Taming A Maverick (The Sterling Shore Series #11)

by C. M. Owens

  “Given the genuine shock on your face, I suppose I should be insulted that you thought I wouldn’t notice you’ve been slinking around with your stepbrother.”

  I admit I have been slinking, hence the reason I’ve avoided public dates with Maverick, though he hasn’t seemed to mind.

  “Didn’t realize you were paying such close attention to me. I guess there’s a first time for everything,” I say, using the same backhandedness she taught me herself.

  She sips her champagne, smiling at someone who passes by, playing her part.

  “Honestly, Salem, I couldn’t care less. Maverick is a big catch for you, considering you usually prefer to slum with men beneath your means. I’m just proud you finally found someone worth expending your time.”

  Backhanded compliments galore.

  It’s always like a game of chess—a conversation with my mother happens to be far more intricate and tricky.

  “So this isn’t going to be a problem?” I ask, just to make sure she’s not playing me.

  “Heavens no. Ian doesn’t seem to be the least bit bothered, and from what I can tell, the Sterlings make the rules here. Be glad of that.”

  Well, then. That was easier than—

  “As long as you’re not gullible enough to actually fall for him, I won’t cause issue.”

  So close. So. Damn. Close.

  “No worries, Mother. I can assure you Maverick and I are just passing the time,” I say with a cold smile, snagging my own glass of champagne off a passing tray.

  “I’m not a fool, Salem,” she says on an exasperated sigh. “You wouldn’t have risked upsetting your arrangement for Sean over a man you were simply passing the time with.”

  Touché.

  I roll my eyes, trying to play it off.

  “The Sterling men are certainly a potent brand of charming,” she prattles on. “I can understand how easy it would be to forget reality when the fantasy they supply seems so real. But it’s not. You have to remind yourself of that at the end of the day. Otherwise, I’ll—”

  “Try to sleep with Maverick?” I chirp, almost finding it laughable. “Be my guest. I’d like to see that show. He’s not an eighteen-year-old, horny boy with zero standards. And in case you’ve forgotten, you married his father. Believe it or not, family means something to them.”

  For the briefest of moments, she has the gall to look hurt. But it’s gone before I can be certain.

  “I can see you’re clearly in no condition to be speaking, and this is certainly not the place.”

  “I’m fit for conversation. I haven’t even had a sip of my champagne yet. But Sean’s party is most definitely not the place for you to tell me how fake the Sterlings are, when they’re throwing this party for him.”

  I gesture toward Sean as he runs and plays like an actual kid. He never does that. He’s a miniature adult with the weight of the world on his shoulders, but today, he’s just a kid.

  Now I’m about to cry. Can’t do that in front of Cruella. She’d beat me over the head with her Dalmatian coat for such weakness.

  “Sean actually has friends now,” I go on, then find it impossible to speak around the lump of emotion wadding up in my throat.

  “Terribly inconvenient timing, this party,” my mother says, blinking as she looks away from Sean, her eyes focusing on something else. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say Maverick purposely set this party up on the same day he knew we had a prior engagement.”

  I knew Maverick did this. He just refused to take credit.

  Which makes me want him even more.

  Maverick Sterling likes his stepbrother, and Sean is also getting attached. As terrified as that leaves me, because I know inevitably we’ll have to give all this up, it still warms me. Sean needs this, even though it’s going to hurt like hell to have it all taken away.

  Fortunately, I don’t have to respond, since Maverick and Ian join us. Ian draws her to him, kissing her on the head, and her smile is so convincing that I almost believe she’s swooning.

  Maverick stands by me timidly, hands in his pockets like he’s trying not to touch me.

  “Beautiful party,” Mom says like the champion schmoozer she is.

  “Rain did an incredible job,” Maverick says before swiping my champagne and drinking it in a few swift gulps.

  I stifle a grin as Mom stares at him like he’s a heathen, and he deposits the empty glass on a passing tray, before grabbing two more full ones.

  He hands me one of the full ones, and I take it and sip it.

  “Maverick just told me that he met Connor,” Ian says, looking over at me.

  “Connor was here?” Mom asks, clearing her throat as her head darts my way.

  “Yeah. He was just in for a day to see how Sean was settling in,” I say with a shrug, trying not to make this awkward in front of Ian.

  Mom’s lips thin, and she looks down, blinking again for some reason.

  “Well, if he gets a chance to come back, we’d love to have him over for dinner. We could get everyone together. I’d really like to meet him,” Ian says so genuinely.

  Mom doesn’t say anything. She just stares off in the distance like this conversation isn’t her favorite. Then again, Connor hasn’t come to see her in a really long time.

  “I’ll tell him, Ian. But he stays pretty busy right now with college and hockey,” I say diplomatically.

