Deadly Adventure (Hardy Brothers Security Book 19) Page 16

  Mandy blew out a dramatic sigh. “You’re so bossy.”

  “Hey, you bossed me all over that bedroom this morning,” James argued. “I will not risk your safety. Not for anything.”

  “Fine,” Mandy said. “You can be my chauffeur and service all my needs until you figure it out. Are you happy?”

  “I love your dirty mind, wife,” James said, pulling her in for a hug. He absentmindedly rubbed the back of her neck as he studied the car. “Will you please consider a bigger vehicle? For me?”

  “No.”

  “Baby, you’re killing me,” James muttered. “Please?”

  “I want this car,” Mandy said. “I will consider letting you drive me when we get home, though.”

  “You drive a hard bargain, woman,” James said, shaking his head as the salesman approached. “Let’s get this over with.”

  “Can I help you with something?” the man asked. “Would you like a test drive?”

  “No,” James answered, resigned to his fate. “We’ll take this one. Can we hurry the paperwork, though? I have something else I want to drive when we’re done here.”

  “I FORGOT to take the garbage out,” James said shortly after six, pinching the bridge of his nose as he stared up at the ceiling. Mandy was naked and cuddled next to him on the couch, some terrible shark movie on the television. “Don’t let me forget to take it out.”

  “I have a better idea,” Mandy suggested, kissing his neck. They’d spent the majority of the day nude and frolicking after returning early from the car lot. They left the paperwork with the salesman and promised to return to pick up the vehicle the following day. “If you order the pizza I will drag the garbage out.”

  “Not like that you’re not,” James said, tweaking her nipple. “I’ll take the garbage out. You can place the pizza order naked. I don’t want you dressed.”

  “I can put my shorts and a tank top on and then strip when I get back,” Mandy offered. “I don’t feel like talking to anyone and you have that app to order the pizza on your phone.”

  “Fine,” James said. “What do you want?”

  “Onions, ham, tomatoes, and mushrooms on the pizza,” Mandy answered, reaching for her discarded shorts. “I want wings with bleu cheese dressing and breadsticks, too.”

  James quirked an eyebrow. “Did you work up an appetite today, wife?”

  “You have no idea,” Mandy said, tugging her tank top over her head. James immediately wanted to strip her bare again. He couldn’t get enough of her. “Make sure you get the biggest pizza they have.”

  “While you drive a tiny car and make me insane,” James intoned as he reached for his phone. “We have to finish filling out the paperwork on that thing tomorrow, by the way. That guy knew why we made up an excuse and rushed out before finishing up. You had sex written all over your face.”

  “Don’t be a baby,” Mandy said, brushing a quick kiss against his cheek. “You had as much fun as I did on the way home. It’s not like I can drive that car until you figure out what happened to the last one. It will be fine. I’ll be back in two minutes. Time me.”

  “You’ll be naked in two and a half minutes,” James shot back. “Time me. I think we can beat the delivery guy.”

  “Oh, you’re so romantic.”

  Mandy was still smiling a few minutes later as she dragged the garbage containers to the curb. Her earlier unease and anger with James was a memory, and she felt as close to him as she ever had. She pulled up short when she turned, frowning when Jesse stepped in her path and held up his hands.

  “I come in peace,” Jesse said. “I’m not here to fight.”

  “That’s probably a good thing,” Mandy said, purposely keeping her distance. She wasn’t afraid of Jesse, but she certainly didn’t trust him. His approach was … odd. “What are you doing here? James is going to want to fight if you don’t leave.”

  “I came to talk to you,” Jesse replied. “I was hoping you would take pity on me and talk James into forgiving me.”

  Mandy snorted. “Why would I do that? You said some terrible things to me, and what you told me that night when I called James’ phone and you picked up was unforgivable.”

  “So you poisoned one of my best friends against me?” Jesse challenged, his tone taking on a dark quality. “That’s what you did, right?”

