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  AN INDECENT ARRANGEMENT

  PART I

  STEPHANIE JULIAN

  Copyright

  Stephanie Julian

  Published by Stephanie Julian

  Copyright 2015. Stephanie Julian.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to a legitimate bookseller to purchase your own copy.

  Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. To obtain permission to excerpt portions of the text, please contact the author at [email protected].

  All characters in this book are fiction and figments of the author’s imagination.

  Chapter One

  “Seriously. You’re stalking her? Buddy, you need a new hobby.”

  Max Burdanov stifled a sigh and refused to rise to his friend’s bait.

  “I’m seeing a movie. Is that a crime?”

  Jesse stepped up to his side as Max waited in a ridiculously long line for snacks at the concession counter.

  “Nope, not a crime.”

  Max heard the smirk in Jesse’s voice and gritted his teeth. “You know you don’t need to be here, right?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  Max bit back another sigh as he reached the counter. “I guess this means you’re seeing the movie, too. You want Milk Duds or M&Ms?”

  “You know I don’t eat that shit. Get me popcorn. So what torture am I being subjected to?”

  Max ordered from the girl behind the counter who looked like she was being tortured with dull knives as she got their order.

  “I have no idea what the movie is. Probably some chick flick.”

  Jesse grunted. “Great.”

  “You can leave.”

  Jesse lifted an eyebrow at him. “Uh-huh.”

  Max released his pent-up sigh as he paid for their snacks and shoved a soda and the bag of popcorn at Jesse then picked up his own soda and box of Junior Mints. “We’ve had no trouble.”

  “Which doesn’t mean it isn’t coming.”

  Max headed toward the theater where the movie he really didn’t want to see was playing, Jesse right behind him. “I know that. I just…” He stopped just before entering the theater. “You’re right. This is a mistake.”

  Jesse’s hand in the middle of his back forced him to keep walking.

  “Christ, you’re easy.” Jesse huffed. “It’s been six months. Loosen the reins a little. You want to stalk the girl? Go for it. Just don’t be a pussy about it.”

  Max curbed the urge to elbow Jesse in the stomach. He didn’t want to draw any attention. As far as anyone here knew, they were two guys seeing a movie. Nothing out of the ordinary.

  Luckily, this theater loaded from the back so Mary Alice Dubrosky wouldn’t see him. Not that he expected her to care that he was here. Hell, the girl probably hadn’t thought about him since she’d seen him weeks ago.

  He, however, had become obsessed. And that was dangerous. Mainly for Mary Alice. But mostly to Max’s sanity.

  Cutting right into the half-empty theater’s back row, they sat at the very end, backs to the wall.

  The teenager in the center of the row, his arm around a girl, gave him a dirty look.

  Sorry, buddy. Hate to cockblock you, but I’ve got a woman to stalk.

  Max caught Jesse grinning at the guy, who quickly turned away.

  “Don’t scare the natives.” Max settled into his chair, elbowing Jesse’s arm off the armrest between the seats.

  “Buzzkill.”

  “Fuck you.”

  Jesse laughed and Max saw the two women three rows in front of them glance over their shoulders. And linger long enough to smile at him and Jesse.

  Max acknowledged them with a nod then looked away. He had no interest.

  He and Jesse got a lot of double takes when they were together. Max knew he wasn’t hard on the eyes but Jesse… Jesse looked like he belonged on a fucking billboard selling underwear.

  Jesse had taken more than his share of shit from the other guys in their organization for his exotic looks, thanks to his Latino mother and half-Asian father, but now that he and Max had gone out on their own… Jesse didn’t take shit anymore.

  Max glanced at his best friend and realized Jesse hadn’t even seen the women checking them out. Totally oblivious as he tossed popcorn in his mouth.

  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the women roll their eyes at each other. Max figured he and Jesse had just been labeled gay.

  Not true but they did have a closer relationship than most men ever would. Yes, they had sex together but always with a woman between them.

  “So who’s she with?” Jesse slumped into his seat, stretching his legs out in front of him. “And holy shit. When did they start making theaters with leg room and rocking chairs?”

  “How the hell do I know who she’s with? And I don’t think I’ve been in a movie theater in more than a decade.”

  “Hmm. I think the last movie we saw was in high school so that’s at least thirteen years. Want me to see if I can identify her?”

  Max wanted to say no but he was an idiot so… “Yeah. Sure.”

  “I’m surprised you don’t know already.” Jesse tapped away on his phone. “How long have you been stalking her?”

  Not rising to Jesse’s bait took a concerted effort of will so Max popped Junior Mints in his mouth.

  “Bethann Riedel,” Jesse finally said. “BFF since first grade.”

  Max turned to Jesse with a grimace. “What the fuck is ‘BFF’?”

  “Best friend forever.” Jesse grinned. “You know, like us.”

  Max gave Jesse the finger and turned back to the screen as the lights dimmed and the previews started but he breathed a silent sigh of relief.

  Jesse seemed more like his old self every day. He’d been in a heightened state of awareness since he and Max had taken over parts of Mickey’s former empire. Since they lived together, Max knew Jesse hadn’t been sleeping more than a couple of hours a night.

