Chapter 39 #2
I huffed a nervous laugh, tucking a curl behind my ear and shrugged. “They always it’s never good to meet your heroes, cuz you always end up disappointed, but I’m glad to have met you, Mr. Mooney. I’m even more glad that I get to date and have this baby with your nephew.”
His features softened, even as his eyes sparked with amusement. “Hero? Girl, you need to find yourself some better heroes.”
I laughed. “Nope. You’ll do just fine. I don’t think I’d get as lucky a second time.”
He chuckled as we started back for the house. His voice reminded me of the gravel we walked on as he said, “So, I was really your hero?”
“I knew all of your stats for years. Went to every rodeo you were competin’ in that I could get to. I forced my daddy to take me to NFR your final year.”
He laughed. “You were just a little thing then, weren’t you?”
“I may have been little, but Daddy knew there was no changin’ my mind once I got an idea.”
He laughed. “Tenacious… I like it.”
I smiled, pride swelling in me that Clint “Bad” Mooney called me tenacious with a smile on his face.
Everyone left shortly after Bad and I got back from our little walk. My heart didn’t feel so heavy, and even though the tension remained thick between Aunt Violet and I, Bad’s words echoed through my mind. “Give Violet a few days and she’ll cool down.”
Charlie and Ryder left quickly after Cash’s parents.
They’d had to pick up Cason from his friend’s house.
Getting rid of Cash had been a bit harder, but after Maverick threatened to wake him up at the ass-crack of dawn to do chores, Cash let Maverick drive him back down the road to his house.
He’d drank half a twelve pack in the course of the night.
There were no dishes to wash—thanks to Maverick and his aunt—so, with nothing else to do and a house to myself…well, aside from Brandy, I made my way to the bathroom to soak in the tub.
The hot water soothed my muscles, as the essential oil bath bomb and Epsom salts soothed my soul. Listening to my favorite country station on the house speakers, I closed my eyes and settled deeper into the tub.
Brandy’s toenails clicking against the tile floor in excitement were the only indicator Maverick had returned. It still amazed me how someone as strong and powerful could move so quietly.
“Well, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?” His deep voice sent shivers shuttering down my spine. I opened heavy lids to take him in. Dear Lord, he was sexy as hell in his usual getup—black on black on black.
I smiled. “You gonna join me?”
His eyes burned with want and need, his lips curving up into a sensual grin, but he shook his head and nodded at the plate in his hands. “Not yet. I made you somethin’.”
I sat up in the tub, examining what he’d brought. A cake. Probably vanilla or buttercream, maybe even cream cheese from the light frosting—my favorite. “You cannot keep spoilin’ me like this, Mav. I’m gonna end up bein’ the size of a house,” I teased, even as I gestured for him to come closer.
He obliged, much to my delight, offering me a fork as well. “You could eat a million cakes and you still wouldn’t be the size of a house.”
God, he was so perfect and sweet. I grabbed the utensil from him and looked at the cake he offered me.
“You sure you don’t want to cut me off a piece? I feel bad just diggin’ in with a fork.”
He shrugged. “I made it just for you anyways.”
One of my eyebrows quirked up. Okay, super sweet. But… “Why?”
Another shrug. “I just wanted to.” A man of many words.
I eyed him and the cake for a moment longer. “You’re sure it’s okay to just take a bite?”
“Chey, eat the damn cake.” His tone held a warm, playful note to it, but beneath that there was a layer of finality. I didn’t argue as I stuck my fork in and cut out a chunk. My heart froze mid bite as I noticed the color of the cake itself…
My chest tightened. Excitement and fear and disbelief and so many other emotions I couldn’t even begin to comprehend or explain swelling and rising in my chest like a tsunami. I swallowed the bite in my mouth. “Oh my God…”
Pink. The cake was pink.
“Is this…did you make me a gender reveal cake?” My heart beat faster than hummingbird wings.
His lips pulled up into a soft, bashful grin, his eyes holding a mixture of hope and worry in them. “I made it just in case you wanted to do it tonight…but with how the night went, I figured you wouldn’t want to make it a big deal.”
