The Truth About Fairy Tales by Annie Walker Page A

blushing.
                  “Shouldn’t you be going to your meeting?”
                  “Probably.” But he didn’t seem in any hurry to do so. “What time do you get off work tonight, little bit?” The old, confident, don’t-let-anyone-sway-my-course Maggie would have cringed at being called little bit by anyone. Coming from Jackson, well, I couldn’t get enough of it.
                  “Same time as last night, Mr. Riley. That hasn’t changed.”
                  He said something under his breath. “I’m going to have to have a talk with Frank.”
                  “No…” Too late, I realized Jackson was only teasing me.
                  “Relax. I would never come between you and Frank. That’s not to say I’m happy he's keeping you so late. Anyway that was only part of the reason I called. I want you to have dinner with me tonight at my house. Let me make you dinner.”

              I grinned with sheer happiness and tried to hide it by asking, “Can you even cook?”
                  He made a sound that was half shock and half pain that I doubted his talents in the kitchen. I didn’t really. I’m sure he was good at whatever he chose.
                  “Did you forget I was the one making you breakfast the other morning?”
                  “No…” I stammered my answer, embarrassed again. I hadn’t forgotten anything about that time, including all the things I’d told him that I shouldn’t have told to him.
                  “Good, then why don’t you come over to my place when you get off work? I’ll be waiting for you, little bit.”
                  Tell him no. Tell him you have to study, my conscious screamed all the while the new Maggie was readily agreeing to anything he cared to suggest.
                  “Look, my assistant is giving me the evil eye so I’ve got to go. I’ll see you tonight. Don’t stand me up, little bit, because I know where you live now.”
                  For the rest of the day, I floated on a cloud, oblivious to the world around me.
                  I took the test I’d been dreading for days, and didn’t care what my grade might be, which should have sent the old Maggie squirming like crazy.
                  For the rest of the day, I argued with myself right up to the time I rang his doorbell at half past fate, and he opened it. Fate sealed. Old Maggie forgotten.
     
    Chapter Six
     
                  Jackson possessed none of the same uncertainties I’d struggled with most of the day. He knew what he wanted, even though I was still a little confused. It wasn’t Saturday or Sunday night, but here I stood. What was up with that?
                  He took my hand, brought me close, and kissed me with more self-control than I possessed. Then he led me out onto the deck and to the most beautiful candle-lit dinner, I’d ever experienced.
                  The old Maggie would have had a field day with this sappy stuff, but this new girl was eating it up. I wanted to cry, another first for him and for me.
                  “You went to an awful lot of trouble…” I tried to sound unmoved, but I think he’d figured me out.
                  There was a certain gentling in him as well. “You’re worth it and so much more.” He took my clenched hands in his, easing them apart. Oh, yeah, he was quickly figuring out all of my little quirks.
                  “Come sit down.”
                  As I was quickly learning, Jackson was just a little bit old fashioned. He held out my chair, his fingers lingering against my shoulders before he reached down to kiss the nape of my neck.
                  I found out Jackson most certainly could cook and definitely more than just pancakes. The