Chapter 18 Maverick
maverick
. . .
I’ve been up since dawn, hauling vase after vase inside like a maniac, my hands stained green from dye.
She said her favorite flowers were green lilies, and I made it possible. After dinner, she went to sleep, and I got to work.
Green lilies crowd every countertop; the island’s buried, and a few are shoved onto chairs because I ran out of space.
I lean on the counter, adjusting their petals as I hear her footsteps pad downstairs, and I whip around just in time to see her stop dead in the doorway.
She’s drowning in her signature band tee, her hair messy from sleep, eyes wide as she takes in the jungle I’ve built for her.
“What the…” Her voice is husky, cracking at the edges. “Maverick. How?”
I spread my arms wide, showcasing my excellence. “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Lilies That Shouldn’t Exist, But Do Because I’m Amazing.” I can’t stop grinning. “Congratulations on your new job, dollface. You wanted green lilies—boom. I’m basically a magician.”
Her gaze sweeps from the flowers to me, with her lips parted like she’s trying to find the words. Her hand lifts, brushing one of the petals, and I catch the tremble in her fingers before she clenches them into a fist.
“You—” She swallows hard. “You actually did this?”
“Personally ordered dozens of white lilies,” I say proudly, puffing out my chest. “Then, I hand-dyed them myself. It’s called innovation, Amelia. Quarterback by day, florist by night.” I wink, leaning in.
That earns me a sharp glare, until it falters, just for a second, before she covers it with a roll of her eyes. “You’re ridiculous.”
“Ridiculously thoughtful? Yeah, I know.” I shove my hands into my shorts, bouncing on my heels, energy buzzing through me. “Look at you. Shocked, stunned, and utterly in love with me, don’t even try to deny it.”
Her lips twitch, fighting a smile. “Maverick…” Her voice dips, soft, and something raw slips out before she can stop it. “This… actually means more than I can say.”
Her words hit me in my chest, knocking the air out of me. She blinks quickly, as if she regrets saying it, but I don’t call her on it; I just let my grin grow wider until my cheeks hurt.
“Yeah?” I murmur, stepping closer until I can smell the lilies on her skin. “Good. I’m not finished yet. Whatever you want, dollface, I’ll bring it to life.”
She huffs a laugh, shaking her head, but she doesn’t step back when I brush past her to grab a lily, twirling it dramatically before bowing low. “For you, madam. The impossible, made possible by yours truly.”
Nightfall hits, and I’m losing my mindddd.
Amelia’s in the kitchen, barefoot and wearing one of her oversized shirts that barely hits her thighs. Her damp hair hangs over one shoulder, and Rex is curled around her ankles. She bends down to scratch behind his ears, and I swear to God, I froth at the mouth.
I push a hand through my hair, stumbling toward her like a man starved. “Amelia.”
She looks up, twirling the lillies between her fingers, the other still scratching Rex’s ear. “What?” she asks, voice soft, teasing.
“I need to kiss you, like actually kiss you, not that bullshit peck we had at our wedding.”
Her brows lift. “Fake wedding, and no. ”
“Please,” I cut in, “I’ve been losing my goddamn mind since you moved in. Every time you walk past me in those little leggings or bite your lip, I can’t take it anymore. Just let me kiss you. Once. Please.”
She quirks an eyebrow. “Desperate much?”
“Absolutely.” I grin, but it’s shaky. My hands are damn near trembling. “Come on, dollface. We’re married, remember? We should practice. Make it believable.”
She lets out a low scoff, letting go of the lily. “Fine,” she says, stepping closer, eyes narrowing with a playful gleam. “Show me what you got, quarterback.”
Jesus, I might as well just go fuck my hand later.
I drop the grin and scoop her up, my arms beneath her thighs, while the other wraps around her back. She gasps, instinctively gripping my shoulders as I carry her into the living room.
“God, you’re such a showoff,” she mutters, breathless.
“You love it,” I murmur as I lower her onto the couch, hovering just above her. My nose brushes hers, our mouths barely inches apart. “You know you want me, dollface.”
“And, just for the record,” I whisper against her ear, “I’m gonna ruin you for every other man with just one kiss.”
“Wow. Big words, Hayes.”
She doesn’t say anything else as she leans up and gives me a single, soft peck.
