CHAPTER TWO
– REEF –
Fucking hell. If I thought she was cute with the same dose of humor as me in our messages, before I met her in real life? It’s only doubled along with a healthy dose of beauty and sexiness; the woman is fucking perfect. And what do I do? Cockblock myself by throwing the barrier of friendzone between us with the very first face-to-face discussion we have.
Maeve leans back and pats her stomach. “If I wasn’t already knocked up, I’d be sporting a food baby. Damn, those were some nice cupcakes.”
“Nice?” I snort. “More like addictive the way you inhaled four of those suckers.”
She shrugs. “I was hungry and didn’t want to stop for food to prevent from running into the creepy guy again.”
My whole body is suddenly as tight as a bow, and I grit, “What creepy guy?”
Leaning forward, she snags the last cupcake from my plate and scoops off a little frosting with her finger.
Licking it off she then mutters, “It’s nothing.”
I suddenly remember something she mentioned earlier, when she just got here. “The one at the gas station who ended up at the same hotel as you?”
She’s observing the cupcake instead of eating it when she says, “That would be the one.”
“Did you get a partial plate from the fucker’s car?” I question.
She shakes her head and leaves the cupcake on her plate.
“Well, if he shows up around town, let me know.” Pointing at the cupcake I ask, “Did you really steal my last cupcake just to eat the frosting?”
Crossing her arms under her breasts, she replies with a load of sass, “The blue frosting is delicious. Be glad I didn’t lick it off every single one of your cupcakes.”
The corner of my mouth twitches. “Lick away, woman.” I shove my chair back and get to my feet. “Let me ask if they sell the blue frosting separately. If not, I’ll get us some cupcakes to take with us, yeah?”
“Definitely,” she eagerly replies. “But you’d better let me pay you back when I have my purse.”
“Nope. I got this.” I shoot her a wink. “We’ll be having a lot of these get-togethers, so you can treat me next time.”
“Deal. Pizza tonight?” She instantly starts to shake her head. “No, never mind, bad idea. I’ll turn into a pink hippo if I keep eating crazy shit.”
“Pizza ain’t crazy shit, it’s celebration food. Hey, why don’t we make pizza fries?” I suggest.
A giggle flows through the air and she points a finger in my direction. “Sounds like you’ve been hanging around my mother. Did she make the chili cheese fries yet?”
I can feel my eyes go big. “She can make a chili cheese version? Damn. She only made two versions for us.”
“Let me guess, the pepperoni and the bacon version.” Maeve snickers. “Those are her two favorites. I like the chili cheese one. Let’s swing by the grocery shop and I’ll fix us dinner tonight.”
“Sounds like a damn fine plan,” I rumble. “Come on, let’s go now and then head for your mother’s place. I made sure a prospect delivered your car to her driveway. I know they wanted you at the clubhouse, but there’s no way I’m going to share the chili cheese fries with anyone. Besides, it’s a great moment to start the marathon of horror movies.”
Her eyes go wide. “I told you I never watch horror movies ’cause I’ll be afraid to pee by myself if I do.”
I shoot her a grin. “I’ll be there to escort you. Come on, it’ll be fun.”
“Yeah, right. That’s what they always say, don’t they? And then the bad things start to happen. ”
We walk out of the cupcake shop with a bag of extra goodies for later when I chuckle and say, “You’ll be fine. I’ll be right by your side when bad things do happen, but I can assure you, it’ll only be on screen.”
“We’ll see if things will still be fine if I drag you to the bathroom because I’m afraid to pee alone,” she grumbles.
Full blown laughter rips from me and I pull the door of the SUV open for her.
She pokes a finger against the vice president patch of my leather vest. “I’m not kidding.”
I grab her hand and place a kiss on her knuckles. “Well, sweetheart. I’ve never seen a woman take a piss, so I’ll be happy to escort you and keep you safe while peeing.”
She gasps. “You’re not going to watch me pee.”
“You just said–” I start but she cuts me off.
“I know what I said and what I mean with dragging you to the bathroom is the fact that you’ll be waiting in the scary hallway while I pee. With the door closed.”
“So, I can’t watch you pee, but I am allowed to hear you pee?” I clarify.
The corner of her mouth twitches. “Whatever. Just know watching horror movies with me will be a bad idea.”
She gets into the SUV and I lean in close to reach for the seatbelt.
Her eyes widen when our faces are close as I click the seatbelt in place and huskily murmur, “You give me the impression that nothing involving you will ever be a bad idea.”
I pull back and close the door to walk around the SUV and get behind the wheel. Maeve stays quiet the short ride to the grocery store and I give her the space she clearly needs. Maybe I shouldn’t have put the hint out there I’m interested in her, but damn if I hate that I put myself in the friendzone.
The quick stop at the grocery store breaks both our thoughts and we’re back to easy chitchat the way we’ve been messaging for the past few weeks. Besides the ingredients for the loaded chili fries, she also throws in some extra pickle items. She glares at me for paying and carrying all the groceries, but when I tell her it’s my job to welcome her home she drops the subject.
