Fighting History (Fighting For Love Book 4) (7 page)

“I know it.”

They shared a grin.

“So, the next time I come here in the morning, I should bring you some breakfast?”

“Would you?” she said.

“Of course I will.” Joe laughed again, thinking that she was adorable even when she was behaving like an insane person. “No problem at all.”

Chapter Eleven

Almost two weeks later, Maggie opened the studio door, working hard to stay calm. She was almost dead on her feet and all she wanted to do was crumble. Joe’s stubborn insistence that he come
tonight
to see the completed first sculpture made her want to scream. He'd backed off quite a bit in the past couple of weeks, and she hadn't even seen him since the first day of Yates' trial, but she wasn't looking forward to having him around her when she was so tired and on-edge.

Deep breaths. It’s OK. Just show him, get his feedback, get his ass out of here.

Joe studied Maggie closely, taking her in. She had dark circles under her beautiful eyes and her cheeks had no color in them at all. Even her lips looked gray.

Goddammit, I may have been pushing her too hard to get this done. Maybe it’s too much for her, with all this never-ending shit happening with Reena.

“Come on in,” she said.

He followed her past the tiny kitchen in to her main work area, and he stopped dead. There, in the middle of the room, stood the most stunning, amazing thing he’d ever seen. His breath caught as he took in the curve of the hips, the delicate bracelets surrounding her graceful wrists, her flashing eyes. She was the perfect dancing goddess: elegant but powerful, regal but sexy, airy but all woman. She was exactly how he had imagined her to be, and he felt emotion rising in his chest.

Joe turned to Maggie. She was leaning against the far wall, watching him. Her arms were crossed and she looked shattered beyond belief. He paused.

“Maggie? You OK?”

“Yeah.” She gestured at the apsara. “So is this kind of what you had in mind?”

He looked back at the sculpture. “Not ‘kind of’, Maggie. This is
exactly
what I had in mind. She’s fucking gorgeous. Perfect.”

At his words, Maggie felt quite a bit of tension suddenly just seep out of her body. She’d been up for thirty-six straight hours now to finish the damn thing and she’d barely eaten, and she’d spent hour after hour worrying about her Mom, and about Reena. To make everything more exhausting, she’d spent the last four nights sleeping sitting up in the chair in Rita’s room, wanting to be there when Rita woke up frightened and in pain.

By this point, she was shaky and close to tears, just from the sheer desire to lie down and
sleep
. If Joe had told her to start again from zero, she’d surely have fallen in to a weeping mess on the floor. Also – and she hated to admit this – she was happy that he liked it.

Crap. I actually care what he thinks, separate from making him happy enough to get paid.

“OK, good to hear.” It took a massive effort, but thank God her voice was cool and measured. “So I’ll carry on like this, shall I?” She pushed herself off the wall, then stopped as a dizzy spell hit her. She sagged back again, trying to ignore the spinning.

“Yes, please.” He looked at her again. “Hey, you OK over there?”

“Fine.”

Joe wasn’t so sure. She looked incredibly unsteady on her feet, and her eyes were unfocused. He walked a bit closer. “Maggie?”

“Yeah?” Her voice was weak, wavering.

“Are you really alright?”

“Joe…” Her eyes closed and he lunged forward.

She went down so fast, he almost missed her. Maggie slid down the wall, limp and pale, and he went to his knees and grabbed her shoulders before her head hit the floor. He pulled her up against his chest, touched her cheek. She was freezing cold.

“Fuck, Maggie,” he muttered. “What have you done to yourself, baby?”

He stood up, cradling her in his arms, and walked over to the sofa. He set her down on it and memory washed over him: making love to Maggie right here, her hot and writhing under him as he thrust inside her. God, he still remembered how hard she came that one night, hard enough to shake his whole body with her spasms.

Not now, man. Mind out of the gutter, OK?

He took off his jacket and carefully put it under her head, then he sat down next to her and took her hand.

“Maggie?” He kept his tone low. “Can you hear me?”

She turned her face towards his voice and sighed. His heart jumped to hear that small sound, wishing he could stroke her hair, kiss every freckle on her nose.

“Maggie?”

She opened those astounding eyes now and gazed at him in total confusion. She blinked, looked around.

“What – why am I – what happened?” she said. She tried to sit up and he saw a flash of something cross her face.
Pain? Dizziness?
He reached out and gently eased her back down.

