by Bryce, Megan
She hesitated again and he cussed.
She said, “Are you going to buy anymore of my company behind my back?”
This time he hesitated and she raised her eyebrows at him. She said, “Cole. Next time you think of buying my company behind my back, know that I will not be kneeing you in the balls. I’ll be getting my Daddy’s shotgun and shooting them off.”
He blew out a breath. “I will take that into consideration.”
He headed back for his chair. “I don’t think I can do a ring today, after all.”
“Good,” she said. And she left.
Maggie returned home.
She didn’t want to stay in a hotel, couldn’t justify the expense when she could just lock herself in her room and pretend she was alone.
But Ginny’s car was gone when she got home and Maggie wandered down to her father’s room.
She sat in the quiet room, listening to his machine beeping, and closed her eyes.
She never talked to him, not like Ginny. Maggie didn’t know if he could hear or not. It was just she felt stupid talking to him about things he couldn’t enjoy anymore. Things he wouldn’t be a part of again.
She felt silly telling him her problems. Because all problems had to seem silly when death was chasing you.
Except she thought he might know what it felt like to be alone. Thought he might know what hopeless felt like.
He’d know, too, what Ginny selling her shares meant.
Her father would have never allowed it. Not to a Montgomery, not to anyone.
Ginny had said that Maggie always did what was best for Caldwell and it wasn’t true. She’d tried and she’d failed. And if she failed again, she couldn’t drag her sister down with her, not when there was a chance. Not when there was a beginning staring them in the face.
But she wouldn’t tell her father any of that, just in case he was listening. Instead she would sit next to him and hold his hand. She would blink back the tears threatening to fall.
Because if a dying man wasn’t going to cry about his hurts, she wouldn’t cry about hers.
Twelve
Maggie kept out of the way of both Ginny and Cole the entire weekend. She turned off her cell, holed herself up in her office. She’d forgotten how it felt to be unreachable, how freeing it was.
The offices were deserted Sunday evening and she wandered around, seeing what reality was, remembering Caldwell’s glory days. Saw utilitarian industrial carpet, remembered cool marble. Saw walls painted a stark gray, remembered great art and rich foliage. This was bootstraps, this was survival. No room for luxuries. No room for a sore heart, no room for petty pride.
Maggie remembered when her office was right next to her father’s, remembered how Ginny had always worked downstairs.
Not an owner, an employee.
The company had always been Maggie’s future, always been Maggie’s inheritance, because she’d chosen it, because it called to her.
She would do anything to save it. Even do it all alone.
When Maggie finally left for the night, she found Cole parked behind her car, sitting in his truck, talking on his cell. He saw her and pushed his door open, shoved his phone into his pocket.
He stayed behind the open door, using it as cover. “Out here alone, Maggie?”
“As you see.”
His nostrils flared and he looked above her head. “I’ve been calling you.”
“I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I had work to do. A future to plan for since things are different now.”
“They’re not. Only difference is who to make the checks out to.”
She laughed. “That’s pretty optimistic, Cole. It’s been a while since any kind of check was made out.”
“It’s only a matter of time.”
Maggie guessed that if you had to have an outside investor, it wasn’t a bad idea to have one who believed in you. If you had to be out-snaked, best it was done by someone who had a much bigger pie to worry about already.
She said, “Why did you track me down?”
“I wanted to make sure you were. . . still talking to me.”
Cole ran his eyes down her long legs to her flip-flops. Might as well be honest with himself. He’d wanted to make sure she was okay. Wanted to make sure she was still coming out to Midland tomorrow.
“Looks like I am.” She nodded to his crotch. “Are you recovered?”
“Physically. But I’m having a hard time with the nightmares. Some night sweats. Reflexive blocking when a blonde gets too near.”
Her lips puckered as she tried to keep from laughing. “I’ll try to keep my distance.”
“I was hoping you’d kiss and make it all better.”
“You just said you were better, physically. You want me to kiss your nightmares away?”
“Okay.”
“No.”
He looked at up at the night sky, wishing he could see stars. Wishing he was out in his little trailer, in the middle of nowhere, his cool blonde snuggled up to him. Not mad at him.
He said, “How long you gonna be mad about this?”
She smiled a big pageant smile and said with an exaggerated drawl, “Pretty long time.”
He grinned at her, slamming the truck door and walking towards her. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow morning, we don’t need two cars out in Midland.”
Her smile fell back down to normal wattage but she didn’t say anything.
He said, “And we still need to get a ring.”
“Yes.”
He stopped and she unlocked her car, setting her briefcase inside.
He said, “I was expecting a fight.”
“Why? I still want to save Caldwell. It’s mine. It was given to me to care for and unfortunately using you is my best hope.”
“And now that you’re dragging me along with you?”
“Did you think I’d sink my ship just because a pirate snuck on board?”
“The thought might have crossed my mind.”
“No. It’s mine. You can come along for the ride but the ship’s still mine.”
