And the last thing I wanted to hear her say was how much she wanted to stay single for a long, long time. Imagining her with Trevor was one thing, but the thought of Maggie out with various Tinder dates sowing her oats and stocking up on all the screaming orgasms Trevor had neglected to deliver over the past many months made my gut clench.
I knew the things people said after breakups. That now would be the perfect time to find herself and figure out who she was without a man in her life. That this was a chance to start fresh.
But it wasn’t. Not in my eyes.
This was her chance to realize what I’d known since the first moment I’d laid eyes on her.
We belonged together.
The only question was how to get her to see that.
Selfish prick.
I couldn’t exactly swoop in the second she arrived, heartbroken after years of wasting her time on a jackass who never appreciated her. Still, a girl like Maggie would not stay single for long.
It was the world’s most fucked catch twenty-two.
Groaning, I leaned back in my chair and scrubbed a hand over my face. Maybe my best option was to just be a good friend right now. To be there for the person who meant more to me than anyone else. Then, from there, I’d just have to let the chips fall where they may and hope to God they fell my way.
I glanced at the clock above the concierge’s head and he sneered at me, but before I could do anything else, I caught sight of movement out of the corner of my eye and every cell in my body snapped to attention.
Maggie was bustling through the wooden doors with a massive duffel bag in hand and I rushed toward her.
“Hey,” I said.
She grinned, but I could see the pallor of her skin and the brittleness of that smile. Shit, maybe she was more broken up about Trevor than I’d imagined.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” she asked breathlessly. “I thought you’d be on the slopes already.”
“Nah, I wanted to kick back for a while and relax first. Here, I’ll have the concierge send this up for you.”
She didn’t argue as I grabbed the bag from her shoulder, but she did eye me warily. “What gives? I told you not to wait for me. I could’ve just grabbed my room key from the front desk, you know.”
“And then you would have done what, exactly?” I asked, raising a brow at her.
She glanced around the empty lobby, apparently speechless.
“Exactly. You’d have gone up to the room, climbed into the bed, and either hit the mini-bar, the vending machine, or both and missed the perfect slope day. No, I’m not going to let you wallow. I already know you don’t want to ski, so we’ll find something else to do.” I gave the bag to the concierge and he carried it off without a word.
“Why can’t we just take it up?” she asked.
“He’ll take care of it. We’ll worry about getting you settled in later. We’re going to hit the ground running.” I clapped my hands together in anticipation. “Tell me, what’s something fun you never got to do with Trevor?”
“Well, that’s a loaded question…” Her pink lips twitched and a rush of heat crept up her cheeks, sending a surge of blood straight to my manhood.
Awesome.
She’d been here three seconds and I was already half-hard.
It took every ounce of strength I had not to bend down, scoop her in my arms, and find the nearest corner to show her exactly how easy Trevor-the-fuck-up would be to rectify.
Instead, I chuckled at her little joke and righted the crooked knit cap on her head.
“Something we could only do here,” I prompted.
“Well, I don’t know what there is to do in the area,” she hedged, pausing to chew on her bottom lip.
Clearly, she wasn’t in the mental space to make decisions, so I took the reins. “Then let’s find out. There’s a village at the bottom of the hill. I’m sure there’s lots of stuff to do.”
“As long as we’re not skiing, anything sounds good to me,” she said with a shrug.
“Nope, we’re going for a good old-fashioned walk.” I zipped up my coat and then led her back through the doors onto the cobblestone path that led into the ski village. There wasn’t much there, truthfully. Just a few little tourist spots, a spa, and some restaurants, but it was enough to get her mind off things, and that was all we really needed for today. Better yet, it looked like the inside of a snow globe. She’d love the North Pole vibe of it, I was sure.
“You didn’t ask me what happened,” she said quietly as we reached the end of the path and trod over the light smattering that had already recovered the recently shoveled sidewalk.
My gut clenched as I shoved my gloveless hands in my coat pockets. “It’s not my place to press you, Maggie. My job is to be here for you when you’re ready to talk about it.” I slowed to a stop and eyed her questioningly. “Do you want to talk about it?”
She sighed, then glanced at the ski lift in the distance for a long moment before focusing on me again. “I didn’t really want to, but ever since I got on the plane, it’s all I could think about.”
“Then shoot. Maybe talking will make you feel better.” Christ knew it would make me feel better. Or, if not better, at least less tense. I was on edge, wondering exactly how bad things had gotten between them to get to this point after so long.
And, if I was being totally honest, macho bullshit or no, I really needed to find out if I had to kick Trevor’s ass when I got back to town. Because I was not opposed to a good old-fashioned throwdown.
I unclenched my fists and tried to focus on Maggie as she began to talk again.
“See, that’s the thing.” She wrapped her arms around her waist and shook her head slowly. “When I think about it, I don’t feel anything. Like, I’m angry that I wasted my time and that he betrayed me, but as far as losing him? I’m like…numb or something.”
I nodded, trying to wrangle my conflicting emotions. Numb was better than devastated or heartsick. “I can understand that. It must’ve been a shock if it wasn’t something you’d planned to do.”
“Oh, there was no plan. I stopped over there and walked in on him banging his assistant.” She let out a snort. “What a cliché, right? Zero points for originality, Trevor. I have no idea how long it’s been going on for. I wanted to ask but when I saw... Well, they weren’t in a position to be answering questions.”
“Fucking hell,” I muttered through gritted teeth as I let out a deep breath. The urge to take the next plane back to New York and beat him senseless was almost overwhelming but I tamped it down. I needed to be here for Maggie right now. I inhaled deeply, nostrils flaring as my fists balled by my sides. If Trevor cheated on a woman like this?
He already had no sense.
“It’s the lying that bothers me more than anything. If he wants to be with someone else, more power to him. I just don’t know why he’d string me along at the same time.”