Closest To My Heart

Chapter Fifteen

Maggie wrapped the oversized bath towel around her body and flipped her damp hair behind her shoulders before taking a deep breath and pulling open the bathroom door. She paused in the hallway, leaning against the corner of the wall as she looked out over the front half of the apartment. Sean and Sienna were cuddled up on one end of the sofa, their eyes riveted on the television screen. A half-eaten pizza was lying in its open box on the coffee table... and Tag was nowhere to be seen. Maggie stared at the rickety wingback chair that now stood empty, wondering if his leaving had anything to do with her.

It has everything to do with you, you idiot! Maggie told herself. He's pissed! He kissed you, and you ran. How did you expect him to react?

"Hey," Sean said, tearing his eyes away from the television just long enough to acknowledge her presence. "Tag left. Said he had a work thing, something about long-exposures, I think. Pizza's here."

Maggie nodded, mindlessly trailing her fingers over her lips where Tag had kissed her. He'd tasted good—a combination of red Gatorade and peppermint—, and it had been so long since Kevin had kissed her that way, and... No, there was no excuse. Maggie had let things go way too far, and she only had herself to blame.

"Hey, guys?" she said. "Between the hike and the hot shower, I'm pretty wiped out, so I think I'm just going to turn in for the night. I'll do movies another time, okay?"

"Wimp," Sean kidded, earning a slap on the thigh from his girlfriend.

"It's no problem," Sienna said, rising from the sofa to give Maggie a hug. "Thanks for coming today."

Maggie said her goodnights and retreated silently to her bedroom, swinging the door closed to the jamb before slipping into her pajamas. After switching off the light, she crawled beneath the covers and slid over to the far side of the bed to face the window. Staring out at the powdery streetlight glow, she wondered where Tag was at that very moment, and hoped that she hadn't hurt his feelings too badly.

Get over yourself! she chided. You're not that big of a loss! Besides, it was just a kiss—it's not like he's in love with you or something!

Maggie squeezed her eyes shut tight. No, of course he wasn't in love with her, but why was everything suddenly so complicated? Why did she have to agree to that stupid picture in the first place? And why had she leaned in so close to him, or wrapped her arm around his shoulders? And why—for Godsakes!—did he have to go and kiss her?

Because you wanted him to, her inner voice whispered, and lying there with only her thoughts for company, Maggie didn't bother to deny it.

She must have fallen asleep, because the room had grown darker and the neon display of the bedside clock told her that it was nearly midnight. Sean had planned to drive Sienna home after the movie, and she knew by the heavy silence that the apartment was, for the moment, hers alone.

Maggie rose from the bed with intentions of getting a glass of water, but dove back beneath the covers when a key jiggled in the lock of the apartment door. She lay facing the bedroom wall, listening to the faint sounds of movement as Tag entered the apartment and closed the door. She heard him set his camera equipment down in the same place he usually put it. She registered the muffled clomp of his boots against the hardwood floor as he moved toward the kitchen, feeling a brief surge of annoyance at him for walking on the clean floor with his shoes on. She heard the refrigerator door open and close, the shuffling of papers, more footsteps, the squeak of the springs on the sofa. Then more movement as he rose from the sofa and went into the bathroom, followed by the whisper of water through the pipes and the sputtering spray of the shower head, muffled by the thick wooden slab of the bathroom door.