Chapter Eleven
By Monday, Maggie felt much more in control of her emotions. She was confident that
she could work with Jason and yet hold herself back enough that she wasn’t going to
be tempted to jump when he was ready to spend some time with her.
Jason was the consummate professional all day. As much as it pained him, he kept
his distance and treated Maggie in a professional manner, much like he had on their
business trip, and it wasn’t until five o’clock that he finally was ready for something
more.
“Maggie, can I see you in my office for a minute?” he asked as he saw her gathering
her things to leave for the day.
“Sure,” she said and placed her purse and jacket back down and followed Jason into
his office. “Was there something that you needed?” she asked once they were alone.
He smiled at her. He was a respectable foot away from her and yet his fingers itched
to touch her. Holding himself in check, he replied, “I was hoping that I could take
you to dinner tonight.”
Without conscious thought, Maggie launched herself into his arms and initiated the
kiss she had been craving for days. Jason was on board immediately as he lifted her
off of the ground as he reached for his office door and closed it. “I swore I wasn’t
going to do this,” she said between kisses.
Jason’s hands were finally on her and it pained him to release her just long enough
to lock the door. “This whole day has been hell for me; the weekend seemed to never
end,” his words were clipped as he dragged his mouth along her jaw, her neck and then
finally up to her lips again. His tongue dueled with hers and when he placed her
back on her feet, he led her over to the large leather sofa and tugged her down with
him.
Maggie kicked off her shoes and smiled as Jason lay her down and then lined his muscled
body down on top of hers. He stroked her cheek and just gazed down into her eyes.
“You are so beautiful, Maggie,” he said reverently. “I don’t know what I ever did
to deserve someone as beautiful as you.”
She blushed at his words. A sassy comeback was on the tip of her tongue but with
the way he was looking at her, she knew he was being deadly serious. She whispered
‘thank you’ and reached up to touch his face. His jaw was scratchy and it felt good
against the palm of her hand.
“I love to look at you,” he said, “to touch you.” He paused as his hand wandered
over her in the gentlest of caresses. “I love being with you.”
“I love that, too,” she replied. And it was in that moment that she realized something
that made her heart actually lurch; she loved
him
. She was in love with Jason Montgomery. Maggie wasn’t sure when it actually happened
and for all of her issues with him as of late, the truth of the matter was that she
was so hurt because she was in love with him. She wanted to say the words to him;
to tell him exactly how she felt but he was lowering his head, his lips a whisper
away from her own.
“I know I said dinner,” he said softly, his breath hot against her mouth. “But I
think I’d like to start with dessert.”
“That’s the best part,” she said as she threaded her hands through his dark hair and
pulled him down for what promised to be the most decadent of desserts.
****
They did manage to make it out of the office and to dinner. Maggie was a little self
conscious of her slightly disheveled appearance but the fact that she and Jason were
finally out and away from the office made her slight discomfort worth it.
“I meant what I said, Maggie,” Jason began as he reached across the table and took
one of her hands in his. “I want a chance to prove to you that you’re more important
to me than work.”
She smiled at him but it didn’t quite meet her eyes. “Jason, I don’t expect you to
change who you are. I fell in love with the man that you are.” The words came out
before she could stop them and by the look of surprise on Jason’s face, she knew that
it was too late to take them back. That didn’t stop her from trying, though. “What
I mean is…I respect your work ethic and…”
“I’m in love with you, too,” he interrupted and then cursed his lack of finesse.
This was so not the way that he planned on telling Maggie how he felt but now that
it was out, and the look of joy on her face at his words told him that she didn’t
care about finesse.
There was so much that Maggie wanted to say but their waiter appeared to take their
orders. She was so flustered and could barely read the words on the menu because
tears of joy had welled up in her eyes. “You order for us,” she simply said to Jason
and then delicately wiped at the tears threatening to fall.
When they were alone again, Jason leaned across the table and caressed her cheek.
“I want a future with you, Maggie; I wasn’t sure how you felt about me, especially
after our conversation Friday night. I promise you, things are going to be different
from here on out.”
His words thrilled her and if there was one thing that she knew about Jason, he did
his best to be a man of his word. Maggie knew that she could trust him and that their
issues with the relationship could probably just be attributed to poor timing. After
all,
Montgomery
’s was in a time of major transition and she would be foolish to think that something
of that magnitude wasn’t going to impact Jason’s life.
“I want us to go back to
New York
,” he began. “I want us to take a real vacation where we can relax. I was thinking
maybe a long weekend at the Four Seasons; what do you think?”
Maggie remembered the amazing room and the spa bathroom and how at the time she had
fantasized about sharing it all with him. “I think that sounds perfect! Let’s do
it!”
Jason found himself to be thrilled that they were on the same page and that he could
finally see a future for himself beyond working late nights and going home alone.
