His partner didn’t blink at the scheduling nightmare, but they both knew it was going to hurt. Their clients wouldn’t be happy. And for the first time in memory, Brody didn’t give a shit.
This was more important. Maddie was more important. She intended to vanish on him again, and this time, he couldn’t be so sure he’d get lucky enough to catch up with her.
“Which plane?” Noah asked.
“Something fast. The Lear, if it’s available.”
“I think it is. Is she okay?”
“Fuck. I don’t think so, no.”
“You’re on it?”
“As much as she’ll let me be,” Brody admitted.
“She’s a tough cookie, she’ll-”
Maddie walked up to them, and they both stared at her. “So. Do I need a magic handshake to join this club?”
“We weren’t talking about you,” Noah said quickly.
Brody looked at him.
“We weren’t,” Noah said, sounding like a guilty kid.
“Uh-huh.” Maddie gave them both a long look, but especially Brody, who wanted to squirm.
He never squirmed.
“I’m going home,” she said. “I want to get a change of clothes.”
“I’ll take you.” Brody put a hand to the small of her back and turned her away from Noah, who he shot a dirty look.
Noah lifted his hands innocently.
Brody nudged Maddie to the front doors. That she was letting him take her home didn’t ease his mind. She’d ditch him at the first opportunity, and he knew it.
They drove to her condo complex in silence. “Thanks,” she said before he could turn off the engine of his car, leaving him to park and catch up with her, which he managed to do at her front door.
When she found she couldn’t shut it without taking off his foot, she sighed. “I promised I wouldn’t do anything stupid.”
“Yes, but I believe we have different definitions of stupid.” And though she had a hand on his chest to hold him off, he simply pushed and stepped inside.
Which earned him another sigh. “I’m a big girl, Brody. I’m just going to shower, eat, catch a quick catnap, and then…”
“Yeah. It’s that ‘and then’ that I’m worried about.” He tried a smile. “Besides, a shower sounds nice. So does eating, and I especially like the nap part.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I’m not sleeping with you.”
“No problem. We can find something else to do in your bed.”
She stared at him, clearly at a loss for words, which he could honestly say he hadn’t seen happen to her very often.
“Do you really think sex is appropriate right now?” she finally asked.
He shut the front door behind him, just in case she had ideas about pushing him out. “Sex is always appropriate.”
“Brody.” She let out a low laugh. “Even setting aside the ridiculous amount of ways I’m attracted to you and you to me…”
Setting it aside? He wasn’t sure he could do that.
“You’re not here for sex. I know it, and you know it. You’re here to watch over me.”
Guilty as charged. “We could have sex while I’m watching over you, if that makes you feel better.”
She didn’t laugh, but she did shoot him a half-bemused look. “How many times do I have to tell you, I don’t need a babysitter?”
He stepped close, at the moment honestly wanting nothing more than to just hold her. “How about a friend then?”
She hesitated.
And he took another step. “Or just someone who cares about you.” He leaned in so that his mouth brushed against her temple. “Someone who wants to make sure you’re okay.”
Her eyes drifted shut, and she didn’t move away. In fact, her body swayed toward his. “This is just some misguided hero complex,” she murmured.
Letting out a low laugh, he lifted his hands and slid them along her jaw, letting his fingers sink into her hair as he tilted her head up to his. “No. It’s not. It’s me caring about you.”
“I…I honestly didn’t know you cared this much.”
“Then you’ve not been paying attention.”
Her eyes filled with a mix of uncertainty and the urge to turn away and pretend this wasn’t happening between them. He himself was not sure what this was, but he did know ignoring it was the easy thing to do.
He never took the easy route.
“Before these past two days, we spent a lot of time ignoring each other,” she said.
“You ignored me. I never ignored you. You are one unignorable woman.”
“That isn’t even a word, unignorable.”
“Trying to tell a story here.”
“Sorry.”
“Then we spent two incredibly intense days together-”
She lifted her head. “Actually, that doesn’t count because adrenaline sort of magnifies-”
“Maddie.”
“Right.” She mimed locking her mouth and throwing away the key.
As if that would work. “And now you’re going to take off.” He drew in a breath, but it didn’t help. Shaken, he dropped his head, pressing his forehead to hers and took a breath. “Just take off. And I could lose you.”
She turned away.
And he tried not to panic. “So that’s still the plan.”
“Yes.”
Jesus. He tightened his grip on her. “What about our plan? To be a unit?”
“Don’t worry. That wasn’t the real world. I won’t hold you to anything.”
At an utter loss for words, he just stared at her. “What is it with you and the whole real world thing? Maybe I want to be held to something. You ever think of that?”
“No. Listen, I’m too tired for this.” She pulled free. “I told you about Leena’s message because I do understand that we’re more than boss and employee. I just don’t have time or brainpower to figure out what exactly that more is. So go home, Brody. Get some sleep. You have a wicked schedule over the next few days.”
“I have nothing more pressing than this.”
“This being…”
“Getting you what you wanted-showered, fed, and some sleep.” And then, using a patience that was rapidly going thin, he ushered her down her own hall to the bathroom. When he heard the shower go on, he turned to the kitchen. His cooking skills were limited, but he was a master at takeout, so he ordered a pizza to be delivered.
He went back to the bathroom, stood with his hand on the handle, debating with himself.
Go in and make sure she was okay, or stand guard outside the door in order to keep his hands off her…
She’d locked it. Not that that would have stopped him if he’d been needed, but apparently, he wasn’t. Which left him standing there, listening to the shower like a man who cared far too damn much, and wasn’t that just a bitch.
His cell phone buzzed. “Hey,” he said to Noah, ear cocked for any excuse to break into the bathroom. “Didn’t I just talk to you?”
“Yeah.”
Brody waited, but Noah was not forthcoming with the reason for this call. “Is there something you needed?”
“Sort of.”
Brody sighed. There was no rushing Noah. Ever.
“Are you okay?” Noah finally asked.
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Don’t know.”
“I’m fine.”
“Okay, good. Fine is good.” But Noah didn’t hang up. “You with Maddie?”
The shower was still on. She was in there, wet. Soapy. Warm and glistening…“Yeah.”
“She okay, too?”
“Yes, she’s okay, too. Could you get to the point?”
“I would if I knew exactly what was happening.”
“I promised you I’d call if I need you guys, and I meant it.”
“Okay.” But he paused. “I was just worried that you might get your heart stomped on, tough as that organ is.”
The abrupt change of subject made him blink. “Huh?”
“I know Maddie shot you down. She told me you two weren’t going to go anywhere with your attraction.”
“And how does that translate to her shooting me down?”