“I know this is a little overwhelming but you have nothing to be so nervous about,”
he whispered in her ear and felt Maggie shiver.
“I’m not nervous,” she lied and then heard him chuckle as he seemed to pull her a
little bit closer.
“You’re glued to my side, Maggie. I can feel you shaking and I can hear it in your
voice every time you speak. Take a deep breath and relax, okay?”
She lifted her eyes to his and nodded. They were standing way too close; she was
plastered to him but not in an uncomfortable way. It had been a long time since she
had let any man get this close to her physically and she found that with Jason, she
didn’t mind it all.
His dark gaze was burning into hers and Maggie licked her dry lips and then had to
force herself to take a small step back and look away. “So,” she said, expelling
the breath she had been holding, “are we ready to head in?”
Honestly, Jason needed another moment before he felt as if he was truly in control
of his thoughts but realized that he didn’t want to scare her. He simply nodded and
took her hand without conscious thought and led her up to the main doorway.
Soon they were swept into the crowd and drinking champagne and Jason was doing his
best to meet up with the people that he wanted to while keeping track of Maggie at
his side. They sat down for dinner and Jason managed to make some new contacts and
Maggie was savvy enough to put all of their information into her iPhone for them to
refer to at a later date without being overly obvious about it.
Once dinner was completed, the actual charity event presentation began. There were
several performances by some big name artists in the music industry and then the actor
who had organized the event gave a twenty-minute speech imploring the guests for their
support. By ten o’clock, everyone was back to mingling and Jason caught Maggie watching
the couples dancing with a wistful look on her face.
Unable to help himself, he placed his champagne glass down on the nearest table and
intently walked toward her. At his approach he asked, “Would you like to dance?”
Her eyes went wide with delight. “Are you sure? Don’t you have more people to talk
with?”
“I think I’ve done more than my share of talking tonight and even came out a little
ahead. Besides, what kind of man would I be if I didn’t make time to ask a beautiful
girl to dance?”
He thought she was beautiful? She asked herself. This was probably all kinds of against
the rules, slow dancing with her boss, but at the moment, it was all that Maggie wanted
to do. Another down side to her self-imposed exile; she missed the simple act of
human contact.
“What do you say, Maggie?” Jason asked again when she didn’t respond to his initial
request.
“I would love to,” she said and placed her hand in his. There was that same jolt
that she’d felt when they’d touched at breakfast but it didn’t scare her this time;
instead, she embraced it.
They joined the couples out on the floor and simply swayed to the orchestra. “I can’t
even remember the last time I went dancing,” Maggie said as she aligned herself with
Jason. “It may have been my senior prom.”
All sorts of thoughts raced through Jason’s head. What about her wedding? Her honeymoon?
Wasn’t that the sort of thing that couples did? He thought of his brother Lucas and
his new bride Emma and they way they had danced at their engagement party and wedding;
hell, Jason may not be an expert on married couples but he sure as hell knew that
they danced! He was just about to make a comment on it when he felt Maggie snuggle
a little bit closer and sigh.
His body was on high alert. She felt very good in his arms and without conscious
thought, he wrapped his arm around her to pull her even closer and was surprised when
she didn’t resist. Jason rested his head on top of hers and simply enjoyed the feel
of her, the smell of her, the way her hair tickled his chin.
He was treading into dangerous territory here and yet couldn’t seem to find the will
to care. Luckily the orchestra moved smoothly into another slow song and he was treated
to having Maggie close for another few minutes. Then what? The smart thing to do
would be to thank her for the dance and then find a colleague or two to talk to but
that thought left him cold.
Jason knew what he wanted, knew what he needed and knew without a doubt that it would
be a mistake and still couldn’t bring himself to care. Lifting his head he reached
up and placed a finger under Maggie’s chin so that her eyes met his. Her sexy, slumberous
expression matched his own and he cursed himself as he lowered his lips to hers.
Chapter Three
The moment Jason’s lips touched Maggie’s he knew he was in trouble. It was perfect.
He felt her slight tremble before she lifted her arms around his neck to pull him
in closer. Jason wanted to devour her right then and there but kept his touch soft
and gentle so that if she wanted to pull away, she could.
But she didn’t.
If anything, Maggie seemed to be doing her best to drag a deeper kiss out of him.
Jason wanted to oblige, he really did, but this was not the place. With a growl of
regret he raised his head, his breathing ragged. “Maggie?”
Slowly Maggie opened her eyes and then he watched as reality slowly set in and shock
and embarrassment crossed her face. “
Ohmygod
,” she gushed and ran from his embrace.
Jason stood motionless for a moment, not sure what he was supposed to do. Why had
he given in to temptation? He was stronger than that! They had more than two weeks
to go on this trip and he could
not
afford to screw this up and scare Maggie off. Dammit! Looking around he noticed
that no one was particularly paying any attention to him and he made his way off of
the dance floor and went in search of his assistant.
