Jack had been acting super weird ever since he had met Maggie for lunch at the diner, and now he was quiet on the ride back home. 

She asked him what was wrong, and he shook his head. 

“Jack, what happened after I left you at the courthouse? One second we were kissing, an hour later you were silent as stone at lunch. Talk to me.”

There was no aw shucks crooked grin or eye crinkle. Something was serious. Awfully serious. 

“I got some bad news, Maggie.”

“I could tell. Spill those beans, please.”

He took a deep breath and kept his eyes on the road. Still, she bored into him with her eyes. She wanted to judge the seriousness of the situation by his expression. She hated that he was so stressed about something. She didn’t want him feeling stressed, ever. 

“Couple of things happened. I looked into the protection order, and it turns out that not only am I not supposed to come within 300 feet of Chet Easley until the hearing, but I ran into a prosecutor there who said Chet is also going to press assault charges against me.”

She took a deep breath and sighed. If that was all, there was nothing to worry about. She had witnessed every altercation in which Jack had lost his temper, and all of those incidents had been directly provoked. She would fight for him. They would fight these charges together.

But there was more.

“And in the clerk’s office, I also had a run-in with that lawyer of Chet’s.”

“Oh god, you didn’t clock him again, did you?”

“No,” he said, failing to see the humor she was laying down. “Chet’s suing me.”

“What an asshole. Well, the judge will have to throw it out. It’s ridiculous.”

Jack didn’t say anything else the rest of the ride home. Maggie could hardly blame him. He had just received a lot of bad news and was needing some space to mull it over. She let him be in his silence, despite it making her a little crazy.

She was a talker. She liked to talk. She wanted to hash it all out and come up with a plan. But the vibes she was getting off Jack were that he just needed to be in his own head. And why shouldn’t he? He was a grown-ass man who had made quite a nice life for himself on his own this far. He probably already had ideas on what to do next. 

But when Jack’s silence extended all the way through mucking the stables all afternoon, Maggie grew from concerned to scared. 

After showering, Maggie threw herself into cooking dinner while Jack took Rolo out to walk the fence-lines. Watching the shape of her man on a horse, riding away, made her heart skip a beat but also yearn for his return. 

Silly girl, she thought, as she heated up the olive oil in the pan on the stove. He’ll be back in an hour. After he eats his dinner he’ll feel better and then later, we can eat dessert off each other. 

Despite the bad news they’d received today, and despite Jack’s bad mood all afternoon, Maggie was giddy. 

She was getting married. She had found her safe place and it had turned out to be in the literal same safe place she had known her whole life. 

Pork chops in the oven, she started improvising a cheese sauce to go with asparagus she’d picked from the small vegetable patch that was fenced off from the pasture. 

Destiny had a way of working itself out, and it had barely been a month since she’d crawled back to Middleburg with her tail between her legs. It wouldn’t be easy fighting off Chet and his fancy lawyers. It would be quite a first challenge of their union. But that’s marriage, right? If they could get through this, they could get through anything.

And once all this nonsense goes away, maybe we can take a honeymoon. They’d probably be broke after this, and Lord knows it was hard to find help you could trust when you needed to leave your farm so you could travel. But that was far into the future, and none of that mattered anyway. 

Chops, asparagus, side salad, and hasselback potatoes were all piping hot and ready, barely leaving room for beverages on the small kitchen table. There was a pint of ice cream in the freezer for later. Maggie wasn’t much of a baker, so she hoped he didn’t mind dessert being an afterthought for the rest of their married life.

She poured some wine for her and chilled Jack’s bottle of Bud in the freezer. 

Sipping her glass of wine at the kitchen table as she waited, she fantasized about what life might look like while she was barefoot and pregnant, learning how to make biscuits for her man in this farmhouse kitchen that she loved so well. The idea never thrilled her before, but what a difference love could make. 

* * *

Jack eyed the breech in the fence where he suspected a fox had gotten through at some point today. He’d have to watch the chickens extra carefully. Maybe best to sell off the chickens. He knew it would break Maggie’s heart to let go of the hens, but they would fetch a good price and he was going to need money for lawyers. 

Lawyers on several fronts. 

And that was another thing. Could he drag Maggie into this mess? She didn’t deserve to start out her life being hobbled by legal troubles. She was still young and free, and deserved to be living it up in the city, finding her niche, finding a use for her art history degree—or whatever weird thing she was good at. True, she was really good with the animals. 

Jack knew, though, she was too good for him. 

He was going to have to let her go. It wasn’t fair to her, neither to start out a marriage with trouble, nor to ask her to wait until the trouble was over. She should be in Paris or some other place, absorbing all the fine art that she had studied. Not milking goats with an old man who was about to be in deep shit.

