Simply Irresistible (33 page)

“Well, that there’s hope for me, of course.” Chloe shrugged. “It tells me that someday I can get myself together as well as
you have.”

“You think I have it together?” Tara asked in disbelief. “I had a baby when I was little more than a baby myself and gave
her up. I have a failed marriage and a job I hate, and I’m in debt up to my eyeballs.”

Chloe laughed. “Well, when you put it like that…” She turned to Maddie. “Maybe I should covet your life instead.”

“You might want to wait until I get it together first.”

“Oh, jeez, you still holding back on the sexiest mayor in Whoville?”

“You don’t understand.”

“Let’s see… He only saved the resort when Phoebe needed a loan, then as much as promised us a refinance even though at least
one of the three of us is incredibly financially unstable. He did the morally right thing and protected Tara’s secret and
proved himself trustworthy over and over again. What a self-serving bastard. Do you think we can drag him to the middle of
the town square and stone him?”

Maddie sighed, then went still as a shiver of awareness shot up her spine. When she looked up, Jax was coming toward them
in his usual long-legged, easy stride.

“Now’s probably not a good time,” Chloe said to him when he got within hearing distance. “I haven’t quite finished talking
you up.”

Maddie shot Chloe a dirty look and, in doing so, realized the entire café had gone silent.

Everyone was listening.

“I was just listing all of your positive attributes,” Chloe told him. “Leaving out the parts where you didn’t tell her shit
and kept yourself from her, of course. That was your bad.”

Jax never took his eyes off Maddie. “Okay, first, I never kept myself from you. Maybe I didn’t tell you enough about who I
used to be, but Christ, Maddie, I hated that guy. And I guess I was hoping the man I am now would be enough for you.”

“
Aw.
” Chloe’s head whipped back to Maddie. “Did you hear that?”

Maddie’s heart swelled painfully, pressing against her ribs. “I’m right here, Chloe.”

“Sounds like a reasonable request to me,” a guy from two tables over said. Maddie recognized him because he
worked at the gas station. “And I can vouch for Jax being a good person. He gave my sister a loan when the bank wouldn’t.
She’d have lost her business and her house otherwise.”

“And he did our house addition,” a woman called out. “And when my husband lost his job, Jax accepted small, irregular payments.
He didn’t have to do that.”

“Jesus,” Jax muttered, hands on hips, eyes closed.

“And he donated new flak vests for the entire PD,” Sawyer said, having just come inside.

“That was supposed to be an anonymous donation, you jackass.”

“It looked to me like you were sinking fast. Thought I’d toss that in.”

Shaking his head, Jax grabbed Maddie’s hand and pulled her out of the booth and toward the door, moving so fast she had to
run to keep up.

“Where are we going?”

“To talk without the entire fucking town throwing in their two cents.”

He opened the café door, and they ran smack into a man wearing a rain slicker and carrying a clipboard with the name of a
national insurance company on the front. “Excuse me,” he said. “I’m looking for the owners of the Lucky Harbor Resort.”

“That’s me,” Maddie said, very aware of Jax at her back, protective. Steady. “Give me a minute?” she asked the insurance guy,
and at his nod, she pulled Jax aside. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “We have to have this meeting before any of us can leave
town.”

“Leave?”

“Yeah.” She met his gaze, her chest so tight she could
scarcely get the words out. “I’m pretty sure that’s what Tara and Chloe are planning on doing now. We have no place to live,
and they’ve been wanting to get back to their lives for weeks now.”

“And you?”

“It’s majority rules.”

“Bullshit.” He shook his head and said it again. “You came here a fighter, Maddie. Maybe you’d lost a round or two, but you
were on your feet. You want to stay in Lucky Harbor? Fight for it. You want a relationship with your sisters? Fight for it.”

“What about you? What about a relationship with you?”

He pulled back to look into her face as if memorizing her features. His voice, when he spoke, was low and gravelly with emotion.
“I’m already yours. Always have been. All you have to do is step into the ring.”

