“And Jerry wants you to sell him that piece of land?” he asked.
Maggie laughed bitterly. “Yes. Apparently, he’s bought up all of the land around mine and wants to develop it.”
“I thought it was in the middle of nowhere? What’s the point of developing land and building on it if the land isn’t close to anything?”
She smiled, leaning her head back and closing her eyes. “I’ve heard through the grapevine that someone came through several months ago and worked with the state. They agreed to pay for the roads leading into the area if the land could be rezoned for residential and retail use. Jerry heard about the offer from the state, which would incorporate my former small town to the Dallas county limits.” She smiled ruefully at Oliver. “Another little tidbit that I discovered was that the town doesn’t want the development. They don’t want the land to be turned into yet another suburban sprawl with all of the golf courses and strip malls that are so bad for the environment.” She sighed heavily. “So, not selling to Jerry is my way of paying the town back for all of the horrible things that I put them through when I was a kid.”
Oliver looked around at her apartment, again noting the lack of furniture except for the pieces she was trying to refinish herself. Suddenly, it came together. The puzzle pieces connected in his mind and he felt something pop deep down inside himself. Standing up, he asked, “You’re using all your salary to pay the taxes on that land, aren’t you?”
Maggie shrugged and nodded slowly. “Yeah. I am. And Jerry has put the screws in by convincing the county financial office to increase the taxes on that piece of land. He’s trying to make it so that the land is too expensive for me to keep.” She sighed, pulling her lips into a cringe. “He’s actually closer to winning than he knows.”
Oliver pulled her back into his arms. For a long moment, they just stood there. Maggie closed her eyes and wished that this morning had gone differently.
“He’s threatening to make my life miserable if you don’t sell him the land.” It was a statement, not a question. Oliver understood what was going on. He never played that way when working his development deals. But he knew that his competitors played dirty when necessary. Oliver preferred to go a more ethical route by only developing in areas where the landowners were willing to sell.
However, he’d rarely considered the neighborhoods in which he’d planned to develop. And his thoughts came back to what he was doing to this neighborhood. His team had approached each of the land and building owners in the area with offers to buy their property. Every one of them had been eager to sell. But what about the residents in the neighborhoods? What about the Community Center down the street? And the smaller homes along the residential streets? Yes, their property values would increase. But for these people, that only meant that their property taxes would increase. Many of them wouldn’t be able to afford it and would be forced to sell out and move.
What would that mean for their lives? How would it impact their friendships? Their kids? The schools? The spirit of community that had built up over the years? This entire community had worked together to make this area their own oasis.
That wasn’t something that Oliver had considered over the years.
But now that he knew what might happen, he was going to fix it. He wasn’t sure how, but he’d figure something out.
“Don’t sell out to Jerry the Putz,” he urged.
“I might have to,” she whispered back, hiding her face against his chest. Oliver could tell she was crying again. For him! Damn, that felt really good! Little Maggie, fierce and fearless Maggie, was going to sacrifice something important to her because…hell, because he was more important to her!
Aw hell! Damn, he…loved her! Really loved her! He’d been fighting that knowledge for too long, but now that he’d accepted it, a feeling of rightness washed over him. Peace? Yes. There was a feeling of peaceful rightness.
“You don’t have to sell. Let me make some calls.”
She pulled back and looked up at him. “But what about…?”
He kissed her. It was a soft kiss of promise and it silenced her worries. When he lifted his head again, he smiled down at her. “My job is secure, Maggie. Don’t you dare sell out to Jerry the Putz just to protect me. I guarantee that he can’t affect my job in any way.”
“But–”
His eyes hardened at her continued skepticism. “Maggie, I need you to trust me, okay?”
Oliver watched as she processed his words. He saw the moment she understood and he felt relief surge through him. He suspected that Jerry could become pretty desperate. Oliver knew that he’d have to get his team to look into the situation in Texas. It shouldn’t be too difficult to get information. Once he had the facts, he’d ensure that Jerry’s threats were neutralized. Even more, he planned to do a bit more than simply neutralize the man’s mischief. After all, Jerry the Putz had threatened Oliver’s woman.
Oliver was going to crush the bastard!
Chapter 11
“Get Burt in my office immediately,” Oliver ordered his assistant as soon as he stepped out of the elevator.
Jamie nodded and grabbed his phone, making the call while Oliver walked into his office, tossing some papers onto his desk. He sat down and started clicking through tax information, his lips compressing as he mentally calculated how much Maggie was paying in personal property taxes on that damn piece of land. He looked at it carefully, then clicked on other links to find the tax assessments for the other pieces of land.
By the time Burt, the head of his legal department, entered the office, Oliver was furious.
“What’s up, Oliver?” Burt asked, his easy stride demonstrating the man’s confidence.
Oliver leaned back in his leather chair.
“There’s a small town in Texas that is pressuring a woman to sell her property by increasing her taxes by astronomical amounts.”
