Concealed Carry (4 page)

Chapter Six

"Are you sure you can trust this woman to care for you?" Max's mother paced the width of Tina's hospital room holding a cigarette in her hand, her heels clicking on the tile floor.

"Mom, you do know you can't smoke in here right?"
Max asked her and Tina pressed her lips together to keep from laughing.

"
I don't smoke," his mother glared at him and pointed first at Tina and then at him, not deterred from her initial topic. "So, neither of you don't want me around while you recuperate?"

"You can bring us food," Tina
offered and picked up her iPad avoiding her mother's eyes. "Besides, you and Tom don't get along."

"You can watch the cat," Dean piped up from the corner where he sat eating from a huge bag of M&Ms.
"Somebody has to take care of Alfred Hitchcock."

"The cat hates me," their mother replied and threw the cigarette into her purse.
"You know what? I'm going on a cruise or something to get away from my ungrateful children." She lifted her cell phone from her purse and checked it. "Where's your father anyway? He's supposed to be here by now. We're going to dinner."

All of them remained silent
not wanting to be the one to ask whether they were dating again. Thankfully Tina rescued them. "Tell us about this girl Max. Is she your girlfriend?" All right maybe not so much him.

His mother lifted her eyes from the cell phone to hear his answer.
If he admitted she was virtually a stranger, her feelings would be hurt. "Ah...yeah, of course. You don't think I'd ask just
anyone
to hang out with me for a week."

Dean coughed and he shot him a
n 'I'll kill you' look.

Tina smiled. "Wow that's great.
She must be pretty special. I can't wait to meet her at the briefing next week."

"Briefing?"

"Yes we have to meet with the doctors. They'll go over the whole procedure and explain to our caregivers how to take care of us after the operation. Don't you remember?"

"Oh right."
He had to tell Lisa about it. "Text me the time and date so I don't forget please." Tina was already typing into her cell phone as his buzzed.

"Now
, everyone please leave, I need to crash for a few." She told them her eyes eagerly scanning her iPad. She was addicted to social networks.

"You better prep this Lisa girl for the inquisition she's going to face." Dean leaned back in the
hospital elevator with a lazy smile. "If she's remotely interested in you, she's definitely going to bolt after meeting our crazy womenfolk."

"Yeah.
I would." Max laughed.

"Did you see the hideous blouse she wore today?" Dean asked.
"It matched your ugly wall."

"Yeah I did.
It looked better on her than on my wall though."

"Dang."
Dean whistled.

"What?"

"You really must like her."

"Shut up."

When they got to the garage exit a shadow flashed by and Max instinctively grabbed Dean and shoved his younger brother behind him. "Hey!" Dean protested and pushed Max aside. "What are you doing?"

"Someone's by the Jeep." Max hissed.

"You should be hiding behind me." Dean flexed his arms. "I weigh more than you and last time I checked I'm about two inches taller." A throat cleared and Dean jerked back, letting Max remain in front of him.

"If he has a gun thanks to your rant, we're going to die. You're such a dork."
Max elbowed his brother.

"Boys," their father stepped out of the darkness.
"Is your mother with you?" His eyes shifted nervously from them to the elevator.

"Nah, we walked her to her car
. She's on a level below." Dean replied. "Hi Dad."

Max closed the distance between them.
"Why were you hiding Dad?"

"I need your help
," Matthew Collins said and took a deep breath before giving them a weak smile. "How about you boys help your old man out for a change?"

"I think we're going to need a beer for this
.” Max grumbled with a resigned breath. No early night for him.

Once they arrived at Max's house the three of them ate a pizza and drank soda,
not in the mood for alcohol after Dean pointed out that perhaps Max should not pollute the kidney Tina was going to get.

Finally Matthew cleared his throat.
"Help me break up with your mother."

"Oh
, hell no. I'm too good-looking to die." Dean held his hands up.

"She's going to kill you." Max seconded.

Matthew got up and paced back and forth. Max noticed his father's rumpled slacks and shirt and wondered just where he'd been prior to coming to the hospital.
A woman's bed.
"Are you messing around on Mom?"

"No
. Well, technically I'm not. I've been messing around on my girlfriend with your mom."

"
Ewww." The brothers said in unison. Dean jumped from the couch to the kitchen. "Since I'm not donating an organ, I can pollute mine."

