Thrill Me (15 page)

“How do you know?”

“I read a couple of business blogs. The sale was mentioned.”

“Thanks. I told Dad about it.”

Aidan snorted. “The old man wouldn't care. You could cure cancer and he'd yawn. It's how he is.”

“Tell me about it.”

“What are you going to do now?”

Del thought about the videos he wanted to produce. The way they would enlighten and educate kids around the world.
Talk about a lofty and self-important description
, he thought.

“I'm not sure. I'm still mulling things over. I have ideas, but nothing firm.”

“You're not sticking around here.”

“You asking or telling?”

“Telling,” Aidan said with a grin. “You said it yourself. You're not cut out for Fool's Gold. You'll be leaving soon enough.”

Del knew his brother was right. He would leave, because that was what he did. But this time, like the first time, he would regret leaving Maya. They were a good team.

For a second he wondered what it would be like if she came with him. If she wanted what he wanted. Only how could they live in such close quarters without starting something they shouldn't? If he was with her that much, was he at risk of falling for her again?

While he could understand why she'd acted the way she had, all those years ago, the truth was, she hadn't been honest. Never once had she hinted there was a problem. Could he trust her to be honest now? To say there was something wrong and then work through it with him? Or would she simply cut and run?

Maybe he was a fool, but he was looking for a partner. Someone who would have his back. With Maya, he couldn't be sure.

“Good luck with whatever you decide,” Aidan told him. “I'll admit that I don't get it. Don't you want to wake up in the same bed now and then?”

“I'm home enough. I like traveling around, seeing what's going on in other places. People are interesting. Besides, who are you not to understand? You don't want to be with the same woman more than a few days before moving on.”

“You're right. We both have commitment issues. Just in different ways. Send me a postcard this time,” Aidan told him.

“Promise.”

When he and Aidan parted, Del knew that the rift had been mended. His brother was his friend again.

He started home, then changed his mind and walked by Maya's place. Sure enough, her new flowers had turned a sickly yellow and were drooping. He didn't know if she was overfeeding or overwatering. Either way, she was killing innocent plants.

He went by his place and got his truck, then drove to Plants for the Planet and bought replacements. With luck, he would get them in the ground and the dead ones gone before she noticed.

* * *

E
LAINE
'
S
TEMPORARY
APARTMENT
was small but cozy. It was a studio with a comfortable daybed. There was a dining alcove, a tiny kitchen that had all the basics and a small bathroom.

“It's perfect for what I need,” Elaine said, stretched out on the couch, Sophie at her side. “When the princess here needs to do her thing, I can take her down to the small garden out back.”

Elaine motioned to the kitchen. “I have snacks and tea. So it's working out.”

“It's a good setup,” Maya admitted. “I'm impressed you've managed to keep it a secret.”

Elaine smiled. “I told the landlord it was a menopause thing. After that he didn't want to know.”

Maya smiled. “How are you feeling?”

“Okay. Tired.” Sophie rolled onto her back and Elaine rubbed the dog's belly. “This one keeps me company. She's always been more my dog rather than the family dog, but since I've started treatment, she hasn't left my side.”

“She knows something is up.”

Maya studied her friend. Elaine had dark circles under her eyes. She looked tired. And thinner. “Are you losing weight?”

Elaine raised one shoulder. “Maybe a little. It's hard to eat. I don't feel nauseous, exactly, but I don't feel great, either. It's difficult to explain.”

“Can I tempt you with dinner at your favorite restaurant?” Maya asked, worried about how Elaine was going to get through the next few weeks of radiation. “You name the place.”

“You're sweet, but I'm fine. I have my treatments, then I come here for a few hours. Mostly I nap. Then Sophie and I go home.”

Maya tried to hold in the words, but they refused to be suppressed. “You have to tell them.”

“I really don't.”

“They'd want to know. They will want to know. Ceallach already suspects something is up. It's going to come out. You'll mention something or your doctor will call. You're dealing with breast cancer. Your husband and sons want to be there for you.”

Elaine's smile was both sad and knowing. “They couldn't handle it. Ceallach is in the middle of a big commission. I can't risk distracting him, so I told him it was a menopause thing, too. Who knew the change would come in so handy? As for my sons... I don't want anyone to worry.”

“They would want to know. To help.”

“There's nothing they can do. You and Sophie are all the support I need.”