T
he insurance adjuster slipped out of his rain slicker and introduced himself as Benny Ramos. He was tall and lanky lean, wearing
cowboy boots, a matching hat, and Wranglers that threatened to slide right off his skinny hips. It was impossible to tell
if he was barely twenty-one or just really good with a razor.

Jax had led both Maddie and Benny back to their table. Jax gave Maddie a quiet, assessing look that she had no idea how to
read and then left.

Her head was spinning. He’d given everything he had, and he wanted the same from her. He wanted her to fight for what she
wanted.

Made sense. Made a lot of sense. It’s what any good, strong leading lady would do.

“So,” Benny said. “The cottage is a total loss.”

“No duh,” Chloe said. “Now tell us something we don’t know.”

“The fire department believes the fire originated with a set of old faulty Christmas lights that were strung…” He consulted
his clipboard. “On a dead plant of some sort in the living room.”

Tara snorted.

Maddie closed her eyes.
Poor Charlie Brown Christmas tree, may you rest in peace…

“Anyway,” the adjuster went on. “The inn isn’t as bad as it looks. The bedrooms upstairs need a complete renovation, new carpeting,
walls and bathroom replacement. New roof. But the downstairs is all cosmetic and can be cleaned. You’re in decent shape there.”

They were in decent shape. Good to know.

Step into the ring.

Jax thought she was a fighter. That hadn’t always been anywhere close to true. She’d let life happen to her. She’d gone with
the flow.

She hated the flow. The flow was working like a dog at a go-nowhere job, trying to please too many people who didn’t care.
She was done with going with the flow. She wanted to be a fighter. “Excuse me,” she said to Benny. “But the downstairs
is
water damaged, so we’re not in ‘decent’ shape there. We expect proper compensation.”

Tara raised a brow, like
Go, kitten. Show him those claws.

Chloe out-and-out grinned and gave her a thumbs up. “You heard my sister,” she said to Benny. “We expect proper compensation.
You go back and tell your people that.”

“Actually, we’re on the same side,” Benny said and
made some more notes on his computerized clipboard. Maddie was dizzy. She was heartsick. She was out of control, but she was
having some serious clipboard envy. She needed a clipboard like that. She also needed to fight for her new life. “We’ll need
rental compensation, as well.”

“Of course,” Benny said.

She blinked. Was it really that easy? Say what you want, get what you want? Jax had suggested it was, and it’d always seemed
to work for Tara.

Benny looked over his clipboard. “I figure we can get all the paperwork taken care of by next week and get you a check to
get started.”

“And I figure today or tomorrow would be better,” Maddie said smoothly. “Bless your heart.”

Tara grinned.
Grinned.
Maddie took in the rare sight and returned it.

Benny went back to his clipboard, his ears red. “Tomorrow. How’s tomorrow?”

“Fan-fucking-tastic,” Chloe said. “Thank you.” She beamed at him.

Benny looked a little stunned. “Uh… You’re welcome.”

Chloe walked him to his truck, then came back with a piece of paper in her hand.

“Are you kidding me—you got his phone number?” Tara asked. “He’s barely twelve. I bet they haven’t even dropped yet.”

“Hey,” Chloe said. “Don’t talk about my future boyfriend’s balls. He was cute, and Maddie scared the hell out of him.”

“I thought you thought Lance was cute,” Tara said. “And his brother.”

“Uh-huh. And your point?”

“And Officer Hottie. Sawyer, right? You were looking at him the other night like you wanted to eat him up alive.”

“If I was looking at him at all, I was planning his slow, painful death. Did you hear what we were just told? We’re getting
a big fat check tomorrow.” Chloe looked at each of them. “Our plan?”

“Big fat checks divide into three nicely,” Tara noted.

“True.” Chloe nodded. “I guess that means by this time tomorrow, we’re cut loose.” She smiled. “You guys will miss me. Say
it.”

