A small crease furrowed Maggie's brow. She opened her mouth to speak but then closed it. She waited a moment, shifted her weight.

"You're bulls.h.i.tting me."

"No, I'm not. Of course, if he'd have just come with us nice and easy-like, I'm sure it wouldn't have gotten so complicated. As it was, Jake used his powers of persuasion, and it was a piece of cake."

"Powers of persuasion."

Cain nodded. "Bolt cutters, to be exact." He sighed, a long exaggerated noise. "Eventually the law caught up to us, or rather Jesse. Two detectives showed up at the Edwardses' door and he led them to where we'd buried him." Cain grimaced. "Jesse was willing to take the fall for the rest of us, but we couldn't let that happen, especially since it was really Jake's idea. So we all came forward."

Maggie looked confused and then slightly horrified. He had her.

"It wasn't pretty, and the story made headlines in all the local papers. We were legends." He grinned. "They called us 'the Hamburglars' in Indiana."

"What?" Her tone was slightly p.i.s.sed off and nearing more than a little annoyed.

"Yep, we buried Ronald McDonald out by Varini's garbage dump, but he looked pretty d.a.m.n good when we dug him up, considering he'd been buried beneath a bunch of c.r.a.p for eleven months."

"You stole a Ronald McDonald and buried him for eleven months."

"It was a high school prank, and sure we got into a lot of trouble, but it was worth it. h.e.l.l, they still talk about it." He laughed. "The d.a.m.n thing was so big, it's head and feet stuck out the windows of Jake's Civic all the way home. Can you imagine? Those big honking feet? That goofy smile?"

"Really?" she said drily, and he knew she was trying her hardest not to laugh. "Sounds like a blast, but you have a record, so I don't think it was that smart."

He shook his head. "Nope. I'm no criminal. The charges were thrown out and the arrests expunged from our records, so you don't have to worry I'll be a bad influence on Michael."

His hand closed around her wrist, and her energy tingled along his flesh. It was a connection unlike any he'd had before, and the thought of exploring it was like a physical ache. "So, you coming?"

Maggie muttered something under her breath. He couldn't quite catch it, but thought he heard the words arrogant and b.a.s.t.a.r.d and maybe dumba.s.s.

She did however follow him from the office.

"I have to finish up your mom's kitchen." They'd just cleared the stairs and stood in the foyer of the house. Sunlight filtered into the large open s.p.a.ce from the floor-to-ceiling windows on either side of the door, and it haloed Maggie in a wash of light that took his breath away. Her hair was on fire, her skin luminous.

Maggie tapped her toe and nodded toward the kitchen. "I'm not done here, and honestly, I'll be a while, so tonight is probably not good."

"I'll help you."

"No!" She shook her head and moved away from him. "No." She swore loudly several times and this time made no effort to mute her words. No longer annoyed, she was angry.

"I don't need your help. I'm a maid, Cain. I clean houses to pay my bills. I clean your mother's toilets, and I scrub her floors. I clean half of Crystal Lake, for G.o.d sake. That is what I do." She threw her hands up in the air and took a few steps away from him. Her chest heaved and her cheeks were flushed with heat.

He had no idea why she was getting so worked up, but he sure as h.e.l.l liked it. She was s.e.xy when she was mad.

She turned, and he was surprised at the unshed tears that hovered behind her eyes. "I'm not a model or a movie star or a groupie or... I'm none of those things, Cain. I'm a maid and a mom, and I don't get what this is. What you want." She exhaled, and his insides twisted and melted at the look on her face. "What is this, Cain? What do you expect to happen between us?"

He knew she was confused. h.e.l.l, so was he.

"I don't know," he answered truthfully. "But I think it could be something special and real. In my world, special doesn't come around a whole h.e.l.l of a lot. It's hidden beneath layers of greed or ambition. So when it does..." His thoughts turned to Jesse and Raine and all that they'd lost. "When it does, you need to grab hold of it, or you're a fool."

Cain walked past her. "I'm helping you clean this kitchen, and then I'm going to drive you home. You're going to sit outside with a gla.s.s of wine and relax while Michael and I prepare supper." He glanced over his shoulder and grinned. "That's what this is, right now, at this moment."

"That was cool, and good thing Mommy decided to stay on the deck, 'cause all those slimy dead fish would have totally grossed her out."

Cain laughed. "Well, good to see you've got the stomach to be a fisherman." He winked. "And next time I take you out, I promise I'll teach you how to clean them."

Maggie's voice slid between them. "Michael, make sure you use lots of soap and scrub beneath your fingernails, please."

The kid looked up at him, eyes wide. "See? She sees everything."

