Never Have I Ever Land: A Sweet YA Romance (Fall in Love Like a Princess Book 3)

by Maggie Dallen

  Then again, my tongue felt just as useless as every other muscle in my body.

  “You think you can face your parents?” he asked.

  I shook my head. “No way. But Willow probably wouldn’t mind if I crashed with her.”

  He glanced over his shoulder and I followed to find Willow talking to a crowd of guys. I couldn’t make them out, but I could spot her giant bun anywhere. “Huh. Willow is doing better at a party than I am.” I shook my head. “Never mind. I guess I’m going home.”

  He studied me for a long moment. “I have a better idea.” He pulled out his phone and shot off a text and then shut the passenger side door, coming around to climb in behind the wheel.

  “Text your parents that you’re staying at Willow’s,” he said. “She’ll cover for you.”

  I stared at him. Puking up that last beer had helped, but my brain still felt cloudy. “Where will I be staying for real?”

  He shot me a little smile and my heart seemed to jump. He should warn people before he smiled. It was startling. Although, not in a bad way.

  “My grandparents have a cabin just down the road,” he said. “We can crash there until you’re feeling better.”

  We. My mind focused on that one word. We could crash there.

  My mouth went dry, and my head started to spin again.

  Did he think I did a lot of guy-girl sleepovers? If he did, he was mistaken. I wasn’t afraid of him, or what he would expect of me—but I was nervous about sleeping in the same house as a guy.

  His laughter was low and not unkind. “Relax, Callie. I’m not planning to take advantage of you. We’ll just sleep.”

  I winced. “I didn’t think you would.”

  He shot me a look but didn’t respond. “You feeling any better?”

  “I feel like I could sleep for a million years.”

  His lips were still curved up and I couldn’t look away. “Good. Sleep is good. And it’s better than how you’re going to feel tomorrow.”

  I moaned again at the thought of misery to come. I’d never had a hangover before. Probably because I’d never gotten drunk before. “I am not a fan,” I said.

  He didn’t need an explanation. “Probably for the best.” He put the truck into gear. “You ready?”

  I nodded. And because my brain was still ludicrously stupid, I couldn’t stop a line from Top Gun from coming out as he put his foot on the pedal. “I feel the need,” I said in the worst Tom Cruise impersonation ever. “The need for speed.”

  I slumped down in my seat in misery. His chuckle made it worthwhile though.

  I wasn’t sure exactly what point I’d passed out but considering his grandparents’ place was ‘just down the road’ it must have been instantaneous. When I woke up, I was back in Maverick’s arms and he was carrying me inside a cabin. “You don’t have to—”

  “Shhh.” He shushed me and then kissed the top of my head again like that was how he ended conversations now. With kisses.

  The thought wasn’t as terrifying as I might have expected. Not at all, in fact.

  “Sorry to be so much trouble,” I said as he set me down on a soft, comfy bed and made short work of removing my shoes.

  “Shh,” he said again. And then he tucked me in and kissed my head again, and right before he left the room, I heard, “Get some rest, Ice Man.”

  And the Ice Man part? It had me smiling as I fell into a deep, hard sleep.

  The next morning I wished I’d never woken up. My head was pounding, and my stomach was queasy. The memory of how my night ended had me groaning in misery.

  And then I groaned again as I realized where I was and why. I buried my face under a pillow until the wave of mortification eased up enough to face the light of day.

  It was the heavenly smell coming from the other room that finally had me pushing off the covers and getting out of bed. The room was small and cozy, and everything about it said ‘cabin’ from the patchwork quilt to the carved wooden bears lining the windowsill.

  It was homey and cozy and Maverick had grown up here. How did I know? There were pictures of him everywhere. Him and his mom, mostly. I could have sworn I saw him sprout up in front of my eyes just by looking at the photos of his youth.

  I opened the door cautiously, although I wasn’t sure what I was afraid of. The smell was even more amazing out here, and it drew me toward the kitchen like I was some cartoon character being dragged by its nose.

