by Laura Kaye
And Mav made sure she had all of it so she didn’t have to come back. He’d personally carted loads of hanging clothes and suitcases full of personal items out to his truck himself until the other Ravens showed up to help.
The third thing that had felt so weird about returning was how much she didn’t feel like she belonged there. It was almost like poking around a stranger’s house, her nerves telling her she was going to get caught at any moment. She could almost imagine it’d been months since she’d last been there—years, even. It was more than a little surreal.
Finally, Alexa shook her head, her eyes still glued to the Slater Enterprises building. Wondering. Worrying. Debating. But she had to do this. She had to be strong. It was time. “No. It’ll be okay. If I get worried, I’ll call you to come get me.”
“Look at me,” Maverick said. Alexa’s gaze cut to him. “Promise me.” He arched a brow over dark blue eyes filled with fierce concern, his expression so serious it emphasized all the hard angles of his face. It made him beautiful to her, although he’d probably think that was a ridiculous thing to think about him. But how could she find his protectiveness, concern, and support anything but beautiful? She knew too well what the opposite looked like.
“I promise,” Alexa said, making her words strong and sure when her insides felt a whole lot like someone was taking a mixer to them. But she was going to have to face Grant some time. No sense in putting it off, and doing it in public had all kinds of advantages over doing it privately.
He gave a tight nod. “I’ll be here when you come out at five.”
“Okay.” She resisted the urge to lean over and kiss Maverick, because despite the couch, she had no idea what they were or weren’t. She opened the door and climbed out. Hesitating, she looked back in. “Thanks, Maverick. You didn’t have to do all this for me, and . . . yeah . . . just, thanks.”
“That’s bullshit,” he said, eyes blazing with an intensity she didn’t really understand. “You’re family. It’s what we do. But you’re welcome.” He winked.
For some reason his expression and his words made her ache with yearning—a yearning that there was more between them than just history. “Okay.” With a little nod, she pushed the door shut and headed inside.
Alexa’s nerves were on high alert as she entered the building, part of her sure some sort of trap would spring on her the moment she walked through the doors. But there was only Christina, smiling at her but her expression also a little concerned. “Hey. Your mom okay?”
Confused, Alexa nodded.
“It’s just that you’re never late unless your mom has an appointment,” Christina said.
“Oh, uh, no. Mom’s fine. Thank you, though.” She debated what to say, and then decided it would be better not to say a word. Not yet. “I’m sorry to run, but I’m late for something.” She thumbed over her shoulder as she moved away from the desk. “I’ll see you later, though?”
“Okay,” Christina said, clearly catching on to her weirdness. Not that Alexa could worry about it just then.
She made her way to her office, sure that everyone knew what’d happened, like everyone could just look at her and see that her world was falling apart. But she pasted on a smile, offered greetings as she passed her colleagues, and finally made it to her desk.
A gigantic over-the-top bouquet of fresh flowers in a thick crystal vase filled one whole end of her work space. Three dozen flowers in bold, bright colors, leafy foliage, and baby’s breath made an arrangement so big it could’ve been for a wedding. Or a funeral.
She opened the card.
Alexa—
Come home to me where you belong.
Love, Grant
She sighed. It almost didn’t matter that he hadn’t given the flowers as an apology, because him apologizing wouldn’t change how she felt. The note bothered her for other reasons. She was worried that it revealed Grant’s stubborn unwillingness to hear what she was saying. That he was ignoring the fact that she’d taken off her ring. And it bugged her that he’d put her in the position of having to keep the flowers in her office or else give her coworkers a reason to wonder why she wasn’t keeping such an exquisite gift from her fiancé less than two weeks before their wedding. She moved them to the credenza to get them out of her way and then dove into all the work the model home and a few of her smaller projects required.
Maverick texted her throughout the day making sure she was okay, and who knew that the word fuck could sound so sweet? I’m fucking worried about you. He’ll fucking pay if he hurts you. IS IT 5 OFUCKINGCLOCK YET? That one came complete with a winky face. And when a big tough biker dude sent you shouty caps and a winky face, it could make you smile.
