Landon's Obsession: An Endless Series: Book 3 (Series 3) (3 page)

     She strode in to sit down on the settee next to my
father with a drawn out sigh. “Have you put any more thought into working for
your father this summer?”

     I gave a sigh of my own, but my father answered for me.
“Nadine, let the boy enjoy his last care-free summer.”

     Mother frowned faintly at Dad’s chiding. “I just think
he should start showing some interest in the business.”

     Dad reached over and patted her knee. “He has lots of
time to learn the business, but his care-free days are coming to a close, so
let him have his fun.”

     Her lips pursed in disapproval. “Kristopher is
twenty-one and seems to be stuck in the fun zone.”

     Dad grimaced. “Yes, well, Kris is a completely
different matter. He doesn’t really have any aptitude for business.” 

     “He needs to do something, Daniel.” She snipped.

     I was starting to think this conversation needed to
take place during a time I wasn’t in the room.

     Dad sighed heavily. “He is doing something, honey. He’s
going to college, and I’m hoping he finds his calling there, but if it comes
down to it he’ll most likely end up working under Landon.” He gave me a
sympathetic grimace.

     I gave my dad a half smile in return, while inwardly
groaning at the thought of that future plan. My dad knew Kris was a bit of a
screw up, but he was hoping his oldest son would grow out of it.

     I wasn’t all that close with my brother. He was three
years older and we didn’t have anything in common. I was an athlete, on the lacrosse
team, and that had been one of my main areas of focus, besides school work and
partying. My brother hadn’t shown any interest in anything
besides
getting in trouble and partying, and had nearly flunked out of high school. Kris
had even been in trouble for drugs and DUI’s, but my parent’s influence and
money had gotten him out of it. I wasn’t a boy scout by any means, but I had
graduated with honors and stayed clean, and off the roads when I’d been
drinking.

     My parent’s had to donate to the University of Virginia to get Kris in. I’d been accepted on a partial scholarship, which my parent’s had
declined so it could be given to someone else who didn’t have the money for
college.

     My brother wasn’t a bad guy, but he was definitely a
fuckup.

     The anger that had started to settle in my stomach
reared its head again, and not just because of my brother.

     Standing up, I stretched. “Not that I wouldn’t love to
talk about my future babysitting responsibilities, but I need to get some food
inside me before my stomach revolts.”

     “Landon!” Mother glared at me in censure.

     “Rita’s got chicken and dumplings on. It’s probably
ready by now.” My dad waggled his eyebrows as we both ignored her.  

     My stomach immediately grumbled in response causing my
dad to chuckle.   

     Mother’s face twisted in revulsion. “The cholesterol
and fat in that dish will lead to obesity and an early grave, Dan. I don’t know
how you can eat it.”

     “It’s delicious, and Rita’s been living on it for
longer than we have and she looks great.” My dad argued. 

     “Well, she’s younger than you so give it time.” She
snapped back.

     My mom didn’t clarify that Rita was also younger than
her, and I think in a way, she was resentful of that fact, and at how good looking
Rita was for a thirty-something black woman-slash-housekeeper.

     My mom was no slouch in the looks department, but she
spent a lot of money to get that way; hair coloring, spas, skin doctors, and she
was religious about working out and eating right. At forty-eight she was
fighting tooth and nail to look a decade younger.

     However, I think all my mom’s efforts and sacrificing
was in some way taking its toll because she could be quite the grumpy ass, or maybe
she was going through menopause for an excessively long time. Surprisingly, my
dad handled mother’s moods with aplomb, not taking them too seriously, but then
he did handle a multi-billion dollar business and
all
that came with it,
so I guess it wasn’t too difficult to believe.       

     “I think I’ll go take a stroll through the kitchen, see
what I can scrounge up.” I stated, walking from the room letting him deal with
her mood today.

     As I walked toward the kitchen my eyes again had a will
of their own, seeking her out. It was becoming almost compulsory. I don’t know
why I bothered though. There was no way we could hook up, and I also had to
stop watching her in doorways. It was becoming a little too creepy.

