I thought you weren’t coming back so I called Renee to come in and help,” she said angrily.

“Your dog is a menace from hell… that’s what took me so long,” he replied, grabbing the tray full of baked goods off the prep table and heading through the bakery to the back door.

“You’ve been gone for more than a half an hour,” she said angrily. “Now we’re going to be late setting up and delivering the first load of goods up to the festival.”

Stopping in the bakery upon seeing the trays stacked on the prep table in there as well, he stacked the one he carried on top of one of the other ones. Then he turned around as she followed him through the doorway. Her approach set him on the defensive immediately.

“It’s not the end of the world and certainly not the tragedy you are making it out to be. A tragedy is a soldier losing his life thousands of miles from home or losing a limb without the comfort of a loved one to see him through the pain,” he replied angrily. “Being a few minutes late delivering
cupcakes
is not a travesty, Ms. Carlton. Now are these ready to be loaded into the van?”

Glancing up he didn’t miss the stricken look on her face or how her normally bright eyes suddenly dimmed. This was one of those reasons he needed to complete his final mission… he had nothing to offer anyone but nasty remarks when he felt backed into a corner. Her eyes watered but instead of cutting him for his remarks by letting those silent tears fall, she instead squared her shoulders and walked back out of the bakery.

He loaded the trays into the van, along with the tables and the decorations from the day before, and headed back up town. The longer the day stretched on the worse he felt for what he’d said to her. What had he thought to prove by giving her a peek at the images that haunted him every day?

He’d been way out of line and he knew it. Apologizing when he said things like that was difficult because for the most part his words were true. He just hadn’t needed to hit her with those facts… and all because she’d dared to show him emotions he’d thought long dead and buried… waiting on his body and soul to join them.

By the end of the day he was emotionally drained. Even the chaos that ensued trying to keep the booth at the festival stocked full of goodies for the kids to sell and also help Amy with dishes and cleanup at the bakery hadn’t been enough to beat down his demons. As he packed up the last items in the van and contemplated how to apologize to her on this last time he would probably ever see her, he heard a buzzing sound from between the seats.

Reaching down he pulled Amy’s cell phone out from between the driver’s seat and the middle console. She’d ended up making one delivery while he stayed behind to finish cleaning up the bakery and it must have fallen out of her pocket. The phone was flashing a red color as though it was an emergency so pushing the button he answered it.

“Is this Amy Carlton?” a man asked.

“No, this is her friend, Russell Hawkins. How can I help you?” he replied.

“I have her brother, Danny Carlton, down at the Downtown Dayton transportation hub. He doesn’t have money for a bus ride from here to Miamisburg which has him quite agitated, so someone will need to come and pick him up as soon as possible,” the man said.

Chapter Five

Amy had rehearsed how to properly thank Rusty and apologize. The thanks was for all his help the past two days and the apology was for jumping on him this morning when he’d returned from walking Grudge. She’d recited what she wanted to say both in her head and also to the reflection of herself shining back from the big stainless steel mixer.

Instead of the sexually charged awareness of yesterday, today things between them had been awkward and just plain painful. His comments earlier had hit her hard because, for one thing, he was right and secondly his words had made her wonder about the pain in his face as he’d rebuked her. Mr. Hawkins’ eyes were truly a window to his soul and the agony reflected there had stolen her breath.

Prior to meeting Ian, and now Rusty, she hadn’t personally known a soldier before. So she hadn’t ever truly understood their individual sacrifices. Respect for their service to this great country and a patriotic duty to try and give back where she could was one thing. To see what war truly cost someone up close and personal took a little more effort on her part.

Rusty had survived his experience in the military with limbs intact but he was paying the price for it nonetheless. The change in his demeanor from yesterday to today was a little excessive. However, it was understandable in light of how she’d gone after him for taking so long… to essentially do her a favor. So she had adjusted accordingly to accommodate his mood but that didn’t mean she liked the changes in him.

The only problem was there wouldn’t be a next time to experience the Rusty from the day before. Mr. Hot and Rugged Manliness trying to ignore her comments and attempts to flirt with him wouldn’t be returning tomorrow or even next week. This was it and Amy didn’t want the past couple of days spent working side by side with him to end on a sour note.

She’d made a small fortune this weekend and it greatly eased the financial pressure of owning her own business, at least for now. Rusty had been a part of that and she owed him more than a paycheck… she owed a thank you as well.

He might not appreciate her seduction attempts or ability to find unique ways of saying his name in as sexy a voice as possible, but
no one
could resist her peanut butter and chocolate chip dessert bars. So she whipped up a half batch and popped them into the oven as she worked on doing up the last of dishes and waited for Rusty to return from the festival now that it was over.

She’d forgotten her cell phone in the van during the
one
delivery she’d made this whole weekend. However, the event had ended about a half an hour ago so he should be returning any time.

