by Lauren Dane
“Maggie?” Lyndsay looked confused.
“Yeah, Maggie Wright. As in me.”
Lyndsay turned around and made a big show about looking down at her but Maggie stood her ground and narrowed her eyes at the other woman.
“You must be joking. Did you lose a bet or something, Kyle?”
Maggie just looked at the other woman, her arms crossed over her chest. Kyle took his shot and made it. Kissing Maggie’s neck, he took his next shot, sinking it as well. He totally ignored Lyndsay. He normally would have hated any kind of showdown between women over him but he was utterly turned on by watching Maggie mark her territory. And it was good for Maggie to stand up for herself.
“Be on your way, Lyndsay, he’s not interested.” Maggie made shooing motions with her hands and Matt laughed.
Lyndsay snorted. “Please. You think you can hold a man like Kyle?”
“Seeing as how you never had him to begin with and I have him now? Yeah. In any case, if things do go bad and we break up, you’re free to take a shot at him then. Unless and until that day comes, back off. Kyle is taken and your feelings about that are irrelevant.”
Kyle put his arm around Maggie and pulled her into his side.
“Whatever. You can’t hold him for long.” Lyndsay flounced off in a huff.
Maggie said something unladylike under her breath and Kyle threw back his head and laughed. He kissed her until she was breathless and led her back to her table. “Thanks for defending my honor, Red.”
“Mmmm,” she replied and he walked back to the pool room chuckling.
“Way to go, Maggie!” Dee and Liv grinned at her.
“I have to confess, being an uppity woman is really fun. I can’t believe I’ve missed out all these years. I do have a lot of ground to make up!”
Liv laughed and gave her a thumbs-up.
“So, Arthur and I are hosting Thanksgiving dinner at our house this year. My parents and his are coming over, as well as his brothers and their wives and my sister and her husband and kids. You two are welcome to come.”
“I’m going to go to my sister’s in Crawford. I promised last year.”
“I don’t know what I’ll do. Usually, I’d let myself be guilted into a day of agony at Cece’s house of pain but I think I’m going to decline this year. I’d rather eat a frozen turkey dinner than subject myself to any more from them.”
“Well, as long as you know you’re welcome at ours. But from the looks of it, you’ll be eating turkey and watching ball games at the Chase household.” Dee seemed convinced but Maggie looked dubious.
At eight thirty the pool game broke up and Kyle stopped at their table. He held out his hand with a bow. “Are you ready, darlin’?”
She smiled and took it. Turning around she leaned down and hugged her friends as she said her goodbyes.
“Oh hey, you coming to the Grange tomorrow?” Dee called out as they got to the door.
“Oh, is that tomorrow night?”
Every year, the weekend before Thanksgiving, Petal had a community dance at the Grange that also served as a fund-raiser and food drive for the local food pantry and soup kitchen.
“You aren’t going to any dance without me, Red. I have two tickets already. In fact, the whole Chase family does it every year. Please do me the honor and come as my date?”
“Well, when you put it like that.” She kissed his nose. “I guess I’ll see y’all there,” she said to Liv and Dee.
When Kyle got into the car he turned to her. “I told my momma that I’d bring her over some milk and butter. Is that all right with you?”
“Do I mind if you do a sweet helpful son thing? Of course not.”
Kyle laughed. “You don’t understand Polly Jean Chase, Red. She’s probably got three gallons of milk in the giant refrigerator in the garage and at least two extra boxes of butter as well but she wants to see you. To monitor this thing between us.”
“Ah, to make sure I’m treating you right?”
He laughed again. “No, sugar. To make sure I’m treating you right.”
They stopped by the Piggly Wiggly and took the groceries over to the house. Polly pulled them both into a big hug and stuffed a cookie into Kyle’s hand.
“Momma, I’m taking Maggie back to my house to make her dinner, I don’t need this.”
“Eat it, Kyle Maurice Chase. You need your strength.” Polly looked to Maggie and smiled. “Oh and, Margaret, I wanted to let you know we expect you at noon.”
