by Megan Bryce
“Oh, Christ. There’s more to it?”
“You aren’t what you’ve done; you are what you do now.”
Cole looked into her eyes and said softly, “That almost smacks of forgiveness, Maggie.”
“I’ve learned we can’t all be perfect right out of the gate. But we can choose differently next time.” She looked away from his questioning eyes. “I don’t want to be forever defined by my past mistakes.”
“Bankruptcy really does a number on you, doesn’t it?”
When she looked back at him, his eyes were on the fist she was pressing into her stomach. She pulled her hand away.
Cole said, “I’ll give this to Tanner. At least he didn’t schedule my beating like a pussy.”
She blew out a shaky breath. She waited until he looked up and then smiled at him for pulling her back from the ledge again.
He said, “So, my favorite memory is our first kiss and your favorite memory is me lying in your lap unconscious.”
She laughed. “Maybe we can make a new best memory.”
Cole shook his head, his eyes wide. “I’m just hearing forgiveness all over the place.”
“It could be that I’m just buttering you up before you see all the paperwork.”
He groaned and closed his eyes. “Paperwork. I’m going to need breakfast first.”
“Let me guess. Bacon.”
“I make a mean plate of it.” He opened his eyes. “There’s nothing like laying in bed naked and sweaty and nibbling on bacon.”
Why did that sound so…right? Forget chocolate in bed, bacon was the new aphrodisiac. Or wait, chocolate covered bacon.
She said, “Is this how we’re going to play it?”
“It’s a good game.”
She nodded. “It’s fun. When you know you’re going to win. It’s the thought that you just might lose that gets you all pissy.”
“Plus it’s five fucking o’clock in the morning.”
She pointed to their mugs. “I made coffee.”
“So you did. I guess one out of two ain’t bad.”
She leaned into him. “Oh, Cole. One out of two is all you’re ever going to get.”
He bent his head towards her. “I seem to remember getting you to number two more times than was strictly necessary for our deal.”
She smiled up into his eyes. “You’re going to lose this time, Cole.”
He smiled back and whispered, “Do your worst, Empress.”
He held a hand out to steady her as she rose. She didn’t bother waiting for him to get up before heading for the top of the stairs. The hem of her skirt was even with his eyes as she passed him and he groaned.
Maggie put even more sway into her hips, running her hand up the stair rail suggestively. She looked at him over her shoulder when she got to the top. Still telling him never with her eyes.
This time he laughed. He closed his eyes, shook his head, and said, “I’m a stupid shit.”
And then he followed her inside.
Megan BryceSome Like It Ruthless
Three
Maggie sat curled in Cole’s recliner, her eyes closed, her feet tucked underneath her. Cole was pathetically grateful he couldn’t see her feet anymore. He didn’t know what was worse, those shoes designed to bring a man to his knees or Maggie in her bare feet. Her long, beautiful feet, her nails painted a shimmery peach that sparkled with every step, every bounce of her foot. The sight left him confused, wondering when he’d turned into a foot man.
He washed bacon grease off their plates and thought about making another pot of coffee but decided Maggie didn’t need it. They’d spent the last few hours sifting through more paperwork than any man should ever have to go through to get a woman naked.
Good thing that wasn’t why he was doing this.
Maggie had spent the last few hours taking deep, gulping breaths and pushing her fist into her stomach.
Bacon could cure a great many ills, and he’d stuffed as many as he could into her mouth, but there were limits. Always limits. Looked like bacon was no match for a bankruptcy ulcer.
He left her to rest, hoping she really would fall asleep for a few minutes instead of just lying there pretending, and went to shower. And if he left the bedroom door wide open as he undressed, well, he didn’t mind the thought of Maggie peeking.
He left the bathroom door open as an invitation.
He wasn’t too surprised when she didn’t join him.
By the time he was dressed again, Maggie’s shoes were back on and she was gathering papers.
He grabbed his keys and wallet, stuffing them into his pocket, and walked out to say, “Are we going to talk about the elephant in the room?”
“Which elephant?”
He sat on a stool, grabbing a random stack of papers and tapping the signatures. “Half of these are signed by Tanner.”
She looked up at him, her eyes clear green again, her emotions back under control.
“He was an agent of my company. He had authority. These are my debts, no matter who signed for them.” She rifled through the papers, finally finding another signature and holding it up to him. “See? It’s not all Tanner.”
“Half are Tanner’s.” He nodded at the paper she was holding. “If Thomas Scribblypants there had signed for half of these, you would have fired him.”
“I did.”
“And yet Tanner gets a free pass. Is he out there racking up more debt for you right now?”
“I didn’t fire Thomas Scribblypants. I fired Tanner.”
Cole stopped and stared. He hadn’t seen that coming. She’d actually fired Tanner?
He enjoyed the thought of Maggie telling Tanner to pack his bags for a long while, then said, “Good.”
She huffed a laugh. “No. It wasn’t good. But I had to.”
“Tell me how you did it. Did you pull down his pants and spank him in front of the whole company?”
