All Chapters of Collide: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

The next morning Maggie was ready early. She sat on her knees on her sofa looking out the front window waiting for Zane to drive up. I’m acting like a teenager! Maggie laughed at herself. It had been a long time since she had been excited to see a man and living in such a small town, well, to be honest, the pickings were slim even if she had been inclined to date. Just as she was about to go check her makeup in the mirror for the thousandth time that morning, she heard a deep, rumbling sound coming down the street. Her eyes widened as a black motorcycle came to a stop in front of her house.“Oh, my!” she breathed, looking at all the chrome and black on the bike.The rumble brought JT out from the kitchen. “What the hell is that?” he demanded.Maggie’s mouth quirked up in a grin as she saw Zane’s face as he took off his helmet. ”That is apparently my ride, brother mine,” She bounced a little on her knees in excitement before heading for the door to welcome Zane. She threw the door ope

Zane’s sorrow started to melt away at Maggie’s touch. Just like it had when he had come to her after his difficult meeting yesterday. Her touch, her scent, her simple presence made the tension leak from his muscles and calmness overtake his brain. He didn’t understand how she did it, but he knew he was quickly becoming addicted to it. Maggie sighed and laid her head on Zane’s warm chest. He wrapped his arms around her and between the wine and their mingling heartbeats, they soon dozed. The sun moved causing shadows to lengthen. Zane slowly awoke with a cool breeze blowing a strand of Maggie’s hair across his face. After a few precious seconds of just enjoying her warm weight on his chest and running his fingers through her silky, chestnut strands, her eyes fluttered open and he met her slow smile with one of his own.“I could get used to waking up to that smile,” Zane said, his voice low and raspy from sleep. “I wonder how long we were out?”“I’m not sure but I don’t think it was too

Zane rocked in his office chair staring out the window. He was supposed to be holed up working on his speech for the gala, but his thoughts wouldn’t deviate from Maggie. He thought back to their picnic last weekend, the way her lips felt on his, the way her body fit into his so perfectly. He couldn’t wait to see her all dressed up for the gala. She was so spectacular in just jeans, he couldn’t even wrap his head around how her curves were going to look in a ball gown, or out of one. A soft knock on the doorframe dragged his attention back to the present. “How’s it coming?” Carol asked, raising one eyebrow. He was abashed to be caught not working on his speech, yet again, by his eagle-eyed office manager.“Slow but steady,” Zane assured her.“Uh, huh,” Carol said, obviously unconvinced. “Anyway, I forgot to tell you. A woman came in asking after you yesterday afternoon. I told her you didn’t have office hours until Thursday but she didn’t want to make an appointment. It was weird. She

“Hello there, handsome.” Zane’s head jerked up at the familiar voice from his office doorway. Shawna. It had been over a year since he’d had the misfortune to bump into Shawna again. He was afraid that his friends were right and he’d had a type, and Shawna had been it. She still had the big Dallas blonde hair and was showing off her long, tanned legs in a skirt that barely covered her ass, as usual. He had enjoyed that at one time, but now that he had Maggie’s effortless beauty to compare her to, he couldn’t understand what had attracted him to her. He noticed her dark roots starting to show at her crown and a hint of orange on her skin with the over-the-top spray tan.As he took her in, he couldn’t believe he’d ever found her attractive or worth his time. They’d only gone out a few times, but he had thought he was never going to get rid of her. She kept popping up in the most unlikely places and trying to hang all over him for months after he had told her they needed to go their sep

The next week was a blur of activity. Thanks to Maggie and Sofia’s work on advertising to local businesses, they had several business breakfasts and lunches held at Common Grounds that week. She and JT also put in long evening hours planning out a couple of event catering projects they had taken on as they were wanting to expand their catering work. Farm to table wedding rehearsal dinners and engagement parties were getting more and more popular and Maggie had seized on the events, on and off site, as a way to grow their little cafe. With her mother in semi-retirement, she didn’t need her catering and equipment and tableware very often so Maggie and JT could save a lot of money by using them. Tricia Wade believed in her children being self-sufficient so there was a small rental fee involved but, even with the fees, Maggie knew they’d never have been able to afford to buy all the equipment outright by themselves and was grateful, though somewhat grudgingly, for the help. Before she kn