Chapter 21
RYAN
After settling Maggie into my Chicago apartment, I headed to Thayer Steelworks HQ for my bi-monthly meetings with the finance department. Every two weeks, I sat down with Colin first. Then one by one, I met with each of the team leaders to touch base.
With me running point on everything that came anywhere near the east coast, I made sure I was thoroughly up to date on every development while I was here, and so far, it had helped us avoid any proverbial financial fires.
Today, however, I could not get my head in the game. I went straight to my office as always to review the paperwork Colin had prepared for me to look over before our meeting, but none of the words on the papers made any sense. I swore I was even having trouble with the and report.
Finally, when Jane appeared in my doorway, I was grateful for the excuse to give my poor hormone-addled brain a break from trying to masquerade as a smart, responsible grownup. She smiled when I looked up.
“Knock knock,” she said quietly, walking in and letting the door swing shut behind her. “I heard you got delayed by the weather.”
“Yeah, I had to take the train.”
She laughed. “That must’ve been a nostalgic experience. It’s been a while.”
“You’re telling me. It wasn’t bad, though.”
Mostly because Maggie had been there to keep me company. Then it had been fucking torture because she’d been there to keep me company. Oh, God. Teenage angst, welcome back. I have not missed you.
When I sighed, Jane’s head tilted and she arched her eyebrows at me. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. It’s just been a weird couple of weeks, is all.”
She shot me a sympathetic smile. “Yeah, I can imagine. I heard most of what’s been happening from Mom. She’s thrilled by the way.”
“About what?” I frowned. “Raising a runaway-bride-retrieval non-expert who’s not getting around to anything else in his life right now?”
“That’s not the way she’s been telling it.” Jane walked around the chair opposite my desk and lowered herself into it, amusement mixing with the sympathy in her eyes. “According to her, you’re the hero who’s going to bring the Hawthornes and Pembrokes back together against all odds.”
“What are the odds?”
“Maggie.” She smiled knowingly. “I don’t know about being a runaway-bride-retrieval non-expert, but you are being hailed as the Maggie-whisperer.”
I snorted. “Hardly. That girl doesn’t listen to anyone. She’s just not as stupid as people seem to think. Also, not for nothing, but she’s not an actual Barbie Doll. She does, in fact, have feelings and opinions.”
Jane’s eyebrows swept up. “That was a rather passionate speech.”
Passion. There it is again, that fucking word. I hate it. I’m appealing to the writers of dictionaries to have it removed. Stat.
“It wasn’t passionate,” I protested, but even I could hear how lame that sounded. “It’s just the truth, is all. Everyone else is pretending that I’m the only person who can get through to her or whatever, but in reality, I think I’m just the only one who sometimes listens to her.”
“So what happened?” Jane asked after a brief pause, the look in her eyes softening in a way I didn’t like. “She didn’t show up for the wedding. I know that, obviously, since I was there, but how did you even get involved?”
I dragged my fingers through my hair and shook my head. “Honestly? I’m not sure. I stayed with Mom when everyone else left. She was with the families, so when Mrs. Pembroke kept going on about how Maggie must’ve been kidnapped, I finally just told them that I saw her leave, which I did.”
“So you had to go find her again?” she guessed, obviously also remembering the birthday party incident.
I scoffed. “Yeah, but she was long gone. Then Marcus found me and begged for my help getting her back.”
“So where is she now?”
“My apartment.” I winced when Jane’s eyes widened. “It’s not like that. She’s not, like, sleeping in my bed or anything. I’m just trying to help the families through this, I guess.”
For a long moment, my sister just sat there, staring at me with so many thoughts and questions running across her face that I could practically hear them, but then the door opened and Colin came in. He grinned at me but frowned at Jane.
“Hey, little brother,” he said, then turned to her. “Are you joining us for the meeting?”
“No,” she said quickly, then stood, glancing back at me when she reached the door. “Just be careful, Ryan, okay?”
“Always.”
She arched an eyebrow. “Since when?”
I opened my mouth to respond, but she shot me a look that said she meant it. Then she left and Colin dropped into the chair she’d vacated. “What was that all about?”
