Trust in Me (15 page)

Maggie looked confused.  “Then why was he there?  Why was it such a big secret?”

William sighed wearily.  “Jason wanted to protect you.  Martin was aggressive in his
approach and wasn’t willing to take no for an answer over the phone so Mac and Jason
thought it best to take the meeting with him and take care if it in person.”

“But when Martin came out of your office, he said we’d be working together!  That
he was looking forward to doing business…”

“I’ll admit that we strung him along a little,” he replied sheepishly.  “It made it
just that much more fun to let him down.”

Confusion was written all over Maggie’s face.  “I’m not following you…”

William stood and then sat beside Maggie on the love seat.  “Maggie, Jason wanted
to confront Martin face to face.  He and Mac had done a little investigating and found
out that you weren’t the only woman Marin had harassed.  So once we had him in the
office, Jason confronted him with what he’d found and threatened to ruin him financially
if he ever came near you or any other woman like that again.  You never have to worry
about the likes of Martin Blake bothering you ever again.”

“Oh my god,” she whispered.  “Oh, what have I done?”

William reached for her hand and gave her a comforting squeeze.  “You did what anyone
would do in your position.  I had hoped that Jason would tell you what was going on
but he thought it was best to keep it a secret until it was over.  He didn’t want
you worrying or being uncomfortable.  Mostly he didn’t want you to worry about seeing
Martin.  He thought he was doing what was right.”

Tears streamed down her face.  “And I accused him of being selfish when he was trying
to protect me.  What am I supposed to do now?”  Maggie stood and began pacing her
small living room.

“Go to him, Maggie.  He’s at home kicking himself for what he put you through.”

Without conscious thought, Maggie ran and grabbed her purse and keys and threw on
a pair of sneakers and was about to run out the door before she remembered that William
was still standing in her living room.  “Feel free to help yourself to some Chinese,
but I have to go!”  Slamming the door behind her, Maggie rushed down to her car and
hoped that on the drive to Jason’s that she’d figure out just what exactly she was
going to say.

****

It was a starless night.  Jason sat out on his deck, letting the early winter weather
wrap around him.  He’d probably get pneumonia from it but he didn’t care.  Nothing
mattered anymore; not without Maggie. 

Why hadn’t he listened to his father and just told her what was going on?  Why had
he been so insistent that it all be a secret?  His father had never led him wrong
and the one time that he went against his father’s advice and it had cost him everything. 
He took a pull from the beer he was drinking and it tasted bitter going down.  Right
now he should have been drinking champagne off of Maggie’s body.  They would have
been enjoying the site of the
New York
skyline and making love and planning their future.  He reached into his pocked and
played with the ring that was meant to go on her finger but now never would.  Now
he was just sitting alone in the dark outside in the cold kicking himself.

Some Friday night.

A loud pounding on his front door shook him out of his reverie.  He placed his beer
down on the deck and walked into the house.  His hair was disheveled and his shirt
was open, his feet were bare.  Jason had no idea who could be at his door at this
hour but knew that he didn’t give a damn about how he looked.  When he opened the
door, he wished that he had taken the time to put himself mildly back together.

“Maggie?  What are you doing here?”

She didn’t answer right away; she was too taken aback by Jason’s appearance.  Maggie
had seen Jason dressed in suits and tuxedo’s and in jeans and t-shirts.  She’d seen
him first thing in the morning all mussed up from sleep and slicked with sweat after
making love, but she had never seen him look so utterly devastated.  Holding her tongue,
she stepped around him and into the foyer and shut the door.

“You lied to me,” she said by way of an opening.

He could only nod.  Jason wanted to defend himself but knew that it had taken a lot
of courage for Maggie to come here and confront him and so he wasn’t going to interrupt
her.  She deserved to have her say without him trying to make her see his point of
view.

“Why didn’t you tell me the real reason you had Martin at
Montgomery
’s?” she demanded softly.

“I tried to tell you, Maggie, but you wouldn’t…” he stopped himself.  He had no excuse
and he wasn’t going to try and come off as blameless.  “I should have told you from
the beginning.  I’m sorry that I didn’t.”

She nodded.  “Yes, you should have.”  The look of defeat on Jason’s face was almost
more than she could bear.  “I don’t appreciate having you make decisions for me and
thinking that you know what’s best.”

“That wasn’t my intention, Maggie.  I honestly wanted to protect you from having to
ever see him again.  In
Miami
you told me how it had taken you months to be able to close your eyes and not see
him or hear him.  I thought that I was doing the right thing.”

Maggie was about to walk into Jason’s living room but she stopped and turned to face
him again.  “That was before, Jason!  I don’t have to be afraid of him anymore and
do you know why?”  He shook his head.  “It’s because of you!  I know that there is
nothing someone like Martin Blake can do to me and that even back then, I did nothing
wrong.  I don’t have to hide; I don’t have to feel ashamed.  I would have loved the
opportunity to see his face when you told him that you had proof of all of the hideous
things he’s done!”

Jason’s eyes went wide.  “I didn’t want him anywhere near you!”  Unable to help himself,
he strode toward her and grabbed her by the shoulders.  “I never want anyone to ever
hurt you again, Maggie.  Don’t you understand?”

She looked up at him and saw in his eyes how much he meant what he was saying.  “But
you hurt me, Jace.  You didn’t trust in me enough.”