If anyone had told him that he’d fall in love with his assistant six months ago, he
would have told them they were crazy. As much as he hated the comparison, knowing
how Lucas and Emma had made it work, he was confident that he and Maggie had just
as big of future ahead of them and that nothing was going to get in his way.
****
A week and a half later Jason was sitting at his desk smiling. Reservations were
made for his and Maggie’s weekend and Jason had planned it to be the most romantic
getaway ever. They would leave right from work on Friday; take the private plane
up to
New York
where a limo would take them to the Four Seasons. He had dinner reservations made
for them right in the hotel because he knew that once they got there, it would be
late and he wanted to make the most of their time in the room.
On Saturday they would go out and explore and shop and he made plans for them to take
that carriage ride through
Central Park
where he was going to ask Maggie to marry him. He thought that he might be moving
too fast but now that he knew what he wanted for his future, he was anxious to put
it in motion.
Mac walked in and rolled his eyes at the sappy look on Jason’s face. “All right,
we get it, you’re in love,” he said dramatically before sitting down in a chair facing
his brother. “Geez, I don’t know who is more sickening, you or Lucas!”
“Please, you’re just jealous. And Lucas hasn’t been sickening for a while,” Jason
replied, keeping his tone light because nothing was going to bring him down, not when
his future with Maggie was right within his reach.
“You mean he hasn’t been in here yet?” Mac asked.
“I didn’t even know Lucas was in the office today. What’s going on?”
Mac waved him off. “I’ll let him tell you.”
As if on cue, Lucas walked in and Mac was right, his sappy grin was worse than Jason’s.
“Emma’s pregnant,” he said as he came to a stop in Jason’s office. Jason stood and
came around to hug his brother and congratulate him.
“That is great news! How is she feeling?”
“So far, so good. We realize that could all change at any time and morning sickness
could set in, but for right now everything is great.”
The brothers stood and laughed and did their best to rib Lucas on how much his life
was going to change but Jason’s words were half-hearted at best. “What’s going on
with you?” Lucas finally asked, suspicious at his brother’s lack of sarcasm at his
expense.
“I’m going to ask Maggie to marry me,” he said, his chest puffed out with pride.
“Oh for crying out loud,” Mac grumbled. “Already?”
Lucas punched Mac in the arm. “I cannot wait for it to be your turn, Mac. You are
going to fall harder than the rest of us and you can be sure that we’ll be right there,
sitting on the sidelines, mocking you!”
“Do it and die,” Mac glared.
“Wait and see…” Lucas said before turning back to Jason. “So when are you doing it?”
Jason told them both of his plans for the upcoming weekend and Lucas wished him luck.
“Listen, I’d love to stay and talk some more but we’re having dinner with mom and
dad and I have to go and pick up Emma. Good luck, bro!”
Once he was gone and it was just Jason and Mac, Mac turned and closed the door and
got serious.
“What’s going on?” Jason asked, concern lacing his tone.
“We were contacted by a major company who wants to do business with us,” he began
cautiously. “If it all goes as I can see it going, this one company has the potential
to bring in more business than all of the companies you just signed on.”
Jason collapsed into his seat. “Damn, that’s huge! Who are they? When do they want
to meet?”
Mac stared down at him and watched as realization hit Jason. “I’m not going to like
this, am I?” Jason asked.
“Brother, you don’t know the half of it.”
Chapter Twelve
Maggie was giddy for their weekend. She took off early on Friday so that she could
go home and pack. Jason was going to pick her up at six and their flight was at seven.
Ever since they had admitted their feelings to one another, Maggie had been floating
on a cloud. She was afraid to let herself hope too much but she had a feeling that
Jason might propose this weekend.
He hadn’t done anything outright to give her that impression but they were truly so
in tune with one another that she just had a feeling that it was something he would
plan. She wouldn’t be disappointed if he didn’t but she couldn’t help but wonder
how he would actually do it. Would he be traditional and get down on one knee? Would
it be someplace public? Would they be alone? Her heart raced at all of those scenarios
because at the end of it all, she really wanted to be Mrs. Jason Montgomery.
Jason had been true to his word and he had cut back on the late nights at the office
and they had been spending more time together and he had actually asked Maggie to
move in with him. She had planned on giving him her answer this weekend and that
answer was going to be yes! As much as she loved having her own place, the hassle
of going between their homes and packing stuff for overnights was just getting to
be a pain. Plus, she wanted to wake up with the man she loved every morning and not
have to think about where they were going to be the next night.
She was throwing the last of her cosmetics into her luggage when Maggie realized that
she had left her phone charger back at the office. While it would be easy to call
Jason and just have him bring it, she knew that he had enough on his plate today to
make sure that he left on time. Looking at her watch, she saw it was only two o’clock.
