KNOTTED: The Manhattan Bound Series, Book Three Read online

  KNOTTED

  Book Three

  Manhattan Bound Series

  By Juliet Braddock

  © 2015 Juliet Braddock

  Cover design by WLK Media LLC © 2015 Michelle Bowman

  http://www.WLKmedia.com

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  A Note from Juliet

  It does indeed take a village, and I’m not alone in this journey of publishing.

  First off, my love and gratitude again to Rachel for editing for me. You have been so patient, and your constructive suggestions have always been spot-on. This time around, I truly struggled with a certain chapter, and you held my hand and helped me through it. It was down to the wire, but you struck with me. Beyond that, I thank you for being such a wonderful friend. You make me laugh, you share my love of cats and the theater…and you also appreciate Seth MacFarlane. That’s a tall order to fill—and I’m so very lucky to have you in my life.

  I am also so very fortunate to have a publicist who goes far and beyond her call of duty. Michelle Bowman at WLK Media, I adore you. From designing my covers to spreading the word about my books to translating all of those publicity and marketing details into actual sales, you are a Godsend. You’ve taught me so much about self-publishing, and I cannot even express how grateful I am to you. Throughout the business side of these books, you have also become such a dear friend and confidante. Thank you, too, for all of the laughs and fantastic conversations. And thank you for just being you!

  And Mikky, I cannot thank you enough for weeding through my final draft and giving me the courage when I needed it most. Your support has meant the world to me, and so have our laughs along the way. Yous da best, as we say here in New York.

  I love you, ladies! And I’m so lucky to be sharing this journey with you. Mwah!

  Chapter One

  An eerie calm settled over the city as the snow fell steadily in fluffy flakes, layering upon the sidewalks, cars, and roadways. Central Park had transformed into a glacial wonderland. The bare tree branches, weighted by the blizzard, connected overhead like handmade lace. Frozen waterfalls had formed on the wall of boulders lining those famous grounds, accentuating Old Man Winter’s décor to the urban landscape.

  Nothing, Maxine Kirk decided, paralleled the beauty of a snowstorm blanketing Manhattan on Valentine’s morning.

  Panic set the city aflutter with the need to pick up provisions. While the forecasters warned that it was best to remain indoors, New Yorkers were a sturdy, if not stubborn, bunch. Pedestrian traffic was heavier that day than vehicular transit. Some inventive Manhattanites even chose to use their skis to maneuver through the mess on their way to pick up last-minute necessities from the now nearly empty store shelves.

  “Now, do we have everything?” Lou asked from his perch behind the steering wheel.

  She’d spent a little more time at a shockingly packed Zabar's, one of the city’s top gourmet markets, than she’d anticipated that morning. Who the hell knew that everyone on the Upper West Side would be clamoring for caviar that snowy morning?

  Rifling through her shopping bags, Maxine mentally checked off her list in her head. “I think I’ve got everything to make this a happy Valentine’s Day.”

  “Keep the details to yourself, little lady…”

  “Who’s your Valentine, Lou?”

  “What’s it to yous?” he asked, his eyes glaring into the rearview mirror. Maxine loved to hear that thick Brooklyn accent emerge in his grouchiness.

  “Just making conversation. You don’t have to say a word…”

  As they pulled up to the curb in front of the apartment building, Maxine gathered up her purchases.

  She couldn’t quite think of this place as their home yet, even though she’d officially moved in two weeks prior. Drew encouraged her to paint walls, hang pictures—even to invest in some new furniture. Really, he hadn’t done much with the place since he’d bought it. However, she needed some time to figure out how to appropriately blend their varied tastes, just as she’d accomplished with the dungeon.

  One of the most difficult moments for Maxine since she’d moved to New York, however, was the day that the movers hauled her things from the townhouse to the penthouse. She’d spent the previous night with Ben—just the two of them—and packed up what little she had quickly. Once she’d finished, the two of them cracked open a bottle of wine and reminisced.

