Page 21

Maverick

M y mind reels as I walk from my truck to the barn.

Things are changing. After my little rendezvous with Ava two days ago, I woke up to an empty bed.

And she was practically mute on the ride home.

Did I do something wrong? Did it mean something entirely different to her?

Because for me, that was life changing. I will never be the same man I was before her.

Even in my small one-bedroom cabin, she’s been making herself scarce whenever I’m home—either faking being asleep or being distracted on her phone.

It’s been the longest forty-eight hours of my life.

Is she mad at me? I can’t figure it out. I pull my hat off my head to run my hand through my hair in frustration, determined to figure out what’s going on in that beautiful head of hers.

I enter the code for the barn and, once granted access, open the door.

Weston and Rhett stop in their tracks, and I know the day is going to be long from the no-good looks on their faces.

“Wipe those smug grins off, we got shit to do.” We need to reweld some pins and rake through the dirt floor today so we can work the horses a bit and drop hay.

“Oh no, the first bit of business today is to ask you what’s got you all riled up?” Weston says.

“Sorry man, got to agree with the dumbass today.” Rhett crosses his arms and leans against the metal wall .

“Fuck you,” Weston says to Rhett before turning back to me. “How’s your wife ?” His eyebrows wag at the last word.

I drop my head back, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath. Awe fuck, that means people for sure heard if Weston did. “So you heard that, huh?”

“The whole arena heard. I thought you were supposed to be lying low about that.”

“Oh, I was. Doug has already left me three voicemails ripping my ass.” Have I responded? Absolutely not. Doug is getting on my last nerve quicker and quicker these days.

“Well, you gonna tell us or do we have to beat it out of you?” When Rhett joins in, I know I’m not getting away with it. He’s usually the more reserved one of our bunch, so if he’s invested, I ain’t getting out of here scot-free.

“There is nothing to tell.” Turning my head, I walk over to the pile of supplies.

“Rhett, is it just me, or is someone avoiding the conversation?” I hear from behind me. Fuck, I’m not getting out of this. When Weston is on a mission, there’s nothing that will stop him.

Rhett’s deep chuckle doesn’t help me feel better. “Oh, someone for sure has some information to share.”

“There is nothing to tell because we haven't really even talked about it.”

“Well, do you like her, or is this just a phase you’re going to go through?” I stretch my neck to the side, unsure exactly how much I want to tell them because this can quickly turn into ammunition for the rest of my damn life.

“It’s not a fling.” I grab a rake. Apparently, I am the only one who’s planning on getting any work done today. “At least I hope not. ”

Weston probes further. “Is she not interested? That’s a first for you, Ryder.” Oh, he is going to love watching my wife humble my ass.

“I don’t know.” She’s at least physically attracted to me, I know that.

“How can you not know?” Weston walks over to grab another rake, closing the distance I am trying to put between us.

“She hasn’t been around to talk about it. I don't know?”

“You live together in the world's smallest cabin. Where has she been hiding? Better yet, what did you do?” Rhett joins in on the questioning.

“Fuck if I know, man.” Women are complicated, and I am quickly learning I may be way in over my head in this marriage.

“You gonna tell us what happened after you went all caveman and claimed her as your woman in front of everyone?” Weston asks, but I’m pretty sure he knows exactly what happened.

I put on a nice, tight smile and look at him. “Sure, we went to our hotel and had a nice quiet night.”

“If she was quiet, that tells me everything I need to know.” They can make jokes at my leisure, but over my dead body am I going to air out what goes on between us when the lights are off.

“Can we get to work now? I have some shit I need to do this afternoon. Unless you dumb fucks want to do all of it by yourself.”

“Fine,” Weston rumbles out, “but your silence speaks volumes.”

“Real original, dipshits.” I shake my head and get to work.

The lights are on at the cabin when I come through the line of trees and pull up to the side of the house. Maybe she isn’t avoiding me and has just been busy all day.

The house is filled with the scent of mahogany and vanilla, her favorite candle. I stomp my feet on the rug, trying to get the leftover dirt from the barn off my boots.

Ava leans over the kitchen counter, wiping it down. Looking around, I see the whole place is clean. Like really clean.

“You go on a cleaning kick today?” I ask.

She practically jumps out of her skin, whirling around with her hand on her chest. Her sweatpants sit low on her hips, exposing a bit of skin below her belly button. I’ve seen that skin, touched that skin. My eyes stay glued on it, no matter how hard I try to drag them up.

“Uhm, yeah, I guess.” The tone in her voice has my hackles rising; something is wrong.

“Where were you this morning?” I step out of my boots and set them off to the side. Part of me wants to ask why she was so quiet on the drive while I’m at it.

She goes back to wiping down the already spotless counter. “Oh, I got up early to feed the baby cow, clean out the stalls, and then go for a walk.”

“Okay, well, I’ve been wanting to talk to you.” I take a few steps closer, and she stops in her tracks at my words.

She hangs her head for a second before looking up at me. “Listen, Mav, I don’t want you to feel any pressure. If you don’t want anything else to happen, that's okay. I kind of jumped your bones. And I—”

Closing the gap between us, I cup her face in my palms. “I made a mistake by not being perfectly clear with you. I got a little overly excited about having you in my bed and forgot the most important part.” I study her face for a few seconds.

“That wasn’t just sex for me, and I hope it wasn’t for you, either.

Because I want to give this a go, for real.

” Her eyes go wide as saucers and grow a little glossy.

Her voice wavers as she speaks, “Are you sure? You’re on the road a lot, and I’m sure there are other girls out there.”

Rubbing my thumb across her cheek, I look her in the eyes, wanting her to feel the sincerity in my words.

“There are no other girls out there for me if you’re in the picture, and I hope you are.

” She sucks her lips in as her eyes water.

Unable to handle the silence, I press on, “So are you? It’s okay if you don’t want this.

I will back off, and we can go back to how we were.

” I would hate every single second of it, but at the end of the day, I will always respect her and her decisions.

Her hands cover mine, and her voice is so quiet I have to strain to hear her. “No, I don’t want to go back.”

The smile that stretches over my face feels foreign because I don’t know if I’ve ever been this happy. The smile she sends me in return melts every piece of me. “Are you just going to stare at me, or are you going to kiss me, cowboy?”

I shake my head as I lean in, and my lips start as a whisper against hers. My pounding heart thunders in my ears.

This kiss isn’t heated like our previous one, it’s slow. An exploration of each other. The little sigh she lets out makes my blood heat. But I don’t want to push it, I want to slow this down and do it right because I think I could spend forever kissing her.