Otherwise, no one disturbed Alexa all day. It was four o’clock before she knew it. And she was both relieved and anxious about not yet having seen Grant.
Of course, his knock finally came.
“Alexa,” Grant said, stepping into the office wearing an exquisitely tailored blue suit. His gaze cut to the flowers off to the side before he closed the door. “Did you like the flowers?”
“They’re beautiful, but you shouldn’t have,” she said, not trying to hide the edge in her voice. She clasped her hands on top of the desk.
Grant came closer until he stood right in front of her, forcing her to look up to meet his eyes. “Of course I should. I’d do anything to make things right.”
Her stomach dropped. “Flowers can’t fix what’s broken between us, Grant.”
For a moment, she would’ve sworn the narrowing of his eyes and the tightness around his mouth foreshadowed building anger, but then it was gone from his expression and he shook his head. “I know. I just wanted you to know I was thinking about you, wanting you.”
Nerves made her knees feel like jelly, but Alexa stood up anyway, needing to be on a more even playing field while she said what she had to say. “You need to stop wanting me, Grant. I know you found the ring.” She shook her head and gathered her thoughts. “We’re over.”
Grant’s eyes did narrow then, and he pulled something out of his pocket. Her diamond. It glinted in the sunlight coming through the window behind her. “Damnit, Alexa, this is yours.” He nailed her with an intimidating stare. It was hard not to duck her chin. “You can’t just end it. We have five years of history. You can’t throw that away. Don’t you think we deserve some conversation, some time to cool down and talk this out, some effort to fix things?”
“Grant—”
He stepped forward and she could’ve sworn he meant to grasp her wrist, but then he put the ring down on her paperwork. “I’m not letting you give it back. This isn’t over.”
She crossed her arms and arched a brow at him. “Yes, it is.”
He scrubbed his hands over his face, then held them up as if in surrender. “Please, Alexa. You’re important to me.”
Frowning, Alexa shook her head. For one of the first times ever, she seemed to be able to hear what he wasn’t saying as clearly as what he was, and it solidified that she was doing the right thing. “Please take it, Grant. I know it’s really valuable. If you don’t take it I’m afraid it’ll get lost or stolen, because I won’t be taking it either.”
“I don’t care about the ring,” he said, his voice quiet but intense. Just like it had been in his office the night before.
“You say you care about me and you want to fix things, but you won’t even honor what I want right now,” she said, working to keep her tone even. “Take the freaking ring.”
She had no idea how she held out in the staring match that followed. Her heart raced. Her knees felt like they could give out. She fisted her hands to try to hide her shakiness. Finally, he heaved out a long breath and scooped the diamond up again. “This isn’t over,” he said, and then he turned and stalked out.
The moment the door closed behind him, Alexa nearly collapsed into her chair.
She was shaky and a little woozy from the adrenaline pumping through her, but it still felt like a damn victor
y. That was quite possibly the first disagreement with him she’d felt like she’d ever won.
Despite his parting words.
But they didn’t matter. Because she and Grant were over.
And there was absolutely nothing he could do to change that.
CHAPTER 15
Maverick was crawling out of his skin waiting for Alexa to walk out of work. Leaning against the front of his truck, arms crossed and eyes trained on the doors, it took everything he had not to march in there and escort her out.
He’d been a mess of worst case scenarios all day. Slater hitting her. Slater nabbing her and hiding her away. Slater snapping and taking them both out in some melodramatic murder-suicide. Even as the thoughts had been rushing through his brain, he’d known they were fucking ridiculous. Grant Slater was nothing if not image-conscious, which was the only thing that’d kept Maverick sane. The guy wasn’t going to do anything obvious, not in public at least.
That hadn’t made it any easier for Maverick to concentrate on the 1950s Copper Hardtail he’d been working on reengineering for a client. And that didn’t mean her ex wouldn’t go all stalker. Because Maverick believed he had that in him. And he didn’t trust Slater’s concerned act on that call this morning in the least.
