Maddie clutched her towel tighter, but she couldn’t move. This wasn’t Sugar Bay, it was Miami. A haven of crime, her mother had said. And there she was without any clothes on. She could hear someone rattling pans under the cabinet. A thief then. Maybe he wouldn’t notice her standing there, frozen, wearing nothing but a towel. She glanced around for a weapon. The brass lamp could cause some damage, especially if she surprised him.
She backed toward the end table and put her hands around the base of the lamp. When she pulled it up, it snagged. The electric cord, of course. It was plugged in on the far side of the couch. With lamp in hand, she climbed across the couch and jerked the plug free. Unfortunately, she lost her balance and tumbled backward over the side of the couch and into a large basket of dried flowers. Her gaze went to the kitchen, and she settled on the backup plan: scream.
Luckily the scream stopped in her throat when the thief stood up. “Chase!”
He took in her sprawled position, concern, amusement and annoyance on his features. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m happy to see you, too.” She tried to sound sarcastic, but it hadn’t come out that way.
He helped her to her feet and took the lamp from her with a raised eyebrow. “And you were going to do what with this?”
“Hit you over the head. Which I may well do anyway depending on your story.”
“I thought you went home.”
“That’s why you came back? Because you thought I was gone?”
He looked away for a moment but faced her again. “Yes. Well, sort of.”
That did it. She started beating on him, not that she could do much damage with her fists. “You just left without saying goodbye again, left me wondering what had happened to you! You sent me right back to a ten on the sad meter! I deserve better than that!”
He tried to still her, grabbing her hands, then her shoulders, and then he was kissing her. It was a hungry kiss that fused her anger into passion. He held her face in his hands, tilting her head, moving closer until their bodies touched. How could he do this to her and strip away her anger? She deserved to be angry, she thought, as he devoured her mouth.
No, she deserved to be kissed like this.
Her towel slipped away, and his hands slid down her collarbone to caress her breasts. Everything was all right again, he was there with her, and it was going to be okay. He whispered her name as he kissed down her neck.
He stopped at the crook of her shoulder, pulled her close and squeezed her tight. His cheek rested against the top of her head, and she could feel his breath ruffle her hair.
“We can’t…” he said, his chest moving against her with his deep breaths.
“No, we can’t,” she said but kept kissing him because it was so damn addicting. Her senses returned and she said, “Because we’re only friends. And friends don’t kiss like this.”
“We are just friends, right? You still don’t think you love me, do you?”
“No, I don’t,” she said, fighting the urge to rub her nose.
He was convinced he’d done this terrible thing; she could see it in his eyes, the end.
She gripped his upper arms. “We can find the truth. You’re innocent, Chase, I know you are. Just like I knew you wouldn’t turn and walk away from me.”
“Baby, it doesn’t work that way in real life. We don’t always find out what happened, and the good guy isn’t always innocent. I’m the bad guy in my own story. You’re naïve, and I love…that about you. Stay with me, and you’ll lose that. I won’t take you down with me.”
“You called me Baby.”
He stroked her cheek. “You are still Baby, in some ways.”
As good as he felt holding her and touching her, she pushed him away. “You call me Baby when it’s convenient to consider me a child. But I’m a woman, a fact you know well, because you helped me grow into that woman.” She tried to ignore the fact that she was naked; grabbing up the towel would signify vulnerability. “Tell me what’s going on. You owe me that.”
He glanced down at her body, then ran his hand back through his mussed hair. He was stalling, considering what to tell her. When he sighed and met her gaze, she knew she was getting the truth. “I was kidnapped.”
“What?”
“By my father.”
“Is he crazy?”
“Maybe.” He shook his head. “He thought he could keep me hidden away until the paperwork was done…for my new identity.”
She couldn’t help smiling. “You didn’t leave me.”
“I told him not to give you a message. I knew what he was going to tell you when you came to the house. I wanted you to leave, just like he did. But for different reasons.”
“To protect me,” she said, not smiling now. “So, when you came here…”
“I thought it was Lila in the shower. I was looking for the key to her dad’s boat. She keeps her extra keys in an old pot under the cabinet. I figured I’d hide out there—from my father—until…”
“You ran.”
“Yeah, until I run.” But he made the mistake of rubbing his nose.
“And you’re a freakin’ liar,” she said. “Look, I’ve been doing some investigating. Julie was up to something. Maybe it had to do with that night.”
He shook his head. “And that’s going to prove what?”
