Sexy/Dangerous (3 page)

Max and the dogs were outside enjoying the sunset. The lack of chairs meant she was sitting on the concrete, but she didn’t mind. The sun was descending into the lake in a fiery blaze of oranges and reds, and the scene was relaxing and peaceful. She was surprised to see Dr. Gary step out to join them. Even though he was not one of her favorite people, she was a Texan and raised by her mama to be polite, so she said, “Evening.”

He nodded a short silent response. She watched him checking out the dogs lying at her feet, and noted that he didn’t come any closer. Max supposed he was afraid of catching something, or scared he’d take some dreaded doggie virus back into his lab. She mentally rolled her eyes and rubbed her hand along Ossie’s muscular back.

He asked her then, “What do I need to do to make this security thing work for both of us?”

Max studied him. Was he finally surrendering? “You need to know that the dogs and I are here to keep you safe, and that all you have to do is let us do our job.” She turned her head so she could see his face. “You look tired.”

“Goes with the territory.”

For a moment Max saw him as a human being, but then he said, “I expect the dogs to stay outside at night, and that you alone will be responsible for removing any feces they leave on the grounds.”

So much for the human moment, Max noted sarcastically, before saying aloud, “I brought my scooper, but there’s no place for them to stay outside, so they’ll sleep in the room with me.”

“Get somebody to build them a pen. They can’t be running loose in the house while I’m sleep.”

Max took offense. “These dogs are government trained. They don’t ‘run loose.’”

He appeared to have more to say but instead looked out toward the lake and kept whatever it was to himself.

Max thought that wise; she’d had just about enough of him and his demands. “Friends of mine will be up to put surveillance cameras on the premises in a few days, then lay in a more secure gate down by the road.”

He didn’t respond but she saw his bearded jaw tense.

She tossed out, “For somebody who was almost kidnapped, you don’t seem too concerned about your own safety.”

“Oh, I am. I’m just not happy with the way it’s affecting my work.”

“According to my handlers, everybody and their mother wants what you’ve invented—the Russians, the Saudis, the Eastern Europeans. Big countries, little countries. If your prototype does even half the things it’s supposed to, you’re about to put OPEC and the rest of the energy cartels out of business. Do you know what that means?”

He held her eyes but didn’t respond.

“There are probably people somewhere who want you dead—yesterday, because your research is about to send them to the poor house. Think about it, who’s going to want to pay for oil or gas to heat their homes when they can use a simple device that can generate its own heat?”

“It isn’t perfected yet.”

“Doesn’t matter, Doc. The potential is there, and that’s what counts. You’re supposedly one of the biggest brains on the planet, and you’re a
brother
, this can’t be news to you.”

“No, it isn’t,” he admitted. “I just want to work.”

“Then how about we get on the same page so that you can do that?”

He met her eyes and said, “Fine.”

Max felt relief. Was she finally going to get some cooperation? “How long has Kaitlin worked for you?”

“About two months.”

“That long?” She found that interesting. “I’d’ve thought it was longer.”

“No.”

Max sensed there was more to the story, but apparently he wasn’t going to offer any details. So much for the cooperation. “Did you hire her personally or was she sent over by a service?”

When he didn’t respond right away, Max explained, “I’m not trying to get in your business, but I need to know who all the players are, and their roles. We can’t protect him if we don’t know the good guys from the bad, right, Ruby?” Max rubbed her behind the ear and Ruby barked.

Max smiled, but when she looked over and saw the granite set of Gary’s jaw, it faded. She said to him
softly, “You know, they really are wonderful animals. They’re smart, loyal, loving.”

“They’re dogs,” he responded coldly.

“And both of them would give up their lives for you, even if you don’t deserve it.”

Having reached the end of her patience, Max stood. “You and I will talk tomorrow. The dogs need to run twice a day so we’re going to go and take care of that. When we get back, we’ll sleep in the car.”

With that said, she gave the rottweilers a hand command and they took off down the steep dune. Max had to walk by the silent scientist in order to reach the steps leading down to the beach. She passed him without a word. Even though she could feel the heat of him as she did, the steely jawed Max ignored him because she was done with Dr. Jerkyll for the day.

Adam tried to feign indifference to her declaration about the dogs being willing to die for him, but the tug on his conscience was real. The last thing he needed was a woman in green cowboy boots calling him out. Although he’d never admit it to her, the snatch attempt had scared him, otherwise he would never have agreed to security being on the premises. The memory of the Madrid incident’s outcome gave him a grim satisfaction, though. Both thugs had to be taken to the hospital by ambulance.
At least they know I’m not a punk.

He turned his attention down to the beach where she was playing fetch with the dogs using pieces of driftwood. The trio was outlined against the descending sun like a shot from a movie. Her laughter and their responding barks rose clearly to his ears. They were having a good time. Her tall fit frame drew his eyes in ways no woman had done in quite some time.