  “Bacon,” I moaned as I reached the open kitchen.

  Maverick turned from the stove to eye me from head to toe. “You’re alive.”

  “Am I?” I shook my head and regretted it. “I don’t feel alive.”

  His small smile made my stomach duck and weave. Which might not have been a bad thing if I wasn’t feeling like a walking corpse. As it was, the stomach twist had me collapsing onto a stool at the island in the middle of the kitchen.

  “Bacon is the best cure,” he said. As he spoke, he moved around the kitchen the way I moved around mine at home. Like I could have been blindfolded and still known exactly which cupboard held what and just how far back to reach for my favorite mug.

  “You spend a lot of time here, huh?”

  He nodded as he poured juice into a cup and opened another cupboard. “Yeah. My mom’s parents have owned this place since forever and we used to spend every summer here. After she died my dad thought it would be good for me and my grandparents if we were closer together so that’s why we moved here my freshman year.”

  I gaped because that was the most I’d ever heard come out of Maverick’s mouth at once. Also, my brain was functioning at low capacity and I had nothing to add to the conversation.

  He passed me the cup of juice along with some aspirin and a large, steaming mug of coffee. “Drink,” he said. As I drank, he willingly continued without me even having to ask. “But then my grandfather passed away, and my grandmother had to go into a nursing home—”

  “Oh, Maverick, I’m so sorry,” I interrupted.

  He shrugged but I didn’t need him to tell me that he was far from apathetic about this topic, even if he was wearing that unreadable stoic mask.

  His stoic mask? It was kind of like my smile. Automatic. What people expected to see so you got used to showing it to them.

  I got that.

  “The cabin is still here,” he said. “The memories are always here.”

  I nodded, hating that my throat was too choked up to say anything. Stupid overactive tear ducts.

  He leaned on the island. “Are you...are you crying again?”

  Horror laced his voice and I winced. Again? Oh yeah. I had burst into tears last night. Over his mom’s death. Ugh, I was definitely never drinking again. I took a sip of juice and tossed the pills into my mouth instead of answering, earning a cute little smile of confusion in response. A smile that said, ‘you’re funny but weird.’

  I was surprisingly familiar with that look, and right now it actually made me smile back. “Thanks for taking care of me last night. And for not telling me I told you so.”

  “I never told you that you shouldn’t drink,” he pointed out.

  “Didn’t you?” I pretended to think that over. He hadn’t. He was an overprotective dude by nature, particularly around me, it seemed—but he was right. He hadn’t said a word. He’d just sat back and let me act like a moron.

  And all for what? I cringed at the memory of how we’d left. Roman hadn’t even noticed I was leaving, just like he hadn’t noticed I’d been at the party.

  “I was trying to prove something,” I said. It was a mumble, and I was basically talking to my coffee. “And it was stupid.”

  He didn’t disagree.

  I sighed. “I guess you can’t change the way people see you, right?”

  He was silent for so long that I finally looked up, and when I did—oof. A guy should warn a girl before he gave her that look. So intense. So fierce. Tension seemed to crackle between us and, while he didn’t say a word, I had a vivid memory f
rom the night before.

  How do you see me?

  I don’t think you want to hear the answer to that right now. Not if we’re going to be just friends.

  My breath left me a rush and I opened my mouth to say...what? I had no idea. Something. Anything. But he turned away to flip the sizzling bacon. “Do you work today?”

  I blinked. Work. We were talking about work? It took a second, but I shook my head. “No, I have the day off. There’s a party tomorrow, though. Are you working it?”

  He nodded and then glanced over his shoulder with a grin that had me choking on my coffee. “Any chance you can tell me who Flynn Rider is?”

  “From Tangled,” I said. At his blank stare, I added, “The Rapunzel movie?”

  He stared again before shrugging.

  “It means you’ll be paired with Willow,” I said. And no, that was not jealousy making my gut churn. It was the hangover. Obviously.