“I don’t know,” she had to admit. “But the truth is here somewhere. If we keep looking—”
He picked up the towel and handed it to her. “Why don’t you get us breakfast? I’ll keep looking for the keys to the boat, we’ll go there, and figure things out.”
“Oh, no, I’m not letting you out of my sight.”
“I won’t go anywhere. I promise.”
He didn’t rub his nose. “If you do, I’ll hunt you down like the dog you are.”
“Agreed.”
She didn’t want to leave, but she did. She knew a place right around the corner, and it wouldn’t take her but a few minutes to grab something and return.
Chase waited for Maddie to leave, then picked up the phone. After getting the number from information, her mother answered on the third ring.
“Hi, Mrs. Danbury. This is Chase, the guy—”
“Who has brainwashed our girl! She’s acting nutty, won’t tell us where she is—”
“She’s in Miami, and I want you to come get her. Get on a plane and get here as soon as you can.”
A moment of silence followed, and then, “Why?”
“Because I’m in some trouble here. She’s determined to stay with me out of some misguided sense of…I don’t even know what. I don’t want her dragged down with me.”
“What’d you do, kill someone?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Tell us where you are.”
After he hung up, he slumped over the counter. If he were selfish, he’d beg her to stay with him. For her friendship, of course, nothing else. But the only right way to keep her with him was in his dreams.
Maddie burst into the apartment like a mini-commando team. Her gaze went right to him, and relief flooded her face.
He tried to hold back a smile. “Told you I’d stay put.”
“Yeah, and you lie.” She set the bag on the counter. “And you never did tell me: if your father kidnapped you, how’d you escape?”
“Window. I realized he had to have some kind of escape latch in case of fire, some way to open the bars on the windows. When I got them open, one of dad’s Power Rangers was in the backyard. Then Patrick stormed over, and he and Dad had it out—about me—and then every time I started to climb out of the second-story window, a boat would go by. I fell asleep waiting until this morning when everything was clear.”
She hugged him hard, and it was all he could do not to crush her against him.
“Maddie, I didn’t come back for you.”
Then why had his heart rebounded like a rubber band when he saw her standing there wrapped in a towel? He’d convinced himself it was for the best that she was gone, then had been relieved to see her there. Yep, he was a liar.
She stepped away, smoothing down her…black shirt?
“You never wear black.”
“Saw it in the window yesterday, and I felt black, so I bought it.”
The shadows in her big hazel eyes made him want to ask if she still thought she loved him. He had to admit he wanted a different answer this time.
“Did you find the key?” she asked.
He lifted the key he’d found the first time. “Let’s go.”
“She’s beautiful,” Chase said an hour later when they found Shades of Heaven.
“Just don’t call it sexy,” Maddie muttered. He shot her a look. “Don’t ask,” she said.
He climbed aboard, then helped her. She bumped against him and grabbed at his waist for balance but quickly let go of her.
“Wow,” Maddie said when they climbed down the steps into the cabin. “Much nicer than the one we built.”
Really nice, with polished teak everywhere and all the touches of home. Plenty of headroom and seating space, and even a nice-sized dining table. The boat creaked as they ate breakfast. She relished just the simple brush of their knees beneath the table. She wanted to drink him in, the arch of his eyebrows and the lines of his face.
Instead, she pushed out the question that had been haunting her since his arrival. “If you didn’t come back for me, why are you back?”
“I didn’t want to be held against my will. Sounds like the paperwork’s going to be ready in a day or so. New social security number, driver’s license, bank accounts, that kind of thing.”
“You’re going to run?”
“It’s for the best.” Just what his father had told her.
“What’s your name going to be?”
“John Doe.”
“Really? Isn’t that too obv—you’re not going to tell me.”
“Nope.” He ran his fingers along the edge of the table, in deep thought. Finally, he looked up at her. “Do you think I’m a coward for not wanting to face charges?”
“I admired you for being willing to face them, but I don’t want you to go to prison because I don’t believe you killed Julie.”
“I am a coward, Maddie, no better than any other common criminal.”
“Why are you trying to convince me of that?”
“Because you’re looking at me like…how are you looking at me?”
“Not like I love you or anything. But what if I went with you? As a friend, of course.”
“No. You have a family, a life. Going on the run with me would strip those away from you.” He pulled his hair away from his face.
“Then we’ve got to find out what happened.” She’d told him what she’d uncovered, how his being with Julie on the boat didn’t make sense.
