Page 23 of For Maggie's Sake (Tempting SEALs 3)

He watched her, the defensive hunching of her shoulders as though expecting a blow, the careful movements as she poured her coffee. She kept her face lowered, but he swore he could feel the fear and pain radiating from her. As fiery as she could be, he knew Maggie had a core of sensitivity that was often her downfall. A sensitivity that would be breaking her heart right now. He bet dollars to donuts that her thoug

hts weren't on herself, but rather on him, and how it would look to him that she had thought of a possible place Grant could have hidden the information.

Trusting might be the biggest mistake he had made in his life, as Craig obviously believed. Joe had fought trusting her, just as he had fought loving her once before. A battle he had lost, and he hadn't even had the sense to realize it.

She lifted the coffee cup and sipped before sitting it back on the counter. She knew he was behind her, and in most people that avoidance would apply to guilt. Thankfully, Maggie wasn't most people.

"Craig wasn't pleased by what he saw when I came in the room," she whispered.

Joe heard the uncertainty in her voice, the fear that Craig's misgivings could drive a wedge between them. His track record with her wasn't the best, and he admitted that getting past her fears wasn't going to be easy.

"Craig is still dealing with what happened with Grant." Hell, so was he. Out of a four-man team, only he and Craig were left. They were both still aching with the grief over Lyons's loss, as well as Grant's betrayal.

"Aren't we all?" Her painful comment had him grimacing in regret.

"It's a lesson learned," he sighed. "I trusted Grant to the point that I never ran the required security checks on him, and I pushed back doubt when I should have followed through with it. It's a mistake I won't make again."

She still didn't face him. God, he hoped she wasn't crying. He didn't think he could handle Maggie's tears; they would break his heart.

"I should have protected you better," he finally said, his voice rough with his guilt. "I was so damned jealous of what I thought he had with you that I couldn't bear coming around. If I had, I would have known something was wrong."

"So you're just going to take the blame for my marriage as well?" Her vibrant red hair rippled over her shoulders as she shook her head. "You're a glutton for punishment, Joe. And you're wrong. I would have never let you see the nightmare that marriage had turned into. I couldn't have borne it."

She sat her cup down then turned to him slowly, crossing her arms over her breasts as she stared back at him, sorrow shimmering in her eyes.

A weary smile edged his lips. "I would have known, Maggie." He would have seen it in her eyes. She wasn't a liar. Her emotions were always so clear in her eyes, so easy to read, that he had always been able to stay one step ahead of her in their previous relationship. "I would have known and I would have gone crazy with it."

"Because you loved me?" The doubt in her voice was clear.

"Because I loved you, because I've always loved you," he amended. "Because no matter how hard I've tried, you were a part of me. I knew, without seeing you, that something was wrong. For two years I avoided that house and I avoided you, and that's not like me. And I couldn't understand why I avoided it. I think a part of me always knew."

Admitting that was like cutting out his own heart. He had let her down in a way so fundamental that it ached through ever portion of his being. It was bad enough that he had let her go, but he hadn't made certain she was safe.

"Grant was very good at his lies," she whispered, rubbing her hands over her arms as though to ward off a chill. "He fooled us both."

Yes, he had, and Joe would never forget that lesson. It didn't mean he was going to let Maggie pay any more than she already had.

"Maggie, have I ever taken you on a kitchen table?" The need to have her was growing by the second.

Her eyes widened in shock, as though the change in subject had come too quickly for her to process. "Do what?"

He moved closer, his hands going to the snap of her jeans, as her fingers curled over his wrists in surprised reflex.

"Have I ever fucked you on a kitchen table?" He lowered his voice, watching the small shiver that raced over her body at the sound of it.

Maggie was a sensualist. Taste, touch, the sounds of arousal, turned her on as much as the act itself.

As he slid the metal button of her jeans free, her eyes darkened further and a flush filled her face. Her lashes swept over her eyes as her gaze became drowsy, hungry, and suspicious.

"Sex doesn't solve everything." Her breathing was rough, causing her breasts to rise and fall in quick little movements.

Hard little nipples pressed beneath the cloth, and Joe's mouth watered to taste them. She had the softest, sweetest flesh, and the hardest nipples he had ever taken into his mouth.

"Sex doesn't solve everything, but it can sure as hell make life sweeter." He laid his forehead against hers as he slid the zipper to her jeans down. "I trusted Grant with your life once," he whispered, staring into her eyes, giving her the truth of himself, as she had always given him the truth of who and what she was. "I'll never trust another man to protect what belongs to me, or to hold what is mine to hold, Maggie. You taught me to trust you in a way Grant never did. With your heart and your soul, long before I ever learned of his betrayal."

It was the most basic truth that he knew how to give her. Two and a half years ago she had walked away from him rather than staying in half a relationship and hiding what she felt, as he had been content to do. She had broken away and tried to go on, tried

to live without him. Any woman greedy enough to involve herself with Grant's schemes would have never done such a thing, especially considering the cushy little life he offered her as his mistress. And he had made the offer, exactly four hours before he arrived at that party with another woman on his arm.

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