“Sweetheart, I do trust in you.  I honestly thought that I was doing the right thing. 
I wanted to make it all just go away and have the confidence in knowing that he couldn’t
hurt you again.”

“He couldn’t, Jason.  He doesn’t hold that power over me anymore and I have you to
thank for that.  You did that for me back in
Miami
.  I’m stronger now; you make me stronger!  I wanted us to be strong together.”

Jason pulled her closer and was relieved when she didn’t pull away.  “We are stronger
together.  When you walked out today I thought I’d lost everything.  Please tell me
that we’re okay.  Tell me that you’re here because you know that I love you and that
I need you.”

There were no words that came to mind because she was so overwhelmed with emotion. 
So she answered him the only way she knew how.  Stepping up and aligning their bodies,
Maggie reached up and threaded her fingers through his mussed hair and pulled him
down for a scorching kiss.  She felt his sigh of relief as Jason pulled her tight
against him.  When they finally broke apart, Maggie cupped his face and stared up
at the man that she loved.  “I’m here because I love and need you, too.”

“Thank God,” he said before reclaiming her mouth with his.

Epilogue

“You know that people think we’re crazy, right?”

Maggie shrugged.  “I don’t care.”

“We had at least fifty other options that I think would have been more fitting.”

Glancing over her shoulder at him, she gave him a bland stare.  “Still don’t care.”

Jason leaned back in his seat and huffed.  “I can’t believe we missed going to
Paris
for this.”

Just then, Maggie jumped to her feet.  “Oh, come on!” she yelled.  “He hooked him! 
What is wrong with that ref?”  Slumping back into her seat, she reached for her beer
and pouted.

“Need I remind you that we could be drinking champagne at the
Eiffel
Tower
right now,” Jason said in a teasing tone, “rather than sitting here in this cold
arena watching your team get slaughtered?”

Maggie turned and punched him in the arm.  “They’re not getting slaughtered and you
were the one who got the tickets for the playoffs,” she reminded him.

“I didn’t think you’d actually choose this over Paris for our honeymoon,” he pouted.

“Aw…,” she leaned in and kissed him sweetly.  “I didn’t choose this
over
Paris
; I just chose to stop here first.”

“All I’m saying is that I wanted to take you on a romantic getaway and you keep thwarting
all of my attempts.”  He wanted to say more but his new bride was up on her feet again
cheering as the Rangers scored and tied up the game.

“When are you going to learn that it doesn’t matter to me where we are, just as long
as we’re together?”

He stood and wrapped her in his arms and pulled her in for another kiss.  “I’m a slow
learner where you’re concerned,” he admitted.  “But I promise to get better.”

“Excellent,” she purred against his lips.  “Besides, this little side trip makes up
for the trip we missed when you proposed.

“Yeah, sorry that it took so long to re-schedule.”

“Well, with you wanting me to move in right away and then all of the wedding planning,
there just wasn’t time.  I’m not complaining; this is perfect timing as far as I’m
concerned.”

They sat back down and Maggie rested her head on Jason’s shoulder and sighed with
happiness.

Yes, having the man that she loved sitting beside her while watching the team that
she loved and knowing that their future was wide open ahead of them was definitely
worth the wait and Jason promised her a future she could definitely trust in.

####

Acknowledgements

Like Maggie, I am blessed with being married to a man who is my Knight in Shining
Armor.  He wants to fight all of my battles for me, slay all of the dragons and do
whatever it takes to make sure that no one hurts me. 

So to my wonderful husband:  Thank you for all of your patience and encouragement
as I continue on this crazy journey to the bestseller list.  Thank you for always
believing in me and for never letting me believe the negative things that people may
say.  Thank you for twenty-four amazing years and I look forward to at least another
twenty-four more!  I love you so much and am so blessed to have you in my life.

About the Author

Contemporary romance writer Samantha Chase released her debut novel, “
Jordan's Return
”, in November 2011. Although she waited until she was in her 40's to publish for
the first time, writing has been a lifelong passion. Her motivation to take that step
was her students: teaching creative writing to elementary age students all the way
up through high school and encouraging those students to follow their writing dreams
gave Samantha the confidence to take that step as well.
   Her second book, a holiday novella titled "
The Christmas Cottage
" climbed the Amazon charts and peaked at number ten on the Best Sellers in Women’s
Fiction on Christmas Eve 2012 in books and number 116 in Kindle books. Watching the
numbers rise and fall was a daily roller coaster ride but definitely an exciting one!

The follow-up, “
Ever After
” was not a planned book; the response to “
The Christmas Cottage
” was so great that fans of it begged to know Ava’s story.  It was something that
was planned for a future book but due to the many inquiries, it was moved up to be
the next story written.

“The Montgomery Brothers” series is the story of brothers Lucas, Jason and Mac; three
bachelors whose father is desperate to see them all married and happy.  His behind-the-scenes
matchmaking has been fun to write and these three books will have you sighing with
thoughts of happily ever afters.  “Wait for Me” is Lucas and Emma’s story and was
released in May 2013; “Stay With Me” is Mac’s story and is due out in August 2013. 
I hope you enjoyed Jason and Maggie’s story with “Trust in Me”.

      When she's not working on a new story or editing the ones that are in progress,
she spends her time reading contemporary romances, blogging, playing way too many
games of Scrabble on Facebook and spending time with her husband of 23 years and their
two sons in Wake Forest, North Carolina.