Tell Me a Secret (4 page)

He that plants trees loves others besides himself.

~Dr. Thomas Fuller

On the way home from the study session, Maggie’s thoughts were a jumbled mess. Even after planning and rehearsing how to end the relationship, the evening had gone wrong. To make matters worse, seeing Jace and Mrs. Sloan interact with such warmth and affection reminded Maggie of all the rejection she’d gotten throughout childhood from her mother.

She stopped at a red light and stared across the street at the small bistro lit by neon. Couples sat at tables just as she and Jace had earlier in his mother’s cozy kitchen. She admitted he’d played his hand perfectly, managing to convince her to meet at his house and increase their time together.

She didn’t realize the light changed until the car behind honked. Why did he want to meet with her more? Did he really want to ace the class? If so, she’d give him points for that.

Once home, she stayed in the car for a few minutes to gather her thoughts. When
I love you
came out of Mrs. Sloan’s mouth, they were more than words. Palpable. Genuine. Passionate. Exactly how a mother should say them to her child. And the way Jace responded made him even more attractive than she thought possible.
I’m in way over my head.

She grabbed her book bag and went inside. The wine helped, but she’d still felt inadequate.
Nope. No family traditions for me. No family anything for me
. She wondered how Mrs. Sloan would accept the knowledge Maggie hadn’t spoken to her own mother in ages.

There was a light under Sarah’s door, but because of the late hour, Maggie went straight to her own room. Even though the study session lasted longer than anticipated, she didn’t want to leave when she did, but Jace had curfew.

Aphrodite sprawled in the middle of the bed. The cat stretched and Maggie scooted her to one side. “I’m in serious trouble, Dydee. I couldn’t go through with my plan.”

“Why is that?” Sarah stood in the doorway, both hands on her hips. “Let me guess. He got to you, didn’t he? He turned on the charm and you couldn’t resist.”

“It wasn’t him. It was his mother.”

“His mother?”

“Elizabeth Sloan is perfect: kind, loving, and thoughtful. I feel as if I’ve known her my whole life. It’s obvious she and Mr. Sloan love each other and you should see her with Jace.” Maggie wiped at her eyes and didn’t understand the urge to cry. It couldn’t be over the relationship with her mother. Surely those tears ran out long ago. It had to be the affection Mrs. Sloan displayed for Jace. “God, he’s so lucky.”

Aphrodite crawled into Maggie’s lap. Sarah sat on the bed and Maggie looked over at her. “Tonight, being in that house, with that family, I know it sounds crazy, but I felt at home there.”

“I understand. They have something you’ve never had—a family unit. It’s only natural you’d experience these emotions.”

She shook her head. “No, it’s more than that. I love how the house smelled of cinnamon and vanilla. I love the big backyard. I love his dog. I love Jace’s tree.”

“His tree? Is that a euphemism for woodie?”

“Oh God, no!” She gaped at Sarah with a mixture of disbelief and horror. “I may be charmed by him, but I’m not to the point of discussing his man parts! Get your mind out of the gutter. They have a family tradition. They plant a tree when a child is born. So the boys have trees in the front yard. Isn’t that the sweetest thing you’ve ever heard?”

Sarah raked fingers through her hair and widened her blue eyes. Maggie expected to be scolded, and she deserved it. Even the mental distraction of nose, butt, fart, hadn’t worked to offset the tingle she got when she looked at Jace. Not to mention feeling warm and fuzzy from being in the company of Elizabeth, the world’s greatest mother.

“Okay, let’s recap the situation,” Sarah said. “You couldn’t call it off. The tutoring went better because of the location. You fell in love with his family. So now you’re meeting there every week.”

“Well, actually—we’re meeting twice a week.”

“Oh my God! You went from quitting to adding a day? How did that happen?”

Flopping back against her pillow, Maggie stared at the ceiling. The same question rumbled in her brain all the way home and she decided too many things came together to weaken her resolve. “The weather was beautiful—there were geese—and the dog—then about the time he asked me to add a day, his parents arrived.” She pressed fingers to her temples and sighed. “There were family photos and a Philodendron. Jace told his mom, I was pretty.”

“Oh no, two nights a week with Jace Sloan is a dangerous thing.”

Maggie opened her eyes, but the rotation of the ceiling fan made her dizzy, so she closed them again. “Yeah, I know. I saw an appealing side of him tonight. Thank God, I’m not his type so I won’t have to worry he’ll be attracted to me.”

Sarah giggled. “Oh, sweetie, you’re female. He’ll be attracted all right.”

 
~~*~~
 

Back at the dorm, Jace heard the shower running. He slung his bag onto the desk, slumped into the chair, toed out of his boots, then rolled his stiff neck. The evening had gone perfectly. If Maggie thought she could make the rules—well, she had a lot to learn. He’d been manipulating girls since age thirteen, and now at twenty-three, he had it down to a science. Of course, it didn’t hurt to have inside information.

“How’d it go?” Sam stood in the doorway with one towel wrapped around his waist and rubbed his head with another. His brown hair curled into little ringlets and formed a line of perfect commas across his forehead.

“She never knew what hit her. We’ll be meeting twice a week.”

“She didn’t even mention ending the arrangement?”

“Didn’t give her a chance. Once Mom told Maggie I’d said she was pretty, it was a done deal.”

“I can’t believe you got your mom to go along with it.”

“She didn’t. I asked her to mention the pretty remark because we’d gotten off to a rocky start. She refused, but when she saw Maggie
was
hot, I figure Mom decided I wasn’t playing her. Besides, I’ve never brought a girl to the house before and Mom liked her. Dad, too.”