     The new maid most likely wasn’t working today. My mother
didn’t like extra staff hanging out on the weekends, cleaning, while they were
home. She wanted all that done when they were gone during the week. We only
kept one or two servants on the weekends, and they were mostly for fetching
purposes. Since the she didn’t speak English she probably…

     Wait!...Who was she communicating with? Did Rita speak
Spanish? My father did, but I was pretty damn certain my mother didn’t. It
seemed highly unlikely that she would hire someone that she couldn’t order
around.

     My thoughts came up short, as well as my steps, when I
walked in the kitchen and saw my new obsession standing at the kitchen counter.
Whoa…not obsession, more like…curiosity.

     Her back was to me, giving me another view at that
perfect ass, and she was washing dishes…wearing ear bud’s…again. If she hadn’t
taken them out that first day I would think they were permanently attached.

     Wait…why was she washing dishes? We had a dishwasher.
Did she not know?

     Stepping up behind her I gave a tap to her shoulder, gently,
but she still jumped slightly in surprise before turning to look at me with the
most beautiful smile I’d ever seen. However, it slipped away quickly when her
gaze landed on me.

     Damn, talk about a hit to the ego.

     She looked up at me with wide, wary questioning eyes as
she tugged her buds out of her ears. I heard the faint sounds of music coming
from them, and it sounded like…Ed Sheeran. Looked like just because she
couldn’t speak English it didn’t mean she didn’t like the music.

     Damn, she smelled good, and she had the most beautiful
eyes. I’d never thought brown eyes were all that pretty before, but hers were
so dark, and mysterious. I wondered what they’d look like when she was aroused.
Would they darken even further?

     Swallowing at my thoughts, I stepped away and walked
over to the dishwasher. Pulling the door open I pointed. “Dishwasher.” I
pointed to the dishes in the sink and then back at the machine. “You put the
dishes in here to wash them.”

     I wasn’t positive but it looked like she was trying to
hold back a smile. I was just pleased to see that the wary look had at least
disappeared from her eyes. I didn’t like her looking at me that way.

     She gave me a nod, with a curious head tilt. “
Lo sé,
pero es mâs rápido de esta manera
.” A small smile curled her lips and she
turned back to washing the dishes, giving me a side glance under her lashes.

     I was pretty certain she understood me, but it appeared
she wanted to wash them manually. I headed over to the crock pot and words
spilled from my mouth involuntarily. “I guess you think it would be faster that
way. I never really understood the concept of dishwashers myself. You’re
supposed to clean them before you put them in the machine. Aren’t they mostly
clean after that. Why not just spend the extra three seconds to finish the
job?”

     I heard a cough from behind me and turned to find the
girl smiling, her head cocked my way, but at my look she turned away quickly
and resumed washing. I frowned. Did she find me talking to her amusing since we
didn’t really understand each other?

     Grabbing a bowl I ladled in some chicken and dumplings,
and then filling a glass with milk I sat down at the island counter in a bar
stool. The girl in my sights.

     While eating I mused out loud. “I’ve been finding it
strange that my mother would hire someone that didn’t speak English.” The girl
turned partially at my voice but didn’t look at me. “She would want to be able
to boss you around. It crossed my mind that she allowed Rita to hire you.”

     The girl spun around looking confused. “Rita?”

     She knew that name since Rita was her immediate
superior. “Yeah, Rita.” I nodded and smiled, feeling weirdly pleased at such an
insignificant break in our communication. “I assume that Rita must know Spanish
and she’s the one that speaks to you. Although, it’s still surprising that my mother
allowed her to hire you because she has control issues with the staff…and
family…and whatever else in her sphere.”

     I snorted feeling like I was still understating her
issues. I always thought it was a good thing that I’d never had a sister
because my mother would have completely cowed her. When Kris and I were younger
she’d been a real terror, though still loving…in her oppressive way.

     I stared at the girl’s mystified face. “My mother’s not
a bad person, irritating and annoying maybe, but she’s just…a power unto
herself.” I don’t know why I felt the need to explain my mother’s behavior when
the girl didn’t even know what I was saying. I was getting tired of thinking of
the girl as ‘the girl’. “Hey, what’s your name?” I pointed to myself. “Landon.”
I pointed to her and raised my brow in question.

