Tom was the fact that she fell totally, hopelessly, forever-after in love with him. And he’d made it clear he wanted nothing more than friendship with her…ever.
His girlfriends were beautiful, sophisticated women that made Maggie feel worse than ordinary. Every single one of them underscored a truth she could not deny: even if she didn’t work for him, Tom Prince would never look at her as anything but a friend.
Then halfway through his last year of graduate school and her sophomore year at the university, he broke up with his latest girlfriend. Instead of starting to date another drop-dead beauty, he took Maggie with him when he wanted companionship…out to dinner, to a movie, to a sports event, or even to a party.
The feelings she’d had during that month were still vivid after six long years of trying to forget.
It had been a cross between Heaven and Hell. She loved the extra time they spent together and her susceptible heart reveled in having his attention all to herself. But she never forgot his warning that he’d fire her on the spot if she tried to pursue anything more than friendship with him. Not that she would. She wasn’t such a fool as to think that the change in his dating pattern meant anything special for her.
One night all of that changed, though.
She was curled up on the plush leather sofa in the living room, studying for her midterms, when he came home.
Looking totally yummy in a pair of dark jeans and Ralph Lauren sweater over a navy-blue T-shirt, he made her feel things that turned her virginal ideals on their head.
She just hoped the sensual hunger did not show on her face. “Hi. You eating in tonight?”
He dropped his books on the table by the doorway. “I thought we could both eat out.”
“I wish I could,” she said sincerely. “I have to study.” She indicated her books and notes surrounding her on the sofa. “Midterms.”
“You work too hard. You need a break.”
“No, I don’t.” Life was easier for her now than it had been in a very long time. “You’re just spoiled.”
“And you are the one who spoils me.” He moved closer to her, his rich, masculine scent tantalizing senses always on edge when he was near. “Let me spoil you and take you to dinner.”
“I can’t. Really, Tom. I have three tests tomorrow.”
He shook his head, his expression disapproving. “You would not have so many tests if you did not take extra classes.”
“I take the maximum the scholarship allows for. I want to be done early. It’s better for me that way. I can start working sooner.”
“If you would let me pay for your living expenses until graduation, you would not have this worry.”
“No can do. What you do for me now is enough. Too much sometimes.”
“You are too stubborn, you mean. And I do nothing for you that you have not earned.”
“Well, since you won’t be living here next year, you can’t say I would be earning my keep if you provided it, could you?”
“Can you not consider it another scholarship?”
She wasn’t the only stubborn one. “No.”
“What are you going to do next year?”
“Get a job, or two, and find an apartment. I think one of the girls in my economics class wants to be my roommate.” She hated talking about the next year, when Tom would be gone.
It hurt to know that for all intents and purposes he would be walking out of her life as easily as he had walked in. While she had a horrible suspicion she would miss him forever.
“There is no reason why you cannot stay here.”
“There is every reason. It’s not my house.”
“It is mine and I want a caretaker.”
“No, you don’t. You want to give me charity and I won’t accept. Please stop pushing it.” She hated arguing with him as much as she hated thinking about never seeing him again.
He grinned, his expression flashing from annoyed dominant male to smiling confidence. “I am very good at getting my way.”
“I noticed. I have lived with you for a while now.”
He plucked her book out of her hand and tossed it to the end of the couch and then grabbed her wrists and tugged her up. “Then you should accept that if I want you to have dinner out with me tonight, that is the most likely scenario for our evening.”
She landed with a thud against his hard male body and gasped before scrambling as far back as his hold would allow. She tried to break it, but though he wasn’t hurting her in the slightest, there was no chance. “I need to study.”
“You need to eat. What can that hurt?”
“We’ll be gone too long. You never just go eat somewhere.”
“So, maybe there is a movie playing that I want to see…you need a break. I said so.”
“And because you said so it must be true?”
“Yes, this is true.”
She rolled her eyes. “You’re awfully arrogant for a man who isn’t even twenty-five.”
“I was bred to it.”
“I guess.” She never asked about his background because he made it clear it was not a subject he wished to discuss, but it didn’t take a rocket scientist to know he came from major wealth.
“Why don’t you ask one of your friends to go to the movie with you?”
“I am. I am asking you.”
“I’m your housekeeper.”
“You are also my friend.”
Maybe…but somehow she didn’t see them exchanging phone calls and Christmas cards after he finished graduate school and moved on. And that was what decided her. She had only a finite amount of time left in Tom Prince’s life. She needed to take advantage of it.
“All right. I’ll study when we get home. Please tell me the movie is an early showing.”
“Your wish is my command, little Maggie.” He sealed his promise with a kiss.
On her lips.
He’d never done that before.
The logical part of her brain told her that kind of salute was common for him, even if she’d always been adept at avoiding any sort of touching between them.
But her body had other ideas, and lips that had kissed only one other boy before him went instantly soft against his, parting in an invitation that was as old as time and equally unmistakable. Being the natural predator
