by Bryce, Megan
Monday morning, Cole left later than usual. He parked outside an exclusive gated community with a clear view of the expensive cars coming out and waited.
He leaned against his truck, crossing one booted foot over the other and hooking his thumbs in his belt. He nodded a few times to drivers exiting, getting jerky nods back, and tried not to smile when he saw relief in their eyes as he let them pass.
He watched cars leave until it was Jackson Harwood on the other side and then he pushed himself off his truck and meandered over as the gate swung open.
When Jackson saw Cole, he froze. Cole walked up to the car and knocked on the window.
He could see Jackson debating whether to roll the window down or not but the man finally decided to take his medicine.
Cole said, “Margaret says I am not allowed to put my fist through your face. No matter how much I may want to.”
Jackson gulped.
Cole continued. “She’d be unhappy if she knew I was talking to you at all. I don’t know about you but I try to keep her happy. I’ll be the first to tell you she holds a grudge.”
Jackson looked at him then. “A grudge? You ruined an entire family.”
“Women. Just don’t understand that business is business, I guess. Is that what you were doing charging her exorbitant rates? Just doing business?”
Jackson relaxed against his seat. “She was desperate. I charged accordingly.”
Cole watched another car pull up behind Jackson. “Mmm. And she returned the favor, didn’t she? Because now you’re desperate to keep me from buying up all your debt. You’ve got enough for me to work with, don’t you, Jackson?”
“Margaret said if I gave her that measly two percent and a moratorium she would keep you chained up.”
Cole smiled at him. “Did she? Can’t help but love the woman, can you?”
Jackson turned his head slowly, clearly wondering if Cole was serious.
Cole squinted up to the sky. “Here’s the problem with your deal, Jackson. She’d been good friends with Tanner; she’d liked him. And she made me suffer for my sins.
“But you? She doesn’t like. She might be mad for a time or two that I made her word worthless, but she’ll get over it. My guess is she’d get over it mighty fast.”
When he looked back down at Jackson, Cole could see him digesting that ugly truth.
Jackson finally said, “So now what?”
“So now you send over the paperwork to Margaret this morning. And you get Parnell and Gould to do the same. You three gave her the worst rate, the worst terms. You had a good time sticking it to her. Now you can have a good time moaning to each other while you play golf.”
“They’ll never do it.”
Cole shrugged. “Well, now. I might not smash their faces in since they didn’t insult my fiance to her face.” He paused, enjoying watching Jackson shrink in his seat. “But I will certainly move my money. I will certainly start buying up the debt of you three at a premium.”
The fear came back into Jackson’s eyes and he said, “I can’t promise anything.”
Cole nodded and patted the top of the car. “Me neither, Jackson.”
And he walked back to his truck.
Cole’s day was busier than usual, the natural result of two work days lost, but he couldn’t feel even a twinge of regret about it. And when Maggie called he couldn’t help his smile as he shut his door.
“Missed me, Empress? I thought you could go a day at least.”
Sunday night he’d shown up unannounced to coerce her into dinner, finally talking her into burgers.
He was getting the distinct impression Maggie was fond of junk food, the junkier the better, though she looked like she indulged just about never.
He was not above using that to his advantage.
And while she’d eaten with him happily, had held his hand in public without comment, he hadn’t kissed her again. He’d dropped her home, said God knew what, and left without pulling her close.
He was regretting that right now. Should have kissed the damn woman.
She said, “What did you do?”
He cocked his head. “Got to narrow it down. Give me a clue?”
“Charles Parnell. Says he’ll send the paperwork right over. Two percent and a moratorium.”
“Must have talked with his buddy, Jackson. I paid him a little visit before heading out this morning.”
There was a long pause and he said, “I didn’t touch him.”
“Then why is Parnell giving me the same deal? Handing it to me on a platter?”
“Because they’re friends, because they conspired to give you shit terms. And because now you can stop worrying about the drain and start making money.”
Maggie said, “There is a difference between me swinging your weight around and you throwing it around on my behalf.”
“I know you think there is.”
“You going to fix all my problems for me, Cole? I’ll just go lay out by the pool and relax while you take care of everything?”
Cole said, “I would, if you’d let me. But you want to keep all the fun for yourself.”
“The fun? Yes, picking up my pride and wiping away the dirt is fun. I’d appreciate it if you’d let me do it.”
“Pride, Maggie?”
“Yes, Cole. Since I realized how bad things were my pride’s been laying crumpled on the floor. I made a deal with Jackson Harwood! You think a high interest rate and terrible repayment terms was all he wanted?”
Cole’s hand clenched into a fist. “Please don’t tell me that I have to drive back today to beat the shit out of him.”
“He just wanted to lord it over me, make me pay for an unfavorable comparison I made about him. But my pride has had enough. I don’t want revenge; I do want everyone to know that I’m done simpering. Done.”
Cole remembered the if in her eyes, remembered how she looked as if she asking.
He sat down slowly, drumming his fingers on the desk.
He said, “I’m not going to apologize for Harwood or Parnell.” He paused. “Or Gould.”
