Chapter Twenty-one – Crazy ‘Bout You #3
When I came out of the bathroom, Maisey had turned off the light, and it took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust. She was in my king-sized bed, but she’d landed as far over on the right side as she could get without rolling off.
And just that simple act, the absolute adorableness that was Maisey, eased the chaos, allowed the swirl in my brain to stop.
As I climbed in on the opposite side, she went stiff as a board, and I simply reached out and pulled her toward the center, spooning her so her back was to my front, and my legs tangled with hers.
The overwhelming rightness of it washed over me like a balm.
Regardless of what had or hadn’t happened before, Maisey belonged here with me now.
I kissed her temple and uttered a guttural, “Sleep good, Maise.”
She squirmed, shifting in my arms as if trying to put some distance between us, and said, “I don’t know how I’m going to sleep like this. You’re like…a thousand degrees.”
It brought a lightness to my heart I needed and allowed me to respond with a tease. “It isn’t just me, darlin’. It’s what happens when we’re together. I’m gasoline, and you’re a lit match, so quit wiggling before we set the whole place on fire.”
She let out a little snort but then seemed to snuggle closer. It didn’t take long for her breath to even out and sleep to take her. It didn’t come so easily for me.
I was still awake, with my nose buried in her hair, reliving more of our past through an altered lens.
It wasn’t smoke that haunted me now, but blood.
The brutal attack on Maisey’s windshield had ended with Delilah in front of me.
And she was a good reminder of the damage relationships could cause another human being—that I had caused another human being.
All my life, I’d believed love was followed by pain. That relationships did more to destroy than build you up. But I couldn’t start something with Maisey, believing we were going to end up ruining each other.
She deserved the happily ever after her books demanded.
I promised I’d take the time to figure out just how to give her one. To give us both one.
And that was my last thought before sleep finally found me as well.
? ? ?
When my alarm went off at five in the morning, my bed was empty.
Maisey wasn’t due at the hospital for another couple of hours, so I should have been the first one up.
Instead, she’d vanished, slipping out of my room without waking me.
I hadn’t even gotten a chance to kiss her good morning.
After falling asleep with ideas of happily ever afters wrapped around me, everything about that irritated me.
On top of that, my dog had deserted me too, continuing his new “Vader the Traitor” ways. Then again, it was probably for the best if he stuck close to her. I liked the thought of him being there if anyone came after Maisey while I was gone.
The idea of not being there when she needed me sent a cold wave of panic down my spine. I dragged myself out of bed, threw on my workout gear, grabbed my go-bag, and made my way toward the kitchen.
Where all the panic dissolved in something far more appealing.
She was at the stove, making breakfast in a satiny-blue robe she’d thrown on over my T-shirt.
A robe that screamed at me to take it off.
She looked perfectly tousled—a morning wet dream.
And even with her dad sitting at the island, reading something on a tablet, I was unable to stop my body from reacting to the sight of her dressed like this, in my kitchen, after a night in my bed, looking like she belonged.
With her dad there as an audience, I wasn’t able to say or do the things I really wanted, but I could still make her pay for sneaking away this morning before I’d even gotten a kiss.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and sent her a text with a smile tugging at my lips.
When her phone didn’t even buzz, I realized she must have left it charging somewhere.
Disappointed again, I had to live with the comforting thought that I knew exactly what she’d look like once she read my message. She’d be pink from head to toe.
With that image plastered in my head, I sauntered into the kitchen. “Morning.”
She jumped and whirled around with a spatula in hand. Her dad took in her reaction, jaw clenching as he glanced at me. “Maisey told me about the excitement last night. I’m shocked I didn’t hear any of it. I’m usually a light sleeper.”
“I thought about calling off today, but things are on edge at the station right now.”
While it was true, unease had settled over our house as the teams waited for Nattingly’s announcement and a new chief to be selected, I wasn’t sure it was a good enough reason to leave Maisey while things were escalating here.
As if reading my thoughts, Lewis’s face grew grim. “We’ll be okay.”
I wanted to believe him, but he’d admitted he hadn’t heard anything last night. Not my dog snarling or the shattering glass. Would he really be awake and able to help if someone came for her?
This time, when my lungs tightened, it had nothing to do with relationships.
It was the same panic I’d felt when I woke, returning with the force of a hammer.
But then I reminded myself Maisey wasn’t even going to be home most of the week either.
The majority of the time, she’d be at the hospital, and she’d have lots of people around her. She’d be safe there.
“I’m leaving Vader here.”
Hearing his name, the traitor came sprinting down the hall from Maisey’s room with the cat chasing his tail. I bent down and gave him a full-body rub, all while trying to put a lid on my emotions. The kitten jumped all over me as I pet my dog, chewing on my fingers as if they were a new toy.
“Do you want breakfast?” Maisey asked.
“Not before I work out. I’ll just grab something at the station afterward.”
“Oh, crap,” she said, looking down, as if suddenly realizing she wasn’t dressed. “I was supposed to drive you to work.”
It eased the alarm and tension in my heart once again, and I chuckled just as her dad snorted.
“I needed to get a run in anyway. I haven’t put in enough miles this week,” I told her. “The fob for my SUV is in the drawer by the front door.”
She watched as I slung my bag across my body. “I can drop your stuff off on my way to the hospital later.”
“Maisey.” She looked up from the duffel to my face. “I haul a hundred pounds up and down stairs and mountains regularly, both for training and while fighting fires. I think I can handle hauling my bag for a mile or two.”
Her stare drifted down my body in a way that had me hoping she was thinking of all the same things I’d been thinking about—tearing off clothes and feasting on warm skin.
She shook her head, as if clearing her thoughts, and said, “Thanks for letting me use your car. I’m hoping to have the windshield replaced on my truck in a day or two.”
“No hurry.”
I couldn’t leave the house without touching her one more time, without taking a bit of sweetness with me to help me remember all the things I wanted to make come true for her.
So, I made my way over to the stove and backed her up against the counter.
Her eyes widened, darting over my shoulder to where her dad sat.
I simply lifted her chin and covered her mouth with mine.
I didn’t take it far, not with the audience we had. I didn’t thrust my tongue between those delightful lips and say good morning the way I would have if she’d still been in my bed when I woke, but I also didn’t deliver just a peck.
It wasn’t until her dad cleared his throat that I eased back. But I was inordinately pleased with the flush that coated her cheeks and even more satisfied knowing that blush would grow darker once she read the messages I’d left her.
I winked and said, “Check your texts.”
When Vader tried to join me at the back door, I ordered him to stay, and he looked like I’d shot him in the chest. I rubbed his ears and said, “Protect. Vader, stay. Protect.”
He sat on his haunches and looked back at Maisey, her dad, and the kitten attempting to crawl up a stool, and I was certain he nodded at me.
Regardless of the darkness hovering around us, I was smiling as I walked out the door.
Because having Maisey in my bed last night, seeing her in the kitchen in that sexy silk robe, and leaving with the taste of her etched on my lips, had made this one of the best mornings I could remember having in years.
And I was determined to have another thousand mornings just like this, a forever after full of them.