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Authors: Marie Harte

Tags: #Romance, #Contemporary, #Adult

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BOOK: The Troublemaker Next Door
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“What about Abby’s roommates?” Cam asked the question without care, a little too much disinterest.

Flynn shared Brody’s knowing look and glanced down at his cards again. “Hmm. I haven’t met Vanessa yet, but Maddie’s a real firecracker.” His brother didn’t react one way or another, and he wondered if he’d misjudged Cam’s interest. “A redhead with a temper.” Hell, now the others looked interested, not what he’d intended. “Apparently her boss made some move on her today, and she told him to shove it.”

“Good for her.” Cam nodded. “It still surprises me professionals pull this crap. Mom would have a field day if anyone ever tried that with her.”

“Yeah, but she’d have to wait until Dad pounded him through the floor first.” Mike grinned, and they all laughed.

“I want to know why no one mentioned the neighbors to me before now.” Brody frowned as he took the next hand. He and Flynn played with a harmony that soon had his brothers more than annoyed. “I mean, I get not telling Flynn. He acts like he’s perpetually in heat. But I’m trustworthy.”

“Bullshit.” Flynn dealt a new hand. “Trustworthy? Then how about you tell Mike what you taught his kid to do.”

Mike didn’t mess around when it came to Colin. Mother bears had nothing on the protective instincts of his big brother. Only older than Flynn by two years, Mike had nevertheless made it his mission in life to defend him, Brody, and Cam all the way through high school.

“Brody, I’m waiting.” Mike didn’t look happy.

Brody muttered to Flynn, “You’re an asshole, you know that?” To Mike he said, “I might have shown him how to palm a card or two.”

“Not that.” Flynn started to enjoy himself. He and Brody took the next few tricks not even trying.

“Ah, okay. Well, let me see. We haven’t started pimping yet, and I was saving the crack pipe for when he turned double digits, the big one oh.”

Flynn snickered and Cam laughed.

Mike huffed out a breath and threw down his last card. “You two aren’t even concentrating. Cam, wake the fuck up and win a hand.”

“Me? Quit browbeating Brody and concentrate. You know he’s fine with Colin. Hell, all of us have changed that kid more times than I want to think about. He definitely takes after you in too many ways.”

“That’s my boy.” Pride glowed in Mike’s blue eyes. He was a helluva father. Just like their own dad. It made Flynn wonder if he’d ever be as good, if he’d ever meet a woman he’d love enough to even think about having a kid with.

“So just what did he teach Colin?” Mike had to know.

“The little punk had the nerve to cry. Had me shitting myself thinking something was really wrong with him, until I realized he’d gotten me to change the channel to his favorite cartoon and hand him my Coke.”

“Which he’s not supposed to have in the living room.” Great, now Mike was frowning at him.

Brody laughed. “Sucker. The crying thing was to get women. I told him to practice until he can do it on command. Watch.” In seconds, Brody had streams of tears down his face. “Please, I’ll do anything. Don’t leave me.”

“Not bad.” Cam seemed impressed. “I thought you were just a no-talent card player, but you’re a second-rate actor too. Oh, and a knuckle-dragging toilet troubleshooter, I forgot.”

“That’s plumber, geekboy. You keep adding your silly little numbers while Flynn and I get rich off manly work. Please, you’re barely a glorified secretary.”

Cam’s grin turned evil. “Oh, man, I am so telling Mom you said that.”

Considering their mother had been a secretary for over twenty years, Cam had serious leverage on Brody, and Brody knew it.

“Hell. If I’m going down, I’m going down swinging.” He leapt from his seat and tackled Cam to the ground. “Swirly time, mathboy. Courtesy of your neighborhood toilet troubleshooter.”

Flynn was laughing so hard his stomach hurt, while Mike argued with the guys not to bust any heads and keep the noise down. He had a hard enough time explaining to Colin why he shouldn’t act like his uncles in public.

While Brody wrestled Cam on the floor, both of them whispering insults and swear words so as not to wake Colin, Flynn grabbed another couple of beers for himself and Mike.