  “You okay?” he asked. He hurried over with some toast. “Here, have some of this while the bacon’s cooking.”

  I shook my head and forced a smile. “I’m fine. Or, I will be when the aspirin kicks in.”

  “And the bacon,” he said. “Don’t forget the bacon.”

  “Who could forget about bacon?” I asked.

  “I don’t want to know.” He shook his head, his expression so very solemn. “Freaks.”

  “Fools.”

  “Heathens,” he added.

  I adopted a terrible mobster accent. “They’re dead to me.”

  He cracked up first and the sound of his laugh was so warm and delicious, it made me feel approximately twenty percent better. Well, it distracted me from my hangover woes, at least.

  “Who are you going to be at the party?” he asked.

  “I don’t know yet.” I shrugged. “Whoever Savannah doesn’t want to be. If it’s a Tangled themed party they’re probably not picky about who the other princesses are, just so long as they have Rapunzel and Flynn Rider. I’ll probably get stuck keeping the littlest ones occupied.”

  “You’re so good with little kids,” he said.

  The compliment took me by surprise. “Oh. Thanks.” Out of habit I adopted my most self-deprecating grin. “Probably because I still act like a little kid.” I looked down at myself. “Look like one too.”

  He wore a small smile as he scooped out some bacon onto my plate. “I disagree on both counts.”

  He sounded so serious that I didn’t have the heart to fight him, not even in jest.

  “Do you have football practice or something today?” I asked as I ate. He pulled up a stool across from me and got his own breakfast sorted.

  “Nope.”

  “Oh. Good.” I was nervous and it was stupid. He was watching me, and I felt absurdly aware of everything—the way I ate, the horrible way I must look, the bedhead that was no doubt going on above my head.

  I probably should have glanced in a mirror.

  But when I looked up at Maverick, he definitely wasn’t watching me in horror. The way he was looking at me made me duck my head as a blush crept up my neck. Blushing around Maverick now? This was new.

  “You can hang out here today, if you want to,” he said.

  When I looked up again, I caught him ducking his head as well.

  So...also new.

  Were we both shy right now? Because he was a popular football player, and I was a bubbly outgoing friend to all, and neither of us did shy very well.

  “I mean, if you don’t want to go home and face your parents, or whatever,” he added in a mumble.

  Yeah, this was getting awkward. But also...not awkward at all. So, that was confusing. I should probably go. I should go repent my sins and beg my liver for forgiveness. I should go do chores and hang out with my little brothers and—

  “I’d love to.” I surprised us both as that came out of my mouth. But as I said it, I realized I meant it.

  I liked being around this guy. Sometimes he aggravated me, and sometimes he made me laugh. He was surprisingly easy to talk to, and the more I got to know him, the more I realized there was more to him than I’d ever guessed.

  So yeah. I took a big bite of bacon and watched him unsuccessfully hide his grin behind his mug of coffee.

  I meant it when I’d said I’d love to stay.

  And I was pretty sure Maverick loved it just as much.

  Ten

  Maverick

  Callie was always pretty. In my eyes, she was hot as hell all the time. But with bedhead and mascara smudged beneath her eyes?

  She was so freakin’ cute.

  And she was mine. Or, at least...I was the only one here to see her like this. There was something crazy intimate about it. And the way she’d opened up to me last night, I’d gotten to see a side of Callie no one had before. And here, now, alone in my favorite place with the girl who was basically the living embodiment of sunshine and rainbows? Life was good.

  And I didn’t want to let her go.

  So when she agreed to stick around and hang out while she recuperated from her hangover, I felt like I’d won the lottery, the state championship, and a full-ride scholarship all in one go.

  I watched her inhale her bacon with satisfaction. She was already getting some more color in her cheeks after the coffee and now the food, but I had to assume she wasn’t exactly bounding with energy and jonesing for a dip in the lake. “Want to watch a movie?”

  She nodded. “That sounds great. But first—” She grimaced. “You don’t have a spare toothbrush around, do you?”

