Page 8 of Last Resort

“Three hundred.”

Maci sighed but was once again grateful she’d gotten her life together. Three hundred dollars was a lot, but Maci had made sure she had money in savings and enough in her checking to cover three months of bills if she needed.

There had been way too long when she had absolutely nothing.

“How’s Pop?”

Evelyn waved one bony hand. “Same old, same old.”

Hugo Ford’s drug of choice was alcohol. The last time Maci had seen him had been the week after she turned eighteen. He’d thrown her out of the house in a booze-filled rage, and she’d never returned. Still, she’d never been able to put him out of her mind. It was exhausting constantly worrying about people who didn’t care about themselves or her.

The rumbling sound of a familiar engine pushed Maci into action. She thrust her hand into her purse and pulled out her wallet, quickly counting out as much cash as she had. Maci held out the stack of bills, but didn’t let go when Evelyn grabbed it. “This is all I have, Mom. You’re wiping me out.”

“Yeah, yeah. I know. This is the last time.”

Maci didn’t believe that even for a second. She let go of the money as Evelyn nodded then tucked the bills in her pocket and her hair behind her ear. Then without a word she was gone.

No hug, no thanks. It should hurt, but all Maci felt was relief that she was gone.

“Who was that?”

Everything in her body responded to the deep timbre of Chance Patterson’s voice. She’d been helpless against it from the very first day.

She spun, just as affected by his appearance. All long legs and broad shoulders, as if he could easily carry the weight of the world—and Maci knew for a fact he tried regularly to do. His face was too rough to be traditionally handsome—jaw and cheekbones hard and unforgiving.

The only thing soft about him were his eyes. Brown, but not a traditional brown—a lighter color, more of a molten honey.

She knew full well how those eyes could pin someone. Make them feel like they were the only person in the world when Chance’s attention was on them.

“Who was that?” he asked again.

“Good morning to you too,” she said, straightening her purse strap on her shoulder. There was no way she was going to explain the situation with her mother to him.

Those honey eyes narrowed. “Was that lady bothering you?”

She shook her head and started walking toward the office door. “No. Just wanted to know where she could buy tampons.”

Chance had three brothers and no sisters. Maci was betting on the fact that the wordtamponwould shut him up.

It worked. He let it go, walking with her toward the office.

“The Nicholas LeBlanc case might get messy,” Chance said. “Let one of us know if anything is happening out of the norm.”

She had no idea why he would think the LeBlanc case would affect her, but she nodded. She didn’t want to start the morning with a fight.

Chance unlocked the door and held it open for her. She walked through, heading toward her desk in the lobby.

“Maci,” he said and she stopped, turning to him.

Those eyes pinned her for a long moment. She wanted to be unaffected but knew that was the opposite from the truth.

“Yes?” she finally asked when he didn’t say anything else.

He still kept looking at her.

I’ve been waiting for this all day.

This morning’s dream came crashing back into her mind, as well as the heat that went along with it.

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