There’s no way I’m going to let her carry anything, heavy or not, pregnant or not. If my hands are free I’m going to damn well put them to use. The money part? I’ve never had a woman and I’m finding out that I like spoiling her. It started with the pickles I bought her before she arrived, then the cupcakes, and now the groceries. The list will continue, I’m sure.
“You’re right, my car is in the driveway,” Maeve muses when we arrive at her mother’s place.
We get out of the SUV.
Reaching for the groceries, I tell her, “Like I said, the prospect drove it here. I messaged my prez to let him know we’ll stay here instead of going to the clubhouse. With the hours of driving and not taking a break at the hotel you’ll need some rest. We’ll either head to the clubhouse in the morning or they’ll swing by with breakfast.”
“Sounds good.” Maeve smiles but it falls right off her face when she grumbles, “What the fuck?”
“What’s wrong?” I grit, and am instantly on high alert.
I swing my gaze in the direction Maeve is narrowing her eyes, and take a guess, “Is that the guy who was at the gas station and showed up at the hotel?”
“Yes,” she whispers when the man in question closes the door of the car Maeve described when she mentioned the fucker.
The fucker notices us and the second his gaze lands on Maeve, he crosses the street and heads straight for us.
“We meet again,” the fucker smoothly states.
I step in front of Maeve and grit, “Last time ’cause you won’t be meeting her again. I’d advise you to get away from my woman and head in another direction if you so much as get a glimpse of her next time.”
The fucker throws his hands up and takes a step back. “Hey, no worries. I was only making conversation. I thought she didn’t have a boyfriend.”
“Stuart, honey, is that you?” Gertrude, the old woman who lives across the street from my prez and Nixie, rattles as she too crosses the road .
“Yes, Mother,” the way too smooth office prick replies.
The way the fucker says “mother” makes me wonder if he’s a damn serial killer living in the old woman’s basement.
“Gertrude,” I politely acknowledge.
“Reef.” She nods and turns to Maeve. “And who might you be?”
That right there shows how nosy the old woman is. Seriously, I haven’t met her or told her my name, and yet she knows exactly who I am. I swear the old woman has a notebook she writes every single person in who crosses her house and if she doesn’t know them? She walks right out and asks, or gets her husband to find out.
“Maeve Faxon, ma’am. My mother lives here,” Maeve politely tells her.
“Oh, I’ve heard you were coming,” Gertrude gushes. “I told my Humphrey there would be another youngster coming to live in our neighborhood. I am truly pleased to meet you, Maeve, you must come by for tea tomorrow.”
Before I can tell the old woman “fuck no” about Maeve coming over ’cause all Gertrude wants is gossip so she can blabber it around and feel important, Stuart clears his throat and draws his mother’s attention.
“Mother, about youngsters coming to live in the neighborhood…I might need to stay a few days here as well.” Stuart chuckles and fucking winks at Maeve wh en he adds, “I don’t mean at your mother’s house of course.” Turning back to Gertrude he sightly bows his head in…shame? “If it’s okay with you, Mother.”
Gertrude gasps. “Oh no. Please tell me it isn’t so, poor boy.”
Stuart winces and bobs his head. I really don’t give a shit what the fuck is going on and I’m about to use polite words to tell them so when Gertrude opens the gossip floodgates.
“My boy wants a family but the woman he was with only thinks about herself and work.” Gertrude shakes her head and places a hand over her heart. “These days youngsters don’t even know what’s important in life and women only work, work, work. Not a thought about their man, or staying at home to raise the children. They are the future, you know…children I mean.”
Stuart winces and places a hand on his mother’s arm. “The here and now are different times than what it was when you were our age, Mother.” His gaze goes to Maeve and with sympathy in his fucking voice he says, “I overheard your conversation when you were on the phone with your mother. I’m sorry, everyone clearly has their own problems to deal with.”
“What?” Gertrude mutters and bounces her head between Maeve and Stuart. “My dear girl, what problems do you have?”
I wrap my arm around Maeve’s waist. “None concerning her mother’s neighbors. Now, if you will excuse us. Maeve has been driving for days and I’d like to get her settled. Y’all have a great day, and Happy New Year’s too.”
I add that last sentence to indicate I hope I don’t fucking see them the upcoming few days.
Maeve turns with me and we leave them standing on the sidewalk while we head inside. Nixie slipped her keys into the pocket of my leather vest when she gave me a hug at the clubhouse. She messaged me to make sure all Maeve’s stuff was brought to their house because Nixie doesn’t want to overwhelm her daughter.
Nixie is right. It’s a lot to take in when your mother is in a new relationship after a long marriage where Maeve’s father dumped her mother for a young chick who then murdered the fucker out of jealousy. Then there’s the stuff Maeve is going through, and moving here.
Yeah, Maeve definitely needs to put her feet up and hit pause in life. Our messages were a mixture of light chitchat and heavy life shit. I already mentioned to her we’re friends first. Till there comes a time when Maeve is ready for more? Then I’ll make sure she knows I’m very interested in more.
Till that time comes I’ll be there for whatever she needs, and keep fuckers like Stuart far, far away from her.