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Double holy shit. He seemed deadly serious. Her mind raced as she tried to think. He wanted her to be CEO of the Saints. Her dream job. But it meant working for him. And here she’d been thinking that Alex was the devil incarnate. She had the feeling he’d just been ousted by Will.
“I’ll think about it,” she said, and looked around for the waitress and the check.
Acting more on instinct than anything else, Maggie headed for her apartment rather than work. She dropped her keys and purse and sank onto the sofa, mind still whirling. What had just happened? Sutter, offering her everything she’d ever wanted—except for the part about relocating the team, of course—that was what had happened.
Her stomach churned. She didn’t know if she was elated or sickened. Everything she’d ever wanted. The chance she’d always wanted.
Finally—finally—someone who seemed to believe that she could do the job she’d been raised to do.
But it was Sutter.
It was a big but, but not quite big enough for her to be able to reject the idea outright. She’d be crazy not to think about it. Wouldn’t she?
Yes.
Her inner therapist was nodding vigorously.
Patient needs to evaluate all opportunities thoroughly. Patient should not reject options outright. Patient behaving like a mature adult for once. Go, patient!
But even with that weird bit of inner approval there was something else that was equally plain. She had to tell Alex about the offer. She owed the Saints—owed him—that much. Owed him honesty and respect, the same things he’d given her.
She clenched her hands, swallowing against a mouth suddenly gone dry. How would he take it? Would he see reason? Or just go nuts?
There was no way to tell. She thought she knew the core of the man, the part that lay beneath the slick exterior. The part that she couldn’t resist, despite her better judgment. But they hadn’t known each other long. Not long enough for her to be able to predict his reactions to anything.
He’d swung into action with the drive and precision of a general when he’d found out about Sutter’s bid. Obstacles were there to be analyzed and then ruthlessly overcome.
She wasn’t sure she wanted to be subjected to the same treatment if he came to view her as an obstacle, but she didn’t want to lie to him. That would definitely kill whatever the fledgling thing between them was.
And Sutter’s clock was ticking. Maybe in talking to Alex she’d be able to get a better idea of how she really felt about the offer.
It boiled down to a choice. Did she want to take a lesser role with the Saints and preserve them as they were now or did she want to step up and step into the great unknown?
History or the future?
Was the choice that simple?
And was that a future with or without Alex? Her head was starting to throb and she walked blindly to the fridge, opened it, stared inside, then closed it again without reaching for anything. She could stuff her face with leftover cold pizza or ice cream or down even more coffee and none of it was going to help her decide.
The clock on the wall said it was approaching ten. Where would Alex even be? He said he was going home and then they were all going to meet at his Ice offices rather than head to Deacon.
This wasn’t a conversation she wanted to have in public so if she wanted to catch him at home, she should try now.
Her hand was strangely reluctant as she fumbled for her cell phone. At least she didn’t have to try to remember his number, it was right there in her favorites list. It probably dominated her recent calls too.
Bloody Alex Winters.
None of this would be happening if it wasn’t for him.
No, wait, that wasn’t fair. If he hadn’t bought the team, maybe Sutter would’ve been the one to make the offer to her father in the first place.
And she would have missed out on several nights of awesome sex and meeting a man who made her toes curl with ease.
So she couldn’t wish that away.
Even if life would be far less complicated without him.
Her finger pressed the dial button and, thankfully, the phone only rang a few times before Alex picked up.
