Chapter Seven
Freya was going to kill her sister. It was official. She wasn’t going to hold back, she was going to figure out a way to get away with murder. There were a lot of tools and chemicals at her disposal at the DIY store. It would be easy. All she’d have to figure out was how to do it without letting anyone know. The best course of action would be to assume she’d left town.
“Are you still plotting to kill me?” Adele asked, knocking at the door.
“Go away,” Freya said.
“Look, let’s face it, it would have taken you weeks to even approach the subject with Maverick. I know you, Freya. You’d be panicking and worrying. You think way too much.”
“Trust me, when they’re looking for your body, they won’t be thinking that,” Freya said.
“I won’t be thinking anything, stupid. I’ll be dead.”
Freya growled. “Go away.”
“Oh, is this where you’re pissed?” Adele didn’t show any signs of leaving, which just annoyed her.
She wanted Maverick back. After her sister’s explosive betrayal, and letting her family and Maverick know she might be pregnant, he and her father had headed out the door to go to the pharmacy.
In response, Freya had stormed up to her bedroom and hadn’t left. Her mother had come to bring her some hot chocolate, which was her favorite beverage when she was stressed.
Tilly was trying to stop the food from spoiling, while Freya was trying not to lose her freaking mind.
She stormed over toward the door, grabbing the handle, and jerking it open. “You had no right to say anything. I was going to tell Maverick when I was ready.”
“Were you?”
“Yes.”
“Or were you going to take the test and then wait to see how best to handle it?”
“What does it matter what I decide to do?” she asked. “It’s my body and this is Maverick’s baby, or it could be his baby.”
“You slept with someone else?”
She growled. “You know what I mean. It could be his baby if there is even a baby inside me.”
Adele was about to say something as Maverick rounded the corner and walked toward her. He was the perfect distraction.
Her sister chuckled. “This is going to be the rare occasion our parents are not going to freak out about having a boy in our room. Good luck, I know what I want it to be.”
“I’m going to kill her,” Freya said, stepping back into her bedroom.
She couldn’t believe she had Maverick Lavin in her bedroom, complete with a pregnancy test kit.
“One?” she asked.
“There are two tests inside, but your dad said you don’t need a dozen tests to tell you the same reading.”
She closed her eyes and rubbed at her temples.
“Are you … would you like me to leave?” Maverick asked.
Freya opened her eyes and went to him, putting her hands on his chest. “No, I don’t want you to leave. I don’t want you to ever leave.” She licked her dry lips.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“This. I was hoping to tell you when it was just us—you and me—and now my family downstairs are potentially listening in. I didn’t want to have to take a test in my childhood bedroom. I didn’t want Adele to open her big mouth and ruin dinner.”
“Dinner’s not ruined.” Maverick cupped her cheek. “Okay, babe, I’m going to be straight with you right now. I know what I want those tests to say.”
She took a deep breath. Did she want to know what he thought about the tests? She needed to know.
“Tell me.”
“I want you to be pregnant. I … we’ve not used any protection, Freya, and I’m clean. I swear to you, I am clean.”
“I am as well. I’ve never been with anyone but you,” she said.
He cupped her cheek, sliding some of her hair behind her ear, and then running his thumb across her bottom lip. “I’ll never forget it, but Freya, I want you to be pregnant, I prayed for you to be. I want you to be mine, because I knew there was a chance you’d wake up and realize you were better than me. You could have any man you wanted. I didn’t know what to do, and the thought of losing you scares the shit out of me.”
“What are you saying?” she asked.
“Freya Parker, I am in love with you and I’ve been in love with you for a very long time. Going to that bar the night your sister got her divorce papers was the best night of my life.”
She couldn’t help but smile. “You think so?”
“Yeah, and then going to find you a few days later at the bar was the next best decision I made. I love you, Freya, and whatever happens, I’m going to be there by your side, until the very end. If you will have me.”
“I love you too,” she said, then laughed. “Wow, it doesn’t really have the same punch as your words. I do.” She licked her lips. “Do you realize that in this very room, I would … daydream about the day you’d tell me you loved me?”
