Chapter 22
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
cole
As I look down at my watch again, I curse myself.
Maya’s not late; I’m just early and eager to see her.
Having been on the road for the past five nights, I’ve had to survive on sporadic calls and texts.
I’ll take what I can get, but I’ve missed the feel of her hand in mine when she tells me about class and how her fingers lightly brush over the bruises I come home with pretty regularly.
And I really miss the breathy moans she makes when I’m slowly moving inside her.
The sharp intake of breath when I first enter her.
The soft brush of her lips against mine when she comes undone around my cock.
Right on time, she steps out of the ivy-covered building where her class is held.
She looks like an adorable marshmallow in her puffy white jacket.
Not that I’d ever tell her that, since I value my life.
Only as she takes the stairs do I notice the man next to her.
He looks like a doctor on Grey’s Anatomy with his cocoa-colored complexion, trendy wire glasses, and warm smile.
I immediately dislike him. And that feeling only doubles when he leans in close and makes Maya laugh.
Spotting my car, she waves goodbye to the fake doctor and hurries my way. She clambers into the car and leans over the console, capturing my lips in a deep kiss. “Welcome back, Captain. Congrats on your back-to-back-to-back wins.”
I chuckle and bask in the satisfaction her compliment brings. “Hey, baby. Thank you.”
“How was the flight?”
“Good. Read a few chapters of Alien Lovers of Planet Dexxar. How was class?”
“Amazing,” she says dreamily. “We focused on plot today, and in our workshop, we wrote short stories and had to include a plot twist at the beginning of each paragraph. It’s supposed to help us really focus on why we choose each plot point and how it affects the story moving forward.
Brian’s feedback was super helpful. I feel like I’m finally hitting my stride. ”
“That’s great.” I keep my tone even, though the sound of another man’s name on her lips has my hackles rising. “Who’s Brian? Is he the guy you walked outside with?”
With a nod, she buckles her seat belt. “Mm-hmm. He was my critique partner for the exercise.”
“Your partner?” Screw it, there’s no way I can hide the potent jealousy consuming me.
“Mm-hmm. We offer critique and feedback during workshops. Why are you being weird?” In my periphery, she assesses me, brows furrowed.
Once I’ve come to a stop at a red light, I turn to face her. She’s still watching me, her head tilted expectantly. The fact that she can’t put two and two together speaks volumes about how her exes have treated her.
“Because I’m jealous.”
“Of Brian?” She throws her head back and laughs.
The notion that a man could be jealous over her is so foreign that she doesn’t even recognize it.
“Cole, Brian’s so focused on becoming the next James Patterson that I could show up to class in my birthday suit and he wouldn’t notice. There’s no need to be jealous, babe.”
The pet name soothes the sharp edges of my insecurity, but I still frown as I ease off the brake and glide through the intersection. “But he knows about writing and books and all that shit. I don’t.”
“Does it bother you that I don’t know that much about hockey?”
I scoff. “No, of course not.”
“Same goes for me.” She presses a brief kiss on my cheek. “I don’t care that you don’t love reading like I do. Opposites attract and all that.”
I don’t bother fighting the grin that creeps up on my lips. “Do you mind if we swing by Goldblatt’s on the way to my place?”
“Oh! Goldblatt’s is the best.” She grins. “I’ll pick up a babka to send to Ava. They’re her favorite.”
“My mom loves their profiteroles,” I reveal, “so I like having them on hand when she visits.”
As far as caveats go, that wasn’t my smoothest, but I haven’t found the nerve to outright tell Maya that my entire family will be here later this week, let alone broken the news that they’re desperate to meet her.
It took what felt like a lifetime to convince her to go on a date, so God knows how she’ll react to this.
“That’s sweet of you,” she says, her expression serene. “She’s visiting soon, I assume?”
“Yeah, my whole family’s coming to town.” Christ, when was the last time my palms were this sweaty? “Will you come to dinner with us on Friday?”
So much for easing into it.
Maya’s eyebrows hit her hairline. “What?”
“Dinner. Friday. You. Me. And—”
“Your entire family,” she finishes, hands clasped tightly in her lap. “Yeah, I got that. Are you sure? We only just started dating. I don’t want to intrude. I’ve never done the whole ‘meet the family’ thing, so I can’t promise that I won’t completely fuck it up.”
All I hear is that I get to experience another one of her firsts. “I’m positive. I want to be with you on my birthday.”
Her eyes go wide. “Your birthday?”
“Yep,” I confirm. “I turn thirty on Friday.”
