She gave him a slow, gut-punch of a grin and shook her head. “Nope. Are you?” She reached up and slapped her hand to his brow. “You feel kind of warm. Maybe you should take the rest of the day off.”
With that, she reached into the shower and turned on the water.
He returned to the bedroom and waited for her on the bed, wondering if giving Maggie Nichols time and space to think was the worst thing he could have done. But when she opened the door, fresh-faced and smiling, he forgot what it was he’d been worrying about.
She dropped the towel to the floor, and he forgot his own damn name.
Silas awoke sometime later, thoroughly confused as to the day and time. And what had rendered him unconscious. Then he remembered naked, wet-from-the-shower Maggie. Who, after rocking his world in the middle of the afternoon, had disappeared from bed.
He found her in conversation with Veronica, the plaster master—as she’d been dubbed by Jim’s crew—in the sitting room. The mess of soggy plaster and ruined carpet had been hauled out that morning shortly after Silas kidnapped her.
“Like I said, it’s a real good thing this happened when it did,” Veronica said to Maggie. “It made the plumber open the wall up there to check the old couplings, and he found another bad one. Would have been a whole lot worse.”
“I’m glad it played out this way,” Maggie agreed.
“Should have this patched and repainted in two days. Carpet guys are already scheduled for the day after that.”
“I appreciate it,” Maggie said.
“Forgot your shirt there, Sy?” Veronica smirked at him in the doorway.
He glanced down and realized he was wearing only shorts. Unzipped ones at that. He turned away from them and zipped his fly.
Veronica winked at him on her way out. “Looks like you had a nice afternoon.”
Maggie reached up to brush a hand over his hair. “You look exactly like you just had sex,” she observed.
“I did just have sex. Why did you leave?”
“I had a few things to catch up on, and you were so cute snoring—”
“I do not snore,” he said, offended.
“Okay. You were so cute whistling through your nose I didn’t want to disturb you.”
“So you’re not mad anymore? About this.” He pointed at the ceiling. “About me kidnapping you and forcing you onto the river?”
She cupped his cheek and gave it a gentle pat. “Why would I be mad about that? It gave me a lot of time to think about a lot of things.”
That had been the point. But now he was wondering if he’d overplayed his hand.
“So everything’s fine?” he asked warily.
She nodded, looking thoughtful. “I really think it’s going to be.” She gave him another pat and then headed for the staircase. “Dean?” she called.
“Maggie?” Dean yelled back from what sounded like the third floor.
“Marco!”
“Polo!”
Silas chased Maggie up the stairs, and Dean met them on the landing.
“I need to put a GPS tracker on you in this damn house,” he complained. “It’s like a continent.”
“Before you say anything, I know I missed the call with the paint people,” she began.
Dean waved it away. “Forget about it. I took the call, listened to their demands, and then I exercised our right to cancel the contract.”
Silas saw Maggie’s eyebrows skyrocket. “I’m sorry. Did you say you canceled the contract?” She looked shocked but not outraged.
“They were too nitpicky with their demands. They can’t glue strings to you and play you like a puppet. It’s not authentic. Plus they pissed me off. So we’re out some advertising dollars. But we don’t have to jump through any damn hoops anymore. I think it was worth it. But you can yell at me if it’ll make you feel better.”
Silas watched as Maggie threw her arms around Dean. “Thank you,” she said. “Thank you for getting me and having my back.”
“I also had a talk with Cody about keeping his word and not impregnating girls, especially after he recently managed to gain their parents’ respect.”
“I helped with that,” Silas said, wanting his credit.
Maggie peeked over Dean’s shoulder at Silas and reached for him. She pulled him in for a group hug. “Thank you both for getting me and having my back.”
“What did he do?” Dean wanted to know.
“I kidnapped her and threw her in the river,” Silas said.