“You did?” Maverick asked.
“Yeah, I did.” She let out a giggle. “You’d get down on bended knee to tell me how amazing I am.”
She gasped as suddenly, Maverick slid down on one knee in front of her.
“Maverick, what are you doing?”
“I don’t want you to ever doubt my feelings for you, so, Freya Parker, regardless of what that test says, will you be my wife?”
She couldn’t believe this was happening.
****
“You got my daughter pregnant?”
“I love your daughter, Mr. Parker. Yes, I might have gotten her pregnant. I’m going to do right by her.”
“Do right by her?”
“Mr. Parker, sir, may I please have your permission to marry your daughter?”
Maverick hadn’t exactly thought his plan through. He wanted to get Freya pregnant to tie her to him, but everything else surrounding it had kind of gone fuzzy to him.
Elliot had given him permission, but he didn’t want Freya to believe that the only reason he was asking her to marry him was because of the baby.
“What are you doing?” Freya asked.
“One day, we’re going to tell our son and daughter how we got married. This is happening, Freya. You and I are going to get married, and we’re going to have a lot of sex and babies.” She giggled. “And I don’t want them to think the only reason I married you is because you were pregnant. I want them to know I married you because I loved you, and there was no one else in the world I wanted more.”
“Yes,” Freya said. “Yes, I will marry you because I love you, so very much.”
Maverick reached into his jacket pocket.
“What are you doing?”
He pulled out the wedding ring. He and Elliot might have also made a stop after the pharmacy. He’d showed Elliot the ring his mother had worn, and all the women of the Lavin line, and now it belonged to Freya.
“This was my mom’s,” he said.
He slid the ring onto her finger, and there it was, the perfect fit.
“You asked my dad, didn’t you?” Freya asked.
“The guy has a shotgun and I’ve already knocked up his daughter. That man was going to shoot my ass.”
Freya laughed. “Please tell me this proposal isn’t because of that?”
Maverick shook his head. “Your dad doesn’t scare me.” He kissed her. “But I am an opportunist, and this was just too good of an opportunity. I couldn’t pass it by.”
Freya smiled and he was never going to get bored with that smile.
“I guess we better go and get our answer,” she said, taking the kit from him.
He watched her as she flipped over the box and started to read.
“I’ve got to go and pee.”
“Do you want me with you?” he asked.
“To go and pee, I don’t think so.” She gave a chuckle. “But, I’ll let you know once I’m done.”
She had an en-suite bathroom. Freya had once told him that Adele had driven her parents crazy with locking the bathroom door and refusing to come out until she could figure out her skincare and makeup routine. Freya had nearly soiled herself, and her father took the door off the hinges. Within six months, both girls had an en suite, and they were banned from using their parents’ bathroom. Apparently that had been Adele’s plan all along.
Seconds ticked by, then a minute.
Freya appeared in the doorway.
He got to his feet.
“Now, we wait,” she said.
“So, you thought of me when you were younger?” he asked, sitting back down on the edge of her bed.
Freya laughed and moved toward him. “I might have...”
“Oh, yeah, and what kind of things were you thinking about back then?” he asked.
When she was within touching distance, he reached for her and pulled her in close. “We’re not having sex on my old bed?”
“I wouldn’t dream of it. Your dad and a shotgun.”
“You know he won’t use it,” Freya said.
“I’m not willing to take that chance.” He cupped her ass. “I like it, though.”
“What?”
“The thought of you thinking about me, being curious about me.”
“I was so jealous of my sister when she brought you around. I couldn’t believe she had Maverick Lavin as her boyfriend.”
“I was never her boyfriend, Freya. She was never you.”
He stared into her brown eyes, and he couldn’t believe his luck. Well, his luck and his opportunity. He was about to pull her down for a kiss, but then her alarm sounded and they pulled away.
“Is that what I think it means?” he asked.
“The test is ready.”
He took hold of Freya’s hand, and together, they walked into the bathroom. The results didn’t matter. She was going to be his wife, regardless of what the test said.
He finally had her, she belonged to him, and he would never let her go.