Burt took the paper Oliver handed him, skimming the numbers. The man gave a whistle of surprise at the data, shaking his head. “Well, this is an interesting little problem,” he said, taking out his pen and writing something on the paper. “Is this one of your projects?”
“No. We’re not involved in this land or tax issue in any way.”
Burt cocked an eyebrow. “So, if we have no horse in this race, why do we care about this? I mean, yeah, it’s unconstitutional to levy taxes for the sole purpose of pushing someone out of ownership, which,” he looked from the paper to Oliver, “I’m assuming this is what this outrageous tax assessment is all about?”
“That’s my suspicion,” Oliver replied.
Burt nodded. “Okay, so if this isn’t…?”
“It’s definitely for the benefit of this company,” he replied, interrupting Burt. “This is a dear friend who is being punished because she won’t sell to some guy for development purposes. I want you to go down to Texas and sue the county for back taxes, plus interest, as well as punitive damages.”
Burt laughed, startled by this unprecedented command. “Why?”
“It’s personal,” was all Oliver said.
Burt frowned at the numbers again. “If this information is correct, it should be relatively easy to come to a settlement. Most small counties rely on no one protesting their tax assessments because they don’t have the financial or legal resources.”
“I agree. Which is why I want punitive damages. This county had been taxing the owner of this land and hoping that she doesn’t have the resources to fight them. She’s simply been paying the taxes to the detriment of her health.”
Burt tensed. “Do you have proof of that?”
“Yeah. I can get you pictures of her current residence. She doesn’t even have carpeting, just plywood. No furniture. I can get you bank statements too, if needed, to show that she’s been spending the majority of her income on the increased taxes.”
Burt contemplated that for a moment, then nodded. “Okay. I bet I can make a pretty good argument. I’ll get back to you on the documents I’
ll need.”
“Good,” Oliver said. “There’s something else.” He pressed on his intercom button. “Jamie, can you get Tom from security in here?”
Burt’s eyes widened, but while they waited for Tom, the two men chatted about an upcoming golf tournament, which Oliver commented that he wouldn’t be attending, not bothering to mention he needed to help coach a girls’ soccer game.
A few minutes into their conversation, Tom, the head of his security department, entered the office.
“What’s up, boss?” Tom asked, nodding to Burt.
Oliver leaned back in his chair as the two men took a seat. “Tom, I want you to dig up whatever you can on a guy named Jerry Trevino. Burt is going down to Texas to file suit against a small town that has been imposing punitive tax assessments against the owner of a piece of land down there. But I need you to look into this Trevino guy, who I know is involved. Find out what he’s up to. Get his financial information and whatever businesses he’s got. He’s trying to develop a swath of land down in Texas and something doesn’t smell right. We have several projects in that area and I want to make sure that there isn’t something bigger going on.”
For the next fifteen minutes, the three men discussed what Oliver knew of the land development project that Trevino was working on and a few other topics.
When the men left Oliver’s office, he leaned back in his chair and contemplated his next move. He had to be patient though. He needed the information from Tom before he could formulate a plan that would destroy the weasel who had dared threaten Maggie.
Chapter 12
A week later, Oliver stepped out of his truck and Maggie almost threw herself into his arms. “Are you okay?” Maggie demanded. She’d been waiting for him all day.
“I’m fine,” he replied, his wonderfully strong arms wrapping around her and pulling her in close. “Why are you so worried?”
She pulled out of his arms and glared up at him, punching him lightly on the arm. “Because you weren’t here with me when I woke up this morning,” she explained angrily. “And you didn’t answer my messages!”
He sighed and pulled her back into his arms. “I’m sorry, honey.” He kissed her lightly. “I was in meetings all day. But I should have texted you. I’m sorry. I will do better.”
Slightly mollified, she shrugged. “I was just…worried that maybe Jerry was still in town.”
“He isn’t. He flew back to Texas late last night.”
Maggie blinked, confused, but he put his arm around her waist and led her away from the parking lot. “How in the world could you know that?”
He chuckled and kissed the top of her head. “Oh, I have a few resources that I can pull in when I need information,” he said vaguely. “But we’re not going to worry about Jerry the Putz tonight.”
“We’re not?” she laughed, thinking he was so darn sexy.
“Nope. I need your help with something.”
She laughed again, playfully slipping out of his arms but he grabbed her easily, pulling her right back to his side. “Oh no!” she teased. “You said something yesterday about helping me in my shower. And then we ran out of hot water while I still had shampoo in my hair.”
He shot her an evil grin. “I didn’t hear you complaining before the hot water ran out,” he growled, nipping at her earlobe.
Maggie shivered. “That’s because you were…well…doing that and…!” she stopped speaking but the hot blush washed over her face.
“Yeah. I remember. You weren’t complaining,” he came right back. “In fact, I distinctly remember you saying something along the lines of ‘don’t stop’ and ‘oh yes’ as well as many other very emphatic phrases.” He shook his head in mock despair. “You know that I’m a gentleman and would have stopped if I’d known you were worried about running out of hot water.”
She groaned. “You’re horrible.” She also hugged his arm. “What do you need help with?”