“Why didn’t I know your birthday was coming up?” Maya squeaks out, her tone laced with panic.
She seems more concerned with this than meeting my family, which I suppose is a win.
I laugh. “Because you didn’t stalk me on Wikipedia.”
She smacks my arm, but there’s no heat behind it. “This isn’t funny. I don’t have a gift for you.”
“You don’t need to get me anything.”
“Of course I do.” She rolls her eyes. “Aren’t we supposed to get wiser, not dumber, as we age?”
“Harsh.” I clamp my lips together to hide my grin. “You know, I’m fine with just a blow—”
“Do not finish that sentence, Nicholas Berrett,” she says with an adorably grumpy pout.
“So you’ll come to dinner? It’ll be low key, I swear. And I made my mom promise not to bring up babies or marriage.”
It’s a miracle Maya doesn’t unlock my car and tuck and roll her way right into the intersection. Her eyes, however, do widen, making her look like a deer in headlights.
Internally grimacing, I tell her I’m kidding. Although I most definitely am not. I did confirm with my mother that she had to be on her best behavior, which specifically involves no talk of new grandchildren or weddings.
Maya glances at me from the corner of her eye. “Only because it’s your birthday.”
Maya thrusts a neatly wrapped box into my hands. “I hope you like it, considering I only had a few days to choose.”
“You’re really harping on that, aren’t you?” I rip into the gift like I’m three instead of thirty, and as I take in the thin, long box that houses a brand-new e-reader, a smile overtakes my features.
“I preloaded it with books I think you’d like.” Maya motions to the box. “But if you don’t think you’ll use it or want something else, I swear I won’t be offended. I got a gift receipt so—”
I shut her up with a lingering kiss. “I love it. Thank you.”
She pulls away and blinks up at me. “Actually? Or are you just placating me?”
“It’s perfect,” I reassure her. “Now my teammates won’t see the cover of my next read and give me shit. I saw on PagePulse that there are a ton of books in the Alien Lovers of Planet Dexxar series.”
Maya groans into my chest. “Now I’m envisioning you as a sexy librarian. I totally get the hype now.”
“Yeah?” I set the e-reader down and slide my hands to the globes of her ass, squeezing and shaping them until her breath stutters. “Maybe we should explore that fantasy of yours.”
Before she went to work and I left for practice this morning, we had just enough time to sneak in a round of mind-blowing birthday sex. Even so, my cock jerks at the thought of her naked body splayed before mine.
Taking a step back, she shakes her head. “I am not meeting your parents with sex hair.”
I imitate Goose’s puppy dog eyes, but when Maya ignores my efforts, I grab my keys off the counter.
She’s unusually quiet on the drive over, though she’d never outright admit to being nervous. Meeting my family a few short weeks into dating may be considered too soon for some, but if I went at Maya’s pace for this, my nieces would be in college before they met her.
We’re fifteen minutes from the restaurant when I ask, “You okay, baby?”
“I’m fine,” she says, turning to face me. “Are you?”
I cock my head to the side. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
She shuffles around in the seat, as if she can’t get comfortable. “Because today is Nathan’s birthday, too.”
Ah. I like that she knows Nathan as just my brother.
She admits hockey is “sort of entertaining,” but she doesn’t want to know about his scoring average or shot percentage.
She wants to see photos of the cute matching outfits we wore as kids and hear about the time we switched places to take one another’s tests in middle school.
She wants me to be happy about the time I did spend with him rather than bitter about the time that was stolen from us.
“I’m okay,” I reassure her. “We never made a big deal out of our birthday.”
Her voice is hesitant. “What about your family?”
“They’ll be okay.” Not a lie, but definitely not the full story. “It’s always tough on them, but they’re more focused on meeting you than on my birthday. They’re all excited. Especially Lily and Violet.”
Excited may be an understatement. Mere seconds after we walk into the restaurant, they’re running up to her with toothy smiles and a million questions. My mom’s not much better. She throws her arms around Maya and squeezes her tight when my nieces finally take a breather.
Maya’s not anti-affection, but she’s not super tactile either, so it doesn’t surprise me when she momentarily stiffens before returning the greeting. Emily and Darby welcome her with subdued hugs of their own, but my dad and Zach stick to polite handshakes.
“Everyone,” I say with a grin, “this is my girlfriend, Maya.”
“It’s nice to meet you all.” Maya steps close to my side, reaching for my hand as if seeking comfort, and I link our fingers together.
The ma?tre d’ appears to lead us to the table, but Maya tugs on my hand as the rest of the group follows.