CHAPTER THIRTY
An hour later, Mitch was lured to the kitchen by a heavenly smell.
Maggie had showered, and her long, wet hair hung in a ponytail.
She was dressed in denim capris and a blue hoodie, humming a country song and making eggs.
Toast popped from a toaster he didn’t know he owned, and the coffeepot was steaming.
Maybe he could get used to a woman in his kitchen after all.
“Good morning, gorgeous.” He hugged her from behind and kissed her neck, breathing in the flowery scent of her shampoo.
“Good morning, yourself. You hungry?”
“Starving. I had a long night of glorious sex with a beautiful woman, and it left me famished.”
“Yes, you certainly did work hard.” She wiggled her eyebrows comically. “And since I appreciate the effort, I shall reward you with sustenance. Sit.” She pointed to one of the stools at his kitchen island.
“Can I help?” he asked as he poured himself a cup of coffee.
“Nah. It’s done.” She finished buttering the toast and scooped the eggs onto two plates. Sitting down next to him, they dug in.
“Too bad we can’t open the blinds. It looks like a nice day,” she mused.
“Soon. Hopefully. One place I thought we could go is to my cabin upstate. You’d love it up there.” Would she love it there? He didn’t know her all that well, but it seemed like something she’d enjoy. Unlike any of the other women he’d dated, she seemed outdoorsy.
“A cabin in the woods? That sounds awesome.” Good, he’d been right. Wanting to please her was suddenly becoming important to him. Another foreign concept, but one that was not entirely unwelcome.
“We’ll see how things go today. Adam should be here soon.”
They’d just finished eating when the doorbell rang. Mitch grabbed the nine-millimeter he’d left sitting on the entryway table and asked who was there.
When Adam answered, Mitch put the gun back on the table after letting him in. He was holding a grocery bag in one hand and a file folder in the other.
“Did you bring us something?” Maggie took the bag and hugged him.
“Yeah. Mitch asked if I could get my hands on some homemade cookies, and it just so happened Jenny had some. I grabbed a pint of milk, too.”
“You did that for me?” She turned to Mitch in surprise.
He shrugged, uncomfortable with the attention.
She wrapped an arm around his waist and gave him a side hug. “Thank you. That was really thoughtful.”
Adam shot Mitch a questioning look, clearly suspicious about what was going on between them.
Maggie poured a glass of milk and was in ecstasy with a cookie. She took a bite, closed her eyes, and moaned with pleasure. She licked some chocolate off her finger, and the expression on Mitch’s face must have been clear.
“Should I give you guys a minute?” Adam rolled his eyes, and Mitch chuckled.
“What?” Maggie’s look of innocence and bewilderment made him laugh even harder.
“God, way to muck things up, man,” Adam said to Mitch. “You ready to work or what?” He held up the file folder and waved it.
“Yes. Totally. Let’s go to my office.” He grabbed a cookie and turned down the hall, assuming Adam would follow him.
“You coming, Mags?” Adam asked as he too snagged a cookie.
“Yeah. I’ll be there in a sec,” she said. “I need to take care of getting the store closed first.”
***
After the shooting yesterday, Maggie had decided to close the store until further notice. Before then, she thought Manuel was only trying to scare her and wasn’t really a danger to her employees. Now that his intentions were clear, she needed to think of the safety of everyone around her.
She called Stephanie, and together they made a list of everything that would need to be done.
“Okay,” Steph said. “I’ll give all the animals extra food and water, make a sign for the front door, grab the boarding schedule so I can work out other arrangements for anyone scheduled to board with us soon, and let all the employees know not to come in until further notice. Anything else?”
“What about the dogs that are there now?”
“There are only two. I’ll take them home with me. Are you sure this is necessary? Couldn’t we just have the police stop by once in a while or something?”
“I know this might seem drastic, but I don’t want anyone getting hurt. You’re a lifesaver, Steph. Please be careful when you go in today. In fact, you should call for a police standby.”
“I’ll be careful,” Stephanie said before hanging up.
Next, Maggie called her family to let them know of the new development and escalated danger. “Don’t open the door for anyone. If you can, stay home, and don’t leave the house. Keep all the doors and windows locked.”
“Honey, don’t worry about us,” her father soothed. “I’ll pass the message on to the rest of the family, and I’ll take care of your mom. You just worry about you, okay?”
“Dad, please promise me you’ll be careful,” she pleaded, not convinced he was taking her seriously enough.
“I will, I promise. You do the same. We love you, sweetheart.”
After talking to Steph and her family, Maggie needed a minute. She sat on the couch and closed her eyes. Someone was trying to kill her. It all seemed so surreal.
She should have been in a major panic, and while she was scared, at the moment, all she could think of was the slow, sensuous way Mitch had made love to her the night before.
Still tingling from his touch, she could easily recall the tender way he’d looked at her and the feeling of his arms around her.
Her cell phone vibrating woke her. It was Stephanie. Crap. How long had she been asleep?
She looked at her watch as she answered. It had been over two hours.
“Hey, Steph. How’s it going?” Maggie greeted her groggily.
“Steph’s a little busy right now and can’t come to the phone,” a man with a deep voice and strong Spanish accent growled.
Her heart skipped a beat, and she was instantly awake and alert. Oh, no. They had Stephanie. She should get the guys. She rose and started down the hallway but stopped as the man spoke again.
“Do not let anyone know who’s on the phone or your friend dies. You understand?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
“Are you alone?”
“I’m in a room by myself, but have friends nearby.”
“You have ten minutes to get down to your store, or we kill your pretty little friend.”
“I want to talk to her.” Maggie mustered courage she didn’t have.
She heard a rustling on the other end of the phone. “Mags?” sobbed Stephanie.
“Oh, God, are you okay? Have they hurt you?” Maggie was beside herself with worry.
“Nope, that’s all you get.” The gruff voice was back. “If you bring anyone with you, she dies. If you tell anyone, she dies. You have nine minutes.”
The line went dead. Maggie dropped the phone and stared blindly at it, thinking furiously. She couldn’t take any chances with Steph’s life. If she told Mitch, he’d either come with her and get them all killed or want to make some plan that would waste time she didn’t have.
She couldn’t risk Mitch not letting her go or not making the deadline. There was only one option.
“I’m coming,” Maggie whispered to an empty room. She scribbled out a quick note and slipped out the door.