by Bryce, Megan
When she reached the top she turned, finding him still halfway down the stairs. She smiled at him, knowing exactly what she did to him, knowing her eyes told him exactly when she’d let him do all the things he was thinking of doing to her.
Exactly never.
When he let out a physically impossible suggestion under his breath, she chuckled and let herself into the guest house. And found Cole’s home.
The apartment took up the entire second story of the three-car garage. A large open space with cream walls and hardwood floors housed the kitchen and living area. No dining area, only a large counter with two bar stools.
She shook her head at the large flatscreen hanging on the wall in front of a plush recliner, at the entertainment system stocked full of games and movies. Boys and their toys.
Cole hadn’t followed her in yet and Maggie peeked into the bedroom. A large king-size bed, the sheet hanging off the end, took up most of the space. Maggie could smell Cole’s scent in the air. Something warm and male, with a hint of Irish Spring underneath.
She remembered. Cole liked the classics.
Maggie wandered back into the kitchen, searching for coffee. A cold tease she might be, but she could start coffee for the man.
When the coffee was done and Cole still hadn’t followed her inside, she filled two mugs and headed back outside. He sat on the stair she’d left him on, his back to her.
She carefully made her way down the stairs, handing him a mug and sitting next to him.
His fridge had been bare, although there had been a Costco-sized pack of bacon in his freezer, and Maggie had made do with sugar in her coffee.
Cole got his black.
They sat in silence for a few minutes. Cole took a sip of his coffee, grimacing.
Maggie said, “No cream, no milk, no nothing.”
He eyed her coffee. “Yours, too?”
Maggie took a sip. “Sugar.”
He put his mug down and reached for hers. She let go without a fight, a hot coffee spill not on her top ten list of things to do today.
He took a sip, grimacing even more at the syrupy sweetness. He took another large gulp, handing it back to her with a shake of his head. “Yep, that’ll do it.”
Cole leaned back, resting his elbow on the step behind him. He said, “I thought we were starting over.”
Maggie didn’t look at him, just watched the sky turn from pink to blue. “I thought we were, too. Wasn’t that what you were doing in the pool yesterday? Telling me I was going to sleep with you?”
He sighed. “You’re right, I started it. Let’s start over again, again.”
He sat up, turning on the step to face her. “Cole Montgomery.”
“Margaret Caldwell.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Those Caldwells?”
She raised an eyebrow back. “That Montgomery?”
He took her mug back from her. “This is going to be harder than I thought.” He took a sip, watching her over the rim.
He put the mug down, holding his hand out to shake hers.
Maggie shook her head but grasped his hand, pumping firmly.
He held on to her hand and stared into her eyes. “I’m Cole. You have beautiful eyes.”
She laughed. “I don’t think this is going to work.”
He looked down at her hand in his, running his thumb along her nails. He sighed deeply.
“I guess I don’t really want to forget all the other times. I don’t want to start over. It wasn’t all bad, Maggie.”
No, it wasn’t. But funny how the bad times were the easiest to remember. Funny how the good times were good but the bad times were really bad.
She said, “What’s your best memory?”
He looked up. “Of us?”
She nodded and he said, “Last time we met out on the land. Right after graduation. I flashed my binoculars and you left your party to come meet me.” He looked out where his land bordered hers. “You tried to talk me into going back to the party with you and when I wouldn’t, you stayed. We watched the sun set, the stars rise. When it got chilly, I put my arms around you and I kissed you for the first time. And you said ‘Cole’ like you wanted to. Like I had a chance.”
She stared at him. “You didn’t even have to think about it.”
“Nope. It’s not easy to forget the last good time.”
He turned back to her and Maggie stared into his eyes, thinking she’d forgotten what it was like to be with Cole. Forgot how he lived wide open and unafraid.
He said, “But if you ask me for the second best memory, we’re going to be here awhile.”
She relaxed. She’d also forgotten how he kept you balancing on that edge, back and forth, not letting you fall unless he wanted you to.
Cole said, “What’s your favorite memory?”
“Favorite or best?”
She smiled when he narrowed his eyes. He’d forgotten that she liked to poke him. Maggie guessed there still weren’t a lot of people in Cole’s life who liked to poke him.
She said, “Yours was pretty good. I’ll say that one, too.”
“No. I want yours.”
Maggie’s best memory was that short window they’d slept together. Before the whole thing had exploded on them.
She hadn’t cared that she’d bargained for it, they’d been heading that direction anyway. They would lay in bed and talk and then tangle the sheets. She would sneak out of her house late at night and he would be waiting for her. After their first time together he was so gentle with her and she did everything, anything, to get him to break. To lose control.
Cole wild and out of control was nearly a religious experience.
But she wasn’t going to tell him that. He might live wide open and unafraid, she didn’t.
She said, “When they jumped you.”
He chuckled, shaking his head. “I give you a wonderful moment and you give me that? Cold, Maggie.”
“We were seventeen.”
“Oh, I remember it.”
“You couldn’t even talk when I found you.”
He patted her hand and put it in her lap. He said, “I can see why you would like that.”