“Nothing,” I lied. “I guess she just wanted to have a big-sister moment before I leave again.”
His eyes moved from one of mine to the other. Then he sighed, making it clear that he didn’t believe me, but he also didn’t push. That was the great thing about the Thayers these days. We’d long since learned when to leave each other alone.
Well, mostly.
“Alright,” he said finally. “Let’s get started. I heard you brought a guest from New York with you and I’m sure you want to get back to her.”
I narrowed my eyes, flipping him off and immediately taking back every good thing I’d ever thought about our family, but then, true to his word, he dove in.
We spent the next couple hours making sure I could eventually return to New York in somewhat peace.
Then I went back to my apartment, expecting to walk in on a family fight, another unexpected visit from one of her brothers, or something like that.
Instead, Maggie stood in the kitchen wearing an outfit that wasn’t mine, cooking food that hadn’t been in the fridge earlier, and listening to music on a little speaker I didn’t own. I frowned, but it only took a second before I saw the mountains of shopping bags scattered around the living room.
She had her back to me, quietly singing along to the song that was playing from her new speaker, her hips swaying in time with the music. My mouth dried up as I watched her, a new pair of jeans framing her ass while her shirt clung to every curve like it’d been designed to tempt me.
My heart slammed against my ribs, but before my body could get too carried away, I cleared my throat and spoke up. “You went shopping?”
“Ryan!” she called excitedly, spinning to face me with a smile on her lips so genuinely happy that it almost knocked the air out of my lungs.
“You’re back earlier than I thought you would be, and yes, I did.
My dad seems to have kept his side of the bargain.
I have access to my accounts again. For now, anyway. ”
I stared at her, dropping my keys on the counter and wondering if this was the first time she’d ever been allowed to dress herself.
The style I’d thought was hers, all the girly, frilly stuff, was not what she had on now, and while none of that did it for me on her, this? Well, it does. Let’s leave it at that.
“Why are you wearing a Cubs shirt?” I asked, clearing my throat again so my voice wouldn’t come out hoarse.
She grinned. “Oh, that’s because I got you something. You don’t have to take me, of course, but I thought I’d show my support anyway.”
“For the Cubs?”
“Yep.” She reached into the back pocket of her jeans and pulled out two tickets, handing them over with a ridiculously proud smile. “They’re for a local game tonight.”
I looked into those hazel eyes, wondering how she made it look like she didn’t even know how much drama she was responsible for, but then I grinned. Because baseball tickets were not something I could say no to.
“Okay, let me change. We’ll leave in twenty minutes.”
Her entire face lit up. “We? Really?”
“Yes.”
She threw her arms around me before I could prepare for it. “Thank you! I’ve never been to a baseball game before. I’m actually really looking forward to it, but make that thirty minutes. I made some pasta.”
I held myself together for all of half a second before my arms folded around her and I hugged her back, immediately much too aware of her soft body against mine and the inevitable reaction I would have if I held her much longer. “Okay. Okay. I need to change.”
She finally pulled back. “This is going to be so much fun. Hurry, okay? I guarantee the pasta is awesome. Much better than mac and cheese from a box.”
“I don’t doubt it,” I muttered, then strode down the hall to my bedroom to find that she’d taken it over entirely.
Her stuff was everywhere, her shopping trip obviously much more productive than I’d realized at first, but weirdly, I didn’t mind her taking over my space. Especially not when I got in my shower and found bottles of her stuff in there too.
After doing everything I could to make sure I wasn’t carrying any of the residual tension from last night and just a few minutes ago into the game with me, I shut off the water and got dressed.
Maggie was still in the kitchen when I walked back out, smiling as she pushed an already dished up bowl of pasta toward me.
“You’re looking much more relaxed,” she said lightly. “Good shower?”
“Great shower,” I corrected, holding her gaze for a beat too long before I glanced down at my food. “This looks amazing too.”
The slightest flush spread on her cheeks, but she sat down across from me, both of us practically vacuuming in our pasta before heading out to the game without saying so much as another word to each other.
By the third inning, I’d realized Maggie had absolutely no idea what was happening in the actual game itself.
