Free One Night in Boston by Allie Boniface Page B

into next year.”
    Sam shrugged, a good-natured grin still on his face. “Hey, I was just saying hi.” He raised both palms as if proclaiming his innocence and shuffled into the bathroom.
    Dillon glanced over at Maggie, who still stood in her doorway. The smile had left her face, and she shot him a glance he could read as plain as day: I’m fine, older brother. Stop worrying about me. Don’t hang around my room and play cop.
    He sighed and ignored her. She didn’t get it. Somehow, over the last year, Maggie had turned from an annoying little kid with a head of crazy hair into this slender thing with curls falling down her back and a figure that filled out every damn thing she put on. Shit, she had no idea how the guys at school reacted to that.
    I should warn her, Dillon thought. I’ve got to tell her to be careful, let her know what guys say, the way they think. I can’t always be around to watch out for her. Tomorrow , he told himself. I’ll drive Mags to school and give her a heads-up.
    Two minutes later, the toilet flushed, and a bleary-eyed Sam emerged. “See ya later,” he whispered.
    Dillon nodded and turned toward his own room, down the hall from Maggie’s. Sam knew enough to lock the door behind him. He knew to let the screen door ease shut rather than squeal with a jolt. Dillon didn’t watch his friend disappear into the night shadows. He didn’t wait to hear Sam’s jalopy start up for the two-mile drive home. Instead, dozy from the weed and the late hour, he slipped off to bed. His eyes closed before he reached the pillow.
    Not once did I think anything would happen.
    Not once did I think I should have stayed and played chaperone.
    It wasn’t my fault. Sam was gone. The door was locked.
    It was only the next morning that Dillon found out the truth.
    *
    On his way back from lunch, Jack stopped at the huge mahogany desk outside his office.
    “Suzie, what’s my calendar look like for next Wednesday?”
    The ample-bosomed woman in her early forties fluttered her lashes at him. No secret around the office that the CEO’s secretary had a schoolgirl’s crush on her boss. In her tight sweaters and heavy make-up, she preened and posed each time he walked by.
    “Let me see.” Swiveling her chair to the computer behind her, she typed a few keys and hummed. Frosted blonde hair bobbed as she did so.
    “Conference call with Les Axeman at noon. Other than that, nothing scheduled.”
    “Okay. Leave the rest of the day free, if you can. I might have to make a trip down to Rhode Island.” He hated to think about wrapping up the purchase himself, but sometimes Carl turned soft when he had to make cutthroat deals face to face. Jack would save mid-week for the mop-up just in case.
    Suzie nodded and her artificial nails clicked against the keys. “No problem.”
    Jack knocked a thank-you on her desk and moved away.
    “Goin’ to the ball tonight?” Her voice followed him.
    His neck tightened. For almost an hour, he’d forgotten. “Oh. Yes.”
    “Well, have a marvelous time, and tell that beautiful fiancée of yours to relax and enjoy herself for once. If she don’t, some other woman might just swoop in and steal you away.” She winked. “You know what I mean.”
    Jack thought he heard the assistant on the other side of the room bite back a chuckle. He smiled. Some other woman steal him away? He couldn’t imagine that happening. What Paige wanted, Paige got. Raising a hand behind him, he disappeared into his office, leaving a giggling Suzie behind him.
    Behind the closed door, Jack took a moment to stretch, trying to will away the knots in his neck. He ignored the pile of messages on his desk, the prospectus that needed perusal, the blinking inbox icon on his computer. Turning his back on it all, he stared out at the Boston skyline. Steel spirals pierced the graying sky, mixed with stout, brick historic buildings that had witnessed modern growth around them. A few blocks to the left stretched Faneuil