“Is she really going to be the housekeeper?”

Adam turned. The irritation on Kaitlin’s face was easy to see. “Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because I hired her.”

“From where, a circus? We don’t need her here or those dogs.”

Adam ignored that and asked instead, “Isn’t it about time you went up to your room and e-mailed your father or something? I’m sure he’ll be interested in your opinion of Ms. Blake.”

Kaitlin’s chin rose. “You make me sound like some kind of spy.”

“Aren’t you?”

“Of course not,” she responded, as if offended. “You invited me here, remember?”

“No, you invited yourself.”

“Daddy said you needed a secretary.”

“Correct. Daddy said. I didn’t.” Daddy was Dr. Sylvester “Sly” Kent, an old mentor of Adam’s determined to ride to fame on the tail of his lab coat.

“But I’ve been helpful.”

“Yes, you have.” And she had, Adam admitted to himself. In addition to tackling his piles of unopened mail, she’d done up the schedules for the grad students who would be working with him this fall. She also brought him bagged breakfasts every morning, and in the evening she ordered in pizzas or subs. She was going to make some brother a great wife one day, but the brother’s name wouldn’t be Adam Gary. He might be a scientist, but he wasn’t a fool. Kaitlin had been sent to the house with two missions: One was to keep her father on top of his research, and the other to see if she could
interest him in a relationship that resulted in making Sylvester Kent his proud father-in-law.
Not a chance.

“Adam?”

Her voice brought him back. “Yes?”

“So, what are you going to do about her?”

Adam turned back to the beach. They were heading away from the house. The dogs were at Max’s side, pacing like sentinels. He had to admit they seemed well-trained, but his attention was trained on the fluid, mesmerizing walk of their owner. “Nothing. She starts tomorrow.”

Kaitlin looked displeased, but Adam didn’t think he owed her anything other than, “See you in the morning, Kaitlin.”

He went inside and left her to fume alone.

Jan Kruger was alone in a London hotel room
reading over the reports sent to him by his associates. The ancillary elements of the plan were coming together, and that pleased him. The contacts he and his group needed inside the various U.S. military and intelligence agencies were on board and awaiting further instruction. In today’s corrupt world it hadn’t been difficult to find people willing to betray their country’s trust in exchange for cash. The dreams of Kruger and his associates to establish a new order had been embraced not only by people in the U.S., but in many of the European nations as well. He’d just returned from a secret meeting with some of Great Britain’s military and could now add their support to the pledges he’d extracted from others in France, the Balkans, and the Soviet Union. As far as Jan knew, the South African government didn’t have a clue as to what he and his people were embarking upon, and he planned to keep it that way.

The highlight of today’s reports had been the information on Gary. Thanks to a newly recruited woman who worked as a secretary in the Office of Homeland
Security, they now knew where Dr. Gary was living and working. Although the mole hadn’t been able to find out if there were any security people on the property, Jan didn’t think finding out would be too difficult. Knowing Gary’s location had been a burning question they now had the answer to. Included with the Gary info had been the addresses and pictures of his famous parents in case pressure needed to be applied to make him cooperate. The device Gary had invented was a potential gold mine, and if he could get his hands on it, he could rename himself Midas.

In the interim, though, he’d be leaving London tomorrow for another round of secret talks, this time with a Danish arms dealer with ties to everything from automatic weapons to black market F-16s. All for a price. If the man could deliver on his claims, he knew he would be able to cross off one more item on his now shrinking to do list, and that pleased him as well.

Max awakened around six-thirty in the morning, stiff but rested. The folded down seats in the back of the Honda had served as a makeshift bed for her and the dogs. Not exactly five-star accommodations, but for one night it hadn’t been bad. Lying in her sleeping bag idly stroking the warm backs of the still snoozing rottweilers, she thought about the day’s plan. Before going to sleep last night, she’d spent a few hours on the phone with Myk and on her laptop contacting contractors from a list of trusted companies. Many of the workers would begin arriving this morning, so she hoped Adam Gary was ready. He probably wasn’t, but that’s why she had been assigned: to get him ready whether he was down with the program or not.

When Max and the dogs entered the house a short while later, Kaitlin was dressed and in her pearls. Since Max hadn’t seen her driving in or out, she assumed the Chihuahua had spent the night on the premises. “Morning, Kaitlin.”

“Good morning,” she replied, barely parting her lips. “You don’t have to make Adam breakfast, I’m on my way to pick something up.”

Since Max hadn’t seen any food in the house anyway, she shrugged. “Fine with me. I need a shower. Which bathrooms work?”

