Maggie assumed Jason would send her back to the hotel to get started on paperwork and was surprised when he told Alan they’d both be there. Maggie looked at him quizzically, unsure why he wanted her to go with him when there was a mountain of work to do. Jason read the question in her eyes and simply said, “There will be plenty of time to get it all done when we get back to North Carolina.”
She wanted to argue that she needed to get started while it was all fresh in her mind, but the reality was she really needed a little time away from Jason. After the kiss they’d shared earlier, he seemed to fill all the space around her. She could feel him, smell him, and found it hard to concentrate with him so close by.
But she didn’t say a word. Instead, Maggie merely nodded and stayed put in the conference room of AC Industries until it was time to leave. “Do you need to go back to the hotel before dinner?” Jason asked.
“I wouldn’t mind doing that, but it’s completely up to you. Mr. Cummings seemed set on an early dinner so I don’t think it would be worth the rush to go across town and back again.”
“Apparently he does a dinner like this once a month with several clients so we won’t be one-on-one with him. I guess if nothing else I may get to network a little bit more,” Jason said casually.
“That would be great, Jason, but then maybe it would be best if I didn’t go. I’ll only be in the way, and no one else will have their assistants with them, so—”
“Nonsense!” Alan Cummings said as he walked back into the room. He was a tall man with a booming voice, and Maggie nearly fell out of her chair at the sound of it. “I have a couple of other out of town clients meeting us tonight and several of them have their assistants with them. And even if they didn’t, Maggie, I would hate to not be a proper host and not include you.”
She smiled at him but still didn’t feel up to spending any more time talking business. A little alone time back in her room to unwind and think about what had happened earlier in the elevator was what Maggie most wanted to do, but clearly that wasn’t going to happen. “Thank you,” she said finally and stood when he indicated that they were ready to go.
Back in the town car, they rode over to a restaurant on the water where AC Industries hosted their monthly events. Maggie loved the sound and smell of the ocean and wanted nothing more than to kick her shoes off and go down on the sand to enjoy the feel of it between her toes. Unfortunately, Alan and Jason were waiting for her, so she smiled sheepishly and walked with them into the restaurant.
Within an hour Maggie’s head was spinning. They had met well over two dozen new people, had enjoyed hors d’oeuvres and several glasses of wine. All she wanted to do was sit down to a hot meal and finish the day, but Jason was working the room, deep in conversation. There was no way for her to get his attention and ask to leave without seeming rude.
Finally, dinner was announced and they were seated at a table for eight. It was some of the best seafood Maggie had ever tasted. Jason inquired if she was enjoying her meal, but once his eyes met hers—for the first time since the elevator—all thoughts of food left her mind. The heat in his eyes clearly matched her own and it was all she could do to nod her head. “Everything’s delicious,” she whispered.
Jason stared at Maggie’s lips and thought of how delicious they had been earlier in the day. He suddenly found himself without an appetite for food, ready to be done socializing. They had an early morning meeting with one last client and then an afternoon flight home. He needed to get through this last night and right now, all Jason wanted to do was to take Maggie by the hand and drag her back to the hotel and to hell with the consequences.
“Jason!” Alan Cumming’s voice shouted from across the room. He turned and faced the man. “There’s someone here I want you to meet!”
With a sigh of resignation, he excused himself and stood, but not before giving Maggie an apologetic look. She smiled serenely back at him; she understood. Once he was across the room and swallowed up into the crowd, Maggie decided to take advantage of the time and walked out onto the back deck of the restaurant that led out to the beach. There were several other guests mingling out there, so she knew no one would pay too much attention to her.
Once outside, the sound of the waves crashing and the view of the sun setting were just overwhelming. Unable to resist, she headed down the wooden steps that led to the sand below, kicked off her shoes, and started toward the water. It felt better than she had imagined. She couldn’t remember the last time she had been to the beach, and it was just heavenly to stand still and let her senses take it all in.
“I see that you’ve loosened up some, Mags,” said a voice from behind her and Maggie froze. No, it couldn’t be! Slowly she turned around and gasped in horror. There, standing before her was her former boss, Martin Blake.
“Martin,” she said as calmly as she could, even though she felt as though she was about to be sick.
“I see you’re still giving the come-on to your boss,” he said snidely. “Tell me, will you go back to the hotel and cry foul again?”
She wanted to punch him in his smug face. “There’s nothing to cry foul about,” she said crisply. “I finally work for a man who knows the difference between someone being polite and someone issuing a come-on.” She was rewarded when his expression faltered slightly. “Plus, I haven’t had to fight my way out of a locked room to get away from someone who is no better than a rapist.”
Martin’s expression turned to pure fury. “You little bitch,” he sneered. “You led me on for months and then you had the audacity to run out and play the victim?”
“I was a victim,” she fought back. “I never led you on; I never wanted you to touch me. Ever. You’re disgusting and I hope never to see you again.” She spat the words at him and then turned and walked away with her head held high until she was around the front of the restaurant. Then she nearly crumpled to the ground. Her heart was racing and she felt ready to retch.