I blink. “That’s it?”
She shrugs, her green eyes gleaming. “You said one kiss.”
My jaw clenches. “No,” I growl, dipping down. “I said I needed to kiss you.”
My mouth crashes against hers, and the second she parts her lips, I lose every last ounce of restraint I’ve been holding on to.
Her taste floods my senses—minty from the gum she constantly chews, sweet like the vanilla sweet cream she drinks, and warm in a way that feels like home and heat all at once.
My tongue finds hers, teasing and tasting with the desperation of a man who’s spent years starving for this.
For her.
She lets out a breathy moan, and it damn near breaks me. Her fingers fist the front of my T-shirt as she yanks me closer. I slide my hand beneath the hem of her oversized tee, my palm skimming the bare soft skin of her waist, fucking perfect.
She gasps into my mouth, and the sound that leaves her is going to haunt me. My other hand cradles the back of her head, keeping her mouth on mine because I’m not ready to let go, not when she’s finally in my arms.
Not when she’s kissing me like this, like she wants it just as badly, too.
I groan into her mouth when her hands caress my chest.
“Fuck,” I whisper, breaking the kiss for half a breath. “Are you trying to kill me?”
“Yeah,” she murmurs back, dragging her nails down my chest. “You talk too much.”
I laugh against her lips, but it dies quickly. My hand finds her hips, gripping them tightly, and positioning her until she’s seated on my lap, anchoring her to me. I roll my hips into hers, and her gasp punches the air from my lungs.
Her fingers curl into the front of my shirt, tugging slightly.
Her thighs squeeze tighter around my hips, and fuck, I can feel the heat of her through the thin fabric of her shorts.
Every little shift of her body against mine has me spiraling, unraveling, barely hanging onto the thread of control I’ve been faking since she walked into my life.
“Still think this is just practice?” I whisper against her lips, brushing my nose along hers before diving in again, deeper this time.
She pulls back slightly, her chest rising and falling as she glares at me with flushed cheeks and kiss-swollen lips. “You think you’re slick, huh?”
I grin. “No, I know I am.”
She rolls her eyes, but she doesn’t move off my lap.
I trail soft kisses along her jaw, down her neck, until I feel her shiver.
“You always kiss your fake wife like this, Hayes?” she asks, breathless, sarcasm cracked just enough to reveal the nerves underneath.
I pull back just enough to meet her gaze. “Only the one I’ve been dreaming about.”
Her lips part, but nothing comes out.
“Dollface…” I whisper, brushing her hair back behind her ear. “If this is practice, I’m fucked.”
She exhales shakily, her fingers dragging through my hair now, gentler than before. “You’re so annoying.”
“And yet you’re still on my lap.”
She attempts to glare again, but I kiss the corner of her mouth, then the other side, and finally down the length of her throat, where her pulse pounds erratically.
“You’re shaking,” I murmur against her skin.
“No, I’m not,” she lies terribly.
My hand slips beneath her shirt, my fingertips grazing her warm lower back. She flinches slightly, her breath catching, and I kiss the corner of her mouth again, this time softer, as if I’m telling her I’ll wait... even though every muscle in my body is screaming for more.
“Say the word,” I whisper against her lips, “and I’ll stop.”
She stares at me with an unreadable expression, but her eyes say more than she can. She’s fighting the urge to let go, but she’s holding on to that piece of thread like she’s been hurt before.
She has to know that I won’t hurt her, right?
She whispers, “Just… shut up and kiss me again.”
Her lips are back on mine before I can catch my breath. And honestly? I don’t want to. I can stop breathing right now and die a happy man.
We’re still tangled on the couch, her body straddling mine like it was made for this, for me.
Her lips brush against mine again—teasing, tasting—and I chase her mouth with a groan that escapes from my chest.
“Dollface,” I breathe, my hands gripping her hips. “You keep kissing me like that, and I’m gonna start thinking you like me.”
She pulls back just enough to give me a look—that signature, unimpressed, devastating smirk.
“Don’t get cocky, Mav,” she murmurs, her voice a little breathless. “This is still practice.”
“Uh-huh.” I slide my hands under the hem of her shirt, my palms coasting along the soft skin of her waist. “I know I’m special in your eyes.”
