A few days later, Maggie found herself paying an emergency maid of honor call out to Dani’s house. Her friend had called in a tizzy and begged Maggie to come out to help. Something about plates. Maggie had been helping Sofia clean up after the lunch rush when Dani called. “I need you out here asap,” she said, sounding decidedly distressed.Maggie immediately stopped what she was doing and clutched the phone. “What’s happened? Are you ok? Did something happen to Levi?”“Your mother was just here.” Maggie could practically hear her friend’s jaw clench through the phone.“Oh, my,” Maggie responded, her posture relaxing and her mouth quickly quirking up. Her mother had volunteered to be Dani and Levi’s wedding planner, whether Dani wanted her or not, and was about to drive her to distraction. “What has she done now?”As Dani regaled her with the million tiny decisions that Mrs. Wade was prodding her to make that Dani didn’t care a flip about, Maggie thought of what her mother had accompl
Zane was in his cubicle dictating his notes after his morning rounds at the hospital when his phone buzzed. He glanced down and saw it was from Carol at his office. It was odd for her to be calling as she normally handled everything with only minor feedback from him. “Carol? What’s up?”“Dr. Savage. You need to come back to the office right away!”Zane’s spine stiffened and his body went immediately on high alert. Carol was the calmest and least dramatic person he knew. For her to sound this upset, something truly terrible must have occurred. “Are you alright, Carol? What’s wrong?”“That woman was back,” Carol said, her voice shaking. “I caught her going through your office.”“What woman?” Zane asked even as he had a sinking suspicion about who it was.“The woman with the big, blonde hair and the...” Carol paused, uncomfortable about describing anyone in a derogatory way even after what happened. “Well, the one who wouldn’t make an appointment I told you about a few weeks ago.”“Shaw
Zane was relieved to find JT not at home when they arrived. Despite all the bad news he had to deliver over the years, he had never been able to develop a decent poker face. He knew JT would know something was up as soon as he saw his face and he would hate to have to lie to him. He wanted to try to build a positive relationship with Maggie’s brother since he planned to be sticking around. He dropped his bag on the floor in the hall as Maggie dug in the refrigerator for something for dinner. “JTs been trying out a ton of new appetizers so, if you’re up for it, dinner could be lots of small bites.” She grinned over her shoulder at him and raised an eyebrow in question.“Sounds good to me,” Zane agreed.Soon the table was covered in containers of various sizes. Maggie started to uncover the selections and Zane’s jaw dropped. It looked like JTs talents were not confined to simple cafe food. These looked as good as anything he had been offered at the multitude of high-end functions he ha
While letting the tub warm up, Maggie turned her attention to getting Zane ready for their bath. She slowly undid his belt buckle, button and zipper and let his slacks fall to the floor. His black boxer briefs were next, giving her an unobstructed view of exactly how much he wanted her. She stepped into his arms, her hands gripping the taut curve of his ass and pulling him flush to her body. He chuckled and lifted her petite frame to wrap her around his waist. She giggled as she readjusted her grip. “We should probably turn off the water or it’s going to overflow,” Maggie commented looking over Zane’s shoulder. He started to lean over the tub when she stopped him. “Wait! Take me over there a minute,” she said, pointing in the other direction at the built-in shelves. He looked at her inquisitively. “Bubble bath!” she explained.“Oh, well, can’t have a bath without bubbles, can we?” Zane said with playful sarcasm and dutifully carried her to the shelves to retrieve the pretty pink bott
JT was just finishing up cleaning up after his prep work in the Common Grounds' kitchen when Sofia popped her head in. “Hey, boss. I finally got the final numbers from Jim at the bank if you have a few minutes to go over the menu with me,” she said brightly.“Sure, give me five minutes,” JT said. Sofia shot him a grin and nodded. With a flip of her dark, shiny ponytail, she was gone.JT smiled and shook his head as he wiped down his workstation. He’d never seen Sofia in a bad mood. No matter how onery the customer or how crazy the day got, she always had a smile on her face and a bounce in her step. And she was good at everything she did. He’d never tell Maggie, but he thought Sofia could give her a run for her money in the organization and customer service departments. The best decision they’d ever made was recently promoting her to manager of the cafe and assistant event coordinator for Common Grounds Catering.When he met her at the table a few minutes later, he moved over some pa
Zane sat in his club chair, Jameson in hand, staring at the city lights from his window. He had picked up a book to read but couldn’t focus. He'd hated to have to leave her after her weekend together. The Shawna situation made him want to wrap Maggie in bubble wrap and lock her in his apartment where nothing could get to her, but maybe she was right. He had always been the one Shawna followed and harassed. He'd casually dated a couple of other women after her and nothing had happened. Maybe all these new and intense feelings he had for Maggie were just making all his protective instincts go into overdrive. Hell, he hadn't even really been aware he had protective instincts before Maggie. He sipped the smooth scotch and tried to convince himself that Maggie was right. She would be fine. He had to make himself believe it. It was the only way he could get anything else done. He glanced at his watch and saw he had two hours before Maggie would be done with her catering event and he could
The last few months had flown by in a happy haze for Maggie with the wedding planning, her business going great guns and her nightly marathon Facetime sessions with Zane between visits, but with only two weeks left until Dani and Levi’s wedding, she was exhausted. There seemed to be a never-ending list of things to do and not nearly enough hours in the day to get them all done. I’ll just lay my head down for a minute.Sofia started to knock on the door jamb but then stopped abruptly at the sight in front of her. Maggie was at her desk with her head pillowed on her arms, fast asleep. She was really burning the candle at both ends. Sofia was worried about her. She’d never caught her sleeping at her desk before. She rarely even took a coffee break during the day. Maggie could do more things in a day than most people did in a week but even she apparently had her limits.She saw JT coming down the hall and put a finger to her lips. “Shhhh,” she whispered, closing the door softly. “She’s as
Saturday came before she knew it and Maggie found herself rushing to pack for the weekend before she was late. Her thoughts were unusually scattered and she couldn't seem to get her things together. Her current dilemma included her boots taking up too much room in her weekender bag causing her to not be able to get the zipper closed. “Aren’t you coming back tomorrow night?” JT asked, leaning on the door frame to her bedroom and watching her attempt to get her bag closed with amusement.Maggie glared at him over her shoulder. “Yes, I am, but we’re going to Mama Tried to see Morgan Wallen and I have to get.these.boots.to.fit,” she said punctuating her last words with the effort to get the teeth of the zipper close enough to catch.JT chuckled and went to her side, pushing her away from the bag with a hip. “Here let me fix it.” He reached in the bag, removed the boots and easily zipped up the case. “There, fixed.”Maggie stared at him, hands fisted on her hips. “I could have done that,”