Never in a million years had she expected to see Martin Blake again, and right now all she wanted to do was get in the car and leave. But she’d have to go and find Jason first. The thought of going back inside and chancing another run-in with Martin was overwhelming. She gulped in several breaths and tried to calm herself.
“Maggie?”
Suddenly Jason was standing in front of her and gently pulling her to her feet. “What happened? Are you okay? Are you sick?”
She had never been so grateful to see anyone in her life. Well, that wasn’t completely true. The last time she had felt this way it had been William Montgomery saving her. “Can we leave?” she asked a little too urgently, clutching the front of Jason’s shirt for support. “Please?”
“Of course,” he said and pulled her into his embrace. “What happened?”
“I don’t want to talk about it right now. Can we please just go?”
Jason pulled back and looked down at Maggie’s face. She was pale and her eyes glistened with unshed tears. Something was wrong. Something had happened, and while he wasn’t going to push her right this minute, he knew he wouldn’t rest until he found out. He led her to their waiting car and they rode back to the hotel in silence. Once inside, he let Maggie walk to the elevator while he headed to the concierge desk and ordered some tea to be sent up to her room.
He joined her moments later, and when they arrived up on their floor, he took the room key from her, opened her door, and followed her inside. Jason could be patient when he needed to be, but right now he felt anything but. He stood back and watched as Maggie kicked off her shoes and placed her purse and briefcase on her desk before collapsing in the oversized chair next to the window.
“Maggie?” he asked softly. “What happened back there? Did someone upset you?” By now he had figured out she wasn’t sick. There’d been no signs of that on the ride back to the hotel, so his next thought was that someone had caused this. “You can trust me, Maggie,
” he said when he saw the hesitation on her face.
“Three years ago your father saved my life,” she said in a voice devoid of emotion. “I worked for a big company as an executive assistant and I was away at a conference with my boss.” Maggie stared out the window. “I had no idea that my boss had no real interest in the conference; he had brought me there to seduce me.”
Jason felt fury rising inside of him. He tried to think of every face he had seen tonight and figure out who had done this to Maggie. His thoughts were interrupted when she continued to speak.
“I was so naive. I honestly had no idea what was going on. He had booked all the travel arrangements when that was normally my job, and instead of questioning it, I was thankful to have had one less thing to do.” She grew silent for a moment and collected her thoughts before going on. “We arrived in California and I was so excited because I had never left the East Coast. When we got to the hotel, he checked us in. Again, I didn’t see anything wrong with that. I had never gone on a business trip before, so to me, it was all completely on the up-and-up.”
“Maggie, you don’t have to…”
She faced him briefly. “No, it’s okay, Jason. I want you to know.” Maggie turned to look back out the window again. “It wasn’t until we got up to the room and he closed the door behind me that I realized that something was wrong. He was so quick; one minute we were talking business and the next all of my personal belongings were snatched from me. He laughed and said how he’d been planning ways to get me alone for months. I tried to leave; I was clawing at the door as he was clawing at me. When I finally got free he told me that if I went to the management or to the police, he’d tell them it was a lovers’ spat and that I was blackmailing him for money. I knew they’d believe him over me. After all, he was a big-time executive and I was a nobody.”
“That’s not true, Maggie,” Jason protested, but she wasn’t listening.
“So I left the room and got down to the lobby and realized I had no place to stay, no money, and no ID. That’s when your father found me. He was so nice.” She stopped and smiled at the memory. “I was so scared and he just sat with me in the lobby on the sofa and told me about himself, about his family, and then he offered to buy me a cup of coffee. He showed me his ID. By the time we were done with coffee, he had worked out a way to get my belongings back and offered me a chance at a new life and a new job.”
Jason couldn’t help but smile. That was his dad. William Montgomery took care of others and it was just one of the reasons that people loved him. He thought back to his first meeting with Maggie and how he had sensed that there was more to the relationship between her and his father and now he understood it.
Standing, Maggie walked over to her mini fridge and pulled out a drink for each of them. Jason waved her off. “I asked the concierge to send up some tea for you. It should be here any minute.”
She smiled sadly at him. “You are so much like your father, Jason,” she said softly. “You take care of people.”
“I only hope that I can be like him. Dad’s an incredible man.”
“You’re more like him than you think.” They were interrupted by a knock at the door and Jason walked over and let the uniformed server in. He set up the tray with tea and an assortment of fresh fruit and cookies on the table. Jason tipped and thanked him and then went back toward Maggie. She poured them each a cup and they sat in silence for several minutes, each absorbing all that had been revealed.
“He was there tonight?” Jason finally asked, breaking the silence. “Your former boss?”
“Yes.”
“Did he speak to you?”
Maggie nodded. “When Alan called you over after dinner, I went outside and walked down to the beach. I just wanted a few minutes to feel the sand between my toes.” She gave a mirthless laugh. “I never heard him approach. I was just standing there enjoying the sunset and the ocean breeze and then there he was. He asked if I was going to lead you on back at the hotel and then cry foul.”