He just hoped Alexa didn’t either.
Then, finally, there she was. A beautiful vision in a pair of form-fitting black pants, strappy black heels, and a silky pale pink blouse. A sexy vision. Put together and polished and professional.
Unlike him. He was all ripped jeans, stained hands, and beat-up boots.
Did she care about that stuff?
Didn’t she have to—at least on some level? Five years ago, she’d picked Slater over him, and he and Slater couldn’t have been more different. Abusive-asshole factor aside, Slater was two-thousand-dollar business suits and high-end luxury cars and million-dollar mansions. From his own business and his cut from the Ravens, Maverick had money, but he didn’t flash it. He was a jeans, T-shirt, bike kinda man.
Sonofabitch.
As she neared, Alexa smiled. And damn if that shit didn’t light him up inside. “Hey,” she said.
“Hey.” He gave a nod as she came to stand in front of him. His gaze raced over her, checking for signs that anything bad had happened in the seven hours that they’d been apart. But she looked fine. She looked perfect. Need roared through him. “Everything okay?”
“Yep,” she said, her voice cheerful. Too cheerful?
He eyeballed her. “Slater in there?”
Her smile slid away. “Yeah.”
Maverick ground his teeth together as a fantasy flooded through his mind’s eye. One he wanted that asshole to fucking see. “Know what I want to do?”
“You promised you wouldn’t hurt—”
“No, that’s not it. Well, it is, but it’s not what I was thinking of right now,” he said.
An uncertain smile crept back onto her pretty face. “Okay. Well, then, what do you want to do?”
One beat passed. And then another. And Maverick let the words that described his fantasy fly. “I want to pin you against my truck and kiss the fuck out of you. I want to put my hands on you. Everywhere. I want to push those sexy little pants off your even sexier ass and make you wet with my fingers until you’re crying out my name. While all those eyes behind that dark glass are watching. While Slater’s watching.”
Alexa let out a shaky breath and her mouth dropped open. Heat slid into her gaze, making it harder for him to resist turning his words into actions. “Probably . . . um, probably not a good idea.”
He chuffed out a little laugh. “Probably not.” He reached for the handle and held the door open for her.
With a little nod, she got up into the truck’s cab.
Maverick stepped into the doorway. “You really okay?”
“Yes,” she said, her voice breathy.
“He talk to you?” She nodded. “He touch you?”
“No.” Her eyes flashed to the building, making Mav’s scalp prickle. He peered over his shoulder just to make sure Slater wasn’t standing right behind him. “I told him we were over. He tried to convince me to at least talk it out. And then he gave me back my ring.”
Maverick couldn’t help it. His gaze dropped to her lap, where her hands were fisted against her thighs. No ring.
“I wouldn’t accept it, though, and he finally had to take it back.”
He met her eyes and what he saw there nearly sucker punched him. Pride. Strength. Courage. None of this was easy for her, and he knew that. It made him proud of her, too. And he wouldn’t have been the only one. “Tyler would be proud of you.”
She gave him a smile that was so sweet and so sad that it felt like she’d reached inside his chest and squeezed. “That . . . that means a lot, Maverick.”
“Just calling it like I see it,” he said in a low voice. “He say anything else?”
She rolled her eyes. “Just that it wasn’t over.”
Of course it wasn’t. The fucker. “We’ll see about that.”
The ride home was quiet, and then they were back at his house again.
“Your stuff’s all in your room,” Maverick said. He dropped his keys on the kitchen counter.
“You didn’t have to unload it all. I would’ve helped,” she said, placing her purse next to his keys.
He shouldn’t like the look of that so much. Or the way it felt to have company in here at the end of the day. Or the way the clicking of her heels against the hardwoods echoed through the house.
