Marie Harte - Working Out

Maggie crossed her arms over her chest and studied her brother. “Not my brother,” Maggie said as if he she didn’t believe that for a second. She gave Trevor a fake smile. “He’s an investment banker. I mean, does this big ape look like he could handle danger in foreign countries? Are those the hands of a man used to handling a weapon or a keyboard?” It was obvious to Maggie, apparently, that her brother worked at a dangerous job.

Trevor’s backpedalling would have been funny if Mac hadn’t sensed Maggie’s anger.

“Now Maggie. You know I got these calluses from lifting weights. I’m an investment banker who happens to do work occasionally for Uncle Sam. Government contracts, honey. That’s it.”

“Really?” Mac had felt the hard skin on the man’s trigger finger and middle finger, the callous at the V of his hand, where he no doubt often held a pistol.

“Really,” Trevor said with a hard growl.

“Now, now. It’s Christmas.” Ron tugged them into the living room. “Sit and be merry before I get unpleasant.”

“You’d better do it.” Justin downed his beer. “The man doesn’t look it, but he can get pretty ugly if he doesn’t get his way.”

Ron flashed a brilliant smile. “True. Mimi, drag in your new man and tell us all about him. How did you two meet, and how long has this been going on?”

 Mac crossed his arms over his chest. Just what he’d like to know.

His uncle answered all of Ron’s questions easily. Too easily. Mac had that itch that had always forewarned him of danger. He had a feeling his uncle and Mimi coming together had more to do with him and Maggie than them coupling up.

But to his bemusement, he didn’t think he minded. The panic he should have felt over the pair trying to fix him and Maggie up didn’t appear. He knew Mimi had plans for Maggie, the same way she’d once had plans for Shelby. And look, Shelby now had a fiancé. Shane, his good buddy, was head-over-heels in love with her.

At the thought, he met Maggie’s gaze. Those sky-blue eyes sucked him in and refused to let go. Man, he liked just looking at her. Seeing her laugh or smile, watching her go toe-to-toe with some asshole while she dressed him down. He liked the woman, and she’d somehow burrowed under his skin and into his heart without him realizing she’d been on her way there.

“Hey, jarhead, you want to help me grab something from my car?” Trevor asked, staring from him to Maggie with suspicion.

“Sure. Why not?”

Maggie, he liked. The brother? He didn’t yet know. “Be right back,” he told his uncle, who waved him away and continued waxing quixotic about his destined first meeting with Mimi at the gym.

Once outside in the cold wind, he and Trevor stood behind a black SUV. Mac sighed. “Well?”

“What’s with you and my sister?”

“What’s it do you?”

Trevor stared at him. “You dating?”

“Again, what’s it to you? She’s a big girl, and you’re never around to protect her, so what do you care?”

Trevor scowled. “I have a job.”

“Yeah? So do I. It’s not the one I want, but it’s helping my uncle out, so what the hell, I do it.”

Trevor said nothing for a moment. “She seems happy. Mimi tells me she’s doing well, working at a gallery and your gym, apparently.” Trevor widened his stance and crossed his arms. The ass acted as if he didn’t feel the cold.

Mac, on the other hand, felt every bit of it. His knee ached, and he wanted nothing more than to go back inside and be with Maggie. But if her big brother wanted a confrontation, so be it. He waited.

“Well?”

“Well what?” Mac asked.

“Are you taking advantage of her or what?”

Mac had to laugh. “You’re kidding, right? You do know your sister, don’t you? Maggie works for me because she wants to, not because she has to. The woman wraps every guy she knows around her finger by batting those big baby blue eyes.” He scoffed, but inside, he knew she’d already done the same to him. She’d entrusted him with her secrets, with her desires. His little sub owned his heart, as much as he wished it weren’t so.

The truth about sunk him to his knees.

“You have a point.” Trevor studied him. “I don’t like being away from her so much, but it’s what I do.”

“And it’s dangerous.” Mac didn’t need to ask specifics. He could read the truth in Trevor’s frame, his stance, the way he measured everything around him as if prepared to defend himself. “She loves you, you know. All that sappy orphan crap makes her worry about you even if she won’t say it.”

Trevor grinned, and it made the guy look even more like Maggie. “Orphan crap?” He laughed. “You say that to my sister?”

“Sure. I’m not going to pity her because she had a rough childhood. You want my opinion, it gave her a leg up. That woman is mean.”