Cain grinned and glanced back at Maggie. She sat in a chair on the deck, and as promised, a gla.s.s of wine had been provided. Cain had brought all the fixings, salad, and potatoes. Of course, the salad had been premade at the grocer, and the potatoes were in fact a container of store-bought potato salad, but h.e.l.l, it would do.

Michael scurried off to wash his hands, and he followed suit. The fish had been cleaned and were ready to go on the grill.

"I made a lemon sauce for the fish." Maggie handed him a cold beer and reached for her gla.s.s of wine. "It's in the small container by the barbecue along with foil and tongs."

"Thanks, lady." He winked, loved the flush that stained her cheeks, and headed toward the barbecue.

Maggie's yard was a small oasis that was a perfect example of "size doesn't matter." It was a s.p.a.ce meant to hang out and relax in. A large oak tree provided shade to nearly a third of the s.p.a.ce, and there was an oriental waterfall in the corner that provided a Zen-like touch. The honeysuckle that crept along the back wall was fragrant, the scent hanging heavy in the warm June air. A small vegetable garden was tucked away in the far corner of the yard, and colorful flower beds overrun by petunias and geraniums crept along the foundation of the house.

It was pretty much paradise as far as he was concerned, and Cain hummed to himself as Michael helped prepare the fish. They arranged the fillets neatly on the foil, doused them liberally with the marinade that Maggie had provided, and covered them so they'd cook.

It felt good to do this. To do something for someone else. For too long he'd been on his own, and for the first time he realized that the few years spent with Natasha had never brought out this need in him. The need to put someone else first.

Being back here in Crystal Lake was about as far away from the life he'd built as he could get. But he was okay with that. In fact, he was beginning to suspect he needed a shot of something real in order to survive the future.

He took a long drink from the cold beer in his hand and glanced back at Maggie. She was someone he wanted to worry about. Someone he wanted to do things for.

"This smells so good, it's making my tummy rumble." Michael laughed and rubbed his belly. Every single piece of anxiety that lived in Cain had left him. As if a leak had sprung inside his body, he was light and stress-free.

He felt like a d.a.m.n king.

"Sure does buddy, and it's gonna taste even better than it smells."

The boy's forehead creased into a frown. "Is it because we caught it? So it's fresh? Cause I never smelled anything this yummy."

He ruffled the top of Michael's head. "This is gonna be the best fish you've ever had, and it's because you worked for it. Anything worth having in life has to be earned."

Michael nodded, and his little face screwed into a frown as he kicked at the ground. "Miss Lauren is your mom, right?"

That was a 360-degree change in conversation. Cain nodded. "Sure is."

Michael glanced up, eyes wide, mouth set in a serious line. "Where's your dad?"

He stared down at the boy. Good question.

"I don't know, Michael." Cain busied himself with the fish, rearranging the fillets in the foil before covering them again. They were almost ready. "My dad left when I was a little guy barely five years old and never came back. He could be anywhere, I suppose." Or dead.

"Oh." Michael shoved his hands into his pockets and kicked at the ground once more. "We're the same, then."

"Yeah?"

Michael shook his head and glanced toward his mother. "I don't have a dad anymore either."

Cain didn't know what to say. The tone of their conversation had changed, and no longer were they two guys grilling some fish. Michael was sharing something pretty d.a.m.n heavy. It was shadowed in his eyes and evidenced by the rigid set of his small shoulders.

Cain was curious. He'd a.s.sumed Maggie was divorced, a single mom. He hadn't considered the possibility that she was a widow.

He knew nothing about Maggie or where she came from. Nothing about the man she'd had a child with. He pursed his lips and took another swig of beer. Something hot flashed through him, a sliver of jealousy he had no right to feel.

But it was there nonetheless. He didn't like the fact that another man had tasted her, had held her, and created life with her.

What the h.e.l.l was up with that?

"You guys ready yet? I've got the table set." Her voice startled them both, and a frown slid over her face. Maggie had crept up on them and stood a few inches from her son, but her focus was on Cain. "What's going on? Am I interrupting?"

Michael shook his head but didn't answer.

Cain put his hand on the boy's shoulder, flashed a smile at his mother. "We're good, and your boy's hungry, so..."

They ate on Maggie's small deck. There was just enough room at the table for the three of them. The fish was tender and tasty, as were the sides. It was cozy, intimate, and the bottle of wine went down smooth as silk.

The sun set in a blaze of reds, oranges, and gold. Cain settled back and enjoyed the view. He'd seen the same sun set hundreds of times and had never given it another thought. But tonight, here with Maggie and her son, he thought that it was pretty much perfect.

Chapter 13.

"You've got a weird look on your face. Is everything all right?"

Maggie busied herself with the small stickers she held and ignored Raine's question.