     Her confusion cleared and she pointed to me, those lush
lips of hers curling into a stunning smile. “Landon.”

     I nodded, leaning forward, feeling like I was breaking
a gigantic language barrier. “
Sĭ,
Landon.” I pointed at her again.
“What is your name?”

     Her smile spread as she pointed at herself. “
Mi
nombre es
, Maya.”

     Hearing her name, seeing her smile, having this
somewhat one-sided conversation with her, was clearing out the anger that I’d
been carrying around since finding Crissy in bed with me this morning.

     “Maya,” I repeated, smiling. “That’s a really pretty
name. For a really pretty girl.”

     She frowned suddenly, and pushed herself back from the
counter to return to the sink. I thought I heard her mumbling something but
couldn’t hear what it was, and wouldn’t have understood it anyway.

     “What did I say?” I grumbled. “Did you understand the
word ‘pretty’? You probably hear that word a lot. Have you had some problems
with gringo’s calling you pretty and not leaving you alone?” Maya turned at the
word ‘gringo’s, giving me another curious look. The thought that she’d been possibly
harassed didn’t sit well with me. I still thought she looked rather young, and
sure, I’d wanted to get in her pants, but I wouldn’t have forced anything. As a
rule I didn’t have to because of who I was.

     On the other hand, I knew a lot of guys who thought
they were entitled to whatever they wanted because of who they were.

     “I don’t know why I’m asking you a question you can’t
even answer, but it makes me angry that you might have been harassed because of
how you look, and maybe because you can’t speak English. I know guys can be
assholes, hell I know I’m one, but there are just as many bitches out there as
well. I’ve come across a multitude of both.” I groused.

     She silently watched me with a line between her brow
while drying and stacking dishes.

     “You know I deal with a lot of harassment myself,
because of my parent’s wealth. Girls hang off me like white on rice thinking
they will be the one to catch my eye giving them a one way ticket to billions.
I know some people would say ‘boo-hoo, poor you’ at having girls chasing after
me in hordes, but it can get rather irritating.” I don’t know why I was
spilling my guts, but it was kind of cathartic. “Just this morning I woke up
and found a girl in my bed at my friend’s house. I’d locked the door the night
before but she’d jimmied it somehow. I mean, what crazy ass food has she been
eating? Who does that?”

     Maya had turned away to put away the dishes in the
cupboards halfway through my testimony, but that didn’t matter. Her silent
presence was enough. “I’d slept with her regularly before so maybe I can take
some of the blame, but she’d told me she knew the score. But that wasn’t the
first time something like that had happened. I went home with this one chick
who’d come onto me heavily throughout the night. When I went to suit myself up
for sex she tried to push me into using the condoms she’d bought. Her insistent
behavior instantly put me alert so I took one into the bathroom and ran it
under water. I found out that it had a hole in it. Wanting to see how crazy she
was I checked five others. They all leaked. She’d poked holes in all the
packages with a needle hoping she’d get pregnant by me.” A shiver of dread
skittered down my spine as I remembered at how close a call that had been.

     “There are some sneaky bitches out there.” I mumbled.

     Maya moved to the refrigerator and pulled out a pie
plate. Oh, man, was that Rita’s banana crème pie? Pulling a dish down she cut
out a slice and set it in front of me with a smile…a smile that almost looked
commiserating. Maybe she could hear the self-pity in my voice. Not that I
pitied myself. I wasn’t so narcissistic that I thought I was the only one with
problems, or realized that some people had it way worse than me.

     She took my empty bowl over to the sick, washed it,
dried it, and put it away as I devoured the pie. I watched her, feeling a tug
in my chest I’d never experienced before. I finished the pie in no time and she
grabbed that to wash it as well.

     I sat there knowing I needed to leave so she could
finish whatever she had on her schedule, but I was having a difficult time forcing
myself up. She was beautiful to look at and easy to talk to, even if it was
one-sided, not something I could say about
any
other women.