He kissed her again and she smiled, leaning her head against his muscular shoulder as they walked down the sidewalk towards their apartments.
“Come with me,” he said, and led her to his apartment. After unlocking the door, he pulled her inside and…Maggie gasped.
“What have you done?” she demanded, stepping into the apartment and turning slowly around. “This…this isn’t the apartment that I gave you over a month ago, Oliver.”
He grinned, leaning back against the door. “What do you think?”
She stopped, admiring the dove grey walls with the freshly painted white trim…all of which had been replaced. The outlets had been fixed, with new equipment, and the popcorn ceiling had been smoothed over and repainted. Even the overhead lights had been upgraded. The eighties style dome lights had been replaced with recessed lighting! It looked amazing!
“When did you have time to do all of this, Oliver?” she asked softly. But she came to a stop when her eyes took in the kitchen area. “The cabinets…?” she whispered.
“I took them down.”
“But…” her eyes moved lower. “You painted the old cabinets?”
“Yes. And fixed the hardware. The cabinet doors close properly now.”
She nodded dumbly, then lifted her hand, pointing towards the beautiful, ornate tile backsplash. “The tiles?” she whispered.
He turned and looked over at the kitchen wall. “Yeah,” he muttered, rubbing a hand along the back of his neck. “That was before that morning in the laundry room,” he explained with a chuckle. “I was pretty frustrated.”
She turned, unaware of her mouth hanging open as she looked up at him. “Frustrated?”
He nodded, walking over to her. He stopped right in front of her, putting his hands on her hips and pulling her closer. “Yeah. You kept walking around in those tight jeans and–”
“My jeans aren’t that tight!” she corrected, her hands flying to her butt as if her hands could hide the body part in question.
He chuckled. “Tight enough for me to drool every time I watched you running across the courtyard. Away from me.”
Maggie shuffled uncomfortably. “I wasn’t running away from you.”
His hands slid along her waist, teasing her by not touching her breasts.
“Yeah, you were,” he countered. “You were running and I wasn’t chasing for fear of driving you further away. It wasn’t until I showed up at the girls’ soccer practice that I finally got a chance to have a conversation with you.”
Maggie looked flustered and he loved it! “Well, that was…just…I wasn’t…!”
“It’s all good now,” he told her and kissed her gently. “After meeting Jerry the Putz, I understand why you were running. You didn’t want to be hurt again.”
She stared up at him, startled that he understood so completely. “Yes. Well. He asked for my engagement ring back at my grandmother’s funeral.”
Oliver emitted a sound of disgust, shaking his head. “He’s an ass, Maggie,” Oliver declared. “That was unnecessarily cruel.”
Maggie slipped her arms up around his neck, so she could run her fingers through his hair. “So…what kind of help did you need?” she asked. “It looks as if you’ve done more than fine so far.”
He shifted his hips and, after a smile that should have warned her of his intent, he lifted her up and placed her on the wood countertop behind her.
“What are you doing?” she half-laughed, half-shrieked, trying to wiggle off the counter.
“I need you right here,” he said as his hands slid up her sides to cup her breasts, teasing the already taut nipples.
Maggie gasped, arching her back, but when he started to move his hands away, she grabbed his wrists, keeping them in place. “More,” she whispered.
In response, Oliver pinched her nipples, inciting a whimper of pleasure and Maggie leaned into his touch, already desperate with need.
“Please, don’t stop!”
“Not a chance”, he replied. His mouth moved to cover those lusciously abused peaks, adding the mois
t heat to the pressure of his finger. Tightening his fingers as his tongue lashed the tips, Maggie was completely lost to the sensations. Her fingers dove into his hair, pulling and tugging, then holding him in place when she thought he might stop. She felt his mouth curl into a smile, but Maggie was too far gone to make sense of that smile.
A second later, she was lifted into his arms, roughly carried to…somewhere. She felt something soft against her back, but couldn’t think beyond getting his clothes off of him so that she could feel the roughness of his chest against her already sensitive nipples.
“Oliver!” she whispered…or moaned…either adjective might apply at this moment.
“Tell me what you want,” he growled, nipping in her ear.
“You!” she replied quickly, shifting her hips against his, telling him without words.
He pulled her tee-shirt up and over her head, tossing it to the side. Maggie didn’t like the inequity of that, so she slid her hands from his hair, all the way down his arms…then lower until she could feel the tanned skin of his abdomen. With exquisite pleasure, she pushed the material higher and higher. When he took over the removal, Maggie concentrated on kissing the wide expanse of his chest, her tongue flicking out occasionally to taste. She smiled, loving the sounds that he made whenever she did that.
Slowly, she moved lower, pushing at Oliver’s shoulders when he started to take control. “Not this time,” she told him, letting her fingers slide over his chest, ensuring that her fingertips grazed over his flat, male nipples. She smiled when a shudder rocked his big body, then pressed him backwards, shifting so that she was on top of him.
Whispered Secrets (Rose Garden Apartments Book 2) Page 9
