Giving Chase (15 page)

“Did he say anything to you?” Kyle asked.

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Lauren Dane

“No. He barely even looked at me, thank god.”

“If you see him again and he doesn’t leave or it looks like he’s come to bother you, call the cops immediately. I assume you have the order with you? We’ll get you the permanent ones after Tuesday when he’ll be back in court,” Shane explained.

“Yes, I keep it in my purse. I have one in my car, at work and at my house like you said. By the way, I’m coming to court on Tuesday.”

“Why?” Kyle asked.

“Because, I want to see it. To be able to speak if I can and to be sure that nothing else happens. It’s bad enough he’s getting away with it, I want to be sure he has to do all of the stuff I was told he was going to.”

“Maggie, honey, why don’t you let me go instead? I’m your attorney.

I’ll speak on your behalf if necessary.” Edward looked concerned.

“Listen, I know I’m small and all but darn it, I won’t hide from this. It happened to
me.
I want to witness it to its conclusion. I want those pictures back, with the negatives, so I can destroy them myself. I want my clothes back, too.”

Shane sighed and looked wearily at Kyle, who just rolled his eyes and shrugged. “Fine, Maggie. But, Dad, I think you should be there too, just in case.”

“I’ll be there as well,” Matt and Marc said at the same time.

“Me too,” Polly said.

“Of course I will,” Kyle added, squeezing Maggie’s hand.

She tried not to cry—she’d been doing it so much lately—but she failed. “I’m sorry! I swear to y’all that I’m not usually so weepy. Anyway, thank you all so much. Honestly, I just don’t have words to express just how much I appreciate all you’ve done for me.”

“Well, certainly a bit of cherry cobbler will cheer you up!” Polly winked and passed the large pan around the table.

At nine that night, a very weary Maggie said her good-byes and Kyle walked her to her car. “Red, do you want to stay the night at my place?”

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“I do but I shouldn’t. I have to go into work early tomorrow to get some more work done. I want to have all sixty-eight of my students’ term papers read and graded by Tuesday because we have Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off school. If I go back to your place, I doubt I’ll get much sleep.” She grinned at him.

“Okay, but have dinner with me tomorrow then. I’ll pick you up at your house at six and we can grab a pizza.”

“You drive a hard bargain, Kyle. I’ll see you then.” He bent down and captured her lips and as always, after one of his kisses, she felt slightly woozy, like she was drunk from his touch.

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Lauren Dane

She’d finished the papers by the end of the day and put them in her locked cabinet and went home. Only to find her father waiting for her on the porch.

“Daddy, what are you doing here?” she asked, unlocking the door and letting him inside. “I have a date, he’ll be here in half an hour.”

“Oh, honey, I failed you,” he said.

“Yes, you did,” she answered honestly. She gestured to the sofa and they both sat. “You see, I used to think that you did your best. That you tried to make up for how she was with our trips and the small indulgences you gave me but now I think that you just tried to duck your guilt. It’s not right, but it’s over.”

“I’d like to say that I had no idea that she was that bad or that she didn’t mean to be as harsh as she was but I’d be lying. I made bad choices. I loved your mother something fierce. I loved her beauty and I made a choice—her over you. It was wrong and that love I had for her has slowly tarnished and died over the years. I don’t even recognize myself anymore, Maggie. I used to be such a strong man. I used to be a leader. I’ve run our family business for my entire adult life! People look up to me, trust me to take care of them and their families and they shouldn’t because I couldn’t even take care of my own.” She sighed. “Listen, Daddy, if anyone can trust you to take care of them, it’s your employees. You’ve always done right by them. As for what you’ve become as Cecelia Wright’s husband, I can’t say. That’s yours to deal with.”

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“I’m filing for divorce, Maggie.”

Shock froze her in place. “What?”

“I stood there and watched your mother and sister castigate you in front of a room full of people. I said nothing. When I heard you say your mother told you she wished you were never born, I felt the last bit of love I had for her die. I failed you but I cannot stay with that woman another day. I’ve moved out. Edward Chase’s brother is handling the divorce. The papers have been served.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

“Don’t say anything. Just let me try and prove that from now on, I can be a better father. Let me take you to dinner. I know you can’t on Thanksgiving because you’ll be with the Chases. How about Friday?” Words escaped her as she thought about it. She should kick him out and never speak to him again but she couldn’t. She loved him. The part of her that was the little lonely bookish girl whose daddy took her to Philadelphia for her birthday because she so loved history—that part of her wanted to recognize what a big step he was taking. “All right. Let’s do it early though. I have a longstanding thing with Liv and Dee and I meet them at seven every Friday night.”

He smiled and squeezed her hands. “Thank you so much, sweetheart.

How about you and I meet up at Ell Cid at five?”

“All right. What are you going to do for Thanksgiving?”

