Chapter Six
They’d made it through the
Atlanta
meeting and were landing in
Miami
. Jason spent most of the flight on the phone with his brother Mac while Maggie was
typing up last minute contracts at Jason’s request.
They checked into their hotel and rushed up to their rooms without exchanging a word.
Maggie had just enough time to freshen up her makeup before Jason knocked on the door
to signal her that the car was waiting. She sighed with irritation. Did he really
think that one word from him was going to have her throwing herself at him? Couldn’t
he at least have the common decency to say a word or two to her that wasn’t directly
about
Montgomery
’s? It was getting beyond rude and Maggie wasn’t sure if she’d be able to make it
through another day like this.
When Maggie stepped out of her room, Jason was already halfway down the hall. She
had to practically run to catch up with him at the elevator and when they stepped
on and he hung up the phone, Maggie stamped her hand over the emergency stop button
and faced Jason full of fury.
“What the hell?” he snapped.
“You know, Jason, I think I deserve a little more common courtesy than a knock on
the door beckoning me to follow you.”
Jason pinched the bridge of his nose and inhaled sharply. “We don’t have time for
this right now. We have an appointment to get to.”
“Oh, I get that, Jason; believe me, I do. What I don’t get is why I’m being treated
like some sort of leper or something! I’ve been working my butt off for you on this
trip and in the last week you have been beyond rude!”
His eyes finally met hers. “Rude? Look, I don’t know what you were expecting on
this trip, but I’ve been treating you like an employee. We are on this trip to work.
I’ll admit that I got a little sidetracked back in
New York
but then I realized that it was a mistake. I hired you to be my assistant; not my
date, not my friend. You are an employee of
Montgomery
’s and you were chosen for this position because you met a certain criteria.”
“Because I’m
married
?” she said snidely, wanting nothing more than to smack his face and make him stop
using that condescending tone on her.
“That was partially it. You were qualified for the job that I needed done. I told
you from the get-go that this wasn’t a pleasure trip and I think that for a while
there the lines were getting blurry.” It was the most honest statement he’d ever
made to her and the look of horror on her face had him wanting to take it back.
Maggie took a step back from Jason and lowered her eyes to the ground. “I see,” she
said quietly. Reaching beyond him, she gently hit the button for the lobby and was
relieved when they started moving. “I’m sorry if I did anything to make you uncomfortable,
Jason. That was never my intention.”
With a growl of frustration, Jason reached out and hit the stop button himself and
then caught Maggie by the arms when the elevator car jerked to a halt. “Maggie, look
at me,” he said gently. When her eyes met his they were wary and sad at the same
time and Jason felt like a school yard bully. “It wasn’t
you
, okay? I just think it’s better for us to stay focused on the project because when
I let me guard down…”
Maggie couldn’t help it, she leaned into him. “What?” she whispered.
Jason was only human. The feel of her; the smell of her perfume and those big brown
eyes looking up at him were his undoing. “I find it hard to forget that I shouldn’t
do things like this.” And he lowered his mouth to hers. Maggie responded to him
instantly and Jason thought he was going to lose his mind. Her lips were so soft,
so pliant and when she let out a sigh and relaxed into him, he took a step forward
and pressed her back against the wall of the elevator.
He feasted on her lips like he’d been dying to do for weeks as Maggie ran her hands
up his neck and into his hair anchoring him to her. Jason’s tongue teased at Maggie’s
bottom lip and when she opened for him and touched her tongue to his, he thought he’d
go up in flames. Jason wanted to tell her how much he wanted her, how much he’d been
thinking about her and how he wanted nothing more than to cancel their meetings for
today and go back upstairs when…
“Is everyone okay in there?” A voice was speaking to them through an intercom in
the elevator and they broke apart instantly.
“Um…yes,” Jason stammered. “We’re fine.” He reached over and set the elevator in
motion again. “Thank you,” he said out loud to whoever was speaking to them and knew
that there was probably a camera on them that caught all of that on tape. There was
no way to claim a mechanical issue. They’d just have to step out into the lobby and
pray that no one said anything.
They arrived on the main floor of the hotel and walked out to the waiting car. As
they pulled away from the curb, Jason spoke without looking directly at Maggie. “I’m
not going to apologize for that,” he said simply.
“I’m not asking you to,” she replied. There was so much that she wanted to say and
that she wanted to ask but now was completely not the time. They were wrapping up
this trip and had two important clients to meet with today and the timing of all of
this really sucked.
“So,” she began, getting her head back where it belonged, “Dennis Caprese is up first
this morning. I’ve talked several times with his assistant in the last couple of
days and per all of your preliminary talks with him, I’ve prepared the contracts already
so that should everything go our way, he can sign today.”
Jason nodded. He didn’t give a damn about business and meetings right now. All he
could think about was that kiss. Shouldn’t she be outraged? Shouldn’t she be demanding
that he not touch her again? He had been speculating for far too long about her marriage
and it just didn’t sit right with him that Maggie wasn’t putting up more of a fight.
It didn’t fit. The woman he had come to know had morals and was pretty traditional
in her views and beliefs. It didn’t match up with the image of her as a married woman.
Jason had no doubt that she wasn’t the kind of woman who would have an affair.
Then why did she kiss him with such urgency?
Why did it feel like she would have gladly let him take her right there in the elevator
and to hell with the consequences?
And why did he want to tell the driver to turn the car around so that he could test
that theory out?
