Pushing Her Boundaries (3 page)

Chapter Two

“Lynn, oh my god, what the hell happened to you?”

Maggie had been waiting at the curb in front of the Hubert Humphrey Terminal for nearly an hour. Now she stared at her sister, watching her climb in slow motion out of a rental car, her left leg in a cast, both eyes bruised.

“Shit.” Maggie dropped her bag and rushed to help Lynn with her crutches. “What happened?”

“A stupid car accident. I was broadsided by an idiot who ran a stop sign.”

“Geez, Lynn, why didn’t you call? I would have flown in right away.” Maggie gave her sister a careful hug and propped her against the car before she flipped open the trunk and stuffed in her backpack and her carry-on bag. “When did this happen? And why isn’t Jeff driving you? Why are you driving yourself?” Maggie grabbed the keys from her sister and helped her into the passenger seat.

“Calm down,” said Lynn, when Maggie climbed behind the wheel. “It just happened two days ago. I’m okay.”

“You don’t look okay. How do I get out of here? Are we going to your apartment? Damn, you know I hate these highways in Minneapolis.”

“Hey, I can drive. I got here, didn’t I?”

“Uh, hell no, sis. Which way?”

“Take a left at the light and then a right onto the main road.”

Maggie put the car in gear, and with a look over her shoulder, she pulled away from the curb. She had a basic memory of the route from her last few visits to Minneapolis. “So what bones did you break and where’s Jeff?”

Lynn sighed. “I broke my ankle.”

“Why the black eyes?”

“Smacked my head on the side of the car.”

Maggie opened her mouth to say something, but her sister interrupted. “I’m fine, don’t even have a concussion. I’ve had a CT scan and an MRI. Really, I’m fine. Take a left up there to get onto the highway.”

Maggie stopped in the left turn lane. “Well, where’s Jeff? Or you could have called me. I’d have taken a cab.”

“I tried to call, but you weren’t picking up.”

“Shit.” After a glance up at the red light, Maggie fished through her purse. “I forgot to turn it on, damn it. Sorry, sis.”

“Green light.”

Maggie pulled onto the highway, merging with what she considered insane Minneapolis traffic. As far as she was concerned, the drivers in Northern California were given an undeserved bad rep. Drivers in Minneapolis were way worse than any she’d encountered in either Northern or Southern California. At least in California people knew how to drive on a freeway. She’d been in one car accident in her entire life and it had happened in Minneapolis near Lake of the Isles, and now her sister…

“Jeff got called into court. He had to go, and then he’s, well, he’s picking up his brother back here, back at the airport. I guess he got held up and he’s taking a later flight. We’re all meeting for dinner tonight.”

Maggie raised her eyebrows and looked at her little sister. “His brother? Dinner? Are you nuts? I’ll make something for you tonight. You don’t look like you’re in any condition to go out to dinner.”

Lynn crossed her arms and stared right back, a half-grin on her face. “Quit playing mommy. I’m fine and I’ve had this dinner reservation held for months. It’s at 20.21, Wolfgang Puck’s new restaurant in the Walker Arts Center, and there is no way in hell I’ll cancel. I hear the food is out of this world.”

“You sure you’re up for something like that?”

“Yes, Nurse. I’ve been looking forward to this since the place opened. I just wanted to wait to share it with you. Move over to the right lane and take the second exit.”

Maggie signaled a lane change and moved over. “But we could go another…”

“No, we can’t. I know you. You won’t come back until the wedding, and that’s not for seven months. By then we won’t have time. No, we’re going tonight. Besides, you barely know Jeff and it will be an opportunity for the two of you to bond.”

Maggie grinned. “Over that bottle of wine you asked me to bring?”

“Yup.”

Maggie exited the freeway. This was familiar territory, near Lake Calhoun, and not too far from where she and a guy her sister had fixed her up with had gotten into their head-on collision. A Volkswagen Beetle versus a Cadillac in a driving rainstorm. The Beetle limped away, the Cadillac was totaled, and Maggie had to spend the night in the emergency room at Hennepin General, waiting to get her lacerations stitched up. The admitting nurse stuck her at the bottom of the triage totem pole; the stabbing victim, the head injury, the drug overdose, the stroke, and the heart attack were all ahead of her. “Hey, you’re not thinking of fixing me up with this brother, are you?”

Her sister laughed. “Oh, you bring that up because we’re passing the intersection where you got slammed? I wouldn’t dare. There’s nothing sinister going on. Jeff’s brother has some time off, so we invited him up. I haven’t met him yet.”

Maggie pulled into a parking space in front of her sister’s building. She turned and looked Lynn in the eyes. “Wait a minute. What about the canoe trip? You can’t tell me we’re still going on this canoe trip.”

“I’m not.”

“Well, thank god for small favors. I wasn’t looking forward to sleeping on the ground anyway.” She unbuckled her seat belt.

“I didn’t say you weren’t going. I said I’m not going. Jeff and I are staying in his friend’s cabin to take care of their cats. I figured you might as well go. It’s all planned. The area is gorgeous, very wild. You have to take a boat just to get to the cabin.”

Maggie rolled her eyes. “Why would I go if you’re not going? I don’t even know these people.”

