Trouble Walks In (5 page)

Nothing.

He stopped for a moment and looked around at the open, unfettered space.

No
living
happened in this apartment.

He turned slowly and leaned both hands on the island that divided the kitchen from the rest of the space. Maddy was lying back on the couch with her eyes closed and gently stroking Bowser's head.

That's when it hit him.

Maddy wasn't living in this city; she was hiding. Hiding from her grief over losing Rick and doing a damn good job of avoiding any kind of future. What better place to try to disappear? Other than him, no one here really knew her, and it was probably easy for her to simply exist, rather than live.

But that wasn't going to continue—not if he had anything to say about it.

Right then and there, Ronan made a vow. Maddy McGuire was going to start living again. She was too beautiful, vibrant, and smart to hide herself away from the world, and he sure as hell wasn't going to let her hide from him.

With his determination in place and a plan brewing, he grabbed some paper towels and a bag of frozen peas from the freezer. He couldn't help but notice that the only other item in there was a quart of Breyers mint chocolate-chip ice cream. Ronan smiled.

That was his favorite too.

He closed the freezer door and headed back into the living room.

“Okay, Bowser.” Ronan shooed the dog out of the way. “Move it or lose it, man. I have business to attend to.”

Bowser rose to his feet and shot Ronan a look of disapproval before trotting over to the front door and lying down. His partner may have been a dog, but he was still a cop. When all else failed, the bloodhound would park himself by the door. The strategic and protective move was never lost on Ronan and often made him wonder if his partner had been human in another life.

“He didn't look too happy with you.” Maddy chuckled and adjusted her position on the couch. “
Someone
doesn't like being bossed around.”

“Yeah?” Ronan knelt by the couch and slipped his hand beneath her bare ankle. “Well, that's something the two of you have in common.”

“Very funny.” Maddy folded her hands on her stomach. Her brows lifted when she saw the bag of peas in his hand. “You found those in my icebox?”

“Yup. It was either this or the ice cream, but the mint chip could get messy.”

A smile tugged at his lips at the mental image of licking ice cream off her naked body.

“What are you grinning at?” She leveled a narrow-eyed gaze in his direction.

“Nothing I care to share…yet.” He was in big trouble. “This is gonna be cold.”

He gently placed the paper-towel-wrapped bag over her ankle, and a rush of air hissed through her lips when the makeshift ice pack made contact with her bare skin. She grabbed the cushions on either side of her and scooted back a bit. Ronan gripped her calf gently but firmly and shook his head slowly while holding the bag of peas in place.

“Ah-ah-ah,” he sang. “Hold still. You know, if I hadn't become a cop, I probably would have been a doctor. Playing doctor was always one of my favorite games.”

“Right.” Maddy laughed and rolled her eyes. “So tell me, McGuire, what made you become a K-9 officer?”

“Because I get it.” Ronan avoided her probing stare and adjusted the ice pack. “I know what it's like to be lost.”

“You mean literally or figuratively?”

Ronan paused before answering her question and sat back on his heels as he studied her. He'd never told anyone why he'd chosen this job. His family knew, but no one else did. Not his captain or the guys he'd been with in the academy. It seemed too personal, and sharing it made him feel exposed somehow, or vulnerable. But staring into Maddy's big, blue eyes, Ronan knew he could share the story with her.

“My family was camping in the Adirondack Mountains when I was four. I woke up in the middle of the night and had to go to the bathroom. Gavin had been razzing me about being a scaredy-cat, so I didn't wake anyone up and went by myself. It was dark. I mean, like pitch-black. I thought I'd be able to go quickly and find my way back. I was wrong.”

“You got lost in the mountains?” The concern in her voice hit him like a kick in the gut, but when he turned his gaze to hers, the throb swelled to a burn. “Oh my God.”

“I don't remember much,” he said quietly. “It was dark and cold. Damn cold. I remember being terrified. The world had always been safe, you know? My family. Old Brookfield. It was a bubble. But when I got lost that night, the bubble burst and the big, wide world came crashing in. It was the first time I realized how small I was—how small we all are.”

