The Troublemaker Next Door

Chapter 11




So far so good. Maddie glanced at Flynn out of the corner of her eye as they strolled through Pike’s Place Market. He hadn’t tried to do more than walk with her as they looked over the assorted crafts on the tables. At the far end of the market, tie-dye shirts, Seattle prints, and beaded jewelry occupied table after table with a few children’s toys and crafts interspersed here and there.

Flynn paused, and she stopped with him.

“A googley-eyed frog?” The small fuzzy stuffed animal had eyeballs that jiggled when he shook it.

He turned to her and grinned. “Colin would like this.” He withdrew a few bills from his wallet.

“Yeah right. Admit it; you’re buying it so you can play with it.”

He gave her a sly wink. “You think?” He picked up another one. “Green or blue?”

“Why not one of each? That way you’ll have yours when Colin keeps his.”

With a chuckle, he purchased both. The salesman handed him a bag and they continued walking through the crowd.

“See anything you like?” he asked when she skirted another table of silk tees.

“I’m a window shopper. I buy only after I’ve looked at everything.”

He groaned. “I know your type only too well. When I was little, my mom used to drag us around with her when she went shopping. She’d spend all day looking for clothes, then she’d go back and buy the first thing she’d tried on. Used to drive me nuts. Hours of torturous trolling for jeans and shirts—not a toy in sight—that could have been prevented. I should be in therapy.”

“That’s called doing it right.” She dodged a small child barreling through the crowd, his mother hard on his heels. “We didn’t have much money growing up, so it was easier to pretend I could afford something but didn’t want to buy it. I liked to think I was choosey, when in reality I was just poor.”

“Church mouse poor? Or middle-class, too-many-kids poor?”

“Church mouse.”

“Bummer.” He reached for the rose a vendor held out to him and handed the saleswoman a buck. Then he turned and presented it to Maddie. “Here you go, mouse. I choose to buy this for you.”

“Thanks, Flynn.” Oddly touched, she accepted the smooth-stemmed rose and tried to distance herself. She nodded at him, queen to peasant, and continued browsing. “You may continue, sirrah.”

“Come on, princess.” They walked more before he continued. “You said something before, how it was just you and your mom. No brothers or sisters?”

He didn’t sound as if he could imagine such an existence. Then again, with his family, he probably couldn’t. “Nope. Just me and my mom. We’d visit Vanessa and her family most summers. Her mom and my mom are sisters. But we never stayed long. My grandmother would spend our vacations harassing my mother. We visited mostly so I could see what few relatives I had.”

“Why’d your grandmother screw with your mom?”

“Well, my mom got pregnant at sixteen. My father didn’t stick around, and she ended up having me with another year left of high school.” Maddie sighed. Sad, familiar story. “She spent her growing-up years raising me, all by herself. She lived with my grandparents only long enough to get a GED, a job, and enough to afford a sitter.”

“She sounds hard-core.” Flynn rested his hand on her lower back and nudged her toward the outside of the aisle when a group of pushy tourists bustled by with cameras in hand. “Must be why you work so hard. Apple falling from the tree, and all that crap.”

She laughed. “And all that crap. That about sums it up.”

They stopped to watch the guys at the fish market hawking salmon and perch while they threw the fish around.

“This is such a fun place.” Maddie didn’t often come down here, not crazy at the idea of managing the market crowds. Many in the city viewed the marketplace as touristy, and she’d never been one to waste her time with sightseeing.

Flynn drew her closer to be heard over the burst of laughter and commotion around them. “I have a confession to make. Once, when I was six or seven, I came down here with my folks. When they weren’t looking, I snuck over here and bought a tiny fish with my allowance. I hid the thing in Mike’s room, and the stench got so bad my mom had to fumigate the house.”

“Flynn.” She couldn’t help laughing. “Why would you do that?”

“He stole one of my baseball cards. Guys can get territorial about stuff like that.”

