Christina scrutinized her. “Your nose is sun burnt.”
Maggie squirmed, trying not to act guilty. She failed. She felt her blush spread down her neck.
“Did you do something with spanking?” Julia asked, wriggling her eyebrows up and down until she looked as if she belonged in standup comedy.
“Don’t tell the world,” Maggie snapped.
As one, her three friends stared at her, varying degrees of interest showing in their expressions.
“It’s just us,” Christina said in a mild voice. “We’re your friends. We won’t judge.”
“I find it hard to talk about. Susan, you don’t like talking about your ex-fiancé, and Christina, you never talk about that married man you dated. It’s the same thing.” And wasn’t that the truth. Maggie hadn’t found either the words or the time to tell Connor what she wanted. Part of it was fear and the other part was Greg’s astounded reaction still ringing in her ears. Ever since Connor had dropped her at her flat, doubts had set in like a plague. She offered her friends a weak smile. “I’m sorry. Give me time, okay?”
Julia patted her hand. “We will.”
“Take all the time you need,” Susan added.
“Not too long,” Julia said. “I’m dying here.”
Connor appeared, grabbing the seat they’d saved for him in the lunch room. He tweaked Julia’s nose. “Curiosity killed the cat, you know.” He grinned at them all. “What did I miss?”
Maggie didn’t know how he did it. Not a flicker of remorse crossed his face.
“Maggie won’t tell us what she did in the weekend,” Susan said. “She says she needed time alone to think.”
Connor smirked. “Looks like our girl saw some sun. Her nose is sun burnt. Did you burn anywhere interesting?”
“Only the sheets.” Aghast, Maggie clapped her hand over her mouth, eyes widening in shock. Her heart beat out three distinct thumps before stalling. It only jumped to racing again when she dragged in a harsh breath.
Connor’s eyes glinted with real amusement and his mouth curled into an evil grin. “Our girl got some. Good for you. Don’t say Greg—”
“Where were you this weekend?” an irate voice demanded.
Maggie’s stomach swooped to her toes. She closed her eyes. Perhaps if she couldn’t see him he’d go away.
“Maggie, I’m talking to you.” Greg clutched her shoulder and shook her. Her head jerked back and forward with the force of his grip before she wrenched from his touch.
“I went to the beach,” Maggie said.
“There’s no need to rough her up,” Connor snapped.
“Leave her alone,” Julia hissed. “Can’t you see you’re hurting her?”
“Sorry,” Greg said in a stiff voice. “I wouldn’t hurt you for the world. You worried me. You didn’t answer your phone and you weren’t at your flat when I went around.”
Maggie clasped her sweaty palms in her lap, struggling for inner calm. Could this day get any worse? “We can’t talk now. People are staring.”
“You’re right,” Greg said. “I have a client appointment in five minutes. I’ll come around to your flat after work.” With that, he strode away, leaving the lunch room.
Mortified by his outburst, Maggie glanced at her friends to check their reactions.
“He can’t go around treating you like that,” Christina said.
“I agree. You need to break things off with him,” Julia said.
“I have,” Maggie said. “After our date on Saturday night. That’s why I went to the beach for some alone time. I need to tell him again.”
“Why didn’t you ring one of us?” Susan demanded.
