What a Girl Wants (24 page)

“I remember.” She smiled in memory of how utterly hot, tanned, rugged and dangerous they both looked. “The building’s security thought you were renegade bikers.”

“You had a date that night, and he was picking you up at the office. But you were still in a meeting when he showed up.” He washed down a bite of hot dog with Coke. “Dude waited for you at reception. Reece pointed him out to us. We introduced ourselves as your older brothers.”

“Brothers?” She felt a twinge in her tummy at the thought that she may indeed have siblings out there. “I’m pretty sure any guy I dated would have known I don’t have any brothers.”

“Yeah, we figured that.” He chuckled. “We explained that our Ma suggested you not tell people about your bros who were just released from Rikers Island.”

She put her hand over her mouth. “You didn’t?

He nodded, smiling. “You have to admit, we pulled off the ex-con look, no problem. We gave him the ‘Don’t mess with our little sister’ talk.” He added a few more squirts of mustard to the hot dog. “Donovan was on that day. He laid on a thick Brooklyn accent that would put Al Pacino to shame.”

“You’re pulling my leg. He doesn’t have it in him.”

“Scout’s honor.” He polished off the rest of his hot dog and grabbed a napkin. “And it was Donovan’s idea.” Wiping his mouth and hands, he scrunched up the napkin. “Whatever happened to that dude?”

Maddie racked her brain. “Did he have reddish hair, blink a lot, carry a man bag and have delusions of Bohemianism?”

“That’s the guy.”

She nodded, remembering. “We went to dinner. After we ordered he excused himself. Few minutes later, my phone buzzed. He sent me a text message. Family emergency, he was sorry but he had to leave. I wasn’t going to let a good reservation go to waste, so I stayed, cancelled the entrée and went straight to dessert.”

He laughed. “You’re a trip.”

She punched his arm. “I owe you both for that.”

He finished the Coke. “Hey, told you, wasn’t my idea.” He nodded toward a still sleeping Alex. “Besides, shall we list the times you scared off
his
dates?” He crushed the can and tossed it in the garbage bin. “And still he remained your friend, took the ribbing, even risked his head when you aimed directly for it at the softball game. Amazing, ain’t it?”

“That’s what friends are for. Through thick and thin and practical jokes.”

“Keep that in mind.”

She yawned, feeling a little more relaxed, a little less stressed. “Have you ever been serious about a woman?” She rolled her eyes at the way he hiked his brows. “And no, I’m not asking for Reece. Just making conversation until Sleeping Beauty wakes up. Work with me.”

“There was this one girl. A real smarty-pants with lots of sass and a quick wit. I fell hard. She was my Mrs. Robinson.”

“An older woman, huh?”

He nodded. “Spent a wonderful summer with her. Picture a slow-motion, music-playing montage…beach, park, picnic. Holding hands at the movies. She ruined me for other women.”

“Timmy’s a romantic. Who would have thunk?” She smiled. “What happened to her?”

“Only my grandma calls me Timmy.” He nudged her. “She went on to middle school and I was still in elementary.”

She shook her head. “I should have guessed.” Sliding her straw in and out of the carton she sobered as a montage of the bitch and Alex together popped into her mind. “Why didn’t he tell me that he was with her last night?”

“My guess, he hasn’t had time. Look at him, he’s tired, you’re tired. Not the best time to have a serious conversation. And I’m going to shut up now, because you and Donovan need to discuss this on your own.” He hopped off the stool. “Now that I’ve eaten something, I think I can stomach you two cuddling.” He winked. “Go nap. You can talk about stuff tonight or tomorrow.”

She slid off the stool, thanked him for the snack and the laughs and headed back to Alex.

The Secret Past of a Bikini-Chasing, Hard-Boozing Journalist

by Tricia M. Darryl, Reckless Times Reporter

Alex Donovan, the dashing foreign correspondent whose face has graced TV screens, magazines and newspapers all over the world as he’s brought us up-to-the-minute news from the front lines, has been spotted partying rowdily in Hawaii.

Model Codi Watters, also vacationing on the island, recalls how Donovan went on a drinking binge at the Mad Monkey nightclub after she expressed her desire to end their date. “That’s when he lost control,” Watters said. “He start yelling at this man in the bar (identified by sources as being millionaire Leslie Brigham) who was sitting there minding his own business. I guess some men can’t handle rejection.”