  “I didn’t do anything,” Mandy shot back. “James makes his own decisions. If it’s any consolation, though, I have no intention of getting between you guys. There’s no need for you and me to even interact.”

  “You’re pretty full of yourself, aren’t you?” Jesse said, his eyes flashing. “You think James is going to choose you no matter what. What happens if that’s not the case?”

  “Perhaps you should ask James,” Mandy suggested, giving Jesse a wide berth as she circled him and headed back in the direction of the house. “I don’t want to deal with you, Jesse. Your business is with James. It’s not with me.”

  “Don’t walk away from me,” Jesse said, grabbing Mandy’s arm and spinning her around. “I’m talking to you. Show me some respect.”

  “I don’t respect you,” Mandy spat, worry crawling up her spine. Jesse appeared out of control. She didn’t like the change in the man’s demeanor. “You’ve gone out of your way to put a wedge between James and me. It worked for a few days, so congratulations. It’s over now, though. You won’t be able to do it again.”

  “Why? Because James is so in love with you?”

  “Is that what’s really bothering you?” Mandy asked. “Are you jealous because James loves me?”

  “He doesn’t love you,” Jesse scoffed. “He settled down because he figured it was time and you were the first woman he came across. Don’t kid yourself.”

  “I feel sorry for you,” Mandy said, opting for honesty. “As long as you have this attitude about love and commitment you’re never going to be happy. You’re miserable … and perhaps a little lost. I get that. Leave me out of your unhappiness, though. I don’t want to be a part of it.”

  Mandy swiveled back toward the house and gasped when Jesse roughly grabbed her arm again.

  “Stop!”

  “Shut up,” Jesse hissed. “I’m going to … .” He didn’t get a chance to finish because James picked that moment to swoop in. The eldest Hardy brother’s nostrils flared as he grabbed the front of Jesse’s shirt and tossed him down the driveway like a rag doll. He was dressed in nothing but boxer shorts, but he was a terrifying sight.

  “Don’t you ever touch my wife,” James snarled.

  “I … it was an accident,” Jesse argued, rubbing his sore elbow as he stared James down warily. “I just wanted to talk to her. I know she’s been poisoning your mind where I’m concerned and I wanted the chance to explain myself.”

  “She hasn’t said anything about you,” James said, keeping one eye on Jesse as he gently reached for Mandy’s arm. The burns from the accident were mostly gone, but if James saw anything that resembled a bruise appearing on his wife’s body he knew he would lose it and beat Jesse to within an inch of his life. “She even encouraged me to remain friends with you.”

  “She did not,” Jesse said, furrowing his brow. “You’re making up stories to protect her.”

  “I don’t need to make up stories to protect her,” James shot back. “She’s the best person I know. She didn’t want me to lose a friend. I explained to her that you’re not my friend, though. A friend wouldn’t do what you’ve done. A friend wouldn’t attack my wife in my driveway!”

  “James.” Mandy pressed a warning hand to his chest. “Don’t freak out.”

  James breathed in deeply and then exhaled, gripping Mandy’s hand before bringing it to his lips and giving her fingertips a kiss. “I’m okay, baby,” he said. “I’m not going to do anything to ruin the rest of our day.”

  “Yes, you win again,” Jesse said, rolling his eyes. “Do you have a magic vagina or something? That must be it.”

  “Get off my property!” James howled, fr
owning when Mandy jolted at the anger wafting off of him. “I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t mean to frighten you.” He pulled her in for a hug and kissed her forehead.

  “Good grief,” Jesse said, pushing himself to his feet and making a disgusted face. “She’s completely pussified you. How did you let this happen?”

  “I gladly chose this life because her love is the best thing that ever happened to me,” James said, tightening his arm around Mandy’s waist. “Now leave right now or I’ll call the police.”

  “Fine,” Jesse said, dusting off the seat of his pants. “We’ll talk at the office tomorrow.”

  “No, we won’t,” James countered. “I told you not to come back to this house. You did the opposite and ambushed my wife while she was taking the garbage out. The friendship was already over, but now the working relationship is, too. You’re fired.

