Page 39 of Matched By Mistake
“Good. See ya later,” she said, blowing a kiss at the phone and then disconnecting the call.
He sat back in his chair, remembering the feel of her in his arms last night and how she’d sucked his tongue deep into her mouth. Damn. He got hard just thinking about her and he still had a good six hours before he’d see her again.
Should he be worried that he was so into her? He hadn’t felt this way in a long, long time. Since college when he’d thought he and Macy were going to get married. Of course, she’d texted him from Northwestern where she’d gone to school and broke up with him. He got it. They’d been young.
He’d sort of shut that part of himself down and focused on work. But work was coming in second to Maggie, which was fine now when he didn’t have a big project in the final phase, but he knew he had to sort this out. Also, was he really falling for a woman that an app known for its chaotic suggestions had found for him?
But he didn’t care how he and Maggie were matched up. She felt right in his arms and in his life and for now that was enough. If things went sideways with her parents tonight, he’d reevaluate. Hell, if things went well, he was going to have to think about it. But at this moment they were having an affair and they liked each other. That was enough for him.
Which he realized ten minutes into a videoconference about his latest projectwasn’tenough. One of the women had long black hair on the call and he couldn’t help but notice it, which triggered a memory of Maggie’s hair on his skin.
Getting laid usually meant he was satisfied for a few days but sleeping with Maggie had only made him want her again. So just waiting to see or pretending that he was totally cool with where they were now wasn’t working. What more did he want?
Everything.
But he’d never been a man to need everything from a woman. And something told him that she wasn’t going to just agree to that. He knew he still had a battle to ease her fears after she’d been engaged and dumped. He pulled the notepad closer to him where he was taking notes as one of his assistants was going over the sketch that he’d done for new solar panels and started brainstorming ideas on how to win Maggie’s trust.
Dinner was a start, but she needed him to be there in trying times. She needed to know he wouldn’t flake out on her. He smiled to himself. As much as he hated it, everyone in his life knew he was reliable, and that boring label might just be the thing to help ease Maggie’s fears.
Maggie didn’t dwell too much on the fact that she’d picked a night when she knew that Preston wasn’t available. But she wanted her parents to meet Jericho. She really wanted her mom’s opinion, which was silly because everyone had liked Randall. But her mom had said later that she’d always had a feeling something wasn’t right.
Maggie hadn’t ever had that feeling. And she definitely was having all those loved-up feels that came from spending a really hot night in her lover’s bed. She wanted to believe that it could last. She needed to stop letting herself be pulled into old fears and worries.
Last night she’d drawn a line in the sand and stepped over it. The past and her fears and insecurities were on the other side. She was moving on and not looking back.
But if only it were that easy to actually do. She felt the past back there. Felt the old fears like her most comfortable sweatshirt. That kids’ XL that she’d bought when she was ten and still kept in her closet because she could squeeze into it for years after.
It didn’t fit. She didn’t love Napoleon Dynamite anymore but she couldn’t throw it out because sometimes when she felt like that scared, unsure Maggie, she put it on and it comforted her.
She shook her head as if that would lose the thoughts and fears and texted her mom that she was bringing Jericho to dinner. Her mom texted back the thumbs-up emoji, and she smiled. The short response was due to her mom probably exercising. It was a leg day in the gym for her.
Misha dropped by with two iced coffees and lunch with a big smile on her face.
“What’s up?”
“We are so close to going public. You and Jericho are driving interest in the app and last night after you two were photographed dancing at the concert we had another deluge of applicants. Girl, you’re my secret weapon.”
“Ha. Well, I’m glad. I actually had a lot of fun last night,” she said.
“It looked like there was more than fun going on. I saw one photo that I could feel the steam coming off of.”
“Well, it is August.”
“Okay. Don’t tell me if you and Jericho are just play-acting but being photographed with his parents was genius. Several social media accounts are touting it as the end of the rivalry.”
“I don’t think so,” Maggie said. “But they were really nice. I thought they’d be cold or rude.”
“Honey, they are Texan. You know they aren’t going to be rude to your face,” Misha said.
“It felt genuine,” Maggie said. “And my mom saw that I met his parents, so Jericho and I are going to dinner with them tonight.”
“Oh. Are you nervous?” Misha asked.
She shrugged. To be honest, she wasn’t sure how she felt. She wanted to see how he fit in with her family. But she had no idea what she was looking for. Randall had been too good at fitting in. Too good at manipulating her by being what her father wanted in a future son-in-law. By doting on Maggie in a way that made her parents feel like she was a lucky woman. And Maggie had just eaten that up. She’d always been the princess in her family, but with Randall she’d felt like she had found someone whom she could start her own family with, which had never been a dream. Not really. Not until him.
She’d willingly let Randall manipulate her into changing her own dreams and vision of who she was. Which might explain why it had taken her two years to actually agree to a date.
“I don’t know. It would be easier if Jericho wasn’t a Winters, but the truth is I have a feeling he wouldn’t be the man I like if he wasn’t.”