“I can help. More than just giving you deals. We can be partners.”
She shook her head, a smile hovering at her lips. “Silent partner, Cole. I know it’ll be hard but that’s all you’re getting.”
“Gonna do it yourself, Maggie?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To prove I can.”
He looked around the empty parking lot. “Who are you proving it to? No one cares.”
“I care, Cole. I need to prove to myself that I didn’t squander my birthright. That I’m worthy of what I’ve been given.”
“You’re not.”
He saw the fire spark in her eyes and he said, “No one is. No one deserves so much, no one is worthy of so much. It’s not a matter of worth.”
“Then what is it?”
“Pride. You don’t want to be the kind of person who pisses away a fortune. You don’t want to be that third generation.”
“What third generation?”
“Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations.”
She looked at him a long moment before saying, “I am the third generation.”
“See, there you go.”
She glared at him. “So you think I should just give up? Easy come, easy go?”
“No. But I want you to remember that one day the Caldwell fortune will be no longer. It will get pissed away.”
“Not on my watch.”
“No. You came begging to your greatest nemesis to keep it from happening. I don’t think it’s happening on your watch.”
She stuck her nose in the air. “I didn’t beg.”
“Oh, you did. I should have recorded it.”
“I didn’t beg then.”
“I’ll remember it how I like, and you were naked and begging. On your knees. And you called me master.”
She caught her laugh before it left her mouth but he saw it. Saw the twinkle in her eyes, the l
ifting of her mood.
She said, “Just remember that after I ‘called you master’ I introduced your boys to your throat.”
He remembered. His boys remembered.
And he might have deserved it. Just hadn’t really expected to have to pay.
He adjusted his belt buckle and she didn’t try and hide that laugh. He took another step forward, trapping her inside the open car door.
She said softly, “You’re getting within striking distance of a blonde, Cole.”
“Need to get over my fear. My trailer’s pretty tight with the two of us.”
She cocked her head and gave him that look that all men were familiar with. She said, unnecessarily, “I don’t think so.”
“Yes. I’m a bastard; you reminded me of that fact. Now we’ll move on.”
“You may be ready to move on but I am not. Not ready to be friendly with the pirate who snuck on board behind my back.”
“It doesn’t have to be so adversarial, Maggie. It doesn’t have to be that way.”
He took a wide step apart, leaving his boys hanging and unprotected.
“I deserved it. But I know you won’t hurt me unless I do. I know you’re fair.”
“So, you’re not afraid of me?”
“My testicles are trying to climb into my stomach right now. I’m afraid of you. But I trust you. I’m trusting you with my most important possession. You can trust me with yours.”
She looked into his eyes. “I’d like to make some comment here about men and their most important possession. But all I’m thinking is that was kind of. . . lovely.”
“I’m a lovely man, Empress.”
“You’re not. You’re a man who deserves it when a woman knees you between the legs.”
“I’ll try not to deserve one in the future.”
Maggie said, “You won’t from me if you do one simple thing. That you’ll always do what’s best for Caldwell.”
He ran his hand down her arm, wrapping his fingers around her wrist. “I’ll always do what’s best for you. If that means tearing apart Caldwell with my teeth, I will. If it means bringing down your wrath, I will. You are not less important than a piece of paper. That’s what a company is, an entity created by paper. Those ancestors of yours didn’t create that company to make you a slave to it. They created it to give you the best chance, the best future. They created it to channel resources to you, not the other way around.”
“I’d like to think they created it to channel resources beyond me as well.”
Cole said, “As long as it’s not right through the middle of you. Or your sister. Ginny sees that her best chance, her best future, is outside of Caldwell. Let her chase it. Stop torturing her.”
“I’m not torturing her. I haven’t seen her since Friday.”
“She looked pretty tortured when I went by the ranch house tonight.”
Maggie tried to tug her wrist away and he held on.
He said, “You got a few people you need to kiss and make up with, Margaret.”
“No. I’ve got a few people who need to kiss and make up with me.”
He smiled. “Okay. As long as there’s kissing.”
He yanked on her wrist hard enough to slam her into his chest. He kissed her hard and whispered softly between breaths, “We’re sorry that what we did hurt you, Maggie. Sorry that what we need hurts you.”
She kissed him back and his balls climbed back down. His stomach stopped its wringing. He stopped worrying that he’d finished what was between them before they got to the end. Again.
He gentled his kiss, turning it slow, cupping her face in his hands to keep her right here tucked into him.
She opened her eyes, the blue clouding the green. And he wanted to take her, tuck himself into her, heal all their wounds.
But he wasn’t going to take her now, right here in a parking lot.
So he kissed her lightly on her cheek and whispered into her ear. “If you’re going to kiss and make up with your sister, please God, let me watch.”
She ran her hand down his side, down his pants, and cupped him. “Why do you say things like that when they’re right here? Unprotected.”
He said under his breath, “I think it’s because I’m a stupid shit.”