“Thanks.”

“Sure.” He toyed with the label. “Seriously, why didn’t Brody or I know about the neighbors? It’s not like I’m a dog. I’m not going to hump them in public.” At Mike’s look, he flushed. “For God’s sake, I was twenty years old and drunk. The girl wasn’t even real. It was a mannequin and it was all Brody’s idea.”

Brody and Cam started laughing on the floor while they tried to outwrestle each other. Brody had height and brawn, but Cam had agility and appeared as if he’d been bulking up.

“Hey, some muscle on the youngest.”

“Yeah. I hear he’s hitting the gym more.” Mike flexed. The guy was huge. Hauling lumber around and hammering crap all day did that for a guy. “But still smaller, little man,” he said in his best Schwarzenegger impression.

“Fuck you.” Cam put Brody into a headlock.

Flynn wanted an answer from Mike. “Hey, I went over there and fixed that sink without a problem. Didn’t even make a stink when the redhead went postal and started throwing her shoes and purse around. Not even when she yanked off her shirt and told me if I wanted to see them, I could. Then she invited me to touch them, and I…” he trailed off when everyone stopped to stare at him.

“No kidding? Maybe I should have gone over there.” Mike scratched his head.

“Of course I’m kidding. Idiots.” Flynn dodged the napkin Mike threw at him. “But she did have a hard time with her boss. And she did throw her shoes. I’m thinking Mom should invite them to a family barbecue to be nice. A late welcome-to-the-neighborhood deal. Abby didn’t make a fuss about the sink, and she even tried to pay me for helping.”

“I’m sold. I’ll mention it to Mom next time I talk to her.”

Which would be tomorrow. The woman called Mike every damn day. Flynn loved his mother, but he was okay hearing from her every few days. Not like he needed her reminding him to find a woman and settle down more often than that. Besides, if Mike mentioned to their mother the idea of inviting the neighbors for a party, it wouldn’t set off any alarm bells.

“Okay, you losers. Want another shot at the title?” he asked Mike and Cam. “Let’s drop the pussy games and go straight-up Texas Hold’em.”

Cam shoved Brody off him and stood, brushing the dust off his pants and shirt. “Fine, but Brody doesn’t get to deal.”

“Agreed,” Mike and Flynn said at the same time.

Brody scowled. “And in exchange, swear you’ll forget the secretary crack. I love Bitsy.” What he called their mother. “Besides, she hears that shit, she’ll skin me alive.”

Punishment enough
, Flynn thought.

“Fine.” Mike gave Brody the dad stare. “But if Mom invites the neighbors to the house, you and Flynn—”

Flynn huffed. “Why am I lumped with him again?”

“Have to behave yourselves. I live right next to these women. I don’t want to deal with shit because of you two.”

Brody shrugged. “Whatever.”

“Yeah, sure,” Flynn muttered. “Now cut the cards, Nancy. And prepare to lose your ass off.”

Chapter 3

Maddie groaned. Her head felt like it would split in two, and she had a nasty taste in her mouth. Like butterscotch vomit. At the thought, she visited the bathroom again in a hurry.

An hour later, after a shower and brushing her teeth white enough to glow, she felt more like herself. Except for the headache she needed to remedy.

“Drink lots of water and have a little toast,” Vanessa said when Maddie walked into the kitchen. As usual, her cousin looked perfect. Neat, without a hair out of place. With her blond hair pulled back in a ponytail and dressed in shorts and a T-shirt promoting
Go
Organic
, she looked ready to run minus the shoes. Vanessa didn’t want shoes in the house because it added to a dirty floor. On that rule, Maddie agreed.

Dressed in jeans and a tank top, she felt more human, if not any less stupid. God. She’d quit her job yesterday. The panic that had receded during her drunken binge returned in a rush, and she forced herself to concentrate on the here and now before she lost her mind.

