The Truth About Fairy Tales (4 page)

“Come have dinner with me. I need your help to figure out how I’m going to get my uncle to cancel this whole
Paris thing.”

Ben
barely into my apartment and announced all of this one evening.

“You have to go to. This is the chance of a lifetime. And I can’t have dinner with you tonight because I have to get ready for work.” I glanced at my watch and saw if I hurried, I
might make it on time.

“Maggie
, if I didn’t know any better I’d say you wanted me to leave.” Was this guy really this dense? Of course, I wanted him to go.

“Ben, you and I are friends—that’s all. And yes, I do want you to go because it’s the chance of a lifetime and I won’t have you giving it up for me or anything else. Now go, leave me alone. Go pack. Enjoy
Paris.”

He turned and walked out my door without another word, looking more like a
wounded puppy than ever before. But I knew I hadn’t gotten through to him. Ben would go back to his apartment and continue to work on his attempt at ruining his uncle’s plans. I might as well have been talking to the wall.

On the
evening before Ben's departure to Paris, I couldn’t have been more discouraged when he called and told me he was determined to stand his uncle up. In my heart, I knew something bad was about to happen. It had to, because Ben was too determined to stay with me and his uncle was just as determined that he should go.

             
In the end, I agreed to have dinner with him that night simply, because I somehow hoped to make him see our relationship for what it was.

             
My doorbell rang while I was still dressing for dinner. When I answered it, Ben wasn't there but Jackson was.

             
Before I had to time slam the door in his face, he wedged his foot against the jam. "Nice try, Maggie, but we need to have a talk.” He took one look at me and guessed my plans for the evening. “And you can forget about going out with Ben tonight. You and I have things to discuss.”

             
“Are you crazy? He’s on his way over here right now.” I added the last part when he took my hand and walked me out of the apartment and down the stairs to his car.

             
“I’m not going anywhere with you, and once again we have nothing to talk about. It’s not my fault your nephew won’t listen to you.”

             
His gaze went over me. “Isn’t it? I’d say it’s exactly your fault. You’ve got him crazy for you.”

             
I wondered what exactly Ben had told his uncle was the extent of our relationship. I was still trying to sort all this out when I realized where Jackson was taking me. We were back at his place once more for our little ‘talk’.

             
My first instinct was to tell him to get lost, but I'd only be putting off the inevitable. Like it or not, I had to face this moment once and for all.

             
Inside Jackson Riley’s tastefully decorated, expensive, yet cold house, I faced him across the living room.

             
“Well? What do you have to say that's so important you drag me from my home? Let’s just get it over with so I can get on with my life.”

             
Anger and frustration fused deep within in his eyes. Too late, I realized I’d made a very dangerous enemy in Jackson.

             
Jackson came slowly over to where I stood and it took everything inside me not to back away.

             
He stood looking down at me, inches away, while I watched unable to do anything but stand before him speechless. Something changed in him. He was still angry, but curious as well.

             
He reached for me before I could react and pulled me into his arms. There was just a moment before his lips touched mine and I closed my eyes, a single second when I believed he was giving me my chance to run. I didn’t take it. I couldn’t because, God help me, I wanted this probably every bit as much as he did.

             
He lifted me up and carried me…somewhere. When I opened my eyes, I realized we were no longer in his living room
.
We stood facing each other in his bedroom.

             
My resolve shattered when his fingers slipped confidently over my body.

I forgot where we were. Forgot I
was trying to hate him. Something deep inside of me splintered into a thousand tiny pieces the second he touched me.

             
I pushed him away, our gazes locked and it hit me once again that I was in way over my head with him.

             
Neither of us spoke. We watched each other in the semi-darkness and I was all too aware of his restless hands. There was no need for words. His hands and his eyes were telling me exactly what he wanted from me.             

I moved closer
and watched his surprised reaction. My fingers reached out to touch his face bringing him nearer. My desire for Jackson had taken on a will of its own now—there was no stopping it. My lips took control of his this time, slowly exploring, brushing back and forth against his. At that moment, I wasn’t sure who was seducing whom, not that it mattered. We both knew where this was going.

             
Beneath my fingers, he tensed. He jerked me closer, his gaze never leaving mine.

             
“What kind of game do you think you’re playing? Are you your mother’s daughter after all?”

             
His words struck like a blow, but I didn’t move away from him even as his hands continued to roam over my body.

             
Jackson picked me up and carried me to his bed. Lowering me slowly back against its softness before slowly removing my clothing. Then he was there beside me taking his time. Suddenly, I was afraid—I wasn’t so sure anymore. I didn’t understand any of this. I had no idea why I was with him or why I was reacting to his touch the way that I was. I didn’t even like Jackson. I didn’t want to say the words that would stop this from happening either. I closed my eyes tight and put my head against his chest.

             
“Please—I, I need you." Those reluctant words escaped, surprising the both of us. My voice trembled from desire. I wasn’t sure what I wanted from him—I’d never been in a situation so out of control as this before and I hated that he was the one bringing me to this point.