Maya wasn't sure that was true. She was also worried about what was going to happen when Del found out the truth. Because he would. They all would. While she could honestly say she was doing what her friend had asked, she couldn't shake the sense of being in the wrong. At least where he was concerned. Del would want to know, and she suspected the rest of the Mitchell men would share his feelings.

“You're not giving them enough credit,” she said firmly. “Trust in how much they love you.”

“I don't doubt their feelings, but I know their limitations. I suppose it's my fault. At least with the boys. I wasn't a very good mother.”

Maya couldn't believe it. She'd had a horrible mother, and by any comparison, Elaine had been extraordinary. “What are you talking about? You were a fantastic mother. You took care of them, loved them, supported them. They're all lucky to have you as their mom.”

Elaine smiled. “You're very sweet, but you're giving me too much credit. I didn't protect my sons from their father the way I should have. He's a brilliant man, but difficult. There were times when I took his side instead of theirs.”

“You made choices. I'm sure some of them weren't what you'd do now, but no one is perfect. You're not giving yourself enough credit.” Maya wondered if that came from feeling run-down from the treatment. “They adore you. Even more important, they're happy, kind, successful men you can be proud of. Don't you dare forget that.”

Elaine smiled. “You're very good to me.”

“And you're good to me. You're my friend and I love you.”

“I love you, too. Don't tell the boys, but I always wanted a daughter. I was so happy when you started dating Del and we became friends. I appreciate that you never cut those ties.”

“You're family,” Maya told her. “There were a lot of times that the only thing that got me through was wondering how you would handle a situation. I wanted to be strong like you.”

Elaine drew her eyebrows together. “Strong? I'm not.”

“You are. You just don't see it.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

“Y
OU
'
RE
BEING
VERY
MYSTERIOUS
,” Maya teased as she walked into Del's temporary office.

He'd texted her earlier and asked her to meet at the studio. All he'd said was that it was important, he hadn't given any other clues.

He stood by his desk. There was a stack of DVD cases next to him. She was about to joke that if he was volunteering his butt for Eddie and Gladys's show, she was going to lose all respect for him, when she realized he wasn't smiling. He didn't look upset, exactly, but he was obviously not playing.

“What?” she asked, hoping whatever it was, he didn't have a medical issue. She wasn't sure she had one more secret in her. Not when she was struggling to keep Elaine's.

“It's no big deal.”

“You have big-deal face,” she said.

His tense expression relaxed. “No one has big-deal face.”

“You do, and it's a little strange with the sexy stubble.”

Crap
, she thought. Double crap. Had she said sexy? It wasn't her fault. The man looked good in jeans and a worn shirt. The three-days' growth only added to his appeal. Hmm, the last time they'd kissed he'd been clean shaven for the wedding. Would it feel different now?

She decided it would, but wasn't sure if it would be a good scratchy way or a bad scratchy way.

“Sexy?” he asked, raising one eyebrow.

She pointed to the stack of DVDs. “Explain.”

He looked from her to the discs and back. “We've talked about doing that project,” he began. “You know, a day in the life kind of thing.”

“Right.” She studied the DVDs. “Did you start it already?”

“Not exactly. These are videos I've done. Interviews with a lot of people—many of them children. I'm on-screen some, talking about where I am and what's happening there economically or politically.”

She looked at him. “You want me to watch them?”

“No, I want to know if you can fix them.” He shoved his hands in his front pockets. “I know what I see in my head, but I can't make it happen on the screen. After working with you, I'm sure I totally screwed up the settings. The eye line's going to be all wrong.”

She'd seen his raw footage from their shoots. “You're probably missing establishing shots, and there might be issues with the audio.”

“Thanks for that vote of support.”

“You're not a professional. You do a good job with the training you have.”

“You're right. Sorry. I don't mean to be defensive. It's just this project... It's important to me.” He pulled his hands free and tapped the stack. “These are what I put together. I have the raw footage on my computer. I know the mistakes I made filming can't be corrected, but if you could maybe take what I did and work your editing magic.”

“Of course.”

“I'd pay you,” he added.

She waved off the comment. “No way. I'm happy to help. I'll need to go through what you have. It's going to take a while, but I'd love to do whatever I can to make the material how you want it to be.”

He was still touching the DVDs. “No one's seen these,” he told her. “No one. I wanted you to know that.”

