Page 83 of Absinthe Minded

“The dogs are fine. We have a different problem.” My brother’s voice came through along with music, chatter, and laughter.

“One sec.” I scooted Ella away from the edge and put a throw pillow beside her to keep her in place. Dumb move, but I didn’t plan to go far. “What problem?”

“There are several. One of the guys I put on Maggie was made tonight.”

My stomach lurched. “How and by who?”

“Wayne O’Malley, while he was having anemotionalconversation with Maggie.”

“What the fuck do you mean emotional?” I inhaled and exhaled to the count of five and slid into business mode. I could handle this if I treated it like any other work crisis. This involved an employee, not the woman I planned to marry.

“Your girl was upset. Crying maybe.” He paused and made a sound suspiciously close to a laugh. “Come on, man. You didn’t think I meant they were together-together?”

“Go on.” Some of the tension eased from my shoulders. The situation was bad, but it could have been worse. I wouldn’t end up in prison for killing the cop who put his hands on my woman.

“Wayne told Jessie Maggie was sick, and he was driving her home. They left a couple of minutes ago.”

That son of a bitch. Maybe I’d go to prison after all. “Anything else? Do you know what they discussed?”

“No clue, but earlier tonight she asked me about you taking over the business.” The background noise quieted, but Leo kept his voice down. “What did you tell her about your job description?”

“Not much, but she’s smart.”Smart enough to have a copy of the police records from Joe and Rebecca’s accident. “I’ll handle it.”

“Touch base in the morning.”

I disconnected the call. Depending on where the detective had parked, I figured I had ten, maybe fifteen minutes until Maggie arrived home. If I hustled, I could get a shower. The conversation would be hard enough without me smelling like chocolate-covered dog vomit.

After settling Ella in her crib, I stripped and went into the bathroom.

A car door shut out front. A few seconds later, I heard Maggie greeting Cocoa in the front of the house.

I had two choices slide back into my filthy jeans or have the talk with Maggie naked. I chose option number two.

After five minutes and no sign of her, I regretted my decision.Is she waiting for me to get out?

She came into the bathroom at the exact moment I’d decided to go find her. “Hi. I really need to talk to you.”

“I heard you come in.” I cracked open the shower door and gave her a quick once over. She still wore makeup, so probably not crying. She’d smiled a little, so probably not pissed. Scratch that—she’d changed from her work clothes into a silky bathrobe.Definitelynot pissed.

“Sorry it took me so long. Ryan wanted water. Then I had to wait for him to pee, tuck him in again, and speak to Chloe about her dream about unicorns. This led to a debate on whether they would throw up rainbows or chocolate cake.”

I covered my cringe with a laugh. “I can see your unicorn dream, and raise you talking to a teenaged boy about a girl.”

Maggie dropped the robe, stepped into the shower, and wrapped her arms around me.

My God, she’s gorgeous.I caressed her from her shoulders to her bare ass “You’re naked.”

“I never shower with clothes on. What did Zach say? What girl?”

“He has a crush on a tuba player named Sam. Wanted to know if I thought he should buy her roses for after the band concert.” I tilted her head under the water, grabbed the shampoo, and massaged it into her scalp.

“What did you tell him?”

“I told him to send her flowers at home. That way none of his knucklehead friends would tease him. If she shoots him down, it shouldn’t be in public.”

“Good advice.” She closed her eyes and let the water sluice over her head.

I angled her beneath the spray and rinsed her hair. “Thanks. Now, about you being in my shower…”

---