“Son of a bitch,” Jason muttered and then stood and began pacing the room. “Why didn’t you come and get me?”
“I had to face him, Jason. I have been hiding for three years. I never saw him again after your father found me in that lobby. If I was ever going to be free of this…this nightmare, I had to face him. I did my best, I really did. I held on to my dignity and didn’t let him bully me and then I walked away with my head held high. By the time you found me, I just crumpled. I held it together as long as I could.”
Her voice broke on the last word and then the tears finally fell. Jason was instantly at her side and he pulled her close. For the first time in three years, Maggie finally let herself cry openly in front of another person. Maybe now it would finally be over. Maybe now she wouldn’t have to feel like an idiot. Or a victim. She had gotten away from Martin before he was able to do anything, and she knew now that she had done nothing wrong. It was a relief. She had let him have three years of her life, and now she was free.
She cried into Jason’s shirt, and when she realized what she was doing and made to pull away, he simply held her closer. “Your shirt,” she whispered.
“Don’t worry about my damn shirt,” he said gruffly and led her over to the bed. Gently he sat her down and then went over and closed the drapes. “I think you’ve had enough today. A good night’s sleep will help a little, I hope.” He smiled down at her. She was still dressed in her black pencil skirt and white blouse, but her hair was mussed up from her walk on the beach and all that had happened afterward, and her makeup was practically gone, and yet she was still the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
“Sleep in tomorrow. I can handle the Hardwell people on my own,” he said as he took a step away from her.
“That’s not necessary, Jason,” she protested and stood up. “You hired me to do a job and—”
“To hell with the job, Maggie!” he snapped and then cursed himself when she winced. She’d had a traumatic night and yelling at her wasn’t helping. He took a calming breath. “Look, it’s just that I know you’ve had an emotional night and I want you to rest and relax. I don’t want you to have to be looking over your shoulder in case this guy shows up anyplace else, okay?”
She nodded and Jason took a step toward her and gave her a gentle shove to make her sit down again. “Try and get some sleep, Maggie,” he said softly.
“I doubt I’ll get much sleep. If I close my eyes, I’ll just see him,” she said sadly. “I’m probably going to channel surf for a while.”
Jason sat down beside her on the bed and took her hand in his. “You have to at least try and sleep.”
Maggie turned to him and gave him a weak smile before shaking her head. “It took months before I was able to close my eyes and not see his face after it happened. I’d sleep with the TV on just so that I wouldn’t hear his voice in my head.”
“Where was your husband during all of this?” Jason asked although he really didn’t want to know.
Maggie didn’t understand the question at first. Husband? What husband? In all of the turmoil, that little white lie had been forgotten. How was she supposed to respond? What would a husband do? “Um, we weren’t married yet but whenever I let it get to me, he would just hold me until I fell asleep.” She hoped that’s what husbands did but right now, she couldn’t find the strength to care.
Jason nodded and released her hand. A million thoughts were racing through his mind, but first and foremost, he wanted to be the one to hold her until she fell asleep tonight. It was beyond inappropriate and he knew he could never voice that out loud. Maggie had been through enough tonight with her previous boss without having to worry about her current boss harassing her, too.
“I wish there was something I could do or say right now to help,” he admitted. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt so helpless in my life. Thank you for trusting me with this, Maggie, but I have to tel
l you, I want to know who it is and go after him and beat him senseless for what he’s done to you!”
Jason stood and was about to walk away when Maggie reached out for his hand and pulled him back to her. “That won’t help anything, Jason. And I should be the one thanking you.”
“For what? For making you go to that damn dinner? You said you didn’t want to go and I forced you. That means it’s my fault this happened, Maggie! Do you know how that makes me feel?”
She knew exactly how he felt, because it was written all over his beautifully expressive face. Without thinking, she reached out and cupped his face in her hands. “Jason, you have nothing to be sorry for.” She held her gaze steady with his, willing him to see how sincere she was. “No one could have predicted this happening. Thank you for being there when I needed someone, and thank you for sitting here with a near-hysterical woman and calming her down.”
Jason reached up and placed his hands over hers before pulling them away from his face. Her touch was killing him. “I wasn’t there when it really mattered, Maggie,” he said, his voice gruff with emotion.
“You’re here now,” she whispered. “And I don’t want you to go.”
He stared down at her. What was she saying? “Maggie…I…”
“I don’t want to be alone,” she admitted. “I just want…I need…”
“What?” he asked so softly that she almost didn’t hear him. “What do you need? Anything, Maggie. Anything you need, I’ll do.” He took a step closer.
She took a steadying breath. “Will you hold me?”
As if she were made of spun glass, he carefully enveloped her in his embrace. “Yes,” he whispered into her hair and just reveled in the feel of her wrapped in his arms.
“Stay with me tonight, Jason.”
He leaned back and looked down into her face. “I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.”
She gave him a small smile, stepped out of his arms, and turned to pull down the comforter on the bed and turn out the bedside lamp. “I trust you, Jason.” She sat down on the bed and reached for his hand. “I just need you to hold me.”
Wait for Me / Trust in Me Page 23