Maxie (Triple X) Read online

“64?” the radio called again.

  Zac clicked on the mike. “64,” he practically barked.

  “We have a report of an accident on the Indigo Byway, close to your location. Are you available to respond?”

  “Hell no.”

  Maxie took another good three steps back and smoothed her dress. Her skin prickled everywhere, hot where he’d touched and chilled where she should be wearing more clothes.

  Rubbing a hand over his face, the sheriff pressed the transmit button. “Affirmative, dispatch. Any injuries?”

  “Negative, but traffic is backing up.”

  “Understood. I’ll be there in five. 64 over.”

  Maxie folded her arms over her stomach. Talk about not knowing where to settle her hands. What had they just done? Had that been for practice? For dinner tonight? God, she hoped not. Even if Lexie and Roxie were her sisters, she didn’t want them watching as she made a meal of the man. The hot prickles on her body started to outnumber the chills, and she struggled not to fan herself. For a timid sort, it hadn’t taken much encouragement for her to throw herself at him.

  “I’ll fire them all,” Zac muttered.

  Standing, he adjusted his gun belt. Maxie stepped back and bumped up against the refrigerator.

  She needed to say something. Anything.

  “Do you think they’ll…?” She cleared her throat. “Do you think they’ll buy it? The sisters, I mean.”

  His blue eyes narrowed. “I did.”

  He watched her for a long, intense moment before raking his hand through his disheveled hair. “I’ll pick you up later, okay?”

  She nodded, her brain once again tripping over itself. Pretend or not, she’d made out with Zac Ford. And she might have sisters, with an s.

  How had her one-word plan evolved into this?

  “And for future reference…” he opened the door, but stopped with one foot over the threshold, “…I sleep on the right.”

  Chapter Four

  That kiss.

  Zac couldn’t shake it all day. That, and the feel of Maxie’s body against his, the scent of her perfume and the tiny sounds she made when pleasure overwhelmed her shyness. Everything beyond that was a blur.

  It had made for a long, long day.

  The only thing he’d been able to concentrate on was the work he’d promised her he’d do. When it had come to that, he’d been Mr. Focus. He’d checked the backgrounds of Lexie Underhill and Roxie Cannon, then had gone on to verify what information he could from the file. It had taken time, but he’d discovered some interesting tidbits. Now, he was back to find out what she had learned.

  Pulling into her driveway, he glanced at the house. He’d hated leaving her alone with so many questions unanswered, but he understood, too, that it was personal. Private. He’d pushed a little too hard this morning, trying to get himself put in the same personal and private category.

  He tapped his thumb against the steering wheel. Maybe he shouldn’t have kissed her. When he’d left Chicago, he’d vowed he was leaving undercover work too, but this was different. This was a role he wanted to come true. He might have jumped the gun, but he wasn’t sorry for it. The only thing he regretted was bringing her attention to how steamy the kiss had gotten.

  It had taught him something, though. Get her out of her head, and all that timidity faded. Earn her trust and she turned warm, flirty and a bit adventurous. He’d only caught a glimpse of that side of her before her reservations had kicked back in, but it had been enough to get his juices flowing.

  He wanted to see it again.

  Glancing in the mirror, he made sure his hair wasn’t standing on end and rubbed his hand over his jaw. He’d showered and shaved before coming over. It might not be a real date, but he was going to do his best to make her forget that.

  He hopped out of his Jeep. Heat had built over the course of the day, and the sun beat down on the back of his neck as he climbed the steps. He only had to knock once before he heard her footsteps. When she opened the door, he was glad he’d made the effort in cleaning up.

  “Huuuhn,” he grunted.

  She was still wearing the pretty sundress, but she’d done something with her hair. It hung in waves around her shoulders, tempting him to reach out and touch. She’d changed shoes, and the higher heels showed off her legs. They looked as if they could go on for miles.

  “Hi,” she said, dipping her chin shyly.

  “Hi,” he managed to get out this time.

  “You’re out of uniform.”

