Page 26 of The Locksmith’s Promise (The Promise Duet #1)

Respect

B axter

I took a walk around town to settle my nerves before heading back to the festival where the bonfire blazed high in the middle of a circle of mismatched chairs, rough-hewn benches, and tree stumps.

Its warmth lit the smiling faces sitting around it. Within moments, I found Maggie with Corwin beside her.

Maggie lifted her chin as I approached and snapped to attention. Hurriedly, she moved a blanket off the seat on her other side and patted it for me to sit down.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured.

I shook my head. “You have nothing to be sorry about.”

“I do, Bax. I shouldn’t have interfered. I’m just not used to anyone else disciplining him.” She grimaced. “And the curse words threw me.”

“I get it.” I dipped my chin, grateful she welcomed me back into the fold. “I don’t know how you stayed so calm.”

Corwin snorted, and Maggie laughed. Jerking her chin up, she said, “Tell him.”

Smiling widely, Corwin admitted, “Mom went off!”

She chuckled. “It took a minute for it all to sink in. Once it did, I lost it.” Looking at Corwin, she added, “What else do you need to say?”

His face sobered. “I’m sorry, Dad. I shouldn’t have taken your tools without asking and I shouldn’t have played around with the bow and arrow.”

“Anything I have is yours, Cor,” I answered roughly. “But please, you’ve gotta be smart. If you’re old enough to handle tools and weapons, you’re old enough to handle them safely.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Sir?” I grinned at Maggie. “You could take a lesson from him and learn some respect.”

She wagged her eyebrows, and my dick twitched in my pants.

“Can I go find Mickey now?”

“Mickey’s right here,” Maxine retorted, dragging a folding chair to set up behind us. “And he’s staying right here.”

Maggie nodded in agreement.

“Thank God Miller’s mom took the other two hellions home,” she continued, her hand on Maggie’s shoulder as she settled. “I swear Miller’s children are killing me.”

Beside her, Miller snorted as he flung open his chair.

Maggie side-eyed me and answered, “I know what you mean.”

Corwin moved to sit beside Mickey, their heads ducked together no doubt commiserating over their last bit of trouble and planning their next.

Miller chuckled.

“Don’t you laugh,” Maxine warned. “Or I’ll tan your hide next.”

“Spank me, baby,” Miller muttered with a wide grin.

Maxine rolled her eyes.

I had Maggie rolling her eyes, too, but it was much later while I moved inside her, my hands cradling her head.

“Say it again, Maggie,” I ordered.

“Yes, Sir,” she breathed.

I groaned, my cock swelling inside her. Sir. The kink I never knew I had.

“Baby, baby, baby,” she breathed. “Just like that.”

Huh.

The praise was hot as fuck too.

Rolling my hips, I watched as her neck arched back, her sweet lips parted, and her body quaked, core gripping me tightly.

“Aw, fuck, Maggie,” I near complained, not wanting it to end, but losing control.

“Give it to me, baby,” she urged, her soft hand running down my side to grip my ass tightly. Digging in her fingers, she cooed low, “Fill me, Sir.”

I threw my head back, my body rigid, as my hips slammed into her pelvis and my cock pulsed out my release inside her.

Pushing up on my hands, I rolled off her and flopped down on my back. “Holy shit, Maggie,” I gasped.

She giggled and poked me in the ribs.

I lay beside her, staring up at her water-marked ceiling, effervescent bubbles of joy filling my chest with light.

I marveled at the foreign sensation, one I could barely contain, and began to laugh.

The belly-shaking, earth-quaking kind of laughter that balled your cheeks and reduced your vision to mere slits.

Maggie threw herself on top of me, staring down at me with a wide smile curving her lips.

She was here.

With me.

And happy.

The bubbles swelled and pulsed with an ache of longing for her.

Yearning for her even as she sat astride me, her curvy thighs hugging my hips.

I closed my eyes and wrapped my arms around her, tugged her chest to mine, and rolled her under me once more.

That night, I stayed for the first time.

The following morning, Corwin stumbled into the kitchen, shocked to find me making his mom breakfast in bed.

Then he beamed at me and asked if I would make enough for him as well.

