She was also Mayas fifth roommate in the three years shed owned the sweet Victorian here in San Francisco. The few people at Braverment who knew her well enough to be aware of her living arrangements teased her about her bad luck with roommate turnover. Maya always played up her faux despair, secretly thrilled at how well it all worked in her favor. After all, she hated living alone, but knew that a real long-term roommate would mean an element of intimacy she couldnt handle.
So, like everything else in her life, she kept her shared-living arrangements short and sweet. And more importantly, totally superficial.
How was your night? Maya asked as she shrugged out of her black velvet opera coat and hung it in the hall armoire. TV, ice cream and a stack of bridal magazines? It looks like a good time to me.
Throw in a honey-oatmeal facial and call me a wild woman, Tiffany joked.
Maya grinned, bending down to pry her darling strappy sandals off her dance-swollen feet. You are one crazy gal.
You had a phone call.
Mayas brows shot up. How weird. Usually, if someone wanted to reach her they called her cell. The only reason she even had a landline was for internet and to give pesky telemarketers someplace to call.
A sexy sounding guy, said his name was Caleb and that hed get a hold of you later.
Missing a step, Maya stumbled over her bare feet, her precious Jimmy Choos flying into the wall. She reached out to keep herself from following and took a mandatory deep breath to try and gather her thoughts.
By any standard, Maya had had an unconventional upbringing. Motherless by a year old, shed never been a sweet little girl in the traditional sense. Instead, shed learned the art of the three-card monte before shed learned to read. By four, shed learned to call up crocodile tears on command, the first time to keep her father from being arrested. She had amassed enough through computer hacking to pay her own tuition to Yale before shed graduated high school.
So it was rare for her to be shocked.
Caleb called? she repeated faintly.
You okay? Tiffany asked, swinging her feet off the couch, concern clear on her face. Whats wrong? Is he an ex-boyfriend? A bad guy? Should I call Mark?
That made Maya smile. Mark was Tiffanys fiancéa bespeckled orthodontist who bowled on weekendsand she definitely saw him through the eyes of love. The idea of his sweet self coming up against the likes of six-foot-two, muscle-bound Caleb Black, the baddest of the bad Black boys, was a little funny.
Scary funny, but still enough to make her want to giggle.
No, she said, gathering her scattered composure. No, thats okay. Caleb isnt any kind of threat.
At least, not unless he mistakenly suspected her of suddenly having a yen to deal drugs. Her big brother was a badass DEA agent, usually so far undercover he probably didnt even remember her existence. So why was he calling her? And on the house phone? The house, like the phone and everything else she had here in California, was under the name of Maya DeLongue. So how had he tracked her down?
And why? Panic shot through her, making her heart race and her ears ring. Worried sick, her mind spun from one horrible scenario to the next. In the half-dozen times shed heard from her brother since shed left home seven years previous, hed always called her cell. Why would he call the house?
Was he hurt? Had something happened to Dad? To their brother, Gabriel?
Did he say when hed be calling back? she asked, trying not to sound like she was going to cry. Her dad was indestructible. Superman. He had to be okay. He just had to.
No, Tiffany said, pushing a strand of toast-brown hair off her worry-creased forehead.
Caller ID?
Unknown caller.
Maya cursed softly. Tiffanys frown deepened and she started chewing on her thumbnail. Im sorry. Should I have pushed him for more information? I didnt want to give him your cell number, you know, just in case he was a crazy or something.
That made her laugh. Caleb, crazy? Oh, yeah, definitely. Maya took a deep breath and shoved both hands through her heavy curls. This was ridiculous. She was overreacting. Christmas was in two weeks. He was probably just calling to wish her a happy holiday, or to see if shed heard any news of their father.
Everyone was okay.
They had to be.
Because while she might have cut her family so far out of her life that she denied their very existence, didnt use their name and hadnt seen any of them in six years, they were still the most important thing in her entire world.
And, she vowed, if everybody was okay, she was going to kick Calebs ass for giving her such a scare.
2
MAYA SHOT STRAIGHT UP OFF her pillow, her vision obscured by a tangle of hair as she tried to figure out what had woke her.
The chirping phone answered her question.