Sources revealed exclusively to Reckless Times that the day after Watters’s rejection, Donovan was seen escorting four women to his suite for a sex orgy. Sources close to Donovan worry that the hotshot reporter is sinking back to his bad-boy ways. Reckless Times has learned that at seventeen years of age, Donovan hacked into his high school’s network and changed the grades of one hundred students. More on the hacking story and an exclusive on how Donovan ruined his ex-lover’s—late-night talk show host, Crystal Washington’s—once thriving journalism career, on page six.

Maxwell turned to page six, finished reading the article, folded the tabloid and placed it on his desk. Not surprising the information he’d given Victor Grant to leak to the rag had been twisted in Washington’s favor.

He’d placed a few calls to try and get the story canceled, but unfortunately the edition had already gone to press. Maxwell had then filled a few pockets and discovered that Crystal Washington was a ghostwriter for
Reckless
. She didn’t mind being involved in any controversy
¾
all were good for her show’s ratings. Grant had been stupider than stupid to partner with someone like the double-crossing Washington
¾
not that he’d known about her career as a double-crossing, play-both-sides-of-the-fence tabloid reporter.

He rubbed his forehead as a thought occurred to him. He knew for a fact that Madison had spent the night with Donovan after that bar incident with Brigham. Had Donovan involved Madison in a perverted orgy? Maxwell sighed and shook his head. What the hell was he doing, believing anything that rag had conjured up?

There were a handful of things in Maxwell’s life he regretted—trusting Grant and wanting to give Donovan a taste of his own medicine were now among them. However, what was done was done. Maxwell was confident that Donovan was more than able to handle the vultures that would be stalking him because of the
Reckless Times
story.

His main concern was to keep Madison’s name out of any of this garbage. He would move heaven and earth to ensure her protection against evil gossip.

Carl walked into the study, followed by Dr. Noa.

Maxwell rose and took a deep breath, staring at Noa’s briefcase.

“Mr. Hollister,” Dr. Noa said, shaking Maxwell’s hand, “I have the results.”

“I can feel you staring, you know.” Alex’s eyes were shut. A lopsided smile touched his face. “You’re too far away.” He knocked on the seat next to him.

Maddie stood across from him. She had tried to take a nap, but had been unsuccessful. The light mood Tim had coaxed out of her earlier had vaporized. While Alex slept she’d stewed about her conversation with Washington, Alex’s nondisclosure about Washington, and her uncle, who suddenly wasn’t available to take her calls, as well as her mother, who wasn’t returning her messages. On top of all that, she was overtired. No wonder she was in a cranky mood. “Can you feel me glaring too?”

His eyes flew open and he stared at her for a few beats, knitting his brows in confusion. “I can definitely see it. What’s wrong? You look royally pissed.”

She glanced at her watch. They still had about an hour before they reached Maui. She didn’t think she could bite her tongue for that long or wait until tonight or tomorrow. “That’s putting it mildly.”

He leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees. He still looked exhausted, Maddie thought. “Well?” he said. “Are you going to tell me why I’d feel safer swimming with the sharks than sitting here with you?”

Where did she begin? With the fact that he lied to her last night? Okay, so it wasn’t a lie, but it was a huge omission. She had no right to be possessive. If she were truly being honest, she was hurt that he hadn’t come running to her last night when she’d wanted him with her so damn badly.

And yeah, she did feel a tad possessive. After all, he was her…boyfriend? Lover? Lordy, she was the idiot who’d come up with the term sexually energized friends. She’d stated the rules and somehow forgotten them. Did being Alex’s sexually energized friend mean she could ream him out for not coming to comfort her when she needed him?

Her head pounded. She was frustrated, and her thoughts and feelings were confusing and out of control.

“It’s about last night.” She folded her arms and squinted her eyes on purpose. “You were too busy to have dinner with me. You couldn’t squeeze in an hour or even half an hour to come over after you finished your
work
—”

“If you remember, I offered to walk back with you from Hollister’s. When I called, I asked if you were okay and you said you were—”

“As I recall when you asked if I was okay, I said I was tired.” She paced back and forth. “You can’t take a hint? Did I have to spell it out—”

“Yes. Dammit, Maddie, what the hell is this all about?” His expression darkened in that way it did when he lost patience. “If you needed me last night, you should have told me. I would have been there in a heartbeat.” He raked his fingers through his hair. “You’ve never been shy about telling me exactly what you want before.”

