Games We Play (5 page)

Inside the resta
urant they were greeted by the s
ound of lively country music and happy customers chatting away. The hostess grabbed two menus and walked them over to a booth. “You two aren’t familiar, new to town?” she asked with a big smile that added to her bursting curiosity.

Show time. “Sort of,” Sasha began. “I grew up here and left after my parents suffered a tragedy. I’m Maggie Walker and this is my husband Connor.” She made sure her words were soft and still carried some of that Texas twang she had gotten ride of over the years Maggie might still have today.

The woman, who Sasha didn’t recognize, went still as she thought the name over. “I remember hearing something about that. I’m glad you’ve decided to return.” Her big smile returned. “Your waitress will be here over soon. Enjoy your stay.”

Sasha let out the breath she had been holding. “That wasn’t too bad.”

“You did good and didn’t even choke on saying husband.”

“I pictured Brad Pitt in your place.”

He let out a big laugh that fit right in with the crowd around them. “That was a good one.”

“This marriage needed some humor. Let’s figure out what we’re
ordering
.”

“A grill in Texas, the only respectable option is a big juicy steak.”  

“I don’t like eating anything that might wink at me.” Bloody rare meat made her want to vomit.

“There is such a thing as well done.”

“No thanks. Chicken is my go-to take out meal. You can’t really screw it up.”

“I beg to differ. My sister Emily can butcher any type of meal, even a simple can of corn.”

It was Sasha’s turn to let out a big laugh. “You can’t be serious.”

“We were barbequing a few years ago and she thought it’d be easier to put the can of corn on the grill instead of heating it in a pot. It exploded straight up into the air and took out one of the front windows. “

“Wow. A corn-by shooting.”

They put a lid on their laughter when the waitress came over to take their order. She was a young girl who looked to still be in high school.  She reminded Sasha of the odd jobs she had taken to save up to leave town. The very last day of high school she packed up her car and never looked back. There was a stab of jealously when she heard Nick talk about his family. They sounded amazing even if he could be a pain in the ass.

When the food arrived it was set on a huge glass platter loaded with twice the serving amount big city restaurants would serve. Nick was excited to dig in and she wondered if he had eaten anything before their flight. The wonderful smells coming from her roasted chicken breast and baked potatoes reminded her during all the rushing to pack her stomach remained empty. The servings were extra large but by the end of it both their plates stood empty.

“I didn’t think you could fit it all.” Nick eyed her empty plate then looked toward her stomach. “Where did you fit it?”

“I have a secret compartment. You on the other hand look ready to pop.” It wasn’t true, he looked like he could get up and run ten miles without breaking a sweat. He was in perfect shape that way. “Are you ready to go now?”

“And skip dessert? No way, babe.” Just like that he got her stomach to twist back into a knot with nervousness. She knew it was apart of his act as her pretend husband but nonetheless the way he tossed
babe
out there with easy going affection caused an unwanted reaction somewhere near where her heart might be.

She grabbed the dessert menu off the table to help conceal any reaction lingering on her face. “I guess you’re right.”

“I’m always right.”

“I wouldn’t go that far Ni—honey. Have you decided on something?”

“Cheesecake every time. You?”

She searched for something containing the most chocolate. In the end she settled on a triple hot fudge sundae with chocolate ice cream. Like with dinner she ate every last bite and left nothing to go to the wayside. She wasn’t sure if she was still hungry or just unbelievably nervous to keep up the act with no more screw ups.

As they left the booth Nick’s arm again went around her waist. “Let’s take a walk and burn off some of these calories.” Buyer’s remorse was setting in. With a shrug of her shoulders she agreed. Sasha stood back like the doting wife she was impersonating while Nick paid the bill and thanked their waitress with a smile that had the young girl blushing. “This was nice.” He said as they stepped outside.

“It wasn’t bad. I think we got a lot of exposure.” The hostess was a busybody that would gossip about the familiar yet unknown couple she served and the townsfolk in and out of the grill had showed them some attention too. “There’s a nice pier up this way overlooking the beach.”

He laced their fingers together as they walked and she this time she managed not to tense up. “This is a nice place. From all your grimaces back home I was expecting something pretty bad.”

It didn’t surprise her he had noticed her sour reactions. He was trained to pick up on the smallest of clues. “Everywhere has its own charm. Where are you originally from?” they were careful not to be overheard.

“I was born and raised in DC. How’d you settle on it?”

“I always knew what I wanted to do for a living and went straight for it.” Again she was careful for any prying ears that might be listening as they walked past several different people on their way to the pier. The letters FBI was the last thing she wanted to be caught saying in front of the wrong people. Until this was all over the FBI ceased to exist.

He let go of her hand and pulled her close to his side, wrapping his arm around her waist like he had in the restaurant. “That must be what Pete likes about you so much; your dedication.”

Sasha had thought they were doing a good job at being careful with their words and not being overheard but apparently Nick didn’t agree and wanted them to stand closer. Whatever his reason he was really good at this, she thought, he didn’t seem tense at all having to play the husband to her wife. Silently she wished it could be that easy for her.

Chapter 6

He couldn’t believe what he was hearing that beautiful morning. The two old broads in the booth behind him were talking about how Maggie Walker was back in Maple Oaks. Hmm, he had thought she went and hid somewhere deep and far to escape his grasp. In his opinion it was pretty fucking stupid to come back here, did she fool herself into thinking it was safe?

He lowered his newspaper and paid closer attention to the women blabbering on with disbelief over what apparently one of the woman’s nieces saw last night at the grill.