“Here we are, Sir,” the driver said, interrupting his thoughts. “I’ll stay close
by so that you can call me when you’re done.”
Jason mumbled a word of thanks and exited the car, Maggie close behind him. All of
his wonderings and naughty thoughts would have to wait. They had meetings to get
through. But once business was done, so was all of the tippy-toeing he’d been doing.
Jason was going to get some answers.
Tonight.
****
Their second meeting was over by four, but Alan Cummings, the CEO of AC Industries,
invited them out for dinner. Jason had wanted to refuse but Cummings wasn’t one hundred
percent on board yet and he figured that a few more hours in the man’s company could
only help their situation.
Maggie assumed that Jason would send her back to the hotel to get started on paperwork
and was surprised when he told Alan that they’d both be there. Maggie looked at him
quizzically, unsure of why he wanted her to go with him when there was a mountain
of work to do. Jason read the question in her eyes and simply said “There will be
plenty of time to get all of it done when we get back to
North Carolina
.”
She wanted to argue that she needed to get started while it was all fresh in her mind
but the reality was that she really needed a little time away from Jason. After the
kiss they’d shared earlier, he seemed to fill all of the space around her. She could
feel him, smell him and found it hard to concentrate with him so close by.
But she didn’t say a word. Instead, Maggie merely nodded and stayed put in the conference
room of AC Industries until it was time to leave. “Do you need to go back to the
hotel before dinner?” Jason asked.
“I wouldn’t mind doing that, but it’s completely up to you. Mr. Cummings seemed set
on an early dinner so I don’t think it would be worth the rush to go across town and
back again.”
“Apparently he does a dinner like this once a month with several clients so we won’t
be one on one with him. I guess if nothing else I may get to network a little bit
more,” Jason said casually.
“That would be great, Jason, but then maybe it would be best if I didn’t go. I’ll
only be in the way and no one else will have their assistants with them so…”
“Nonsense!” Alan Cummings said as he walked back into the room. He was a tall man
with a booming voice and Maggie nearly fell out of her chair at the sound of it.
“I have a couple of other out of town clients that are meeting us tonight and several
of them have their assistants with them. And even if they didn’t, Maggie, I would
hate to not be a proper host and not include you.”
She smiled at him but still didn’t feel up to spending any more time talking business.
A little alone time back in her room to unwind and think about what had happened earlier
in the elevator was what Maggie most wanted to do but clearly that wasn’t going to
happen. “Thank you,” she said finally and stood when he indicated that they were
ready to go.
Back in the town car, they rode over to a restaurant on the water where AC Industries
hosted their monthly events. Maggie loved the sound and smell of the ocean and wanted
nothing more than to kick her shoes off and to go down on to the sand and just enjoy
the feel of it between her toes. Unfortunately, Alan and Jason were standing and
waiting for her so she smiled sheepishly and walked with them into the restaurant.
Within an hour Maggie’s head was spinning. They had met well over two dozen new people,
had enjoyed hors d’oevres and several glasses of wine. All she wanted to do was sit
down to a hot meal and finish the day but Jason was working the room and was deep
in conversation. There was no way for her to get his attention and ask to leave without
seeming rude.
Finally, dinner was announced and they were seated at a table for eight and dined
on some of the best seafood Maggie had ever tasted. Jason inquired if she was enjoying
her meal but once his eyes met hers – for the first time since the elevator – all
thoughts of food left her mind. The heat in his eyes clearly matched her own and
it was all she could do to just nod her head. “Everything’s delicious,” she whispered.
Jason stared at Maggie’s lips and thought of how delicious they had been earlier in
the day. He suddenly found himself without an appetite for food and was done with
socializing. They had an early morning meeting with one last client and then an afternoon
flight home. He needed to get through this last night and right now, all Jason wanted
to do was to take Maggie by the hand and drag her back to the hotel and to hell with
the consequences.
“Jason!” Alan Cummings voice shouted from across the room. He turned and faced the
man. “There’s someone here I want you to meet!”
With a sigh of resignation, he excused himself and stood but not before giving Maggie
an apologetic look. She smiled serenely back at him; she understood. Once he was
across the room and swallowed up into the crowd, Maggie decided to take advantage
of the time and walked out onto the back deck of the restaurant that led out to the
beach. There were several other guests mingling out there and so she knew that no
one would pay too much attention to her.
Once outside, the sound of the waves crashing and the sun setting was just overwhelming.
Unable to resist, she headed down the wooden steps that led to the sand below and
kicked off her shoes and headed toward the water. It felt better than she had imagined.
She couldn’t remember the last time she had been to the beach and it was just heavenly
to stand still and let her senses take it all in.
“I see that you’ve loosened up some, Mags.” A voice said from behind her and Maggie
froze.
No, it couldn’t be
! Slowly she turned around and gasped in horror. There, standing before her was
her former boss, Martin Blake.
“Martin,” she said as calmly as she could, even though she felt like she was about
to be sick.
“I see you’re still giving the come on to your boss,” he said snidely. “Tell me,
will you go back to the hotel and cry foul again?”
She wanted to punch him in his smug face. “There’s nothing to cry foul about,” she
said crisply. “I finally work for a man who knows the difference between someone
being polite and someone issuing a come on.” She was rewarded when his expression
faltered slightly. “Plus, I haven’t had to fight my way out of a locked room to get
away from someone who is no better than a rapist.”
Martin’s expression turned to pure fury. “You little
bitch
,” he sneered. “You led me on for months and then you had the audacity to run out
and play the victim?”