“Excuse me?” Her head swung up and he caught sight of the fire burning in her eyes. Uh oh. “Did you seriously just suggest I am your whore?”
“Not my words.”
“But they’ll do, right?” She stalked to the door and opened it. “You bastard. If you think anything I’ve done was for money then you don’t know me at all. I do not need your money or anything else. Now I said get out and I meant it.”
Tucker tamped the urge to keep going. He’d gone way past the point of no return. He glanced down at the jewelry box still sitting on her desk.
“What is that?” she asked.
“Nothing,” he answered. “Nothing at all.” Tucker grabbed his clothes and put them on without another word. He couldn’t look at her for another second because it hurt too fucking much. His beautiful, sweet loving Maggie had betrayed him and the reality of that was more than he could bear. He walked through the door without looking at her again and slammed it shut behind him. Better to end it now before either one of them did anything more stupid.
Like confess.
Chapter Fifteen
Maggie stared at the closed door for a few seconds before she crumpled to the ground and let the tears fall at will. This wasn’t at all what she’d expected. Confessions of love to accusations of betrayal all in one day. It made her head spin.
Why had she ever thought a memoir a good idea? Despite the brief bout of infamy with the media she doubted they cared enough to read a whole book. Her life simply wasn’t that interesting. High school student to college student to college professor and wife. Her marriage may have been a sham but did anyone care but her? Unlikely.
She’d been a damn fool from the moment her life had exploded. Between thinking that a tell all book would shock the world to believing that Tucker was falling in love with her as much as she with him. As if people like them lived happily ever after.
More soaking wet tears tracked down her face. There was so much she didn’t understand. In a way she’d lead a fairly sheltered life. Wonderful, if absentee parents who spent their lives giving to others gave her a solid relationship foundation to follow, yet her life had ended up nothing like theirs. She’d married out of a sense of duty to keep her career on the right track and a desire to finally get rid of her stupid virginity. It didn’t help that she’d falsely convinced herself that she was in love with him. That fairy tale came to a screeching halt during the honeymoon when her brand new husband informed her their marriage had been one of convenience not love. Her virginity had stayed intact until the night she found her husband in bed with a man. The first of many to come.
He’d encouraged her to find someone to take care of her needs and she’d done precisely that. Twice. Maggie hated thinking about her ex. But there were no other men between him and Tucker that had meant anything to her. They’d merely scratched an itch.
She sighed and pushed herself off the floor. Lying in a pool of her tears wasn’t going to get her past this. The best thing she could do was clean up and move on. Starting with the stupid book that wasn’t ever going to happen in the first place. She moved to the desk to find and hit the delete key when she spied the box she’d seen Tucker holding. What the hell was it?
She picked it up and tried to calm her shaking stomach. She had a sinking feeling she wasn’t going to like what she found inside. Steeling herself for the worst, she opened the lid and gasped. Nestled on the dark velvet sat a gorgeous silver chain-link necklace.
Was this—?
Then she saw the clasp. It was a small, handcrafted lock with a key sticking out of the end. Oh. My. God. Her hand flew to her mouth as fresh sobs tore from her throat and dissolved quickly into a torrent of uncontrollable tears that couldn’t be stopped. She sat down on the chair and let them flow. For everything that had happened to her since she’d left her childhood behind to the grievous loss of Tucker in a blinding lack of trust. Everything she’d ever wanted had been decimated.
A long time passed before Maggie thought about moving. From her vantage point she noticed the sun shining bright outside. Where was the snow now when she preferred the gloom and doom to the golden glow of the sun?
What was she supposed to do now? When her world fell apart two months ago she’d immediately planned her retreat. She’d come back home, to gather her wits and do some writing until the media frenzy cooled. Every day that passed took her further away from her old life as she concentrated on her writing.
Then hurricane Tucker had struck and her world had turned upside down again. Had it only been a week? She found that hard to believe. When she left here she might leave with regrets but she would never forget her first Dom.