She shook her head. “The highlight of my youth was spent working alongside my mom. We’d clean houses during the summers, when I wasn’t in school. All money under the table, of course. The closest I got to your kind of trouble was when I stole the head off a Barbie from this girl I hated. She used to bully me at school. We had to clean her house, and I was so embarrassed that my mother had to pick up the little snot’s socks. So when I saw Malibu Barbie, so helpless, so alone, just sitting there…”

“Nice.” He nuzzled her cheek with his. He pulled away, but before he moved back, she swore he kissed the top of her head. “I knew we had more in common than you liking me. You have a mean streak, Maddie. I dig that.”

He tugged her with him past the fish guys outside onto Pike Street.

“Wait a minute. What did you mean about us both liking you?”

He gripped his bag in one hand and grabbed her hand in the other.

“Hey, no hand holding.”

“Come on, slowpoke. Consider my hand a leash. And about us both liking me, what’s the problem here? I like me. Do you like me?”

“Not at the moment,” she grumbled and fought a smile. For some reason, whenever he started to get on her nerves, he’d turn around and make her laugh. “But I think you have it backward. We both like me.”


“Now that I can’t argue.” He cast a lingering glance over her body. “In fact, I’d like to like you again right now. How about that alley? It’s not too crowded…”

She socked him in the arm, taking care not to damage the sweet-smelling rose in her hand. “Is sex all you ever think about?”

“Pretty much.”

“You’re such a guy.” But she couldn’t complain. He really knew what to do between the sheets.

He stopped with her in front of a confectioner’s shop and murmured in her ear, “If it were up to me, you’d be up against that brick wall around the corner.” His voice lowered. “Your legs around my waist, my cock inside that hot p-ssy.”

“Flynn.” She blushed, turned on yet embarrassed someone might overhear him. Fortunately, people continued to breeze by. No one gave them a second glance.

“It’s your fault. You bring out the bad boy in me. But that’s actually a good thing, according to the magazines out there.” He pulled her with him into the candy shop. “Eighty-five percent of women polled prefer the bad boy.”

The pretty young woman behind the counter grinned.

To her, he asked, “Am I right?”

“Depends on where you got your stats.”

“Cosmo.”

The girl nodded. “They never lie.”

“For God’s sake.” Maddie yanked her hand from the man and stalked to the decadent truffles on display behind glass. “Wait a minute. Why are you reading Cosmo?”

“I found it at Cam’s place the last time I was over. The hotshot thinks by reading what the opposite sex reads, he’ll have insights the rest of his ‘idiot’ brothers don’t.”

“Well, he got the idiot part right.”

Flynn scowled at her and bumped her aside.

“Watch it.”

“What are you looking at? Oh, truffles. Yum.”

“You like chocolate?”

The girl behind the case beamed at them through the glass. “We offer the finest hand-crafted chocolates in Seattle.”

Flynn smiled at the girl and asked, “Which are your favorites?”

He should have been asking Maddie. What the hell did he care what some young flirt with a bad sense of style—hello, too much eyeliner—thought?

“Hmm. I like the mocha dreams. But the vanilla bourbon swirls are popular too.”

“Maddie? What about you?” Finally, he asked her.

“What about me?” She hadn’t meant to snap, but she didn’t like him chatting up the girl, who was definitely old enough to appreciate a man like Flynn.

He smothered the smile but not fast enough to hide it from her.

“Something funny?” she asked, ice in her voice.

“Nope. What kind do you want, baby? My treat.”

Calling her baby like that. What an ass. Yet her ire faded as the girl seemed to understand they weren’t just palling around. About time. “Strawberry, the vanilla bourbon, and a lime twist. That one, in the white chocolate. ”

“Those are good too,” Miss Perky offered.

Flynn nodded. “We’ll take two of each.” He made more small talk with the girl while Maddie looked around. When younger, she never would have imagined dragging her mother into a place like this. Four dollars a truffle? For one piece of candy? Yet here she was, twenty-seven years old and waiting for someone to buy her not just one piece but three.

She smiled, a sense of accomplishment just there within reach. Sure, Flynn was buying the candy, but if Maddie had wanted, she could have bought them. Window shopping with the added benefit of getting the prize.

Flynn had the girl add the box of chocolates to the bag holding the frogs he’d purchased. He said good-bye before latching on to Maddie’s hand again.

“Bye,” Maddie said over her shoulder before Flynn dragged her outside. She didn’t protest his hold until they were out of sight of the store. Then she tried to pull free. “Didn’t I say no hand holding?”