The office was only ten minutes away and there were a few last minute errands she
needed to run; one more stop wasn’t going to make a difference.
The drive over to the office was quick and when Rose saw her, she faltered in her
steps. “Maggie? We didn’t expect you back this afternoon.”
“Just forgot my phone charger,” she replied, smiling as she held it up. “What’s going
on?”
“No, nothing,” Rose said, looking over her shoulder. “They’ve got a client in there
and I need to get back. I hope you have a good weekend.” And then she was gone.
“Well that was odd,” Maggie said under her breath and then looked toward Jason’s office.
His door was open but the lights were off so she figured he was in with either Mac
or his father. Walking toward Mac’s office she noticed his was also dark and so she
stopped at his assistant’s empty desk. That was odd, too. Maggie didn’t remember
them having any appointments on the calendar and where was Diana? She rarely left
her desk.
Looking around, Maggie took a glance at the open planner on her co-workers desk and
gasped. “No,” she whispered. Walking briskly, she headed toward William Montgomery’s
suite. When she approached Rose’s desk she stopped short. “Is Jason in there?” she
asked sharply.
Rose couldn’t quite meet her eyes. “Maggie, don’t worry about what’s going on in
there. You’re supposed to be getting ready for your weekend.”
Maggie arched her brows at Rose. How much did the other woman know about her relationship
with Jason? They hadn’t been particularly secretive these last weeks but it still
irked her a little to know that everyone was privy to their business. “I am more
than ready for my weekend. Why wasn’t I informed about this meeting?”
Rose sighed. “It was a last minute thing and really, it’s nothing that you need to
worry about.”
“Why don’t you let me be the judge of that?” Her voice came out louder than she had
planned and suddenly Jason was stepping out of his father’s office.
“Maggie? What are you doing here? I thought you left early to go home and pack?”
“Why is everyone so concerned about my packing?” she asked. “I’m already packed and
I forgot my phone charger here. I had some errands to run and I thought I’d just
swing by and get it. I didn’t realize that I wasn’t allowed to come to my place of
business. Care to tell me why that is?” She glared at him while waiting for an answer.
“No one said that you weren’t allowed here, Maggie, it was just that we all thought…”
“What? You thought that you could plan a business meeting with the one person who
you know I would have a problem with? I cannot believe you, Jason! When is it ever
going to be enough? You have more business than you can handle and you know my history
with this particular client and yet you still invited him here to do business?” Her
eyes welled with tears and she cursed herself for showing weakness.
Maggie knew she shouldn’t be surprised and yet she was. Montgomery’s was always going
to come first but she didn’t think that it would hurt so much or that Jason would
choose to do business with Martin Blake. Her heart actually hurt and when Jason went
to reach for her hand she jerked away from him.
“You know, there are a lot of things that I can overlook. I understand your commitment
to your family and to your business but I can’t work for someone, or live with someone,
that I don’t trust. You knew my feelings on this and rather than talk to me, you
snuck behind my back to meet with him.”
“Maggie,” Jason began but she cut him off.
“No, I’m done, Jason. You asked me for a second chance and I gave it; you asked me
to trust you and I did. But this?” she waved toward the office. “This is something
that I can’t overlook. I don’t doubt for a second that Martin made some outrageous
offer to you and I can’t blame you for wanting the business. It’s just not something
that I want any part of.”
“You don’t understand, Maggie,” Jason pleaded. “Let’s go to my office and I’ll…”
“Hey, Mags,” Martin Blake said as he strolled into the outer office. “Fancy seeing
you here.” His gaze raked over her and Maggie felt violated all over again. “I had
to do a little research to see who the big shot was you were working for and after
talking to Alan down in
Miami
, he told me all about
Montgomery
’s. I figured, if Alan’s working with them, then we should too. It’ll be like old
times, right, Mags?”
She wanted to vomit. Her lunch turned in her stomach and she couldn’t believe that
Jason just stood there and let Martin even talk to her. She was just about to comment
on it when Martin asked Rose where the men’s room was. Once he was out of earshot,
she glared at Jason.
“Let’s go talk,” Jason said again.
“No,” she said adamantly. “I’m done talking. I quit.” She turned and walked away,
her stride quickening to get to the elevator. Maggie expected Jason to come after
her or to at least call her name. But he didn’t. When the elevator arrived in the
lobby she expected him to come out through the door to the stairway to stop her.
But he didn’t.
How could she have been so wrong about him? How could she have misunderstood all
of the plans they had been making? By the time she reached her car, Maggie could
barely see through the haze of tears. She had trusted Jason; she had put her trust
in
Jason and he had betrayed her all in the name of business.