“Hey, stay where you are for a few minutes, OK?” Joe said. “You passed out.”

“I did?”

“Yeah. Are you hurt?”

She closed her eyes again. It made her look strangely soft and vulnerable, and he felt the urge to hold her tight and close.

Mine. She’s mine. I want to take care of her.

Now were the hell did
that
come from?

Ignoring his own thoughts, he held her hand tighter. “Maggie? Do you hurt anywhere?”

“No,” she said and pulled her hand away from him, mortified that he’d seen her like this. Joe Carlisle was the last man on earth who should see her needy and weak, and she had done a fucking nose-dive to the floor right in front of him. “I’m OK now.”

“You sure?” He didn’t move one inch off the sofa. “I think I should take you to the hospital.”

“Forget it.” She sat up again and lowered her feet to the floor. “I have to get back to work.”

“You what?” Joe was stunned. “No way. What you
need
to do is get some sleep. Probably some food, too.”

She gave him a hard look. “You can go now. Thanks for your help.”

“Maggie…”

She got to her feet and blinked as the room swam in front of her for a few seconds. Joe reached out to hold her elbow and she angrily shook him off. “Don’t touch me. I’m totally fine.”

He stood there, watching as she walked over to the kitchen. She poured a glass of water and drank it down, holding tightly to the counter. He saw her whole body shaking with the effort to stay standing.

“Why are you doing this?” he asked softly. “Pushing yourself this hard, hard enough to hurt yourself?”

Her green eyes shot sparks at him even from across the room. “Jesus Christ! Really?”

He nodded.

“Because I have one hell of a tight deadline and some pretty severe penalties if I fail to meet it… you
know
this.” She ran her hands through her tumbled hair and he recognized that as her one real sign of agitation and stress. “I’m under pressure and I haven’t been getting enough rest, I guess. No big thing.”

“Maggie. This is crazy. Just… slow down a bit, OK?”

She made a harsh sound in her throat. “Yeah, you’d
love
it if I failed to deliver on time, huh? You’d like nothing more than deducting ten percent right off the top and then holding final payment over my head, right? Maybe you’d even refuse to give me final acceptance of the project so you could delay payment even longer?”

“My God,” Joe said. “You really think that about me? That I’d do that to you? Play with your professional reputation and livelihood like that?”

She crossed her arms. “Are you
seriously
asking me if I think that you’d cheat me? Manipulate me?” Her lips curled. “
Lie
to me?”

“Maggie…”

“No.” Her tone was clipped, final. “You’re an untrustworthy bastard who uses people, and I don’t want to give you even one reason to have anything on me. I’ll make the deadline, and then I’ll never lay eyes on you ever again.”

Joe stood in the middle of her studio, without a clue what the hell to say to her. It was clear to him that she was in bad shape, and that it wasn’t just physical. She was stretched and strained emotionally, too, on edge and upset, and he was convinced it wasn’t just about the deadlines. When they’d been together, Joe had seen her on crazy-tight deadlines before and she’d never lost it like this.

Is it because it’s
me
that this project is for? Maybe being around me is harder on her than I realized. Or is it Reena? Has something more happened with the case?

“OK,” he said, trying to be soothing but not patronizing. “I’ll go, if that’s what you really want.”

“It is.”

“And you’ll drop by the restaurant tomorrow, alright?”

“What for?”

He gestured at the sculpture. “To talk about the final details for the next apsara.”

Maggie closed her eyes, exhausted at the thought of having to produce three more of the damn things. “OK. Fine. I’ll be there at nine o’clock.”

“It can be later, if you want.”

“Don’t do me any goddamn favors.”

“I’m not.” He ran his hand over the back of his neck, trying to figure out what to do or say that wouldn’t make her angrier. “I’m just – I’m trying to make sure you get some rest.”

“Don’t bother. I’m fine.”

“Actually, I just remembered that I have to meet a supplier tomorrow morning, and then I’ll be out for the rest of the day.” Joe was totally lying, but he didn’t feel the slightest bit guilty about it. “Can you drop by tomorrow night? Maybe around six?”

“Sure,” she sighed. Normally, she’d be at the hospital by then, just settling in next to Rita’s bed for the long night vigil, but showing up an hour later wouldn’t be the end of the world.

“So… you sure you’ll be OK here on your own now, Maggie?”

“I’ll be
awesome
here on my own.”
Because
I’ll
be
here
without
you
.

