He ignored her temper and zoned in on the one thing that still had his pulse in the triple digits.
“What if there’d been more than one, Hailey? Did you stop to think about that? If this person knows
you, like we think, then they know you aren’t going to sit back and do nothing. Which gives them
the advantage because they’re expecting you to go on the offensive like this.”
“So you’re saying I should play the victim? I don’t think so.”
Oh, man. He wasn’t getting turned on by her aggression. Definitely not.
“I’m not saying be the victim. I’m saying be smart. I don’t particularly want to get my head blown
off because you’re frustrated.”
She leveled him with a look. “Is that all you’re worried about?”
“No, goddammit,” he snapped. “I’m worried about you, but you’re too bullheaded to see that. You
might have a fancy-ass degree from some yuppie school up north, but they sure the hell didn’t teach
you a thing about compromise. If you’re not going to let me be the one to take the risks, then at
least don’t go all half-cocked on your own. You don’t have to do everything alone. What’s it going
to take to get that through your thick skull?”
She stared at him without blinking, and didn’t move, not even when he lifted his brows and said,
“Well?”
Her muscles relaxed beneath his hands, one at a time, and finally she said, “I’m not sure what you
want me to say.”
He let go and stepped back, knowing his emotions were close to a breaking point. She didn’t get it.
But then why would she? Even he didn’t understand what it was about her that set him off and lit
him up all at the same time. Half the time he wanted to toss her over his shoulder and lock her up in
a closet where she couldn’t get into any trouble and the other half he wanted to strip her naked and
keep her quiet with his hands and mouth and other parts of his body he seriously didn’t need to be
thinking with right now.
And that was a bad combination—really bad, considering his history.
He ground his teeth together because it was safer than putting his fist through a car window. “Try,
‘Okay, Shane. I won’t do that again.’”
“Okay, Maxwell,” she said with just a hint of sass, “I’ll try not to do anything to get your head
blown off again.”
She pushed past him and sauntered back toward their rental, looking every bit as enticing as she had
the first night he’d met her in Key Biscayne when she’d knocked his ass to the ground and pinned
him on that cold stone patio. She’d called him Maxwell back then, too. And holy shit, figuring out a
way to get her to say his first name was turning into an obsession.
She suddenly stopped and glanced his direction. “If we hustle, we can hit the bank and maybe figure out what’s in that safety-deposit box before the place closes.”
We.
She was tossing him an olive branch. A smart man would take it.
“What about your sister?”
A muscle in her temple pulsed, but she resumed walking before he got a good read on her emotions.
“If we’re lucky, Billy will find a way to get rid of her. For good.”
Shane doubted that. Frustrated, he took one more look around the parking lot before following.
He’d seen the dopey look on Billy’s face when the kid had been talking to Nicole before either of
them had realized he and Hailey were there. No way Billy was going to be able to get rid of Nicole,
not unless she wanted to go.
He supposed in that respect, he and Nicole had something in common.
He popped a handful of Tic Tacs in his mouth, his temper slowly sliding back to even. By the time
he reached the rental, Hailey was already behind the wheel. She flashed him a superior grin as he
slid into the passenger seat.
She waited until he clicked his seat belt, then batted her long eyelashes at him. “All set, Rambo?”
“Now who’s being Jay Leno?”
She shifted into gear. “I’m just trying to work on that whole compromise thing.” She pulled out of
the parking lot and onto the street. “You know, sharing the driving, being in control, grouchy attitude and all that. I can do it, too. See? I can compromise right along with you.” Her glittery eyes
rolled his direction. “You want compromise? You haven’t seen nothing yet, honey.”
Olive branch? Forget it. She was waving a big ol’ red flag, taunting him until the steam was blowing out his nostrils and he was pawing at the ground to get at her.
And hot damn, he was loving every minute of it.
He smiled then, a slow curve of his lips as he took her in from head to toe. “By all means, show me.
I can’t wait to see what happens next.”
Billy knew when to bite his tongue. This was one of those times.