She felt numb and hollow and didn’t know where to go or what to do. The thought of
going home was unappealing because all of her luggage was packed and full of promises
for a romantic weekend that was never going to happen. She was now without a job
and had no idea where her life was going to go from here. So she put the car in gear
and drove. She had no direction so she just hit the interstate and let the miles
fill the void inside of her.
****
Jason was frantic. He wanted to run after Maggie and explain everything but he knew
that her mind was made up and that there was nothing he was going to be able to say
to make her see things for the way they really were. He couldn’t blame her; if he
were in her shoes, he wouldn’t believe him either.
“Why didn’t you go after her?” his father said quietly behind him.
“She wasn’t going to listen.”
“You don’t know that, Jace. She didn’t know what was going on.”
“I know Maggie. I’ve screwed up too much and no matter what I said she wasn’t going
to believe me.”
“I told you that you should have been up front with her. No good ever comes from
lying, son.”
Jason turned and looked at his father. “What was I supposed to do? Admit that this
slimy piece of crap contacted us and the only way I could ensure that he never, ever
got near her again was to bring him here and confront him? Threaten him with financial
ruin if he ever did to another woman what he did to Maggie? She wouldn’t agree with
it!”
“All I’m saying is…”
“And then he came out here and started talking like we were honestly going to do business
together! There was no way for me to tell her the truth with him blathering on like
an idiot.”
“You should have gone after her and made her listen,” his father said patiently.
“To what end, Dad? She’s never going to trust me again and I can’t blame her. She
was finally moving on with her life and the only times she’s had to face that bastard
was because of me! The hurt in her eyes…” he said and his voice clogged with emotion,
“I’ll never be able to forgive myself for being the one to put that look there.”
Just then, Martin walked back in and looked from William to Jason. “Ready to sign?”
he asked and then walked back into William’s office with a confident swagger.
Jason glared after the man and then looked at his father. “Let’s finish this.”
****
Maggie drove for hours and eventually ended up back at home. She half expected to
find Jason there but he wasn’t. Sluggishly she walked up to her door and let herself
in. The silence was deafening. It was a little after eight and she sighed sadly
at how they would have been landing in
New York
now and on their way to the hotel. She would never know what Jason had planned for
the weekend; it would always be a ‘what if’ scenario in her mind.
Her body was weak and her mind was blank as she went about unpacking her luggage and
carefully putting things away. She looked at the sexy negligee she had bought at
Victoria’s Secret
and wanted to burn it. She’d never get to wear it; even if she lived to be one hundred
and had dozens of lovers she would never allow herself to wear it because she had
bought it with Jason in mind.
But Maggie was nothing if not practical and so she kept it securely wrapped in tissue
and tucked into the back of her drawer.
Out of sight, out of mind
. When the last of her stuff was put away, she reached for her trusty file of take
out menus and decided to order in. She had no appetite but knew that she needed to
eat. No sense in making herself sick on top of having a broken heart. With her Chinese
food ordered, Maggie changed into a pair of yoga pants and an oversized t-shirt and
flipped on the TV to distract her until it arrived.
Thirty minutes later there was a knock on the door and she padded over to answer it.
William Montgomery stood on the threshold with her take out bag in his hand. “Mr.
Montgomery? What are you doing here?”
“May I come in?” he asked quietly. Maggie nodded and stepped aside. “I hope you
don’t mind that I swooped in and shanghaied your delivery boy.” He took a whiff and
smiled. “Is that
Szechuan
that I smell?”
“That’s fine,” she said shyly, taking the bag from his hands and walking to the kitchen
to place it down. Now her appetite was completely gone. What in the world was she
supposed to say to this man? Not only was he her boss…er, former boss, but he was
the father of the man who had just destroyed her life. “Can I get you something to
drink?” she asked, trying to keep her voice calm and steady.
“No. I’m fine. May I sit?”
Maggie inclined her head toward the living room and waited for him to take a seat
on her sofa before sitting across from him on the matching love seat. “What can I
do for you?” she asked carefully.
“Well, that was going to be my line,” he said with a soft chuckle. “I wanted to make
sure that you were okay.”
She smiled sadly at him. “I’m not okay but I will be. Eventually.”
William leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. “Maggie, I know that things looked
bad this afternoon…”
“Please don’t,” she interrupted. “I just need this whole ugly phase of my life to
be over. Martin Blake was the reason that I came to
Montgomery
’s and I guess it’s only fitting that he be the reason that I’m leaving it. I’ll
admit that I was shocked by his appearance there today but I understand that business
is business. It was stupid of me to expect you to lose a big client just because
of something that happened to me years ago.”
“Maggie, look at me,” William said softly. “I didn’t tell Jason or anyone that I
was coming here. I wanted you to know that there was never going to be a business
deal with Martin Blake. He did approach us with a very attractive offer and had it
come from anyone else, we would have jumped at the opportunity. Knowing what we do,
however, that was never going to happen.”