New York Times Bestselling Author

Protecting Maggie

April 1, 2025

A virgin, a convict, and a villain who is determined to destroy them both.

Imprisoned for a crime she didn’t commit, Maggie Lionetti is doing everything she can to keep her head above water. Including using a friend’s name and her car to make money. Too bad she crosses paths with someone who actually knows her friend…and knows she isn’t who she’s pretending to be.

 Shawn “Preacher” Franklin isn’t about to let someone cheat and steal from a Navy friend while she’s deployed. So he and his friends confront Maggie, and find out she’s simply a woman down on her luck. There’s something about her, and her situation, that strikes a chord in him and he begins helping her get back on her feet.

 One thing leads to another and before they know it, Maggie and Preacher are dating. It’s an unusual match, the virgin and the convict, but it works. They work.

 But not everyone who puts on a uniform for their country does so for the right reasons. Maggie’s keeping a secret from her new boyfriend and his friends. A secret that could put her right back in prison and be deadly for Preacher and his fellow Navy SEALs. She has to find the courage to spill all her secrets…but that still might not be enough to save her.

Chapter One

Maggie Lionetti stood in front of the empty cabinet for several moments. All that was in there was a can of beans and some flour and sugar. And Maggie hated beans. They belonged to her roommate, Adina, who’d been gone on deployment for the last three months.

Sighing, she closed the cabinet and grabbed a glass instead. She filled it with water and went to sit on the couch. She was very grateful to her friend for letting her stay in her apartment while she was gone, but she hadn’t realized how tough life would really be as a convicted felon.

Convicted felon.

The words rang in Maggie’s head, making her shudder. Never in a million years would she have thought this was where she’d be. In her “before life,” which was how she thought about it now, she’d been a pharmacist. She’d worked her butt off to get her degree and become one of the best pharmacists in the area. She had loyal customers who wouldn’t go anywhere else to get their prescriptions filled. She’d had money in the bank, a nice condo, and lots of friends. At least, she’d thought she had lots of friends.

Turns out they’d all disappeared once she’d been arrested. Maggie knew she couldn’t really blame them.

She still remembered the feeling of the handcuffs around her wrists and how she felt when she’d been put in the back of that police car. Humiliated, confused, terrified.

Those feelings had only magnified when she was booked into the local lockup after being fingerprinted and getting her mug shot taken. After being released on bail, she was fired from her job, and without any money coming in but still plenty of bills to pay—while also trying to find a lawyer who would take her case—she found herself completely broke and desperate in a matter of months.

In the end, without any support from friends and no family to lean on, she’d had to settle for a public defender. She didn’t really hold the lawyer responsible for her three-year sentence. He’d done what he could. The evidence was stacked against her from the start.

And when her ex-boyfriend had taken the stand for the prosecution, her fate was sealed.

She’d gotten out early, on account of overcrowding and good behavior, but she wasn’t allowed to leave California until her probation was over. She had to meet with her probation officer regularly and stay out of trouble. Now Maggie was trying to rebuild her life, and she was extremely grateful to Adina for giving her a place to stay, but she was finding it impossible to make ends meet.

She couldn’t get her old job back—no one would hire a pharmacist who’d been convicted of drug smuggling—and finding any kind of job that paid a decent living wage was next to impossible for a felon.

So Maggie had resorted to doing what her probation officer and likely anyone who hadn’t been in her situation before—hungry, desperate, depressed—would frown upon.

She was impersonating Adina. Using her Uber credentials to make enough money to get by. Barely.

She didn’t like doing it, lying to the people who hired her, pretending to be her roommate, but Uber wasn’t going to let her open an account. Not with the felony thing on her record. So she had to lie. It was either that or starve.

Feeling her stomach rumble with hunger, Maggie gulped the water down, hoping it would fill her belly at least a little, tricking it into thinking it had gotten something of substance, then stood. She put the glass in the sink and headed for the door, grabbing the car keys along the way.

She’d managed to make enough yesterday to fill Adina’s old Honda Accord with gas, and she hoped today’s tips would be more generous so she could go to the grocery store and get more than ramen. The thought of a huge salad made Maggie’s mouth water, but fresh vegetables were expensive. She’d have to do really well today to splurge on something like that.

Sighing, Maggie made sure the apartment door was locked behind her—the last thing she wanted was someone breaking into Adina’s place while she was gone—and headed toward the stairs. Today would be another long day behind the wheel, but what other choice did she have?

* * *

Maggie was tired. The day had been shit. Almost everyone she’d picked up had been stingy with their tips. And they’d been assholes to boot. Driving people around seemed like it would be a cushy job, but she had to put up with rudeness, people telling her how to drive, telling her she was going the wrong way, or being irritated with her because there was traffic…as if she could do anything about that.

She was at the end of her rope and decided that she’d pick up one more fare, then go home to the empty apartment, maybe try to choke down the beans that she hated. They were protein, right? Good for her.