“Darlin’, you’re such a sweet girl. Thank god you take after my mother. I’m going to your Aunt Delia’s for the day. You enjoy your beau and his family. I’d like to get to know him better, he seems like he cares for you.”

“I do, Mr. Wright and I worry that you might hurt Maggie.” Maggie and her father turned to see Kyle walking into the room. He leaned down to kiss the top of her head and sat on the arm of the couch next to her. “I knocked but you didn’t hear me. I was worried so I let myself in,” he told her.

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“Kyle, this is my daddy, Tom Wright. Daddy, this is Kyle Chase.” Tom Wright stood and held his hand out to Kyle. “Young man, I’m here to beg my daughter to give me another chance to be a better father.

I’ve left my wife. Your uncle has taken the case. I’m fortunate, because Maggie has agreed to let me try, starting with having dinner with me on Friday. Would you like to come as well?” Kyle shook his hand and nodded solemnly. “I would, sir. If Maggie is willing to give you another chance, I can as well.”

“I’m staying with your aunt and uncle for a while, until I find a place.

You call me there if you need me. I’ll see you on Friday.” He nodded and walked out.

“Are you all right?” Kyle sank down next to her on the couch.

“I think so. I’m just stunned. My father adored my mother, literally.

He said that the way she acted Saturday killed the last bit of love he had for her. My mother is going to be insanely angry about this.”

“Who cares what your bitch of a mother thinks, sweetheart? Don’t give her the power to hurt you ever again.”

“I won’t. I’m done. Now, I need to change. I’m sorry that I’m not ready.” She jumped up and ran upstairs and changed quickly and came back down.

“You’re quick. I don’t have to ask if you’re hungry.” He grinned.

She socked him in the arm and he laughed, pushing her out the door and to his car.

After dinner, leaning against the car, Maggie smiled up at Kyle as he rubbed a wayward curl between his fingers. “By the way, one of my students said you were hot and gave me a way to go today.” He chuckled. “That so? Well I’m glad we’re on the gossip circuit, it should stop anyone from trying to poach you.”

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“Me? Okay, buster, if you say so.” She snorted and turned to kiss the fingers holding her hair. When she turned back to face him, his eyes had gone a much deeper shade of green, almost the color of pine trees. Her breath caught.

“Maggie, let’s go back to my house. Or your house I don’t care which.

I want to touch you, make love to you.” She felt the heat pool in her belly and she nodded—rendered speechless by the want in his eyes.

They were closer to his house and so they went there. Once inside, he grabbed her hand, leading her to his room. Moving to him, she pressed her face into the flesh of his neck, his warmth and scent lulling her. He picked her up and carried her over to the bed, gently laying her down.

Quickly kicking off her sneakers and yanking her sweater off, she was unzipping her jeans when she looked up to see Kyle already naked and looking down at her with intense heat.

“Oh,” she whispered when he pinned her in his gaze.

He gently moved her hands and pulled the rest of her clothing off himself before lying down beside her. They both let out a gasp when bare skin caressed bare skin.

“You feel so damned good, Maggie. I’ve never wanted anything this much in my life,” he whispered as he strummed his fingers through her pussy, making her even wetter than she already was. “I feel that every damned time I touch you. Keep thinking that it has to mellow a bit but each time I see you, I want you so bad it hurts. And when my fingers or my cock finds your pussy, you’re ready for me, always so ready for me. It turns me on so much that you want me so badly.” His voice was hoarse.

Her heart pounded in her chest. She reached back for the box of condoms he’d put in the drawer underneath his bed and grabbed one.

“Stay there,” he murmured and she stopped, her head hanging off the bed. Pleasure rocked through her when his mouth reached the humid

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flesh of her pussy. Closing her eyes, her hands hung above her head, touching the carpet beneath the bed, still holding the condom.

The blood rushed to her head as the sensation built. His tongue speared into her and then up and around her clit. Over and over as his hands at her hips held her steady. She barely recognized the sounds coming from deep inside her as he slowly devastated her with his mouth, loved her. He built her up slowly and gave her no place to hide as the climax slammed into her.

He dragged her limp body back up onto the bed and took the condom from her hands. Dimly she heard it rip and her eyes opened in time to see him roll it on his cock.

“I need you, Red.” And without any delay, slid into her welcoming body and shuddered at the intensity of it. “Man oh man do you feel good,” he murmured, his lips against her neck.

Wrapping her legs around his waist, she rolled her hips up to meet his thrusts. The heated flesh of her pussy parted around him and then grasped, pulling him back into her body just milliseconds after he’d pulled out. Each thrust into her body felt like homecoming.

He moaned her name and braced his weight on his elbows to look down into her face. She gazed back up at him, open, totally open.

Nothing existed but the delicious friction of their joining, of her silky thighs cradling his hips, of her heels digging into the flesh of the small of his back. Her eyes deep and luminous, like amber in candlelight—held only him. In that moment Kyle realized he was no longer falling in love with Maggie, he was already there. She owned his heart.

