So Much Trouble When She Walked In (2 page)

The
bartender slammed his palm down on the counter, the sound splitting the air
like the crack of a whip.  “You come in here and mess with one of my customers?
 My regular?” His nostrils flared as he sucked in his breath, the blood rising
in his face.  “Listen, guy, I don’t know who you are or where you come from but
this is a respectable establishment and we don’t stand for that crap.  Now you
either leave right now or I throw you out.  Take your pick.”  The big man balled
his massive hands into fists like sledge hammers and began to lift the hinged
counter so he could exit the bar.

As
big as Max was – six feet tall and well-muscled – the man was way bigger, at
least six foot three and about three hundred pounds.  The burly bartender would
have his ass for breakfast in any fistfight but Max was not going to turn tail
and run off like some girl.  He was not backing down.

Sliding
off the stool, he stood up to face the giant.  He might have little more than a
snowball’s chance in hell of winning but he wasn’t going down without a heck of
a fight.

The
big man was in front of him now.  He lifted his hands and cracked his
knuckles.  “You’d better apologize to the lady,” he said, not even bothering to
mask the threat of bodily harm.

“What
the hell for?  I didn’t do a damn thing to her.  She’s mixing me up with
someone else.”  Max swung his eyes back to the woman and now her arms were
folded across her chest and her mouth was buttoned tight and mutinous.  It
looked like she was determined to see him go down…even though she was one
hundred percent wrong.

The
first time he’d seen her he’d thought she was a sweet girl but now he realized
she was nothing but trouble…with a good dose of crazy thrown in.

The
bartender shifted like he was ready to make a move.  Max swung round to face
him, ready to slam him in the gut.

“Wait.” 
The woman inserted herself between them, forcing them to back off.  “You can
let him off easy this time, Peter.  I don’t think he’ll be messing with women
around here anymore.”

“Now,
you listen-”

“No,
you listen,” Peter, growled, his tone menacing.  “The lady said to leave and I
suggest you do that.  I don’t want to have to mess up that pretty face of
yours.”

Max
scowled and his hands tightened into rock-like fists.  He didn’t take kindly to
being threatened.  And then he glanced from the man to the woman glaring at him
and he saw that they were resolute.  There was no convincing either of them
that he wasn’t the guilty party.

Fuck
it. He wasn’t going to stand here arguing with these two, trying to plead his
case.  If they didn’t want to believe him, that was their problem.

His
mouth twisted in a sardonic smile as he looked them over.  Lucky for them he
was a private person who kept his identity under wraps.  But he could still
mess them up.  One phone call and the entire sports complex would be his, lock,
stock and barrel.  Then he would have the bartender’s ass.  And the girl?  Well,
she’d just have to play tennis somewhere else.

But
he wouldn’t go there.

Without
a word Max gave them one last look, turned and sauntered out the door. 

***

“You
did what?”  Suave’s eyes grew wide as she stared at her sister.

“I
went in there and told him off.”  Silken shrugged then plopped down on the
locker room bench and began to untie her sneakers.

“But
I didn’t ask you to do that.”  Suave’s voice rose sharply, as it always did
when she got upset with Silken.  Which was pretty often.  “I told you what
happened in there and I said I handled it.  Didn’t I?”  When Silken ignored her
she marched over to stand directly in front of her.  “Didn’t I?”

Both
sneakers now off, Silken looked up.  “Yeah, but we both know how you are.  You
probably gave the guy a pat and said,” she pursed her lips in her best
impression of a school marm, “'now be a good boy and don’t do that again'.”

Suave
glared at her, her face indignant.  “I did not.  I was very firm.  And I don’t
need you fighting my battles for me.  You have to stop doing that.”

“I'm
your big sis.  What do you expect?”

“Will
you stop saying that?  You’re just one minute older than I am so that doesn’t
count and you know it.”  Suave’s eyes flashed and she looked just about ready
to stomp her foot, which was about as mad as she ever got.

Silken
wanted to laugh but she held it in.  She loved teasing her little sis about who
was older and she never failed to get a rise out of her sibling.  She had to
stop doing this.

Yeah,
maybe when they were sixty.

“I
can just imagine how you embarrassed the poor man in front of everybody.”