“Noon? For what, Mrs. Chase?”
“Polly, honey. And for Thanksgiving dinner of course. In fact, if you want to come earlier, we have breakfast at eight.”
Kyle looked amused as he devoured the cookie he’d protested so vigorously minutes before.
“Um, are you sure I won’t be imposing?”
Polly put her hands on her hips and squared her shoulders. Kyle, recognizing the stance, took a step back and watched. “Honey, you’re dating Kyle. That makes you one of us. I’ll be cooking a turkey and a ham, it’s not like a bitty scrap of a girl like you eats that much.” Kyle wisely kept his snort to himself.
“You’re the first steady girlfriend that we’ve had in this family since that bitch Sandra broke Shane’s heart. You don’t think I need another woman here in this sea of testosterone? Besides, I like your company.”
“Thank you. I’m sorry if I seem ungrateful. I’m happy to be invited, I like being here.” How could she say, It’s just that I didn’t grow up in the most normal of households and I’m only learning now how to interact with families that aren’t as messed up as my own? It was just too embarrassing so she just smiled. “Can I help cook?”
“Oh no, honey. My sister will get here the night before. She and I’ll get up early to start everything. Just come when you want. I take it you’ll be coming, then?”
“Yes. Thanks so much for inviting me. I insist on bringing dessert, though.”
“I can’t argue with that. I’ve been eating your baked goodies for years.”
“Good!”
“Have we passed inspection yet? It’s getting late and I want to get Maggie fed.”
“Of course! I’ll see you both on Thursday then.”
“You’ll see us tomorrow at the Grange,” Kyle said.
“I forgot that was tomorrow night. Well, I’ll see you both then. Night, sugar.” She kissed Kyle and then Maggie.
Kyle chuckled the whole way to his place. After trying to ignore him, she finally gave in. “What are you laughing about?”
“You, trying to fight off my momma. She’s determined to make you one of our own. You can’t fight it. I don’t want you to either.”
Back at his condo she sat and drank a beer while she watched him prepare the salad that would go with the lemon chicken he’d popped into the oven. He looked good there. Proficient and able.
She hadn’t said much since his last declaration in the car. In her mind she’d gone back and forth but she couldn’t deny it anymore and she didn’t want to. Screwing up her courage at last she put her beer down and took a deep breath. “I’m not going to, you know.”
“Not going to do what, Red?” He turned to look at her, a smile on his face.
“I’m not going to fight it anymore. I like your family. If you’re truly comfortable with me at events and dinners, I’ll come when I’m invited.”
Putting his knife on the cutting board, he came to kneel at her feet. “I love for you to be with me and my family. This is all rather new for me you understand. I’ve never, ever had a steady girlfriend but I’m not freaked out like I thought I might be. I don’t know, it just seems—” he paused, searching for the right word “—right. Being with you seems right. My family loves you.” He stopped and swallowed. “And I’m, well...quite frankly, on my way to loving you, Margaret Elizabeth.” He shrugged. “Now if six mont
hs ago someone had said that I’d say that to any woman without a gun to my head or without feeling faint, I’d have laughed. But you seem so right to me. I hope I’m not freaking you out.”
She reached out and pushed a lock of his hair out of his eye. “I’m not freaked out. I have my moments of insecurity where I wonder why a man who looks like you is interested in me.” She shrugged. “But I’ve decided that I don’t care. And okay, so there’s a bit of residual strangeness about the whole Shane thing. But I love being with you. You make me happy. You make me laugh. You accept me on my own terms. It feels right to me, too.”
“I thought the Shane thing might bother me but last night, when we were together, it didn’t. And anyway, I get to see you naked and sweaty. He never did. I shouldn’t feel smug about that but I do.”
