She shook her head. “We’re too young.”
His frustration grew. What was she saying? “Don’t you love me?”
When she looked up at him again, he thought the pain in her eyes might shatter him. “That isn’t the issue. Of course I love you. More than you’ll ever know.”
“Then it wasn’t a mistake.”
She straightened, shaking off the hand he put on her wrist, and in the next second she changed to a Maggie he had never seen before. Her face closed. Her eyes darkened. Her shoulders squared. “We were drunk. It was a mistake. And we need to get it annulled as soon as possible.”
Annulled…
Her words cut into him, deep and final. He followed her gaze across the desert, watching as the sun warped the sand into liquid gold in the distance.
Maybe that’s the way life really is
, he thought
. Maybe it always looks better from far away. It’s when you get up close that you get burned by the truth.
He closed his eyes.
“If that’s what you want.” He couldn’t bear to look at her.
“It’s best for both of us.”
Jack didn’t agree, not with any of it, but he let her go. He let Maggie walk across the parking lot. He let her find an attorney who could process the paperwork that day. He let her sleep on the flight home, and he let her have the space she said she needed when they arrived.
It was the biggest mistake he’d ever made.
11:00 p.m.
Maggie stood in the enormous foyer of the Hotel Victoria. She clenched her elbows in her palms, hugging herself, and tried to burn away the sensation of Jack’s hands in her hair. She tried to ignore the tingling in her lips and the memory of his tongue exploring places it shouldn’t have. She couldn’t. She could barely draw a full breath. Her legs wobbled beneath her, those precious new shoes doing nothing to keep her steady. She felt as though she’d been set on fire, with emotions of every shape and color rippling under her skin.
Dammit, Jack. Why now? Why tonight? Why after all this time
?
Outside, the rain collected in puddles and splashed against waiting taxis. Lightning scorched the sky every few minutes, and weak thunder continued to bounce off the buildings. Car lights shone through the wet glass as Maggie stared into Boston’s darkness. A police car streaked by, followed by an ambulance. A more morose night in June she couldn’t remember.
“Dillon’s not coming,” she said after a minute. “He would’ve been here by now.”
“Maybe he’s caught in traffic,” Neve said.
Maggie shook her head as a stone settled on her heart.
I knew this was a bad idea. I knew he wouldn’t be here
. All she wanted to do now was give up and go home. She’d played her last card, done her best to think of a way to get the money, and it hadn’t worked out. Worse, she’d run headlong into a shadow from the past, someone who reminded her of all the things she still didn’t have in her life. Passion. Stability. A second half to match up with. Damn.
Well, forget it. Maggie squeezed her eyes shut for a second. Nothing she could do about it now, except move forward. In the morning, she’d call that software company and see what kind of offer they would make her for the house. At least that way, she could keep her business. Maybe. If she had any clients left.
I wonder if I can work out of my car. I wonder if I can
live
in my car.
The thought depressed her beyond belief.
“There you are.” Eden strode into the foyer, a glass of wine in each hand. “Hiding out?” She offered Maggie a glass. “Here. Thought you might need this.”
“I‘m not hiding out. Just getting ready to go.”
“Why? Because of Jack?”
“No, because I’m tired. And because this whole idea was a mistake. Dillon isn’t here, and it’s stupid to stay and wait for him.”
And because if I see Jack again, I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep my hands off him. I can’t go down that road again. I just can’t.
Eden clicked her tongue. “Forget about Dillon. Didn’t I tell you I could get the money? I talked to Kurt. He’s making a couple of calls.” She looked at the slender gold watch on her wrist. “Speaking of which, I should find him and see what’s taking so long.”
Maggie’s hopes yo-yoed up again. “Really?” She wondered for a moment just who this Kurt guy was, and what Eden had promised him in exchange for the fifteen thousand dollars. The foyer door opened, and a small group of guests hurried in out of the rain. Maggie glanced at the car she’d already asked the valet to pull around. Her five-year old Honda with the dent in one door sat just beyond the hotel’s canopy, sandwiched between a BMW and a Lexus SUV.
It doesn’t belong here
.
Neither do I.
But she supposed she should tell the valet to wait a few minutes longer, just in case Kurt Whoever-He-Was did come through with the money.
“I’ll be right back,” she told Neve.
Maggie stepped into the rain.