“Mine does, but I’m not sure about the others.” She then added pointedly, “And no, you may not use mine.” She then fished around in her designer handbag. Pulling out her car keys, she looked up at Max and said, “And I mean it.”

Max wondered if the girl knew just how close she was to being smacked. “Any cleaning products around?” If the dust and cobwebs flourishing everywhere else in the house were any indication, the bathrooms would probably need a good scrub-down before they could be used. If they worked at all. Max had been using a small one off the ’50s kitchen for her needs until now.

Walking away, Kaitlin tossed out, “Look in the kitchen under the sink.” Today’s skirt was red, tight, and short. The heels, spiky as the patent leathers she’d worn yesterday, were red as well.
All booty, no brain,
Max said to herself, then she and the dogs headed for the kitchen.

She took a look around at the kitchen and swore this was the same one Aunt Bee used to cook in for Opie and Andy. Tossing that silly thought aside, she walked to the sink. Inside the small cupboard she saw a can of
bathroom cleanser and a half-used bottle of dishwashing liquid. That was it. No sponges, no disinfectant, no nothing. Sighing, she grabbed the cleanser.

Last night she had been so disgusted by all the cobwebs and dust infesting the bedrooms, she hadn’t even bothered to inspect the bathrooms. So this morning she took her first look at the one connected to the bedroom she planned to have as her own. To her relief, the small bathroom wasn’t bad. The cabbage rose wallpaper was hideous and peeling in spots, but there was a small pedestal sink, an ancient-looking but functioning toilet, a tub, and a shower head. There was no shower curtain but the rusted rod to hold one was in place. The faucets appeared to have been copper once upon a time but were now green with age.

Max turned on the water in the tub and a reddish brown stream spewed out.

Ruby barked at it.

“Yuck, is right,” Max told her, patting the dog’s neck. Ossie took one look then walked out. Max watched him find a spot on the far side of the bedroom, where he laid down as if to say,
Call me when you’re done.
She smiled.

It took a while for the water to run clear, but the way it swirled down the drain indicated that the pipes weren’t plugged, which was good. Max shook cleanser into the now wet tub. Finding a small roll of paper towel inside the cabinet door above the toilet, she used some sheets to scrub the white enamel until it glowed.

She had concerns, though. Every time she turned the water on, the pipes in the wall set up a racket like they were trying to shake loose. Hearing it, she was glad she’d had the foresight to include a plumbing service in
the folks coming out to evaluate the house today. It sounded like their expertise might be needed.

Now that the tub was clean, Max raced the dogs out of the room and down the stairs to the car so she could grab the overnight bag holding her toiletries. She’d cart in the rest of her luggage later. Laughing, she raced them back inside, almost knocking over the returning Kaitlin and her bags of fast food breakfast.

“Sorry!” Max called to her, but by then the dogs had bolted up the steps and Max was last again.
Damn!

Not caring if Kaitlin tattled to the principal in the basement about her and the dogs running through the house, an invigorated Max stripped out of her clothes, turned on the water gently so it wouldn’t splash out of the tub, then stepped into the shower’s weak but warm stream. The pipes began their knocking. That worry, coupled with not knowing how long the hot water would last, made her wash quickly. When she finished, she reached to turn the hot water spigot and it came off in her hand. Alarmed, she tried to shimmy it back on, but her efforts only increased the water force until it was roaring out of the shower head like the Hoover Dam. It happened so fast, she was under assault before she realized it. The pipes were screaming and so was she as she fumbled to turn it off. The pounding force had the ancient shower head spinning like Linda Blair’s and throwing water everywhere. It finally ripped free and the spray blinded, cursing, Max felt for the Cold. It turned, but not off. Water as frigid as the Bering Sea began pelting her full force. She screamed at the shock and stumbled out of the tub. The dogs began barking with concern outside the door, and a soaked Max stared at the water now pouring out of the shower pipe. It was coming too fast for the
drain to handle. Water began backing up into the tub at a rate that signaled disaster if it weren’t turned off soon.

She grabbed a towel and quickly fastened it around her wet self. She ran for the stairs with the dogs on her heels.

As Max came tearing down the steps, she spotted Kaitlin. “Where’s the house’s shutoff valve?”

“What?” Kaitlin’s eyes were large as saucers as she looked the wet Max up and down.

“The valve that turns off the water!”

“What are you talking—”

Max was already on her way to the basement.

In the lab, Adam was staring at equations on his computer monitor when a sound unlike any he had ever heard before began emanating from the pipes. It wasn’t unusual for them to make a groan or two when water was turned on because it was an old house, but this sound? Sensing something wrong, he saved his work and hurried to the door, opening it just as Max was about to knock.

She shouted, “Where’s the water shutoff valve?”