Silken
sucked in her breath.  “Oh, no, you didn’t.  You did not just start feeling
sorry for the man who was sexually harassing you at the bar.”

“Well,
no…” The pink flush of guilt rose in Suave’s cheeks.  “It’s just that sometimes
you can be so harsh.”

“Harsh?
 Didn’t the guy deserve it?”  Silken hopped up off the bench and reached out to
rest her hand on Suave’s arm.  “You see?  This is why you need me, sis.  People
will walk all over you if I’m not around.  You’re just too nice.”

Suave
shook her off.  “I don’t need you fighting for me all the time.  I’m sick of
it.”  And then she proceeded to pout and refused to say another word.

Silken
stared at her then shook her head.  Typical Suave.  Spoiled brat.

But
as they changed into street clothes Silken had to admit that if Suave was
spoiled, it was her fault.

They
were the offspring of a teenage mother who had asked that the State take
custody and give them up for adoption.  But, for some reason, it never
happened.  They’d grown up in the foster care system, moving from home to home,
until they gained their freedom at the age of eighteen.  And all those years it
had been Silken who’d taken charge, beating down any bully who so much as
sniffed at her little sister.

And
that was who Suave was, her
little
sister, even if their time of arrival
into the world was separated by only one minute, based on what they'd heard
from their first social worker.  They took her word as gospel, especially as
they got older and Silken grew bigger, bolder and far more savvy about the ways
of the world…and about men.

But
Suave had to grow up sometime, Silken guessed.  And yes, she had to start fighting
her own battles.  She heaved a sigh.  “All right, Suave.  No more getting
involved in your business.  Promise.”

Her
sister turned, her eyes full of hope.  “You promise?  Really?”

Silken
nodded.  “Yes, really.”  Then she gave a little grimace and muttered under her
breath, “As much as it pains me.”

“What
did you say?”  Suave came closer.

“Uh,
nothing.”  The smile Silken gave her sister was all innocence.  She bent to
pick up her gym bag.  “Let’s get out of here before the traffic builds up.”

They
were pulling out of the parking lot when Silken put a hand on Suave’s arm.  She
jerked her chin toward the gleaming silver Mercedes Benz convertible pulling
out ahead of them.  Top down, it left the head and shoulders of the driver
clearly visible.  Dark head of hair, broad shoulders and a square chin set in
stern lines, there was no mistaking his identity.  “There’s the beast who put
his hand on you,” she said through clenched teeth.  She was still more than
pissed off by his audacity.  The nerve of the guy.

“What?
 Where?”  Suave turned the steering wheel then took her focus off the inside
road for a nano-second to glance around.

“There. 
Ahead of us.”  Silken pointed in the direction of the car that was slowly
turning onto the road to follow the line of vehicles ahead, all of them making
their way toward the parking lot exit.  “Don’t you see him?”

“N…no,
I don’t see him.”  Suave peered ahead, her voice full of doubt.

“You’re
staring right at him," Silken said.  "There, in the silver Benz up
ahead.”

Suave
shook her head.  “No, that’s not him.  That guy’s hair is jet black.  The man
who bothered me had dark brown hair.”

“Are
you sure?”  Silken frowned, a niggle of worry just beginning to creep into her
mind.  “That’s the guy who was at the bar, wasn’t it?”

“Nope.” 
This time Suave’s tone was strong and confident.  “That guy had a bull neck and
short, dark hair.  This one’s hair curls at the nape and I can tell he’s a lot
more handsome.”

“From
staring at the back of his head?”

Suave
chuckled.  “You’d be surprised.”

Silken
exhaled and sank back in her seat. 
Well, I’ll be damned
.  She’d hauled
off and slammed the wrong man.

She
glanced over at her sister.  “Uh, Suave?”

The
response she got was a dramatic sigh.  “Yes, I know.  You cursed out that guy
up ahead, didn’t you?”

Silken
grimaced.  “How’d you guess?”

“You
know what that means, don’t you?”

Silken
shrugged.  “I’m going to hell?”

“You’re
going to have to apologize.  We’ll have to catch him and right the wrong you
did.”

Silken
wrinkled her nose.  “I’m not feelin’ that right now.  Let’s just forget it ever
happened.”