She heard the van pull up out back just as the timer on the oven buzzed. The dessert bars needed to cool and be cut into squares yet, but they should be ready by the time he got everything unloaded and they ran the deposit up to the bank.

When Rusty came through the door carrying her cellphone in his hand only seconds later she was a little surprised. He wasn’t carrying anything other than that and the last bit of cash from the festival. The look on his face stopped her in place after she’d set the dessert bars on the work table.

“A Mr. London from the transportation hub downtown called your phone because he has your brother down there. You need to go get him because he doesn’t have enough money to ride the bus from downtown to here. Plus he seems kind of pissed that he missed the last one and would have to wait nearly an hour for another one,” Rusty said, handing her the cell phone.

Oh God! Danny was downtown… by himself! At one of the worst areas in the city! She threw her oven mitt on the table and began untying her apron.

“I have to leave immediately… if you’ll come back tomorrow morning I will be happy to pay you then. Just leave the stuff in the van and I’ll unload it tomorrow. Do you need to get anything from out in the shop because I need to lock up quickly and go,” she said in a near panic.

Damn…
damn!
She should have just cancelled the festival job and brought Danny to the library. How could she possibly know that he’d run away and end up at the hub downtown because she wasn’t taking good enough care of him? She could only pray that he wasn’t mugged or beaten up before she could get there.

“I can stay and unload things, finish cleaning up and then run the deposit to the…” he began.

“You don’t understand, Rusty! My brother has Down Syndrome!” she interrupted nearly yelling.

His face contorted into a look of pure disgust before he said, “So? What’s that got to do with anything?”

“It has everything to do with it!” she said exasperated since she didn’t have time to argue with him about this right now. “I’m supposed to be responsible for him! So instead of watching out for him I leave him at a home that he hates. In turn he runs away from there and now he’s by himself in downtown Dayton… alone and at night! It’s my fault…”

“He’s a man, Amy! Not a two year old! Ran away? Are you serious? He wanted to come and see you… that’s what he told me. So he managed to get on a bus all by himself and knew which busses he needed to ride to get here. He was just short on change so they wouldn’t let him ride the rest of the way. He’ll be fine. Mr. London said he’s sitting in the booth with him. So just stop already,” Rusty said defensively.

“You don’t know my brother… he can be very stubborn… and annoying. I can’t expect some stranger to watch out for him… that’s my job!” she replied.

“As a matter of fact… I went to high school with your brother! So I do know him! When you mentioned his name and the ‘hippie music’ thing I thought maybe it was the same Danny. Now I know it is. From what I remember of him, he’ll be just fine. He was pretty self-sufficient back then so I’m sure he’ll be fine now… as a
grownup
… for twenty minutes until you can get there. You do need to go though, because it’s not safe for a woman in that area at night, especially one who looks like you,” Rusty said and then looked away from her when he realized what he’d said.

“Fine, but I have to lock up first. I’ll just put the deposit in one of the baking pans and deal with it tomorrow. The stuff will just have to stay in the van until I can get back or until tomorrow. Shit! Grudge…” she exhaled a shaky breath from nearly being in tears due to stress.

Quicker than she could blink, Rusty was standing in front of her grasping her shoulders. Then he pulled her up against his solid chest and hugged her. He smelled amazing and somehow his equally hard arms felt comforting wrapped around her like they were.

“Go get your brother, Ms. Carlton. I’ll take care of all the crap here and your little dog too,” he said after a couple of moments where he just held her close.

An inappropriate snicker escaped her mouth at his last comment. She truly was losing her mind or something. Then suddenly she felt his shoulders and the muscles of his stomach shaking. He was actually laughing. As much as she hated pulling out of his fantastic embrace… this she had to see.

Wow…he was absolutely
gorgeous
when he laughed. It changed his whole face and as handsome as his moody expressions were… his smile was like foreplay. He was so close she could see his laugh lines and the stubble on his cheeks. Holy crap!

“Guess I’ll just get on my broom and take off then… if you’re sure you don’t mind?” she said, joining his laughter.

“Go! Danny needs you more right now than this bakery and Grudge combined. The bakery has me and Grudge has his newspaper… though it’s probably chewed to hell and back by now,” he said as his laughter died down.

“Just lock the door when you leave, I’ll come back later and set the alarm. I’ll have to pay you tomorrow… I’m sorry,” she said. “Thanks for everything this weekend, Rusty…
Sir
.”

He didn’t say anything more but simply pointed at the door when she handed him the keys to her apartment… ordering her gone.

Where moments earlier she’d been stressed to the point of breaking… she now felt in control again. He’d simply stepped in and made the decisions for her. Everything was important but he’d helped her prioritize and he was right… Danny was the biggest one at the moment. She was all Danny had and someday… he might be all that she had. Even her mother had pointed that out.

