A Bride for the Billionaire Bad Boy (The Romero Brothers, Book 2) (12 page)

“It’s okay,”
Maxine
prompted him. “He’s a close friend. You can say whatever you have to say in
front of Lucas.”

“Very well. Your mother has been more confused
and agitated lately and we’re quite concerned for her safety. We can try some
sedative medication as I explained to you before.”

Lucas shifted uncomfortably on the spot before
speaking. “Is there any reason she can’t have twenty-four hour supervision?” he
asked in a voice of authority, yet calm.

“Well, that would be quite costly. Maxine would
have to foot the bill out of her own pocket since we don’t provide that sort of
care at this facility.”

“It’s not a problem. I’ll take care of all
costs. Do you have a nursing agency that you use who could send an RN right
away?” Lucas probed.

“Lucas!” Maxine was gob smacked. “I…We…I can’t
ask you to do that. It would cost a fortune.”

“Please leave that to me, Maxine.” Lucas held
up his hand to silence her.

Maxine was taken aback at first. Who did he
think he was?
Just because he had…money?

While Lucas spoke to the
doctor regarding making arrangements and instructing him about his billing
information, Maxine re-folded her arms tightly across her chest before shifting
her composure.
She considered
her options. What else could she do? The only other choice was to have her
mother committed to a mental ward with more staffing or a psychiatric hospital,
when all her mother probably needed right now was more close continuous care
around the clock, something only a private duty nurse could provide.

“Thank you,” Maxine said softly to Lucas while
she turned the key to her apartment for the first time since her break-in. It
had been two hours later after they’d left the facility. Lucas and Maxine had
visited her mother in the special room prior to the private duty nurse arriving
from the agency. But he told her he wanted to take her up to her apartment to
get things sorted out. He said it wasn’t wise to go alone. And he was right.

“I told you, I look after my friends, Maxine.”

“Only friends, huh?” She grinned playfully.
“Why are you so nice to me? I mean
,
I really
appreciate it, Lucas.”

“I want to do this, Maxine. I don’t know why
but sometimes in life you meet someone and you feel this connection. It’s not
really something I can explain but I feel a rapport with you. And besides,
right now I’d much rather be here with you,” he said looking around the trashed
unit, a bitter knife twisted in his stomach.

What crazy animal did this to Maxine? He would
soon find out. Zack told him that the detective agency was on the case working
with the cops.

“I’d much rather be with a kind-hearted, down-to-earth
friend than dealing with the gossip-hungry media,” Lucas continued.

Maxine gushed inside. She was honored. But that
feeling was soon washed away with sorrow for Lucas. What on earth must he be
going through? His case was still up in the air in the media. She felt bad for
him. His reputation was on the line and here he was, spending time helping
Maxine sort through her rubbish.

 
Maxine felt a bit discouraged looking at
all the stuff she would have to sift through. “Are you sure you want to help me
out here, Lucas?”

He glanced around and cocked a brow. “Not
really. Let’s hire a cleaning agency.”

“Oh,” Maxine said, swallowing hard.

“I’m teasing you, Maxine. Relax,” he said in
jest.

She melted at the smoothness of his tone. Yes,
she needed to learn to relax.

“I get rustled at times, too, Maxine. Don’t get
me wrong. Things rile me up but I’ve learned a long time ago that getting
worked up doesn’t do anything to solve a problem. It only makes you feel worse
and makes the situation look worse. And even more so than that, sometimes we
miss the blessing of a simple solution to our problems because we’re too busy
being pissed off.”

“Good point.” Maxine nodded thoughtfully.

Lucas’s expression turned grim when his eyes
scanned the apartment further. The walls had splashes of wine from the bottles
that were hurled against them. “I want you to stay at the condominium on Bay
Street. The one owned by my family.” The words came out more like an order than
a request. Maxine did not like the sound of that.

“What?” she
huffed.
“What are you talking about, Lucas?”

“You’re not staying here.” His tone was clipped.

“I’ll go back to the motel.”

“The hell you will. Why would you do that?”

“Because it’s what I can afford, Lucas. I
appreciate what you’ve done for my mother but I’m not…I’m not going to be
some…kept woman.”

“Kept woman?” he said with a stiff expression.
“Who said anything about a being a kept woman?”

“Well, I sure can’t afford the rent for Romero
Towers, that’s a no-brainer.” She folded her arms across her chest.

“I’ll cover it, Maxine. When are you going to
learn to accept help when it's offered?”

“Because you’ve done so much for me and I feel
as if…I’ll never be able to repay you.” The words caused a painful lump to
swell in her throat. Maxine could not breathe or think straight. It was all too
overwhelming.

Just then Lucas paused, his expression turned
serious. He saw something over by the corner of her studio apartment on the
ground by the overturned bookshelf and mounds of books spewed across the floor.
He walked over to that area and knelt down; a grin touched his lips.

“What is it?” Maxine asked with great curiosity.
She stepped over some books and overturned coffee table to get to where he was.

It was the beautiful bouquet that she had placed
on top of her bookshelf. The one she caught at Lucy’s wedding around the same
time Lucas had caught Antonio’s garter. Oh, my.

Lucas swallowed. He turned around to face
Maxine and handed it to her with a wicked grin. “You may be needing this one
day, beautiful.”

Maxine flushed.
If only.

***

A few weeks blew past Maxine as she spent time
in her new apartment at Romero Towers on the luxury strip of Bay Street and the
lake with a beautiful view of the blue water. She had never been in a place
like that. Sure enough, Lucas had convinced her to stay there. She had nowhere
else to turn. In the first few days, Lucas was with her at the office to ensure
things ran smoothly at the agency with the new software program. It was a
dream. Speaking of dreams, every night since Lucas helped her out in her
apartment she thought back to watching him
pick
up
that magic bouquet in the rubble of her trashed apartment. That bouquet. She
referred to it as magic because of all the things to find. It was as if it was some
sort of positive omen or maybe even fate. What had that meant? Why had Lucas
grinned? A distinct feeling of lightness floated inside her belly. Love. She
thought about Lucas having caught the garter that day of Lucy’s wedding, too.
Was that a coincidence or…kismet?

