by Katie Reus
It’s Me Again, Baby
O’Connor Family Series
Katie Reus
She lost him once…
Years ago Samantha made a mistake and lost a chance at something real with Maguire O’Connor. Now that she’s living in Holly again, she knows seeing him is inevitable. But the last thing she ever expected was to take him on as a client.
Now they have a second chance…
Maguire never got over Sam. Thanks to a meddling family member, he mistakenly hires Sam as his real estate agent. With her in his sights again, he’s not letting her go. But someone from her past followed her back to Holly with a sinister intent. Now Maguire will do whatever it takes to protect the woman he intends to claim as his forever.
It’s Me Again, Baby
Copyright © 2017 Katie Reus
Cover Art by Sweet ‘N Spicy Designs
Editing: Julia Ganis
Digital Formatting by Author E.M.S.
* * *
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the author.
Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book. This purchase allows you one legal copy for your own personal reading enjoyment on your personal computer or device. You do not have the right to resell, distribute, print or transfer this book, in whole or in part, to anyone, in any format, via methods either currently known or yet to be invented, or upload this book to a file sharing program. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.
ISBN: 9781635560084
Table of Contents
IT’S ME AGAIN, BABY
About the Book
Copyright
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Epilogue
Dear Readers
Excerpt from MERRY CHRISTMAS, BABY
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Complete Booklist
Dedication
To Julie and Joan, thank you for our fun plotting week!
Chapter 1
“I’m here. Gotta go,” Maguire said to his sister Fallon as he steered down the long driveway up to a two-story brick house he was interested in buying. There was an actual white picket fence lining the front of the five-acre property, an empty pen for chickens, and an industrial-sized steel work shed about fifty yards from the house. The work space was the main reason he was looking at the property. He needed enough room for his private vehicle restorations.
“Liar. You’re just tired of talking about wedding stuff.”
Yeah, no shit. But he wasn’t going to say that to his sister. Because she could be mean when she wanted. When they’d been younger she’d shaved his head. Twice. And that was just the tip of the iceberg. Of course, he’d deserved the head shavings.
And he loved his only sister, so if she wanted his opinion on colors, he was going to give it. “I’m serious. I see the Realtor’s car in the driveway.” A black midsize BMW SUV. Nice, dependable vehicle.
“Fine. But if you get a chance will you call Mom and tell her if you’re going to be at our Monday dinner next week? She keeps asking me, like I have any knowledge of your schedule.”
He frowned at his sister’s words, but committed to phoning their mom before ending the call. He’d actually been trying to call their mom the last twenty-four hours, but she’d only been texting him. Which wasn’t like her. She said she’d found him a new Realtor—since his last one had been lazy—and told him where to be and at what time. The bossiness was vintage Mom, but the MIA act wasn’t. She usually called him a few times a week. Minimum. She was like that with all four of her kids. And now that two of them were engaged, she called their significant others the same amount.
There were worse things in the world than a mom who called too much. After spending years overseas without much contact with his family, he could admit he liked how much she doted on all of them.
Rolling his shoulders once, he shoved his phone in his pocket and got out of his car, a 1969 Ford Mustang Boss 429—also known as the Boss 9—he’d restored himself. The color was called Aspen Red, and for a man who had no problem making split-second decisions in the heat of battle, it had taken him a full month to decide on a color. He ran his hand over the hood as he strode up the driveway, admiring her as he always did. This was his baby, and all the work he’d put into her had been the best therapy after his last tour in Afghanistan.
He hadn’t been able to assimilate back into the civilian world easily. Having a task to work on in all his spare time had been the only thing keeping him focused. Now he had a “sexy muscle car,” as his sister put it. He didn’t know about the sexy part, but when he looked at it, he felt a sense of pride. He’d had so many offers on the car but he would never sell her.
As the front door opened, he started to smile on instinct, but it froze on his face as he came face to face with Samantha Murphy.
His mother had told him his Realtor’s name was Sam and he’d been so busy with work he hadn’t thought to ask for more details. Aw, hell. His mom had known exactly what she was doing and had set this up intentionally. Which explained the lack of communication. He shouldn’t be surprised.
At least Samantha was as surprised as he was, if her deer-in-headlights expression was any indication. Her long, straight, dark hair was pulled back into some sort of twist thing, but he’d seen it down and around her face as she’d ridden him. He’d seen every inch of her sweet body, sucked on her pink nipples as she’d come apart in his arms. And had never been able to get the woman out of his head. It didn’t matter that three years had passed.
“Maguire?” His name on her lips brought up too many naked memories.
Savagely he shut off all thoughts of the past. Especially after the way she’d cut him out of her life. That had blindsided him in a way he’d never expected. He couldn’t even call what had happened a breakup. She’d simply ghosted on him, acted as if all the promises they’d made each other had never been.