  “Grady will cut a check tomorrow for two weeks severance,” he continued. “We’ll send it to your hotel. Don’t go back to that office and don’t you ever consider returning to this house.”

  “You can’t mean that,” Jesse protested. “We’re friends.”

  “You’re nothing to me,” James said. “You’re less than nothing. Only a disgusting piece of filth would go after a woman like you just did. Don’t even think about looking at her again, by the way, because I’ll kill you if you do.”

  “So, that’s it?” Jesse was flustered. “You’re choosing her over me?”

  “There is no choice,” James replied. “She’s my heart and you’re a guy I don’t even recognize. Now, get out of here. I don’t ever want to see you again.”

  20

  Twenty

  Mandy and James woke the next morning tangled in each other’s arms, Mandy’s face pressed securely to James’ chest as he clung to her. They slept hard. After a day of nonstop playing – and then cutting loose an old friend – they were both exhausted.

  “Ugh. I don’t want to go to work,” Mandy complained, sighing as James petted the back of her head. “I wish we could stay here forever.”

  “Don’t go to work.”

  “James, I can barely walk now,” Mandy countered. “Everyone is going to know what we were doing. You’re a sexual god. Everyone knows it.”

  “I don’t care about that,” James said, his lips brushing Mandy’s forehead as he talked. “I just want another day with you. Don’t go to work.”

  “I have to go to work,” Mandy argued. “I just got back from vacation. I can’t do that to the judge. It’s only a few more months and then I’ll be out of there.”

  “Come on, baby,” James prodded. “Call in sick.”

  “I can’t. It’s not fair to everyone else.”

  “You’re such a goody-goody sometimes,” James groused. “You were in a car accident Friday. You have a perfectly reasonable excuse not to go to work. Besides that, you don’t have a car yet. You jumped me in the parking lot yesterday and we told the sales guy we would be back to finish the deal later in the week.”

  “I didn’t jump you.”

  “You put your hand in my shorts pocket,” James said. “That’s pretty much mounting me in public as far as you’re concerned.”

  “I think you’re insinuating I’m a prude,” Mandy sniffed.

  “You’re not a prude, baby,” James said. “You’re just … pragmatic.”

  “Is that code for boring?”

  “Oh, you’re never boring,” James said. “You excite me every moment of our lives. That’s why I don’t want you going to work. I want another day with you. I … need it.”

  Mandy’s heart rolled. “What about you? You fired Jesse. You can’t dump all of that work on Grady.”

  “I’m the boss, wife,” James said. “I delegate, not dump.”

  “I would really love to spend the day with you,” Mandy said. “It’s not fair, though.”

  “I wasn’t fair to you last week and I really need to spend the day with you,” James said, appropriating a needy and pathetic tone Mandy knew was for show but couldn’t ignore all the same. “I love you and want to spend one more day with you. Please.”

  “James … .”

  “Please.”

  Mandy blew out a frustrated sigh, resigned. “Fine. You have to call the judge, though. He knows when I’m lying. You’d better be really convincing, too. If he knows what we’re really going to be doing I will be forever mortified.”

  “Oh, baby, he already knows,” James said, chuckling as he relished his win and snuggled her closer. “I don’t even care about that today. I just want to hold you.”

  “Make the call,” Mandy said, grazing her teeth over his neck and causing a shiver to run through his body as she slipped her hand beneath the covers and cupped him. “I want to hold you, too.”

  “Oh, wife. You never cease to excite me. Where is your phone?”

  “JAMES isn’t coming in,” Grady announced to Jake and Finn as he walked into his brother’s office shortly before nine. “He claims he’s sick.”

  Jake smirked. “Yes. He has a fever for love.”

  “Pretty much,” Grady said. “I would generally say something about him shirking his duties, but I have a feeling he thinks it’s important to spend time with Mandy so I’m going to let it go.”