“But you forget, sweet Maddie, that I remember fighting with her.”
“No, you remember fighting someone.”
“No one else was on the boat. Unless they fell off, but…no, forget it.”
“I won’t. Remember, I’m Maddiestein now.”
She leaned closer, her knees pressing against his. The thought of him out there sailing from island to island tore her apart. She knew running was the wrong thing to do, but if it kept him safe, she didn’t care. What bothered her was that he’d be doing it without her.
“Are you going to leave as soon as the paperwork’s ready?”
He took one of her hands in his, then the other, keeping his gaze on them. “Yeah. There’s a charter that needs a crewman at one of the other marinas. They’re from Seattle, so they won’t recognize me. They’re sailing for the islands in a day or two, and I’ve already signed on.”
She’d never felt so helpless before…no, she had. When Wayne was heading toward the oyster bar. She felt the same crushing sense of disbelief and helplessness. At least Chase wasn’t dying. But in a way, he was. He was becoming someone else, and as far as she was concerned, he’d be…dead.
He stroked her fingers, gently, as though they would easily break. When he looked up at her, the smoky haze in his eyes nearly made her heart stop.
He asked in a voice that matched his eyes, “What does it feel like to love someone the way you loved Wayne?”
She didn’t have to think about it; the words spilled out of her. “It’s smiling the moment you wake up because you know you’ll see him. It’s feeling a twinge of sadness when he leaves for a while. It’s feeling something indescribably warm and tender inside when you look at him. It’s relishing even the briefest of touches. And it’s knowing you’ll do whatever you have to do to make it work.” Unfortunately, she wasn’t thinking about Wayne when she’d said all that.
Chase absorbed her words, opened his mouth, then closed it. While she waited breathlessly for his response, he surprised her by kissing her. His kiss was slow and sweet, like warm molasses, and she gave herself up to it. The melody for “Bittersweet Symphony” played through her mind as they moved in a dream state. He peeled off first one piece of clothing, then another. Nothing like their first time, that frenzied rush of passion, this time when they made love, it was languid and surreal. Bittersweet.
Afterward, he held her without words, squeezing her against him every so often. His leg was slung over her legs, his arms tight around her. She couldn’t see his face, only the curtain of his hair and the curve of his shoulder. She wasn’t sure how long they stayed like that. As far as she was concerned, it could have lasted forever.
Forever was cut far short when the sound of voices outside brought Chase to his feet. “Damn, I fell asleep. We’d better get dressed.”
“Why?”
He shoved her clothes at her, then stepped into his own clothing. “I’m going to leave you behind, Maddie. I have to, have to forget about everything I ever was. It’s the only way I can get through. I’m going to leave without saying goodbye, because I hate saying goodbye. And just to make sure you don’t try one of your Maddiestein stunts…”
Chase climbed up the companionway, then motioned someone to come down. She almost expected his father’s beefcakes to come down and abduct her. But it was even worse.
Her family had come. And they’d brought their secret weapon.
“Uncle Maddie!” Q yelled as he jumped down the steps and threw himself into her arms. “Mom said you were off…bal…bal…lanced, and I didn’t know what that meant, and I was scared.”
Maddie squeezed him tight and buried her face in his copper curls. “I’m not off-balanced. Just…” She met Chase’s grim face. “misled.”
“Honey, we were so worried about you,” Mom said once she’d managed the steps. “And when Chase called and told us…well, he said to come right away, so we got your second-cousin Peter in Tampa to fly us in his little airplane.”
Chase’s betrayal burned in her stomach and increased when he handed her Mom her bag.
Q’s face was bright with excitement. “We saw Matchbox cars, but grandpa said they was real!”
Maddie tried to smile at him, but her face hurt. Everything hurt. So, Chase wanted to send her away. Fine, she’d go. She wasn’t going to force her devotion on him anymore.
“We’re going to drive back with you,” Mom was saying while crushing Maddie in a bear hug.
“But—”
“No buts.” Mom steered Maddie to the steps. “If we have to strong-arm you home, we will. You don’t want Quigley to see that, do you?”
“It’s Q, grandma,” he said, tugging on her pant leg. “And what can’t I see?”
“You’ll see nothing.” Mom glanced at Maddie. “Right, Baby—Maddie?”
She forced herself to look at Chase again. His expression was blank. If he loved her, he’d take her with him. That’s how love was, because she’d damned well go with him.
So, he didn’t love her. Or maybe he didn’t know how to love. Then why had he asked how it felt?
