William leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. “Maggie, I know that things looked bad this afternoon…”
“Please don’t,” she interrupted. “I just need this whole ugly phase of my life to be over. Martin Blake was the reason that I came to Montgomery’s and I guess it’s only fitting that he be the reason that I’m leaving it. I’ll admit that I was shocked by his appearance there today but I understand that business is business. It was stupid of me to expect you to lose a big client just because of something that happened to me years ago.”
“Maggie, look at me,” William said softly. “I didn’t tell Jason or anyone that I was coming here. I wanted you to know that there was never going to be a business deal with Martin Blake. He did approach us with a very attractive offer and had it come from anyone else, we would have jumped at the opportunity. Knowing what we do, however, that was never going to happen.”
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 reclaimi
ng 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.
Where to Find Samantha Chase
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SamanthaChaseFanClub
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SamanthaChase3
Website: http://samanthachaseauthor.com/
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B006CZWRGC
Blog: http://allstace.blogspot.com/
Tumblr: http://samanthachasewriter.tumblr.com/
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