Maya appreciated the information, even though she wasn't sure what to do with it. Del was trusting her with something important to him. That made her feel all quivery inside. Of course, it didn't take much to get herself worked up when it came to him.

For a second she wished things had been different. Back when they'd both been younger. But she'd been too scared, and there was no way he could have understood what was in her head.
Wrong place, wrong time
, she thought. But right guy. Funny how it had taken her ten years to figure out he was the one. Funny and maybe a little sad. Because he was leaving and she was staying. Even more significant, he hadn't hinted he had any strong feelings for her beyond friendship and sexual attraction.

“I will take good care of your footage,” she promised. “Let me copy it onto my computer so I can work on it.” She wrinkled her nose. “And I won't keep a copy of it lying around. Eddie or Gladys will find it for sure, and God knows what they'll do with it.”

“You're still pissed about the kiss?”

“Not pissed, exactly.”

“Then what?”

“It went viral. That's strange.”

He dropped his arms to his side and winked at her. “I'm a good kisser.”

“Oh, please. You think you're the reason the video went viral? What about me?”

“Riding my coattails.”

She put her hands on her hips. “In your dreams, mister. You're lucky I kissed you at all.”

“Am I?”

“You are.”

She waited for the humorous comeback. Instead, Del circled the desk, put his hands on her waist and drew her against him.

“Maybe we should just see about that,” he murmured right before his mouth claimed hers.

On a purely intellectual basis, she didn't think it was a good idea to kiss in the office. People could walk in, it was disrespectful to the workplace. There were other reasons, Maya was sure, but wow, was it hard to think of them. Or be the least bit indignant. Not when his skin was so warm and his lips were so tempting.

She parted her lips without even thinking about it. He swept his tongue inside. They tangled and teased. She thought about shifting closer, about pressing her body against his. She thought about the desk and how the height seemed just so perfect for what would naturally happen next.

She put her hands on his shoulders, then slid her palms up and down his arms.
More warmth
, she thought dreamily. Muscles and man all for the taking.

Desire burned hot and bright deep inside of her. It radiated out, spiraling through her with every stroke of his tongue. When he moved his hands from her waist to her rear, she knew she was lost. Totally and completely lost. On the heels of that admission came the thought that she had no idea where they might find a condom.

He squeezed the curves of her butt. She arched against him and her belly pressed against his erection. The proof of his arousal made her shudder. Del had always been her greatest weakness, she thought. The man thrilled her.

He moved his hands up her sides, toward her breasts. Anticipation hummed through her. Somewhere in the distance her phone chirped insistently.

She ignored the noise, only to realize that it wasn't any of her normal ringtones. Nor was it her text notification sound. A second chirping joined the first. She drew back.

“What is that?” Del asked.

Without him kissing her, she could think. “The emergency notification system,” she said as she lunged for her cell. “We have a message.”

“The what?”

Maya ignored the question and grabbed her phone. The message flashed.

Missing child. Report to the HERO offices asap.

She grabbed his hand and pulled him along as she headed for her office to grab her bag. “Mayor Marsha made us both sign up for emergency notifications, remember? We're volunteer searchers.”

Del looked at his phone. “A kid? Where do we go?”

“It's not far.”

* * *

T
HE
H
ELP
E
MERGENCY
Response Operations or HERO offices were as close as Maya promised. Del and Maya arrived along with several other people. They parked at the far end of the lot, then hurried toward the main building.

Inside they found what could have passed for a war room. There were large computer screens showing different parts of the area surrounding the town along with huge maps on the wall. Kipling Gilmore, a tall, blond-haired man, stood in the center of the activity. He was calm and obviously in charge.

“We have a missing girl,” he was saying. “Shep?”

A muscled man with dark red hair and piercing green eyes stood next to Kipling.
Jesse Shepard
, Del thought, remembering meeting him at The Man Cave a week or so ago. He had joined the search-and-rescue program less than a month ago.

Shep read from a tablet. “Alyssa Paige, age eleven.” He gave them her height and weight. “She and her family were out for a picnic, so she's not dressed to be out for the night, people. She also doesn't have food or water with her and she has limited wilderness experience.”

Near the windows, a woman in her thirties began to cry. The man at her side put an arm around her. Next to them, a boy maybe thirteen or fourteen, wiped away tears. He looked scared and guilty. Del would guess Alyssa was his sister, and he had been the one with her when she'd been lost.