She would not spend the rest of her life working three jobs to make ends meet. She did not have a child to support and a nonexistent husband. Money sat in a nice little nest egg in her bank account. She would not starve, nor work herself to an early grave. Breathe in, breathe out.

“Robin and Kim left, by the way,” Abby said as she joined them, holding a cup. She poured herself more coffee. Her reading glasses sat perched on top of her head.

“Busy night writing?”

Abby smiled. “Oh yeah. Apparently the guys were much more into smack talking last night than talking trash about women. Though they normally aren’t insulting, unless the woman they’re talking about is really bitchy.” She stared at Maddie. “Or mean. Or vindictive.”

“Why are you looking at me?”

“You should apologize. Flynn was really nice when he came over to fix the plumbing. And you weren’t. I understand why.” Abby waved away her protest. “But the real you is a wonderful, giving woman who works hard to be independent. Not a shrew who hates men.”

“Well…” Vanessa drawled.

“Don’t even start.”

She laughed. “I’m going out for a run. You should get something in that stomach unless you want to feel crappy all day. I’ll be back soon.” She practically danced out of the kitchen.

“Pretentious snot.” Maddie glared at the back of her cousin’s head.

Abby sputtered on her coffee, laughing. “You really aren’t a morning person, are you? Though it’s eleven, and in my book, anything after ten is late. So eleven’s more like early afternoon.”

Morning or afternoon, it was a beautiful day. After making herself toast and pouring a tall glass of water, she joined Abby outside on the back porch to enjoy the weather.

“Tomatoes are doing well.” She nodded to the garden. “Cucumbers too. You have the greenest thumb I’ve ever seen.”

“I do.” Abby thumped her chest with pride. “I grew the biggest pumpkin in 4H ten years ago, I’ll have you know.”

“Dork.”

“Well, what are your accomplishments, Miss I Can’t Hold My Liquor?”

“I lettered in track. I’m faster than Vanessa,” she bragged. “And I was voted most likely to succeed.”
Yeah, how

s that working for you without a job?
She coughed to hide her embarrassment. And hurt. And anger. She was done crying. No more tears. Her eyes looked puffy enough.

“I think this is a sign.” Abby nodded.

“That I should become a lesbian?”

Abby choked. “Would you stop saying that? I thought Robin was going to jump you last night when you mentioned switching teams.”

“As if that’s possible. Unfortunately, I wasn’t born gay. Besides, if I even blinked at Robin wrong, Kim would kick her ass. Then Kim would kick mine. Don’t let her heels fool you.” Maddie sighed. “It’s too bad I like men.” And on that note… “I can’t stop thinking about what Mike’s brother must think of me after yesterday. I wonder if he heard me yelling?”

“I think China heard you yelling,” Abby said drily. “Finish your food and go over and apologize. Trust me, he was very understanding about it all, and it’s not like you didn’t have the right to freak out a little.”

“How was he understanding?” Had Flynn spent his time watching her throw a hissy, then flirted with Abby? Abby, for all her obvious beauty, was clueless when it came to men. The guy could easily have been naked and ready to mount her before Abby’d realize he wanted her.

“He offered to go beat Fred up. When I told him it wasn’t worth jail time, he then offered to have his nephew alibi him while he pounded your boss. Cute, huh?” Abby snorted. “Funny guy.”

Sexy guy. She couldn’t stop seeing that brilliant green color of his eyes and not think of him. It would have been easier if he’d been dressed up or trying to impress. But the guy had been wearing jeans and a white T-shirt. Short black hair, a face that made her think of way too many square-jawed heroes from her old romance books. And he’d been nice enough not to call her out when she’d accused all men of being assholes.

Or when she’d told him to fuck off.

“So you think I should apologize?”

“Yep. And scope out and see if he has any other brothers. I always hear him and Cam. We met Cameron a few months ago, remember? He’s the nice, quiet one. Just as handsome as the other two. But that last guy, Brody, I think. I haven’t met him yet.”