He patched up the fence as best he could with the limited tools he had taken with him on Rolo. It would do for tonight, he decided. He would be back out the next day to replace the whole section. Maggie was a strong woman. Independent. Mind of her own. She would be fine. It would be selfish to keep her for himself. 

The breakup would probably hurt him way worse than what it would hurt her, anyway. 

After getting Rolo settled into his stable for the night, Jack looked at the house and could see the lights on in the kitchen. It was far away, but he could see Maggie bustling around in the kitchen. He couldn’t help it, his cock stirred at the distant image of this amazing woman making herself at home here, taking care of him, sharing his food and his bed. He had had the stupid fantasy of her puttering around with a round belly, him arguing with her to stay away from mucking out stables while pregnant, her disagreeing, him convincing her to obey by laying her across the kitchen table and mouthing her luscious core until she relented. 

He was such a selfish bastard. Who did he think he was? 

Not quite ready to have this conversation with her that he dreaded, Jack climbed the ladder into the hayloft and busied himself with piles of hay for the baler. The pitchfork was an extension of him, taking out his frustration of his current situation. 

* * *

“There you are.”

Maggie’s breath caught as she spied her lover in the hayloft, stripped of his shirt, sweat clinging to his tanned chest and shoulders. 

He stopped and turned, and for a brief second his face was not the face she recognized. He looked troubled. Haunted. He tried to recover. “Hey, what’s up?”

But the crooked smile didn’t come as easily this time. 

“Something is on your mind and I need to know what it is.” She topped the ladder and hopped into the loft. The sweet hay and the heat up here, combined with the intensely hot man in the room, made her lips wet as all get out, despite the fact that she’d come up here to confront him about his weird negative vibes today.

“Lot of work to do, Maggie.” He was breathing heavy.

She winced. “I know that. I’ve been helping you, remember? But you’ve been working all day. So hard. Why don’t you come in to dinner? We can have dessert in the shower.”

Jack wiped at the sweat dripping from his forehead. “This is farm life, Maggie. It’s hard. It’s all day. Maybe you’re not ready for all this.”

His words stung. “Why are you acting like this? We just got our marriage license, we should be celebrating.”

He shook his head. “We can’t stop what we’re doing just because you have every excuse in the book to celebrate a thing. This is real life, Maggie.”

“Why are you being so insulting? I know what I’m getting into. We talked about this.”

Jack turned and got back to work, shaking his head dismissively.

Her heart plummeted into her empty, angry stomach. “What is wrong, Jack?”

No answer.

Well, fine, she thought, marching over to the other pitchfork hanging on the wall. If he was so damn busy, she would help. But first, she would take her top off.

* * *

“What? Does this make you uncomfortable?”

On the contrary. He very much liked a half-naked Maggie in his hayloft. 

Problem was, he was trying to figure out how to set her free without breaking her heart. Coming up here, taking off her top, freshly showered and smelling like that spicy, girly soap she used. She was clouding his brain and mixing everything up.

She stood there, giving him a challenging look. Pitchfork in hand and once again a lace bra that made absolutely no sense for baling hay. But there she was, shirtless in her Wranglers and muck boots, looking like the most fuckable thing on the planet. How the hell was he supposed to break up with her looking like that and his cock as hard as granite?

Maggie didn’t play fair.

He knew how this was going to end.

Jack tossed aside his pitchfork and crushed Maggie in a sweaty embrace before she even had time to drop her fork. When she eventually did, she gave in to the touch of his lips on hers and her hands went to his chest. His mouth covered hers with a force of a man starved of a woman’s touch. Still, the sensible part of him waited for her to push him away. But she didn’t. Her hands grazed over the dampness of his chest, and he felt her hands reach around to his back and pull him in tighter.

He kissed her harder, urgently, his hands in her hair. Her strawberry curls were still damp from the shower. She received his kiss, letting his hands grip her locks and pull her messy bun loose. She was kissing him back, and he teased her mouth open with his tongue. Her massive mop of hair spilled down damply around her shoulders and in her face, tickling his cheeks. Jack smoothed her hair out of her eyes and stopped a moment to look at her face. 

She was staring back at him intensely. He let the pause hang in the air, letting her decide what to do next. He knew what he wanted to do. 

“Maggie, I have to let you go.” The words spilled out before he could stop himself. Turns out he did have a conscience after all.

“You already did fire me, remember? Because we’re engaged?” Her words teased, but her eyes still showed concern.

He inhaled her scent and breathed in and out against the top of her head, pulling her in close. “Sweet Maggie, I can’t let you start out your life like this.”

She continued to joke. “Well, the barn ain’t the best place for fuckin’, I’ll give you that much.”

“Maggie, why do you have to smell so good and make me so damn hard? I’m trying to tell you not to settle for me.”

Finally, Maggie had caught on. She pulled away a bit and looked him in the eye again. “Settle? What the fuck are you talking about?”

