Chapter Three
Zac waited until the bell over the door jingled before he squeezed Maxie’s leg. “Honey, huh? So how long have we been an item?”
It was a joke, an attempt to ease the tension, but it was the wrong thing to say. She wiggled off his lap like a slick eel, snapping with energy. Before he could catch her, she’d backed halfway across the room. “I’m sorry,” she said in a rush. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”
He swore underneath his breath. There she was again, the skittish mare ready to bolt.
He rubbed his empty palms against his thighs.
He hadn’t meant to add to her anxiety, and he certainly hadn’t wanted to send her running from his arms. She was under enough stress already.
She’d just come face-to-face with a real-life game changer.
“You were thinking that they’re strangers, and you don’t want to be alone with them. I get that.”
She looked to the door where the two women had left and unconsciously touched the birthmark on her shoulder. “I just turned around and there they were. Where did they come from? What do they want from me?”
“Right now, they seem to want to talk.”
She blanched. Even that idea was a bit too much for her.
“I shouldn’t have agreed to dinner.” She took a shaky breath. “And I shouldn’t have obligated you. You really don’t have to come.”
The hell he didn’t. He dropped his foot from the bench to the floor and braced his elbows against his knees. “Why wouldn’t I come?”
“I gave them the impression we were involved. I don’t know why. It just came out.”
“They caught you unaware, and you wanted someone at your side.” He shrugged. “I can do that.”
She rubbed her hands against her dress, and it swayed sexily. Everything about her was sexy. Understated and quiet, but sexy as hell.
“I should have asked you first. The boyfriend thing was—”
“Inspired.” Zac rose to his feet. He couldn’t have planned things better himself.
If she hadn’t invited him, he’d have found another way to put himself at that table.
He didn’t like the idea of her alone against the two of them.
From all appearances, the pretty women could be telling the truth.
Even so, they’d knocked her world off its axis.
He was going to be at her side until she could tell up from down and he could tell scam artist from sister.
If he’d had to do it in the capacity of town sheriff, he would have.
But her way was much, much better.
Pretty dots of pink colored her cheeks, and she pushed her hair over her shoulder. She hadn’t stopped fidgeting since she’d hopped off his lap. If she’d fidgeted like that when she was there, they both could have been embarrassed.
“But it really has nothing to do with you,” she murmured.
Okay, that verged on the edge of pissing him off. “It has everything to do with me. You’re a citizen that I’ve sworn to protect and serve. If these two are trying to con you somehow, it’s best if I’m aware of it from the start.”
She went still. “You think it’s a con?”
“Do you?”
The pink faded from her cheeks. “Yes, but…”
But they looked like her and they moved like her. There were the birthdays, the birthmarks and, apparently, the blood types. He knew what she was thinking; he was thinking the same things himself, only he had the virtue of distance.
“They can’t be telling the truth.” She rubbed the bandage on her finger. “Can they?”
“You tell me.”
She appeared confused and scared and, most of all, alone. But she wasn’t alone. Zac took a deep breath around the knot in his chest.
Thank God he’d suffered through one more crappy cup of coffee.
He could help her with this. She needed answers, and that was one thing he was good at getting.
He knew how to ask the right questions. He’d built his career out of following hidden trails of information.
“Nobody ever said anything to you about being adopted?”
Her head snapped back. “No! Of course not.”
“Your parents died when you were young. It makes sense that they hadn’t told you yet, if that were the case, but what about your grandmother?” He nodded towards the photo on the shelf. “Did she ever say anything that struck you as off?”
“Not that I can remember.”
“What about people around town? Everybody in Indigo Falls seems to know about everyone else’s business. Is there anyone we can ask?”
“I don’t think we always lived here.” She nibbled at her lower lip, drawing him closer. “We moved here from…I don’t know where. It could have been Cobalt City. Oh God, Zac. I mean, Sheriff. What if it’s true?”
“Hey now.” He caught her shoulder. Her skin was warm and velvety, but there was tension underneath. He gave her a comforting squeeze. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Let’s keep it simple and start at the beginning. What about your birth certificate? Do you have a copy of it?”
She wrapped her arms around her waist. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen it, but it must be around here somewhere.”
