Turbulent Desires(32)

"Yum! I haven't had pancakes since before the baby was born. It's either  quick meals or no meals. Coop keeps trying to get me to hire a cook,  but I just don't want some strange woman invading my kitchen. I did  agree to the maid, though. I'm way too tired with the jewelry shop,  baby, and husband to scrub toilets," she said with a laugh.

"You could always do one of those meal plans where a chef makes all your  meals for the week in one day and then all you have to do is pull them  out and heat them," Mav suggested.

Stormy looked at him like he was a pure genius. "You are my favorite  brother-in-law," she said with a sassy smile. "As soon as I have my new  awesome cook, I'm inviting you over for dinner. Well, that is if I can  get you out of my best friend's bed long enough to come eat with us."

He laughed, and Lindsey's face turned beet red.

Maverick placed a plate of food in front of Stormy and then cradled  Aaron to him with his good arm so she could eat with both hands. Then he  came over and sat on the floor next to Lindsey, holding the baby with  one arm and petting Benji with the other.

The scene was so domestic-so perfect.

And it scared the living hell out of Lindsey. She had dived in with both feet, and now she wasn't sure she knew how to swim.





CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Maverick slammed down his phone for the tenth time as his call went  right to voicemail. He'd suspected Lindsey was avoiding him the day  before after not hearing from her for a couple of days, but now he knew  it for a fact.

They'd gotten too close. Hell, it scared him too, but she was the one  running and ducking for cover. He couldn't allow that. It wasn't what  she needed, and whether she was willing to admit it or not, it wasn't  what she wanted either.

She was just scared. But if she truly thought she could hide from him,  she hadn't learned a single thing about him in the last month-or the  last couple of years, for that matter. In addition, Maverick wasn't a  man to give up on a mission just because the going got dangerous.

It was time to give some tough love.

Grabbing his sweatshirt, he left his new house. It really was perfect.  He didn't feel like he was in a museum anymore. Maybe it was time to  bring Lindsey to it. He wanted to be the one protecting her-the one to  keep bad things from happening. He was more than capable of that. Though  she wouldn't admit to needing protection, she still did. She was  vulnerable. However, what they'd shared was magical. It was rare, and he  wasn't going to allow her to push him away.

At the end of all of this, he wanted to be her friend, wanted to  continue having her be a part of his life. That wasn't typical for him.  Sure, he didn't make enemies of his ex-lovers, but he didn't have a  desire to stay in contact with them either.         

     



 

But it was different with Lindsey. She was quickly becoming an essential  part of his close-knit community. Besides, she was best friends with  Stormy, which meant she wasn't going anywhere. That thought gave him  peace, though he didn't think he needed reassurance. Maverick really  wasn't sure exactly what he did need. All of this was confusing and new  to him.

The drive to his brother's place didn't take him long. He bypassed the  main house and went straight to the guest cottage. He found it empty.  Pounding on the door anyway, he was about ready to knock it down when he  was interrupted.

"Problems, brother?"

Maverick turned with a dirty look toward Cooper. How much did he want to  share with him? They normally didn't talk about women-well, not in a  respectful manner, at least.

It wasn't that they were exactly crude, but they'd always looked at  women as beautiful, desirable, and . . . replaceable. Just thinking that  thought about Lindsey made him cringe. She wasn't just any woman. She  was special and would make a man a great wife someday. It just wouldn't  be him.

That thought sent an immediate pang through him. Picturing her with  another man was enough to make him want to put his fist through the  wall.

"Hello? Earth to Maverick."

"Sorry, Coop. I have a lot on my mind," Mav finally said, turning to see  his brother grinning stupidly as he leaned against the porch rail.

"Yeah, I can see that," Cooper said with a laugh.

"Where's Lins? She's avoiding me," Mav said as he moved away from her  door. She wasn't going to just appear even if he knocked down the door.  Obviously she wasn't home.

"Guess you didn't exactly wow her in the bedroom, huh? She go running away screaming?" Coop said with a laugh.

