LITMIR.BIZ

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decided she was going to have to enlist her sister’s help if she was going to get through this. “Chloe, how about if you show Nana your room? Jetta was sleeping on your bed last time I saw him. Maybe he’s still there.”

      So what if the last time she’d seen the cat was after midnight, just as Kaleb was carrying her to bed after making love to her in the bathroom? Maybe the cat really was still there.

      “Sure! C’mon, Nana. It’s right down this hallway.”

      Her mom threw Maddy a quick frown, but followed her granddaughter. As soon as they were out of earshot, she grabbed Roxy’s arm. “You’ve got to keep them in there for about five minutes.”

      Her sister tilted her head. “What are you talking about?”

      “There’s no time to explain.” She half dragged her down the hallway. “Just do it. Please.”

      Maddy stopped with her hand on the doorknob to her bedroom. Her sister’s eyes got wide. She whispered, “You...you’ve got a man in there.”

      That struck her as insanely funny for some reason. “Well, it’s certainly not a pony.”

      “Oh, my God, Maddy. You are so going to spill when this is all over.”

      At this point, she didn’t care what she had to do. So long as Kaleb was on his way out of her apartment before her mother came out of that room.

      Roxy hurried down the hallway, her voice much louder than necessary. “I haven’t seen good old Jetta in ages. Can I join in?” Her sister threw Maddy one last grin before disappearing into the room.

      Before she could turn the knob on her own bedroom door, it opened so fast she practically fell inside.

      “You have to leave,” she whispered. “Right now.”

      “That’s what I’m trying to do.” His voice didn’t sound nearly as friendly as it had a few minutes ago. “What’s wrong with Chloe?”

      “Wrong?” She tried to hurry him along, thanking God they’d had the foresight to throw his jeans into the dryer last night. She did her best not to remember how those same jeans had felt scraping over her legs as he’d climbed into the tub.

      “She said her head hurt.”

      “Oh. Yes. She gets headaches periodically. She’s fine.”

      Kaleb’s face unexpectedly blanched, turning a sickly white. Probably worried about getting caught, just as she was. She wouldn’t be surprised if her own face was rather pasty right now.

      They made it to the front door, and she quietly opened it. “Thanks for everything.” She closed her eyes for a minute. “I mean... Well, you know what I mean.”

      “Yes.” He stepped outside the door and paused. “Have you had them looked at?”

      “Sorry?” She was doing her best to keep her voice down to a whisper, but she was running out of time. And patience.

      “The headaches.”

      “We’ve already been to a couple of specialists.” She did her best to smile. “I really, really don’t want my mom to find you here. Sorry.” With that, she shut the door with as soft a click as she could and prayed he hadn’t left anything lying...

      Yanking in a quick breath, she raced through the hallway and glanced into the bathroom. Nothing there, thank God. She tiptoed back a few steps to peek into her room. Unmade bed, but that was to be expected. It was barely—she glanced at her watch—eight o’clock.

      Just then she spotted two towels beside the bed. She went in and grabbed them, hoping she could hurry to the bathroom and throw them over a towel bar. Just as she came out of the room, her mom and the rest of her entourage appeared. And two pairs of adult eyes swung to her hands, which clutched one blue towel and one white towel. Her mom’s eyes slowly shifted back to hers, a question in them Maddy had no intention of answering.

      “Just cleaning up from last night.” Realizing how that sounded, she hurried to add, “Roxy kept Chloe for me and sent me home with a bag of spa treatment goodies, and so I took full advantage of it.”

      “Full advantage. I’ll say.” Roxy’s amused voice held a wealth of meaning, but Maddy ignored it the best she could.

      “One towel for my hair and one for the rest of me.”

      Her mom’s brows cranked up in steady increments. “Why are you explaining, dear?”

      “Well, because...” She was so going to get struck by lightning for lying. “...I wouldn’t want you to get any strange ideas.”

      “I’ll just put these away so you can go make us some coffee. It looks like you could use some.” Roxy plucked the towels from her hand, leaning down to whisper, “If she didn’t have any ideas before, she certainly does now.”

      “Just what I need,” Maddy breathed in return. But really she was glad to have something to do. And that Kaleb had made it out of the house unnoticed.

      Just then the doorbell rang. Oh, no! What more could possibly happen? She looked through the peephole and was met by a familiar face. Her heart careened through her chest. Sending up a quick prayer, she opened the door and pretended he was a complete stranger. “Yes? Can I help you?”

      Kaleb wasn’t smiling. And the flirtatious demeanor from this morning was long gone. But at least he kept his voice low. “I think I left my keys in your bathroom.”

      Roxy appeared beside her. She glanced at Maddy and then at the man in the entryway. “I think you might be looking for these.” She let the keys dangle from her fingertips.

      “Yes, that’s them. Thank you.” He took them from her with a perfunctory smile.

      Then the worst thing that could have happened did. Without a word to her, Maddy’s mother marched right up to him and held out her hand.

      “Since my daughters have evidently forgotten all their manners, hello, my name is Linda.”

      A muscle worked in his jaw, but he shook her hand. “I’m Kaleb McBride. I work at the hospital where your daughter practices.”

      Her mom blinked. “Nice to meet you. You work there as a...”

      “I practice concierge medicine.” As if anticipating her next question, he added, “The hospital has a contract with the hotel across the street. I split my time between the two places.”

      She could practically see the wheels in her mom’s head turning, rotating far too many times for comfort. Two towels. A colleague leaving his keys at her place. Her granddaughter staying with Roxy overnight.

      Please don’t.

      She sent her mother a quick look begging her not to take this line of questioning any further. Instead her mom nodded. “Well, it was nice to meet someone that Maddy works with.” She took her granddaughter’s hand. “Now, if you’ll tell me where that medicine is for her headache, I’ll get it for her.”

      “It’s already all better,” Chloe said. “It wasn’t one of the mean ones.”

      Her mom leaned down to kiss Chloe’s cheek. “I’m glad.”

      “Could I have a glass of apple juice, though?”

      Maddy swallowed, glad for the distraction and an excuse to send them away for a few more minutes. “Chloe, would you show Nana where the glasses and juice are? And see if she wants something to drink as well.”

      “I’ll show them.”

      Roxy was being extraordinarily helpful all of a sudden, moving away with the duo and talking a mile a minute about the kite festival.

      Once again, she was left alone with Kaleb.

      He flipped his keys into his palm, brown eyes meeting hers. “Sorry about that. I got

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