Trevor’s grin widened. “Yeah, she is, isn’t she?”

“She gives me shit all the time.” Mac smiled thinking about it. “She’s always telling me what to do, and I’m the boss. You’d think because she’s little that she’d be easier to work around, but she’s not.”

He paused in thought, wishing he felt better about loving her. The dreaded L word.

What if she ditched him too? He didn’t have the best track record when it came to women. First his mother, then Julie. Now he felt himself loving again for the first time in years. What would stop her from ripping out his heart and stomping on it?

“No, she’s not easy to deal with,” Trevor said quietly.

Mac didn’t know what had happened, but her brother put out his hand.

“Sorry,” Trevor apologized. “I’m protective and it seems I don’t need to be. Truce?”

“Ah, sure.” Mac shook his hand, and this time there was no contest, just a meeting of two men who wanted the best for Maggie.

“Let’s go back in and see if we can rattle your uncle. The man wants to date Mimi. He’s gotta have brass balls, I tell you.”

Mac chuckled. “He was Corps too.”

“Yeah? Figures. He’ll need to be strong to handle her.” Trevor walked with him back to the house. “Some women are like that. Make you work for them, but there’s that payoff at the end.”

“Payoff?”

Trevor smiled sadly, and just that quickly, the sorrow vanished. “When they say I love you and mean it, you know you’ve struck gold.” Trevor punched him in the arm. “So don’t blow it, jarhead. Or after Maggie’s through gelding you, I’ll take a shot at making your life miserable.”

“Oh yeah. You’re definitely related.” Mac followed him inside and joined in the laughter and joy of the holiday.

But as he smiled with the others, his gaze continued to meet Maggie’s.

He couldn’t help but wonder if he’d made a mistake by not pulling back when he’d had the chance. Now, he knew, it was too late. He’d fallen in love.

Maggie couldn’t believe her brother had shown on Christmas Eve. As if Santa himself had heard her wishes and made them come true, she was fortunate enough to spend the evening with her family and friends. And Mac, the man who’d come to mean so much to her.

She took Trevor home with her and spent the night on her couch, forcing his big body into her bed, where he’d fit. She hadn’t had more than a brief moment to wish Mac a merry Christmas before she and Trevor had left Mimi’s. With everyone seeming to watch her and Mac like a hawk, they’d had little interaction together.

But wow, when he’d grazed her hand or nudged her thigh with his on the couch, she’d thought she’d go up in flames. After being with him and making love, the days spent without him next to her felt like months. She felt stupid for such a reaction, especially since two days apart was nothing. Still, the sense of loss persisted. She fell asleep wondering if he missed her as much as she missed him.

Christmas came all too soon, and her brother woke her with a steaming mug of coffee.

“Oh, it truly is Christmas. I don’t have to make the stuff myself.”

He grinned and waved it under her nose. “Merry Christmas, Maggie. I missed you.”

Her eyes filled, and she sat up and hugged him tight.

“Easy. I don’t want to accidentally give you third degree burns and have to explain myself to your bruiser of a boss.” He watched her face and sighed. “So, short stuff, want to tell me about the guy with muscles on top of muscles who watched you like a kid eyeing a stick of candy all night long?”

She flushed, secretly pleased Mac had paid her the attention. “He’s, um, my boss.”

“I know. He said you’re mean.”

She frowned. “I am not. He said that?”

Trevor nodded. “Yep. Said you’re not easy to work around. I think he likes you. How do you feel about him?”

I’m afraid I love him. She swallowed hard. “He’s okay, I guess. Now can I have that coffee?” He handed it to her, and she took it with thanks. “Just the way I like it, light and sweet.”

“Unlike your boyfriend,” Trevor muttered.

“Excuse me?”

“Oh hell. He watched you the way a hungry dog eyes a bone. He had to have made a move on you already. You’re cute, and he’s the type.”

“I know you’re not acting all protective over me within twenty-four hours of you being home. On Christmas.”

Trevor groaned and sat on the table across from her. “I love you, Maggie. I missed you a lot this last trip.” He paused. “I’ve decided I need a change. I’m moving back here.”

She froze, then put her coffee down slowly. “You mean it? You’re moving back to Seattle?”

“For good. Oomph.” He caught her before they both fell off the table and accepted the hug she forced on him. “Nice to know you’re no longer calling me names.”