  Max tried not to make it obvious that he was worried about Jesse but…he was worried about Jesse.

  And he knew Jesse was worried about him.

  Especially because, yeah, he’d been stalking a certain redhead.

  Christ, he really was an idiot. He shouldn’t be here. He should be anywhere but here. But for the past six months, since the moment he’d met her, he’d been obsessed.

  What the hell was it about her?

  She wasn’t conventionally beautiful. She was so sweetly adorable, she should come with a diabetes warning. He wasn’t sure if it was the copper hair that fell to the middle of her back in loose waves or the pale green eyes or the button nose or the full pink lips that he wanted to crush under his.

  Or watch as she used them to suck off Jesse while Max slid into her from behind.

  Fuck.

  He shifted in his chair, trying not to make it obvious he needed to relieve the pressure of his hard-on.

  Of course Jesse noticed, his almost silent huff of laughter enough for Max to give him the finger. Again.

  Now he heard Jesse’s laughter above the ear-splitting volume for a preview for the next superhero blockbuster and then another for an action film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Hell, Jesse might actually like that one.

  But he knew they’d never get to see it unless Mary Alice decided she was going and—

  Fuck. This was such a bad fucking idea.

  He didn’t have time for a woman unless it was to reliev
e stress for a night. Mary Alice wasn’t that type of girl. Hell, he hadn’t spent more than a few minutes at a time with her and he knew that for a fact.

  Then why the hell had he followed her to a fucking movie theater just so he could sit twenty rows behind her? He didn’t even remember making a conscious decision to follow her.

  He’d been driving by Tristan and Adam’s office with the intention of stopping to talk to Adam about something. Or had that just been an excuse? He didn’t even know now.

  Then he’d seen Mary Alice leave the building. He’d watched her walk into the nearest parking garage, watched her drive out a few minutes later.

  The next thing he knew, he was following her. He hadn’t thought about doing anything more than making sure she got home okay. And when she’d parked in the lot that was nowhere near her apartment, he couldn’t help himself. He pulled in a few cars behind her.

  Meanwhile, Jesse had used the GPS tracker on his phone to find Max.

  And now, here they all were.

  Which didn’t mean a goddamn thing except they were in the same room.

  So what the hell are you doing here?

  Damn good question.

  Shifting in his seat, he tried to ignore the obvious answer but Max hated lying to himself.

  They were here because the last time he and Jesse had had a woman between them, Max’s mind had been elsewhere. He’d gone through the motions and got off but the woman moaning in his arms wasn’t the woman he wanted.

  And Jesse had known. Which was why the woman that night had been a redhead. It just hadn’t been the right redhead.

  The theater went completely dark and Max tensed before he could stop.

  God damn it to hell.

  He’d been to enough therapy to know why he reacted the way he did. And he knew he might never get over it because childhood traumas were difficult to overcome, more therapy, blah, fucking blah…

  In the next second, the screen erupted in brilliant color and sound as the film started and he began to breathe normally again.

  He watched the first couple of minutes, long enough to figure out the movie was a sci-fi saga full of spaceships and aliens. Jesse would love it. Max would rather watch a political thriller than a film where things blew up every ten minutes.

  So he returned to staring at the back of Mary Alice’s head. He had the perfect view. Which was pretty fucking ridiculous.

  He wanted her to be here between them, his arm around her shoulders, listening to her whisper in his ear about the film. Or the weather. Or anything at all.

  He remembered the last time he’d seen her, last week at Adam and Tristan’s office. He’d stopped to discuss a couple of issues with Adam and Tristan. After Adam’s father and uncle had handed over the reins of part of their operation to Max and Jesse, Adam and Tris had become valued sounding boards. Adam, in particular, had a way of looking at things that Max sometimes didn’t see.

  And Tristan was a total boy scout who provided a completely different outlook. Which came in handy because Max and Jesse had worked for one of Philadelphia’s biggest criminal enterprises before trying to go legit.

  Max had a lot to deal with lately. He’d known he’d have to wade through a lot of shit to make this work, and he’d thought he was up to the challenge. Thought he’d understood that he’d have to give up a hell of a lot in order to make this work.

  He hadn’t expected to be blindsided by a tiny redhead who made his dick hard and stirred every protective instinct he had to protect her from the cold, hard world.

  The world he lived in, which was no place for a woman like her.

  God damn it.

  What a fucking exercise in futility.

  When the hell was this film going to be over so he could leave and get the hell as far away from her as he could?

  Jesse was right. He put her in danger by being here. Hell, anyone in his immediate vicinity was potentially in danger if someone decided to try to take him out.

  There were at least five people he could name off the top of his head who’d be happy to get rid of him. Even though he’d made it clear he wanted to go legit, he knew at least three men from the Philly underworld who’d take him out just because he might pose a threat down the road. And they wouldn’t care if there was collateral damage.

  Max would care. He might act like a stone-cold bastard most of the time but he wasn’t. Not completely.