Jerk had a point. “This is different.”

“Really?” He sat up, crossed his arms and stretched his legs out. “Why’s that?”

How the hell was she supposed to answer that? She wasn’t even sure herself. Her desire to see him last night to share what was going on with her family and the let-down feeling that had washed over her when he said he had to work was not like her at all. But she couldn’t deal with the implications of that at the moment—it was muddling the real issue.

“I’ll get back to you on that.” She stepped closer to him. “Where did you go after you left Hollister’s last night?”

He nodded. “Obviously you know where I went or we wouldn’t be having this argument, and you wouldn’t be looking like you’re ready to go all Stallone on me.” He lifted his brow. “Right?”

She tapped her foot. He pissed her off with his I-know-you-know expression. “You were too busy to come and see me but you sure as hell made time to visit with your ex-girlfriend ’til all hours? I can only imagine what you two were doing—”

“Don’t go there.” A muscle ticked at the edge of his jaw. “You know me better than that.”

“Don’t interrupt. I wasn’t finished.”

“Fine.”

“Fine,” Maddie continued. “When did you find out she was in Hawaii? Were you planning on telling me? Did you know she’s been sticking her nose into my private affairs? How many times have you seen her since we’ve been here?”

“You done?” he asked.

“For now.”

He dragged his hands down his face, then dug out a bottle of water from the knapsack. It seemed to Maddie that he was taking his sweet time drinking it before answering. “I found out last night that she was on the island. Of course I was going to tell you. I wanted to spend a few days of peace and quiet before we talked about her.” He drained the rest of the water. “Yes, I know she’s been snooping into your business. That’s why I went over there—”

“Hello! You knew? Don’t you think you could have mentioned it to me when you called last night? This has to do with
me
and
my business
. I know you love to be in control—”

“Jesus.” He threw his head back and looked at the ceiling. “This damn trip keeps getting better and better.”

Her legs turned into rubber. She sank next to him. “What do you mean? What else are you not telling me? And don’t say nothing. I’ve been suspecting something is up.”

He put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her to him. “I promise I’ll explain everything to you.” He kissed her forehead. “I wanted a few days to chill out with you. I wasn’t hiding my visit with her. Trust me, she’s the last person I want to spend time with.” He massaged her shoulder. “You’re tight, and you look exhausted.”

She tried to stifle a yawn but it escaped. “The minute I’m finished with Stewart Milton we’re going to have a long talk. I want to know everything that involves me. It’s none of my business what you and her—”

“Yes, it would be your business if there was a me and anybody. And you know damn well there isn’t.” He cupped her chin. “Now shut up and kiss me.”

He bent and touched his lips to her tightly closed mouth. He chuckled against her mouth as he tried to coax her lips into joining him. He tasted ridiculously wonderful. She gave into the kiss. Her steaming anger evaporated into a fine mist, and the tightness in her neck and shoulders loosened a touch.

“Isn’t this where I left off with you two?” Tim walked over sat across from them. “It’s raining.” He crossed his arms behind his head. “Been watching that couple over there.”

Maddie followed Tim’s gaze to the older couple that had been playing cards. The man was placing two hamburgers and two cups of coffee down on the table. Alex turned his head.

“They haven’t said a word to each other this whole trip,” Tim continued. “Reminds me of my grandparents. I swear they had telepathic abilities. Each knew what the other was thinking without talking.”

Maddie watched as the elderly man squeezed ketchup onto one of the burgers and slid it over to his wife. He then added cream and sugar to a coffee cup, stirred and handed it to her. No words passed between them.

“Hmmm,” Maddie said. “I see a woman who doesn’t have to
spell everything out
to her husband.”

Alex removed his arm from around her and glanced back at the couple again. “I see a loving couple enjoying a
quiet, conflict-free
morning. The husband is taking care of his wife without her questioning his every move or being suspicious of everything he does.” Alex finished with a smile that clearly said, “So there.”