“I'll send the info about where she was last seen to your tablets,” Shep continued. “Jacob's told us as much as he can.”

The teen flinched as his name was spoken and everyone turned to look at him. Del instinctively started toward the boy.

As he approached, he heard Kipling speaking on his cell phone. “Yeah, Cassidy went to get her horses. She won't be back for a couple of days.”

Del looked at Shep. “Can you give me a minute?” he asked, nodding at the teen.

“Sure,” Shep said.

Del turned to Jacob. “Hey,” he said in a low voice.

Jacob hung his head. “I didn't do it on purpose.”

“No one thinks you did anything wrong,” Del assured him.

“They do. My parents tell me I'm not responsible enough.” Jacob looked at him. “She's my sister. I love her.”

“I know you do. Look, I'm the oldest of five brothers. Believe me, I know what it's like. You're told to watch them and you do, but they're as fast as squirrels. You turn around for a second, and bam, one of them is in trouble. Only you get the blame.”

Jacob sniffed, then nodded. “I know.” The boy's dark eyes were red from tears. “I was texting with a friend.”

“Sure. It's boring out there, right?”

“Yeah. Alyssa said she saw a baby bunny. She wanted to pet it. I told her to leave it alone, and when I looked up again, she was gone.”

Tears filled his eyes again. “I called her name and ran after her, but I couldn't find her.”

“How long were you looking?”

“About an hour.”

“By your phone or it felt like an hour?”

Jacob flushed. “It felt like an hour.”

“Great.” He put his hand on the teen's shoulder. “You did great. Let me give the information to Shep, and then we'll go find your sister.”

Del shared what Jacob had told him. Shep input the information to the program while Kipling passed out equipment to the various search teams.

“You know how to use this?” he asked Del.

“Sure.”

Maya moved next to him. “Seriously? You're familiar with this?”

“You don't go exploring in remote parts of the world without some kind of tracking equipment. Not if you want to be found.”

“I thought the point was not to be found.”

“It is, unless someone gets hurt.”

She looked at the map on the wall. “Or gets lost. Are we going to find her?”

“We're not going to stop looking until we do.”

He and Maya joined a group of people from town. He saw that several firefighters and deputies had their own groups. The guys from the bodyguard school were also out searching. The program might only be a few months old, but it was growing. Kipling knew what he was doing.

He and Maya were joined by Angel, along with Dakota and Finn Andersson. Finn had a satellite phone with him in case the decision was made to call in a helicopter to help with the search.

“We expect to find her before that's necessary,” Kipling said. “Good luck.”

The volunteers drove out in a caravan, with Shep leading the way. Kipling stayed behind to man the command center. The family's outing had started at one of the campgrounds closer to town, where the trails were well marked.

“If she went after a rabbit, she could be anywhere,” Maya said.

When everyone was ready, Shep gave them last-minute instructions, then they headed out.

They walked in groups of six, spread out and moving forward in the same direction. At regular intervals, they called Alyssa's name. Del kept track of their progress on the screen of his tablet, and had them make adjustments as they were directed by the search program.

Maya kept up easily. She scanned the area and when it was her turn, yelled for the girl. The afternoon was hot, but she didn't complain about the temperature.

She got the job done, Del thought as they continued to search. She stepped in and did what had to be done. Hyacinth had been willing to work hard for what she wanted, but if the results in question were about someone else, she wasn't likely to participate. She didn't believe in putting herself out for other people.

It had taken him a while to recognize that about her. Once he'd figured out what she was thinking, he'd wondered if it was the result of being successful or simply a personality trait. Not that the answer mattered. Although she had claimed to love him, she wasn't willing to change to make him happy. Not when she wanted things a different way. Her way.

Maya was more of a “how can we both get what we want” kind of person. There wasn't the same level of drama or stress. She was easy to talk to. He respected her. Their night together had been amazing.

He glanced at her and wondered about the odds of a second go-round. His only hesitation in asking was that he knew Maya wasn't one to give herself without the promise of some kind of relationship. And while the two of them were friends, he wasn't sure that was enough.

There was also the fact that he was leaving and she was staying. Which meant whatever they started would never go anywhere.

For a second he allowed himself to think it could be more. That she would want to leave Fool's Gold with him and see the world. That they could continue their partnership in other ways. But could he trust her to be a true partner, to give it to him straight, even when she thought he wouldn't like what she had to say?