Maddie tried to sit there calm and in control, but suddenly it was all too much. The fire. The terrifying escape. Tara’s revelation,
making her realize that she’d misdirected her emotions. Her sisters all gung ho to take the check and run. Jax saying those
three little words that she’d never heard before, three words that meant so much more than she’d imagined they could. Her
heart clenched hard. “I’m the middle sister,” she said softly, then repeated it more strongly.

“Very good,” Chloe said. “Can you say the alphabet, too?”

“As the middle, I’m the logical choice for mediator. We have decisions to make, and they get made right now. Majority rules.”
She looked at each of them. “We walk away or rebuild. We’re voting, now. Youngest first.”

Chloe pulled out an iTouch, which Lance had lent her in the hospital, and brought up a Magic 8-Ball application. “Magic 8-Ball,”
she intoned with great ceremony. “Should I stay here in Lucky Harbor?”

Maddie was boggled. “What? You can’t leave your vote up to a Magic 8-Ball!”

“I can’t?”

“No!” But Maddie bit her lip, trying to see the iTouch screen. “What did it say?”

Chloe looked down and sighed. “
Outlook not so good.
Just as well. I’m ready to blow this popsicle stand anyway.”

Disappointment practically choking her, Maddie turned to Tara.

Tara held her hand out for Chloe’s iTouch. “Let me see that thing.”

“You aren’t serious.” Maddie’s throat felt like she’d swallowed shards of glass. “Please say you’re not serious.”

“Okay. I’m not serious.” Tara reached for Maddie’s hand, her smile a little watery. “I vote we stay here.”

“Me, too,” Chloe said. “I was only kidding before. We can’t leave now. Things are just getting good.”

“Two yeses,” Tara said. “Maddie?”

She was dizzy, overwhelmed, and confused as hell.

“Aw, look at her,” Tara murmured. “Like a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.”

“She’s got fear written all over her,” Chloe agreed. “Definitely a high flight risk. Makes me wonder if she wanted us to vote
the other way.”

“Huh,” Tara said, nodding. “Interesting. You mean she wanted us to make the decision for her so she didn’t have to be accountable?”

“Exactly.”

“I’m right here,” Maddie said. “I can hear you.”

“You know what you need?” Chloe asked. “You need to get over yourself.”

“Hey,” Maddie said. “When you first showed up here with your bad ’tude, did I tell you to get over it?”

“Yes, actually. Several times.”

Okay, true. Maddie turned on a smug Tara and narrowed her eyes. “And you.”

“Me? What did I do?”

“I gave you sympathy.
I
want sympathy!”

“Are you kidding me? You have the sexiest man on the planet wanting you. You’re getting laid regularly. No sympathy for you!”

Maddie stood up. “I need some fresh air.”

“Last time you said that, you went to the bar, got toasted, and kissed a hottie.”

Halfway to the door, Maddie came back and snatched Chloe’s iTouch out of her hands. “And I need this.”

Just outside, she closed her eyes and whispered, “Am I going to get it right this time?”

The iTouch clouded and then cleared with her answer:

Ask again later

Dammit! She shoved the thing in her pocket and got into her car. She drove along the beach, which was dense with fog. The
water was gray and choppy today, an endless cycle of unrestrained violence.

Sort of how her gut felt.

Somehow she ended up at the pier, ticket in hand, staring up at the Ferris wheel.
Do it,
the brave little voice in her head said.

Live.

Which is how she found herself in the swinging seat, clinging to the bar in front of her, her legs like jelly as she rose
in the air.

And—oh, shit—rose some more.

And more…

And then, when she was as high as she could go—and not breathing—the Ferris wheel stuttered to a stop.

Her heart did the same.

Around her, the few others on the wheel with her gasped and woo-hoo’d their delight.

She wasn’t feeling delight. She was feeling stark terror. Whose idea had this been? What the hell had she been thinking? Life
was just as good on the ground!