Her lips twitched. “You would have like to have seen that, wouldn’t you? Voyeur.”
“I would pay money to see Tanner Beaumont being spanked.”
Although not by Maggie. He never wanted to see that.
She turned to face him. “He’s my brother-in-law. He’s family. I wanted him to succeed.” She shook her head. “I gave him too much rope.”
“Enough to strangle both himself and you.”
“It hurt everyone when I had to cut him loose.”
Cole tried not to smile too wide. “Just tell me it hurt Tanner the most.”
He could see it in her eyes that she’d never give Cole the satisfaction by admitting it. She only said, “Were all your debts signed by yours truly?”
He’d inherited half his debts from dear old dad. He hadn’t gotten the chance to fire his father. Too bad, the thought of it alone made him want to laugh with glee. Cole guessed Maggie hadn’t felt the same about Tanner.
When he shook his head, Maggie said, “Tanner was a big problem. But he was still only part of the problem. I didn’t handle any of it well. It’s my fault my company is drowning in debt.” She gave him a crooked smile. “And I’m the one paying for it.”
He gave a crooked smile back. “Yes, you will.”
“I’d only pay if I thought this would work. I don’t want to be the Caldwell who crumbles.”
“Oh, yeah. Much better to leave it to the next generation.”
She didn’t laugh. “Do you think I should let it crumble? Just give up?”
“I know you like to be number one in everything but I must claim winner of the debt competition. My debts were worse. You can come back from this.”
She waved towards the papers. “It took a miracle to save you. I might be in second place but it will still take a miracle to save me.”
“I’d give you a miracle if I could.”
She fussed with the papers, trying to put them neatly in a stack. She didn’t look at him when she said softly, “You already did, Cole. A chance at all is a miracle. Just…thank you.”
He sniffed and wiped an i
maginary tear from his eye. “That was beautiful, Maggie. Let me enjoy that for a moment.”
She smacked his arm and he grinned at her. He said, “But payment is not required until we’re done with this mess.”
“I said thank you, not I forgive you.”
“It was how you said it. But I will need the actual words when we’re done here.”
She sighed. “When do you think we’ll be done here?”
“With a miracle, it took me less than a year.”
“I don’t think we can count on that happening here. We might be ‘engaged’ for a while.”
He shrugged. “I’m not in any rush. I figure the longer we have to stick together, the better my chances are at getting you naked again.”
She raised an eyebrow and he said, “You only have to say yes one time for me to win this game.”
“What if I said yes one time and then no again?”
“I would love to see you try.” He leaned in close. “Love to see you try.”
Her lips pinched together, trying to keep from laughing at him. She said, “Have you really thought this through? If we’re engaged and you can’t get me on my back, your social life is going to take a hit.”
“If, if, if. I’m willing to roll the dice.”
He could have said his social life couldn’t take any kind of hit, it was already dead in the water. He worked eighty hours during the week, slept in a trailer steps from his office, and came home on the weekends to rest, to take a break from sweaty, cursing men.
Maggie put the papers into her briefcase. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Cole only smiled.
He said, “What about your social life?”
She gave a humorless laugh. “I’m trying to fend off bankruptcy. I don’t have time for a social life.”
Good. He wouldn’t say it out loud, he wouldn’t say it. It didn’t need to be said. But, “Good. Don’t start having one. Not while we’re engaged.”
“You mean ‘engaged’.”
He grabbed her fingers, stopping the air quotes she was making. “No. I mean engaged. This will be real for everyone else, it’ll be real for us, too.”
She yanked her hands back, but all that did was pull him closer.
“I mean it, Maggie. You need a date to a function, I go. You need a scratch itched, I scratch it. No one else.”
She said softly, “You know I wouldn’t do that to you.”
He did know that. He let go of her fingers.
She said, “And I won’t need any scratch itched. But thanks for the offer.”
“It’s on the table.”
“You’ve made that pretty clear. I only wonder what would happen if I actually took you up on it.”
He dipped his head, put his hand on her stool, not touching her, but close. So close. “You think I’m bluffing here? Think I wouldn’t take you right now, here, any way I could.”
She leaned back and he followed. “Think I wouldn’t reach around you and rip that slit all the way up? Put you up on this counter, my hands around your ankles, and spread those long legs?”
She didn’t try to get away from him again. Wouldn’t back down from him, from anyone. She leaned forward and whispered, “You forgot about the shoes.”
“I didn’t forget the shoes.”
Those shoes would have a starring role.
He said, “We going to do that, Maggie?”
It took her a second. He watched the pulse pound in her neck, inhaled the warming, rising scent of her.
She finally said, “I was only wondering what you would do.”
“Now you know.”
She murmured, “Yeah.”
He waited, gave her one last chance to change her mind, then took a small step away from her. “If we’re not going to do that, let’s go visit some creditors then.”
She didn’t even blink. “You don’t need to come. I can handle them.”
“What’s the point of having me if you’re not going to use me?”
