Against the Storm1 by Kat Martin

whimpered as if he understood.
    Then Trace’s iPhone started to ring, and silently, he cursed. Nothing good ever happened at this time of night. He sighed as he pulled the phone out of the pocket of his tan slacks and pressed it against his ear. “Rawlins.”
    “Trace…? Trace, it’s Maggie. Please…please don’t hang up.”
    His fingers tightened around the shiny hunk of plastic. “I’m not going to hang up. Tell me what’s happened.”
    “I went out tonight and when I—I came home…when I came back to the house, my phone message light was blinking. Nothing bad has happened, you know, not…not since the last time. So I didn’t think anything about it, but this time it…it wasn’t just a hang-up call. When I played the message…oh, God, Trace, this guy is really scaring me.”
    “Check your doors, make sure they’re locked. I’ll be there in ten minutes.” Trace didn’t consider not going. His instincts had been warning him from the start. And earlier in the week, Sol had dug into Maggie’s sealed juvenile records. Reading the transcripts of what she had said when she had gone to the police to tell them the truth about the rape had moved him deeply.
    I love my dad so much…. I didn’t want to hurt him. (subject begins to cry) When he caught me sneaking into the house, he asked me what happened and I—I just couldn’t…couldn’t tell him the truth. Josh and I…we didn’t mean for anything to happen, we just…somehow things just went too far. I started crying, and Dad asked me if Josh had forced me to have…have sex with him. I looked at him and I couldn’t make myself say the truth, so I just nodded. I thought I could find a way to…to straighten things out in the morning. (subject continues to cry) Then I found out Dad had gone to the police and I—I was terrified for Josh. But I didn’t know how to undo what…what I had already done.
    Reading the transcript had left Trace with a sick feeling in his stomach. She was just a kid at the time, he realized. At sixteen, still innocent, a young girl trying to find her way. If it hadn’t been for her dad going to the cops—which Maggie hadn’t expected him to do—the boy would never have been arrested.
    Maggie had been horrified and riddled with guilt. As bad as it was for Josh, it was also a terrible trauma for her.
    Trace pulled the Jeep into a parking space in front of her condo and killed the engine. As he crossed the asphalt to the sidewalk, she opened the door and just stood waiting. Her face was pale, her chest rising and falling in rapid breaths. As he stepped onto the porch, Trace reached out and pulled her into his arms.
    “You all right?” he asked softly against her ear.
    Maggie clung to him. She was so upset she was shaking. No way was she faking it.
    She nodded, held on an instant longer, then took a deep breath and turned away. “I-I’m okay. Thank you for coming. I know the way you feel and I—”
    “I was wrong. I should have listened to what you had to say.”
    She swallowed, looked as if she wished he would hold her again, but instead moved farther away. “Come on in and I’ll play the message.”
    Trace walked inside and closed the door. He set his hat on the coat tree and turned. For the first time, he got a really good look at her. Black miniskirt, gold satin top that left her back and shoulders bare, sexy high heels. Her pretty red hair was clipped up on the sides, but soft russet curls hung down past her shoulders.
    His groin throbbed. He’d been out with a gorgeous blonde all evening. He suspected she’d wanted him to take her to bed, but he hadn’t felt the slightest urge. Now, just looking at Maggie, he was already hard and aching to have her.
    He released a slow breath. “Let’s hear the message.”
    He followed her into the kitchen, trying not to look at her ass.
    He spotted her landline phone and the small black box next to it with the blinking red light.
    “It’s a little old-fashioned, but I can