He immediately let go, which should have made her happy. Instead, she missed his warmth. “Sorry. I was just trying to make you feel better. You seemed a little jealous inside the store.” The twinkle of mischief in his eyes annoyed her.

“Screw you, McCauley. I wasn’t jealous.”

He fell into step beside her as she walked down the street and turned onto First. “Of course not.”

“I wasn’t.” She felt like a fool. She had been jealous, and after spouting all those rules about them keeping their distance from each other and remaining just friends. “It just seems to me that if we’re together, even as friends, it probably looks like we’re dating or something. And it’s rude to come on to someone else’s boyfriend, right there in front of a person.”

She knew she wasn’t making sense.

Flynn shifted his hold on his bag. “Sure, Maddie. You weren’t jealous. Not at all. Not even a little bit.”

“Oh, shut up. Come on, let’s go to lunch.” This time she dragged him down the street.

Twenty minutes later, they sat on the balcony of The Pink Door and watched the calm waters of Elliott Bay while a few boats drifted by. The day couldn’t have been more perfect. Overhead, a scatter of cottony clouds stood out against the baby-blue sky. The sun shone in bands of orange, red, and pink behind a few puffs of white, lending the water a sparkle that rippled as watercraft slid through the calm waters. A light breeze wafted past them, bringing the scent of garlic and basil on the salt air.

She closed her eyes, awash in the moment, and started when warm lips covered hers.

The kiss lasted a second, and she opened her eyes to see Flynn staring at her in bemusement.

“What was that for?”

“Because I can,” he said with familiar arrogance, but the smile curling his lips gentled his words. His eyes seemed darker, more mysterious as he watched her, and she surprised herself to realize she’d actually enjoyed her day with him.

“This still doesn’t mean we’re dating,” she blurted, panicked and not sure why.

“Sure thing.” He didn’t react other than to drink the beer he’d ordered and stare at her.

“Something wrong?”

“I was wondering something.”

Aha. The third degree. She’d been waiting for it. “Go ahead. Say whatever’s on your tiny little mind.”

He chuckled. “You’re sexy when you’re mean, did you know that?” He pulled a lock of her hair.

“Ow.”

“I can be mean too. Now shut up and listen.”

He obviously wasn’t trying to charm her anymore. She relaxed, knowing they’d achieved balance. Just sex, a casual companionship, friends. No more deeper feelings—so she kept telling herself.

“Listening.” She took a sip of her wine, letting it linger on her tongue while the breeze pushed the scent of stuffed mushrooms nearer. Which reminded her, they still hadn’t delved into that box of chocolates yet…

“You and your mom are close, right?”

She answered warily. “Yeah.”

“So why did you move so far away from home? To get away from the area you grew up in? From her? And before you tell me it’s none of my business, I did confess that deep dark secret of the hidden fish to you. To this day my mother still thinks Brody did it.”

She opened her mouth to answer, then closed it. “Brody? You knew him back when you were six?”

“We think of him as the blond McCauley. He grew up with us and shared a room with me until we hit high school. But that’s another story. Stop stalling and answer the question.”


Curious about him all over again, she decided to answer. She didn’t exactly have secrets she needed to hide. “I love my mom to death. Hell, I’ve spent the last three years trying to get her to move in with me, back in Philly and now here. But she loves home and won’t move. I wanted to get away from the area. Not that it’s bad, it’s just so…so…” She couldn’t think of a word to describe it.

“So East Coast?”

“Yeah. Not that there’s anything wrong with it, but if you’ve been there, you notice a different vibe in the air. At least it feels that way to me.”

“You don’t see me arguing. I love it here. I grew up in Seattle and intend on living the rest of my life here. Not that I’m against travel or vacationing around women in bikinis. Something about the beach really calls to me.”

She grinned. “I’ll bet.”

He smiled with her. “But I like it here. I’m close to my family. Not that we have to always be together. I’m no momma’s boy.”

“You sure?”

He sighed. “Okay, so the woman is demanding. I try to be a good son, but I don’t need her approval on everything I do. Hell, you wouldn’t believe how she reacted to my last girlfriend just because she danced—which isn’t important.” He coughed. “I was just curious about your mom.”