She gave him a little pat and pushed herself away. “That’s probably it. I assume you need your truck out in Midland.”
“I’m not driving out there in your little go-kart. I’ll pick you up at nine.”
“That late?”
“We’ve got a ring to buy first.”
“Of course. Because a bunch of roughnecks care about that sort of thing.”
“Yep. You’re the only who doesn’t.”
She got in the car, reaching for the door and he planted his hip against it to keep it open.
He said, “Where are you sleeping tonight?”
“In my own bed.”
“Want company?”
“No.”
“What about tomorrow night?”
She cocked her head at him. “I guess it depends on how happy you make me tomorrow morning.”
“Tit for tat?”
“Sounds about right.”
He said, “Sounds like a business transaction.”
“That’s what this is, Cole. A business transaction.”
He closed her door, making sure he didn’t slam it, waited for her to start the car and roll the window down.
“Right. That’s why we’re getting naked, why we’re pissing each other off, why I’m so anxious to get a ring on your finger. It’s just business.”
“I don’t know why you are so hung up on the ring, Cole.”
“And I don’t know why you are dragging your feet about it.”
He hopped back in his truck, backing up so she could pull out.
He leaned his elbow out the window. “Nine o’clock. And it’s going to be big enough that everyone in Dallas can see it from Midland.”
“See what, Cole? That you bought a Caldwell?”
He looked a long minute and finally nodded. “Yep. I want everyone to know I bought me a Caldwell.”
By the time he picked her up in the morning he’d cooled down some.
It didn’t hurt that she was standing in the morning sun, waiting for him, when he pulled up. Looking beautiful and dressed to kill, her blond hair framing her face, sunglasses hiding her eyes. Wearing a skirt that nearly hit her knees and nude platform heels that made her legs look like they went on for miles.
She didn’t wait for him to get out, just opened the door and hefted her suitcase into the backseat, then climbed into the front.
He said, “I was hoping you’d be wearing that zombie t-shirt.” He looked at her skirt, at the dark space right above her knees. “But I guess you needed to punish me some more.”
She crossed her legs, her skirt sliding up even more. He lifted his eyes to hers, found her watching him. The dare plain for him to see.
What are you going to do about it, Montgomery? What are you going to do about the miles of leg tempting you, teasing you?
He knew what he wanted to do, knew what she’d do if he tried it.
He liked a little fight in his woman but not when it was hiding a little bit of hurt, and he said, “I’m sorry.”
“For what this time?”
“For rising to your bait.”
She took off her sunglasses, folding them and putting them in her lap.
“I don’t want a ring. And it’s not because I don’t want everyone to think you’ve bought me. It’s not because it’s you buying the ring.”
She looked at him then and her eyes were bright turquoise, her emotions riding high.
He leaned against his door, turning his body toward her. “Then what is it?”
“A ring is...permanent. What do you do with it afterward? Sell it? Keep it? You can’t wear an engagement ring when the engagement ends. It meant something. It means something.”
“And you don’t want what it means.”
“It’s just a step too far. It’s just too real for something that’s not. Too real for something that’s temporary.”
“That’s okay then. ‘Cause this means something. Maybe not what an engagement ring normally means but it doesn’t mean nothing. And you’re not getting rid of me after, Maggie. Not now that I have shares in Caldwell.”
“Yes. Thank you for reminding me.”
He pulled out of her driveway. “We’ll get you something you’ll want to keep.”
“It won’t matter if I want to keep it, I won’t be able to. Can you think of anything more pathetic than a woman wearing her engagement ring after the engagement’s been called off?”
He shrugged. “Then we won’t call it off. I’m happy just as we are.”
Or he would be tonight, just as soon as he got her back in his bed.
When he glanced at her, her face was blank, her arms crossed.
“This isn’t real, Cole.”
“It is, Maggie. It turned real in your pool.”
“Is there something about men and sex that makes them lose all their brain cells?”
He chuckled, watching the road. “Yes.”
He drove and she stayed silent and finally he said, “Why can’t it be real?”
“Why can’t I marry you for real?”
He nodded and she leaned across the seat, angling forward as far as she could to see his face. He flicked his eyes to her and saw confusion clear on her face.
She said, “Are you asking me to marry you?”
“It’s more of a discussion than a question. Why couldn’t we get married?”
She blinked a few times and sat back.
He lifted his fingers off the steering wheel counting the reasons. “We make good partners, we’d both be an asset to the others’ business, we like each other–”
“Sometimes.”
“Probably about as often as married folks like each other.”
When she nodded in acquiescence, he continued. “We have mind-blowing sex, and don’t think I’ve forgotten about the handcuffs. I still need to return the favor.”
He glanced at her, at the small smile on her mouth.
He said softly, “We make each other laugh, we make each other happy.”
She turned to him, still smiling. “We make each other furious.”
“There’s no one else I’d rather fight with. There’s no one else who makes me wonder if I’ll lose.”