“How many are there?” She couldn’t imagine what his mother had gone through raising four or more handsome McCauleys. She’d probably been afraid they’d end up getting some girl pregnant. Maddie knew more than most how easy that was to do.
And
I
need
to
dwell
on
that
like
I
need
another
buttery
nipple.
Feeling queasy, she changed the subject. “So Abby, why do you really hang out here listening to them? I still don’t get it.”

Abby looked to the privacy fence separating them from Mike’s house. They had plenty of distance, but she lowered her voice anyway. “I don’t have brothers. It’s hard for me to write scenes between guys. I mean, I can write sex scenes easily. I know sex.”

“So it says on the bathroom walls.”

“Witch.” Abby laughed. “The dynamics between women are easy. Men are different. Reading about a man calling a woman ‘my darling rose petal’ is so ’80s. I’m trying to get a more real, contemporary tone to my work.”

“So go to a bar. Get some guy friends. Get over this shy thing. You’re so weird, Abby. You’re a knockout and you think you’re fat.”

Abby glanced over her shoulder at her ass. “I do have to lose a few—”

“You’re funny and smart, but you let a jerk like Kevin make you feel like a fool.”

“Gee, Maddie. Thanks for ruining my day.” Abby frowned.

“My point is, you’re one up on me in so many ways, but you’re not nearly as confident as you should be. Heck, I’m pretty happy about myself, and I don’t even have a job.” And just like that, her self-assuredness plummeted.
Don

t panic. It

s just a minor setback, not a life-altering moment. I don

t think.

Abby stood, grabbed her by the arm, and tugged her back through the house. She opened the front door and shoved Maddie outside. “Stop thinking about yesterday and go see if Flynn is over there. If not, at least thank Mike for us. It’s the right thing to do.”

Grumbling at bossy short people who drank too much caffeine and developed attitudes like Vanessa, Maddie slipped on her shoes then walked the short distance next door. Like their house, this one had Craftsman-style architecture. A large porch with a hanging swing she envied, and pots of flowers all over the place. She’d never seen Mike outside tending to them, but then again, she spent most of her days from sun up to sun down at work. And for the past few months, she’d spent what little off time she had with Ben. That hypocrite.

It was all fine and dandy for him to ask her to cancel her plans for one of his benefit dinners or a call he had to make to a hospital, or to rearrange her life to suit his profession. But God forbid she cancel a date because she needed to confer with a client. She wouldn’t compare interior design to medicine, but her career meant something to her, even if she wasn’t saving lives.
Or
treating
athlete

s foot
, she thought nastily.

The door opened in front of her, and she blinked at a sleepy-eyed stranger wearing nothing more than tan shorts and a smile. “Well, hello there.”

The clear charm earned a smile from her, even though she still hated men. She could hate an entire gender and appreciate a work of art, though, couldn’t she? He probably wasn’t a McCauley, unless this one was a honey-haired throwback. His hair stuck up in places, indicating a good case of bed head. Amber eyes full of laughter and speculation teased her to enjoy the moment. She didn’t know why, but his good mood seemed infectious.

“I just wanted to thank Mike and Flynn for the plumbing work yesterday. I don’t want to inter”—he dragged her into the house before she could finish—“rupt.”

“Just wait here. I’ll be right back.” He tore off down a hallway past the living room that looked like a bomb had hit it. Pizza boxes, soda cans, beer bottles, and peanut shells littered every available table and parts of the floor. Underneath the mess, she sensed the potential for a really nice house. But stereotypical man furniture took up too much space.

A brown recliner, leather couch, and tan curtains accented with, gee, brown trim, cluttered the busy living room. Not to be outdone, the big-screen television sat on the far wall, detracting from the focal point of the room, which should have been a gorgeous stone fireplace.

Just then, a groan shook a blanket, a few cans, and a pizza box that fell off the lump on the sofa. She hadn’t noticed the hand dangling from the couch until now. To her shock, a man unfolded from the furniture.