“I made a mistake. I’m headed for heaps of trouble. You are young and beautiful and have your whole life ahead of you. I can’t watch you get bogged down in debt to lawyers and whatnot.”

“You may be my boss, but you are not the boss of me. You do not get to make these decisions for me, Jack. I’m all yours, whether you like it or not.”

Before he could respond, she reached back and set her bra free, tossing it out the hayloft down to the trailer along with Jack’s shirt.

Jack’s pulse quickened at the sight of her beckoning breasts and tight, rosy nipples. He hugged the curve of her waistline and he held her soft, yielding body against his hard chest. 

“I don’t want to hold you back,” he whispered in her ear.

“Hold me back from what? This is it, Jack. I’m starting over and I want to start over with you.”

His hands explored the curve of her spine as he buried his face in her neck, kissing and licking the fresh scents that lingered on her warm, wet skin. He felt her sigh and yield against him. 

Slow down, Jack. Show her a good time, even if it’s the last time.She deserved that much.

It was all he could do to keep the foreplay going. His cock was like a wrought-iron fence post and working against him. He so badly just wanted to dock in her harbor, he might crash and ruin everything.

Then Maggie set him free. She reached down between them and unbuttoned him, then slowly unzipped his fly. She blinked up at him and said, “It’s OK, just give it to me.” 

Jack’s thought process went right out the window, along with both of their pants. He peeled her free of her blue jeans in a heartbeat and drove her backward into the enormous pile of hay. He lay her down and snaked his fingers inside the waistband of her black panties. He had her completely naked under him now. Maggie freed his cock from the confines of his drawers and peeked down between their bodies. She smiled that sexy, mischievous smile again, but before she could wrap her legs around his waist, he dove down and planted his face firmly between her thighs.

The muscles of her hardworking legs tightened with pleasure as he tongued her core. She sighed and let out a tiny moan. He was pleased, but he was about to turn that moan into a scream. He knew this entirely messed up his whole plan to break things off with her gently, but it was her fault for being so tantalizing. 

Maggie tasted even more delicious than he remembered. Her tight, deep cave invited him in like a drug and he was instantly hooked. He wanted every work day to end like this, with this woman right here in the hayloft, with the sun on his back, the sweet smell of her sweat all over him and alfalfa in her hair. Her spicy slickness all over his face. 

“You taste so good, Maggie. Really, really good.” He tongued her sweet and spicy little clitoris, which was tight and responsive to his mouth. Maggie exhaled little lusty moans, which grew louder and louder, making him even harder and hotter. She encouraged him to go as deeply as he could by thrusting upward each time his tongue sank into her. 

He looked up and saw she was caressing her own breasts. Um, no. He was not having that. He stopped and looked up at her. 

She gasped, “Don’t stop, baby.”

“Hands up, Maggie. Let me do it.”

“I can’t help myself.”

Oh really. Jack would have to fix that. He removed the bandana he wore around his neck to catch sweat and gently wrapped it around her wrists. “Is this OK?” he asked.

“Hell yes.” She grinned, keeping her hands above her head and away from the action. Jack got back to feasting on her core while teasing her nipples with his thumbs. The dual delights carried her much closer to climax than he was ready for her to be. He pulled back for a bit and let her squirm.

“You like that?”

“Yes. Please.”

“Say my name.”

Her voice shook with pleasure and frustration. “Jack.”

“Add the magic word.”

“Please, Jack!”

Oh, she was out of her mind with pleasure. The idea that he’d brought her there made his cock even harder, begging to sink into her. Keep control of yourself, Jack. 

He slowly conceded to her begging and worked over her lower lips with his mouth and tongue with the lightest of pressure at first. Maggie thrust up to encourage him to go deeper, to bring herself closer, but Jack teased a little longer with feathering kisses along the inside of her milky thighs. He could feel his pre-cum seeping out. Maggie was squirming and begging. Jack had her right where he wanted her. 

“My cock is ready for you, Maggie.”

She managed to squeak out, “Condom?”

Shit.

“Babe. I don’t have one,” he said. Fuck. This is why you don’t tackle her ass in the loft, you idiot. You’re not prepared. Especially when she makes you ready to come like you’re a horny 17-year-old. 

“OK,” she said.

“It’s all right. I’ll just finish you first and then—”

Maggie cut him off. “Do it. I don’t care. I want you inside me now.”

Jack hesitated. “Baby, everything we talked about, I don’t want to bring a baby into this mess…”

“Please fuck me now, Jack. I’m about to come and I want you right there with me.”

With her full consent, he sank his cock deeply into her pussy, his mouth latched to her breast, as her body slammed into an unhinged, animalistic climax that had her screaming out his name and contracting around him. Jack exploded fully, deeply into her as she milked him dry. 

Jack locked eyes with Maggie as they came in unison. So far, this was what some might call a pretty unsuccessful breakup. What had she done to him? He was done for. There was no other woman for him. He was going to keep her, come hell or high water. 