He paused. “Can I ask you one thing before I go?”

She sighed again, heavily. “If you must.”

“Why won’t you say my name?”

She looked up at him sharply. “What?”

“I’d kind of noticed something was weird, of course, but it didn’t really hit me until tonight… when you passed out and fell was the first time that you’ve said my name since walking in to my restaurant to take the commission.” He shrugged. “Why won’t you say my name?”

Maggie regarded him in disbelief. “Are you fucking
serious
?”

He held her gaze. “You really despise me that much?” he asked softly. “So much that you can’t even… I don’t know… see me a person?”

She was stricken mute by the pain in his voice, and for a few seconds she actually wavered. She
hated
being this person;
hated
being so cold and bitchy and unforgiving all the time. It was hard on her, harder than she’d thought it would be. Maggie hadn’t fully realized what an effort it was going to be to maintain her level of anger at and hatred for Joe. It was exhausting, she suddenly saw, and she didn’t have a lot of extra energy.

Maybe
this
is what Reena was talking about? Not forgiving, not forgetting, but letting go of the rage? Making room for other things to come in to my life… because God knows, my anger at him is so huge, it’s blocking out everything else.

Joe was still standing there, waiting for some kind of answer, and Maggie honestly didn’t know what to say to him. But she had to say
something
, she saw now. Things couldn’t go on the way that they had been.

“I – I…” She fell silent.

“What? Maggie, what?”

“I don’t hate you.” Her voice was so low, he had to strain a bit to hear it. “Not anymore.”

“You don’t?”

“No. I hate that I have to work with you, hate that I had to take this job… but I don’t hate
you
.”

That
interested Joe, very much. “So – you took this commission because you had no choice?”

She stared back. “None whatsoever. If I’d had any other option besides this one, I’d have grabbed it. Believe me.”

“Your back is against the wall somehow?” He found himself worrying about her suddenly. If she’d taken the work with him because she needed money, then she must need it badly and fast. “You in trouble?”

“Not me.”

Joe tensed up. “What’s going on, sweetness?”

The endearment that she had once loved so much slipped from his mouth before he could stop it, and her anger flared again. He felt his heart sink as the tentative, gentle thaw between them ended, and the temperature in the studio returned to a harsh sub-zero.

“None of your fucking business,
Joe
.” She spat out his name and he flinched. “So if you’re done with the Q and A, maybe you’ll let me get back to work?”

“Maggie….”

“No.” She shook her beautiful head. “You came over to approve the first sculpture and you did. I’ll come to the restaurant tomorrow and we’ll discuss the next part of the commission. Until then, we have nothing more to say to each other.”

Chapter Twelve

Nick glanced at the clock on the wall of The Rock Fighting Club and blinked. It was after seven o’clock, and he was supposed to be at Mia’s right now for dinner.

Shit. I lost track of time again.

He walked down to his office, limping a bit on his sore leg, and grabbed his cell. Sure enough, he’d missed two calls from Mia. He called her back, wondering if he’d have time to jump in the shower before heading over to her place.

“Nick?”

“Yeah, angel, it’s me. Sorry, I’m running late at The Rock.”

She was silent.

“Mia?”

“Yeah. You know what? Grant is actually in town one day early… I think I’ll meet him for a drink tonight.”

Nick blinked. “Grant?”

“Yeah. The guy I worked with in Hong Kong, when I was there researching sex trafficking in Asia.”

“Oh, right. Yeah. I forgot he was coming.”

“He managed to get an earlier flight to the States, so he’s here now. He called and asked to meet up, but I said no because you were supposed to come over.”

“I
am
coming over, Mia,” Nick said. “Just late.”

“Well, it’s OK. I know you’ll want to take a shower and stuff, and by the time you get here, it’ll be after eight and dinner is ruined anyway. So just go home, OK? I’ll see you this weekend, maybe.”

“
Maybe
?” Nick didn’t like the way this conversation was going at all. “What’s going on, Mia? You OK?”

“Oh, I’m fine. I’ve been sitting here for an hour waiting for you, but I’m fine. So you finish doing whatever it is you’re up to, and I’ll meet Grant and do some sightseeing with him over the next few days. Let me know if you want to come over at the weekend.”

“Mia…”

“Goodnight, Nick.” She hung up.

He was standing there, feeling like he should rush over to her place, when he heard a noise. He looked up to see Adam standing there, his blue eyes hard and knowing.