  He’d changed into jeans and a black shirt. “I didn’t think it would help the dinner conversation. Uniforms make some people nervous.”

  Her cheeks flushed.

  Somehow, he got the idea that uniforms didn’t have the same effect on her. Good to know, he thought, filing away the information for future reference.

  “You look fantastic,” he said, his voice coming out like gravel.

  “Thanks.” The flush in her cheeks deepened, but she pulled the door open wider. “Come in. It’s hot out there.”

  Cool air swept over him as he entered the house, but the moment he stepped inside, his gaze went right to the kitchen chair. It was hot in here too. She pushed the chair under the table, and the screech against the flooring told him there’d be no rekindling of that fire.

  He settled for leaning back against the kitchen counter. On the surface she seemed okay, but there were little signs. Her lips were too firm, and her shoulders were too stiff. The deer-in-the-headlights look was gone from her eyes, but stress still lined her brow. He hoped he hadn’t added to that.

  “How are you doing?” he asked.

  “Better, I think.”

  “How was your day?”

  “Retrospective and emotional.” She gestured to the boxes of papers and stacks of photo albums spread across the kitchen table and most of the counter space. “It’s hard to wrap my mind around all of this.”

  “Did you find anything?”

  She shook her head. “No, and that’s the problem.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Her lips tightened further as she flipped through the papers in the nearest box. “No birth certificate. No adoption papers. No announcements in the town paper.” She folded her arms over her chest. “I didn’t find any bronzed baby shoes or even baby pictures. In the oldest ones I came across, I was already a toddler.”

  She blinked a little faster, and Zac felt her disappointment and her desperation. They hung in the air as heavily as the humidity outside and made him feel a bit desperate himself. He’d told her he didn’t like seeing her upset, and it had been the truth.

  “Something could have happened to them. They could have been lost or accidentally destroyed.”

  She sent him a wan look. She was through being coddled.

  He nodded toward the albums, changing tactics. “In the pictures that you did find, were you happy?”

  “Yes.”

  “Hold on to that.”

  She hugged her arms around her waist. Her brown eyes had never been bigger. “Tell me they’re good people.”

  He knew what she was asking and what she couldn’t say aloud. Not yet. They were her sisters, and she was their missing link.

  “Lexie is a model citizen,” he assured her. “I couldn’t find so much as a traffic violation on her. I did find all sorts of commendations, though—awards from marketing associations and charities. It looks like she recently started a new company with a guy named Cameron Rowe. As for Roxie, she’s a bit more…let’s call it colorful.”

  “How so?”

  “She’s hell on wheels,” he answered honestly, “but nothing malicious or dangerous. I get the sense that she defends herself and her turf.”

  “Can you blame her?”

  He tilted his head. That tone was almost defensive. In fact, it was defensive, and it told him a lot. “No, I can’t. Given how she grew up, her record is pretty darn clean. She works at a bar called The Ruckus. I found the billboard they talked about. I
can see why it caused a scandal.”

  He watched as Maxie took the information in. They’d gone through that file of information together. Roxie’s childhood couldn’t have been more different than what she’d experienced with the Millers. Still, she nodded in understanding.

  That didn’t mean she was okay with what was happening. In the blink of an eye, her entire life had changed. She had different genes, different family ties and a childhood she couldn’t remember. It had her wound tight as a steel coil. Her fingers were white against her elbows, and her right foot was cocked back on its heel. If she ground it into the flooring any more, there’d be a hole in the tiling.

  “Are you sure you want to do this?”

  She took a deep breath and dropped her arms to her sides. “We don’t have to stay long. We can leave any time you want.”

  “No, we’ll leave when you want. Just give me the high sign.”

  “What is that?”

  He mulled it over. “You could kiss me again.”

  Her eyes popped open.

  He put on his best innocent face. “Or, if you prefer, you could nibble on my ear.”

  She let out an exasperated sound and picked up her purse.

  “Run your fingers through my hair?”