“No biggie, Al,” he said, grabbing a soda from the fridge. Just to have something to do with his hands that didn’t involve getting them wet with the slickness he could draw out from between her legs. Yeah, they’d fucked this morning. But that didn’t mean she wanted it to happen again. He needed to rein his damn self in.
“Gonna change. Be right back.”
When she was gone, he raked his hand through his hair and mentally ran through his favorite parts of the rebuild he was doing. It had a copper-forged gas tank and copper-coated lower shock arms, rear fender strut, bar risers, and a bunch of other copper accents. When it was done, it was going to have a sweet throwback vibe.
Nope. Didn’t work. He still wanted to follow her back to her bedroom. Especially since his brain knew that she was stripping down and baring all that warm, warm skin.
Goddamnit. He needed to knock his head against a wall somewhere. Because the last thing she needed was him coming on too strong. Or, frankly, coming on at all.
“Hey, Mav?” she called. “Do you see Lucy anywhere?”
He pushed off the counter and made for the living room. “Not in here,” he said. He grinned to himself because he had a few surprises for Alexa where Lucy was concerned. He checked the hall bathroom next. As little as the thing was, she could be hiding just about anywhere. When he’d returned earlier in the day with Alexa’s stuff, the cat had been standoffish at first, but once her mama’s things started coming in, Lucy came closer, poking around and sniffing at Alexa’s clothes and bags, until she finally let Maverick pet her and even pick her up.
And then, naturally, he’d needed to win over the fucking cat all the way. So when he’d gone to the grocery store to make sure he had some of Alexa’s favorites in the house, he’d just happened into the pet aisle. Not seeing much, he’d stopped at the pet store, where a shit-ton of stuff had fallen into his cart. For fuck sake.
“Maverick?”
He followed her voice to the back of the house and found her standing in his bedroom doorway. She’d changed into a light green tank top and a pair of beat-up jeans that framed her curves perfectly, and put up her wavy brown hair into a ponytail. Standing there in bare feet, the threads of the frayed denim just touching the floor, she was the sexiest woman he’d ever seen.
“I can’t believe it,” she said, peering inside the room.
Lucy was curled up asleep on his pillow. “Why not?”
Alexa’s eyes stayed on her cat. “Bec
ause Lucy was terrified of Grant. Wouldn’t go near him. Bolted out of any room he came into. The only exception was at night. She slept under my side of the bed to be near me.” Al finally met his gaze. “I thought she had a problem with men.”
Mav smirked, even though the awe in Alexa’s tone was doing shit to his chest again. “Only the assholes, apparently.”
She burst out laughing. “Only the assholes.”
A meow rang out from the bed, where Lucy was engaged in a long, exaggerated stretch.
“Hey, baby,” Alexa said, crossing the room. “What . . . what are you wearing?”
Grinning, Maverick waited.
“Oh my God.” She laughed and scooped the cat into her arms. “You bought her a sweater?”
He finally let his laughter loose. “I made her a badass.” The sweater covered the cat’s thin body from neck to back legs and was black with white skulls and crossbones.
Alexa kissed the cat’s head, and Maverick could hear Lucy purring from several feet away. “She didn’t mind you putting it on?” More of that awe.
“I wouldn’t go as far as saying that she loved it,” he said, moving closer and holding his hand out for the cat. Lucy forced her head against his palm. “But we made friends. Plus, um, I might’ve bribed her with treats.”
Chuckling, Alexa shook her head. “I’m sorry I missed that.” Lucy hopped out of her arms. Alexa’s expression slowly changed and sadness filled her hazel eyes. “I’m sorry . . . for so much.”
The word stirred up all kinds of things inside him, but Maverick just shook his head. “You’re all about the future now.”
“Yeah. Yeah, I am.”
His cell buzzed in his pocket. Looking at the screen, he found a text from Bunny.
You coming to dinner tonight?
He hadn’t planned to, not with Alexa here, but it wasn’t often that his mother asked that outright. Which had him feeling like she wanted him there at the clubhouse. Rodeo had confided that she still didn’t feel entirely comfortable being there.