Untamed Sweethearts

Chapter 4

As with all the other evenings he had been watching Maggie, he returns home drunk and more alone than he’s ever felt in his entire life. He was fortunate enough to convince the Cheryl girl that he wanted to take things between them really slow, and rolled his eyes at himself. He is doing exactly what William warned him about, but he just can’t help it. He’s never been against having a miss right now until Mrs. Right came along, but seeing Maggie, he realized that there has always only been one.

He takes a hot shower to try and wash some of the alcohol out of his system and slides into bed with images of a happy, dancing, half-drunken Maggie floating through his dreams.

***

They park Cheryl’s car and make their way inside the take-away joint. There is no use in rushing home to try and catch up on some sleep with only two hours to go before Maggie has to be at work.

“Sooo, what do you think?” Cheryl pokes her friend as they sit down at one of the tables.

“Of Mr. green-eyed, dreamboat? I don’t know, honey. He has the look of a player.” Maggie shrugged before biting into her burger.

“Really? Even after he was glued to my side all night? I mean, he paid for all our drinks. He only ever danced with me…”

“But his eyes were all over the place, sweetie.” Maggie puts her hand on Cheryl’s arm in the hopes that it would soften the blow, but unfortunately, it doesn’t.

“Really? Can’t I for once just catch a break and get a guy who is only interested in me, or are you saying this, so you can grab him?” Maggie bursts out laughing and notices the sly smile on Cheryl’s face.

“Oh, honey, the bigger the player, the harder they fall!”

“Okay, you’re on then. Prove to me that he’s a player.”

“I can’t do that!”

“Why not?”

“Because you, my dear friend, are dating him and I would hate to see you hurt when he falls for me.”

“And if he doesn’t”

“Then you know you have a winner. But seriously Cher, Hun, I don’t think this is such a good idea.”

“Chicken…”

***

Their conversation keeps playing through Maggie’s mind all day, to the point where Mr. Robinson asks if she needs to be somewhere else.

“Huh? Oh, no, sorry, sir. Long night.” She absentmindedly smiles. She hasn’t had much sleep the last couple of nights. Something is keeping her up, but she can’t quite place her finger on it. That’s beside the fact that they have been out until all hours of the morning!

Who is this guy that he interests Cheryl so much? Well, if she can prove to her friend that he’s sincere in his intentions, why the hell not. If he, isn’t she will be saving Cher from a mountain of heartache.

She leaves the office early for once after Mr. Robinson gave her some time off and spends a little time with her parents before going to her apartment to get ready.

Tonight, she’s going to take extra care in her appearance. If she wants to steal him from Cheryl, she will have to look absolutely ravishing! If he falls for her, she will also have to make sure she’s prepped. She would hate to not be prepared for a night with a hunka-hunka like him.

Since her divorce, she lost a ton of weight. She’s eating healthily, and exercising when she makes time for it, and although she’s not perfect and can see age making its way across her hands, she looks damn good in whatever she decides to wear.

She double-checks her make-up, then hears Cheryl’s car pull up outside. She almost prays that this guy is sincere. She would hate to see Cheryl hurt because of a player again.

When they walk into the club, Maggie is surprised to find the two men already seated at the table with a bunch of their friends. She’s even more surprised when Mr. green-eyes makes his way to Cheryl and drops a kiss on her cheek. He slides his arm around her back and looks at Maggie over his shoulder.

“Drinks anyone?”

Maggie is just about to think that he might be sincere when she feels a warm hand behind her back.

“Enjoying yourself?” His raspy voice is close to her ear, and she knows that he did that on purpose. This way, nobody could hear what they were talking about except for her.

“Yup, and you?” She quickly scans the room to see where Cheryl might be before turning to look him in the eyes.

“Yeah, I think so. So, tell me, why are two gorgeous girls like you two still single?”

“Smooth,” She thinks to herself. “Including them both, so he doesn’t give away which one of them he really wants.”

“Well, I believe in consensual, no-strings one-night stands, and Cheryl… Cheryl is just a hopeless romantic that hasn’t found her prince charming yet. How about a guy like you? I would have thought you would have been swept up by some pretty, perky little blond.”

He sighs.

“I don’t like pretty, perky blonds. They tend to be…” He waves his hand through the air, but doesn’t have a chance to finish his sentence before Cheryl appears right next to him.

“What are you two so intimately talking about?” Maggie rolls her eyes at her friend and turns away. She joins their friends on the dance floor but makes sure that she keeps eye contact with him. He is talking to Cheryl, but his attention is on Maggie.

She licks her lips and turns her back on him while swaying her hips to the beat of the music. If there’s one thing men can’t resist, it’s being ignored. Finding the first guy that looks interested, she points at him and shows him to come closer. His eager smile could mean that he either knows who she is and what’s waiting for him, or he’s just happy to be dancing with her, but tonight she doesn’t want him. She wants this green-eyed devil.

She’s about to give up on him dancing with her when she hears Cheryl giggle behind her. When she turns around, they are on the dance floor. She has to admit that he’s got moves! He is way above Cheryl’s league, but Maggie will never dare tell her dear friend that.

~Flashback~

It has been a long night, but a great one when they walk out of the club, each with a guy in their arms. Cheryl had been boasting all night about what she was going to do with this man, but when the time came, she either got scared or just didn’t want to go through with it anymore.

The man was furious, but his friend convinced him that they still had Maggie, which kind of scared Maggie a little, but it wasn’t the bad kind. She felt a little excited. Variety right…

The next morning, however, Maggie met up with Cheryl for breakfast, only to find that her friend had gone out on her own and picked up some serious trouble. She had bruises and even some bite marks, which had Maggie furious.

Maggie wanted to report what happened, but Cheryl refused to say it was her own fault. She went looking for trouble, and she got it. Since then, Cheryl has been sticking close to Maggie and only went for guys that Maggie felt were safe.

She NEVER took them home with her. If she really liked them, they would have to take her out on a date first, but the damage had been done. Maggie didn’t want to say anything, but it sometimes felt as if Cheryl was trying to be in competition with her.

~End of Flashback~

The mere thought of that night throws Maggie off her game. Why would she think of that right now? Thoughts like that usually lead to a very dark place in her mind, and she almost storms off the dance floor to grab a shooter. She needs to wash the images out of her mind. A cleansing of sorts!

“Hey, are you okay?” William’s voice pops up beside her, and he orders drinks for them.

“Yeah, yes, I’m fine.” She tries to smile. Maybe green-eyed devil’s friend could give her some insight into who he is and what he wants with Cheryl.

***

She is still as intoxicating as ever, and Mateo finds it hard not to just grab her and kiss her until she gave in, but he is not the kind of man to just hurt a girl and move on. What Maggie said was true. Variety is the spice of life, but only if you both enjoy it. Having one person love and the other run wasn’t fair to anyone.

Oh, god, he was turning into some ridiculous romantic i***t! He even started to rhyme!

Grabbing Cheryl’s hand, he leads them off the dance floor, and they join the rest of this group of independent women.