Maggie pulled out her tablet. “Okay, we’ve got a ten a.m. with Nick Austin, a one o’clock lunch meeting with the Smith Group and then we have to head back to the hotel and change because we’ve got the charity auction at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I’ve got your tux and my gown with the concierge to be pressed and ready to go. We have a limo coming and picking us up at seven so we should have plenty of time after lunch to go over the two meetings and get a little time to relax before heading out for the night.”
Jason was exhausted just thinking about it. “I really packed the schedule, didn’t I?”
Maggie laughed. “Just a little.”
“If it had been you doing all of the planning, what would you have done differently?”
“So far?”
That didn’t sound good. “With the whole trip,” he answered.
“Well, I understand that you’re trying to maximize your time and really, you’ve done that with military precision.”
“But…”
“But,” she chimed in, “you really didn’t leave a lot of time for incidentals.”
“Like what?”
“Well let’s say that this meeting with Nick Austin is going well and we need more time with him. We don’t really have it because three hours after the start of our meeting, we’re due to start another one. I would make sure that we worked in four-hour time blocks, nothing less.”
“Okay,” he said slowly. “How often do I give us less than four hours?”
Maggie scrolled through their itinerary and frowned. “Quite often. You have several appointments that are right on top of each other and then other times you have up to eight hours between appointments. I realize that sometimes that’s all that is available but it is going to have us in and out of the car a lot more than is effective.”
“I didn’t even think to look at it that way. I was more concerned with getting the appointments made than thinking about how efficiently I was spending my time.” His tone was slightly defensive and he hated feeling like he’d made a mistake.
“It’s okay, Jason. This was something that you needed an assistant for. It’s all going to work out just fine; some days it will seem like an adventure,” she teased and was relieved to see him visibly relax.
They pulled up to their first appointment and Maggie gave him a beaming smile. “Ready?” she asked.
“As I’ll ever be,” he said as he exited the vehicle.
****
They arrived back at the hotel at three-thirty and Maggie already felt as if she’d run a marathon. The first meeting had gone extremely well and their lunch meeting was pleasant enough but the client was going to require a little more time before he signed on with Jason. All in all she was pleased and knew that Jason was, too.
“I’ll call the concierge and make sure our clothes are back up to us by six,” she said as they walked toward their rooms. “Is there anything else you need before then?”
“I think we’re good for now. What are you going to do with yourself this afternoon?”
Maggie thought for a moment. “Well, since there isn’t much for me to do with the files for today, I’m going to send what I have to Rose and then maybe catch a nap and then take my time getting ready for tonight. What about you?”
“I’ve got some files I want to look over and a little research I want to do but a nap certainly sounds appealing.”
Smiling, Maggie took out her key card and turned toward her door. “Listen,” Jason said suddenly. “Why don’t you make an appointment with the hotel salon and go and get a little pampered for tonight?”
Maggie looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. “Excuse me?”
“You’ve been putting in some long hours and have had to deal with an extremely grumpy boss so why don’t you go and take a little time for yourself?” His words were spoken lightly and Jason hoped that she’d take him up on his offer.
The thought was both appealing and unnerving at the same time. Was this how it was going to start? Was Jason going to woo her with spa treatments and special favors in hopes of her being indebted to him? The thought made her frown but when she looked up at his face, which looked genuine and sincere, she knew that he was nothing like her former boss.
“Are you sure?” she asked hesitantly.
“Of course I am,” he said. “You’ve got nothing to do for a couple of hours so call down and see if they have an appointment and do whatever it is that women do before they have to go to some formal charity event.”
She laughed. “Honestly, I have no idea what that is! I’ve never gone to one before.”
“Seriously? I would’ve thought that with your previous employer or even with your husband that you would have done something similar to this at some point.”
At the mention of both the fake husband and her disgusting ex-boss, Maggie’s stomach turned. Jason saw the look on her face and instantly stepped forward, concerned. “Maggie? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” she quietly lied. “Let me go make the call and see if they can squeeze me in for something.” She opened her door and then turned back to Jason. “Thank you. I appreciate your generosity.”
As the door closed Jason stood there and wondered, not for the first time, just what went on in Maggie’s mind? There were times where she was outgoing and friendly and seemingly full of joy, but it didn’t take much to make her completely shut that side down. He was getting a little tired of not knowing what the trigger was but he had a sinking sensation that it had to do with her marriage.
And that thought bothered him more than he was willing to admit.
****
At six forty-five, Jason knocked on Maggie’s door. His tux had arrived promptly at six o’clock and he was dressed by six-fifteen and had found himself just pacing in his room with nothing to do. The limo would be downstairs in five minutes and he hoped that Maggie would be punctual. He knew her to be so when it was for work but most women that Jason knew tended to take a lot longer to get ready when it was for a social event.
When Maggie opened the door, Jason felt his jaw drop. She was stunning. In a navy blue strapless evening gown that hugged her petite, curvy body, she took his breath away.
“I wasn’t sure quite how formal I needed to be,” Maggie said as she tried to read Jason’s expression. “I thought that this was understated enough to be formal and classy.” She wished Jason would say something, anything.