  I nodded toward the bathroom. “Bottom drawer in the cabinet. Help yourself to whatever you need.”

  She gave me this adorable, shy little smile that was so not her normal beaming grin, and that only made it feel more special.

  I cleared all the dishes and put them in the sink. When she came back out, her hair was tamed into two braids and her face looked freshly scrubbed.

  I had this pang in my chest at the sight of her. This was what it would be like if she were my girlfriend. This would be something we did—spending the night at the cabin and hanging out all day.

  My heart felt like it might explode from wanting. This was what I wanted. It was all I wanted.

  Whoa. For a guy who’d never cared much beyond hooking up at parties, these thoughts were new. Weird.

  New and weird.

  But not bad.

  “What do you want to watch?” she asked as she flopped down onto the couch and made herself comfortable.

  There was only one movie that had come to mind. Only one movie that I knew we both liked, so I found it and put it on.

  She laughed at the opening credits. “Top Gun? Perfect.”

  And it was perfect. Settling in next to her, I didn’t try to make a move or anything, but being there with her was easier than anything I’d ever done in my life. It was more comfortable to sit in silence with her than it was to hang out at a party or interact with my teammates. It was infinitely better than trying to spend one-on-one time with my dad.

  With Callie, it was just...easy. Even with a hangover, the girl was so quick to laugh, even quicker to find something to laugh about, and had a seemingly endless variety of thoughts on matters like Tom Cruise’s many roles over the years and the tragic hero that was Goose.

  The only time it got awkward was the sex scene. And by awkward I mean, there was suddenly an elephant in the room, and I hoped I wasn’t the only one who felt the tension.

  If she did, she didn’t let on. She made a joke, instead.

  Of course she did.

  As soon as the movie ended, Callie was in motion.

  “Aren’t you hungover?” I asked from the couch.

  She was moving all over the place, checking out pictures, reading the spines of the books in the bookcase.

  She nodded. “I’m feeling better now though.” She turned to smile at me, and I felt it all the way down to my bones. “Thanks to you.”

  I shrugged. I wasn’t sure I’d ever been shy or e
mbarrassed a day in my life, but right at this moment, it was hard not to duck my head and say ‘aw shucks.’

  I shook my head with a rueful laugh at the thought.

  “What’s so funny?” she asked.

  “Nothing, just...” She met my gaze and I faltered. You’re beautiful. I like you. You make this cabin feel like home again. “Nothing.”

  Her smile turned soft and warm and she crossed back over to me, sinking down onto the cushions beside me. I stopped breathing as her hand rested on my bicep and she leaned in close.

  She felt it too. She had to. We were alone, and she was smiling at me like I was the only man alive—like Roman was a distant memory. The thought of her crush had me scowling but her smile didn’t fade.

  She leaned in close. So close, I could see the freckles on her nose. So close my lips parted of their own accord. Her lips parted too and then she— “Wanna go for a swim?”

  And then she suggested I go take a dip in a cold lake. I choked on a snort of amusement at my own wayward thoughts.

  So maybe we weren’t on the same exact wavelength. But hanging out alone together was a start, right? Savannah had said to become her friend first, and that was exactly what I was doing. I was getting to know her and letting her get to know me. And that was...

  Terrifying.

  Good, but terrifying. Having her here at this cabin was like tearing down a mountain of walls and barriers, inviting her into the soft, defenseless interior of the fort, and just hoping and praying she didn’t accidentally break anything.

  Not that she was the enemy. But I was pretty sure she could destroy me in a heartbeat if she wanted to. I hadn’t even kissed the girl yet and she had me wrapped around her little finger.

  She arched her brows as she waited for my answer.

  “It’s still freezing cold in that lake,” I said.

  She pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes. “Are you chicken?”

  I laughed. “Do you have a death wish?”

  “Oh, come on. It’ll be fun.”

  I shook my head, but I was already getting to my feet. Like I’d said, wrapped around her little finger. “I’m just saying, there’s plenty of other things to do around here.”