He took a few steps forward, trying not to notice her long, toned legs and how incredible she looked in the formfitting blue and white dress. “I was supposed to meet my Realtor here. Sam?”
She cleared her throat, nodded once. “That’s me. My mom asked me to meet a friend of… Oh, your mom’s. She must have meant you, not a friend. I, ah…” Her cheeks flushed pink and it shouldn’t be sexy, but everything about her was. Damn it. “I didn’t realize it was you.”
Yeah, he had no doubt of that. She’d have probably canceled had she known. He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “So, you’re living back in Holly now?” As far as he knew she’d been in Oregon the last three years. He hadn’t seen her since she was twenty-one and he’d been twenty-six. Even then he’d felt too old for her, had worried she wasn’t ready for him—for a relationship. He’d been right.
“I moved back a month ago. Since my dad died. My mom’s been handling everything well but I wanted to be here for her.” Traces of pain etched her expression before a neutral mask fell into place.
Oh, right. “I’m really sorry about your dad.” He’d been out of
town and hadn’t made it to the funeral. Hell, he hadn’t realized she was back in Holly again. Obviously. No way was he going to be a dick to her now. Not that he would have been anyway. He was going to be so damn nice so she had no idea how badly she’d hurt him. He wouldn’t give her the satisfaction.
“Thanks. Listen, if you want to find another Realtor, it’s totally fine. In fact, I have some great recommendations.”
He should say yes. It would be the sane thing to do. He didn’t want to work with her when he wanted her—still. “Nah, it’s okay. The past is water under the bridge. I never held anything against you.” Liar, liar. He’d been pissed—and hurt—for a long time over the way she’d cut contact with him. As if what they’d shared hadn’t mattered. It might have only been a week that they’d spent together, but they’d had a connection. Or he’d thought they had. Turned out she was just a pretty little liar.
She frowned, her eyebrows pulling together. And just as quickly her dark eyes popped with a fiery anger. “You never held anything against me?”
“We were young. You were only twenty-one. Me being overseas for so long? I get why you didn’t want to deal with something like that.” The lies rolled off his tongue and he even managed to sound believable. Like she hadn’t cut him deep.
“You’re unbelievable! I came to the airport the day you left to say goodbye, and ran into your other girlfriend. Don’t try and feed me some bullshit. I talked to Amy Barret. I know you were screwing both of us! So when you called me, yeah I never returned your calls. And I blocked your email address. You deserved it.” Her cheeks were crimson now and not because she was flustered. She looked a little like she was ready to throat punch him. Aaannnd that was way too hot. Even if her words were insane.
“Amy?” He vaguely remembered the woman. She didn’t even live in Holly anymore, had moved not long after he’d gotten out of the Marines. He had no idea where she’d moved and didn’t care. Hell, he’d met her at a party right around the time he’d hooked up with Samantha. He’d been home on leave, and after he’d met Sam he’d been obsessed, to put it mildly. He’d wanted to spend all his spare time with her, to eat, breathe and drink the woman. “I have no idea what she told you, but I wasn’t sleeping with her. I wasn’t sleeping with anyone but you.”
Samantha rolled her dark eyes, one of her hands landing on a curvy hip as she stared him down. “I’m not having this stupid conversation. And I take back what I said about finding you another Realtor. Find someone on your own, jackass.” She spun away from him, those luscious hips swaying as she stalked back toward the front door.
He moved lightning quick. Without thinking, he had his hand placed against the front door so she couldn’t open it. That subtle apples-and-cinnamon scent he remembered clearly clung to her, dragging up even more memories he didn’t want to be holding on to. Her smell shouldn’t affect him so much and he hated that it did.
She turned and shoved at his chest, but he didn’t move. He wanted to crowd her personal space even if he knew it was a dick move. He was beyond pissed. “I never slept with anyone when we were together—and I haven’t been with anyone since!”
His shouted words hung in the air as she stared up at him. Yeah, he hadn’t meant to admit that last little jewel, but what-the-fuck-ever. There were a multitude of reasons he hadn’t been with anyone since returning to civilian life. Not because of her.
Birds chirping and the soft whistle of a cool wind rustling the leaves overhead were the only sounds as they stared at each other for what felt like an eternity.
“You’re serious.”
“Yeah.” He stepped back, but only a foot, giving her a bit of space.
“I’m…sorry, Maguire. I thought, oh God.” She rubbed a hand over her face, then closed her eyes. “I was so insecure back then. Especially where you were concerned. It was easier to believe what Amy said than believe you wanted to be with me. I’m sorry.”
It pissed him off that she’d believed some flake over what they’d shared. But he still found himself saying, “I’m sorry too.”