Unsuccessfully stifling a smile, she shook her head in amusement. “Well, sick as I am, I’m sort of flattered by that. I suppose we’re made for each other then, huh? Look, the thing with Shane was totally dumb. It wasn’t anything and it wouldn’t have been a blip on my life radar if he hadn’t acted like such an ass at the end. But it’s over and done and I don’t sit around and wish things had gone differently. You don’t hold yourself back, I don’t hold myself back. This is more. Intense and deep, special.”
“I’m sorry he hurt you. Thing is, if he hadn’t messed up, you’d be with him right now instead of me so I can’t feel bad so much about the outcome. As for how it is between you and me? Yep, it’s special.” He leaned forward and kissed her lips. “Can you spend the night tonight?”
She nodded. “I like waking up with you. I’ve never woken up with anyone before, it’s very nice.”
“Me either. Before you, Red, I was the guy who left. Not the moment he came or anything so crass. But shortly afterward. I like having you here. I like hearing your voice and smelling you in my bedroom.”
Maggie liked that very much. “I like being here, too. I do need to do some yard work tomorrow though, so I need to go home in the morning.”
“Well, you know that your boyfriend’s a landscaper right?”
“I’d heard something about that, yeah.” She laughed.
“Well, why don’t I help you? We can go over to your place and do whatever yard work you need doing. I can spend tomorrow night at your house. That is, if I’m not rushing.”
“You aren’t and yes, I’d like that.”
Dinner was excellent, Kyle was a very good cook. After they’d cleaned up the kitchen together he turned and her pulse sped to see the look in his eyes.
“Maggie, I need you. Right now.” Her mouth dried up as she watched him stalk toward her. He was overwhelming in that moment and it thrilled her. One-handed, he pulled the fly of his jeans open and hers with the other hand.
Making quick work of getting naked, she stood there frozen against the force of his needy gaze. She found herself backed against the wall in the dining room. He dropped to his knees and her stomach clenched.
“I want to taste you,” he murmured and spread her open with his thumbs. “Thigh on my shoulder.” It wasn’t a request. Complying, she leaned back, putting her weight against the wall. A gasp ripped from her lips as his mouth closed over her pussy.
One of her hands gripped the doorjamb and the other sifted through his hair. She cried out when two of his fingers pressed deep into her and turned to hook, stroking her sweet spot. A gasp of his name when his teeth scraped gently over her swollen clit.
“Mmmm. You like that.” He couldn’t see her enthusiastic nod so she pushed his head back into place and ignored his chuckle.
The tip of his tongue drew circles around her clit over and over until her legs shook so hard she could barely hold herself up.
“Oh God, please. Kyle, please.”
“Please what?” He looked up at her and one eyebrow slid high.
“Pleasemakemecome!”
A third finger joined the other two inside her and he moved back into place. His tongue drew through her pussy, sliding back and forth through her folds until he got back to her clit. And he stayed there. Insistently, relentlessly flicking over her with a featherlight but consistent stroke. On and on until her climax bloomed and exploded over her with such force she flung her head back, smacking it against the wall behind her.
Muscles still jumping she found herself bent over the table. She heard the crinkle of the condom wrapper as he widened her thighs. Gripping the side of the table, she braced herself as he thrust into her to the root in one long stroke.
“Told you, you made me want to bend you over something. Holy smoke you’re so hot it drives me crazy,” he murmured and began to thrust deep, over and over. Her nipples hardened against the cool, unyielding surface of the table.
She’d never been taken in such a spontaneous, raw way and it thrilled her to her very core. That she made him feel so out of control that he had to bend her over the kitchen table and have her right at that very moment was wildly exciting. His desire of her elevated her. Made her feel like a goddess. To be the focus of such regard, such intensity, made her tremble and sweat.
Kyle looked down at the feminine curve of her spine, before arching back to watch his cock disappear into her body only to withdraw, covered in her honey. Damn but he wanted her. In every way, in every place he could imagine. He’d never desired a woman so deeply before. She affected him on such a primal level that it should have scared him. But all he could feel was the way the hot, wet flesh of her pussy embraced him. Sucked at him even as he pulled out and welcomed him again as he thrust back deep.