  There was a hint of a smile on her face. “How about I mention how late it’s getting?”

  He rolled his eyes. “What fun is that?”

  She rolled her eyes right back at him and started for the door.

  “Come on,” he wheedled. “We don’t want them thinking we’re bored with each other.”

  He was willing to do almost anything to get her to lighten up. She’d handle things much better if she didn’t go in tight and defensive. Besides, he liked getting under her skin, now that he knew what tweaked her. “You could put your hand on my leg under the table. Now that would get me out of there in a flash.”

  “Flashpoint,” she said, stopping in her tracks. “Lexie’s flowers.”

  She turned so quickly she nearly ran into him. Zac caught her waist to steady her, and her face flushed. They were toe to toe, nearly mouth to mouth. They stayed that way for a long moment until she shied away. Moving around him, she hurried to the refrigerator and pulled out a vase filled with a fiery arrangement.

  “I had Laura bring them over.” She deftly shifted blooms and smoothed leaves.

  Zac saw more than he thought she wanted him to see. There was hesitancy in her, but a spark too. She was nervous about what might happen tonight. Nervous, but curious.

  And maybe a little bit excited.

  A knot pulled tight in his gut.

  He wanted things to go right for her so badly he nearly reached for his phone to call the sisters. He wasn’t above sitting them down and telling them how it was going to be.

  But this had to evolve naturally. Questions had to be asked, and the right answers needed to be given. The three of them had to come to an understanding on their own and develop a relationship if they wanted. Or not. He couldn’t fix something that was already tangled and snared. All he could do was sit at Maxie’s side.

  And pretend to be Mr. Right.

  He held the back door open for her. “Ready?”

  She took a deep breath. “As I’ll ever be.”

  “Don’t worry. They’re going to love you.”

  The Indigo Iguana was busy when they arrived. Families filled up the booths while happy-hour singles tried to get the bar to extend their hour into two. The atmosphere was casual, relaxed and eclectic. As the name indicated, the Iguana wasn’t normal restaurant fare. The walls of the place were deep purple, decorated with neon iguanas in oranges, yellows and greens. Keeping with the tropical theme, fish netting hung from the ceilings. Oars outlined the doorways, and sea turtles pointed the way to the restrooms. The effect was over the top, which was exactly the reason why cars often filled the parking lot.

  The fact that their surf and turf was over the top too didn’t hurt.

  “I don’t think they’re here yet,” Zac said, scanning the crowd. “We should grab a table, if we can.” He stiffened when he noticed the man heading straight for them. “Shit,” he muttered.

  “Maxie,” Martin Shimwell called gleefully.

  If there was one person in this town that Zac hadn’t yet found a way to tolerate, it was this guy. Marty Shimwell had been his opponent in the election for Indigo Falls Sheriff. His very presence made Zac itchy. It wasn’t so much that he didn’t like the guy. He was harmless enough in that weak, spineless way. In fact, Shimwell didn’t seem to carry any grudges and had been friendly enough in return.

  “Don’t you look beautiful,” the man said, cupping Maxie’s shoulder.

  It was that.

  Zac gritted his teeth.

  “And look at this.” Shimwell touched the bouquet in appreciation. “Bringing your own centerpiece?”

  “They’re for…a friend,” she said.

  “Gorgeous.”

  He wasn’t looking at the flowers anymore, and Zac folded his arms to keep from bopping the guy’s hands away from her.

  “Are you managing the restaurant now, Martin?” Maxie’s tone was open and friendly. No signs of shyness or hesitancy there.

  “For the past two weeks.” He leaned in a bit too close to confide, “The cellular store was too slow for me.”

  And the grocery store he’d worked for when he’d been running his campaign? The guy went through jobs the way Taylor Swift went through boyfriends.

  Zac couldn’t take it any longer. Sidling closer to Maxie, he wrapped his arm around her waist. “You wouldn’t happen to have a table open so she can set those flowers down?” he asked.

  With teeth bared like a tiger.