Maybe I really can keep the house. Maybe I can borrow the money and work out some kind of payment plan with the bank. And if I do get everything squared away, I’ll make changes. I’ll do things differently. I promise.
She wondered exactly who she was making promises to—herself? Neve? A vague future? Or the big guy upstairs? She decided she couldn’t worry about the details.
She’d get an accountant and straighten out all her finances, so she didn’t ever end up in this situation again. She’d move Mom into the house with her, hire a nurse or something. That had to be cheaper than a full-time home, right? And Jack…well, if she could get through the next few minutes without seeing him again, she could leave and pretend tonight had never happened at all. She could relegate the dance, the kiss, and the memories stirring inside her to the dark corner of her heart where secrets stayed safely tucked away. Maybe she’d give Bradley Torrance another try. Or ask Andrew to set her up with one of his buddies.
With possibilities whirling in her mind, Maggie didn’t see the taxi come whipping around the hotel’s circular drive. She didn’t hear Neve’s cry of warning behind her. She only focused on the smudge of streetlights down the block as she walked toward the valet stand. She didn’t realize she’d stepped off the curb. She didn’t hear the horn. She didn’t feel the rush of air.
She would have walked directly into the path of the errant vehicle if Jack hadn’t wrapped his arms around Maggie, if he hadn’t pulled her out of the way and caught her when her legs gave out beneath her.
“What the hell are you doing?” His voice was rough, almost angry. Jack yanked Maggie back onto the sidewalk so hard that her heels dragged across the wet cement. A horn blared past them. One elbow twisted awkwardly behind her back. Rain dotted her dress and she felt Jack’s breath on her neck.
“I’m okay. Take it easy.” She struggled to stand on her own and found that her legs were shaking. “What happened?” She couldn’t put it together for a minute. Her heart jack hammered inside her chest, and she put one hand on her breastbone to try and calm it.
“You almost stepped in front of that cab is what happened.” Jack pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and mopped his forehead. “Jesus Christ, you scared the hell out of me.”
Maggie looked around. The valet attendant stared at her. A few faces peered through the glass of the hotel doors. Ten feet away, a dark-skinned man climbed from behind the wheel of his cab and glared in her direction.
God, what a mess I make
.
Everywhere I go
.
She turned back to Jack. “What are you doing out here?”
“Looking for you.”
“Stop.” She tried to move away, even as he reached gentle fingers toward her face and pushed wet strands of hair from her eyes.
“What, you thought jumping in front of a cab was easier than talking to me about what happened in there?”
Nothing happened in there
, she wanted to say.
Just a mistake
. She opened her mouth but couldn’t seem to get the words in the right order.
“Mags, are you trying to scare us all to death?” Eden squirmed past Jack and took her friend by the arm.
Maggie blew out a long breath. “I guess. Just wasn’t paying attention.” Gooseflesh broke out on her bare arms and she shivered.
“Come on. You need a drink.” Eden wrapped an arm around Maggie’s waist.
“No, really, I’m—”
“Well, I do, anyway, and at the very least, you’re going to sit there and watch me drink it.” Eden steered her back toward the hotel, rattling off sentences Maggie barely heard. A pale-faced Neve waited for her inside the foyer. Jack lagged behind, and she thought she heard him apologizing to the cab driver.
Back in the hotel, Maggie sank into the first chair she saw. Eden dashed to the bar. Neve tapped a single fingertip against her bottom lip, and worry creased her face. Maggie tried to rub away the hot spears of pain jabbing through both temples. She let herself relax against the chair, let the smooth velvet melt against her bare back. Then Jack stepped into the foyer with a funny, tender expression on his face, and she lost her breath all over again.
I can’t talk to him about this. I can’t. That near miss? That was a sign if ever I saw one. I might as well get struck by lightning, or have a plane write the words
Go Back Home
across the sky. I’m not supposed to be here.
The universe worked in mysterious ways, she always told Neve. It let you know which direction you were supposed to take, in case you ever got stuck. You just had to pay attention to the signs.
Jack walked over to Maggie and put a hand on her shoulder. She felt herself bend under the weight of it, felt the pulse that jumped from his skin to hers.
I didn’t mean it,
she was about to say.
I didn’t know what I was doing
. But before she could utter a word, a tall blonde walked into the foyer, mouth set and blue eyes icy. She looked as though she belonged on a magazine cover, Maggie thought at first, with all that hair and a designer dress and a body to match. But when the woman got a little closer, Maggie changed her mind. Unlike the models on the newsstands, this woman looked irritated. Cold. Empty-eyed. As though she might tell the photographer what he was doing wrong just before she ripped the camera from his hands and took the pictures herself.