Jace thought back to earlier when they were sitting on the deck. How the sun played off Maggie’s creamy skin and spun through her auburn hair. A breeze carried loose strands and floated them around her face. He’d caught her scent, sweet and subtle, like a cake fresh out of the oven. Even now, the memory made him laugh.
What a pair we are, a box of candy and a cake.

“You were right. She is hot. Her tits are smaller than I like, but she dressed better tonight and looked damn good.” He shifted in his seat and thought about the red shirt and the way it clung to her small frame.

“Well, tell me what info you want and I’ll find out.” Sam rummaged through his chest of drawers. “She and Sarah grew up together, so she knows everything about the
virgin princess
. Do you have a clean pair of boxers?”

“Second drawer. You know it might help if you’d do laundry now and then.”
 

“Yeah, well, I guess I could send them with yours and let Momma Sloan wash them.”

Jace frowned, and went back to the main subject. “Most girls love to talk about themselves, but not Maggie. She doesn’t discuss personal stuff so any history will be helpful.”

“Grew up in Abilene. No brothers or sisters. That’s it.”

“What do her parents’ do?”

“I don’t know. Divorced, maybe. Wait a minute. You’ve never been interested in a woman enough to wonder about her past.”

Jace headed toward the bathroom, but stopped in the doorway. “She’s my study partner for a whole semester, which will be the longest relationship I’ve ever had, so I want to know what makes her tick.”

“Okay. But you’d better be careful. You may like her.”

Jace laughed. He had a reputation to uphold. “Yeah. Right.”

To dance is to be out of yourself, larger, more beautiful, more powerful.

~Agnes De Mille

Jace relaxed on the deck with feet propped on the wooden rail and watched Heisman fetch. For the last few days, he’d studied his ass off because Maggie would probably give another pop quiz.

The dog bounded onto the porch and dropped the stick. Jace ignored him until Heisman whimpered. “Okay, okay.” He hurled the stick into the air again. The setter sprinted after it and

Jace went back to his thoughts. Just as he wanted to impress his football coach, he also wanted to make an impression on Maggie. They didn’t have much in common, but each time they were together, he found something else he liked about her.

First, her red hair, followed by those beautiful green eyes and then when she came to the house wearing something other than baggie sweats, her petite body. All physical attributes, but hey, that’s what most people noticed first. There was nothing wrong with enjoying the way a girl looked.

Heisman ran back and dropped the stick again.

“You ready to see Maggie? You ready to see her?” He cupped the dog’s muzzle and gave it a shake, causing him to wag his tail so hard, his whole body shook. “Yeah, me too, boy.”

When he heard a car door slam, he went inside and the dog followed. Jace didn’t give her time to knock. He opened the door and Heisman spun in a circle.

She knelt and embraced the dog. “Hi, sweet boy.”

Excited, the pet knocked Maggie off her feet.

“Heisman!” Jace grabbed his collar and dragged him back.

“That’s okay. He didn’t hurt me.”

Seeing her cheeks turned pink, he couldn’t help but smile. She struggled to put her skirt back in place. And as much as he enjoyed the view of her legs, he decided to end her misery. He clasped her hand and tugged. She lost her footing, fell forward and seemed to move in slow motion. Both hands grabbed air until making contact with Jace’s chest and clutching two fistfuls of shirt. Unable to right herself, she slipped downward until her nose pressed his crotch.

For a second, he considered leaving her there or making a smart-ass remark about what she could do while in that position, but thought better of it. No need to piss her off this early, so he grabbed both wrists and tugged. Once upright, her chest heaved against his as she tried to get her breath back.

“Oh, I’m so sorry.” She pushed away.

“My pleasure.”

She averted her eyes.

His grin widened. She was damn cute when she got embarrassed. “Here, let me get your bag.” He looped it over his arm, dropped it on the table, then crossed the room to the fridge and held up a bottle of water. “You want this or something stronger?”

“Nothing for me, thanks.”

“So Sam tells me you’re a dancer.” Jace slid into the chair across from her, unscrewed the top of the bottle and drank. “What kind? Ballet?” The moment the question came out, he saw the light in her eyes. He’d hit pay dirt.

“I do all kinds. Do you dance?”

“No. I stand in one spot and sway. Does that count?” He considered dancing might be the way to make his first move. Get her to teach him some steps. He thought back to how her body molded against his only moments ago. He’d like more of that.

“Swaying is good, I guess. This semester I’m doing ballroom.”

“You mean like
Dancing with the Stars
? My mom loves that show.”

“Exactly.”

He enjoyed a long, slow sip of water and eyed Maggie. Maybe this was the night to get more information. “So you have a regular partner.”

“Yeah.”

While they talked, she palmed the mnemonic note cards and tapped them on the table, first one way and then the other. The way she straightened the deck caused his to heart race. He wondered how it would feel to have those small delicate hands moving over skin with the same precision. He had her talking and saw no reason to stop. “Do you get to choose or do they assign you one?”

“Oh, like a study partner?” She giggled.

“Funny, real funny.”

“Sorry, I couldn’t stop myself. We get to choose. Marc’s the only partner I’ve ever had. I wouldn’t want to dance with anyone else. I trust him completely.”

“Whataya mean, trust him?”

“You know, not to drop me. He’s big and strong, but sometimes when we’re working on a new lift, it takes a few spills before we get it. We practice on a mat. But once we master the trick, I know he won’t let me fall.”