As Maxine shuffled through some paperwork on
her desk at Dream Weddings, Inc. she tried to push the thought of having
anything romantic with Lucas aside. The last thing she needed to do was to
raise her hopes only to have them come crushing down.

She had to shift her focus back on work. Yes,
work. She loved the new technology Lucas had set up for her business. That was
a step in the right direction.

Betty, the receptionist and admin assistant,
loved it, too. It was more self-serve for clients and meant less hassle for
them. It was also cost-effective since things were headed more online much like
travel agencies these days.

At least now her company would be able to keep
up with technology and the changing times. So at least they stood some fighting
chance of survival in the competitive marketplace. Of course, it also meant that
revenue would take a small hit but that was inevitable in any case since most
clients were not coming in with mounds of cash to have their weddings organized
by a live person.

But to her chagrin, Lucas wasn’t there much of
the time. At least after things got up and running. He left Maxine to her work,
sure as promised.

The high-rise state-of-the-art condo was close
to her office at Dream Wedding, Inc., which in and of itself was a dream!
Talk about a fast commute
. And all this time, Lucas was on
the West Coast handling some business merger plans for Romero Corp. on behalf
of his grandfather. She felt foolish now for accusing Lucas of having her as
some kept woman. Sure, he wanted to help her out a bit, but it seemed as if he
had other things occupying his mind, like business, of course. He was, after
all, a prominent entrepreneur and executive, right?

All the while, Maxine longed to see him again.
She longed to feel the strong surrender of his arms around her again. She
longed to kiss his sweet lips. She wanted him, craved him. Absence sure made
the heart fonder, and hungrier for passion, too. She didn’t think she could
survive another day without seeing him in person—not online either. Maxine
would toss and turn at night thinking about Lucas with her, on top of her. She
would lie on her back and remove her gown, stroking her nipples, imagining
Lucas’s sweet lips caressing them until she came. Oh, how she missed Lucas. The
strange thing was that she’d never even gone all the way with him—yet.
She wondered if she’d ever get to that point. She wanted him. She wanted him
like she’d never wanted any man before.

“The nursing home is on line one,” Betty called
out from the reception area of Dream Weddings, Inc.

“Thanks, Betty,” Maxine answered before picking
up the flashing line. “Hi, Mom!”

“Oh, darling, you are sounding much better
today,” her mother’s steady voiced called out over the phone. Her mom was still
pleasantly confused but luckily she was not sedated with drugs and she was not
in a mental ward. Thanks to Lucas, she had a twenty-four hour private duty
nurse who was absolutely fabulous and compassionate. This gave Maxine more time
for herself to take care of herself and run the business while her mother had a
wonderful support staffer with her all the time.

“Mom, I thought I always sounded good.”

“Hmm. Not really, dear, but you’ll improve. So
how’s the weather in England?”

Maxine grinned. “Mom, I’m here in Toronto with
you. The weather is great.”

At least now her mother was referring to her as
a daughter and not as a stranger or some ancient princess. At least that was a
start.

Things were beginning to look hopeful for
Maxine. Except where Lucas was concerned. Okay, so she had not been rushing
into his arms or anything but what was with the hot and cold signals she was
getting from him? He barely called since travelling to the West Coast. Was he
with another woman? Did he find a fling to kill time while he was out there,
since clearly Maxine did not give it up to him at the drop of a hat?

There were only two things of which she was
unsure. One: Who was the person or persons behind those hate emails and
trashing her place? And, two: Where did she stand with Lucas? Did she have a
future with him or not?

CHAPTER TWELVE

Two weeks later, dozens of friends and family
gathered in the garden at Romero Mansion for the Jack and Jill Baby shower for
Lucy and Antonio’s unborn baby. Tables and garden chairs were adorned with
pretty white tablecloths and chair coverings while blue and pink ribbons
decorated the trees. Enormous teddy bear balloons and “Baby Shower” blue and
pink balloons were hanging everywhere. There was a large table filled with gift
bags and presents for Lucy’s baby, of which, Maxine’s gifts were amongst them.

The proud mom-to-be Lucy looked so glowing and
jubilant with her swelled belly as she sat down on the “Queen” chair surrounded
by close friends who were gushing over her. The official games and shower
hadn’t begun as of yet. Maxine was sincerely thrilled for Lucy. She’d found her
Mr. Right and now she was expecting her first child. Lucy deserved
every happiness
. Like Maxine, she’d been alone and
heartbroken for some time. Years. In fact, they used to tease each other about
their celibate years wondering if they’d end up alone and spinsters into
their
nineties. A lump climbed in Maxine’s throat. Well, at
least Lucy would not end up that way. She wasn’t so sure about her own fate,
though.

The sound of people laughing, talking and
having fun filled the atmosphere. It was a warm summer afternoon in August. The
sun was shining bright against a blue cloudless sky. Maxine felt a bit out of
her element though. She’d known Lucy for a while but Lucy was hanging with a
different crowd now.
The rich and the famous.
A waiter
dressed in a white tux with a black bow tie (one of many waiters) approached Maxine
with a tray of refreshments.

“No, thank you. I’m fine for now,” she dismissed
him politely. The man walked away. Everybody seemed to be having fun
socializing with people they knew but Maxine didn’t really know anyone there.
Except Lucas, but he was still out of town as far as she knew.