"Oh, I wowed her all right. It was the best night of either of our lives. She's running scared."

Maverick wanted to instantly take it back, but it was out there in the  open now. He expected a joke from his brother, but his face got all  serious as he looked at Mav like he was something on a slide under a  microscope. Mav didn't like that look at all.

"Hmm. You're really serious about this girl, aren't you?" Coop said.

"No! I mean, I'm just trying to help her, that's all," Mav said, running  his hand through his hair as he began to pace on the wide deck.

"I don't think so, Mav. I remember this feeling when I knew I couldn't  live another day without Stormy. You've been hit, brother, and the only  way to ease the pain is to just accept what you're feeling," Coop told  him.

"I don't know what in the hell you're going on about. We've only been  dating for a short while and there's a time limit on it. I've been on a  mission to help her," Mav told him.

Cooper laughed-actually laughed at him, which made Maverick glare at his brother. Normally, he enjoyed Cooper's company.

"Oh my poor, unfortunate brother. Love isn't a mission. It's also not  something that can be stopped. And it looks like you're officially on  this ride whether you want to be or not," Cooper said.

"This is nonsense. Love has nothing to do with how I feel about this  girl. Sure, I enjoy being with her, and I definitely want to help her,  and we do have passion, but that doesn't add up to love," Mav insisted.

"Yeah, I thought that, too," Coop said with a laugh.

"It's a lot different with me and Lins than it was with you and Stormy.  Any fool could see you were head over heels for that woman."

"It's okay. It will take you time to see what's happening."

"Whatever," Maverick said before sending another withering look his  brother's way. "Where's Lins?" He was done talking to Cooper.

"She took an extra shift at the hospital. She's been doing that quite a  bit the past few days. I don't know, though-today she seemed more  nervous than usual. You might want to go and check in on her," Coop  said.

Maverick was moving away before he even thought about it. He didn't  bother saying good-bye to his brother. He needed to go and check on  Lindsey, make sure she was okay. His stress was through the roof as he  jumped in his truck and gunned the engine. If Lindsey was upset, then he  needed to be there for her.

On the other hand, what if it really was just him wanting her to need  him? What if she was perfectly fine on her own and that wasn't something  he could accept? Maybe all of this was one-sided and he was too  infatuated with the girl to notice. Whatever it was didn't matter,  though. He had to go see the girl and nothing was going to stop him from  doing just that.         

     



 





CHAPTER THIRTY

Avoidance seemed to be something Lindsey was too capable of. When the  going got tough, she fled as fast as she could. Her feelings for  Maverick were too strong, so the best cure for that was a heck of a lot  of work.

Lindsey was examining her patient when the new attending came rushing  into the room, looking at the man's chart, not bothering to even peek at  the person on the table.

"Patient needs a cardiac panel, EKG, and Cath UA. Splint the right arm, and get that wound in the right leg secured. Move it!"

"Umm, Dr. Cullen," Lindsey said as she tried to get the doctor's attention. He cut her off.

"Stop speaking and get on this," he thundered.

Grrr. Attitude. She hated the new attending. "Heard you loud and clear,  but-" Again she was interrupted. Sometimes it was difficult to keep her  patience. Today apparently was one of those days. Hotshot doctors with  attitudes didn't amuse her.

"You will listen when I give an order. You are the nurse and I'm the MD.  Do you know how to do your damn job? Or did you just slide your way  through nursing school and then forget it all while on vacation?"

Lindsey saw red, but somehow managed to keep from screaming at the new  doctor. Yes, she'd taken a few months off, but she was sure he hadn't  bothered to find out a thing about her or why she'd needed to take  leave. He probably thought she was right out of nursing school with zero  brains in her head.

"As I was saying," she said with such authority, it actually stopped the  man for two seconds. "The labs and EKG were done before you came in.  The resident has already sutured the lacerations and the splint is on.  If you bothered to look at the patient, you could have saved us both  critical time."