She had, however, fully devoted herself to having a good time.
She seemed to love being part of the crowd, joining in as soon as a chant started and nearly climbing over me trying to participate in the wave.
At one point, I glanced at her, her loose hair wavy from the humidity, her cheeks flushed, and one of my baseball caps backward on her head. Mine.
The thought was so abrupt and so fiercely possessive that it shocked the hell out of me, which meant she caught me staring because I forgot to look away. She smiled. “What?”
“Nothing.”
“You were smiling.”
“I’m having fun.”
She looked at me for a second, then started laughing. “Well, I’m glad. I mean, I’m happy you’re happy. Honestly, that’s why I bought the tickets, but if that’s your happy smile, it’s weird.”
“What?” I barked out a laugh of my own. “What are you talking about?”
“Nothing. You just looked really weird for a minute there.”
I rolled my eyes. “Gee, thanks.”
“Anytime.”
It took me another inning to understand that she’d bought these tickets to thank me. She just refused to say the words, but I saw this for what it was, a much-needed olive branch between us. And I took it.
From there, the rest of the night was remarkably easy.
She stole half my fries, so I took her drink.
We argued over which team had the worst uniforms and she accused me of being jealous when she swore one of the players had looked directly at her.
He’d been looking at the ball, but I couldn’t convince her of that.
On the walk back to my apartment, she stuck so close to my side that her shoulder bumped into my bicep every few steps. We were almost there when she finally looked up at me again. “You know, it turns out you’re not nearly as much of a snobby, stick in the mud as I thought.”
“You thought I was a stick in the mud?”
“Or that you had a stick up your ass.”
I let out a strangled laugh. “Why, thank you. You’re not nearly as much of a brat as I thought you were either.”
“Now, that’s high praise,” she joked, pumping her eyebrows at me. “I think I might like baseball now, too. You’ve converted me.”
“I’ll take it. As long as you promise you’ll be a Cubs fan.”
She turned to face me when we stopped outside of the building. “Of course. I could never betray you.”
As I drew my keys out of my pocket, my hand grazed the back of hers and I froze, immediately looking down into her eyes to apologize, but I realized a second too late that she was much closer than I’d thought.
The words died an instant death on my tongue when I found her already looking back up at me.
From the corner of my eye, I saw her lips part and my gaze dropped to them instinctively. Then hers followed suit.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, alarm bells were going absolutely nuts, but I started leaning down anyway. She moved closer, her head tipping back.
Then my phone chimed with a text and I jerked away, crashing hard back to the real world. A world in which I definitely should not even be thinking about kissing Maggie Pembroke.
With my heart pounding but the moment mercifully shattered, I pulled my phone out of my pocket to find a message waiting from none other than Marcus. I didn’t open it yet, just sliding my phone back into my pocket and completing the turn to the door.
“We should get some sleep.”
She blinked a few times, the smile that had still been on her lips fading slightly. “Yes, of course. You’re right. It’s getting terribly late.”
I unlocked the door and waved her in, neither of us saying another word until we were back in my apartment. Even then, Maggie only spoke when she noticed a pretty glaring problem.
“Uh, Ryan?”
“Yeah?”
“There’s only one bed.”
“I know. I’ll take the couch.” I strode to the closet in the hallway that contained the extra bedding, pulled out a pillow and a blanket, and then stopped to look at her.
She was standing just a few feet away, watching me with a certain look in her eyes I really didn’t want to see. “Goodnight, Maggie.”
Please don’t keep being disappointed about this, and please, please don’t look at me like you actually wanted me to kiss you.
“Goodnight, Ryan.” She disappeared into the bedroom, but I didn’t hear the lock click into place my behind her.
I let out a quiet groan as I dropped onto the couch and tried to ignore the fact that it was too short. This was the punishment I got for almost making a terrible romantic decision, so I covered myself in the blanket and stared at the ceiling, waiting for my heart to calm down.
Part of me wanted to scream into the pillow, but instead, I held it to my chest and rolled over, desperately willing myself to just fall asleep already. Absolutely nothing good would come of it if either of us stayed awake right now—and it would be so much worse if we both did.