He heard her blow out a breath and he said, “But I won’t do it again. And I should have at least let you watch me scare the piss out of him.”
He could hear the anger fading from her voice when she asked, “You didn’t touch him at all?”
He smiled. “I knew you wouldn’t really care if I kicked his ass. But the threat of violence seemed to be enough. Pretty sure he had to change his pants afterward.”
Maggie sighed. “I guess that’ll have to do. I would have liked to watch.”
“Just what is it between you and Harwood? I thought I was the only one you kept an unwarranted grudge against.”
“He kept telling everyone I was frigid. I let it be known it was hard to get into the mood when the equipment was smaller than I was used to.”
Cole’s lips pulled back in a grimace. “When was this?”
“Years ago. After us.”
“You–”
He hadn’t thought she’d been celibate for the last twelve years. Maybe he’d been happy to not know for sure.
So she’d slept with other men.
Hell, he’d given himself plenty of opportunities to forget her long legs, forget her warm body wrapped around him.
But. “Him?”
She chuckled weakly. “Believe me, I’ve asked myself the same question.”
He shook his head. “I really wish you hadn’t told me.”
She laughed again, a little bit stronger. “I’m sure there are a few women you wouldn’t want me to know about. Not that I need names.”
“No?”
“No.”
He grinned. “There might be one or two. But you wouldn’t know them, so it wouldn’t be the same.”
“I’m sure I can imagine the type.”
“Big hair, big–”
“I’m hanging up.”
He kicked his legs up onto his desk. “Wait. What else are you doing today?”
/>
“Signing papers, returning calls. What are you doing?”
“Trying to catch up. Lots of paperwork.”
He could hear the smile in her voice. “Sounds fun. I know how much you love paperwork.”
“Company helps.”
“Are you suggesting I drive out there and help you get your work done?”
He surprisingly wanted to say yes. “Would you?”
“I guess it would be fair. Tit for tat.”
He shook his head. “I can’t have you come out here again. You disturb my men. And I don’t like them looking at your ankles, don’t like knowing what they’re thinking.”
“You only know what they’re thinking because you’re thinking it, too.”
“I don’t have a problem with me thinking it.”
He could hear her shaking her head, practically see her puckering her lips to keep from smiling.
She said, “I really am hanging up now.”
“Just one more thing, Maggie. Whose equipment were you comparing Harwood’s to?”
“Goodbye, Cole.”
The phone clicked in his ear and he hung it up with a smile on his face.
His smile faded a little at the thought of Maggie and Jackson Harwood. Maggie frigid? He couldn’t blame her really. A cat in heat would be frigid with Harwood.
But Christ, the man was just asking for Cole’s fist in his belly.
Cole shook his head and twisted his chair around to look out the window. He propped his boots up on the sill, laced his hands behind his head, and told himself in no uncertain terms that he wouldn’t lay a finger on Harwood.
Sure, the man deserved it.
Sure, it had been a long time since Cole had had the pleasure of being in a fight.
Cole would just have to console himself with the thought that with Harwood it wouldn’t be a real fight. One tap and the man would go down, of that Cole had no doubt.
He swiveled back around, wishing Maggie really would drive out to help with his paperwork. Wearing her short skirt that liked to ride up, wearing those man-eater shoes that made him want to go down.
He sighed, knowing he wouldn’t see her again until the weekend. Knowing it was going to be a long, long week.
On Friday, Tanner stripped his tie off, grabbed the first bottle he came to, and went out to the pool. He’d spent the week meeting with bankers, listening to complaints and fears about Maggie and Cole.
If he’d known how often he would have to hear about Cole Montgomery he maybe would have rethought getting into the fray.
And so far, it had turned out to be worth squat.
Everyone was happy to tell him how to talk them up to Cole and Maggie, to offer investment opportunities they’d heard of to them. But not to Tanner.
Even Jackson Harwood got a sour face when he showed up.
Not Tanner’s fault Harwood was an asshole. Not his fault Jackson ended up giving Maggie a one-year moratorium.
Tanner kicked off his shoes, dragged a chair into the shade, and tipped the bottle up. He grimaced when he tasted it.
What he wouldn’t give for a Blanton’s. A Booker’s. Anything but this swill.
But swill was all he could afford. And he really couldn’t even afford that.
What was a man without money, without connections, without a job?
A man who couldn’t give his wife any children?
He closed his eyes against the ache in his chest. He was a failure. A failure in the most basic sense of the word.
He’d failed himself. He’d failed the person he loved most in the world.
She should leave him, find someone else. Anyone else.
But she wouldn’t.
Ginny would never leave him. Never.
He should leave her, give her a chance to find happiness with someone else.
He just. . . couldn’t.
Couldn’t give up the only thing he had left in his life. Couldn’t give up the only reason he opened his eyes in the morning.
Tanner wasn’t even sure she’d let him leave. She was sweet and loving but she had a stubborn streak a mile wide.
Those Caldwell girls. Always got what they wanted.
God help her, she wanted him.