Max looked to his father and
shook his head. "I'm not going to help. Dad, you got yourself into this mess. I think it's time for you and Mom to stop this crazy merry-go-round. From where I stand, it looks to me like you two have chemistry, but you can't live together without killing each other. I know it's hard because you have to see each other around us. But,
you
are the one that has to tell Mom it's over."

With a resigned sigh, his father sat down and picked up a piece of pizza then put it back down.
He dug his cell phone out of his pants pocket and left the room.

Max went to the kitchen and grabbed the beer that was halfway to Dean's lips.
"Coward." He gulped the beer down and glared at his brother. "Get back in there."

"Nope," Dean said grabbing a new one from the fridge.
"I'm the younger brother and nobody wants my opinion."

"Boys?" Their father called from the other room and Max
grabbed Dean's shirt and led him back to the living room.

The next day, Max waited until nine-thirty and went into the office building. He hoped Lisa was open to coming to the hospital to meet with the doctors. He wasn't sure how to tell her and hesitated in the lobby. Mr. Wells' secretary came up to him with an overly bright smile. "May I help you Mr. Collins?"

"I'm looking for Miss
Pasqualone," he told her and she frowned at him.

"Ah that's right, she damaged the front area." Her lips curved and he could swear he saw a
gleam of evil in her eyes. "Her office is there, the open door with the gaudy wreath on it."

Max thanked her
but she didn't walk away, so he was forced to make his way to the door the woman indicated. With a quick knock he stepped inside.

Lisa
held a phone to her ear, her eyes widening at seeing him. A Hispanic male who sat on the other desk in the space greeted him. "Hey Man, what's up?"

"I'm here to speak to Lisa." Max told him and pulled a chair to sit.
"What do you two do here?"

"We're the
logisticians; we handle all the ordering, invoicing and stuff like that." The guy looked to Lisa who hung up and gave Max a questioning look.

Lisa's coworker
got up and went around his desk holding out his hand. "I'm Angel Gomez. I see you out there," he motioned to the window. "You do good work. I'll go grab a Coke."

"T
hanks," Max replied liking him.

Lisa waited for him to speak, her eyes wary.
Although tempted to move closer to her, he remained in the chair. "We have to go to a doctor's meeting next week on Tuesday. They have to tell you how to care for me after the surgery."

"I can take care of you...I mean I can care for you without going to a meeting.
My mother is always sick and having surgeries. She's still alive," She replied frowning at her computer screen. "I'm going on a business trip next week."

"They said we have to do it." Max got up and went toward the doorway, "but if you can't
I understand. I'll see if my brother can do it. He's not exactly dependable, but he said he'll stay at my place."

"Oh," she said, her eyes shifting from the monitor to him.
"No, no, it's okay; I'll cancel the trip and do it. Angel can brief me when he gets back."

"Are you sure?" He hesitated and grabbed the bottom of his shirt t
o wipe the sweat from his face.

"Oh yeah, I'm positive."
When he lowered the shirt she was flushed, her lips parted. Max neared her desk and her eyes locked on to his lips. "I think it would be good to go out again and spend time together. Get to know each other a bit more...you know before you move in."

He
leaned closer and saw her swallow, her eyes locked to his face. "I suppose you're right."

Not able to keep from doing it, he pressed his lips on hers and she grabbed his shirt bringing him to kiss her harder
.

The phone rang and they jumped apart.
He smiled down at her. "I'll be at your place at seven."

"Make that six." She told him.

The doorbell rang and Lisa took one last look at her reflection.
Her blood was still boiling. That man needed to learn to keep his shirt down, his ripped body had bad effects on her. It wasn't her fault. It was the Italian in her that made her hormones overly responsive to hunky men. She took solace in the fact that she wasn't as slutty as her cousin Gloria.

Gloria had the unfortunate reputation of being the family ho, after sleeping with every one of her sister's, cousin's and aunt's ex-boyfriends. The coup-de-grace was when she slept with Aunt Ofelia's ex-husband who was fifty. Her weakness seemed to be exes. Of course Gloria would argue the point, always pointing out the weekend when Lisa had accidentally slept with two guys. Not at the same time. It turned out that she
had
two dates on the same day, one for lunch and one for dinner. Literally. No one believed Gloria anyway.

With a deep breath she opened the door and there stood
Max Collins, raking his fingers through his hair. He wasn’t exactly exposing his abs, but the gesture made the muscles in his arm bulge.

He let out a
surprised groan when she grabbed two hands full of shirt and yanked him into the apartment. His mouth crashed into hers and they slammed against the wall. There was a wild dance of kissing and groping that ended in them making fast work of removing their clothing.