  They recounted every last step of her first few months in the city—from the second she hopped off the bus to find him with bells draped around his neck to her first sight of the room he’d so lovingly put together for her.

  That tiny little space at the back of the house held so many memories for her. She could still hear the whispers between herself and Ben as they babbled to each other in the wee hours of the morning. And she could feel Drew’s strong yet tender hands upon her the first night he made love to her in that bed, stroking her so salaciously into submission.

  For now, Ben decided to leave the room intact. After all, they planned on a few sleepovers. Saying goodbye, though, was never an easy thing to do.

  For almost five years, Ben had been the one constant in Maxine’s life. They relied upon each other almost to the point of co-dependency, and they loved each other with a purity that could only exist in the deepest friendship. Admittedly, Ben’s relationship with Jeffrey gave Maxine great comfort. She wouldn’t be leaving him completely alone.

  Moving in with Drew was the next logical step. Hell, his closets and drawers were filled with her clothes. Makeup, tampons, and other girlie things cluttered up the master bathroom. However, the reality of actually hiring someone to cart her things from one apartment to another brought with it the vivid awareness of her new life. In a matter of weeks, they’d be married.

  In her heart, Maxine knew she was making all of the right decisions, but she could still feel the void of Judy’s absence every day. In fact, the one thing that troubled her most was planning her wedding without her mom.

  The torrent of thoughts racing through her mind came to a sudden halt as Lou helped Maxine out of the car with all of her Valentine’s Day goodies for Drew. As she struggled to hold her poise on the slippery sidewalk, she thought she spotted a familiar face in the lobby through the front windows.

  “Lou…” Maxine took a step back and nearly landed in a snowdrift. “What’s Adam doing here?”

  “I know nothing,” he said. “See no evil; hear no evil…”

  “So I won’t ask,” she said and clutched her bags tighter as she pounded through the snow.

  “Tell Mack I’ll be up in a bit,” Lou called out to her.

  “Oh, I won’t be—” While the chill of that winter wind whipped across her face, she could feel herself blushing. “I’m not going right up…to that…where…”

  “You’re going to your little love den,” Lou spoke for her and watched her jaw drop in shock. “Don’t worry, Maxine. I already know. Secret’s safe with me. I’ll just text him instead.”

  “You should leave early—go on your date!” she blubbered.

  “I’m waiting on my lovely gal to get off work,” he explained. “She’s a nurse, so she can’t take a snow day. But her place isn’t far from here. Drew said I could crash in the penthouse for a bit. Said you two wouldn’t be around…”

  Maxine saluted him, stumbling and nearly tumbling through the blizzard and toward the lobby. “Well…then…happy Valentine’s Day,
Lou!”

  # # #

  “Fuck...” Drew bellowed as he cracked his head against the chilly porcelain toilet bowl. The thunder of his voice echoed throughout the master bath and beyond. “Motherfucking, son of a fucking, holy fucking bitch!”

  “You, uh, need some help there, bro?” Adam asked, passing Drew an open microbrew.

  Pushing Adam's giant arm away, Drew muttered, “Get that fucking beer out of my face.” Lips smacking in disgust as if he’d just sucked on a lemon, he shook his head. “How the hell can you drink beer at ten in the morning?”

  “What?” Adam took a sip. “Besides, I'm just aiding and abetting here...”

  “You're the one with the friggin know-how on assembling things!” As a teenager, while Drew whiled his lazy days away at theater camp, Adam had actually spent more than a few summers working in the furniture department at McKenzie’s. Declan made sure that at least one of his boys knew how to assemble random household goods. “You get the hell down here and install this thing!”

  “Oh, Dr. Drew, move aside...” As he waited for Drew to maneuver his way out of the somewhat tight space on the floor, Adam could only hope that he didn't get stuck. “You know, Penelope better appreciate this gift.”

  “Trust me, it's something she's been making noises about for months.”

  Adam took the wrench from Drew's hand and squeezed into the tiny corner, holding his breath all the while. It wasn't easy being a big guy sometimes.