  Shimwell wasn’t the only one who could reach out and touch. It was time he established his territory, especially if he was going to pull off his role of boyfriend tonight. If they were going to convince everyone, he might as well start getting into the act.

  The smile on Martin’s face faltered. He looked back and forth between the two of them. When his smile returned, it was plastic. “Table for two, then?”

  “For four, actually,” Maxie said.

  Shimwell’s eyes narrowed with curiosity. “Wonderful.” He grabbed menus from the receptionist’s stand. “If you’ll follow me?”

  He wasn’t the only one eyeing them as they crossed the restaurant. The sheriff and Maxie Miller, Zac could practically hear them whispering. It sounded pretty good to his ears. He was fine with gossip starting about the two of them, as long as she was. He sent a quick look at her.

  He almost pulled up short.

  She was so oblivious to everything she didn’t even notice people’s speculation.

  Zac reined himself in. He needed to remember why they were here. This wasn’t all fun and games to her. She’d asked him to be at her side for a reason.

  Shimwell led them to a table near the back. It was close to the bar, but away from the bathrooms and kitchen. In this place, it was in as low of a traffic area as possible.

  “Thanks, Marty.”

  The host stiffened, his posture yanked upright as if by a string. Setting their menus in front of them, he turned on his heel. “I’ll keep an eye out for your dinner companions.”

  Zac pulled out a chair for Maxie.

  “He doesn’t like being called Marty,” she said.

  “I know.”

  She frowned as he sat next to her. “He’s not such a bad guy.”

  “To-may-to, to-mah-to.”

  Leaning back, Zac watched her. She was fiddling with the bouquet again as she kept an eye on the entrance. He couldn’t see anything out of place in the arrangement and wasn’t sure there was. She was nervous, though, and he couldn’t blame her. She was a private person, and being out with him was drawing attention. What would happen when Lexie and Roxie walked in? That’s would surely knock all the gossipers for a loop.

  Maybe meeting here hadn’t been a good idea.

  “Do you think they’ll h
ave trouble finding the place?” She pulled her hands away from the flowers and folded them in her lap.

  “You’ve got their number if they don’t show up.”

  “I hope they weren’t bored today.”

  “They’re big girls. They can entertain themselves.”

  She couldn’t keep her hands still. She drummed her fingertips together and twirled her thumbs. “I’m not sure what they’re going to expect from me.”

  Zac draped his wrist over the back of her chair. “Don’t worry about it. Just be yourself. If you get uncomfortable, we don’t have to stay.” He patted his leg under the table. “Remember the high sign.”

  That got her attention. Her eyes popped open before quickly scanning the area to see if anyone had heard. “Stop it.”

  “One pat, and I can assure you we’ll be out of here before you know it.”

  “I am not grabbing your leg under the table at the Indigo Iguana.”

  He let one eyebrow rise. “But maybe somewhere else?”

  Her cheeks were turning a pretty pink when Roxie stepped in the door.

  Maxie saw Roxie the moment she entered the restaurant. With as much as the sisters looked alike, it wasn’t difficult for her to tell them apart. First, there were the clothes. That was the obvious distinction, but there were other things too. Roxie walked differently. She…well, she strutted. There was a confidence there that Maxie, personally, could never have.

  “Watch this,” Zac said, leaning closer to her.

  Martin was heading to the receptionist stand. Maxie watched as an easy, welcoming smile settled onto his face. His chin came up in recognition, but then confusion hit. His double take was comical, because it swiveled from Roxie to one hundred and eighty degrees across the room to her. Twice.

  Roxie, for her part, gave him a wink. Seeing them at their table, she grabbed a menu for herself. She patted him on the shoulder and strode on by. More heads twisted and more eyes bugged as she strutted across the restaurant. Devil that she was, the sway of her hips actually intensified. With the assurance of a runway model, she flipped her hair over her shoulder.

  Her expression was mischievous when she met them.

  Zac stood and pulled back a chair for her. “Enjoy that?”