He leaned back on his elbows and she smiled at his profile.
She said, “You didn’t even open your eyes. Just sighed, like you’d been waiting for me. Then you passed out.”
He glanced at her. “I still dispute that.”
“Since I’m the one who sat there cradling your head for ten minutes, I think I’ll believe my version.”
She’d sat there for ten minutes and cried. She hadn’t been there to save him, to step in front of him, to fend off his enemies.
“Maggie, it is too early to relive getting the shit kicked out of me by five kids. Is there a point to your story?”
“There were six kids.”
Cole took a deep breath, carefully not looking at her.
She watched him not look at her and said, “A sixth kid who just watched, safe from a distance. Who never paid for the punches he orchestrated.”
“I hate fucking Tanner.”
She said softly, “He hates you back.”
Cole smiled. His lips parted, leaving white teeth gleaming in the early light. His eyes hardened, saying all too clearly that Cole would love to meet Tanner Beaumont alone in a dark alley, just name the time.
Maggie made a mental note to make sure Cole never ran into Tanner alone at the house.
And pushed down, down deep, that little part of her that thrilled at his smile.
She’d seen him fight, more times than she could remember. She’d seen the abandon that he fought with. No thought for any future pain, no one home to care about the damage. Only fists flying and blood spurting.
Only the driving need to win, to hit harder than his opponent, to falter less than his enemy.
He hadn’t changed as he’d gotten older. He’d only gotten smarter, learned where to hit, how to inflict the most pain. And if you went down on the first punch, well, no shame i
n that. It took a village to take down Cole Montgomery. A stupid, suicidal village.
And when he lost control, that’s how sex was with him, too. No thought for the future, only the pleasure now.
God knew why Maggie was saying no to him. Except it was a breathless, terrifying, on-the-edge-of-a-cliff way to live.
She’d escaped once. And she knew it was much, much easier to stay off that cliff in the first place than it was to convince yourself that you wanted off.
Or to recover after the fall.
Cole said, “He told you?”
“Tanner. . . gets chatty when he’s had too much to drink. And my point to this story is that after Tanner told me about being the general, about watching his troops do his dirty work, I couldn’t figure out why you never told anyone. You didn’t tell me.”
“Maybe I just thought no one would believe me.”
“Is that why?”
Cole turned to her, wide open and unafraid. “No.”
“You didn’t tell me, you never said his name to anyone, because I liked him.”
“I didn’t want you to have to choose between us.”
Maggie shook her head. “No. You didn’t want to take away my choice. You knew I’d choose you.”
“You’d choose me only because he’d broken the rules. He hadn’t been fair.”
“You are what you do.”
“And let me tell you, there’s nothing that scares me more than that thought.”
Maggie said, “Want to hear my caveat?”
“Oh, Christ. There’s more to it?”
“You aren’t what you’ve done; you are what you do now.”
Cole looked into her eyes and said softly, “That almost smacks of forgiveness, Maggie.”
“I’ve learned we can’t all be perfect right out of the gate. But we can choose differently next time.” She looked away from his questioning eyes. “I don’t want to be forever defined by my past mistakes.”
“Bankruptcy really does a number on you, doesn’t it?”
When she looked back at him, his eyes were on the fist she was pressing into her stomach. She pulled her hand away.
Cole said, “I’ll give this to Tanner. At least he didn’t schedule my beating like a pussy.”
She blew out a shaky breath. She waited until he looked up and then smiled at him for pulling her back from the ledge again.
He said, “So, my favorite memory is our first kiss and your favorite memory is me lying in your lap unconscious.”
She laughed. “Maybe we can make a new best memory.”
Cole shook his head, his eyes wide. “I’m just hearing forgiveness all over the place.”
“It could be that I’m just buttering you up before you see all the paperwork.”
He groaned and closed his eyes. “Paperwork. I’m going to need breakfast first.”
“Let me guess. Bacon.”
“I make a mean plate of it.” He opened his eyes. “There’s nothing like laying in bed naked and sweaty and nibbling on bacon.”
Why did that sound so. . . right? Forget chocolate in bed, bacon was the new aphrodisiac. Or wait, chocolate covered bacon.
She said, “Is this how we’re going to play it?”
“It’s a good game.”
She nodded. “It’s fun. When you know you’re going to win. It’s the thought that you just might lose that gets you all pissy.”
“Plus it’s five fucking o’clock in the morning.”
She pointed to their mugs. “I made coffee.”
“So you did. I guess one out of two ain’t bad.”
She leaned into him. “Oh, Cole. One out of two is all you’re ever going to get.”
He bent his head towards her. “I seem to remember getting you to number two more times than was strictly necessary for our deal.”
She smiled up into his eyes. “You’re going to lose this time, Cole.”
He smiled back and whispered, “Do your worst, Empress.”
He held a hand out to steady her as she rose. She didn’t bother waiting for him to get up before heading for the top of the stairs. The hem of her skirt was even with his eyes as she passed him and he groaned.