When he untied her wrists, both her hands held his face and he kissed her lips, sharing her spicy juices with her mouth. She drank him in and sighed, running her fingers through his hair. 

“If this is the kind of roll in the hay I can expect when you’re in a bad mood, I can’t imagine what a good-mood fuck is like.”

He laughed and planted small kisses across her collarbone as her body trembled with the aftershocks of her orgasm, his cock still nestled inside her. “You are an amazing woman, Maggie.”

She purred. She actually made a purring noise. “I don’t know about that, but I’m better with you.”

Jack didn’t know if this was true. His only hope was that she was confident in how amazing she was. Not just at sex—which was of course mind-blowingly good—but at everything she touched. He couldn’t understand how Alex could have voluntarily missed out on time with this woman. If he ever met that creep, Jack didn’t know whether to thank him or lay him out with a haymaker punch to the face. He might try both and see how it felt.

Whatever. That dude fucked up and missed out. 

What Maggie wanted was simple. She wanted time. As far as Jack was concerned, there was no other way he wanted to spend his time, whether in the pasture, in the barn, or in a courtroom, or in a bedroom, than with Maggie. If that’s what she wanted, she would get it.

* * *

The big day finally arrived. It was Maggie’s wedding day. She had known Jack for such a short time, and he was ready to marry her. Like a real man. Not afraid of commitment. Commitment was the least of her fears, and nothing else was going to get in the way of starting her life with a perfect man.

Well, he was far from perfect, but he was perfect for her.

She pulled the deep purple dress on over her head and the soft fabric felt cool and comfortable against her skin. She was glad she’d picked something non-traditional for the ceremony. Besides, after the wedding, they could go right across the hall for the silly little hearing about the assault matter and she’d be suitably dressed for that. She stepped into her wedges, which also felt good on her feet while giving her legs and ass a little boost in the curve department.

Maggie picked up the mason jar on her dresser and removed the small bouquet of wildflowers she had picked that morning. White and yellow daisies. She even had to admit to herself she looked beautiful, but part of that was attributed to Jack. She was so excited to get started on their life together, and he brought the happiness out in her face. 

In the city, she wouldn’t be caught dead in a purple print dress and wedge shoes. But here she felt right at home and comfortable. 

At Biddy’s Salon on the Square, the stylists treated her to champagne while fixing her hair into an up-do and doing her manicure and pedicure. Jack had insisted she take his credit card, again. Technically, she did take it, but it stayed in her wallet. Maggie used her own money from her cashed paycheck to pay for her hair, makeup, hands and feet. 

She was so happy with her up-do, so happy with her entire look and so happy to be running off to marry her wonderful man that Maggie tipped everyone with what remained of her paycheck. She didn’t need the money. She had everything she needed. Or was about to.

The sun warmed her face when she stepped out of the salon. Maggie closed her eyes and enjoyed the moment before crossing the street to the gazebo where her sister and Jack were waiting. As she approached, the happy butterflies in her stomach performed a dance at the sight of Jack in freshly pressed blue jeans, a sport jacket, pressed white shirt and purple tie to match her dress. Her sister had arrived, too, and she had even pinned a matching boutonniere of tiny wildflowers to Jack’s lapel. He smiled as he met her halfway down the walk and offered her his arm. They made their way together into the gazebo. Carrie and Ever arrived, just as they’d promised, to bear witness.

Her sister approached and gave her a quick hug and a kiss, whispering that she was so happy and surprised for her. “I just wish Mama could be here.” True. Mama should be here, but she had her blessing. And no doubt there would be a giant party as soon as Mama returned home from Greece, whenever that may be.

Carrie looked like a Mother Earth goddess in her bohemian-style dress with her two little cherub boys peeking out from behind her skirts. 

Carrie held Maggie’s bouquet for her as Jack took Maggie’s hands in his. They gazed into each other’s eyes as the judge, the honorable Drea Diamond, officiated the ceremony. Everything was perfection. Jack’s crooked smile reached his gray blue eyes and his hands squeezed hers. 

This was really happening.

Everything around them was a blur. Maggie’s only care was getting lost in Jack’s gaze, anticipating the moment they would be declared husband and wife so they could make it official with a kiss. Would he be gentle and cup her face? Would he draw her close? Would he be daring and use his tongue? She blushed, remembering all the ways in which his mouth had explored her body already. What did he have in store tonight, she wondered. 

Maggie barely heard Judge Diamond’s words as he formally asked that if anyone had any reason why these two should not be married, to “speak now or forever hold your peace.”

But the next voice that spoke up did, in fact, register. It was all too familiar. Familiar in such a way that it was the only voice that could have changed the course of this day. 

“I got a reason they can’t get married. The groom is the bride’s daddy.”