Somehow they ended up naked on the floor with her on top of him
riding him like a prize pony.

Eyes closed and lips parted
, he was breathtaking. By his little grunts of pleasure, he was more than pleased at her attack on his person.

Lisa wasn't sure what was best.
That he was under her or that she could play with his abs. It was definitely a great ending to her day.

An
hour later, they sat on the floor and ate Chinese delivery. Lisa in a bathrobe and Max wearing only his boxers since she pouted every time he tried to get dressed.

"I didn't expect to get to know you this well," He told her in between bites.
"I thought you just wanted to talk."

"I do want to talk." She gave him a wide smile and he grinned back.
Max cleared his throat, his eyes on her chest. "All right, but close your robe, it keeps coming apart and I'm pitching a tent here."

"Oh you are
? Lisa blinked at the display. "Wow you're a quick rebounder." She put her box of fried rice on the coffee table. "Let's talk later."

Chapter Seven

Max stormed down the hospital hallway. His mother's trembling voice still ringing in his ears. A nurse scrambled from the nurse station and attempted to block him from entering Tina's room. "Sir you cannot go in there, the doctors are looking after her now."

His mother and Dean appeared at the end of the hall
. She ran to Max and began to cry on his shoulder. He looked to Dean whose eyes shined with unshed tears. His brother smiled at him. "Will someone please tell me what's happening?"

The doctor emerged from Tina's room and he turned to
them. "What's wrong with my sister doc? Can I see her?"

"Not now, she's
being prepped for tests. It's best if you all come over here," he responded and guided them to an empty adjoining room.

The man removed his glasses.
"It's a medical mystery. Rare, but happens. Your sister's kidneys have begun to work on their own. If they keep regenerating as we suspect they have been, she will not need dialysis or a transplant." The doctor grinned at them.

Two days later, Max stared at the television in his sister's hospital room and waited for her to be wheeled in. The procedures were completed. The tests proved her kidneys were working again.

Tina’s husband was out of town at a Paramedics convention
so Max took two days off to be at the hospital with her, while Dean helped supervise the landscaping crew. "What do they do at paramedic's conventions?" Max asked a nurse who popped her head in the doorway.

The curvy redhead shrugged and peered into the bathroom. "I'm not sure. Your sister should be here shortly." A large bag was plopped onto his lap. "Please ensure she takes all her belongings."

"Uh, yeah sure," he eyed
the overflowing room and wondered how everything would fit into the one bag. How had she accumulated so much in a week? "Is it all hers?"

"Al
l of it," the nurse replied, her eyes locked to his face. "Are you married?"

"Uh...no, why?"

Her hungry smile made Max jump to stand, the bag landing with a plop at his feet. "What's in that anyway?" He looked down to see deodorant and some sort of lotion bottle on the floor next to it.

"Her toiletries."

When he looked up, the nurse had closed the distance between them. Her black rimmed glasses slipped down her nose and her overly made up eyes fluttered at him. "Have you ever done it on a hospital bed?"

"No...
err," he eyed Tina's rumpled bed. "It would be sort of gross to do it in my sister's bed don't you think?" He took a step back and fell butt first onto the chair.

The nurse loomed over him
her arms trapping him where he sat. "You're so hot. Almost as hot as I am right now."

Max eyed the door praying his sister and her nurse would return and save him.
He put his hand out to push the woman away and she grabbed it and placed it on her huge breast. "Feel my beating heart?"

"Look, I'm flattered but
I have a girlfriend. Sorry."

"Not as much as I am," she said
with her lips next to his face. "If it doesn't work out, look me up, my name is Gloria." She straightened and winked at him before turning on her heel and leaving.

Max let out a slow breath.
"What the hell was that?"

That's when he heard the giggling.
Tina and Dean's heads popped in from the doorway. Both burst into guffaws, Dean barely able to push Tina's wheelchair in. Max rolled his eyes at their antics. "That was not funny."

His brother wiped tears from his eyes.
"That nurse wants you bad."

Tina lifted a hand
to get his attention and kept laughing. Finally she was able to speak. "I thought she was going hump you in the chair." She began laughing again and hiccupped. "Ouch."

"So," Dean pushed at Max's shoulder, "Are you going to hook up with Nurse
I'm-hot-Gloria?"

"Shut up," Max glared at his brother
and sister. He picked up the bag and began to fill it with the items Tina handed him in between her giggles. "Everyone needs to stop laughing." He chuckled unable to help himself.