Dark clouds rolled in off the Atlantic, ones that fit his badass mood like a glove as he drove eighty
down the Florida Turnpike toward his apartment in Miami. Yeah, the address sounded nice, but it
wasn’t on the beach, wasn’t posh and luxurious like Nicole was used to, wasn’t even fully furnished
since he could barely afford the frickin’ rent. Sure, it was several steps up from his last place in
Bunche Park, but still…little miss high-and-mighty was about to get a shock to her system. And he
couldn’t wait.
He whipped off the freeway a little too fast and gritted his teeth to keep from snarling when she had
to reach up and grasp the safety handle above.
“Slow down, would you?” she snapped. “You’re going to give me whiplash.”
“Was that a request from you? Wow, you need something from me? Really? Besides sex?” His jaw
tightened. “There’s a news flash.”
“You don’t have to be such a smart-ass.”
He glared her way. “Deal with it. I’m already bored with this conversation.”
She pressed her lips together and stared out the windshield, but she didn’t let go of the safety handle, and he noticed the way she inched closer to the door when she thought he wasn’t looking.
Had he scared her? Man, he hoped so.
He jerked the car into his parking spot, slammed on the brakes and shoved the car in park. “Get
out.”
Her eyes flicked from one side to the other as she took in his two-story apartment complex, the
cracked sidewalks and the covered portico that was badly in need of repair. “It’s pink,” she muttered
as she climbed out and closed the door.
“You wanted in, princess?” he said with just enough bite to make her wince. “You’re gonna have to
slum it with the rest of us peons.”
“Billy—”
He pointed toward the stairs. “Second floor. Number 242. Go now.”
Like a good girl, she went. But as she passed, he saw the flash of temper in her dark eyes. No, little
miss high-and-mighty did not like this at all.
He clenched and unclenched his jaw as he followed her up the stairs, tried like hell not to look at
her ass and failed. Just like all the other times, last night he’d proved to be the fuckup everyone
thought he was. When was he going to learn?
She was waiting at the door when he rounded the corner, arms crossed over her ample chest, fire
flashing in her eyes. He stuck the key in the lock, pushed the door open and waited while she
marched by him with her head held high and her pride wrapped around her like a shield.
His own temper nearly at the breaking point, he slammed the door and dropped his keys on the
small half-moon entry table his mother’d had in their house when he was growing up.
The air-conditioning was the only thing that marginally cooled him out. He went straight to the refrigerator, grabbed a beer and popped the top. Then guzzled half the thing before turning and looking over the kitchen counter toward Nicole, standing in the middle of the living room turning her
nose up at his measly furnishings.
Was his ego hurt that she thought he lived in a ghetto? It shouldn’t be. She didn’t mean anything to
him, not really. Hot sex and a hot bod. That’s all she was. Instead of being everyone’s fuckup, it was
time he started using that million-dollar brain God had given him. “You lied to me.”
She turned slowly to face him as he came around the corner into the living room, blocking her path
to the door. “I did not.”
“Then you conveniently omitted the truth.”
She huffed and rolled her eyes.
“Yeah, you know. That doesn’t work on me.” He brought the bottle to his lips and took a long swallow.
“If you’re trying to intimidate me, it’s not working. I’ve seen you naked, remember?”
“Yeah, I remember. Your little distract-and-dismay technique worked. For about a day. Gotta admit.
You were good. And that whole, you’re-only-the-second-guy-I’ve-been-with and I’ve-never-had-aone-night-stand thing? Had me going.”
She dropped her arms. “I never had a one-night stand before you.”
“Tell it to somebody who cares. You’re a lying little piece of—”
She stomped her foot and curled her fingers into her fists. “Don’t you dare even say it. You don’t
believe me? Fine. But it’s the truth. One guy. Three years ago. It wasn’t all that memorable and I
didn’t particularly enjoy it. So I never had the urge to try again until—” She closed her mouth tight.