Danced? As in, a stripper? She didn’t know, and didn’t want to know. Especially when another niggle of jealousy flitted through her brain. “My mom, right. Well, in a nutshell, I love my mother, but I think she works too damn hard. She’s proud, won’t accept help from me at all, and generally thinks she knows how I should live my life better than I do.”

“We talking about your mother or mine?” he asked wryly.

“Both, I guess. At least your dad seems nice. I was talking to him at the barbecue. You all look just like him,” she teased. “I never knew my father. He got my mother pregnant then left. Haven’t heard from him since.”

Silence surrounded their table. But not to be put off, Flynn persisted. Like Vanessa, she thought with amusement, he didn’t have a kill switch. “She never asked him for child support or anything?” He frowned. “I know he was just a kid, but hell, so was she.”

“Nope. She never asked him for a dime. Michelle Gardner doesn’t like to accept help from anyone. Very self-sufficient. And stubborn too.” Her mother still refused to visit Maddie until she could afford it, unwilling to let Maddie pay for her plane ticket.

“Gee, Maddie. Stubborn and self-sufficient. Sound familiar?”

She would have told him something vulgar, involving his head and his ass, but the waiter arrived. He left them a large plate of appetizers they’d decided to share.

While she enjoyed the appetizer, it took her a moment to realize Flynn hadn’t eaten. He was staring at her.

“Hmm?” she managed around a mouthful.

“I like watching you eat.” The roughness of his voice reminded her of their night on the phone. Sexy, masculine, arousing. “Almost as good as watching you come.”

She choked and needed her water to wash it down. “Damn it. Don’t do that.”

“Sorry.” The chuckle following the apology laid waste to his sincerity. “It’s your fault. You’re too pretty and sexy with your mouth full. Makes me think of other things that should be between those lips.”

Damn if she didn’t feel a flutter low in her belly. “I don’t know how you do it, but now I’ll never look at mushrooms the same way again. And you’ve ruined me for my cell phone.”

He seemed entirely too pleased with himself. “Good.” Then he changed the subject completely. To her surprise, they spent the next hour talking about her and her plans for Gardner’s.

They left the restaurant after she paid the bill, at her insistence, and spent the rest of the day walking around town together. They went in and out of shops, where Flynn actually encouraged her to try on a few skirts and even shoes. She dithered over a few purses she’d been wanting for a while and settled her mind on a blue leather bag. When her business broke even, because it would, she told herself, she’d be back to buy that bag. Or one like it, if it took her another ten years to see ends meet.

“Maddie?”

They’d walked their way back up Third Avenue toward Queen Anne Avenue, each determined to outdo the other. A long trip home, but a pleasant one. Before she could overtake him up the final hill toward Queen Anne, he pulled her with him to a stone wall outside an apartment building, and they sat for a breather.

“Okay. I could use a rest. And a snack.” She glanced at the bag, then back at Flynn.

He dug into it and took out the chocolates. But he refused to let her pick her own. “Let me.” He pulled out a lime truffle and held it to her lips.

She took a bite, unable to look away from him as she chewed. The flavor burst on her tongue, sweet and tart, yet it was the intensity on Flynn’s face that held her captive.

He ate the rest of the chocolate and blinked. “Damn, that’s good.”

She nodded, wishing she could put her confusing emotions into words. Aroused, scared, baffled, she only knew she yearned for something more from Flynn, something she didn’t need and shouldn’t want.

Flynn wiped her lower lip and pulled his thumb into his mouth. “You missed a crumb.” He licked his lips, and she wanted to kiss him, to see if he tasted like chocolate and lime. “Thanks for hanging with me today. I had fun.”

“Me too.”

“And I wanted to give you this. Don’t make a big deal out of it,” he warned and reached into his back pocket for something. He withdrew a slender gift wrapped in crinkled blue tissue paper. To her surprise, Flynn looked nervous.

More than curious, she opened the present and stared at a slender, silver card case. Engraved on the front was the word Gardner’s.

