7
MAVERICK
WHAT SHE NEEDS
Jesse asked me to take Taylor into town. She desperately needs clothes and probably everything else a woman needs. The bag she arrived with was small.
He asked me to hang around the house in the morning so that Taylor’s not left alone. There’s plenty to tidy up in the yard, the porch to sweep, and a few repairs. At around ten, Taylor appears with a mug of coffee and a cookie on a plate. At twelve, she brings me a sandwich.
Afterward, I shower to wash off the dust and sweat and then head down to the kitchen. Taylor’s sitting at the table, staring into space while the radio plays upbeat country music in the background. She seems so distant.
I start to fix myself a takeaway cup of coffee, but Taylor takes over, finding me a blueberry muffin and dropping it into a bag.
“Ready to go?”
She nods but her expression is tight. I wonder if Jesse told her we’ll be buying everything she needs.
“I hope you’re ready to spend.” I pull a wad of money out of my jeans and wave it back and forth, raising my eyebrows.
“I don’t need much,” she stutters.
I shrug, knowing she’s lying. The girl needs everything. When we’re at the store, I’ll make sure she leaves with bags of new things. What she wears reflects on us and I want her to feel confident in whatever situation she finds herself in.
I wait while she shoves her feet into some ratty sneakers, and then we head out to my truck. The spring air is warm, and the breeze is soft. It rustles Taylor’s hair as she climbs into the seat. I wait for her to buckle up before I close her door and round the truck.
Before we set off, I take a big bite of the muffin that Taylor packed for me. It’s a slice of heaven. I catch Taylor smiling out of the corner of my eye at my moans of pleasure.
“Please tell me you’re going to make more of these,” I groan. “I don’t think I could deal with knowing there’s something so good in the world and never getting to taste it again.”
“Of course,” she says. “I’ll make them whenever you want.”
I reach out and squeeze her knee, happy with the smile in her voice.
“Before we get there, you need to understand that we’re shopping today. I want you to choose whatever you need. In fact, make it whatever you like. New everything, okay? I’m not saying our town is Rodeo Drive or anything, but you need new clothes and shoes, so we’re getting them. I don’t want to hear any objections when we’re in the stores.”
“I don’t want to impose.” She nibbles the edge of her nail.
“How is it an imposition for a man to treat his woman, a husband to treat his wife?”
She focuses out of the window. The view is spectacular, but that’s not why.
“We’re going to make your life better, Taylor.”
“You don’t know what my life was like before.”
She’s right. I don’t. I’ve made assumptions about a lot. We all have. We’ve assumed she’s running from something, and that’s why she entered that auction. We’re assuming her life wasn’t great. Maybe we’re wrong, but I don’t think so.
“You’re right. I don’t. But regardless, we want you to be happy.”
“Are you happy?” she asks, still focusing on the horizon. The question is spoken quietly as though she knows it’s presumptuous to ask but doesn’t care enough to keep the words inside the cavern of her mouth.
“Always. Can you tell?”
I turn to her and shoot my broadest grin. Jesse calls it my panty-dropper smile because it usually has that effect. She nods, but her smile doesn’t meet her eyes as though she doesn’t quite believe my words are authentic. She’s young, but she seems so much wiser than her years.
“So, did you and Jesse have a good time together yesterday?”
She eyes me and shrugs.
“Damn. Poor Jesse. I bet he gave you everything he’s got, and all he gets is a shrug!”
“You’re digging for information without asking direct questions.”
She has a point. “Did you sleep with Jesse after you baked the muffins from paradise?”
Taylor snorts and shifts in her seat. I reckon she wasn’t expecting me to be so direct, but she’ll learn. I’m not a man who enjoys beating around the bush.
“Yes, although I’m not sure it’s any of your business.”
“Of course, it’s my business. Everything at this ranch is.”
She remains silent but when I glance at her out of the corner of my eye, there’s a smile curling the corner of her pretty mouth.
“Did you like it?”
She huffs again. “Wow. Nosy and brazen.”
I laugh because she’s sassier than I imagined, and there’s nothing that turns me on more than a girl who can counter my one-liners.
“Nothing wrong with checking out the competition.”
“I thought you were all like brothers.”
“Sibling rivalry, then.”
“I don’t think any rivalry is necessary.”
She’s right, and it’s kind of thrilling to hear her say it. “Enough of you to go around?”
It’s cheeky but true. “I’m not sure about that part,” she says. “I’m still trying to get my head around everything that’s happened… that’s happening. What you want…” Her words drift away.
“There’s no rush, baby. Take your sweet, sweet time.”
I gulp a mouthful of coffee, grateful for the bitterness and heat. My muscles ache from digging out holes for replacement fence posts. My head aches from thinking too much. All I want is some time when I don’t have to take life seriously. I think this shopping trip is more exciting to me than it is to Taylor.