             
He pushed me back against the pillows, pulling the covers away from us. His gaze wandered slowly over me. All the while my conscience screamed just how sorry I would be if I went through with this.

He l
eaned over me, his hands on either side of my body, the tip of his tongue tracing the tracks of my tears. I trembled at his touch.

             
His mouth took possession of my body. He took his time, exploring every inch of me while I lay powerless in his arms hating myself, understanding my mother more than I’d ever wanted to believe possible and knowing that this guy was about to destroy all of my happiness.

             
My body shook with each touch, each stroke of his finger and he smiled at all my responses.

             
Jackson took control of my body with one single stroke and I couldn’t hold back the sob that escaped, that had him frozen in place looking down at me in wonder.

Somehow, I managed to let go of all my tension then. I mov
ed closer, clearing away all doubt in his mind. The need he’d created inside of me was nothing short of torment. When I opened my eyes and met his, I knew he felt the same way.

             
I shut the door on my conscience and that voice in my head that assured me I was going to live to regret this night very soon and let go of all my reservations at last. My final hope of coming out of this untouched disappeared when Jackson said my name before he came inside me.

             
Reality came to me slowly, bringing the world around us back into focus. Jackson rolled away from me his arms wrapping around me so that he took me with him. I couldn’t move even if I wanted to. I lay exhausted against him listening to the sound of his heart racing against my ear.

             
He suspected something, wanted to ask the question, but I was just as certain I could never bring myself to answer any of his questions no matter what it cost me.

Jackson
shifted my weight away from him so that he could look fully into my troubled eyes.

             
A noise outside his bedroom door spared me the awkwardness of answering his questions. We both became aware of what we’d been too caught up in each other to notice before.

             
“Ben.” We said his name at the same time.

             
Ben had to be standing just outside the door. He said something angry and unflattering about me. I'd betrayed Ben in the worst possible way. I could not have felt more like my mother than I did at that moment.

             
Jackson sat up in bed and I tried to get out, but he held me in place.

             
“Stay here,” he told me when I tried to pull away. “Stay here and let me handle this, Maggie.”

             
He got out of bed and reached for his clothes giving me only a cursory glance before he left me alone feeling like the biggest cheat in the world.

             
I heard them arguing as they moved away from the bedroom door. Jackson had taken his nephew downstairs. Ben’s hurt was clear. Although I couldn't hear what he said, I didn’t need to. As always, Jackson’s voice came to me sounding calm and unmoved—lacking in any emotion at all. He didn’t feel anything by his nephew’s pain or what had taken place between us.

             
It was then that it hit me—the truth. This whole night had all been part of his plan. Very well played out and very precisioned. I’d fallen right into it without a second thought. Without any of the expected fight. This was all part of Jackson’s well-designed plan to get rid of me. He didn’t need anything from my past to defeat me. He’d accomplished it all in his bed.

             
I grabbed my clothes, my fingers trembling so much that it was impossible to fasten them. I heard the front door slam hard and knew Ben had stormed out without even waiting to hear my side.

             
When Jackson came back, he seemed surprised that I wasn't waiting quietly in his bed.

             
“What are you’re doing?” I finished buttoning my blouse and forced myself to face him.

             
“What does it look like? I’m leaving. You got what you wanted…”

             
He didn’t let me finish. Jackson pulled me close, his fingers threading through my hair, forcing me to look at him.

             
“You leave when I say you leave, little bit—not before.” And then he kissed me and picked me up and carried me back to his bed. And he was right. I did exactly what he wanted. Jackson Riley was like a drug for me.

             
Sometime much later, he leaned over me again, his fingers holding my chin still so that I didn’t miss the triumphant look in his eyes.

             
“I think you just accomplished what no amount of my arguing with Ben ever could. Congratulations, little bit, you are your mother’s daughter after all.”

             
While I tried to recover from that devastating blow, he got out of bed and tossed my clothes back to me. “Now you can get dressed.”

             
“What?” I was that little girl again, his words stunning and hurting me all in one fatal sweep.

             
“Get dressed. I make it a rule not to let any of the women I sleep with spend the night here. It keeps things—uncomplicated that way. Sorry to inform you, little bit, but you certainly aren’t going to be the exception to that rule.”

             
Jackson pulled on his shirt and buttoned it, looking down at me. I couldn't keep the hurt from my expression. I could almost believe I saw his expression soften as he looked at me because he added, “Get dressed and I’ll call you a cab.”

             
To my utter shame, I was forced to dress with Jackson watching my every move. But I didn’t have to take his charity and I certainly didn’t need to see him again.

             
I walked past him with as much dignity as I could muster and should have been thrilled to hear the urgency in his tone when he called my name and asked me to wait.

             
I didn’t bother answering. I walked out into the rainy Austin night and away from him before I started to cry.

             
I'd embarrassed my grandmother and myself. I’d behaved exactly as he’d expected me to. Exactly like my mother. In Jackson’s opinion, there was not one single bit of difference between us.