CHAPTER FIFTEEN: MAGGIE
“So, tell me, how was it?” Jackie barely gave me time to get in the door and get my coat off before she started pelting me with questions.
“How was what?” Jimmy asked. My fifteen-year-old brother was sitting on the couch with his feet on the coffee table and a game controller in his hand.
Robbie, seventeen, was slouched next to him with the other controller between his hands, his thumbs furiously working the levers.
“The sex, you moron,” Robbie said without taking his eyes off the game. “Mags has spent the last two days boning a rich mountain man.”
“Oh, that,” Jimmy said. He shrugged and went back to the game.
“Seriously, Jacks?” I growled at her. “How could you tell them?’
“I didn’t tell them you were boning a rich mountain man,” she said. “I just said you were snowed in with your hot new boss, who happened to be a rich mountain man. They’re teenage boys. They figured the rest out on their own.”
“Whatever!” I walked down the hall to my bedroom with Jackie close at my heels. She closed the bedroom door and watched as I got out of the clothes I’d been wearing for two days.
“Well, you don’t look any different,” she said, eyeing my naked body as I searched the drawer for a fresh pair of panties. “How do you feel?”
I pulled on the underwear, picked a t-shirt from the drawer and pulled it over my head. I tried not to sound like a giddy schoolgirl. I failed miserably. My lips spread into a broad grin that I didn’t think would ever go away.
“It was amazing!”
I did a little happy dance as she squealed and clapped for the loss of my virginity. I held out my hands and she grabbed them.
“Honestly, Jacks, I had no idea what I’d been missing. I mean, oh my God, we did it in every room, in every position, in every!”
“Hole?’, Jackie ask. I gave her a smile.
“Oh you little whore! I love it!”
I squealed again.
“I’m glad you had so much fun,” she said, laughing at how animated I was. “I’m truly happy for you, Mags. So, you’re still going to cook for him?”
“Of course,” I said, picking up a pair of jeans from the floor and giving them a sniff to see if they were clean enough to wear one more time. They didn’t totally reek, so I tugged them on and went into the bathroom to wash my face.
Jackie tagged along. She sat on the toilet and watched me cover my face in cold cream. She was quiet for a moment, so I glanced over at her. She was biting her thumbnail. Jackie only bit her thumb nail when something was wrong.
“Jacks? What is it?”
She looked at me and sighed. “I hate to ruin your party, but I have some bad news for you.”
“Hang on a sec.” I wet the wash cloth and scrubbed the cream from my skin, then rinsed off the rest with warm water. I picked up a towel to dry my face and sat on the edge of the tub to face her. “Now, what are you talking about?”
“You know Ted. The City Councilman I date sometimes?”
I huffed at her. “Ted Reed. The blowjob king of Mountain View. Yah what about him?”
“Shut up.” She grinned, but it quickly faded. “Remember the other day when I told you that Ted told me that some big developer was looking to buy property downtown to put up a hotel and resort?”
“I do remember,” I said. “You said the council was going to vote on enforcing imminent domain to force the people to sell and I said it would never happen.”
Her head bobbed. “Well, it’s happening. The developer is in town today to sign some letter with the city. Between you and me, I think they are paying Ted and the mayor under the table to help them seal the deal.”
“The people aren’t going to stand for that,” I said. I felt a little chill creeping up my spine. I put a hand on her arm so she’d look up at me. “Jacks, what property downtown are they after?”
“The whole city block where Roberts’ Steakhouse and six other businesses sit,” she said. “They want to knock everything down and put up the new place before next tourist season.”
“I asked Carl about it the other day, but he said they were just rumors,” I said. “He said they’d never sell. They’ve owned the place for thirty years.”
“They may not have a choice,” Jackie said, her head turning slowly from side to side. “According to Ted, by this afternoon, it’s a done deal.”
“By this afternoon?”
“Ted and the mayor meet with the developer today.” She glanced at her watch. “They’re probably at City Hall right now.”
Holy crap, why didn’t I see it before? This was the business meeting Tyler was alluding to.
Why else would a billionaire like Tyler Jenner build a luxury cabin overlooking a dinky little town like Mountain View?
Why else would he take an interest in the antique shops and restaurants on Main Street?
The out-of-town developer that was going to destroy my little hometown and put up a tourist-trap hotel was the man I thought I was falling for.