At that realization he came, waves of pleasure rolled through him as he poured into her. He put his face into the crook of her neck and breathed her in. “I love you, Maggie.” he whispered as the last of his pleasure flagged and he slumped beside her.

She turned onto her side and peered into his face. “What did you just say?”

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“I said I love you, Margaret Elizabeth Wright.” He looked into her eyes seriously.

“Oh, that’s what I thought you said,” she replied and then got silent.

“Is that all you have to say?” he demanded sulkily. He’d never said the words to a woman he wasn’t related to and she had nothing to say back?

“No.”

“What?” He knew he sounded sullen but he was worried.

Noticing her fine tremble, he felt bad for upsetting her. But then she finally spoke. “Oh god, I’m so glad. I love you, too. I was so scared that it was all just me.” The words came out in a gasp as if she’d been holding it inside desperately.

Relief flooded him as he hugged her close. “Thank god! I’ve never told a woman that before and here I was thinking that my first time out I’d totally bombed. God, Maggie, I love you so much it makes my chest hurt.

I think about you all day and when you aren’t with me, all night. I can’t get enough of you. Not just the naked sweaty writhing you but the total package.”

“I thought I’d die after I left you last night. I just wanted to give you some space but then I couldn’t sleep. I tossed and turned all night long.”

“I
told
you I’d tell you if I needed space, Maggie. I need
you
, silly woman.”

She snuggled into his body and smiled against his flesh. “I actually should go home, I have no clothes here and I need to work tomorrow.”

“No way, Red. I’ll come with you and sleep at your place. I have a job at the Bluebird Inn, it’s closer to your house anyway. I’ve realized I hate sleeping without you. I love that little body tucked into mine. I tried putting a pillow there last night but it was no good.”

“It’s nice to know I’m better than a bag of feathers,” she commented dryly.

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“Oh yeah,” he agreed and rolled out of bed to grab a change of clothes and some toiletries.

Maggie watched him gather his things with a smile. So damned handsome and he loved her. She sighed happily. “You know, you could bring an extra few changes of clothes and leave them at my place, just in case.”

He looked around at her. “Yeah? That would be all right?”

“More than all right,” she said and he came back over to her, dropping a kiss on her lips.

“Okay. You should do that too. I mean, bring some stuff over here.”

“I like the idea of my panties in your drawer and some of my clothes in your closet, just in case a skank like Lyndsay comes over.” He rolled his eyes. “I told you, I rarely brought women over here, Red.

But I like the idea of your panties in my drawer, too.”

“Better in yours than Alex’s,” she commented with a grin.

He looked at her askance and then laughed. “I’m glad you can laugh about it.”

“What else can I do? I’m all cried out. Anyway, you make me feel like laughing instead of crying.”

“Good. Now let’s get over to your place and I’ll make you moan instead.”

“You’ve got a deal!”

They promised to meet at the courthouse at later that afternoon as they’d left the house.

When she got there, her nervousness abated when she saw Kyle and Edward waiting for her on the front steps. Waving, she climbed the stairs to meet them. Kyle stiffened up and a red flush broke over his face.

Edward reached out to hold his arm, shaking his head once. Alarmed,

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Maggie turned around to see what he was so angry about and saw Alex walking up the steps behind them. His attorney put himself between them and Alex and ushered him inside.

“Kyle, cool down boy or I’ll make you wait out here. Maggie, darlin’, are you all right?”

Taking a deep breath to brace herself, she nodded. “Yes. Let’s go in, I’m ready.”

Kyle took her hand and they followed Edward into the courtroom where the rest of the Chases, Liv and Dee were already seated. Smiling at them all gratefully, she and Edward moved past them to a more forward row. Kyle stayed at her side, her hand still tucked in his even as they sat down. Shane came in through an interior door and sat down away from them all. Of course he was there as Sheriff but he caught Maggie’s eye and smiled at her reassuringly.

The judge addressed the prosecutor and Alex’s attorney before approving the plea agreement. Alex asked permission to address Maggie and the judge looked at her. “Ms. Wright, do you assent to Mr. Parsons addressing you?”

She leaned over and asked Edward if it would affect the protection order, which the judge had just made permanent and the no contact order and he shook his head no.

“Yes, Your Honor, he may address me.”

Alex stood up and turned toward her and Kyle squeezed her hand.

“Maggie, I’m truly sorry for frightening you and for the damage I did to your home. I won’t bother you again. I’m getting help in my counseling and I hope that someday we can be friends again.” He sat down and looked at his attorney.

Maggie just sat there. Be friends with him? Was he out of his mind?

“Very well, is that everything?” The judge asked.

“No, Your Honor, there is the matter of the stolen property belonging to Ms. Wright, and the photographs and negatives that he agreed to turn

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