Page 63 of Unexpected Trouble
I spun around on her and got in her face. “You proved that you are a good seductress, Mags. You’re a beautiful woman; of course, I wanted to have sex with you. Jesus, you’re fucking gorgeous, Maggie, and sexy as hell. That doesn’t mean that I want to work with you—travel with you. In fact, it means the fucking opposite. You’re a goddamn distraction, Maggie. You could get one of the other guys, or me, killed.”
Maggie jerked back, startled by my outburst. “I would not be a distraction.”
“Oh, really? Do you think that after that little dick tease, I could possibly resist not thinking about screwing you every which way I could? Come on, Maggie, be smart. Before this, every damn time I looked at you, all I could think about was being in you and having you scream my name. Now that I’ve had you, tasted you again, you think that is going to stop? Fuck no! It’s just going to be worse.”
I yanked my shirt over my head and glared at her. I knew I was a total asshole for this, but I couldn’t stop myself. I was laying my fear at her feet, and I hated myself for it.
“I can’t do my job if all I’m thinking about is how to get you naked, or wondering how many of the other guys want to do that themselves. You’re not going, Maggie, and that’s final.”
I didn’t give her a chance to respond as I spun around and hightailed it out of the house. The memory of her shocked face, beautiful naked body, and angry-as-a-viper eyes followed me out of the house and all the way home.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Maggie
What just happened? I mean, what-the-living-hell just happened?
The front door closed; I heard his truck start, and then it accelerated away from my house, and still, I just sat there in shock.
Damn him! I jumped off the counter, trying to untwist my leggings and panties and then shoved my legs in before yanking my shirt over my head and punching my arms through the holes. I went to use the bathroom and then came back and sanitized every counter in the kitchen, pausing when I got to the counter where the box had been. Where did it go? Had Greg thrown the rat out? A rat—why a rat?
For about two seconds, I thought about calling Trevor, but I didn’t want to bother him again. I still didn’t even have Greg’s phone number. Damn him! I was going to have to wait until tomorrow to find out more about the stupid rodent.
I armed the alarm and went up the stairs to my room. The entire time I seethed over what Greg had said. Did he seriously only see me as a woman to screw? Was that all I was? Did he not feel anything for me? Was I a total idiot to want him to feel something for me? My god, I was. I was a fool.
I stood in the shower, so frustrated with myself that I wanted to scream. I had forced the issue tonight. If I hadn’t been so brazen, hadn’t pushed Greg into responding to me, maybe I could have found a way to get him to change his mind. Was it going to be possible to change it now?
I tossed and turned for a while and finally fell into a deep slumber until my alarm went off. As soon as I opened my eyes, thoughts of Greg flashed into my mind, but I shoved them away. I had no time for him today, and I was going to prove to him that we could be adults and work together even if we were attracted to one another.
After pouring my coffee, I took another hot shower to ease my stiff muscles and was thankful that today wasn’t going to be as physical as yesterday. We were going to the range this morning and then doing some classroom work after lunch. I hoped that we could cover everything quickly and get done earlier than yesterday. I needed to make an appearance at the paper.
My boss had sent me several annoying text messages about the fact that I didn’t do the piece on the hostage situation at the coffee shop. I think he still wanted me to do it, but I wouldn’t. Greg was right. I would rather see the two men locked up than to build my career off something that could result in them getting free.
After I got my mom off to her day program, I collected the gear I would need for the range and left. In the car, my mind fell back on the package I’d received the night before. Who would send me a rat? I didn’t think that I had any enemies, but I guess one never really knew that unless they were confronted by one.
Rats signified sneaky creatures that went behind your back. People that you once respected but no longer did because they had become disloyal to you. Who had I been disloyal to? I could not think of a single person that I had wronged, especially one where I might have gone behind their back. Was I overthinking this? Had someone killed the first animal they came across and sent that to me as a warning? My hands clenched the steering wheel as an eerie feeling slipped down my spine. Was someone threatening to kill me?
No! That was absurd. Who would want to kill me? No one, that’s who. It had to be a random incident. Some kid was playing tricks, wanting to scare me. Yeah, well, that wasn’t going to work on me. I’d have to speak to my neighbors and see if anyone else had something similar happen.
I put the stupid dead animal into my mental closet and realized as I fought to close the door that it was starting to get a little full. When I’d opened it to store the rodent inside, memories of last night with Greg tried to explode out, but I’d caught them and wrestled them back. I was going to have to start dealing with some of those things or I’d run out of room for good.
A few minutes later, I pulled into the range lot and gathered my gear. I had my rifle bag in my left hand and my range bag in my right. I’d brought my handgun and my father’s hunting rifle. I hadn’t shot that in a while, but I did know how to use it. When my father was alive, he had taken me hunting, and I’d taken down a few deer in my day.
I had always enjoyed using the rifle, but these days I didn’t have much of a chance to train with it. It wasn’t like I had plans to climb in a tree stand anytime soon.
I found Trevor inside the building at the counter, speaking with an employee. I glanced around as I approached him, but I didn’t see Greg anywhere. There had been several trucks outside, although I hadn’t looked at them carefully to see if any were his. I told myself that I didn’t care. If I kept telling myself that, maybe it would become true.
“Morning, Trevor.”
“Hey, Maggie. I need your license, and if you have your carry permit with you, that will help too.” I pulled them out and passed them over to the man waiting. He leered at me slightly, and I forced myself not to roll my eyes.
“How are you today?” I asked.
“Doing well, what about you? Did you get any rest last night?”
“I did.” I laughed. “I actually slept well. I think the fact that you all kicked my ass yesterday might have had something to do with that.”
He chuckled and glanced over my head, nodding to someone that I assumed was Greg. When Alex paused next to me, I did a double take and then looked behind him. “Hello, Alex.”