“Damn it, Maggie, you feel so good.” His head fell back as orgasm took over his muscles and he came deep inside her.
He pressed a kiss to the back of her neck and carried her upstairs to his bed. He went to sleep knowing that the woman curved against his body would be that way for the rest of his life.
* * *
By the time they arrived at the Grange the next night, most of the Chase family was there and had scored a table. Her heart warmed at the genuine enthusiasm they greeted her with. All the brothers told her to save them a dance and Kyle scowled and rolled his eyes at them.
“You know, Liv should be here too.” Maggie’s tone with Matt was casual and she was delighted to see his face light up. “I knew it!”
“What?”
“You are interested in her!”
He sighed and then grinned in resignation. “Yeah, I’ve had a crush on Olivia since high school.”
“For heaven’s sake, why didn’t you kiss her the other night? Or at least go inside?”
“I’ve been kicking myself for that ever since then. I really did have an early seminar that next morning. I want to give her the time and attention she deserves.”
“Oh good! I’m relieved to hear it. Of course, she’s my best friend and has been since the third day of kindergarten, so I’m totally biased—” she gulped in a deep breath before continuing “—but I can still tell you that she’s just the most wonderful woman on the planet.”
“I doubt it, Red. I know the most wonderful woman on the planet and she’s not Liv Davis.” Kyle kissed her freckles and heat bloomed as she blushed.
“Lord. I hope that’s not catching,” Marc said of the two of them. “It’s nice for you two and all. But Kyle has been a happy-go-lucky bachelor all of this time and he’s so obviously gone over you, sugar, it scares me.”
“It’ll happen to you too, you know. When it’s supposed to.” Kyle’s smile was smug.
“Maggie, fancy seeing you here.”
Maggie turned in the direction of the cold voice and saw Janie and her husband Rick, and their parents, Cece and Tom Wright.
“Janie, Rick, Mother, Daddy. Hello,” Maggie said tightly. The look on her mother’s face told her it wasn’t going to be a pleasant conversation.
“Hey, honey.” Her father bent down to kiss her
cheek. “Sorry,” he whispered into her ear. She braced herself for what was coming next.
“I had no idea you’d actually have a date for this but as you’re here I’ll go ahead. Since you’ve decided to be so mean and jealous of your sister, you’re no longer invited to Thanksgiving dinner. Perhaps if you spend the day thinking about how you can be a better sister, you can come to Christmas dinner.” Her mother’s voice was so cold it hit Maggie like a slap and she winced.
Rick looked distinctly uncomfortable as did Tom but neither man said anything.
Maggie just sat there for a moment as she pushed the pain away and gathered her strength and self-respect. Inhaling deeply she looked her mother straight on. “If that’s how you feel, Mother. Have a nice evening.”
“Wait just a darned minute, Cece Wright!” Polly stood up and came over to Maggie, putting a hand on her shoulder. Kyle held her hand on the other side.
“Yes, Polly? I suppose you’re going to butt in?”
“You can keep your snotty comments to yourself. Maggie’s coming to dinner with our family on Thanksgiving, where she’s loved and appreciated. Christmas, too. If you refuse to see what an exceptional daughter you have, well, you know, I’ve always wanted a daughter, what with four boys and all. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
Maggie could feel the Chases build a protective wall around her. Shane stood on the other side of Polly, Matt on the other side of Kyle. Edward and Marc were on the other side of the table but had stood as well.
“Margaret should recognize her betters. She needs to accept that her sister is prettier and more successful than she is and stop being so bitter about it,” Cecelia snapped.
Maggie had had enough. She stood up. “Mother, you don’t know anything about it. I am not bitter that Jane Marie is pretty! I don’t know why you keep saying that, it simply isn’t true. But pretty isn’t everything! You treated me, my whole life, like nothing else mattered but pretty. Well what about when pretty goes away? What about when pretty only is on the surface? What about when she’s like you? Pretty on the outside but cold and heartless on the inside?