  Maverick looks at my mother, frowning as she clears her throat again, never speaking on the subject. He looks at me, and I give a one-shoulder shrug, not wanting to get into their very strained relationship here.

  Obviously.

  Sometimes I think all the excessive blinking she does is her way of fighting off tears. Then I remember I’ve only ever seen her cry once, and that was over a lost necklace.

  “There’s Rygan. I need to speak with him. Excuse me,” Ian says before stepping away and joining a man who looks very similar to Rye.

  Has to be his dad, especially with that name.

  “What time is it?” Mom asks, looking around as though she’s going to find a clock.

  “Just a little after six,” Maverick answers without looking at her.

  “I meant to call the caterers before we left. Ian has my phone.” She eyes me, realizing I have no purse and no pockets. My stuff is still upstairs.

  Her eyes move to Maverick, who’s just sipping his champagne and staring around like he’d rather be anywhere else, but too sweet to leave me on my own.

  I should probably make a note to thank him for that.

  “Maverick, would you be kind enough to lend me your phone so I can call the caterers?”

  Maverick’s head swivels, and he looks at her like she just asked for his left kidney. “Hell no,” he scoffs, narrowing his eyes, then turns and walks away to join Corbin, while my body shakes with silent laughter.

  Apparently he thinks Mom is going to hack his Twitter too.

  Mom just stares, as though she’s stunned he was just so…Maverick. Obviously she has no clue why he was so adamant in his refusal.

  “If he won’t even let you borrow his phone, then at least we both know he’ll never lend you his dick either,” I chirp, then strut away when she releases an indignant gasp and hisses my name.

  The look on her face, though…fucking priceless.

  Chapter 26

  MAVERICK

  Salem is tucked against my side as we head into the Sterling Charity event, looking as though she meant to drive me out of my head tonight.

  Her purple streaks have been replaced with a few red streaks instead, highlighting the red dress she’s wearing like it was planned all along. And the dress? Stuck to her body, showing off every single curve, and a big fucking slit up the leg that stops on her upper thigh, just shy of being indecent.

  I’d like to show her fucking indecent.

  Tugging at the bowtie that’s suddenly choking me, I look around at the party dwellers in search of my cousins.

  “You hot or something?”
Salem asks, concerned. I should probably not already be pocketing my bowtie and undoing the top two buttons on my shirt.

  “Just a little,” I say tightly, refusing to let my eyes drop to the top of the dress where there’s a plunging neckline that hangs a little too loosely, teasing you with a lot of skin.

  Her hair is in large curls and draped across one shoulder, and her lips have something glossy that will be making my lips glossy the second I kiss her. It’s like she’s trying to be as untouchable as possible, while looking like she’s begging to be touched.

  And it’s now been a month. With no sex.

  This fresh hell is not so pleasant.

  Two weeks ago, we sort of went public, considering her mother busted us, but thankfully isn’t causing any problems. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, and it took me a full week to realize it wasn’t going to.

  The no-sex rule has become a nonissue, for the most part. Surprisingly enough. But when she dresses like sex in heels, it’s hard to not think about sex.

  I clutch her hand, guiding her through the throngs of people until I finally spot Kode and Rye. “How did you get lassoed into coming?” I ask Rye.

  “Dad is co-hosting this year with your dad, and Brin insisted we come to support him,” he grumbles.

  Salem flashes a smile, obviously pleased with seeing Rye miserable. It’s no secret she’s team Brin.

  “Thought you were going to propose this weekend,” I say to Kode, who chokes on his champagne.

  “What?” he asks through a cough.

  “You said you were finally putting your plan into action this weekend. Thought that meant you were proposing.”

  He rolls his eyes. “No. And no. I have a plan, but not for this weekend. This weekend’s plan was just to feel her out on Dale recently getting engaged.”

  “And?”

  He shrugs a shoulder, bristling. “She said she hoped it worked out for them. Nothing more. I don’t get it; Ethan said he talked to her and explained her Dad’s shit. But she’s still not pro-marriage.”

  Salem looks around as though she’s really uncomfortable. Right. She had no idea Kode’s been trying to propose for months to a woman who doesn’t approve of marriage. Sucks to be him.

  But I do find it amusing to see him struggle. It’s Kode; it’s okay to be an ass to an ass.

  The subject changes quickly when Tria returns from the restroom, and we all stand around talking for a while, and then peruse the silent auction items up for bid. Salem looks over a Samurai sword for a long time, which means she’s thinking of Sean. He might have mentioned they needed one over the fireplace like they used to have in one of their old apartments before it broke.

  As she walks off, I go to make a bid on the damn sword, not questioning my motives. Hell, Sean sexually harassed a teacher and got his privileges back before me.