When they had originally discussed this event, all Jason had told her was to bring “some sort of gown”. That wasn’t much to go on. Maggie had researched previous events for this particular charity and then had gone and done some major damage with her Visa card. The gown was a knock off of a Christian Dior gown that some actress had worn to the Screen Actor’s Guild Awards and though she normally didn’t go for such a bold and sexy look, Maggie had simply fallen in love with the gown.
Down at the spa she had gotten a manicure, pedicure and facial before getting her hair done. Gone was the severe ponytail of the workday and in its place was an elegant chignon with a few loose tendrils that curled along the side of her face. All in all she had been pleased with the look but Jason’s hard stare had her second guessing herself.
“Jason?” she finally asked. “Are you okay?”
He quickly shook his head as if to clear it and then cleared his throat. “Yes, I’m fine, sorry. You look lovely. Are you ready?”
It was the first real compliment Maggie had received from a man in over three years and it made her blush. She ducked her head slightly as she turned and shut the door and then managed to walk a few steps ahead of Jason to the elevators. They rode down in silence and Maggie felt a little in awe of the stretch limo waiting for them.
She turned an inquisitive eye to Jason. “Tell me again why we needed a limo?”
He smiled. “This is a big event,” he said simply. “It required a limo.”
Whether that was true or not, Maggie didn’t know but in that moment she realized just how big of a difference there wa
s between her regular, ordinary life and the life of the wealthy Montgomery’s. She felt a little inferior but knew that was of her own doing. The Montgomery’s never flaunted their wealth or their position and if anything, they were beyond generous. For this one night she was going to enjoy seeing how the other half lived and pretend that it was nothing out of the ordinary for her.
That thought lasted until they pulled up to the venue and she found herself to be more than a little star struck by the crowd. As they made their way up the red carpet, Jason stopped and shook hands with many people and always introduced her but after a few minutes, he stopped and pulled her over to the side.
“I know this is a little overwhelming but you have nothing to be so nervous about,” he whispered in her ear and felt Maggie shiver.
“I’m not nervous,” she lied and then heard him chuckle as he seemed to pull her a little bit closer.
“You’re glued to my side, Maggie. I can feel you shaking and I can hear it in your voice every time you speak. Take a deep breath and relax, okay?”
She lifted her eyes to his and nodded. They were standing way too close; she was plastered to him but not in an uncomfortable way. It had been a long time since she had let any man get this close to her physically and she found that with Jason, she didn’t mind it all.
His dark gaze was burning into hers and Maggie licked her dry lips and then had to force herself to take a small step back and look away. “So,” she said, expelling the breath she had been holding, “are we ready to head in?”
Honestly, Jason needed another moment before he felt as if he was truly in control of his thoughts but realized that he didn’t want to scare her. He simply nodded and took her hand without conscious thought and led her up to the main doorway.
Soon they were swept into the crowd and drinking champagne and Jason was doing his best to meet up with the people that he wanted to while keeping track of Maggie at his side. They sat down for dinner and Jason managed to make some new contacts and Maggie was savvy enough to put all of their information into her iPhone for them to refer to at a later date without being overly obvious about it.
Once dinner was completed, the actual charity event presentation began. There were several performances by some big name artists in the music industry and then the actor who had organized the event gave a twenty-minute speech imploring the guests for their support. By ten o’clock, everyone was back to mingling and Jason caught Maggie watching the couples dancing with a wistful look on her face.
Unable to help himself, he placed his champagne glass down on the nearest table and intently walked toward her. At his approach he asked, “Would you like to dance?”
Her eyes went wide with delight. “Are you sure? Don’t you have more people to talk with?”
“I think I’ve done more than my share of talking tonight and even came out a little ahead. Besides, what kind of man would I be if I didn’t make time to ask a beautiful girl to dance?”
He thought she was beautiful? She asked herself. This was probably all kinds of against the rules, slow dancing with her boss, but at the moment, it was all that Maggie wanted to do. Another down side to her self-imposed exile; she missed the simple act of human contact.
“What do you say, Maggie?” Jason asked again when she didn’t respond to his initial request.
“I would love to,” she said and placed her hand in his. There was that same jolt that she’d felt when they’d touched at breakfast but it didn’t scare her this time; instead, she embraced it.
They joined the couples out on the floor and simply swayed to the orchestra. “I can’t even remember the last time I went dancing,” Maggie said as she aligned herself with Jason. “It may have been my senior prom.”
All sorts of thoughts raced through Jason’s head. What about her wedding? Her honeymoon? Wasn’t that the sort of thing that couples did? He thought of his brother Lucas and his new bride Emma and they way they had danced at their engagement party and wedding; hell, Jason may not be an expert on married couples but he sure as hell knew that they danced! He was just about to make a comment on it when he felt Maggie snuggle a little bit closer and sigh.
His body was on high alert. She felt very good in his arms and without conscious thought, he wrapped his arm around her to pull her even closer and was surprised when she didn’t resist. Jason rested his head on top of hers and simply enjoyed the feel of her, the smell of her, the way her hair tickled his chin.