“Really, Maggie, it will be fun. I know you, you love being out in the wilderness, and talk about no phone, no lights, no motorcars. There are bears, wolves, cougars, moose…” Lynn smiled and brushed a hand over her arm. “Please? This way Jeff and I can spend a week at a beautiful cabin for free, which forces Jeff away from work and gives me an opportunity to recover, and you get to have an adventure.”

“You always did know how to push my
yes
button.” Maggie sighed. “I never have been able to say no to you, not even when you fix me up with total losers who try to get me killed.”

Lynn punched her in the arm. “Hey, at least you can’t say I’m not trying. Besides, you seem to hook up with plenty of losers without my help.”

“Ouch.”

“Well,” said Lynn, “it’s true.”

“Yes, little sis, unfortunately it is true. Guess I can thank dear old mom and dad for that. So what am I wearing to this restaurant? I didn’t exactly bring formal attire. More like jeans, jeans, quick-dry pants, and more quick-dry pants.”

Lynn grinned. “I got you covered, girl. I have the perfect dress for you.”

Chapter Three

“Are you sure this dress isn’t too short?” Maggie turned and looked over her shoulder at her backside in the mirror.

Her sister snorted. “A dress could be down to your ankles and you’d ask if it’s too short. For the last time, no, it’s not too short. God, you are so lucky. You got the best legs in the family, like Mom’s, long and slender. I got stuck with grandma’s legs, muscular.”

“Yeah? Well, you got the boobs. I got nothing.”

Lynn laughed. “You got enough. You fill out that dress.”

Maggie turned and stared into the mirror, studying her cleavage, or what there was of it. She shook her head. “How do you wear this dress? You must fall out of it.”

“That, my dear sister, is the idea. Jeff likes it.”

“Oh, I imagine he does. Let’s just hope I don’t fall out of it. It’s a bit on the loose side.” Maggie sat down to pull on the black stilettos her sister had loaned her before she helped her sister slip a flat onto her bare foot. “You want to cover this cast with something?”

“Nah.” Lynn shook her head. “It’s a warm night and I had a pedicure right before the accident. I want to show off my cute gold toenails.”

Maggie put an arm around her sister. “Sweetie, are you sure you’re up for this? ’Cause I’m fine with hanging out here.”

“Nope, we’re going.” Lynn tossed the car keys in Maggie’s direction and Maggie snatched them out of the air. “Jeff and his brother are probably already at the bar. I want to make a splashy entrance with my crutches.”

Maggie helped her sister out the door. “I still don’t understand why Jeff couldn’t pick us up. I mean, he knows you’re in no shape to drive.”

“I already explained half a dozen times, there was a problem with his brother’s flight. He missed his connection or something.”

Wonder if I should mention the excitement on my flight?
No, forget it, especially not after my only sister was just broadsided by an idiot
. “Shoot! The wine! I left it in the fridge. Wait right here and I’ll get it.”

Maggie rejoined her sister in the hallway, locking the apartment door behind her. “I traveled halfway across the country with this sucker; I’m not going to leave it now.”

* * * *

Mace sat backward on his barstool, staring out the floor-to-ceiling glass windows at the Basilica of St. Mary. He sipped his dirty martini, a drink his brother Jeff called a girlie drink.

Who cares? Tastes good, especially after the day I’ve had
.

Jeff had grabbed a beer and headed down to the lobby to wait for his fiancée, Lynn, and her sister. He said Lynn had been broadsided two days before and she’d broken her ankle. Sucks, but a broken ankle was a sight better than dying on a plane midway between Sacramento and Salt Lake City. Mace had helped the paramedics off-load the gentleman and he’d accompanied the body to the closest hospital and spoken over the phone with the next of kin. A police officer had driven him back to the airport, and the airline representative had escorted him to the VIP lounge, handed him a glass of wine, a free roundtrip voucher, and informed him his bags would be waiting for him in Minneapolis.

What had Maggie said? She was flying to Minneapolis to meet her sister’s fiancé and take a trip to the Boundary Waters? Mace looked around at the full tables.

Anybody want to lay odds on who gets out of that elevator with my brother and his fiancée?

It couldn’t be anybody else. Mace grinned, anticipating the look on Maggie’s face. First surprise, then wonder, then she’d be annoyed as hell. Good. The woman was especially cute when she was all hot and bothered. Mace hadn’t sat next to her in the airport by chance. Shit, when he’d arrived, there were plenty of seats, but what red-blooded American male worth his salt passed up the opportunity to sit next to an attractive woman, and in this case, one without a wedding ring? Only a fool didn’t take a chance on tasting something sweet when fate presented him with a box of chocolates.

Mace took a big drink.
Yeah, I’d like to fuck her. She was calm and cool under pressure, but man, I bet she burns up the sheets. That woman could wrap those long legs around my ass and…
He caught some movement out of the corner of his eye and noticed Jeff holding the elevator door. Two women got off, one, a petite blonde on crutches with a green cast on her left leg. Mace studied her with interest. Lynn was definitely his brother’s type. She wore a form-fitting pencil skirt and a pale blue halter top that revealed some impressive cleavage, even from this distance. She had quite a body. Mace glanced around and saw that more than a few men in the restaurant noticed the same thing.

The woman standing next to her, holding a bottle of wine in one hand and helping the blonde with her crutches with her other hand, was his Maggie.