Just One Spark: A Black Alcove Novel

by Jami Wagner

  “You’re kidding, right?” he asks, hands on his hips, the same frustrated gleam in his eyes.

  “Maverick, your plan this whole time has been to come here, get the job, and go back to Colorado, right?” I ask. I know what my next step is, but does he know his?

  His chest heaves with each breath as he stares at me. He licks his lips, opens his mouth, but nothing comes out. One hand rubs the scruff on his chin as the other points at me. Again, his mouth opens but nothing comes out.

  “Fuck,” he groans, running his hands through his hair and spinning around as he kicks the dirt. “I don’t know. I mean, it was … is.”

  “Even after you and me,” I say, the last word coming out in almost a whisper as I hold back the lump in my throat. A tear slips over my cheek as I watch him at war with himself, his hands clenching and unclenching. He looks as though he’s in pain, and it sounds as if he can’t catch his breath.

  We both knew at some point we would be forced to finally have this conversation, holding nothing back. I just never thought it would turn out this way.

  “Maverick.”

  “I had no idea that I would meet you when I came here.” His words are calm as he slowly turns to face me. “But one thing is certain: I never once imagined what my life would be like from here on out without you.”

  He steps toward me. “No matter who gets this position, promise me we will still be us and we will make it work.”

  More tears fall over my cheeks. If I don’t get this job, I’ll be gone. Away from here. I think he’s forgotten, and it’s okay. My life isn’t his to worry about. He tilts my chin to look at him.

  “Beth, I’ve fallen so hard for you. Please tell me that we will be okay.” His lips are warm as they press against mine. I kiss him back, my lips opening for him to slip his tongue through. Then his body is flush against mine and his hand is in my hair, tugging gently until I tilt my head just enough to deepen the kiss and for his other hand, the one cupping my face, to swipe away a newly shed tear.

  “Maverick,” I break the kiss, “that’s a hard promise to make when I don’t even know what we are.”

  “What?” His eyes search mine. “How could you not know?”

  “Well, I mean, we’ve kept everything between us a secret, so I’m not exactly sure what that means.”

  “Do you want to tell people?” He kisses me quickly. “Will that help define us?”

  “I would love to stop sneaking around, but just because we tell people doesn’t mean this is defined.”

  “You’re my girlfriend,” he says so simply.

  “No, I’m not.”

  “Yes, you are,” he says and that same sexy smile is back. “I know you will have some rebuttal. Some excuse on why you can’t have a boyfriend. On why this won’t work. But you’ll be wrong about it all. I’m crazy about you, Beth. So absolutely crazy out of my mind about you.”

  I don’t have time to reply before he’s kissing me again. His hands run over the outside of my thighs until he reaches my ass, lifts my legs around him. Pressing his body harder against mine, he freezes.

  “Say you want this too, Beth. Me, you. Everything that comes with it. That we will make it through whatever life puts in our path.”

  His words pierce my heart, and it’s like my body and my lips have a mind of their own.

  “Okay,” I answer, kissing him hard. “We will make it work.”

  Everything else—work, my family, his family, the party, the fight with Austin—are gone. It’s just us. And although my heart feels like it made the right choice, the wheels in the back of my mind won’t stop turning.

  If he wins, I’ll be gone. And I’m not so sure I can make it work.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Maverick

  I’m a lucky man to be given a second chance. With my job and with Beth. I’m not exactly sure how I got to be this lucky. I was making some poor choices and someone somewhere should have made me suffer a little longer while I learned from my mistakes. And who knows, maybe risking my job to be with Beth is what’s going to bite me in the ass, but it’s worth it. She’s worth it.

  The early morning sun is just peeking through the blinds. The small ray falls across Beth’s bare back where I find myself tracing her skin with my free hand until she stirs awake.

  “Somehow, you’re the only person who can wake me before seven thirty and I don’t want to bite your head off,” she mumbles, her face in the pillow.