At Tina's apartment, Max glanced at his cell phone and debated calling Lisa. According to Dean she'd not been too happy about the cancellation. Probably thought she still owed him money. In actuality he'd exaggerated the amount to get her to agree to help him. The tree and sod barely amounted to a few dollars, there was enough sod and foliage in the work truck to make up for what she'd damaged. Just one look into her beautiful eyes and he'd developed a plan on the spot to get to know her. And boy had he gotten to know her. A smile curved his lips.

The woman stayed on his mind all the time, something rare for him.
The sex had been hurried at first then mellowed out with each of them taking turns at exploring and becoming familiar with the other.

He would tell her the truth, that
she didn't owe him any money. Then he'd ask her out again, to a nice restaurant and maybe he’d get lucky and she'd let him stay at her place afterwards.

"Max?" Tina woke up and looked over at him.
"Can you stay at my place until tomorrow? I don't want to be alone just yet."

"Sure." He sighed.

Two days passed since she'd floated into the office after an incredible night with Max. He'd not come to work or contacted her since. Lisa bit her lip. Dean stopped by the day after her date with Max to tell her not to cancel the trip to San Diego, that his sister's operation was postponed. Unfortunately, it was too late to change the plans.

She eyed the falling sun
through the window and sighed. An evening at her place alone loomed. Her friends were gone to the beach, a trip she cancelled because of her supposed trip to San Diego. Now she was stuck in town, having to work with no friends. Since she wasn't going to help Max now, she was technically broke.

"Hey Angel, what are you doing tonight?" She eyed her coworker
whose lips curved.

"I have a date with a hot blonde." He pursed his lips.
"Super-hot."

"Jeez, what is this
, your third one this week?"

"No just my second."
He laughed. "What about you?"

"I'm going to visit someone and find out some information and then I'm getting a part-time job."

"Oh, that's not fun."

"
No kidding."

Several hours later she pulled up across the street from Max's house. She would be totally calm. She'd ask him how much she owed and give him a check even though it would empty her savings account. When that was over with, she'd go to the mall and apply for jobs. She'd always wanted to work at the mall, but had been afraid she'd spend more money than she made. This would no longer be an option, with a one thousand dollar debt hanging over her head.

After a deep breath, she exited her car and jogged across the street.
The door opened and she found herself face-to-face with Candy, the naked woman. The difference was that this time she seemed to be fully dressed. "Hi!" Candy smiled brightly. "Long time no see."

"Hello.
Is Max here?"

"He's in the
bedroom I think," Candy opened the door wider. "Wanna come in?"

"No, I've gotta go to the mall.
Please tell him I stopped by. I'll text him."

"There's a huge sale at Victoria's s
ecret. You should check it out," Candy said. "I got like twenty pair of thongs for like forty bucks."

Lisa tried her best to smile.
"Well good for you. I didn't think you wore underwear."

"That's funny!"
Candy giggled. "You're funny."

"That's me
, Miss Funny." Lisa walked back to her car. Once inside she smacked the steering wheel. "Augh!" She growled and drove off. What was she thinking? She'd practically raped Max and now she was upset he was back with his ménage-a-trois naked girlfriend. If anyone was crazy it was her.

Her cell phone rang, it was Max. "Hello,
" Lisa kept her voice cheerful.

"Hey," Max sounded relaxed.
"Why did you leave?"

Did he expect her to hang out with
Candy and him? Wow, he was totally into an alternative lifestyle. Did he do bondage and all that crazy stuff too? "Well you had company and I didn't want to intrude." Lisa faked a chuckle. "At least Candy had her clothes on this time. She seems nice."
For a bimbo
, she thought to herself.

"Oh yeah, she's pretty nice
." She heard voices in the background. He mumbled something she couldn't quite make out.

"
We need to talk. Can I meet you somewhere?"

"What about
Candy?"

"She'll be here, I suppose. Why?"

"No, I can't meet you tonight," Lisa put her foot down at meeting someone who was ditching his girlfriend at his house. "Just tell me exactly how much I owe you so I can give you the first payment."

"Is something wrong?
Are you mad at me?"

"Of course not
. You didn't do anything to make me mad."

He asked her to hold on
and she heard Dean's voice clearly. He was saying something about Max and a nurse humping on a chair. Max laughed and told Dean to shut up.

"How about
tomorrow?"

"I can't hear you.
I've got a bad connection," She lied and hung up.