Maggie put even more sway into her hips, running her hand up the stair rail suggestively. She looked at him over her shoulder when she got to the top. Still telling him never with her eyes.
This time he laughed. He closed his eyes, shook his head, and said, “I’m a stupid shit.”
And then he followed her inside.
Three
Maggie sat curled in Cole’s recliner, her eyes closed, her feet tucked underneath her. Cole was pathetically grateful he couldn’t see her feet anymore. He didn’t know what was worse, those shoes designed to bring a man to his knees or Maggie in her bare feet. Her long, beautiful feet, her nails painted a shimmery peach that sparkled with every step, every bounce of her foot. The sight left him confused, wondering when he’d turned into a foot man.
He washed bacon grease off their plates and thought about making another pot of coffee but decided Maggie didn’t need it. They’d spent the last few hours sifting through more paperwork than any man should ever have to go through to get a woman naked.
Good thing that wasn’t why he was doing this.
Maggie had spent the last few hours taking deep, gulping breaths and pushing her fist into her stomach.
Bacon could cure a great many ills, and he’d stuffed as many as he could into her mouth, but there were limits. Always limits. Looked like bacon was no match for a bankruptcy ulcer.
He left her to rest, hoping she really would fall asleep for a few minutes instead of just lying there pretending, and went to shower. And if he left the bedroom door wide open as he undressed, well, he didn’t mind the thought of Maggie peeking.
He left the bathroom door open as an invitation.
He wasn’t too surprised when she didn’t join him.
By the time he was dressed again, Maggie’s shoes were back on and she was gathering papers.
He grabbed his keys and wallet, stuffing them into his pocket, and walked out to say, “Are we going to talk about the elephant in the room?”
“Which elephant?”
He sat on a stool, grabbing a random stack of papers and tapping the signatures. “Half of these are signed by Tanner.”
She looked up at him, her eyes clear green again, her emotions back under control.
“He was an agent of my company. He had authority. These are my debts, no matter who signed for them.” She rifled through the papers, finally finding another signature and holding it up to him. “See? It’s not all Tanner.”
“Half are Tanner’s.” He nodded at the paper she was holding. “If Thomas Scribblypants there had signed for half of these, you would have fired him.”
“I did.”
“And yet Tanner gets a free pass. Is he out there racking up more debt for you right now?”
“I didn’t fire Thomas Scribblypants. I fired Tanner.”
Cole stopped and stared. He hadn’t seen that coming. She’d actually fired Tanner?
He enjoyed the thought of Maggie telling Tanner to pack his bags for a long while, then said, “Good.”
She huffed a laugh. “No. It wasn’t good. But I had to.”
“Tell me how you did it. Did you pull down his pants and spank him in front of the whole company?”
Her lips twitched. “You would have like to have seen that, wouldn’t you? Voyeur.”
“I would pay money to see Tanner Beaumont being spanked.”
Although not by Maggie. He never wanted to see that.
She turned to face him. “He’s my brother-in-law. He’s family. I wanted him to succeed.” She shook her head. “I gave him too much rope.”
“Enough to strangle both himself and you.”
“It hurt everyone when I had to cut him loose.”
Cole tried not to smile too wide. “Just tell me it hurt Tanner the most.”
He could see it in
her eyes that she’d never give Cole the satisfaction by admitting it. She only said, “Were all your debts signed by yours truly?”
He’d inherited half his debts from dear old dad. He hadn’t gotten the chance to fire his father. Too bad, the thought of it alone made him want to laugh with glee. Cole guessed Maggie hadn’t felt the same about Tanner.
When he shook his head, Maggie said, “Tanner was a big problem. But he was still only part of the problem. I didn’t handle any of it well. It’s my fault my company is drowning in debt.” She gave him a crooked smile. “And I’m the one paying for it.”
He gave a crooked smile back. “Yes, you will.”
“I’d only pay if I thought this would work. I don’t want to be the Caldwell who crumbles.”
“Oh, yeah. Much better to leave it to the next generation.”
She didn’t laugh. “Do you think I should let it crumble? Just give up?”
“I know you like to be number one in everything but I must claim winner of the debt competition. My debts were worse. You can come back from this.”
She waved towards the papers. “It took a miracle to save you. I might be in second place but it will still take a miracle to save me.”
“I’d give you a miracle if I could.”
She fussed with the papers, trying to put them neatly in a stack. She didn’t look at him when she said softly, “You already did, Cole. A chance at all is a miracle. Just. . . thank you.”
He sniffed and wiped an imaginary tear from his eye. “That was beautiful, Maggie. Let me enjoy that for a moment.”
She smacked his arm and he grinned at her. He said, “But payment is not required until we’re done with this mess.”
“I said thank you, not I forgive you.”
“It was how you said it. But I will need the actual words when we’re done here.”
She sighed. “When do you think we’ll be done here?”
“With a miracle, it took me less than a year.”
“I don’t think we can count on that happening here. We might be ‘engaged’ for a while.”
He shrugged. “I’m not in any rush. I figure the longer we have to stick together the better my chances are at getting you naked again.”