He was treading into dangerous territory here and yet couldn’t seem to find the will to care. Luckily the orchestra moved smoothly into another slow song and he was treated to having Maggie close for another few minutes. Then what? The smart thing to do would be to thank her for the dance and then find a colleague or two to talk to but that thought left him cold.
Jason knew what he wanted, knew what he needed and knew without a doubt that it would be a mistake and still couldn’t bring himself to care. Lifting his head he reached up and placed a finger under Maggie’s chin so that her eyes met his. Her sexy, slumberous expression matched his own and he cursed himself as he lowered his lips to hers.
Chapter Three
The moment Jason’s lips touched Maggie’s he knew he was in trouble. It was perfect. He felt her slight tremble before she lifted her arms around his neck to pull him in closer. Jason wanted to devour her right then and there but kept his touch soft and gentle so that if she wanted to pull away, she could.
But she didn’t.
If anything, Maggie seemed to be doing her best to drag a deeper kiss out of him. Jason wanted to oblige, he really did, but this was not the place. With a growl of regret he raised his head, his breathing ragged. “Maggie?”
Slowly Maggie opened her eyes and then he watched as reality slowly set in and shock and embarrassment crossed her face. “Ohmygod,” she gushed and ran from his embrace.
Jason stood motionless for a moment, not sure what he was supposed to do. Why had he given in to temptation? He was stronger than that! They had more than two weeks to go on this trip and he could not afford to screw this up and scare Maggie off. Dammit! Looking around he noticed that no one was particularly paying any attention to him and he made his way off of the dance floor and went in search of his assistant.
It didn’t take long to find her.
Standing in the far corner of the lobby, Maggie tried to catch her breath. Dear lord what had she done? She’d kissed Jason! She’d kissed her boss! What was she supposed to do now? Her mind raced frantically and her first instinct was to call William and tell him that she needed to leave here immediately. But once she took a moment to think that through she realized that she was the one who was at fault here, not Jason. Maybe she had misread his intentions? No, he was definitely the one who initiated the kiss but she was the one who had practically devoured him.
Maggie was sure that her face was twenty-seven shades of red and almost jumped out of her skin when she heard Jason say her name softly from behind her. Reluctantly, she turned to face him.
Before he could even say a word, Maggie held up a hand to stop him. “That was completely unprofessional of me and I don’t know why it happened.” When Jason tried to speak again, she continued on. “Let’s just say that I got a little swept up in the moment and it won’t happen again.”
“Maggie…” he began.
“Honestly, Jason, I’d rather not talk about it.” She looked around the lobby and noticed that people were starting to leave. “Are there more people that you needed to talk to or would you mind if we called for the car?”
Jason stared down at her. There were a million thoughts racing through his head. Caught up in the moment? That’s all it was to her? Hell no! There was more to this than she was letting on but the harder he stared at her, the more her bravado seemed to be failing and he felt like he was wordlessly bullying her. “No,” he said finally. “I think it’s been a successful evening. I’ll call for the car.”
Within twenty minutes they were back in the limo
and on their way to the hotel. Maggie was going to try for small talk but she couldn’t seem to find anything to talk about. They were going to be leaving Cleveland in the morning and had a flight to Boston. Their itinerary had them spending three days in Boston and then they were heading for Manhattan for four days.
Right now all Maggie wanted was a day to herself to figure out what in the world was going on with her. She had been so confident in herself and her ability to stay in control after the way things had gone down with Martin Blake that she never gave a thought to what would happen if she was the one attracted to her boss.
She thought those feelings were long dead; ruined by a man who trapped her like some sort of prey. For some reason, Jason Montgomery was bringing feelings out in Maggie that she wasn’t ready to deal with. Being in such close proximity with him was certainly not helping the situation.
A cry of relief nearly escaped her lips when they finally arrived back at the hotel. Maggie noticed that once they were in the lobby that Jason wasn’t behind her. She stopped and turned and saw him standing still, watching her. “Jason?”
“You go on up, Maggie. I’m going to go grab a drink in the bar.” He motioned to the hotel lounge behind him. “Why don’t we plan on meeting down here to grab the car for the airport in the morning?”
“That sounds fine,” she said quietly, knowing that Jason was probably trying to figure out how to get rid of her for the remainder of the trip. “I’ll see you in the morning.” With that, she walked quickly and got on the elevator just as the doors were beginning to close.
****
Jason was a wreck. Three shots later and nothing was making sense. He gave a mirthless laugh as he paid the bar tab and made his way to the bank of elevators. Why did he think more alcohol was going to help clear his mind?
Maggie had given him hell from the get go about not mistaking a smile for a come on. He could live with that. But was he mistaking her kiss for something more than what it was? Hell, what was it? He never should have given in to the urge to kiss her but she had looked so damn desirable that he couldn’t resist. And if she wasn’t married? Well, he wouldn’t have spent the last hour in the hotel bar, that was for damn sure!
Trust in Me Page 4