No, not a man, a disheveled Adonis who blinked at her in shock. He wore nothing but a pair of low-riding boxer briefs. Every ridge of muscle in his abdomen and chest flexed as he took in a breath. Then he raised his hands to wipe his eyes, and she tried not to gape when his arms bunched and his biceps begged her to touch.

“Maddie?”

Flynn McCauley looked even better half naked than he had wearing jeans and a T-shirt. She tried really hard to remember how much she hated men. Just when she thought she could say something without sounding too out of breath, Colin McCauley walked through the living room looking barely awake. He wore Spider-Man underpants and rubbed his eyes, reminding her so much of Flynn that she smiled.

“Hi, Colin.”

He stopped under the archway to the kitchen, turned to stare at her, and screamed, “
Girrlllllll!
” Shrieking, he raced back the way he’d come, running with one hand covering his tiny butt.

Deep voices sounded from the back rooms. What sounded like Mike and the guy from the front door.

“Sorry about that. He’s in an anti-girl phase. We keep telling him it’ll pass.” Flynn hadn’t blinked yet. “Guess I should go put something on.”

Not
on
my
account.
“Oh, right. I’m really sorry to bother you. But it’s noon, so I didn’t think—”

“Noon?”

“Yeah.” And she thought she’d slept in. “Rough night?”

He glanced around him and frowned. “I guess. Man, when Mike sees this, he’s going to shit a brick.” He looked back at her and flushed.

Good Lord, could the man be any more attractive?

“Be right back.” He darted around the couch and disappeared.

Mike appeared at the mouth of the hallway followed by the other guy and Colin. “Sorry about the noise, we—”

He stopped dead at the sight of the living room. Before he could say a word, the guy behind him started talking.

“Don’t blow a gasket. Flynn and I will clean it up. All of it.”

“You’d better, Brody, or I’ll,” he paused, checked himself, and finished with a glance at Colin, “I’ll put you in time-out in the corner.” He added in a low voice, “In a body bag.”

Mike, at least, wore jeans and a T-shirt with some cartoon characters on it, which were mirrored by his son behind him. They looked so cute, like a matched set. She couldn’t help grinning.

“Not my fault. Today, Colin got to pick what I wear,” he said, seeing her smile.

“It’s fair, because you never let me wear what I want to camp.” Colin’s mouth set in a stubborn line.

Uh-oh. Family squabble. “I’d better go. Sorry for intruding. I just wanted to say—”

“You threw away my favorite shirt.” Colin tilted his chin, the same way Mike had when he’d looked at Brody. In challenge.

“Don’t go.” Brody magically appeared and gently nudged her away from the front door. “Want something to drink? Eat? I promise, the kitchen is clean.”

“Are you herding me?”

“It’s working, isn’t it?” He whispered, “Didn’t want you to see the drama behind you. Colin’s playing it up because we’re here. I knew the little guy wasn’t going to let that shirt go.”

She walked with him out of the room into the kitchen and sat at the surprisingly clean table. This room she liked. Done in muted grays, blacks, and blues, the ceramic tiled floor and granite countertops definitely suited Mike. Now if she could get him to part with the rest of his furniture, or at least arrange it another way, it would look so much better.

She couldn’t help designing, and then she remembered again that she had no job.

“Who are you?” she asked finally. “I don’t think we’ve met.”

“I’m sorry.” He held out a large hand. “Brody Singer. The unofficially adopted member of the McCauley clan.” Flynn walked into the room and Brody added, “And Flynn’s boss.”

Flynn shot him a dirty look. “Try partner. Brody and I are the masters behind McSons Plumbing.”

She shook Brody’s hand. “Madison Gardner. But call me Maddie.” She turned to Flynn. “And about yesterday…” She shouldn’t stay, not since she hated men. Hated what they looked like with those muscular chests. Hated the strong muscles of Brody’s thighs in those khaki shorts. Hated the way Flynn’s strong neck drew her attention to his broad shoulders. “I wanted to say thank you for fixing our sink. I didn’t get a chance before.” Her cheeks heated, but she couldn’t help it.

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