  “She was definitely upset the other night,” Finn said. “I don’t understand how James let things get so far out of control so fast.”

  “I don’t want to take his side on this, but I don’t think he realized what he was doing,” Grady explained. “Jesse has been pestering him … and calling him whipped … and generally making a mockery of his life with Mandy. I think James thought he was joking when he was serious.”

  “James is going to have to talk to Jesse,” Jake said. “He can’t let his relationship with Mandy slide because Jesse doesn’t understand it.”

  “I don’t think that will be an issue,” Grady said. “In addition to telling me he was sick – he faked a cough and everything, although I could hear Mandy giggling in the background – he also told me Jesse has been fired.”

  Jake’s eyebrows flew up his forehead. “What? He can’t fire him because he got in a fight with Mandy. Jesse could sue.”

  “James didn’t have a lot of time to explain, mostly because he was moaning and pretending it had nothing to do with Mandy and everything to do with his illness, but Jesse showed up at the house Saturday and James found out something that upset him a great deal,” Grady said. “Apparently that night we left him at the bar Mandy called for James and Jesse told her he was hitting on a woman and then never told James she called.”

  Finn let out a low whistle. “Seriously? Why didn’t Mandy say something?”

  “Mandy didn’t want to be seen as the nagging wife,” Grady replied. “She told me that herself. Apparently it came out Saturday and James had a meltdown and threw Jesse out of the house. He told him he could keep his job but the friendship was over.”

  “Good for him,” Jake said. “How did Jesse end up fired if that’s the case?”

  “Jesse approached Mandy when she was taking out the garbage yesterday and physically put his hands on her when she refused to listen to his excuses,” Grady answered. “James caught him doing it and threw him across the driveway.

  “Jesse had some choice things to say about James’ relationship with Mandy and that’s how he got fired,” he continued. “James messaged me to send him two weeks severance at the hotel and he’s not allowed in this building.”

  “That means we have to change the codes,” Jake said, tapping on the laptop keyboard. “I’ll do it right now and then have Maverick do an entire system check.”

  “That’s a good idea,” Grady said. “I normally wouldn’t suspect Jesse of something terrible, but I wouldn’t have guessed he’d put his hands on Mandy either.”

  “He’s lucky he’s still alive,” Jake said.

  “I think the only reason he is alive is because Mandy begged James not to ruin their day,” Grady said. “He gave in because h
e’s upset about hurting her and didn’t want to do it again.”

  “I don’t understand why Jesse would do this,” Finn said. “He’s never been one for relationships, but to go after Mandy like that … .”

  “James feels guilty for bringing Jesse into their lives,” Grady supplied. “I’m not a psychologist, but I think Jesse saw James and Mandy together and realized James had moved on while he was stuck in the past. I think he was jealous.”

  “Because he wanted Mandy?”

  “I think that’s too simple of an answer,” Grady replied. “He saw James happy in a life they both swore they didn’t want. We’ve all seen Mandy and James together. They’re sick and gross. Magnify that by adding a vacation.”

  Jake snickered. “I’m sure they were hot to trot.”

  “I’m sure they were, too,” Grady said. “Jesse followed James back here for a job. He wanted James to embrace the old life, though, so it wouldn’t be as if he was left behind. What he didn’t realize was that James would die for Mandy – and kill for her, too. Jesse doesn’t understand about true love, so he had no way of anticipating James’ reaction.”

  “At least Mandy and James are back on track,” Jake said. “Ally was going to kill him. She was making up elaborate plans to sneak into the house and torture him. Instead she cooked their anniversary dinner and made up with James. It was kind of sweet when she came home and told me what happened.”

  “Ally has a heart of gold,” Finn said. “She didn’t cook that dinner for James, though. She cooked it for Mandy.”

  “Mandy and James have clearly made up,” Grady said. “We need to handle Jesse’s payment and change all the security stuff here. I’m willing to give James today to frolic with his wife. I’ll kick his ass tomorrow if he tries it again, though.”