“Ronan, that must have been awful,” Maddy whispered, her eyes searching his. “Your poor parents!”

“Yeah, from what I'm told, Mom was freakin' out, and my dad was ready to call in the National Guard.”

“What happened?”

“A park ranger found me. He and his partner, an enormous German shepherd named Daisy Mae. Anyway, one of the things I do remember is Ranger Dave and Daisy Mae coming around a big pine tree. And ice cream.” He grinned as the laughter bubbled up. “I got to have ice cream for breakfast for a week. Gavin was so pissed!”

“Now it all makes sense,” Maddy said softly. “Why you do what you do.”

He held her stare, and something in his chest squeezed. It was like the woman could see right through him to the core of who he was.
What the hell?
Ronan swallowed the lump in this throat and looked away.

“If you don't behave and stay off this ankle, you won't get your ice cream. As fate would have it, you just happen to have my favorite flavor, and I might go in there and eat it all up.”

“Lots of people like mint chip,” Maddy said quickly. “Besides, you're not the boss of me. It's my life, Officer McGuire, and I'll have ice cream for dinner if I want to. So there.”

“Your life, huh?” Ronan arched one eyebrow and loosened his hold on her calf, lightly trailing his fingers over the exposed flesh. “If you ask me, you haven't been doing much living since you moved here.”

“What are you talking about?” Maddy stilled, and her cheeks turned pink.

“This apartment is more like a showroom than a home.” Ronan adjusted the bag of peas and leaned his elbows on the edge of the couch. He shrugged. “It looks like you're never here, but I know that's not true. If you aren't working or out jogging with me on a Saturday morning, you're holed up in here like a hermit. You've been here for over a year, but this place barely looks lived in.”

“Hey!” That feisty spirit was back, and fire burned in those blue eyes. “I am
not
a hermit. I am the top-performing real estate agent in the most successful real estate agency in this city despite having to deal with a staff of people who sometimes act more like children than functioning adults. Take last night, for example. I was supposed to be training one of our newest hires on how to run an open house, and the little blond dingbat never showed. No text. No phone call. Nothing. I have a full plate, McGuire.”

Ronan stilled. Blond? The girl they had found in the park this morning was blond. She had no ID on her, but she was likely in her early to midtwenties, and based on the clothing she had left on her body, she was corporate. Not a pro or party girl, but a woman who had been at work or planning to go to work.

A knot of dread curled in his gut. The detectives had said the crime scene looked eerily similar to Lucille Bowman's. He must have been looking at Maddy funny because she had stopped talking and was staring at him with a puzzled expression.

“Hello?” She snapped her fingers in front of his face. “Are you listening to me? If you're going to insult me, the least you could do is let me rant at you a little.”

“I'm sorry.” Ronan shook his head. “I was thinking about work.”

Damn it. He'd deliberately been avoiding any discussion of the woman in the park, but the topic was the undeniable elephant in the room. Silence settled between them, and Maddy folded her arms. Ronan let out a frustrated breath and looked past her to Bowser who was oblivious to it all, having fallen asleep on the floor in front of the door.

So much for guard-dog duty.

“Is that why you're giving me a hard time about
living
? Because of the girl in the park?” Maddy's voice shook. “Because don't think for
one second
that I don't know how fragile life is, okay? Believe me, I know. Life can change in an instant. One minute everything is normal and you're arguing about what to watch on television or what to make for breakfast in the morning…and the next…”

When he turned his attention back to Maddy and saw one tear fall down her cheek, he cursed under his breath. Without thinking about it, Ronan reached out and cradled her face with one hand, then swiped the tear away. Her eyes were closed, a fan of dark lashes resting on fair skin beneath them, and those full pink lips quivered.

“Ah, Maddy,” Ronan whispered. He pressed a kiss to her forehead. His voice was gruff and strained, full of emotions he didn't quite have a name for yet. “I'm sorry. Look, sometimes I can be an insensitive asshole. Chalk it up to growing up in a house full of boys. But I'm worried about you. It's like you're hiding from the whole world…but please, don't hide from me.”