Hallowe’en came and went as over the next couple of weeks, Maggie and I settled into a new routine, one that involved me regularly making breakfast for her and Corwin.

She was calmer, happier, accepting our new normal.

So much so that the last time we crossed paths with Jenny, Maggie had waved and greeted her. She’d even ordered cinnamon buns from Buns and Biscuits for Corwin and me.

Several times.

As for me, I struggled.

Every time I saw Jenny, a dark, oily shadow pressed against the seams of the door I’d slammed shut in my mind.

Whatever lurked behind it, I didn’t need to know.

Nor did I want to remember any details of what I did to Maggie.

I gave my head a shake and focussed on our plans for the night which included the bonus of Corwin staying with his grandparents.

“You’re quiet, tonight,” Maggie murmured as she walked beside me, kicking up the leaves in her path.

Under the cover of night, with her heavy coat and a thick scarf wrapped around her neck, I could barely see her face.

I grinned and wrapped my arm around her shoulders. “Moose Lake was never much for streetlights.”

“Now, now,” she teased. “We have two on Main Street now as well as another in front of the station. And,” she added, holding a finger up in the air, “The Loose Moose never turns off its outside light.”

“I’m pretty sure Miller, Maxine, and the guys are already there,” I mused.

She shivered.

“Are you nervous?”

“A bit?” She dipped her chin. “What happened, you not knowing about Corwin, that makes me look really bad.”

“They all know it was me, Maggie. Nobody blames you.” I squeezed her closer. “We’re going to have fun tonight. Have you met John and Eric’s wives?”

“Julie is a teacher at the school. I haven’t met John’s wife Vera yet, but Maxine says she’s great.”

I pulled open the heavy door to The Loose Moose and ushered Maggie in ahead of me as a cheer rose from the table closest to the bar.

Maggie laughed, looking up at me with bright eyes as she unwound her scarf and plucked at the buttons on her coat.

Smirking, I shook my head. “I love them but they’re like kids.”

“Maybe they’re doing it right,” she mused.

A curvaceous blond rose and bustled around the table to offer Maggie a hug. “I’m Vera. I’ve heard so much about you!”

Maggie laughed lightly, taking half a step back to take her in before looking to John. “How did your grumpy butt land this ray of sunshine?”

He grinned. “Do you really want to know?”

“John,” Vera snapped, her cheeks blooming. Rolling her eyes, she turned back to Maggie and whispered, “I mean, he’s not wrong.”

“I heard that,” he crowed.

Maggie laughed and slid into a chair beside Vera. Maxine made John and Eric move so she and Julie could squish in beside them.

I drew in a shaky breath.

I used to dream of this. Maggie and me, our friends, our town.

Conversation flowed while the beer and wings kept coming until the table was near overflowing with bottles and glasses and napkins.

I flagged down the waitress, a woman I didn’t recognize. “Can we please get some of this cleared away?”

“Absolutely,” she nodded, jerking her chin toward the kitchen before flouncing off. “The kitchen’s that way.”

Incredulous, I turned to look at Miller, John, and Eric to find them clutching their guts.

I raised my hands to the sides. “What the fuck?”

“You haven’t earned Gertie’s respect yet,” Miller advised me.

John wagged his eyebrows. “I suggest you start clearing the table.”

Just then, Eric caught sight of someone across the restaurant and whistled sharply, jerking his chin up and gesturing for them to come over.

Maggie turned around, the tension racketing off her body causing the hairs on my arms to rise.

That violent urge to escape flared in my chest as I followed Maggie’s line of sight to find Jenny seated at a table in the back.

A large man sat across from her, half-shielding her from our view.

Jenny’s wide, blue eyes flitted over our group, her palm rising as she offered a shaky smile and waved Eric off.

The man seated in front of her turned to face us, scowling and half rising from his seat when he met my eyes.

I winced, and my stomach plummeted.

He probably felt for me what Maggie felt for Jenny.

I couldn’t believe I would cheat on Maggie, I couldn’t have. That was the part I’d never been able to reconcile.

Did Maggie notice Deacon’s reaction?

It wasn’t fair of me to keep the truth from Maggie, to tether her to me with the hope of what might not have happened between me and Jenny that night.

I hazarded a glance at her face.

And something inside me shattered.