Page 15 of Matched By Mistake
She nodded, knowing her mom was right. Last night in her kitchen it had seemed like maybe Jericho was the gateway back to dating and feeling normal, but this morning reality was staring her in the face and there was no way around it. Jericho’s family and hers had more than bad blood. They had a history of battles in business that had left one side bruised and battered and the other victorious. While the winners changed with each battle, the truth was, she wasn’t surewhatJericho wanted from her.
She didn’t know if she could trust him or not and she wasn’t willing to let herself be hurt by another man’s hidden agenda. “Fine. Cecily can come.”
“I’m coming, too,” Preston said.
She just rolled her eyes. “Fine. Mom and Dad, you want to come?”
“No, honey,” her mom said.
“Definitely not,” her dad said. “When is the meeting?”
“Let me text Jericho and see if he’s spoken to his family,” she said.
She pulled out her phone and opened the k!smet app and used the private chat function.
Maggie: Family agreed to the meeting with Jack. Did yours?
Jericho: After some debate. What time is good for you?
Maggie: The sooner the better. When can Jack do it?
Jericho: Let me check.
She looked up from her phone and noticed Cecily watching her with a sympathetic smile. “You okay?”
Preston and her dad were talking quietly and her mom was checking the coffee service she’d had the housekeeper set up on the sideboard.
“Yeah, of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Because the last guy you dated turned out to be...well, worse than a Winters,” Cecily said.
“This isn’t dating. This is helping out a friend,” Maggie said. Though the lie felt dirty even as she said it. The truth was she wasn’t going to let anyone know what she felt for Jericho until she was sure he wasn’t using her.
Jericho: Tonight at six thirty. Boardroom at the TCC. Work for you?
“Hey, can everyone do six thirty tonight?” she asked Cecily and Preston.
“Yes,” they both said.
Maggie: See you there.
The boardroom at the Texas Cattleman’s Club was richly paneled and had a long center table made out of mahogany and big leather chairs around it. There was a painting on the back wall of Texas longhorns grazing on a field. Jack Chowdhry waited at the end of the room with some papers in front of him. Alisha was by his side as Jericho entered.
“Jack, thanks for doing this,” Jericho said. His sister nodded her hello.
“No problem. I’m all for our members getting along and putting old feuds to rest.”
“Good luck with that,” Alisha said.
“A,” he said sardonically.
“J.” She just sassed him back as she always did.
He shook his head. The door opened before he could say anything else and Maggie entered the room. Her long hair was in a braid that she’d somehow wrapped around her head to make it look like a crown. She had on another halter top that clung to the curves of her breasts. Alisha elbowed him and he tore his gaze from her.
But his mind was still on her figure and the look in her eyes that was very different from the one the night before. He forced a smile. Brian Cooper, Jericho’s friend and personal attorney, came in after the Del Rios.
“Everyone, if you want to have a seat, I think we can get this started. Do you all know each other?” Jack asked.