“Okay, that’s one thing to look for. Are there any other papers you can go through? Any safety deposit boxes or the like?”
“I looked through my grandmother’s things after she died, but I wasn’t searching for anything like this. I was taking care of issues regarding the house, the shop and insurance. The idea of adoption never…” Her hands lifted in a helpless motion.
“It’s all right. You can do that today.” He rubbed her arm. “Do you have someone who can watch over the shop?”
“The shop?”
“It might be better if you took some time off.”
“Right.” She massaged her temple. “Laura might be able to put in a few extra hours.”
“Ask if she can take the whole shift.”
She nodded, her energy focusing. When she picked up the phone, he retrieved the folder. Her gaze went to it like a laser beam. She was afraid of what they might find in there. It was clear on her face.
“Let’s go to your place,” he suggested.
She blinked, her eyes going wide like a deer’s.
“I’m going to do background checks at the station and see if either of your so-called sisters have records.” He lifted the folder as if it were a grenade. “This will help me know where to start and what to double-check, but if you don’t want me to see this information, I’ll understand.”
“No, you can look at it,” she said in a rush. “I want your eyes on it too.”
“Okay. Then it would be best to do it in private.”
Nervous again, she splayed her hands against her thighs. “All right.” She collected her things from her desk but acted lost as she surveyed the room. It might appear the same, but things had changed. “I’m ready,” she whispered.
She didn’t look ready.
Zac’s protective instincts were roaring.
She’d given him her trust, and he didn’t take that lightly.
He waited as she locked up, and his gaze settled on the coffee shop next door.
He’d wanted to get rid of that last hundred feet that had separated them, and now it was gone.
She’d found a way to attach them at the hip, and she’d be hard-pressed to get rid of him until they figured this mystery out.
He touched the small of her back to guide her to his cruiser. As far as assignments went, it was the best undercover roll he’d ever been given. It would allow him to get close to her, to talk with her and touch her. Protect her.
Boyfriend, he could definitely pull off.
Maxie was adrift. The only reason she ever left her shop this early was to make deliveries, but there were no flowers in her hands, and they felt empty. She curled her fingers around the strap of her purse for something to hold on to.
She’d held on to the sheriff enough for one day, but his hand was warm against her lower back. Warm and steady and male.
She concentrated on the steadiness because it was the one emotion out of millions that she wasn’t feeling. Two sisters? Identical? Her family wasn’t hers? Too much was coming at her too fast, and none of it she wanted to hear.
“Let me get that for you,” Sheriff Ford said as he opened the door of his police car.
This was not how she’d pictured riding off into the sunset with him, but she got into the cruiser anyway. He got in next to her, and the space seemed to shrink.
Inside her head, Maxie understood that, physically, she’d been closer to him.
She’d lain unconscious in his lap for longer than she knew, but she was alert and back to herself now—and more self-conscious and aware of him than ever.
His shoulders were so wide his arm nearly brushed against hers as he reached for the microphone on the console.
“Dispatch, this is Unit 64.”
“Unit 64, go ahead.”
“If you need me, I’ll be at 218 Wilshire.”
“Affirmed, 64.”
She looked at him in surprise. “You know my address?”
The corners of his mouth curled upwards. “It’s a small town.”
Yes, but not that small. She couldn’t spout off any of her friend’s addresses. She tangled her thumb in the metal loop on her purse. It must be a cop thing.
They pulled away from the curb, and she realized that patrons at Java Mama’s were watching the cruiser raptly.
Her face flared. Oh God. What must they think with her being driven away like this?
Too late to explain—or even try—she wiggled her fingers weakly at Becky, who was serving coffee to the outside tables.
The happy blonde looked stunned and more than ready to gossip.
“They’ll find out what happened soon enough,” Zac said dryly.
Maxie glanced his way. But would she? Would any of this ever make sense?
She wasn’t one to create waves. Look at what had happened the one time she’d tried to make a little splash. Flummoxed, she adjusted her purse on her lap. The folder. She realized she didn’t have it. Abruptly, she straightened.
“Right here.” He tapped the dash.
She sagged back in her seat. That innocuous folder might or might not hold information that was going to change everything. She was afraid to open it. Like the funhouse she couldn’t seem to escape today, she was afraid of what might spring out at her.