Page 25 of Reluctant Surrender

“Did Maggie eat?” I asked, realizing I hadn’t introduced them before I left. I hadn’t even shown Maggie around the house, I’d just dumped her in her room and left her all alone all day.

“She did. She came down this afternoon. She insisted on helping; I tried to shoo her away, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer.” The housekeeper’s smile wobbled. “She seemed to need to be busy, so I let her make the potatoes.”

Imagining Maggie standing over the counter peeling potatoes with an apron strapped around her middle made my cock hard again for her. Something about that woman made the blood in my body race for my dick just at the thought of her. Even being put on kitchen duty made me want to sink into her.

“That’s fine. I’m sure she enjoyed herself.” Anything that proved she was self-sufficient would put her into a better mood than I’d left her. “By the way, how is the new staff working out?” I asked, pulling my tie from beneath my collar.

“Good, very good. I’ve never had so much help before. Thank you.” She smiled. When she’d worked for my cousin, before I came to live in the house, she’d been completely overworked and underpaid. It was one of the first things I corrected.

“Maggie went upstairs already?”

“She said she was going up to bed.” Mrs. Kowalski turned away, but not before I caught the smile playing on her lips.

“She’s just a friend who needs some help right now,” I explained, though why I felt the need to do so escaped me.

“Of course.” She turned off the light over the stove. “I’m going to bed myself. Unless there’s something you need?”

“No, go on to bed. Thank you, Mrs. Kowalski.” I leaned my hip against the kitchen island and stared out the back patio doors. Maggie had gone up to bed an hour ago in the room I’d put her. She was probably all tucked under the quilt, fast asleep with her hair all fanned out on the pillow. She was probably wearing those tiny ass pajama shorts and another tank top that her nipples would peek through.

I shook my head as I walked down the hallway to the stairs with the intention to check on her. I would just make sure she was safe and sound in bed, and then I’d take a long shower. I just needed to be sure she was all right and then I could get her out of my mind.

Voices came from the other side of the door when I reached it. Without hesitation, I tore through the door. The flickering light of a movie playing on the wall over the dresser facing the bed illuminated the otherwise dark room.

“Lukas?” Maggie knelt up on the bed, fumbling with a mini projector on the foot of the bed. She’d taken down the gothic painting from my wall in order to watch a movie from her cell phone.

The movie stopped and she twisted to the side to turn on the bed lamp. When she did so, her pajama bottoms rose another inch, giving me a sneak peek at her generous curves. A welt crossed her cheek, reminding me of the spanking I’d given her earlier.

“Sorry.” She climbed off the bed. “I found it in the library downstairs.” She unplugged her phone from the device.

“It’s fine.” I took the projector and put it on the dresser. “I think my sister left it when she came for a visit last month.” Hanna would be looking for it soon. The school Christian had her tucked away in didn’t offer much in the way of entertainment. Our little sister was climbing the walls at the private boarding school, but Christian wouldn’t listen to any arguments about letting her finally come home for good.

“You’ve been gone a long time.”

“I had work to see to,” I explained. “But I don’t want to talk about that, or my sister.”

“Oh? What do you want to talk about?” She scooted her ass onto the edge of the bed.

I shook out of my jacket and tossed it on the dresser, covering the projector. “I want to check your ass. Does it still hurt?”

“No. I’m fine.” She pushed herself further onto the bed until her feet dangled over the side.

Her attempt to hide herself from me drew a grin. “I didn’t ask if you were fine, I can see you are. I asked if your ass still hurt from your punishment earlier.” Reminding her of her spanking had the desired effect I was looking for. A soft pink blush bloomed on her cheeks.

“About that.” She pulled her feet onto the bed and wrapped her arms around her knees. The hem of her shorts crept up even more, showing off the creamy skin of her ass. “It can’t happen again.”

I paused in my unbuttoning of my cuff. “Why’s that?” I went back to work on my sleeve. Suits and expensive clothes weren’t my thing. I much preferred my jeans and t-shirts, but business required a certain uniform. But I wasn’t at work now, I was at home. My home.

“It’s not right. I mean, you can’t just go around spanking girls you barely know. And I don’t like it. You aren’t my dad; you can’t punish me like that.” She swallowed and scraped her top teeth across her bottom lip as I pulled my shirt over my head, exposing the white tank top beneath. Her eyes wandered over my bare shoulders and arms, taking in my ink.

“You were saying?” I prompted when she seemed to have lost herself in examining me.

She blinked. “Right. Yeah. We’re friends, well, not even that really, right? I mean you don’t know me. Just because your brother is married to my cousin doesn’t mean that we’re… well, anything.” She let out a long breath as she came to the end of her little speech.

“You and I knew each other before Amelia was stuck with my brother,” I reminded her.

“That’s not really… you had meetings with my father a few times.”

“And you were sitting right outside the door of most of those meetings listening in.” I grabbed hold of her hands and pried them from her legs. “I danced with you at your father’s last anniversary party.”

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