She leans in, her mouth brushing my ear just enough to make my pulse jump. “You’re definitely not special… just impossible to ignore.”
Fuck.
She kisses me again, slower this time. Her tongue meets mine with a slow, intentional stroke that makes my vision blur. I grip the back of her neck, holding her there, needing more, needing everything.
The room spins a little. Or maybe it’s just me spiraling into orbit because the woman of my dreams is kissing me back.
Her thighs tighten around my hips, and I swear I feel her shiver when my hand slides up her back, my fingers threading into her hair.
“Still think this is just for show?” I rasp, my forehead resting against hers. “Because I’m two seconds from begging.”
She laughs softly, that low, throatier kind of laugh that ruins me.
“I’ve seen you beg,” she says, brushing her lips along my jaw. “It’s cute.”
“Cute?” I blink, a harsh laugh breaking out of me.
“Cute is illegal.” My grip tightens on her hips as I drag her down hard against my cock, grinding her right over the thick length straining my shorts.
A groan rips from my chest at the contact.
“This—” I buck up once, making sure she feels every inch of how wrecked she’s got me—“is not fucking cute, Amelia.”
She gasps.
I tilt my head and kiss her deeper, my hands sliding under her thighs, gripping her ass. Her soft gasp against my mouth nearly kills me.
“You’re driving me fucking crazy,” I mumble between kisses. “Do you know that?”
She hums, lips swollen, eyes hazy. “That’s the goal, right?”
“You win.” I press my mouth to her neck, sucking lightly at her pulse. “You win, baby.”
“I always do.”
I smile against her throat. “Cocky.”
I press my forehead to hers as we catch our breath together.
I feel the shift before she says a word. Her facial expression changes in the blink of an eye; she goes from kissing me as if she meant it to now a grimace etched into her pretty features.
She hesitates, and I barely catch the tremble when my hand ghosts along the edge of her ribs.
“I can’t do this,” she says quietly.
Those four words might as well be a knife.
I pull back just enough to search her face. Her green eyes dart away, locking onto anything but me. Her fingers have stilled where they’d been clutching my shirt, now resting limply against my chest.
“Hey,” I say gently, anchoring my thumb underneath her chin, turning her face towards me. “What’s wrong, dollface? Talk to me.”
She shifts off my lap in a rush, settling beside me with her knees pulled up to her chest as her arms wrap tightly around them like she’s shrinking.
Like she regrets all of it.
“I’m fine,” she says too fast. “I just… I don’t do this.”
I blink. “Do what?”
“This.” She gestures vaguely. “The kissing, dating, opening myself up.”
I scoot a little closer, not touching her, but near enough that she knows I’m still here. “You don’t have to be good at it. You just have to let it be real.”
That earns me a quiet laugh, sharp and bitter.
“Real?” she echoes, eyes fixed on the floor. “Have you ever been so real with someone that they took it and burned you with it?”
Something in my chest cracks open.
She’s still turned away, voice quiet like she’s keeping a secret she doesn’t want to share. And I know—deep in my gut—that if I push her, she’ll shut down completely. But I can’t just leave her in that silence.
She looks at me then, her green eyes rimmed with the faintest shimmer of tears she refuses to let fall.
I don’t push. I don’t pry. I just hold her gaze, steady and calm.
“I’m not like other women you’ve been with, Maverick.”
I smile a little. “Trust me, I know.”
“I’m a mess,” she adds.
“Twins, so am I.”
She swallows hard, shaking her head like she’s trying to clear the emotion away. “I didn’t mean for this kiss to go this far.”
My throat tightens. “I didn’t mean to fall for you either, but here we are.”
Her eyes widen slightly, but before she can say anything, she’s already walling up again and shoving those feelings back into the vault, locking it with seven deadbolts and a steel door.
“I should get some sleep,” she says abruptly, standing and brushing nonexistent dust from her legs.
I stay seated, jaw clenched, as I watch her retreat, not from me, but from herself.
“I’ll leave the light on,” I say quietly.
She pauses, her back still to me. “Thanks.”
She disappears upstairs, the soft thud of the door closing behind her.
I sit there, with my heart in my hands, wondering how long I’m going to be in love with a woman who won’t let herself love anybody back.