“Silken
McCullen, you will not back out of this.  You need to take responsibility for
your action.” Suave gave her a look that said she planned on nagging until her
sister gave in. 

“All
right, I’ll apologize,” Silken, said with a groan.  “Goody Two-Shoes.”  The
second part was muttered under her breath.  Of course, Suave heard and
delivered a slap that made her leg sting.  “Hey, watch it,” Silken grumbled. 
“I bruise easy.”

Suave
totally ignored her.  “He’s getting away,” she said, jabbing at Silken’s
injured leg.  “Write down his license plate number.  Quick.”

“Okay,
okay.”  Silken dug around in her purse till she found a pen and a Pizza Hut
receipt.  “What’s the number?”

When
Suave told her, she scribbled it on the back of the receipt then reached over
and dropped the paper in her sister’s lap.

That
got her a growl.  “What’re you giving it to me for?  You’re the one who needs
to find him and apologize.”

“Hey,
you can do it for me.”  Silken raised her eyebrows.  “You’re the one who’s
insisting that he needs an apology so you can apologize for me.  He won’t know
the difference.”

“No,
I will not apologize for you even if you chewed him out on my behalf.  I’ve
been telling you for years to stop fighting my fights.  Now it’s come back to
bite you.”  Not taking her eyes off the road, she lifted the paper off her
jeans-clad leg and dropped it on Silken’s lap.  “Now suck it up and do what you
have to do.”

Silken
groaned but she didn’t bother to argue.  When Suave got like this, all holy and
righteous, there was no swaying her.  It was just her luck to have such a
goody-goody sister.  Darn.

Heaving
an aggrieved sigh, Silken picked up the paper and slid it into her purse.  Now,
according to the decree of her royal highness, Queen Suave, she would have to
hunt down a man she didn’t even know – except that he had sexy dark eyes and a
chiseled mouth and, yeah, even as she cursed him out she’d had time to notice
all that – and she would have to apologize, even though he probably hated every
bone in her body.  And who could blame him?

Yes,
she would apologize.  It was the right thing to do.  But God knew she was not
looking forward to it.

CHAPTER
TWO

"The
track is almost at completion but we’ll have to rework the stands.  Safety
first, of course.  Don’t want to put any spectators in danger.”

Max
tried hard not to yawn as the contractor droned on in his monotone voice.  It
wasn’t that what he was saying wasn’t important.  It was the way he said it,
his voice giving off a low vibrating buzz like the light back at his old
college library, the same ones that used to lull him to sleep.  They should
hire out this guy to people who had problems falling asleep.  He’d make a mint.

“And
so I’m thinking we could go with wooden stands over plastic.  Warmer on the behind
in the cooler months and cooler in the summer.  And then we could…”

The
man’s voice faded away again and Max found himself back at the sports complex,
caught in probably the most confusing event of his life.  What the hell
happened yesterday?  He’d been running the incident over and over in his mind
and he still couldn’t make head or tail of it.

So
he’d gone to the sports complex to work out.  It was only his third Sunday
afternoon in Cupertino and he wanted to get back into his workout routine.  Big
mistake.  At the café bar he’d gone from sipping mineral water and minding his
own business, to observing a diminutive girl defend herself against a stocky
bully, to getting chewed out by said girl who seemed to have lost all her
marbles in a matter of minutes.

He
still couldn’t fathom how she could have mistaken him for the bully.  They
looked nothing alike.

He
almost shook his head but then he remembered he was supposed to be listening to
the man who was leading the project to build his racetrack just outside of
Cupertino.  He adopted a thoughtful look instead.

But
his thoughts kept going back to that girl, so pleasant and unassuming at first,
then so sharp and fiery, her previously dark eyes tuned amber in the heat of
her impassioned rage.  And her lips, no longer softened by a sweet smile, now
full and pouting, looked all the more tempting…perverted as that might seem. 
As she scolded him…no, flayed him with her words…all he wanted to do was pull
her close and silence her with a kiss.  That is, after throwing her over his
knee and spanking her butt for her impudence.

Now
that was a fetching picture if there ever was one.  Despite his resolve to
display a bland façade the thought had him smiling…even as it had his crotch
tightening. 
Jesus, Max.  Lusting after a perfect stranger, a crazy one at
that? You need a life
.