Superb and Sexy (Sky High Air #3)(53)

She stared down at the huge metal table spread with several different drawings, all of the same design, a timeless, classical 18k gold, pearl, and gem pendant, the gem—a large sapphire—being the whole reason for this operation.

Beyond the worktable was another with parts laid out for her—18k yellow gold sheet, 18k yellow gold round wire, gold bezel, and the gems themselves—not the original sapphire but a most excellent replacement.

At her disposal were all the tools required, and Maddie took her first pause.

She was really going to have to do this.

She took in the goggles and face shield, the pin vises, hammers, ring clamps, the saws and files and pliers, the rest of the layout tools, and so much more and did her best not to take a big, obvious gulp.

“If you need anything,” Tiny Tim said, jerking his head to a white telephone on the wall. “You know the drill. Just pick that up.”

“I’ll need food,” Maddie said, doing her best Leena impersonation. “Good food. All fresh.”

“I’d think being married would take the spoiled out of you.”

“Think again. That is, if you can think.”

Tiny Tim sighed.

“Don’t forget, fresh.”

“I told the boss to get Maddie for this one,” Tiny Tim muttered. “I told him, sure, Maddie would just as soon rip your throat out as be nice to you, but at least she wasn’t a princess. No one listens to me.”

Maddie turned away from the tools to look at him with narrowed eyes. “Maddie hasn’t been here in years.”

“Damn shame, too. She was a lot less work than you. No offense,” he said to Brody.

Maddie shook her head. She didn’t remember this guy, not at all. But he clearly remembered her. She glanced at Brody, then at Tiny Tim again. “So you remember Maddie?”

“You know I do.”

Careful. “How would I know?”

“Oh, like you don’t remember how she’d crank her music late at night. It drove you crazy. You’d yell and scream, and she’d just stand on her balcony and stare at the sky for hours, that music blasting loud enough to rattle the windows.” Tiny Tim smiled in fond memory. “With her light on behind her, we could see right through her pjs.”

Maddie had to speak through clenched teeth. “And you know that because…”

“Because me and the guys would fight for space below on the pool deck.”

Her stomach executed a triple gainer, and it took her a minute to speak. “Perverts.”

He grinned broadly. “Ah, come on. Maddie knew. She had to know.”

“She didn’t.”

“She wanted us to watch.”

“Are you kidding me?” She felt disgusted. Disgusting. Her fingers clenched on the hammer in front of her as a hot hatred filled her for this place and the people in it. “She was sixteen. A kid. Practically a baby—”

“Maddie was never a baby. She was always thinking, always trying to get a step ahead of the boss.”

“Her uncle. Who should have been protecting her. Us,” she added when his eyes narrowed in surprise. She was breaking her cover, and in that moment, she didn’t care. She wanted to kill him.

Brody came close, slipped an arm around her. “Honey? You getting low blood sugar again?”

Honey. That broke her concentration, having Brody call her honey. “Yeah.” God, she needed air. Or something. “Food.”

Tiny Tim gave the martyr sigh again. “Same old demands.”

Leena. You’re Leena…Maddie needed to believe it. She also needed a grip, a big one, especially with Brody all ears, soaking up bunches of information that she hadn’t wanted him to have.

Tiny Tim shrugged, apparently unconcerned about the hammer in her hand or the urge she had to smash it over his head. “Pretty damn ungrateful. Rick fed and clothed you both for years, kept a roof over your heads when he could have sent you away.”

“There was no one to send us to.”

“Exactly. He kept you out of the goodness of his heart. And that wasn’t easy. You two were a handful, especially your sister. She was wild and out of control.”

“She was not out of control.”

“She required a strict hand.”

There was a difference between a heavy hand and abuse, but she wasn’t going there. Not with Brody suddenly looking ready to do some violence of his own. “I have work to do.”

“Yeah.” Carefully, Tiny Tim took the hammer out of her hand and set it down. “Maddie was most definitely different. She’d have had the balls to come at me with that thing. She had a set of cajones, that girl. Not to mention more curves on her bones than you.” He looked her up and down. “Though that’s changing a little bit now. Guess marriage is agreeing with you.” He reached out to touch, and two things happened simultaneously: Brody straightened to attention, and Maddie smacked Tiny Tim’s hand away herself.

“Don’t touch,” she said through her teeth.

“Married,” Brody said through his.

With a last careless shrug, Tiny Tim left.

The tension didn’t. In fact, the silence was oppressive. Pretending she didn’t feel it, she pulled the stool out from beneath the worktable.

“Well, wasn’t that a nice little walk down memory lane for you.”