Page 7 of Jack of Hearts
Madison didn’t doubt she’d try. When Lauren Montgomery made up her mind, get out of her way. But Alex was Madison’s secret, one she had no intention of sharing. Hemingway chose that moment to blink open his silvery-blue eyes. He stuck one front paw in the air in a halfhearted stretch as he yawned.
“I’ll feed him,” she said. “Go get started, and I’ll be down in a minute.” It would give her a little time to get her wayward mind back on track, purge it of a black-haired, black-eyed best dream kisser in the world.
Lauren gave Hemingway the stink eye. “I told you at the shelter that there was something wonky about that cat. Butnooo, you just had to pick this one.”
Alone with Hemingway, Madison mixed some tuna into the dried cat food. “Here you go,” she said, setting the bowl on the floor. “Just the way you like it.”
Hemingway was such a silly cat, and she couldn’t help but smile. She never tired of watching him eat. He dropped his belly to the floor, spread out all four legs, and buried his face in the food, making a weird humming noise as he ate.
“You’re the laziest cat in the world,” she told him. As always, he fell asleep halfway through eating, his neck arched over the bowl, his chin resting atop his meal. He would awaken after twenty or thirty minutes, finish eating, then saunter downstairs. His favorite napping place was in the front window, where they had set up a little bed for him, one that was surrounded by a charming display of books, which Lauren had arranged.
“She loves you, you know,” Madison told the cat. She just refused to admit it.
Hemingway snored on, not caring who liked him or didn’t. Madison smiled, giving him a loving stroke down his back before heading downstairs to join her bookstore partner. Satisfied that she’d banished the Dream Kisser, she worked alongside Lauren, getting High Tea and Black Cat Books ready to open. Her nerves hummed with excitement. They’d done it. They had made their dream come true. Who cared if a man with smoldering black eyes never kissed her?
Later that afternoon, Madison stood next to Lauren, their arms linked, as they surveyed their shop. The tall ceiling and the crown moldings, original to the old building, were just plain awesome. The cashier’s counter—the front painted by an artist friend of Lauren’s to look like shelves of old books—was the coolest thing Madison had ever seen. She especially loved the display of art deco books they’d set up near the cash register, and she was certain they would sell well to tourists wanting to take home a souvenir that would remind them of South Beach.
The real wood bookshelves they’d splurged on, the groupings of comfortable seating spread around, the rich aroma of coffee filling the air ... Madison loved all of it. South Beach was famous for its art deco buildings, and the front of theirs was painted in the pastels popular in the 1930s when their store was originally built as a hotel. It had since been divided into four shops, and she’d pinched herself many times to make sure she wasn’t dreaming.
Elation buzzed through her veins, and she couldn’t wait until they opened the doors for the first time so she could watch the expressions on their customers’ faces as they got their first look inside High Tea and Black Cat Books.
Although she would love to sit and admire what they had accomplished, she had just enough time to shower and dress before meeting her cousin. Ramon hadn’t always been a creep, but the boy she’d once liked before he’d grabbed her breasts at her fifteenth birthday party had grown into a man she could barely tolerate. If not for her mother, she would have cut all ties with her uncle’s family.
Then there was Uncle Jose’s loan, which Madison regretted taking the first time Ramon had hinted that she now owed him a favor. What that favor was, she didn’t know, but having it hanging over her head made her physically ill whenever she thought about it, so she tried not to. If she hadn’t already invested the money in the bookstore, she would have given it back. She should have found another way to come up with her share instead of accepting anything that would tie her to her uncle and cousin.
Already, Ramon was using the threat of closing down the bookstore whenever she balked at being at his beck and call. If it weren’t for Lauren, she would say the hell with it and let him. Probably. The thought of losing what she and Lauren had created made her want to find a paper bag and breathe into it. Why did Ramon have to be such a jerk?
It was tempting to put on a pair of sweatpants and an oversized T-shirt since she knew that would annoy her cousin, but Alex would be there, and she couldn’t bring herself to show up looking like a slob. As she flipped through the clothes in her closet, she spied a white dress with splashes of color, as if a mad artist had taken a paintbrush and gone wild. She’d seen the dress in a store window a few weeks before and had to have it.
Madison loved color, something she recognized as a bit of rebellion against her mother trying to dress her in bland colors as a child because of her red hair. As an adult, Madison refused to own anything beige, black, or white. After a shower, she slipped on the dress, loving how the full skirt swirled around her knees. The bodice wasn’t low-cut, which was a plus because Ramon wouldn’t be staring at her boobs all night. For shoes, she chose a pair of strappy red sandals with low heels.
After one last check in the mirror, she decided she’d do, and hoped Alex’s date didn’t make her wish she’d opted for something sexier.
CHAPTER THREE
Alex opened the door of the taxi, and when Taylor Collins stepped out, he gave a low whistle, while patting his chest. “Be still my heart.” The black dress clung to her in all the right places, and the do-me black heels drew his eyes right to her long legs.
The tall blonde leaned back and eyed him from head to toe. “You clean up nice yourself, Alex. I’m trying to remember if I’ve seen you in anything but black leathers.” She tapped a finger against red-glossed lips. “There was that one time at Rand’s bachelor party. If memory serves right, you ended the night wearing a grass skirt and nothing else.”
“Now, now, Taylor. You promised never to mention that.” The only female in their field office, she had somehow managed to get them to think of her as just one of the guys. She had certainly been the only woman at the party and had been as rowdy as the rest of them. On the job, though, she was all business and sharp as a tack. If he had to pick someone to back him up in a dangerous situation, other than his brothers, she would be high on his list.
She laughed. “I lied.”
“Of course you did. Nate said he briefed you about tonight. Any questions?”
“Only one. Do you want me to pay more attention to you or to our bad guy?”
It was a good question, and one he hadn’t considered. “We’ll play it by ear. Ramon will be with his cousin, and he has an unnatural attraction to her.” He held open the door, following her into the Flamingo Bar. “We’re headed up to the rooftop,” he told the hostess.
“Does she return these unnatural tendencies?” Taylor asked when they entered the elevator.
“No. I don’t know the family’s dynamics other than her mother and Ramon’s father are twins. From what I’ve gathered, Madison’s mother puts pressure on Madison to spend time with her cousin. I think there’s more to it, but what that is, I don’t know.” Yet. But he was sure going to find out.
“So if he gets too familiar with her ... that’s disgusting by the way, maybe I should try to divert his attention?”
“I think she would appreciate that.” The assessing look Taylor gave him made him uncomfortable, but he kept his face blank.
When they reached the rooftop, he scanned the area and, locating Ramon and Madison, he said, “There’s our target, along the rail, third table from the left.”