Glared at him, hard. “And I don’t know what my sister told you, but I didn’t lie to you. I just didn’t
tell you everything.” She tipped her head and shot his anger right back his way. “But then why
would I? You’re just some hustler I picked up at a beach bar.”
He moved in close and leaned down so she got the full effect of his temper. “Don’t fuck with me.
You told me your bronze was gone, but it’s not, is it? You’ve got it. You’ve always had it.”
“Do you think I’m stupid enough to just give it away?” she scoffed. “Security, Billy. That’s all I’ve
got. But the bronze isn’t the real issue here, is it? It’s the numbers on the bottom that matter. And I
know mine by heart. I always have. Just like I know what’s on the bottom of my mother’s sculpture.
If Hailey thinks she can go around me to get what she needs, she’s going to be sorely mistaken. Our
mother isn’t going to let Daddy’s little treasure hunt be finished. She’s got her own reasons for that,
and if Hailey knew what they were, she wouldn’t believe them. I guarantee our mother won’t help
Hailey. Which means I’m the only one who can.”
As he listened to her words, Billy saw a little bit of himself in Nicole. All the years he’d resented
Rafe for being older, wiser, the son who could do no wrong. Is this how he looked? Vengeful? Bitter? Empty?
“Why do you hate her so much?” he asked, seeing her, and himself, in a whole new light.
“Who? Hailey?” Nicole’s eyes widened. “I don’t hate her.”
“What do you call it?”
She looked around the room as if searching for an answer. “Competition,” she finally said.
“Not everything in life’s about winning.”
“It’s not?”
Slowly, he shook his head.
“Then why are you here, Billy? Are you telling me you aren’t trying to prove something to someone
by helping my sister? That you’re just doing it out of the goodness of your heart?” She rolled her
eyes. “I don’t buy that for a second. You and I are way too much alike for that to be true.”
Surprise rippled through him as her words registered. In the silence his chest tightened and a whole
lot of aha! pinged around in his brain. For a guy with an above-average IQ, he was a class-A dumbass.
All this time he’d been telling himself he’d been helping Hailey out of friendship, that doing this
would prove to Rafe and Pete and everyone else that he wasn’t the fuckup they all thought he was.
But that wasn’t the truth, not really. His mother was in a hospital in Puerto Rico, probably dying
right this very minute, and he was in Miami looking for a piece of metal that, in the grand scheme
of things, meant very little to his life. Every time Rafe had called over the last month to ask him to
come back, he’d given some lame-ass excuse why he couldn’t. The reality was he was hiding. Pretending nothing bad was happening. That life was just fine and dandy. Proving to himself that when
all was said and done, he didn’t need family. Didn’t need anyone for that matter. Not his aunts and
uncles in Puerto Rico. Not his brother or his brother’s new wife. Not even his mother, the only person who’d ever really believed in him.
He swallowed hard as his stomach dropped. Then nearly came out of his skin when the phone rang.
He reached for it with a hand he hoped like hell didn’t shake. “Yeah.”
“Jesus, Billy. I’ve been trying to call you all afternoon. Turn your fucking cell on.”
Rafe. Wonderful. Just what he needed right now.
He reached a hand up to rub his suddenly throbbing forehead. “I was busy. What do you want?”
Rafe, the ever-confident, always-in-control rock of the family, heaved out a sigh that sounded like
he held the weight of the world on his shoulders. “I need you to come home. Now. And this time no
excuses. The doctor just left.” He paused. And over the line, Billy heard Rafe’s voice crack. “They
don’t expect her to make it to morning. Billy, this is it.”
She was as nervous as a virgin on prom night.
Madeline Roarke stared out at the rush of people wandering up and down the Hollywood Beach
Boardwalk. Boardwalk was a silly term in her mind. There were no “boards” here, not like the
boardwalks in New Jersey and Delaware. Just a long stretch of grimy pavement that ran up and
down the never-ending beach.
Behind her, music played from the open door of an icecream parlor. The sun was starting to set, and
a warm glow she didn’t feel reflected off the water and sand and the faces of each person passing by
her hiding place.