She climbed up the steps.
“Thank God you didn’t put up a scene,” Colleen said from behind her. “The way you’ve been acting—”
“Off-balanced, I believe you put it,” Maddie said.
“That’s how you’ve been acting.”
“Where’s Bobby?” Maddie asked.
Colleen said, “There wasn’t room on the plane.”
Mom said, “Let’s grab a bite before we head back to Sugar Bay. Is there someplace near here?”
Maddie chose Salty’s.
“This is a bar,” Mom said when they walked beneath the chickee roof.
“Maddie,” Lila said from behind the bar, question in her eyes.
“This is my family. They’ve come to take me home.” She debated telling Lila about Chase being on her dad’s boat but ultimately kept it to herself. “This is my friend, Lila.”
Lila nodded at them and gave Maddie an Are you okay? look.
Maddie nodded a yes, an outright lie, and herded her family to a back booth near the water. Since it was past the lunch crowd, Salty’s was fairly empty. As usual, nobody mentioned having to fly out and save Maddie from her impertinence. They seemed grateful when the sandwiches arrived and no one had to make lame conversation for a few minutes. As soon as Q finished his grilled cheezer, he skipped off to the edge of the dock to look at the fish.
“What did Chase tell you?” Maddie said, after giving up on pretending to eat her blackened grouper sandwich. She kept seeing that grim look on Chase’s face.
“Just that he was in trouble. Oh, and that he was a murderer.”
“He didn’t kill anyone. He just told you that so you’d come right away.”
“Well, he didn’t have to tell us that,” Dad said. “We’d have come anyway.”
“No doubt.” She surveyed her family, loving them and annoyed with them at once. They wouldn’t understand her devastation at Chase’s betrayal. They’d think he was a coward for running. She had no allies, not even Chase himself. She looked at Colleen, eager to change the subject. “Have you and Bobby worked things out?”
“Found all those trash magazines you read,” Colleen said to Maddie instead of answering. “I was storing some of my gnomes in your closet, and there they were. Enquirer, Star…”
“Reading about other people’s tragedies made me feel better when I was ignoring my life. Some woman having an alien baby had to be worse than me losing my husband. You can always convince yourself things aren’t so bad when you read those or watch Sally. And we’re so good at ignoring problems in our family. Does Q know what’s going on with you two?”
“No, and he doesn’t want to know,” Colleen said. “We told him Bobby’s remodeling our house, so he has to stay there.”
Maddie said, “He’s probably scared to death that his family’s coming apart and no one’s telling him anything. Either get divorced or work it out.”
Colleen’s shoulders stiffened. “Maddie, I don’t know who you think you are—”
“I am a member of this family.” She took them all in. “A family that has, including me, had their heads in the sand for much too long. I used to think it was okay to live my life for everyone else. But Chase changed everything—”
“This is all his fault,” Mom said. “He’s the rotten apple in the barrel.”
“And thank goodness. He saved my life in more ways than one. He was the first person to treat me like an adult. Sure, he said some ugly things to me, but they were the best ugly things I’ve ever heard. He taught me to believe in myself. And no matter what he thinks about himself, I believe in him. He let me think he’d already gone on the run so I’d go home. Calling you here, that proves his honor, much as I hate to admit it.”
Mom tilted her head. “He did say he didn’t want you dragged down with him. He obviously cares a great deal about you.”
“Hot damn, maybe he is your angel.” Colleen took a long drink of her iced tea.
Maddie didn’t want to think about that right then. “He used to have a drinking problem, but he hasn’t had a drink since the accident. And, in fact, he never drank when he sailed, never…” Her voice trailed off, and her eyes widened. “He never drank while he sailed.”
“You said that,” Colleen said.
“He was drunk that last night.”
“And that’s a good thing?” Mom asked.
“Yes! He wouldn’t have sailed with her because he’d been drinking. And that son of a bitch isn’t going to run! He’s going to turn himself in, and he knew I’d stay if he did.”
“Maddie, where are you going?” Mom asked as Maddie shoved her way out of the booth and nearly tripped on a chair to get to the bar. “I have never heard her use language like that before.”
“Lila! Where’s the nearest police station?”
“What’s wrong?”
“I’ll explain later.”
Maddie ran to Shades of Heaven without a backward glance at her family. She lost her footing and slid down the steps to the cabin. It only took seconds to know he was gone. She turned and ran to her car.
What if she was too late?