He smiled.
And she bristled. “Should I sit there quietly while you work out repayment plans with my creditors?”
“Could you? I can’t even imagine it.” He was lost in thought trying to imagine Maggie sitting next to him quietly, letting him run the show.
He finally shook his head. “No. I thought I’d come and sit there threateningly. To show how happy I’d be if the people who owe me money, the people who handle my lots of money, would work it out with my fiance. And how unhappy I’d be if they didn’t.”
“Don’t say it like that. My fiance.”
He wrapped his hand around the back of her neck. He whispered, “My fiance. Mine.”
She whispered back, “Your fiance, yours is going to bite you.” When she saw the gleam in his eye, she added, “And it’s not going to be the kind of bite you like.”
“I’d like any bite you cared to bestow upon me.”
“Would you?”
He nearly said yes, God help him. But then he pictured meeting her creditors missing a finger or part of his ear and backtracked.
“Maybe later. After you take a few bites out of your creditors and aren’t so hungry anymore.”
A tigress only made a good pet when she was nice and fed. Cole squeezed Maggie’s neck slightly, imagining what she’d do to him if he called her pet out loud, then let go.
She smiled. A smile that would make any man with a lick of sense grab his balls and cower in fear.
Cole obviously had no sense whatsoever because his balls were jumping up and down and shouting me next, me next.
He’d never had any sense when it came to Margaret Caldwell.
“Come on, Maggie. You can’t go without me. I want to watch.”
She headed for the door and he followed.
She said, “You can come. If you sit there quietly.”
He’d sit there quietly and watch her make those bankers bend over. And say thank you after. The Caldwell name and a Montgomery’s money? They didn’t stand a chance.
She headed for her car and he snorted. “We’re not going in a Hyundai. I wouldn’t even fit.”
“You’d be surprised.”
“No. I’m driving, and we’re going in the truck.”
She turned to look at his truck, her fists on her hips, and laughed. “Because that’s better?”
“And you’re going to sit in the middle, right next to me.”
Maggie Caldwell in the bitch seat, her legs open wide, the stick shift nestled between them…
God, he wished he had a stick shift.
She said, “Get in the car, Cole.”
He shook his head. “The truck.”
“Then I guess we’re taking both.”
He held his fist up in front of her face.
She looked at it. “What, are we fourteen?”
“If we can’t come to a decision logically and rationally, then we’ll do it this way.”
“If you win, I’m not sitting in the middle.”
“Yeah, I don’t think I could handle it any better than you could.”
Maggie sighed, shook her head at him, and held up her fist.
He smiled at her because he knew. She always picked scissors.
Virginia Caldwell sat in the plush armchair she’d dragged into her father’s room right after he got sick and read the society pages to him.
It wasn’t his favorite. But he’d never minded listening to gossip.
She’d work her way to the business section, give him something meaty to mull over at the end.
Because she knew he was still in there. Trapped in this room, in his dying body. But still here. She could only think that he was still alive because he willed it. He was still in there, wanting to be alive.
Ginny read a baby announcement, then paused.
Daddy had always liked to think about things. To savor that moment that came right after new information. He hadn’t really cared if it was good information or bad.
He’d liked th
e pause. To feel everything in that moment, because it would never come again.
Unfortunately, it also forced her to pause and she didn’t want to think about baby announcements.
She looked out the window, at her husband still sitting by the pool. She wanted to go out to him, sit in his lap, wrap her arms around him, and wipe all his hurts away.
But she couldn’t.
If she went out to him, he’d jump up and try to get away from her. Not want to hold her, not want to look at her. Because he saw a failure when he looked in the mirror and thought that was what she saw, too.
She didn’t know how to help him. She wasn’t sure she could.
She looked down at the paper again and read a marriage announcement.
She gave Daddy time to think about the impending union of the daughter of an old golfing buddy of his, then said, “You’re not going to like this next announcement. Remember your blood pressure, okay?”
His machine beeped at her.
“Maggie asked Cole Montgomery to help us.”
And her father might be comatose but Ginny decided not to tell him she’d been the one to suggest it.
“He agreed. So…they’re engaged.”
She listened to his machine beeping, trying hard to tell if it had sped up any. If anything could make Sam Caldwell take up his bed and walk, it would be the thought of one of his daughters marrying a Montgomery.
But his eyes didn’t open and his machine continued its endless steady march.
Ginny couldn’t help Maggie. Not again. She’d sided with Maggie against her husband once and she wouldn’t do it again. If she could go back, she would let their family business fail, let them all fall. Because it would have been better to fall with her husband than to watch him fall by himself.
She would give anything to be with him in that dark place.
But the only thing that could rival seeing her husband so depressed was seeing her sister edging to that same cliff.
They had both looked so hopeless, so lost. Alone.
Ginny had thought that asking Cole for help might just give their business a chance. If he would agree to help them.
That she had never been sure about. Cole was…unpredictable. Except for his ruthlessness. And two members of her little family had already crossed him.