“Consider it a business celebration. My mom got me one when we opened McSons, but I didn’t have the heart to tell her no guy would be caught dead with something like that, especially not one in my line of work. But a snazzy designer like you? I think it fits.” The smile in his eyes lingered.

Touched far more than she wanted to admit, Maddie kissed him and clutched the gift tight. “Thanks, Flynn. This means a lot.”

He winked. “But don’t think this means we’re dating,” he mimicked in a high-pitched voice, throwing her words back at her in a playful tone.

She couldn’t help the heat from rushing to her cheeks, feeling flustered and out of sorts. They’d spent a perfectly normal day together, and it had been more than fun. Now this. So thoughtful, he made her want to cry.

Saturday evening approached, and she wanted to enjoy the rest of her weekend with him. Clingy, Maddie. Back off. Like he said, we’re not dating. “Flynn, I—”

“Hold on.” Before she could rise, he closed the tiny gap between them, exciting her and unnerving her at the same time.

“But I…”

“Hush.” He kissed her. Unlike the others, this kiss didn’t instill sexual urgency, but a soothing sense of belonging. Affectionate and tender, Flynn didn’t even try to push his tongue into her mouth. He ended the kiss before it could truly begin and freaked her the hell out—because she’d liked the closeness.

Before she could complain that this felt all too much like a date, Flynn stood. He pulled her to her feet, had the nerve to slap her on the ass, and started back up the hill without her. “Come on, slacker.”


She blinked, not sure what had just happened. But no way in hell would Flynn McCauley leave her in the dust. After tucking the precious gift into her pocket, she hustled to catch his long strides and yanked him back by tugging on the back pocket of his jeans.

Shining eyes full of laughter met her gaze. “You’re so easy. Afraid I’m going to go all”—he used air quotes—“‘relationship’ on you?” He snorted. “You should be so lucky.”

“Oh? I think it’s you who should be so lucky.” Irritated but relieved at the same time, she increased her pace. “And if you think I’m giving you a ride home after that sneaky kiss, think again.”

They taunted each other back to her house and arrived laughing and out of breath.

“You’re not as out of shape as you look.” Flynn pretended to measure her ass.

“Jerk. I should say the same about you, but your fat ego would only get in the way.” Yeah, in the way of his thick thighs, firm ass, and broad chest. And those arms. She bent over to catch her breath and look away from his sexy body.

The card case burned a hole in her pocket. She wanted to pull it out and stare at it, then see if she could capture Flynn’s reflection if she stood closer, stupidly wanting to hold on to some part of him, if even for a few seconds.

“You’re a good sport, Maddie.” Flynn reached into his bag and handed her the box of chocolates. And the blue frog. “I’d have given you green, but you did mention you prefer blue.”

She shook the frog and watched those stupid eyes bobble. “You’re torturing me, aren’t you?”

He grinned. “Yeah. Because now when you see him, you’ll think of me. First the cell phone, the card case, the frog. Before you know it, I’ll be everywhere. And you’ll be begging for more Flynn. More Flynn, oh yes, more…”

She slapped a hand over his mouth when Mike walked outside his house and scowled at the sight of them together. “Keep it down, genius.”

Flynn glanced at Mike and groaned. “Damn. Maybe Mr. Green can save me.” He pulled out the green frog and made it dance.

She started laughing and couldn’t stop. She laughed so hard she cried, and he just grinned at her. When she collected herself again, she knew what had been nagging at her. “Oh man, I just remembered I left my stuff at your place.”

He shrugged. “I’ll bring it by tomorrow. Don’t worry, I’m not insisting you stay the night. I would, but then you might think I wanted a ‘relationship.’” More air quotes. “I have to rest up for the family dinner tomorrow night, anyway. Just pray Mike doesn’t out me about you, or my mother will grill me for dinner.”

She batted her lashes. “Momma’s boy.”

“Witch.” He had the nerve to pop her on the ass again while Mike watched them from next door. “Now go inside while I try to mollify Mike.”

“Wow. Mollify. That’s a big word, Flynn. I didn’t know you had it in you.”

“Now, now, Maddie. We both know I had it in you.” He left with a knowing smirk.

She chuckled all the way into the house. Once inside, she pulled the card case out. She clutched it and the frog, no longer sure how to feel.