Hello? she asked in a sleep-roughened tone. Shed gone to bed in the wee hours after midnight, then tossed and turned while worrying until almost five. She squinted through the dim light, noting that it was now eight. Yuck.
Morning, Maya. How was the party?
Her smile spread so big she was sure her ears were creasing. He sounded good. Calm, happy even. Not the tone of a man about to share bad news.
Caleb, you brat. Howd you find me?
Youre kidding, right?
Maya rolled her eyes. The house isnt in my name. Shouldnt that slow your kind down a little?
Thats childs play for my kind.
So whats the deal? You lost my cell number and needed to prove youre not a child?
What? A big brother cant call his little sister on Christmas?
Christmas isnt for two weeks, you called last night and I had my yearly call from you back in July. Seriously, whats going on?
Not that Maya cared. She adored her big brother, so any reason to hear from him, barring injury or bad news, was good by her.
Almost giddy with delight, she plumped one of her half-dozen pillows behind her and pulled the silk sheet high over her Garfield T-shirt. These days Caleb was her only connection with her family. And he made that connection very rarely. So this was a treat to be savored.
Their middle brother, Gabriel, was like a ghost. He flitted in and out at will to remind them that he existed, but was rarely heard from and even more rarely seen. Unlike Caleb, who flitted because he was undercover DEA, nobody knew what Gabriel did. But his disdain for law enforcement was so deeply entrenched, Maya knew he wasnt undercover anything. Unless it was under some womans covers, she thought with a grin.
Their father, on the other hand, was easy to find. Ensconced in Black Oak, California, he ruled the little town at the base of the Santa Cruz Mountains like a benevolent despot. He had no place in the town government, he ran a custom motorcycle shop instead of a bank or big business and he had a hazy history other than being a descendant of the towns founder. But he was still the man in charge, and everyone in Black Oak knew it.
Dynamic, charming and ruthless, Tobias Black was a force to be reckoned with.
Her smile faded, a little tug of pain aching in her chest.
As she settled back in preparation for the big news, Dottie, the cat whod adopted her eight months before, jumped up on the bed. She curled around a couple times, making the down comforter puff before she settled on Mayas stomach with a purring sort of sigh.
As she settled back in preparation for the big news, Dottie, the cat whod adopted her eight months before, jumped up on the bed. She curled around a couple times, making the down comforter puff before she settled on Mayas stomach with a purring sort of sigh.
Whats the big deal that inspired a holiday phone call? Maya prodded as she rubbed the cats chin. The adorable black-and-white face lifted for better scratching access.
Im back in Black Oak, Caleb told her.
Mayas smile dropped away and her fingers stilled. Her stomach jumped before taking a slow, swirling dive down to her bare toes. The room tilted and her brain scrambled. Was this some kind of code? Was Caleb being held prisoner by a drug-crazed lunatic and this was his goodbye call? Was there a hint in his words that she was supposed to use to save him?
Quit hyperventilating, he chided, as if he were reading her mind. Im here by choice. Well, now I am. I came back as a favor to a friend and sort of got hooked.
She wanted to ask if hed seen their father. But she knew he had. Nobody came through town without Tobias knowing, and he wouldnt let Caleb come and go without a confrontation.
She wanted to ask how Dad was. How he looked and if hed aged. Was he still pining after that horrible bitch, Greta? Or had he finally accepted the idiocy of falling for a woman so fake shed have smiled and batted her false lashes while she shivved him in his sleep?
Did he miss his daughter? Even a little?
Her stomach churning, Maya twisted her sheet between her fingers, the slick fabric bunching in puffs as she thought of seeing her dad again. How did Caleb feel about it?
Before she could ask, hell, before she could even figure out exactly what question to ask, Caleb continued.
Im engaged. To, you know, get married.
Shock slammed through Maya. She made a squeaking sound. Dottie rolled onto her back, batting at Maya like she was looking for the rubber mouse thatd made that noise. Before Maya could come up with a response, before she could think to ask whod be crazy enough, or amazing enough, to capture her big brothers heart, he continued.
And Im moving back permanently.
Her next squeak was a pitch higher. Moving? Back? No way. Usually lightning-fast, her brain struggled to accept what he was saying. Dottieapparently deciding that if it wasnt a toy making the noise, she wasnt interestedpadded to the foot of the bed where she curled around herself in a ball of black and white fur.