  “That’s because I have a much better peace offering in the morning than everyone else,” I say. “Plus I have another idea for those handcuffs we used last night.” My heart about stopped when we got back to my place after the barbeque and she pulled them out of her purse. This wonderful woman is just full of surprises and she’s all mine.

  “And what’s that?” she asks.

  With the same hand that was caressing her skin, I tickle my fingers down her back and over her ass. She moans, her body stretching into mine as she inches closer to me. She’s still naked from last night, which is working out to my advantage right now.

  When my hand is splaying over her right cheek, I move in one swift motion to position myself on top of her. She gasps with excitement, a wide smile peering up at me.

  I nudge her legs apart with my knee and settle myself between them. Her back bows and her hands grip the sheets as I kiss my way down the front of her body.

  Her taste will never get old. Each time is like the first time. I can’t get enough. I want more. I need more.

  I take my time, reveling in the way her delicate and soft skin feels under my touch. I heard somewhere that redheads are supposed to have freckles almost everywhere, but Beth is different. Her freckles appear in small groups. Like the three under her left ear, the four that fall into the shape of diamond right between her breasts and the many that scatter just over her right hipbone. She has more, but they are light and hardly noticeable. The everyday person wouldn’t notice, but to me, each one is like a piece of art I want to memorize on her body.

  “It’s not called a peace offering if you’re just going to tease me, Maverick,” she says with a raspy voice. Her hands trail up my arms to my chest and then around my neck as she slides her fingers into my hair, pulling me down to her. Her lips are soft when she kisses me, but once she slips her tongue into my mouth, my body responds immediately. I grind my hips into her center. Our bare bodies meet and stroke against each other, ready to make a full connection. Beth pulls the cuffs off the nightstand and beams a smile at me.

  Until last night, I never thought sex with Beth could get better. Something changed within the last twenty-four hours. Not just her, but with me, too. Perhaps making our relationship official took some stress or worry away. Whatever it was, I don’t mind even in the slightest.

  Adjusting my body, I thrust into her. She groans at the motion, her head digging back into the pillow. This right here, having her under me and her body moving magically with mine, is a feeling I never want to let go of.

  I’m just about to latch her left wrist when my phone rings loudly on the nightstand as I pepper kisses over her chest. Without taking my eyes off her, I silence the noise.

  It rings again.

  I silence it.

  It rings once more.

  “Just answer it.” Beth leans up on her elbows with a sigh. “Then we can resume,” she says, kissing my cheek gently.

  We break apart while I sit up. My heart sinks the moment I see the ID.

  “Dad, is everything okay?” He usually never calls me this early. Something must be wrong.

  “It’s fine, Maverick. Is this a bad time?” he asks.

  “Actually…” I begin, because yes, this is a bad time, but no, I’m not going to say it’s because I’m having sex.

  “I won’t be but a minute, so come let me in,” he says.

  “You’re here?” I stand swiftly, looking around the room for the clothes closest to me. I find a pair of jeans and tug them on and then grab a t-shirt from my top dr
esser drawer and pull it over my head.

  “Yes, I am.”

  “I’ll be right down,” I tell him and then press end, tossing the phone on my bed.

  Beth is now out of bed as well. She, too, is putting on some clothes, but she isn’t nearly as panicked as I am. Which I shouldn’t be. I’m not.

  “You don’t need to hurry,” I say, stupidly, since she isn’t.

  “All right, I just figured he is your dad and I should meet him.” She buttons up her blouse. “I mean, I thought it would be over dinner when I don’t have mid-sex hair and flushed skin.” She slaps her cheekbone lightly as she looks at herself in the mirror about my dresser.

  “It’s fine if you want to wait,” I say, kissing her forehead and leaving the room. I don’t hear her behind me, so maybe she decided to hang back. But it’s also fine if she wants to meet him now. It is.

  “Dad,” I greet him once more as I open the door to my apartment. He squeezes my shoulder as he steps inside.