It didn’t take long to find her.
Standing in the far corner of the lobby, Maggie tried to catch her breath. Dear lord
what had she done? She’d kissed Jason! She’d kissed her boss! What was she supposed
to do now? Her mind raced frantically and her first instinct was to call William
and tell him that she needed to leave here immediately. But once she took a moment
to think that through she realized that she was the one who was at fault here, not
Jason. Maybe she had misread his intentions? No, he was definitely the one who initiated
the kiss but she was the one who had practically devoured him.
Maggie was sure that her face was twenty-seven shades of red and almost jumped out
of her skin when she heard Jason say her name softly from behind her. Reluctantly,
she turned to face him.
Before he could even say a word, Maggie held up a hand to stop him. “That was completely
unprofessional of me and I don’t know why it happened.” When Jason tried to speak
again, she continued on. “Let’s just say that I got a little swept up in the moment
and it won’t happen again.”
“Maggie…” he began.
“Honestly, Jason, I’d rather not talk about it.” She looked around the lobby and
noticed that people were starting to leave. “Are there more people that you needed
to talk to or would you mind if we called for the car?”
Jason stared down at her. There were a million thoughts racing through his head.
Caught up in the moment? That’s all it was to her?
Hell no!
There was more to this than she was letting on but the harder he stared at her,
the more her bravado seemed to be failing and he felt like he was wordlessly bullying
her. “No,” he said finally. “I think it’s been a successful evening. I’ll call
for the car.”
Within twenty minutes they were back in the limo and on their way to the hotel. Maggie
was going to try for small talk but she couldn’t seem to find anything to talk about.
They were going to be leaving
Cleveland
in the morning and had a flight to
Boston
. Their itinerary had them spending three days in
Boston
and then they were heading for
Manhattan
for four days.
Right now all Maggie wanted was a day to herself to figure out what in the world was
going on with her. She had been so confident in herself and her ability to stay in
control after the way things had gone down with Martin Blake that she never gave a
thought to what would happen if she was the one attracted to her boss.
She thought those feelings were long dead; ruined by a man who trapped her like some
sort of prey. For some reason, Jason Montgomery was bringing feelings out in Maggie
that she wasn’t ready to deal with. Being in such close proximity with him was certainly
not helping the situation.
A cry of relief nearly escaped her lips when they finally arrived back at the hotel.
Maggie noticed that once they were in the lobby that Jason wasn’t behind her. She
stopped and turned and saw him standing still, watching her. “Jason?”
“You go on up, Maggie. I’m going to go grab a drink in the bar.” He motioned to
the hotel lounge behind him. “Why don’t we plan on meeting down here to grab the
car for the airport in the morning?”
“That sounds fine,” she said quietly, knowing that Jason was probably trying to figure
out how to get rid of her for the remainder of the trip. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
With that, she walked quickly and got on the elevator just as the doors were beginning
to close.
****
Jason was a wreck. Three shots later and nothing was making sense. He gave a mirthless
laugh as he paid the bar tab and made his way to the bank of elevators. Why did he
think more alcohol was going to help clear his mind?
Maggie had given him hell from the get go about not mistaking a smile for a come on.
He could live with that. But was he mistaking her kiss for something more than what
it was? Hell, what was it? He never should have given in to the urge to kiss her
but she had looked so damn desirable that he couldn’t resist. And if she wasn’t married?
Well, he wouldn’t have spent the last hour in the hotel bar, that was for damn sure!
Married
. Jason had never in his life pursued a married woman. Never. How was he supposed
to stay on this trip with her if he was attracted to her? How were they supposed
to go back to the way they worked together only earlier today with this kiss hanging
between them? Hell if he knew.
Once up in his room, Jason ripped off his tie and jacket and stalked the interior.
He couldn’t afford to let Maggie leave; she was too important to what he hoped to
accomplish business-wise on this trip. But if he was going to survive the next couple
of weeks, he was going to have to put some strict parameters on them so that they
weren’t in any more of these situations.
Booting up his tablet, he pulled up their itinerary. They had three days scheduled
in
Boston
and then four in
New York
. The
Boston
meetings were going to be lengthy but they were going to be in large groups and in
offices; no chance of slow dancing and drinking there. Once in New York their schedule
was a little more open due to the fact that he couldn’t get all of the appointments
he wanted scheduled due to the weekend so they’d have a day or so with nothing to
do. That could pose a problem.
What if he told her to call her husband and Jason would fly him in for the weekend?
Maybe seeing the two of them together would be just what he needed to put everything
in perspective and remind him of why he needed to keep his distance.
The plan was perfect. Sighing with relief, he stripped and got ready for bed. Tomorrow
when they were en route to
Boston
, he’d surprise her with his idea. Maybe Maggie was just missing her husband and
that was why she’d kissed him.