She let out a nervous little laugh. “You have nothing to be sorry for. And I’m seriously embarrassed right now. I, uh, probably shouldn’t have called you a jackass.”
He lifted a shoulder, his mouth curving up. “I like that show of temper.”
She snorted, seeming more at ease as she shook her head. “You would. Can we start today over?”
Maguire wanted to start some other things over, but nodded. “Yeah. You still want to be my Realtor?”
That delicious shade of pink flushed her cheeks again. “Yes. And we can see how things work. I don’t make my clients sign contracts requiring exclusivity. If you’re not happy, I want you free to go to someone else. Everyone should be happy in this relationship.”
“Can I take you to dinner tomorrow tonight?” Getting caught up with sexy Samantha Murphy sounded like a fine plan. It was just dinner anyway. Belatedly he realized he should have asked if she was single before asking her out. But around her his mouth seemed to get away from him.
She paused for a fraction of a moment, then nodded. “Okay.”
“We can catch up.” Yeah, catch up. Liar.
“Sounds good.”
“All right, then.” He’d find out later if she was dating anyone. Not that he was thinking of dating her. He nearly snorted at himself. Lying again. “Want to show me this place?”
She nodded and quickly morphed into professional mode, her body language and expression changing. “The owners are gone for the next hour so this is the perfect time. And based on the specs your mom gave me—she is very sneaky, by the way—I’ve got a few other places lined up today as well if you’re able to see them?”
“I’m free.” Even if he hadn’t already taken off most of the day for this, he’d have done it now. And not to look at houses. He wanted to spend more time with Samantha. Tonight he planned to find out more about what she’d been up to the last few years. And why she’d been so quick to believe he would have cheated on her.
Soon he planned to claim what had been taken from him. It had sliced him up to lose Sam before. And to find out it was over a stupid misunderstanding—from someone he barely remembered—knocked his world on its axis.
Chapter 2
Samantha crossed her legs, trying not to nervously tap her foot as she sat across from Maguire O’Connor. The sexiest man she’d ever known. After looking at houses with him most of the morning, she had a pretty good idea that he was going to place an offer on the very first property she’d showed him. He’d really liked that steel work shed. Or at least he was thinking really hard about it. She’d seen that familiar gleam in his pale blue eyes that she’d seen in so many clients over the years.
Normally the thought of a possible sale gave her a rush. Now, she didn’t care so much about that as she did that the man she’d thought had been a complete and utter jackass was in fact not a liar, and was sitting across from her. Looking good enough to eat. Not only that, he’d asked her out and she was counting down the seconds until their dinner tomorrow. It didn’t matter that it wasn’t a date. She wanted to spend time with him in a non-work setting.
They’d stopped at Nora’s Books and Brew—Nora was apparently his soon-to-be sister-in-law—to grab coffee and a snack. She was glad for the reprieve because her feet needed it. And she liked spending time with him. She was still a little horrified she’d jumped to conclusions years ago, but she hadn’t been kidding. She’d been seriously lacking in the self-confidence department. Sometimes she still struggled with it.
Soon she had to head out to meet another client and he had to get back to one of his auto body shops.
“Can I get something off my chest?” she asked, keeping her voice low even though there weren’t any patrons close enough to overhear them.
High-top tables were scattered around the dining area of the cute coffee shop. The bookstore was on the other side of the building, but the whole shop had a Christmas theme twenty-four hours
a day, three hundred and sixty-five days a year. As did all the shops of Holly, North Carolina, with twinkle lights crossing over Main Street, garland-wrapped street lights, and snowmen and Santas in most store windows. Even the table they were sitting at was Christmas-themed. The legs had red and white striped stockings covering them and little elf booties at the bottom.
“Of course.” There was a slight rasp to his voice and a hint of more than subtle lust in his gaze when he watched her. It was almost as if he was trying to temper it. And failing spectacularly.
Which…she didn’t even know where to go with that. She cleared her throat, trying to quell the nerves in her belly. “I clearly reacted poorly years ago to Amy’s revelation—”
“Lie.”
“Yes, lie, not revelation. Poor word choice.” Her lips curved up as she continued. “It’s an excuse and probably not a good one now, but I was young, and you’re, well, you. Maguire O’Connor. I was intimidated by you back then and couldn’t believe you’d ‘chosen’ me, which I know is a silly word. But that was how it felt to my twenty-one-year-old self. I struggled with feeling confident in who I am for a lot of years. And this is probably too much information, but I wanted to put it out there and let you know why I reacted the way I did and why I cut off contact.” Looking back, Sam realized how easily she’d let that liar Amy Barret feed off her insecurities. It was so clear now, but hindsight was a freaking bitch. Sam had lost a lot of weight in college and had just started to own who she was when she’d met Maguire.