  “Your uncle has said nothing but great things about you since you’ve been here.” He walks into the kitchen and points to the coffeepot. “It’s nearly half past eight and you haven’t even made coffee yet?”

  I shrug. “I was catching up on some sleep. I’ll make some now.”

  I start the pot, watching from the corner of my left eye as Dad takes a seat at the table, his jacket now draped over the back of his chair. I’m also glance right to see if Beth coming downstairs.

  “I can’t tell you how proud I am to hear how well you’re doing. From everything I’ve heard, it’s beginning to look darn clear that you understand your mistake. That you accept it and are ready to move past it.”

  I knew sleeping with a client’s wife was a mistake the moment it was too late to take it back. I just hadn’t expected it to blow up the way it had. Now though, he’s right. I want to move past it.

  I am past it. This is a completely different situation.

  “At this rate, you’ll be offered a spot here in no time and then we can transfer you back to Colorado,” he says.

  “I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that,” I say, the coffee brewing behind me. The smell alone is waking me up. “Do you think Uncle Bart would be willing to offer the job to more than one? I mean, if I’m going back to Colorado, won’t they need someone here?”

  The moment the words are out of my mouth, my heart sinks. If they offer me the job, would I actually return to Colorado? Beth wouldn’t be there. So, no, I wouldn’t. I’ll take the assistant job and stay here with her. But then she won’t have a job and I won’t be in position for president. Shit. If life wanted to get a bit less complicated right now, I would be okay with that.

  “Are you saying you don’t think Bart is going to select you? You’ve been the project director for over a year now; how could you not succeed in such a beginner’s position?”

  He fires the questions at me, leaving me no time to answer in between or explain anything to him. Tell him about Beth. After he makes a comment about keeping my work and my personal life separate, my mind blanks. Then Beth is standing at the bottom of the steps and I still haven’t answered him.

  She clears her throat.

  “Hello.” She smiles brightly. She’s got her jeans back on, rolled up at the bottom, the same heels that I made her keep on last night, her blouse is tucked in neatly, and her hair is pulled into a bun on top her head. She’s gorgeous. “I’m Beth.”

  My father meets her hand with his own. “Bill Mitchell. It’s a pleasure.” He gives me a side-eye that screams, “This better not be what I think it is.” I want my job and I want Beth. I can’t pick.

  “How, may I ask, do you know Maverick?” he asks.

  Beth’s smile is beaming as she looks between us. “I’m his …”

  “Coworker,” I say, cutting her off.

  Her smile falls and my heart leaps into my throat.

  We all stand there for a moment in silence. Beth is the first to interrupt.

  “Well, Maverick, I left those papers for you on your desk. Thanks again for allowing me to stop by so early,” she says, not a skip in her voice or anything to hint she’s upset. Which I’ve learned means she will probably never speak to me again.

  I can’t believe I just said that. I know it was wrong and yet I still don’t try to stop her when she walks past me, meeting my gaze so that I can see how much I’ve hurt her. And I still don’t stop her when she closes the door behind her.

  “You’ll need to watch out for that one, Maverick.” I look back quickly to Dad. Was it that easy to figure out? “Beauty and brains is a deadly combination, and if you’re not careful, her clear determination to be working on a Saturday morning while you’re just rolling out of bed might be what keeps you from this job.”

  I nod.

  He has no idea.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Beth

  I’m an idiot. A complete idiot. I can’t believe I allowed myself to think for even one second that everything was going to be different with him. He fooled me. And for what? Maybe it’s all part of a plan that earns him the spot.

  Ugh, I can’t keep referring everything back to that. I knew the risks of being together, but that was his father. Wouldn’t he want his father to know the truth? If anyone is going to be supportive, to see his side of things, family would be it, wouldn’t it?

  What am I even saying? When you’re the last person in your family anyone can rely on, you don’t really get to start handing out family advice. Either way, what Maverick did to me just now is not okay.