Pulling up the info on her last pickup of the day, she saw it was at a grocery store she’d passed earlier. The one she’d planned to go to after work if tips had been good, to buy dinner. It felt as if karma was laughing at her.

The name of her fare was Remi Stephenson, and she was relieved that her pickup was a woman. That didn’t mean she wouldn’t be treated like shit—women could be just as awful as men—but at least the odds of her being accosted or sexually harassed were less.

Maggie pulled into the parking lot and saw a woman standing not too far from the entrance of the store looking down at her phone. She had several bags at her feet, the reusable kind. It was a dead giveaway that she was probably her fare. She pulled up next to her and rolled down the window. “Remi?” she called out, wanting to make sure she was really the person who’d ordered the Uber before unlocking the doors.

“That’s me. Adina?” the woman asked.

Hearing her roommate’s name was always a little jarring. She merely smiled and clicked the automatic locks. Remi picked up her bags, opened the back door, and got in. Then she took a quick picture of the identification card on the back of the passenger headrest.

“My boyfriend hates when I take an Uber, but I don’t like to bother him or his friends,” Remi said with a small apologetic smile.

Maggie didn’t like when people took pictures of the ID card. Thankfully, it didn’t have Adina’s picture on it, but it had her information—name, Uber license number, things like that. Things that could get Maggie in big trouble if it ever came out that she was impersonating her friend. But at the same time, she approved when women like Remi took steps to protect themselves. No one could be too careful these days. It made her laugh a little that, in the past, people were warned never to accept rides from strangers, and today they paid strangers to drive them around. It was ironic.

“It’s okay. I’d do the same if I was in your shoes,” Maggie said as cheerfully as she could. She recited the address that had been put into the app to verify that’s where Remi wanted to be dropped off.

“That’s me,” Remi said with a smile as she turned around to grab the seat belt. Thankfully the address wasn’t too far away.

Maggie did her best to make small talk. Sometimes the people she picked up wanted to chat, and other times they simply stared out the window and ignored her. But Remi seemed friendly enough.

“Are you having a good day?” Maggie asked as she pulled out of the parking lot.

“I am. I spent the morning with one of my good friends and got a lot of work done. She brought me home, but then I started thinking about how I wanted to surprise my boyfriend with a chocolate cake.”

“Oh, that’s nice,” Maggie said. And it was. She’d never had anyone surprise her with anything before. Well…not a nice surprise. She refused to think about that day, about what a surprise it was when the cops who’d pulled her over on the interstate had pulled that bag out from under her passenger seat.

“I’m not much of a cook, or a baker, but my boyfriend works really hard. He and all his friends do. He’s a SEAL. And yes, I’m allowed to tell you that.” Remi giggled.

Maggie found herself smiling. It was hard not to around someone like the woman currently in her backseat. She exuded friendliness and happiness. It was a nice change from what she usually dealt with.

“Anyway, he’s been working really hard lately, and I wanted to do something nice for him. And if I called any of his friends to give me a ride to the store, they’d probably text him and let him know, then the surprise would be ruined.”

Maggie wrinkled her nose a little at that. It seemed a little…stalkerish…for a friend to immediately go and tell the boyfriend what his girlfriend was doing and where she was going. She must not have hidden her reaction very well, because Remi chuckled.

“I know, that seems weird. But trust me, with the things my friends and I have been through, not to mention the stuff my boyfriend sees in his line of work, it’s perfectly normal. He’s protective.”

“Must be nice,” Maggie blurted, then immediately regretted it. Her voice sounded a little too…wistful for her peace of mind. She didn’t regret not having a man in her life. She’d had enough of guys. She was perfectly capable of taking care of herself, thank you very much.

Her stomach chose that moment to growl, as if publicly calling her out on that particular lie. It wasn’t as if she was doing a very good job of taking care of herself at the moment. But she’d manage. As soon as she was allowed, she was getting out of this state, moving somewhere that had a lower cost of living, and she’d figure out how to get back on her feet.

“It is,” Remi said nonchalantly, politely ignoring the way Maggie’s stomach had rumbled so loudly. “Anyway, he’ll bluster and ask what the hell I was thinking, taking an Uber to and from the store, but then I’ll present him with the cake I made and all will be well.”

Maggie grinned. “That’ll actually work?” she asked.

Remi giggled. “Okay, probably not. But when all I’m wearing is one of his button-down shirts—and nothing else—I’ll definitely be forgiven.”

Maggie couldn’t hold back the burst of laughter at that.

“But seriously,” Remi said, still sounding chipper and happy. “I declined two rides before yours because they were from men. I know that sounds sexist, but I prefer women drivers. I know that women can be just as horrible as men, but I do what I can to stay safe by taking pictures of the licenses and using the new safety features in the ride-share app.”

“Smart,” Maggie said, meaning it.