Stunned, Adam looked at her in the towel she was clutching to her wet body and blinked. He was so busy staring at her long legs, the damp glistening slope of her bare arms and shoulders, and the soft tops of her dewed breasts rising above the towel that he didn’t hear the question.

“Where’s the damn valve?” she shouted again.

Adam shook his mind to clear it. “What?”

“The shutoff valve! Where is it?”

“I don’t—”

She cursed. “Find a flashlight. Come on!”

Speechless, he watched her and the dogs run off.
Hearing the pipes roaring like a wounded beast seemed to wake him up, though. He hurried into the lab, grabbed a flashlight, and took off in pursuit.

Max found the water heater in a space not too far from the lab and hoped the valve would be on a wall someplace near, but it was dark as hell. She couldn’t see a damn thing and she was having a heck of a time trying to hold onto the towel. Feeling her hands along the wall while praying the water upstairs hadn’t overrun the tub, she toyed with the idea of just turning the water off at the water heater. That would stop more water from coming into the tank, but the water already in the tank was feeding the shower’s pipes and would continue to flow until it was empty. Suddenly, there was light. “Hallelujah! Hand it here.”

He gave up the flashlight, and she focused the beam on the dark walls. Snaking it up and down, she finally found what she was after. The small wheel was positioned about waist high. Accustomed to relying on the dogs, she said, “Ossie, quick. Come hold this.”

The big male trotted into the light. She placed the barrel of the flashlight in his mouth, and the dog held it trained on the spot while she tried to turn the valve. It was stuck. Straining, she said, “Dammit, turn!”

She tried again, but it refused to move. She tried again, groaning with the effort, and lost her towel in the process. Embarrassed but cool, she snatched it up, wrapped it around her once more and hoped Gary hadn’t fainted.

Adam was certain that quick glimpse of perfection would have left him blind had he been a character in a Greek myth. He had to shake himself to keep the scene from playing over and over.

“Let me try,” he said.

When his eyes met hers, Max gave him a look that dared him to say anything about her towel. He didn’t, but she swore she saw him smile as he turned away.

“What is this thing again?” he asked, straining with the effort to turn the old valve.

“Your water shutoff valve. Controls the water coming into the house.”

He stopped. “Really?”

“Yes, and if you don’t hurry the hell up, the whole upstairs is going to flood. The faucets in the shower broke off and the water is on!”

That seemed to get his attention. Finally, strength prevailed over rust and age and the valve began to turn. Max listened to the pipes. They were still clanging. “More,” she told him. “More.”

He turned the wheel until it wouldn’t turn anymore, then came silence.

Max wilted with relief.

He asked her, “Now, how did this happen again?” All he could think about was her nude frame.

Max took the flashlight gently from Ossie’s mouth, then related the story.

When she was done, he said grimly, “I suppose I should get the pipes looked at.”

“You think?” she asked, then added, “How can you not know where your shutoff valve is?”

“Never needed to know. I’ve lived in apartments and condos most of my life.”

Max shook her head at his ignorance. Growing up, her mama Michele made sure she and her sister JT knew as much about keeping the house maintained as they did about applying makeup. “I’m going to dry off.
There’s a thousand people coming today, and the first thing they’re going to fix is that plumbing.”

“A thousand?” he asked, sounding alarmed.

“More like two thousand,” she tossed back, just to mess with his mind. She slapped the flashlight into his palm, then she and the dogs left.

Alone now, Adam trained the light back on the valve. Who knew? And who knew he’d be shown one of the sweetest female bodies he’d seen in quite some time. Not that he’d been eyeballing her, but his mind’s camera must have been because his memory was filled with vivid flashes of those long golden legs, small perfect breasts, and the way her trim waist flowed into that gorgeous behind. He shook himself. He’d been celibate by choice for the past two years because of the demands placed upon him by his research. Women were a distraction he couldn’t afford while bringing the Black Satin Project to life. Even now, with the prototype in the final stages, concentration was vital and discipline essential, but as the vision of her bending over to pick up the towel replayed itself yet again, the image set off a stirring in his groin that was achingly familiar.

Upstairs, Max put on her clothes, then used a towel to mop up the water in the bathroom. Luckily, she’d found the valve before the tub overflowed and disaster struck, but the walls and the floors were still soaked. The memory of losing her towel came back to embarrass her, and she wondered what Gary had thought of the accidental striptease. She’d tried to play it off by acting as if it weren’t a big deal, and he seemed to do the same, to a point. Had he been smiling or not? It hadn’t been one of
her best moments and she’d been embarrassed, but she hoped he didn’t think she’d dropped it on purpose. She knew that there were women who did dumb things like that to catch a man’s eye, but she wasn’t one of them. Gary was cute, and had that pirate look about him, but he wasn’t really her type. Making love with him would probably be like being immersed in ice water. She preferred her loving at a much higher temperature.