  As he twisted and squirmed, he cursed Drew under his breath. “You know, I’m the one who volunteered to take my private jet to Pennsylvania just to pick those two things up,” Adam reminded him.

  True to his word, Adam had given up his leisure time the previous day to fly into Maxine’s hometown. Vicki and Tom met him at the airstrip with the two little bundles of gray furry joy in tow. This was, in part, his fulfillment of his lost bet when Drew won flight privileges on Air Adam for a year. Drew couldn’t go himself because the show had to go on.

  Once Adam returned to New York, Jillian sheltered the little ones throughout the night. Those kittens, however, cried for hours until they both passed out right on Jillian’s bed. Since she didn’t have the heart to move them, she and Adam slept on the sofa bed instead. Sore and cranky, he had only intended to make his special delivery and then return to Jillian’s apartment in Brooklyn. Drew, though, had other plans for him.

  “Shelters in New York don’t have kittens for sale?”

  “You don’t buy cats, Adam—you adopt them” Drew corrected. “And those are very special kittens. Maxine fed the boy at Vicki’s practice when he was just big enough to fit in the palm of her little hand. It was fate. And it took them off Vicki’s hands.”

  Adam held the wrench to his mouth as if he were about to gag himself with it. “Sweet little Penelope with baby kittens in her hands…and you’re sucking up to the woman who will likely become your step-mother-in-law one day…”

  “No, Adam, I just know a thing or two about romance,” Drew said. “Speaking of…what did you get Jillian?”

  “I’m not enough of a gift?”

  “Come on…” Drew begged. “What’s in store?”

  “A few dozen roses should be arriving before I get back to her place,” Adam said. “And I’m gonna try to cook for her tonight. Mom gave me her meatloaf recipe—said it’s the easiest thing I could possibly make without fucking up. I also bought her—a teddy bear.”

  “Alright…” Drew nodded somewhat approvingly. “That’s showing her you’re making an effort.”

  “Dude…” Adam began, “chicks love Teddy Bears…”

  “Shit…” Drew hissed as he looked at his watch. “Will you just hurry up? With the snow out there today, Maxine won’t be out long. And I want you gone before she returns…”

  “Really, bro, I know what you're trying to do here with those two little carpet cheetahs,” Adam began. “This is all a little scheme so that Mom will have something to focus on rather than human grandbabies. And you had to bring home a sick one, too! Mom thrives upon the wounded!”

  “It's just his eye,” Drew explained “...which might have to be removed...”

  “A sick kitten with one eye! You really are going for Fiancé of the Year here...”

  “No, actually,” Drew said, eyeing up that second open beer on the vanity. But he couldn’t. He had to maintain his control to play with his darling Maxine that afternoon. It was New York’s roughest winter in years with yet another blizzard coating the city in mounds of snow. In a rare move, Broadway shows were shuttered. Drew had the entire Saturday off. “More like Husband of the Year, Cheese Puff.”

  “Oh, God,” Adam said, patting his hand over his heart, “don't say that, bro. I'm in denial...”

  “April’s not so far away, buddy!”

  “And I’m hoping your wedding is just one big fat Fool’s Day joke...” he said and returned to the task at hand. “You know…I could so easily screw this up for you so that when your new little baby kittens poop in this contraption, the water pipes will just explode!”

  Drew's face suddenly turned dark—almost mean—and he pointed his finger at Adam. “Don't fuck with my self-cleaning litter box, you asshole...”

  “Okay...I'm just gonna ask.” Adam fiddled with the wrench, attaching the hose from the kitty potty to the pipes on the wall. “How much did you spend on this thing?”

  “I dunno,” Drew shrugged. “Four hundred, maybe...with the extras...probably closer to five.”

  “You spent five hundred dollars on a fucking litterbox for Penelope's Valentine’s kittens—and one can't even see?” Adam shouted. “Are you fucking dying? Like high fever...the plague...Ebola?”