Amy forced herself to take deep breaths and focus on the road. Danny’s voice scolding her for going faster than the posted speed limit played on repeat forcing her to slow down. Upon turning down Main Street in downtown and parking around the corner from the bus hub, she got out and locked the car.

She was nearly to the ticket terminal booth when Rusty’s warnings about it not being a good area for a woman at night were confirmed by someone whistling appreciatively at her from somewhere behind her and to the left.

Relief like she’d never experienced before hit her upon seeing Danny’s smiling face as she approached. One thing about Danny that greatly differed from her was that he didn’t hold onto the negative things in his life. When he did get upset, he processed the emotion and then moved on from it. Apparently whatever had driven him from the group home this afternoon was already behind him… emotionally and literally.

“Hi, Amy… this is my friend Mr. London,” Danny said as an older gentleman opened the door for her and allowed her to step inside the small office area. Turning to the man, she held out her hand and he shook it.

“I’m so sorry about this and I can’t thank you enough for calling me,” she said to the man.

“Sure, but may I recommend a bus pass for him next time so he doesn’t have to deal with money. You can simply add funds to it online, anytime. It can also be replaced if it’s ever lost or stolen, unlike actual cash,” Mr. London explained.

“Thank you, we’ll keep that in mind,” she replied. A bus pass? Like she would be so irresponsible with Danny’s safety that she would voluntarily let him take public transportation
alone
… without her there to make sure he was okay. Eyeing Danny, she said, “Come on, we need to go.”

“When you get your application all filled out, you bring it back down here to me or just mail it,” Mr. London said to Danny.

Only then did she notice the job application in Danny’s hand. No way in hell would she allow Danny to work
downtown
. It wasn’t safe. Besides, as far as she knew, he’d never had a job before so it was highly unlikely that he would be hired anyway. His remarks about being a good worker did make her wonder though.

She led Danny away from the booth and stayed close by his side, hoping that no one would bother them. If they messed with Danny or scared him, she might actually lose what was left of her mind and completely go off on someone.

Just as they cleared the main entrance, Danny grabbed her hand in his and said, “Don’t be afraid, Amy. All these people are just waiting for the next bus to Miamisburg. It should be here in twelve more minutes.”

Glancing over at him, she couldn’t help but smile at his logic. Perhaps they were. Either way she hurried them along to her car. Once they were both safely inside with the doors locked and seat belts on, Danny said, “I’m going to your house tonight. I’m not staying at that home anymore.”

Sighing, she pulled away from the curb and drove away from the transportation hub. She realized that it was really late upon seeing the time displaying on her radio. Quite honestly she was too tired to argue with him anyway. Glancing over at him she could tell that he was adamant about what he’d said just by the expression on his face.

“Just for tonight… You don’t have anything to wear to church though, so if you don’t go home tonight we can’t go tomorrow morning,” she said, hoping that would change his mind.

“We’ll go next week instead. I can make us a sandwich and we can go to a picnic at the park. Right, Amy?” he asked. “Then I can stay at your house tomorrow night too and help you with Grudge.”

They had at least a thirty minute drive ahead and as much as she didn’t want to argue with him, she said, “Why don’t you like it at the home, Danny? Can you tell me why you hate it so much?”

Folding his arms across his chest defensively, he huffed as though he was angry and instead looked out the window. It wasn’t a verbal answer but she understood the silent message all the same. So rather than pushing the issue, she pulled out her cellphone to call the home and let them know that she had Danny… that he was safe and would be staying overnight with her.

“You shouldn’t use a cellphone and drive, Amy,” Danny said, reaching for the phone.

“I have to call and let them know you won’t be back tonight so they don’t worry about you,” she replied.

“I’ll pick the number and push call. Then I can put on the speaker so you can keep both hands on the wheel at ten and two,” Danny said, taking her cellphone from her hand.

Unwilling to argue with him, she let him have it and was amazed when a few moments later she heard one of the male orderlies from the group home answer… on speaker phone. She could only stare at Danny in shock. This caused him to break out in a victorious smile that she couldn’t help but return.

“This is Amy Carlton. I wanted you to know that I have Danny with me. He’ll be staying with me tonight,” she said, nearly laughing at the excited look on Danny’s face.

Once she’d finished explaining where she’d found him to the orderly and Danny disconnected the call she said, “Now I have to call Rusty Hawkins and let him know that I’m on my way back.”

“Rusty Hawkins went to my school. The
same
school as me, did you know that, Amy? He was on the football team and he’s still my best friend.” Danny said. “Did you know him from school too, Amy?”

She would never have guessed that Rusty was around the same age as Danny. Somehow the way he carried himself and certainly the way he looked made him seem much younger. Only his attempts to remain aloof and detached from everything around him and his uptight need to be proper all the time gave any indication that he was that much older than her. Not that his age took away from him in any way… the man was hot no matter how a person sliced it.