Page 48 of Reluctant Surrender

“Oh,god!” she screamed, throwing her head back on the pillow. Her body tensed around me, dragging me further to the edge of the earth. The best place to be, with Maggie at my side.

My balls pulled up tight. Electricity shot down my spine. Another thrust and I groaned. Once more and I was lost to the heavens. My orgasm ripped through me, leaving me breathless.

I leaned my forehead against hers, gasping for air, wondering how the fuck I got so lucky.

It took a full minute, maybe more, before either of us were willing to move. I eased away from her; my cum leaked from her and rolled down her ass. I dragged my eyes up her body, meeting hers. Her eyes were full of something. Hope? Fear? Before I could assess it, it was gone and she smiled softly up at me.

She brushed her hand across my forehead, pushing back my hair. “Maybe being married to you won’t be so horrible after all.”

Chapter 23

Maggie

Lukas worked away from the house all weekend and most of the following week until late at night. It didn’t matter what time he crawled into bed, though, he woke me with kisses if I’d fallen asleep. Most nights I was still up. I had a CPA exam to study for, and as much as I liked my job, I wasn’t getting as much experience as I’d hoped. I had two months before the test, and I needed to use as much of that time as possible to study.

Numbers were a natural playground for me, but there was more to accounting than just making sure to carry the one. Rules, regulations—all the things my natural instincts were to reject—I needed to have them memorized and ready to apply when needed. I could do it, I just needed to study.

“Mrs. Kaczmarek.” Mrs. Kowalski entered the library in the back of the house that I’d taken over for my study sessions. She had a handheld phone in her right hand. “There’s a call for your husband but he’s not home.”

I looked up from the book cradled in my lap. “Can you just take a message?”

“I’m sorry, I should have said. It’s his sister, Hanna. She doesn’t want to leave one with me, she’d like to speak to you.” Her footsteps fell silently over the faded carpeting. Obviously, Lukas hadn’t gotten around to redecorating this room either. There was still an old piano in the middle of the room.

“His sister?” I took the phone from her, my heart already beating faster. He never talked about Hanna other than she’d been sent off to boarding school to finish her last year of high school.

Mrs. Kowalski left the room, quietly closing the door behind her.

“Uh, hello?”

“Maggie?” a sweet voice came from the other side of the phone.

“That’s me. You’re Hanna, Lukas’ sister, right?” How awkward to meet your sister-in-law over the phone. I’d never had a sister, but I had Amelia. We grew up cousins, but we might as well have been sisters.

“Yeah. Do you know when Lukas will be home? I keep trying his cell but he’s not answering.”

“Um, I’m not sure. He’s been working late this past week. Is, uh, everything all right? Anything I can help with?” I closed my eyes and said a little prayer that nothing was seriously wrong. I had no idea what to do for her. All I knew was Christian had sent her to boarding school two years after their parents died, and even though Lukas disagreed, Christian wouldn’t let her come home yet.

“Everything’s like it always is,” she sighed. “Which is not all right.”

My heart sank. “I can ask him to give you a call.” It was pathetic, and the only thing I could offer.

“Thanks.” She covered the phone and muttered something to someone in the background before she came back on the line. “So, you guys got married?”

Internally, I groaned. “Yeah, almost a week ago.”

“Do you love him?” Her question knocked the wind out of my chest.

“Love him?”

“Yes. Do you love him? Want to be with him for ever and ever, or did he force you the same way Christian did his wife?”

I grinned into the phone, Christian wasn’t the only one pushing Amelia down that aisle, but her point was still spot on.

“He didn’t force me.” It was as close to the truth I could get without actually giving it to her.

“So, you love him.”

“I… he’s a good man.” I decided to stay away from that word.

---