Oh my God. A girl. Both elation and fear danced along with my thumping heart in my ribcage. I was having a girl.
“Maverick…” I breathed.
I had no words. Nothing to explain just what this man’s actions did to me. Tears brewed in my eyes like summer storms, my throat tightening with emotion.
This man…this perfect, wonderful man who managed to keep the gender from me for over two weeks. Who managed to bake me a cake without me even realizing it. Who managed to give me the sweetest most intimate and meaningful gender reveal I could ever imagine…
I didn’t deserve him.
His face fell, his shoulders sagging as he placed the plate on the countertop, mistaking my inability to speak as unhappiness, no doubt. “I’m sorry. I shoulda asked before I went and did somethin’. I didn’t think you’d wanna do a big ol’ party for the reveal. I—I’m sorry.”
I shook my head, wiping the tears that slipped down my cheeks before reaching for him. “Come here,” I choked out, my voice failing me.
But actions always were easier for us.
Like a magnet, he gravitated toward me, clutching my hand in his.
“Get in,” I whispered, pleaded.
He undressed slowly. First, his cowboy hat that he placed upside down on the countertop beside the pink-filled cake.
Then his long-sleeve button up and his undershirt, putting his beautiful scars on full display.
He’d stopped hesitating when he bared them to me.
I still couldn’t fathom why he’d be ashamed of them at all.
One day, I’d make him feel comfortable enough to not wear a long-sleeve all together. But for now…baby steps.
He settled into the tub opposite me, but he wouldn’t meet my gaze, not completely. Situating myself onto my knees, I leaned forward and tilted his chin up. “Thank you,” I murmured, pressing a whisper-soft kiss to his lips.
His hands came up to rest against my cheeks, the familiarness doing something to my body, my very soul. “You ain’t mad?” There was so much worry and fear in his words, in his frown and the furrow of his dark brows.
I offered him a warm smile, situating myself in his lap more comfortably as I held his bright jade gaze. “How could I ever be at you for that?”
“I didn’t ask first. Was what I did okay?”
I shook my head, a disbelieving chuckle escaping me.
“You somehow managed to bake an entire cake without me noticin’, and the reveal couldn’t be more intimate and perfect and exactly what I wanted.
I don’t care if other people find out, but I wanted this moment to be special for you and I.
” I glanced at the pink cake for only a moment before rising from the tub.
“What’re you—” But his words trailed off as I grabbed the plate and climbed back into the tub. Straddling him once more, I cut off a piece of cake and held it out to him.
“You’re gonna be a girl dad,” I said, smiling.
I swear, tears welled in his eyes, a small, disbelieving smile curving his lips.
He opened his mouth, closed it. Opened it again.
A soft smile of my own tugged on my mouth at seeing him so at a loss for words.
“I love you, Maverick Holstrom, and I sure as hell don’t deserve you.
But I’m glad me and this little girl have you. ”
Some emotion I couldn’t quite place rippled across his face—elation, fear, awe, unworthiness…
they bled so seamlessly together, I wasn’t really sure.
It’s almost like he didn’t believe this could possibly be happening to him.
So, the moment he took the bite I offered him and met my stare was like a moment of acceptance that caused a shift in me.
My life would be forever changed. Not just because I was pregnant. Not just because I was choosing to have this baby with him. I had never known what anyone meant when they said things like “home is where the heart is”, but I was starting to now.
It was with him.
It should have terrified me. Made me run for the hills.
I think with any other man it would have.
But with him… For the first time, the thought of settling down, of spending the rest of my life with one person didn’t make that part of my soul that longed to be free grow wary.
In this moment, none of the fears or worries or frustrations of life could bring me down.
I rode the high of happiness as we fed each other cake, as we fucked in the tub to my favorite country songs, as he pulled me into his arms once we’d gotten in bed and he ran his fingers through my hair until we’d fallen asleep.
And the whole time I couldn’t help but thinking that this just might be my own personal heaven.