Maggie waited for the woman to push open the door, to step out into the night and disappear. A few guests had already begun to trickle out. But she didn’t. Instead, she approached Jack.
“Paige, this isn’t the time.” He pulled his hands away from Maggie as if he’d been burned. His voice was low and impatient.
Paige? He knows her
? Maggie re-crossed her legs and tried to shrink into the fabric of the chair. What the hell was going on here?
“We aren’t finished talking.” The blonde’s nostrils flared as she spoke.
“I am. I don’t want to do this now. Not here.”
Maggie tried to decipher the tone in his voice, the looks flashing between them. A business partner? Doubtful. His date? A barb of jealousy dug into her soul.
Jack cleared his throat, and Paige turned. She looked at Maggie and Neve. “I’m sorry. Have we met?” Her voice turned a fraction less icy. “Are they clients of yours?”
“Ah, no.” But he didn’t introduce them.
“Well, hello there.” She didn’t wait for Jack to say anything else. “I’m Paige Webster.” She raised two fingers in a sort of hello, a half-greeting as if they weren’t important enough to warrant anything more. “Nice dress, by the way,” she added, indicating Maggie’s gown, but Maggie thought she caught in her voice that tone of pretend that women use when they’re lying. “You’re the one who jumped in front of a car?”
Jumped? She makes it sound as if I did it on purpose
. Maggie’s jaw twitched. “That’s not exactly what happened.”
Paige slunk closer to Jack, covering the distance between them as if she were on oiled casters. “Well, my fiancé always did like to rescue people,” she said, wrapping her arm through Jack’s. He didn’t move. “Good thing he was outside, I guess.”
My fiancé…
Maggie’s fingers closed around the arms of the chair. She opened her mouth and tried to sip in oxygen. Behind her, she thought she heard Neve make a squeaking sound. The room spun a little, and Maggie felt as though she might slip out of the chair and wind up on the floor, a puddle of something.
“Your—um—” She stuttered and fought for composure. Her glance moved from Paige’s perfectly painted face to Jack’s, which had turned a shade of dead-fish gray.
You’re engaged? Oh, Jack, you son of a bitch.
She managed to form a sentence. “Actually, Jack and I went to school together.”
“Really? I wouldn’t have pegged you as an NYU girl.” Paige tilted her head and smiled, as if she’d just figured out a secret. “Did he break your heart back then? He tells me he was quite the playboy in college.”
Maggie wound her hair into a lopsided ponytail. Her fingers felt stiff. “Oh, no, nothing like that,” she lied. “But he was always the life of the party. I didn’t realize he’d gotten engaged.” She allowed herself to look at Jack for a brief second and wished her gaze would lance him straight through the heart. “Congratulations.” Standing, she struck a pose that she hoped suggested indifference. “Thanks again. I’ll try not to jump out in front of any more cabs tonight.”
But before she could order her feet to move, Jack spoke, his voice thick with emotion. “Paige, I’ll meet you back inside. Maggie and I were just catching up.”
Liar
.
I’ve just done all the catching up I want to do with you. Ever.
Paige put her hands on her hips and looked from one to the other. “Fine. I need a drink, anyway.” She stared at Maggie for another minute before slipping back into the bustle of the ballroom.
“Mags, listen—”
Maggie slapped him before he could finish.
“Ow.” He rubbed his jaw, which Maggie noted with satisfaction was turning a sort of Cabernet red. “Okay, I deserved that.”
“How could you?” She couldn’t get out more than a whisper. “Why didn’t you just tell me?” Tears filled her eyes, and she blinked furiously to keep them at bay.
Screw the money. Screw the house, and the business, and the bank
. If Maggie escaped with her sanity and a shred of dignity, she’d consider the night a smashing success.
“I’m sorry,” Jack said. “I should have. But it’s not what you think. She’s not my fiancée.”
“Really? Does she know that?” Maggie spun away, heading for the door.
Let me keep it together until I get to the car
. She hoped the valet had left it running.
Eden hurried back into the foyer. “Where are you going? I thought you were waiting to see—”
“Forget it,” Maggie said over her shoulder. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter. I’ll call you tomorrow.”