“Have you spoken to your family?” I ask. There wasn’t anyone with her at the auction but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. The fact that she didn’t go running home when she found out about the one husband and the two extras arrangement says a lot.
Taylor shakes her head but doesn’t elaborate, and I’m not going to push her. In time, I’m sure she’ll grow comfortable enough to confide all her truths. Until then, she deserves our patience.
I spend the rest of the journey encouraging her to talk more about baking because it’s something she really seems to love, and my stomach is more than happy to discover what future treats he can expect. I share a little about Jesse’s family and what good people they are and were. She doesn’t ask about my family, and it’s not a subject I plan to share much about. The past is best left dead and buried where the Clancys are concerned.
Main Street is busy, but I find a parking spot at the end before hurrying around the vehicle to help Taylor out the passenger door. She doesn’t wait for me—a sign her father was far from a gentleman—and I gently chastise her. “You’re going to make me look bad, little muffin. You gotta wait for a cowboy to help you out of any vehicle or off any horse, you understand?”
Taylor nods and she’s blushing by the time we’re walking side by side down the street.
By rights, I should hold her hand as we walk and show the world she’s mine, but she stuffs her hands into the pockets of her black joggers.
There aren’t many clothes shops in town, so I take her to the biggest one first. It has a decent range of practical clothing. No little black dresses or high-heeled strappy sandals here.
“So, it’s not exactly Calvin Klein, but take a look around and grab whatever you want.”
Taylor remains frozen at my side, the rails of women’s clothing close enough for her to touch. It’s like she doesn’t know what to do. I step forward and grab two tank tops, one in a shade of green that will suit Taylor’s complexion and make her eyes pop and another in black. “How about these?” I hold them out to her.
She touches the price tag, and I shake my head. “We’re not looking at those today, muffin. Just choose what you like. How about these?” I hold up a pair of light-colored jeans that will hug her rounded ass nicely. I don’t wait for an answer, just pick a whole bunch of clothes from the rails and hang them over my arm.
I’m bending to pick up a new pair of plain white sneakers from the floor when a familiar voice drawls my name.
“Maverick Clancy. I thought that was you. What are you doing in the women’s section?”
I straighten up to find Mindy standing slightly in front of Talyor with her hand on her cocked hip. Since I last saw her, she’s bleached her hair almost white and taken to painting her lips an almost luminous shade of pink. She’s stunning in a way that stabs you in the eye with its brutality.
“Mindy.” I nod curtly. We have history together: a drunken fuck behind the local bar, which I’ve regretted ever since. She hasn’t stopped using that hookup as leverage for more.
“Since when do you shop in the women’s section? Something I should know?”
“Nothing you should know,” I mutter. I hold out the sneakers to Taylor. “Are these your size?”
Mindy swivels and stares at Taylor down her sharp nose. It wrinkles when she takes in Taylor’s shabby, shapeless clothes and her tight posture.
“Yes.” Taylor glances at Mindy with uncertainty, and, finding no friendly smile, looks away.
“I’ll take all these to the fitting room. Okay?”
“You want me to try them on?”
“Yep.”
Before Mindy can try to engage me in any further conversation, I stride to the back of the store, hanging the garments inside the small booth, and wait for Taylor to follow and close the door.
When I turn to search for some leather boots for Taylor, I find Mindy almost directly behind me. “Who’s that?” she asks loudly. “One of Clint’s trailer cousins? She looks like she needs more than a few new clothes.”
She glances down at her own toned body to illustrate the contrast between herself and Taylor. What she doesn’t realize is that Taylor wins hands down exactly as she is. There’s nothing uglier than a person with no empathy for others. Mindy’s brand of grandiosity could wilt even the stiffest boner.
“Quit tryin’ to raise my bristles, Mindy.”
Her pink lips are thin, but I stride past her before she can respond. There are some cute boots in the corner that I want Taylor to wear with the denim skirt I picked out already.
It’s Jesse’s birthday in a few days and I need to buy him a gift. Taylor will be busy for a while, so I tell her I’m going next door, and I’ll be back in a few minutes. Before I leave, I search for Mindy, who’s browsing the accessory section. She got the hint.
It doesn’t take me long to buy a bottle of Jesse’s favorite whiskey. I’m back in the clothes store after only five minutes. I assume Taylor’s still in the dressing room, but as I approach, I find Mindy with her back to me. “He’s not a good man,” I overhear her saying. “He likes to fuck around, and he always goes for blondes. He has a thing for women like me. That’s why I was his girl. You don’t stand a chance looking like that….shapeless and plain.”
I clear my throat, and Mindy swings around. Her eyes narrow on me, and behind her, Taylor’s eyes are wide as a frightened rabbit.
“What are you doing, Mindy?”
“Telling God’s truth,” she says.
“Yeah, ‘cos God is all about slander and criticism.” I step around Mindy and put myself between her and Taylor. “It’s time to go.”