I cant believe
Theres more.
More? What more? Her big, bad brother, the man who avoided real life to the point that he spent most of his pretending to be other people, was tying himself to another personand their hometownfor the rest of his life?
Her head spinning like she was on an amusement park ride, Maya made a noise for him to continue.
Ive taken on the temporary post of Sheriff.
Maya couldnt even squeak this time because her jaw had dropped in shock. She pressed her hand to her churning stomach, wondering if this particular ride was going to make her throw up.
Maya?
Staring blindly at her rich purple bedroom wall, she gave a humming sort of response.
Maya? Cmon. Say something.
She opened her mouth to respond, then had to swallow. She cleared her throat, pulled the phone away to check the caller ID, which claimed Unknown, and shook her head again.
My little sisterthe chatterbox of North Americawith nothing to say?
Fine, she snapped, hating that nickname. Shed worked hard all her life to control her chattering impulses and Caleb knew it. Who are you and what have you done with my real brother?
His laugh was rich and warm, coming through the phone and wrapping around her like a brotherly hug.
Its a good thing. Its all good. He sounded Maya squinted in the morning light, trying to figure it out. He sounded content. Why the hell would he want to be content?
I wanted to tell you and He trailed off, sounding a little unsure for the first time since shed spied on him while he asked the head cheerleader on a date. If Maya recalled correctly, Caleb had been fourteen to the cheerleaders seventeen. And hed tied Maya to a kitchen chair the night hed gone on the date to keep her from following.
She wondered if he ever found out that Gabriel had freed her so they could both spy on him, then had covered her eyes and hauled her back home when it appeared that big brother was going to score.
Was it any wonder she couldnt settle for a guy? None could ever live up to the men in her family.
And, what? she prodded, not sure she was ready to hear it but figuring he needed to share. Probably something sappy and sentimental about their father. Begging her to come home, to reconcile. Youve already sent me into a state of absolute shock. Believe me, big brother, there isnt much left you can say to top youre back home, engaged to a real woman and leaving the DEA to be a small-town sheriff news.
But her heart pounded anyway. Maya shoved a hand through her hair, wincing when she hit sleep-roughened snarls.
Overcome, she threw the covers back, not realizing until she heard an angry meow that shed buried the cat in down and silk. She flipped the covers off Dottie and stormed out of her room toward the kitchen. She needed a drink.
Well, heres the thing. Im hoping youll come home. Just to visit. I know you have no reason to want to see Dad, or anyone in Black Oak. But I hope youll consider it. Pandoras mom is throwing a party. Some big to-do to celebrate our engagement. I dont want it. Pandora doesnt want it, but Cassiopeia is insisting and Dads backing her.
Conflicted over the idea of going homeof seeing her family for the first time in yearsMaya paused in the act of squeezing the chocolate syrup into a tall glass of full-fat milk to frown. Cassiopeia? The psychic?
Calebs sigh was so loud she was surprised it didnt ruffle her hair through the phone.
Is your fiancée woo-woo, too? Maya teased. Then, realizing her glass was now half chocolate to half milk, she quickly uprighted the squeeze bottle and closed the lid. She considered the glass of sugar-overload, then considered this phone call and grabbed a spoon to stir.
Pandoras more a student of human nature with woo-woo overtones, he said. Her glass halfway to her lips, Maya lowered it and sighed as a wave of happiness enveloped her. He sounded so in love. Not gooey, but just really happy and filled with a joy shed never thought her big, tough brother could feel.
So, you know, I get it if you dont want to come back for the party. I dont blame you and honestly dont know if Id come back if the situation was reversed. But I wanted to tell you about it.
Blinking fast to keep the tears at bay, Maya set her glass back on the counter, untouched. No point ruining fabulously chocolate milk with salt.
Youd have come back, she said quietly. A chance to play big brother, flex those muscles and boss me around a little? Youd have done it in a heartbeat.
He laughed, but didnt deny her words. Because for all that Caleb had spent a whole bunch of years lying for a living, he was a painfully honest man.
And he was her big brother. Getting married. Maya grabbed the glass and took a big gulp, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.