“She was all grown up with a husband on her arm that Macy just thought was gorgeous. She sounds happy and this is such a lovely town but if you were her would you come back?” the older of the two women asked and it was a question plaguing his very mind.

“I don’t know but it sure is good to know she turned out ok. I can’t believe there was a monster like that in our town.”

He smirked, these old fools has no idea how close the monster was. It felt
good
to be back at the scene of his first thrill, there was nothing like your first time and everywhere he looked reminded him of that faithful day. His smirk shifted into a warm smile as he thought about how little Maggie May Walker could help him recapture that first time all over again.

He paid for his breakfast and left the diner with a mission to find out more about the little girl he should’ve never let go. He had a lot of work to do in town but what was a little catching up between friends? With
two
down and
five
to go she’d fit in perfectly to his plans. Feeling happier than he had in awhile he left his car parked and went for a walk.

With each step he let his memories replay over about that faithful night. The blood had been so warm. Thinking about it sent shiver of pleasure up and down his
spine. Before arriving back in M
aple Oaks he questioned if it was the best idea but now with Maggie back he was taking it as a sign. He was on the perfect track.

~*~

Sasha was in for a pleasant or maybe not so pleasant surprise that following morning. It was all depending on how you looked at it, she mused, as her head cocked to the side and studied the image before her at a better angle. Finding Nicholas stretched out nearly naked on the couch was probably a fantasy to a lot of women, certainly every woman who had ever
l
aid eyes on the man and yet Sasha wasn’t feeling so lucky. Nick wasn’t just a walking wet dream she was encountering in the flesh, he was her partner and more than that he was the thorn
y
pain in the ass she had been working with over a year. He saw her like one of the guys and never treated her as a member of the opposite sex and she didn’t want
him
to start either. Their relationship-while annoying and frustrating a lot of the times- worked best for them. Adding attraction just made it messy. 

With a shake of her head she mentally told her feet to get moving but…her eyes were controlling the situation and they were glued to the hard lines of Nick’s chest. With every inhale of breath his abdomen defined into perfection guys were killing themselves at the gym that very moment to gain. Nick wasn’t a bulky man, he was lean and hard from the exercises at Quantico and the training to keep in shape that their demanding job called for.

With another shake of her head she got her feet moving and made it to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee. As the coffee dripped into filling the pot she moved to the refrigerator to find something to partner the beverage. Inside the fridge she found bare essentials like eggs, milk, and bread, but not much else. “This isn’t gonna work.” She moved around the kitchen and found the cabinets fared no better. She left the kitchen and went back upstairs to her room to grab a notepad and pen.

Nick was waking up when she made her way back downstairs. “I smell coffee. There isn’t much to go with it besides toast.”

“I just saw that. I’m making a list of what I want to get, feel free to add to it.” She spoke on her way to the kitchen and didn’t stop at the risk of
her eyes dropping far too low.

“I’ll do that after I wash up.”

Sasha sat at the kitchen counter and started to make her list. She liked quick food that didn’t entail a whole lost of fuss.

It didn’t take long for Nick to join her in the kitchen and appear at her side where he read over her list. “TV dinners, hot-pockets, chips? You can’t be serious.”

“What?” she quickly went on the defensive. “I’m not here to play Susie Homemaker and I like this stuff that’s fast to fill you up.”

“It’s disgusting over processed food.”

With a sigh she turned in her stool to look at him and wish she hadn’t. The bastard hasn’t put a shirt on. She found his eyes and tried to stay there except damn it his eyes weren’t any safer to look for her racing heart rate. “Are you some sort of health nut? I knew there was a reason I didn’t like you.” She left her seat and went right for the coffee pot.

“You have something against people that try to eat right? You know what forget it. I feel a fight coming on and it’s too early to argue. You buy whatever you want and I’ll buy whatever I want.”

“Fine, that’s fair. We can go shopping after you get ready.” She had already changed out of her PJ’s before coming down to start the coffee. 

“You got it.”

At the supermarket they had to keep up their roles as the newlyweds. It would’ve been easier for them to each grab a cart and get their own things but seeing as how that was suspicious she instead followed as he went through the produce area and grabbed things that made her cringe while never understanding the appeal of lettuce. It was watery with a weird taste.

“Oh my gosh!”

Sasha turned to face the overjoyed woman. Son of a bitch, before she could think of a way to handle this Stacy Fern was pulling her into a hug. She tried to think back to all the days at school, were Maggie and Stacy friends? Hell if she knew but she was damn sure Sasha Madden was never a friend of Stacy’s and to have the woman touching her now made her skin crawl. “Stacy, hi.” She plastered on her best smile.

“It’s been forever. I heard Ma
cy mentioning you earlier today but I thought she was just being an idiot. You’re really here.”

“Yeah, it’s me.” Stacy’s brown eyes were wide with disbelief as she looked over the woman in front of her. She wouldn’t think to doubt she wasn’t looking at Maggie, twenty years had passed and people change
d
. The Maggie Stacy remembered was a child, so was Sasha for that matter. The last time she had seen Stacy was during high school graduation but even so she had been green around the edges and withdrawn. It wasn’t until she headed to Washington she shredded the little girl she had been. Adding to the misery of facing her tormentor Nick appeared at her side. “Stacy
,
this is my husband Connor. Honey, this is Stacy Fern, we used to go to grade school together.”

Stacy’s eyes lit up for a new reason. If there was anything she liked more than gossip it was men and judging by the look in her eyes that hadn’t changed in the last eleven years. “Nice to meet you. Maggie, you sure snagged a good one.”