She narrows her eyes and flares her nostrils at me before stomping away. I watch her leave the store because there’s no way I’m turning my back on that woman again. She’s a menace.
“Whatever she told you, ignore it,” I bark at Taylor.
“She told me you fucked her, then ignored her.”
“My dick was confused. My brain caught up a little too late.”
Taylor’s lips twitch. I reach out to run my finger down her dainty nose and over her lips. “You have so much that she will never have, muffin.”
Her eyelids lower and then open again. They’re glassy with tears that she isn’t allowing to fall. “Like what?”
“Decency. Kindness. Prettiness that shines through from the inside.”
Taylor shrugs off my compliments and lifts a bundle of clothes. “You don’t know me, Maverick.”
I cup her cheek and look into her hazel eyes which are so much like mine, it’s like looking into the mirror. “I’m a good judge of character, muffin.”
“You weren’t with her.” She stares me down, waiting for me to fumble an excuse or justification.
“Yeah, well, I’m older and wiser now, and I can see through the shiny packaging to what’s in here.” I press my hand against her heart, feeling it beat beneath my palm.
Taylor stares into the corner, breathing in through her nose and holding it. When she looks back, she’s slipped a mask over her real expression.
“Is this too much?” She holds up the clothes in her arms, trying to change the subject.
I scan what she’s chosen. It’s less than a third of what I picked out for her. “What about the rest?”
She shrugs again.
“Did you not like the other stuff?”
“I liked it…but it’s too much.”
I leave her and head for the fitting room, gathering everything she left behind from the rail outside. The sneakers and the cowboy boots are on the floor. When I have everything bundled into my arms, I stride past her. “Come on.”
At the counter, the store’s owner stares at the pile, surprised. “You want all of this.”
“Yep,” I say.
“Well, alrighty then.” She begins to ring everything through, and I take the bundle from Taylor, adding it on top. By the time the woman finishes ringing everything up, there are three huge bags filled with clothes and shoes. Then I remember something Clint told me.
“What about underwear? We forgot underwear.”
Taylor blushes and stares at the ground. The woman behind the counter jumps on what I’ve said, her eyes shining with dollar signs.
“Come with me.” She leaves the bags and hurries around to lead Taylor over to the section filled with bras and panties. If Taylor looked uncomfortable before, she looks absolutely terrified now.
I’m no underwear expert, but I know what I like. I stride over and pick out a pretty white bra and pantie set. “How about this in your size?” I ask Taylor. She stares at me like she wishes the ground would swallow her whole.
“I’ll need to measure you,” the woman says. She helpfully takes Taylor by the elbow and directs her to the fitting room again. Twenty minutes later, Taylor emerges with five new sets and a pack of simple white cotton underwear that will probably be my favorite.
When we’ve paid up, we make our way back to the truck and fill the trunk with our purchases. “Want to get some toiletries? Or baking equipment?”
Taylor shakes her head, but I know she’s still hurting from Mindy’s stupid, thoughtless words. I pull her into my arms, wrapping her in a firm embrace. She’s rigid at first, but it doesn’t take long for her to relax against me. “I don’t want to cry,” she whispers. “You’re going to make me.”
“It’s okay to cry, muffin. But it isn’t okay to let people like Mindy get under your skin. Nothing she said was worth a single one of your tears. She’s a worthless person, lashing out because you have what she wants.”
“And what’s that?”
“Me.” I grin at her upturned face, and she swats away my flippant comment. “A beautiful heart.”
“Now you’re really going to make me cry.”
I wipe away a tear that does escape with my thumb and press it to my lips. It’s warm and salty. “I know what it’s like to hear bad things and want to take them inside you like they’re the truth. My dad had a special vocabulary for me that centered around me being a worthless piece of shit. You can’t let people like that get to you.”
She nods, and I smile encouragingly. “No more tears, muffin. I want to buy you something special.”
“You’ve just spent more money on me than my dad has in my whole life.”
I want to ask why, but it’s not a conversation for the sidewalk. And she hasn’t pushed me to say any more about my father. “Something sweet. Your favorite chocolate?”
She shoots me a watery smile. “You are a good man,” she whispers. I want to tell her I’m not. Not really. I’ve done things in my life that would make her run in the opposite direction. Had too many women. Used them for what I wanted. Mindy’s right about some things. I don’t deserve sweet Taylor. Not really. I look just like my daddy. Inherited his womanizing ways. Inherited his smooth tongue, too. Sometimes, I fear that I inherited his temper, although I try hard to keep it tamed. Getting too close to a woman, letting her under my skin, is something I’ve avoided. The fear that love will turn to hate and violence always lingers. Apples never fall far from the tree.
But for now, Taylor is mine because of Jesse, and I’m going to make sure she doesn’t regret it.
“Come on. Let’s get you something sweet, and then we’ll hit the drugstore. You can pick out anything you like.”