“You forget about meeting her again?”

“I didn’t
forget
,” Nick protested. “I was just running late.”

“Uh-huh.” Adam narrowed his eyes at his friend. “What the fuck are you doing, man?”

“About what?”

“About Mia.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Oh, don’t you? Try
this
on for size then: you’re always ‘running late’ on nights when you’re supposed to meet up. You won’t move in with her. You won’t commit to anything more, even though you know that’s what she wants.”

“Adam…”

“No, shut the hell up. When I think how you were when you thought you’d lost her, after she was beaten up and caught you kissing that woman? You were a fucking wreck, man. Like, a total walking disaster. And now you’ve got her, and you’re treating the relationship like it’s casual.
Is
it casual?”

“No.” Nick’s gray eyes were angry. “It’s the farthest thing in the world from casual.”

“Then what’s the deal?”

“No deal, man.” Nick turned his back on Adam. “Things here have been really busy, as you know, and I just lost track of time. That’s all.”

“Nick…”

“No. Leave it. I’m wiped out.” Nick shrugged on his jean jacket. “I’m going home.”

“Not to Mia’s?”

“Nope. Seems she’s going to meet some guy named Grant for a drink.”

That made Adam stop. “What, like a date?”

“No, they’re just friends.” Nick tried to act like he didn’t give a crap, but Adam had known him for over a decade, and nothing got past the guy. “From her time in Hong Kong.”

“Oh, Nick,” Adam said quietly. “No, man. Don’t let this start to happen.”

“What?” Nick said, even though he knew damn good and well what Adam was talking about.

“Don’t blow her off and then watch her go for drinks with other guys.”

“You saying Mia’s going to cheat on me?”

“No way. Never. But if some other guy starts paying attention to her and making time for her, and you’re MIA all the time? Don’t be surprised if she decides that the other guy wants her more.”

“
Nobody
could ever want Mia more than I do.”

“Then
act
like it, you asshole.”

“OK, coach, good talk. Thanks.” Nick shook his dark head. “Mia and I are
fine
, Adam, I promise. Don’t worry about it.”

“Well, I kind of feel like one of us should worry about it, man.”

“Look, you’re not wrong. I’ve been… wrapped up in some things lately. I get that. I’ll talk to her about it. Clear the air.”

Adam studied his friend, saw him limping again. He’d already asked Nick about what had happened, and Nick had given him some vague story about a new karate student hauling back and kicking him by accident.

But something about Nick’s face when he’d said that – Adam hadn’t believed him, and it was one more thing that Adam was sure his friend wasn’t being totally honest about.

“Yeah?” Adam said. “You’re really going to talk to Mia?”

“Yeah.” Nick turned off his office lights. “I’ll make it right. Soon.”

**

Mia stared at Grant, her glass of wine frozen in mid-air. “Really?”

“Yep.” Grant Bishop grinned at her, his green eyes bright. “A sweet offer, huh?”

“God, yeah.” Mia took a big gulp of wine. “But how long would I be in Thailand?”

“Four months at least, collecting the material.”

She coughed. “Four months?”

“Yeah. It’s full-on and in-depth, Mia. It’s a series of three books about sex trafficking in the country, and all your research would have to be first-hand and current.”

“But… that’s a long time.”

“Well, sure. I guess so. Do you have something holding you here?”

“Someone.”

“Ah.” Grant looked at her. “And you don’t want to leave him. It’s that serious?”

“Yeah. I mean – yeah.”

Grant both heard and saw her hesitation. “You’re not sure?”

Mia squirmed. “We’re just… we’re going through something right now.”

“Bad?”

“No. I don’t think so. We just need to talk a few things through.”

“Maybe he’d come with you?” Grant suggested.

“Oh, no. Nick’s got a business here in Denver. He and his friend run a gym and training centre called The Rock. Since they started to sponsor Mitch Corrigan and he’s been doing their PR and promotion, the gym is becoming more and more popular, and Nick’s schedule and workload are getting increasingly insane. No way he can leave Adam alone to run the whole business even for a few months. Not right now.”

“So your answer’s no?” Grant drank his beer. “You won’t take the job?”

“My answer’s no, Grant. But thank you…it’s an incredible offer.”

“That’s OK, Mia. When it came up, you were the first person I thought of. The
only
person, actually.”

Mia smiled, and changed the subject. But the idea was planted in her mind now… and like a seed, it started to grow.