He didn’t know why. All he knew was he needed to make something work. Needed to give her just one thing that made her loving him worth it. To pay back what she’d given him. Her love. Her trust. Her faith in him.
Tanner sighed and picked up the bottle one more time.
Because he knew what he needed to do
And he didn’t think he could do it.
An hour outside of Dallas, Cole called up Maggie and offered dinner.
“Dinner? When will you be in?”
“Give me an hour and a half. I left early but I’m hitting traffic.”
He glanced at the stack of manila folders he’d dropped in a box before he left. “I brought some work home with me; you can help.”
Maggie said, “That’s cruel but fair.”
He smiled. “Just trying to keep things even.”
He took the time to shower before heading to Maggie’s but the housekeeper was still the one to open the door. To stare at him while fingering her cross. Still the one to tell him to wait by the pool.
Cole couldn’t help but smile at the woman, and then he nodded and walked around to the back. Too excited to get Maggie in his hands again to really care about the slight.
They’d spent the week calling each other. Maggie keeping him updated on the new terms she was signing; Cole just calling to hear her voice, the stupidest reason making him reach for the phone.
When Cole rounded the back of the house, he found Tanner slumped in a chair. Cole stopped, briefly wondering if the housekeeper had done this on purpose, then grabbed the nearest chair and dragged it over.
Tanner opened one eye to peer at Cole. He moaned, pushing himself up a little, and said, “I’m not ready yet.”
Cole sat. “Okay.”
“Monday. I’ll do it Monday.”
Cole laced his fingers, rested them on his belly, and stretched out his legs. He said, “Tanner, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Tanner grabbed the bottle resting at his feet, tipping it to his lips, shaking it when nothing came out. He dropped the bottle back to the ground, sliding back down in his seat. He said, “Just give me one more weekend.”
Cole watched and wondered if his father had ever seen the results of his destruction. Because it wasn’t pretty.
There was no telling if Tanner would have ended like this anyway. No telling if this was Cole’s doing, if this mess of a man should be laid at Cole’s feet.
Cole liked to think a man had a choice, that a man could be more than just what happened to him. But he wasn’t so sure.
When push came to shove, Cole had been what he’d been raised to be.
When push came to shove, maybe Tanner here was just being what he was raised to be.
Cole looked away finally, leaving Tanner his one last weekend. They sat in silence until Maggie walked out the back door. She glanced between the two of them, at the bottle on the ground.
Cole rose, taking a long look at her short summery dress. He looked down at her white sandals. “New shoes?”
“New to you.”
“I like the other ones.”
She smiled then. “I know.”
Cole smiled back and grabbed her hand. He glanced at Tanner, nodding. Tanner lifted a finger in return, watching them with suddenly clear eyes.
When they turned the corner of the house, Maggie said, “What was that?”
“I don’t know. What’s up with him?”
Maggie stilled, her hand going limp in his. “What do you mean?”
“I mean he’s got an empty bottle at his feet, looks like he’ll be heading for another as soon as he can, and telling me he needs one more weekend.”
Maggie glanced behind her even though Tanner was out of sight.
“I don’t know what the wee
kend’s about.”
“And the bottle?”
She turned forward. “It’s Friday. My guess it’s been a bad week.”
“He ever have a good week?”
Maggie raised an eyebrow at him. “You mean since you bankrupted his family?”
“Don’t try and make me feel sorry for him, Maggie.”
“Of course not, Cole. How could I?”
He stopped, dropping her hand. “I’ve already said I’m sorry for what I did.”
She cocked her head. “You said it to me.”
“Yeah.”
“Not to Tanner.”
Yeah, he’d liked Maggie before he hurt her.
Tanner wasn’t the same at all. The thought of apologizing to Tanner left a bad taste in Cole’s mouth and he turned to stare toward the back of the house.
He said, “If I went back there and said the words, would it change anything about what happened?”
Maggie was silent. Cole turned around to find her looking unfocused at the back of the house herself. She said, “Maybe not. I was sorry before I fired him, after. It didn’t change anything.”
Cole took a step toward her, lifting her hand. “As much as I’d like to, I don’t think you can compare what you did with what I did. You were trying to save your company.”
“And you were trying to do. . .”
He admitted, “I wasn’t trying to do anything, I was just reacting. You can’t tell me that’s not worse.”
“Are you trying to one-up me again?”
“Trying? Baby, you’ll never be as bad as me.”
Maggie said, “Call me baby again. Please.”
“Now you’re begging?”
When she smiled that little smile that made the hairs stand up on the back of his neck, he murmured, “Maybe later. When I’m in a position to like getting kicked in the balls.”
Maggie started walking toward her car and Cole tugged her toward his truck. She let him and said, “Is there such a position?”
“I’m willing to find out.”
Cole yanked open the truck door and Maggie said, “What did you say to him?”
Cole hooked a thumb over his shoulder. “Back there?”
When she nodded, he said, “We just sat.”
“Without talking?”
Cole shrugged, helping her inside. “We’re men. We can do that.”