  “No, Adam, I just want them to have the best of everything,” he explained. “And I did exactly what Maxine would have done herself and chose the least desirable kittens who truly needed a good home.”

  “No, Drew,” he mocked his brother, “you sent me on a wild goose chase to the backwoods of Pennsylvania to pick them up. And now you have me hooking up a litterbox to your toilet.”

  With the roll of his eyes, Drew chose to ignore his brother again. But that beer was looking ever more enticing by the second. “And I actually bought two of those five hundred dollar litter boxes—the other one is for the bath downstairs,” Drew explained. “They eliminate the waste with every use.”

  “You’re too damn lazy to scoop a cat shitter?” Adam winced as he maneuvered around, his fingers toying with the tubes. “What about the poop? Where the hell does that go?”

  “It, um, liquefies it...somehow...”

  “I would find another fiancé if I were Miss P. Some Valentine’s gifts! Maimed kittens...liquid poop...” Then, in Drew-fashion, Adam smacked his head against the toilet as he returned to tighten up his handiwork. “Shit!”

  Temptation on overload, Drew had already lifted the beer bottle to his lips and muttered out the corner of his mouth, “Asshole...”

  “You can install the other pooper scooper yourself, you Tony-winning, dick-headed, lazy excuse for a cat dad—”

  Raising his hand, Drew cut Adam off. “I did not win the Tony yet,” he said. “Don’t jinx me.”

  “But you’re fully admitting that you’re a dickhead.”

  “Adam?”

  “Yes, big brother?”

  “Go to hell,” Drew snapped. “But not before you’re finished there…”

  # # #

  Onward, Maxine trudged into the building. With his back to the revolving door, Adam didn’t notice when she dragged herself into the lobby, kicking the snow from her boots.

  Adam had to talk to everyone, and he was far too busy yapping away with that lobby attendant who just made her skin crawl. Drew promised he’d speak to the board about him. He just hadn’t had the time to make his case with eight shows a week, a wedding to plan and one day off.

  With a she-devilish grin, Maxine literally had to stand on her toes to reach out to tap Adam’s shoulder. “Whatcha doing here
?”

  Startled, Adam nearly tripped over himself as he turned around. Flustered didn’t begin to define his demeanor.

  “Why, Penelope!” was all he could manage as he swept his arms through the air then pulled her close for one of his bear hugs. “Where did you come from?”

  “I live here. With your brother. My fiancé. Dr. Drew. Remember him?”

  Jumping up and down, Adam nearly shouted, “I sure do!”

  From behind Adam’s broad shoulders, she felt the eyes of that damn lobby attendant scoping them while he eavesdropped on every second of their conversation. “And what brings you to the neighborhood?”

  “Well, I just had to wish my brother a Happy V.D.!”

  “In person?” she challenged. “A text doesn’t work for you?”

  Scrambling, he shuffled his boots against the marble floor. She was the tiniest person ever to make the giant that was Adam McKenzie nervous. “Not when you love a brother as much as I love Drew.”

  Somehow, Maxine had to make her way to the public elevator—not the private car that carried her directly to the penthouse. Her bags were getting heavy. While her curiosities ran wild, she had to cut Adam short, regardless of his bullshit excuses for being in their lobby on one of the worst winter days to be seen that season.

  “Guess you’re leaving now to head back to Jillian?”

  “Yes!” he said, relief pouring forth from his voice. “And I need to go right now before this storm gets worse…”

  “Of course, you do!” Maxine agreed as Adam rushed past her to get to the door. “And Happy Valentine’s Day, Future Brother-in-Law!”

  “Back atcha, P! And keep my brother in line. Give him a good Valentine’s spanking or something….”

  She just had to know how the hell Adam figured into whatever surprise Drew had in store. The fight with herself to curtail her laughter continued on as she headed upstairs. Down that familiar hallway on the twenty-fifth floor, she hauled her goodies. Once she locked the door, Maxine began to panic.