“One of my friends was kidnapped by two women she knew, and they tried to sell her into sexual slavery. So I know women can be horrible. But I still feel safer in a car with someone of my own gender.”

Maggie gasped. Remi had dropped that bomb so nonchalantly. “Is she okay? Your friend?” she couldn’t help but ask.

“Oh, yeah. Josie’s great. She’s amazing. A four-foot-nine dynamo. She’s adorable and you can’t help but want to stick her in your pocket and take her home, but she’s tough as nails. I love her so much. She’s who I was visiting this morning. She can type like the wind too. I mean, seriously, I’ve never seen anyone type as fast as she can. She’s made a career out of it. I love going over to her place and sitting at her table to draw while she types. I don’t know, somehow the vibe she sends out makes me feel more creative.”

The woman switched topics faster than Maggie could keep up. “You draw?” she asked.

“Yeah. I have a cartoon. It does pretty well. It’s dorky as hell, but people seem to like it.”

“Cartoon?”

“Uh-huh. Pecky the Traveling Taco.”

Maggie’s mouth dropped open. “Oh my God, seriously? You draw that? I love Pecky!” Looking in the rearview mirror, Maggie saw Remi blush. It was unexpected. This woman was extremely talented. And she was in her car! It felt surreal.

“Thanks.”

“Wow. I’ve never driven a famous person around before,” Maggie said, only slightly teasing.

“Oh please,” Remi told her. “I’m not famous.”

Maggie begged to differ. She wanted to tell her that all the women she’d been incarcerated with loved her cartoon strip. Practically the only time everyone got along was when they were laughing about Pecky’s latest shenanigans. That taco had been a bright spot in what had been an otherwise pretty miserable two years.

“You make a difference,” she said in a serious tone. “I mean it. You might think what you do is just a hobby or for fun. But it means something to a lot of people.”

Remi didn’t blow off her words. Instead, she leaned forward in her seat and said, “Thank you. That means the world to me.”

Maggie pulled up to a small house. It was adorable and looked nothing like what she imagined the creator of Pecky the Traveling Taco would live in. She turned to Remi. “Good luck with the cake. I hope your boyfriend isn’t too upset with you for taking an Uber.”

“Oh, I’m sure Vincent will forgive me. As I said, he just worries. Honestly, it feels nice. Even though I can take care of myself, and did for quite a while, it’s nice to know someone has my back now.” She gathered her bags and opened the back door. “Thanks for the ride and letting me ramble on.”

“You’re welcome.”

“I hope you’re going to get a break to get something to eat. Don’t be embarrassed, but I heard your stomach growl.”

Maggie couldn’t stop the mortified blush from heating her cheeks. “I’m headed home now. You were my last ride of the day.”

“Good.”

“Um…Remi?” Maggie blurted before she could shut the car door.

“Yeah?”

“Anytime you need a ride…I’m happy to help out. My number is on the license you took a picture of. You know, if it would make you and your boyfriend feel safer.”

“Oh, that’s so nice! Thank you. I don’t use Ubers much, but if I do need a ride in the future, I’ll definitely call.”

Maggie nodded. She was feeling a little sad that this would probably be the one and only time she saw Remi. She didn’t really expect her to call for a ride in the future, but it had been a long time since she’d felt any kind of connection with another person. Remi was down-to-earth, funny, and open. Even being around her for the short time it took to drive her home made Maggie feel more like her old self. Less hard, less cynical.

Then Remi held out a folded bill. “Tip,” she said with a smile. “I like to give cash because I don’t know if Uber takes a cut of it if I do it on the app.”

“Thanks. Have a good evening,” she told her with a smile.

Remi nodded and said, “You too. Bye!” She got out of the car and headed up the walkway to the door of her house.

Maggie closed out the trip on the ride-share app, then pulled away from the house. At the stop sign down the street, she unfolded the bill Remi had given her.

She blinked. Sure she was hallucinating.

Nope. It wasn’t just a one-dollar bill or a five.

Remi had given her a hundred and fifty-dollar tip. On a ten-dollar fare.

Tears swam in Maggie’s eyes. That was more money than she usually made in three days of driving people around. It meant she could go to the store and get more than just ramen. She could get that salad she’d been craving.

Remi had no reason to give her so much money. She probably felt sorry for her, but Maggie couldn’t even be embarrassed about that. She needed that money more than Remi could possibly know. But then again, maybe she did know.

Turning left toward the grocery store instead of right, toward her apartment, Maggie let the tears she’d been holding back fall down her cheeks. Because of the generosity and kindness of a stranger, she would get to eat tonight. A real meal. And some of the hopelessness and depression lifted from her shoulders. Suddenly, the world didn’t feel as if it was against her anymore. Maybe this was a sign that things were turning around.

Maggie wanted to believe that, but life had a way of lifting her up, then slamming her back down when she least expected it. A hundred and fifty bucks wouldn’t last long, but for tonight, at least, she was going to put her worries aside.