  I slam the door behind me. Abby’s car was gone when I got home, so I know I’m alone. Which is good. My friends have maybe seen me cry three times in the entire time I’ve known them. I’m not about to let it show again. And it would have, because I can’t control the tears streaming off my cheeks right now.

  My heart aches. I’ve never known a pain like this. I’ve made it only from his place to mine, yet I’ve gone through three stages where I couldn’t breathe, I wasn’t sure if my hands would stop shaking, I wasn’t sure if what just happened was real. Denial—I think that’s what it’s called.

  Now though, I just want to curl up and cry because everything I thought was good wasn’t.

  I set my purse on the table and lay on the couch. I pull one of the brown suede décor pillows to my chest and begin to sob. Even through the god-awful noise I’m making, I can hear my cell phone vibrating against my keys inside my purse. It’s been ringing since about halfway here. I know it’s him even though I haven’t actually looked at my phone. I don’t need to. I’m not going to answer it. What would I even say? What could he possibly have to say to me?

  For once, I have nothing to say. Nothing to argue. There is no excuse for him calling me a coworker when not even twenty-four hours ago he was telling me I am his girlfriend.

  The noise stops but my tears don’t. How have my friends gone through multiple boyfriends before they found their husbands? I hope this pain doesn’t last long and the moment it’s over, I’m going back to vetoing all relationships. My life was so much easier then—a whole two and half months ago.

  “Hello, hello,” Abby calls out when she bursts through the door. Well, she might not have done that, but it sure as shit sounds like it when the door bounces off the wall. Either that or I’m jumpy. Probably a mix.

  I sit up, wiping away the tears and hoping that the makeup I’d managed to salvage from last night isn’t smeared all over again. I also take a deep breath to halt my crying.

  Fuck, why can’t I stop crying? I hardly knew him.

  “What’s wrong?” Abby asks, rushing to sit next to me. She pulls me into her side and her touch is a new button that sets me off. I start crying all over again.

  “Tell me what happened. Did they already choose someone for the job? Oh my gosh, they didn’t pick you. Those assholes,” she seethes for me. I like that she assumes it was the job. She had that much faith in him, too, it turns out, so we were both wrong.
>
  I give a crap attempt to sit up.

  “It wasn’t the job,” I clarify. Although I wish that were the reason because admitting I’m a hot mess because of a boy is going to be a first for me. “Maverick is an ass and he isn’t welcome in our apartment anymore.”

  “Whoa, straight to eighty-sixed, huh? He must have messed up really bad to get that.”

  More like he basically told me I was his world and followed that up by begging me to commit and then poof, just like Austin said, everything between us vanished.

  Oh my god, Austin is smarter than me. He knew exactly what was going to happen. He tried to warn me and I was so mesmerized by what I thought was right that I let this happen.

  “Now, now, take a deep breath or you’re going to start hyperventilating, and I’m not so sure there is anything in the world that could be that bad.”

  “You’re just saying that because your heart feels no pain,” I say.

  “Hey now, that’s not true. It hurts looking at you and your big red puffy eyes right now.”

  Ugh.

  “Yeah, but I’ve never seen you cry over a guy before. You ditch and switch them before they can hurt you.”

  And now Abby is smarter than me. What the fuck did Maverick do to my brain?

  She laughs. “I don’t switch and ditch anyone.”

  “Still, I should have never believed anything that came out of his mouth.”

  Everything he said sounded so right and like he meant it. Maybe I missed something and I’m overreacting.

  No.

  I can’t be one of those girls. He did wrong. I can’t make excuses for him because I don’t want to accept this.

  “I’m sure he meant most of it. Tell me what happened, and maybe an outside opinion will help get a better perspective,” she says.

  Yeah, that’s a good idea. I’m obviously clueless when it comes to men.

  “I better start with yesterday at the company picnic when—”

  “Beth!” His shout is followed by a single knock.