Because unlike herself, Leena was going to actually have her good-bye.
Don’t worry so much,” Leena said softly. “It’s time for me to take care of myself.”
“Fine. But I’ve got your back.”
Ten years of karate classes and other various self-defense classes would have both of their backs, as well as the gun in her underwear drawer and the knife she always had strapped to her thigh because it never hurt to be prepared.
“You’re always going to try to take care of me, aren’t you?” Leena asked.
Maddie hesitated. “I guess I am.” She waited for Leena to object, but her sister surprised her.
“I’m glad,” Leena said and hugged her hard. “To The Plan then.”
“To The Plan.”
Chapter 7
Brody heard the soft murmur of the sisters talking upstairs. He’d watched Maddie walk away from him, moving with sheer, dazzling attitude and grace, like a dancer in motion, even with the one shoulder that she couldn’t quite square and the one arm that didn’t quite flow like the other.
A fact that just about ripped out his fucking heart, but that was another issue. As was the fact that he’d caught her looking at him with such a sense of loss that she was scaring the crap out of him.
Why did she feel like she was losing him when he was right here?
He didn’t know, but he was on a mission to figure it out. To further that, he opened the front door, paused for effect, and then without stepping outside, flicked his wrist and let the door slam shut, practically hearing Maddie’s sigh of relief from upstairs.
And then he walked through the living room, heading straight for the desk he’d eyed when he’d first entered the place. Maddie wasn’t forthcoming with answers. No problem. He’d find them for himself.
It was the husbandly thing to do.
Maddie would be furious, but he didn’t care. Having a woman be furious at him wasn’t anything new, nor was having one ask him to leave her presence. His own mother hadn’t known what to do with him and had washed her hands of him at a young age, not that he blamed her-he’d been more than a handful.
Later, when he’d discovered women, they’d always been drawn to him until they realized his priorities, which were planes, flying, more planes, food, roof over his head, planes…and lastly, any possible relationship.
Yeah, he’d been asked to go away a lot. But he wasn’t going this time. No way, no how. The threat from the man on the phone had been real, and directed at Maddie.
The top of the desk was neat as a pin, without so much as a stapler or paper clip or spare piece of paper. The drawers were locked. He did feel a brief stab of conscience as he broke into the thing, but it was very brief. When he opened the top two drawers, he wasn’t surprised to find nothing but office supplies, all neat and unused.
The third drawer held the jackpot. A laptop. He booted it up and was momentarily stymied at the required password when he heard her footsteps behind him.
“Are you kidding me?”
Swiveling in the desk chair, he took in the woman standing in the doorway. She had auburn hair, but she no longer wore a sports bra and sweats. They’d been replaced with a white miniskirt, and he did mean mini, with a lacy baby blue number on top that showed off the class A curves she was packing. There was a narrow strip of smooth, sleek abs showing at her belly button, and the sexy twinkling jeweled piercing there, which made him want to fall to his knees and worship the spot with his mouth.
Oh, and the boots didn’t hurt. His first thought was to strip her out of the lace and mini and leave just the boots.
Yeah, there was an image. But which twin? He wanted to say Maddie…“You’re not triplets, right?”
She put one hand on her hip in a stance that was self-explanatory. Pissed off female alert. Whether she didn’t use both hands because she’d been shot on the job, his job, or because she didn’t want to expend any more energy than necessary, he had no idea.
“So you’re still here,” she said.
Okay, she looked like Maddie and sounded like Maddie…but did she taste like Maddie? He squelched that inappropriate thought the best he could, which wasn’t very well. “I can’t leave.”
“Can’t? Or won’t?”
“Yeah. That one.”
Looking sizzling hot, she blew out another breath. “You’re more stubborn than my sister.”
Yes. Yes, he sure as hell was. She was speaking quietly, so quietly he practically had to cup his ear to hear her.
Very un-Maddielike.
Maddie wanted him gone. Enough to have her sister to pretend-again-to be her while she escaped?
Probably.
Standing, he went to the window and looked out, seeing nothing but forest. “You could have avoided me coming here.” He turned back to her. “You know that, right?”
She arched a questioning brow. “Are you fishing for a hint to which twin you’ve got?”
He decided to plead the Fifth on that one.
“We’re completely identical, you know. Except for only one of us having a small birthmark on the back of the right thigh.”
A most interesting image, one he tried to forget as he eyed her body, trying to tell if she was favoring her arm. “I know another difference.”
And Maddie did, too. At least the real Maddie did.
“What’s that?”
“The tattoo.” And if she’d just turn around and bend over, her skirt was low enough on her hips that it might reveal enough of her heart-stopping ass to show at least some of the highly stylized inked Chinese symbol she had there, the one that translated to Dream Big.
She’d never said, but he had a feeling that once upon a time, dreaming big had been all she’d had, something he most definitely empathized with.
They were definitely kindred survivors, but with the way she practically screamed high class and him hardly even knowing what class was, that’s where their similarities ended.
“Right,” she said. “The tattoo. But that’s not for public viewing.”
Now see, Maddie would have just flashed him the ink; he was sure of it. She’d done it before, to him and Shayne both, and he’d nearly had to kill Shayne for drooling over the sight.
Maybe he could grab her hand, pull her over his knee, and tug down her skirt to see for himself, but as much fun as that would be, he valued his life very much. “I’ve seen the tattoo. You showed it to me yourself.” He waited for a reaction. Yeah, there, that flash of heat and temper. Maddie. It was all in the eyes, the undeniable awareness of him, even though she was trying to fight it. Join my club, babe.
“I’m going to ask you nicely this one last time,” she said. “And then you’re going to be sorry.”
“Actually, you’re not asking all that nicely.”
“Oh, forget it.” She shoved up her sleeves. “I’ll kick you out myself.”
Ah, a threat. Definitely Maddie. “I can help you. I can help you both.”
“How? You don’t even know which twin you have.”
And that made her mad. It was in the tight lines of her gorgeous, kissable mouth. And damn, she was holding her arm close to her side as if her shoulder hurt. Rising out of his chair, he moved toward her.
She gave one startled squeak and took a step back, right up against the wall now.
Good one, he thought. She might have been Leena right down to that unhappy glint in her eye, except for the I’ll-kick-your-ass tilt of the chin. He definitely knew which twin he had, and wondering how he’d ever doubted it, he stepped up close and personal, toe to toe, flattening his hands on the wall on either side of her head.
“What do you think you’re doing?” she demanded.
“I don’t know. Leena.”