"Or does the weird look have anything to do with the fact that you and Cain spent the night together."

"We didn't..." Maggie began and shot her a dark look. "We did not spend the night together."

"Whatever," Raine teased as she followed behind and priced the goods Maggie had stickered. The two of them had volunteered to help out with a ma.s.sive garage sale organized by the football team. It was one of several money drives that were in place in order to raise funds for the new stadium that had been proposed for the local high school. It was being held along the banks of the river that ran through town, and at the moment the entire area resembled a country fair, with booths set up and displays everywhere.

The event had been organized weeks earlier, and Maggie was happy not only that Raine had come out to partic.i.p.ate, but that her mood was light.

"That's not what I heard."

Actually, Maggie could do without the teasing.

"Well I don't know what you heard, but whatever it was is wrong. Cain and I had dinner together, but that's it." She made a face. "And how could you hear anything anyway? It's been less than eight hours since I saw him."

"Lady, you don't understand the network that exists in this town. Someone sees something and tells someone else, and then next thing you know it's on the front page of the Lake Herald." At Maggie's look of panic, Raine giggled. "Well, maybe not the front page."

Raine held up a large velvet painting of a half-naked woman lounging underneath a tree on an equally gaudy chaise. She made a face. "My G.o.d, this is like a bad version of Rose's portrait in t.i.tanic." She giggled. "Free?" She wrote something on the sticker and moved on to the next item. "So you did spend the night with Cain."

Maggie bit her lip. Stay in your good place.

She flipped a braid behind her shoulder and bent over to place a sticker on a box of stuffed animals. They were near the north end, not far from the dam, two of a slew of volunteers. Though it was just past six in the morning, the air was already sticky. It was going to be a hot, humid day.

"We had dinner at my house. That's it."

"All right, I believe you, but I just thought you should know what the rest of Crystal Lake thinks."

"Maggie!"

She glanced up as Lori Jonesberg jogged toward them.

"Here she comes! Quick, run while you still can!" Raine whispered, and then busied herself with a stack of books.

Lori was an attractive brunette-for the moment. As owner of A Cut Above, the local salon, her hair color changed frequently. She was a few years older than Maggie, and her family had lived in Crystal Lake for generations. Her husband was the fire chief, her children the local sports superstars, and she herself was like a tornado in human form.

Maggie groaned as she straightened and pasted a smile to her mouth that she so did not feel.

Lori paused in front of them, her face split wide in a grin. "My G.o.d, girl, you need to spill. I heard you and Cain Black are an item?"

Maggie glanced at Raine, who smiled wickedly and turned back to whatever it was she was pricing.

Lori's salon was the hub of Crystal Lake, and she was very much the queen bee. It was gossip central. If you wanted to know who was sleeping with whom or who was having money problems or whose so and so had pa.s.sed, you made an appointment for a haircut. Guaranteed, you'd leave the salon with lighter pockets, but your head would be filled with all the latest news.

Maggie smoothed her tank top and pretended to pick some lint from her shorts. Anything to avoid the probing brown eyes that stared at her with rabid glee.

It was pretty bad that Lori already had the scoop and her salon hadn't even opened for business yet. Too bad her information was wrong.

"Lori," Maggie said carefully, "I don't know what you heard, but-"

"Oh my G.o.d, Maggie. It's all right. Snagging someone like Cain isn't anything to be ashamed of. Lord knows you've been a nun since you arrived in our little town. No one can blame you for wanting a little of what he's got going on." The woman winked as if they were sharing a secret or a confidence that she was privy to.

"Lori, you're wrong about this!" Panic nipped at her heels. She didn't want the entire town thinking she was having s.e.x with Cain Black. "We just had dinner, nothing more. He took Michael out on the boat, and we ate the fish they caught. That's it." Exasperation colored Maggie's voice a deep husky tone, but as a flashback of Cain kissing her-her legs wrapped around his midsection, her body pressed against his-flashed before her, a blush settled onto her cheeks, and that was something she couldn't hide.

"Sure, hon." The woman winked. "The thing is, Cain Black doesn't just do dinner, if you know what I mean." She shrugged. "I wouldn't worry about it. I mean, the worst people can say is, you're using your son to snag one of the Bad Boys. Kudos for picking the s.e.xiest one."

Maggie was speechless.

It was at that exact moment Cain arrived with Jake and Mac in tow. When she saw Mackenzie, all thoughts of Lori and her outrageous comments fled.

Mac's face was a mottled mess of cuts and bruises, and his right eye was swollen and black. She thought of Cain's words, of the "family trouble" that had called him away Wednesday night, and her heart softened. Maggie knew what it was to bear the brunt of someone's perverted version of love.