When Maddy didn't open her eyes, Ronan settled his forehead against hers. She sucked in a shuddering breath and curled her hands around his wrists. For a second he thought she was going to push him away, but she didn't; she held him closer instead. He wasn't sure how long they stayed that way, nose to nose, heart to heart. No words were spoken, and yet he felt more connected to her than to anyone else in recent memory.

He flicked his tongue over his suddenly dry lips before brushing them over hers. A breathy sigh mingled with a needy whimper escaped her luscious mouth and the sound drove him wild. But Ronan fought for restraint. The last thing he wanted to do was scare her off.

Her lips reminded him of plums, soft and sweet, and he reveled in the sensation as they melded with his. Maddy tangled her fingers in his hair, and he groaned when her tongue sought entrance, pushing into his mouth gently but eagerly. Ronan tilted her head, taking control of the kiss, and dove deep. She sat up and he moved with her, wanting to savor every bit of contact while still being mindful of her ankle.

Maddy sighed into his mouth as her hands slipped beneath his jacket and shirt. When her fingers splayed over the flesh of his lower back and dipped beneath the band of his running pants, all of the blood rushed from his head to other parts of his anatomy. His body started screaming for more—more of her touch, more of her taste—but his brain told him to slow the hell down. Emotions were running high for both of them. If they took this too far too fast, whatever this
thing
was between them could get snuffed out before they had a chance to explore it.

She was vulnerable, so taking it any further right now would be a shitty move. Ronan broke the kiss and pulled back, her face cradled between his hands. Her heavily lidded eyes were glazed with the unmistakable air of lust, and her lips were swollen from his kisses. Maddy tried to kiss him again, but he held her mouth a mere inch from his.

Her brow furrowed and confusion flickered across her face.

“What's wrong?” she said through heavy breaths. “I thought this was what you wanted.”

“It is,” he rasped. “But I don't think—”

The shrill ring of the cell phone in her pocket cut him off. Even if it hadn't, the annoyed look in Maddy's eyes would have put an end to things. She let out a curt laugh and removed the phone from her jacket before pulling away from him.

“You surprise me, McGuire. I never thought that you, the big stud I've heard about all these years, wouldn't close the deal.” She pressed her phone to her ear and leaned against the cushions. “Maddy Morgan speaking. How can I help you?”

Ronan rocked onto his heels before rising to his feet. She avoided looking at him, but he couldn't miss the irritated expression on her face. Great. He was screwing things up at every turn.

He ran both of his hands over his face and strode to the windows while Maddy took her call. Something about an appointment tomorrow and scheduling or rescheduling. The woman even worked on Sundays. Did she ever stop and breathe, or even take a moment to enjoy in the view from her own apartment? He pulled aside the drapes with one hand and looked out. The city was beautiful from up here. The windows overlooked the West Side and gave a partial view of Central Park.

Yup. It was easy as hell for her to hide up here, and why wouldn't she? Had anyone tried to stop her? Ronan glanced over his shoulder at her. The flush from their encounter still lingered on her cheeks, and in that moment, he decided enough was enough. She'd had the opportunity to grieve and regroup—plenty of it—but it was time to change things up.

When Maddy ended her call, silence filled the spacious apartment, and neither of them moved or said anything for a couple of minutes. The air was swollen with unspoken apologies and all the reasons why they shouldn't do what they had been doing.

“The wedding is coming up soon,” Maddy said quietly. “I'm leaving for Old Brookfield about a week before, so I can help Jordan with the maid-of-honor stuff. And all that.”

“Right.” Ronan let the curtain drop, settled his hands on his hips, and nodded but didn't turn around. “Me too. Best man.” He glanced over his shoulder at her and smiled. “And all that.”

They locked gazes, and to his great relief, they both burst into laughter at the same moment. The tension between them eased, slowly and steadily but not completely.

“I'm sorry,” Maddy said, her laughter fading. “This is…awkward. I'm not good at this. I never was and, well, I'm out of practice.”