  And he wasn’t going back. He’d spent all of his life on the wrong side of the law. He was sick of looking over his shoulder, wondering when the ax was going to fall and whether it would be his neck on the block or Jesse’s.

  And if anything happened to Jesse—

  Popcorn kernels hit him in the face and he turned to Jesse with a what-the-fuck look.

  Jesse didn’t even bother to return his gaze. “For chrissake, Max, shut your brain off for two fucking hours.”

  Then Jesse went back to shoveling popcorn into his mouth, gaze glued to the screen, looking totally relaxed.

  Max took a deep breath and tried to unkink his muscles. But he couldn’t completely relax. Neither of them could afford to let their guard down. Either one of them could be in danger at any time.

  Probably don’t want to think about that too much.

  He glanced at Jesse, noting how intently he stared at the screen. Jesse had always loved movies. They’d taken him away from the reality of the drug-addicted mother who’d adored him but couldn’t stay sober long enough to make sure he had food and a roof over his head. Or from the grandparents who held the fact of his existence against him and blamed him for his mom’s addiction.

  Max had retreated into books when his stepfather sank into a bottle and came out swinging on the other side. Or when his mother got in the way of those swings and ended up in the hospital. Or after Max ended up in the hospital when he didn’t move fast enough to protect her.

  Jesse had brought him books then, either taken from the library or stolen from the supermarket. Neither of them had had money to buy things like books or movie tickets back then. Hell, they hadn’t had money for much of anything. They’d learned what they’d needed to do to survive. To thrive.

  They’d risen above. They’d continue to do it now. He’d take them legitimate or die trying.

  Which wasn’t just a saying.

  So there was no way in hell he should be thinking about Mary Alice. He should be looking over his shoulder for an attack. Watching Jesse’s back like Jesse watched his. No distractions. They’d only get him and Jesse hurt. Or dead.

  So when did they get to enjoy legitimacy?

  Fuck.

  Silencing a sigh, he tried to take Jesse’s advice and shut off his brain. He’d missed too much of the movie to pick up the plot so he went back to staring at the back of Mary Alice’s head. In the bright glow from the screen, he saw her turn to her friend and whisper something in her ear that made the other girl nod and laugh.

  He’d never heard Mary Alice laugh. Hell, she’d never smiled at him. Whenever he and Jesse showed up at Tristan and Adam’s office, she scowled then wiped it away and pretended like she didn’t care that he was standing in front of her desk.

  If she found out he was here…

  “Come on,” Jesse muttered in his ear. “We better get out of here before she sees us.”

  Max flipped his attention back to the screen, where a man and woman kissed as a star burst into flame behind them. Could’ve been a planet or a spaceship or the freaking Death Star. Hell, he didn’t have a clue.

  “Don’t you want to see the end?”

  Jesse shrugged. “Already have. Watched the bootleg a week ago.”

  Figures.

  Sliding out of their seats and out of the theater, they headed for the exit.

  Since Max had parked his car in the same garage Mary Alice had used, they’d have to wait until she left before he and Jesse attempted their escape.

  The August heat covered them like a blanket as they stepped out onto the sidewalk. They b
oth wore slacks and long-sleeved shirts. Max had his rolled up to his elbows, exposing the stylized lily tattoo on his inner right forearm. Jesse wore an unstructured jacket. The better to conceal his shoulder holster.

  Jesse never left the house without his gun. Someday, Max hoped, he wouldn’t have to.

  By unspoken agreement, they crossed the street to a coffee shop, where Jesse ordered the largest cup of the strongest brew they had. Max settled for a bottle of water. The coffee would negatively impact the effect of the alcohol he planned to have when he got back to the house they owned in Northern Liberties. They’d been rehabbing what had been two separate buildings into one for the past several year.

  Max didn’t think they’d ever be done.

  A few minutes passed before Mary Alice and her friend left the theater. They must’ve stayed for the credits. Why the hell would anyone sit through a scrolling list of names?

  He turned to ask Jesse but the words stuck in his throat when he realized the girls weren’t heading for the parking garage.

  No, they were headed in the opposite direction. Toward the clubs.

  Shit.

  Jesse sighed. “Let’s go.”

  “You don’t like her, do you?”

  They got up to follow the girls, Max’s hands shoved in his pockets, Jesse’s hanging free at his sides. In case he needed to get to his weapon.

  Jesse continued to stare straight ahead. “I never said that.”

  “No, you didn’t. But you don’t need to.”

  “So you’re a mind reader now?”

  “Yours? Yeah.”

  Huffing, Jesse shook his head. “You don’t have a fucking clue.”

  The girls walked like they had a purpose, arms linked, laughing. Mary Alice’s bright hair swung down her back. He wanted to wrap it around his hand and tug her head back until she stared into his eyes. He wanted her to see him coming when he kissed her. He wouldn’t let her up for air until she was breathless.

  Then he’d turn her so he could strip off that clingy blue top and skin-tight jeans while Jesse—

  Fuck.

  If Jesse didn’t want her, there was no sense fantasizing. And he’d had some fucking awesome fantasies lately, all starring her and him…and Jesse.