Page 25 of Nick: His to Claim

“Okay, stay close to her, Nick. She thinks she’s tough, but she didn’t get the name Cupcake for nothing,” he added grinning.

Maggie gave him her best shot in the stomach, but he’d been expecting it, and all she did was hurt her hand. Rory laughed and patted her on the head.

“I’ll give you a call as soon as we pick him up,” Rory told them, trying to keep it light as they went down the hall, but when he turned around the look on his face was feral.

* * *

The ride home was spent in complete silence. Nick’s temper simmered, and Maggie tried not to fidget. She had no idea how she was going to get out of this one, and rather than say something that would cause the pressure cooker beside her to blow, she kept her mouth shut. Not an easy task for someone who had a tendency to babble when she was nervous, and tonight she was far beyond nervous and approaching terrified.

Nick couldn’t remember ever being this furious. The weekend he’d come home from school unexpectedly was close though. Fifteen years was a long time, but to him it was like yesterday. Cutting through the back yard to surprise her, he’d been the one to get the surprise. The girl he loved was crying in Jim Cassidy’s arms. Nick couldn’t hear everything, but he very quickly got the gist of it.

“I don’t know how to tell him,” Maggie sobbed to Jim. “It will ruin all his plans.”

“There, there, honey,” Jim told her, gently holding her and patting her back. “He’ll understand. You’ll see; everything will be all right.”

Nick did understand, all too well, at least he thought so at the time. Maggie, the only woman he could imagine marrying, was in love with someone else. He cut all ties with Maggie that day.

Nick returned to school and every letter she sent him was returned unopened. Finally, she gave up and married Jim Cassidy, Nick never knowing that she was pregnant with his child. He still wouldn’t know he had a son, if it hadn’t been for Mason asking him to deliver a message to Maggie on New Year’s Eve.

Jumping to conclusions had not served him well, and he was determined to give Maggie the benefit of the doubt, even though he had a pretty good idea what tonight was really about.

Oh, he was royally pissed about both Jack Harley and the fact that Maggie had kept important details from him. If he or Mason had known that Jack’s harassment had continued, it wouldn’t have been a problem for long. Jack would be in jail, or worse, and the way he was feeling it probably would have been theor worse.

It was Maggie’s behavior prior to their trip to the police station that really concerned him. She had obviously been terrified, and he was certain that wasn’t an act. Butaskingfor a spanking? That was about as out of character as she could get.

He knew his little Maggie, and there was no way on God’s green earth she would voluntarily lay across his lap and ask to have her butt roasted. In hindsight, he was pretty sure he knew exactly what she had done and why. What he had interpreted as her love and trust, she had seen as a fifty-percent-off sale.

Unfortunately for her, she was dead wrong. Spankings were cumulative in his mind. The more trouble you got into, the harder the punishment. He’d already busted her ass once today for lying. If she thought for one minute she could stick a few more lies in her basket of bullshit and tie it all up with a pretty ribbon, she was in for a nasty surprise.

Maybe not tonight; tonight he had other plans, and he knew she was scared and sore. He did love her with all his heart and never wanted her to think he was cruel or unfair. Lies of omission, however, were still lies, and that is exactly what she’d done by keeping Jack’s threatening behavior to herself. There was no way he’d let her get away with it. Nick had handled too many divorce cases not to know the damage that lies, secrets, and deceptions could do to a marriage, and he was determined to make an honest woman of Maggie in more ways than one.

Chapter Nine

After stopping to pick up pizza and antipasto, they pulled into Maggie’s driveway a little after eleven. Maggie thought it was probably a good idea to feed the bear, and Nickwasacting like a grouchy bear.

Thankful the ride was over, her plan was to choke down a piece of pizza and escape to her bedroom, pleading a headache. Hell, if he kept staring at her with that damn eyebrow raised, she’d probably have one before too long.

Opening the passenger door, she looked at the distance to the ground and prepared to slide off her pillow, but Nick’s “Stay” stopped her.

Coming around to her side, he gently lifted her out of the truck, setting her on her feet. She knew how angry he was, but she didn’t feel it in his arms, and she breathed a little sigh of relief.

Unlocking her door, Maggie flipped on the kitchen light as Nick followed her with their food. She washed her hands at the sink and got out plates and silverware. Within about five minutes they were eating quietly at the island. Maggie picked at her food, mostly sipping her wine and waiting. Finally, she couldn’t stand it a moment longer.

“For God’s sake, Nick, will you say something?” she demanded, pulling her hair tie out and running her fingers through her hair in relief.

“What would you like me to say, Maggie?” He wiped his mouth with a napkin and pushed his plate away.

“Anything,” she shot back, kicking her sandals off and hopping off the barstool. “Anything at all. You want to yell at me, yell away. You want to tell me how stupid I am for not realizing that Jack was truly dangerous? Go ahead, but I already know it.”

Maggie took off her hoodie and flung it over a stool. She proceeded to stomp around the kitchen in her bare feet, putting the food away in the fridge and scraping the plates. After placing them in the dishwasher she turned to him, hands on hips and demanded, “Well?”

Nick laughed. She really was priceless. Imaginehertrying to makemefeel guilty when she’s a hare’s breath from getting her butt tanned for the second time tonight.

Maggie didn’t appreciate his humor and whipped the wet dishrag across the room smacking him in the chest.

“You want me to yell at you?” he inquired, getting off the stool and trying not to grin.

“No.”