Lying down, Jason turned out the light and stared at the darkened ceiling and thought
about Maggie’s lips on his and the man who had the right to kiss them any time he
wanted. His final thought as sleep claimed him was “
lucky bastard
”.
****
They were finally airborne and Maggie was pulling up the files that she wanted to
review with Jason when he finally spoke. “Listen I was thinking, we’re scheduled
for three days in
Boston
but realistically, we can be done in two. That means we can hit
Manhattan
by Saturday morning and then we don’t have any meetings until Monday. Why don’t
you call your husband and I’ll fly him up for the weekend?” He was quite proud of
himself for thinking of it but the look of pure horror on Maggie’s face had him reconsidering.
“What?” she cried. “Why? Why would you do that? We have a schedule to keep and
there’s no time to just change things around like that. It’s not necessary, really.
We have a lot to do and accomplish and you’re not paying me to have a weekend getaway.”
Wow, protest much? He thought to himself. “I just thought since we’ve been working
so hard that maybe you would appreciate having a bit of a break. Most people at least
get the weekend off. I honestly thought that you’d like the idea,” he said hesitantly.
“Well it’s not necessary. I am being well-compensated for working long hours on this
trip and there’s no need for you to go out of your way to change anything. If you
would like to use the free time to do…whatever, then please feel free. I don’t need
to be entertained. We have enough work for me to do to keep me busy.”
“Maggie, you’re taking this all wrong,” he said, leaning forward in his seat toward
her. “I’m trying to do something nice here.”
“You treated me to a spa treatment yesterday. You took me to an amazing event at
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last night. I actually got to stand next to John Lennon’s
guitar! I’m traveling around the country to places that I’ve never seen before while
staying at luxurious hotels and I’m getting paid for it!” Her words were a little
more clipped than she usually spoke but Maggie felt like she was grasping at straws.
Jason held up a hand to calm her down. “Okay, okay, I get it. Geez, it was just
a thought. I’m sorry I brought it up.” He watched as Maggie slowly calmed down and
now his curiosity was piqued even more. From what he’d learned so far, this mystery
husband never danced with her, never traveled with her, apparently never called her
and she doesn’t have any inclination to spend time with him.
Hmm…that could also explain last night’s kiss. Frustrated wife? Bored with her husband?
Jason felt ill with disgust. It didn’t sit right with him. Even if Maggie wasn’t
happily married it didn’t give him the right to hit on her or for her to use him as
some kind of substitute.
Who was he kidding; she wasn’t using him for anything. She nearly left skid marks
trying to get away from him and even now was sitting as far away from him on the private
plane as humanly possible. It was wishful thinking on his part that she was the one
interested in him and not the other way around.
With the determination he was known for, Jason decided that the only way to keep his
sanity was to push all personal thoughts of Maggie from his mind and focus on the
business at hand. He was feeling confident about the upcoming meetings and put his
head back in the game and felt ready to move
Montgomery
’s into a tax bracket that they’d never even dreamed of.
****
“I can’t believe that went so well,” Maggie was saying on Friday evening as they took
a cab back to their hotel. “That had to be the shortest meeting in history.”
“Well, it helped that Dennis Michaels had more pressing matters to attend to,” Jason
said as he texted his brother Mac with an update.
“He should have never even kept the appointment with us! His wife was in labor!”
Jason laughed. “Us corporate types never like to miss an appointment,” he teased.
“Besides, it’s their first child and they are notoriously slow in arriving.”
Maggie nodded in agreement. “Well, between this meeting being over way earlier than
expected and everyone else being so agreeable and ready to sign on the dotted line,
we are actually ahead of schedule.” She leaned back in her seat and sighed. “I wish
that all of our meeting would go like the ones here in
Boston
. Any chance we can put in a request for that?”
“If only,” Jason said as he hit the send button on his phone. “I don’t know about
you but as much as I’ve enjoyed our time here, I’m anxious to hit
New York City
and spend some time there. You up for a late night drive?”
“What about our flight tomorrow?”
“I’m tired of flying. I’ll get us a car and we can grab something to eat on the road.
It’s a four hour drive and…”
“We won’t get in until close to midnight, Jason!” she said incredulously even though
the thought was beyond appealing. “Why don’t we wait to fly tomorrow?”
“Because the flight isn’t until noon and then we’ll miss half the day there. There’s
so much to see and the weekend is wide open. The weather is supposed to be beautiful
and I want to walk around and eat pizza and grab hot dogs from a street vendor, shop
a little…”
“You shop?” she asked, clearly amused at the thought.
“Yes, I do,” he said simply. “And there is no place better to shop than
New York
.”
“I don’t know about that but I will admit that I’m looking forward to the food.”
“Is that a yes, Maggie? Ready for a road trip?” he asked excitedly, forgetting about
his earlier intentions of keeping his distance and keeping things on a completely
professional level.
“Oh, what the hell!” she said with equal abandon. “It beats watching another night
of bad cable.”