  Just as I look up from my silent auction box, I spot Kade Colton and his fiancée—Raya Capperton—moving toward me. Kade grins, and I know what he’s going to say before he says it.

  “There’s this rumor about you having a girlfriend, but I figured someone was exaggerating and you just got a new pet or something instead.”

  Raya covers her smile, and I roll my eyes.

  “You’re late to the party. I’m already past the point of being mocked.”

  “Yes,” Dane says, sighing as he joins me and claps my shoulder. “He’s already risen above the heckling. Now we’re just waiting for him to royally fuck up again. He’s done so well for a month.”

  “Ah, then he’s due,” Kade agrees dutifully, giving me condescending eyes. “But major props for making it a solid month.”

  “When you wake up in the middle of the desert, covered in tar and mysterious bite wounds the night before your wedding, with no memory of how you got there, I want you to remember this exact moment,” I say dryly.

  He laughs under his breath, glancing around. “So where is she?” he asks.

  My eyes lift, finding that red dress in two seconds, then…I start taking in the face of the man I’m going to kill.

  “Oh, she’s in the red dress,” Dane says. “Looks like she’s talking to Steve Golland.”

  Steve Golland is about to be etched into a gravestone if he keeps touching her arm like that and leaning in like he can’t hear her unless he’s pressed against her side. She can speak the hell up or he can go buy a fucking hearing aid.

  His hand slides down to her elbow, and she takes a slight step back away from him like she’s uncomfortable.

  Done.

  “This should be interesting,” Kade says, laughing under his breath as I start walking rapidly toward Salem.

  I quickly join them, finding Salem’s back, and move behind her, wrapping my arm around her waist maybe a little too possessively, and pull her right up against me. The Gollum or whatever his name is, just leers at her, not even acting as though he’s noticed I’m standing here.

  Salem looks up at me, winking like she approves. Thank fuck. Because this could have been awkward if she reminded me she doesn’t belong to me. I’m one step away from pissing a circle around her as it is.

  “I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Maverick Sterling,” I tell the Gollum.

  “Steve Golland,” he says, still leaving a sleazy slime trail with his eyes on her for a moment before turning his attention to me, smiling bitterly.

  I feel like I should rush her home and put her in the shower.

  “You know Salem?” I ask, even though I know he doesn’t.

  He gives a grin I don’t particularly like, as his eyes shift back to her.

  “Trying to get to know her would be more accurate.”

  My hand flattens on her stomach, pulling her tighter. “She’s taken,” I state like a jackass.

  Salem still seems fine. She doesn’t go stiff until his eyes drop to the split on her leg. And the reason she goes stiff is not because he’s looking. It’s because that’s when stupid happens.

  What’s stupid? The answer is ME.

  I’m not sure how it happens or even why it happens. I just know that for some reason, I lose a few thousand years of evolution and turn into a Neanderthal.

  Chapter 27

  SALEM

  Maverick’s hand slides lower as he gets a little stiffer behind me. He’s pretty freaking adorable when he’s staking a claim.

  Well, that is until he decides it’s perfectly acceptable and civilized behavior to stake his claim by suddenly grabbing my vagina through the dress.

  That’s right.

  My. Vagina.

  In front of everyone.

  I think I hear glass shattering and prayers for forgiveness being raised as Maverick Sterling cups my vagina through my barely decent dress, and holds it.

  Holds. My. Vagina.

  At a charity event.

  It brings the entire party to a standstill.

  Pie moment.

  Chapter 28

  MAVERICK

  She slams the door in my face when I try to step into her house behind her. I narrowly dodge a broken nose by rearing my head back at the last second.

  Probably deserved that.

  I push through anyway, holding my hands up defensively in case she or the cat decide to sneak attack me.

  “You grabbed my vagina?!” she yells from across the room as I slowly shut the door behind me, ready to finish this argument we’ve been having since we left the party. Abruptly. And drove straight here.

  “He couldn’t take his eyes off your damn chest! Then they dropped lower! And that dress barely covered—”

  “Stop before you say something that makes this worse,” she cautions, and I shut the hell right up. For a second, anyway.

  “You want to be possessive?” she asks, taking a threatening step toward me. “Fine. Lucky for you, I like a little alpha in a guy. Drape your arm around me like a normal damn caveman and grunt a little. Do not grab my vagina! Who even does that?”

  I’m not even sure why I’m arguing. I com
pletely agree with her. But it’s like my inner male survival instincts are in full swing, and I can’t just bow out gracefully. Something is telling me that my very manhood hinges on winning this ridiculous argument.

  “Maybe if that split hadn’t been so close to your vagina, then I wouldn’t have gotten such a handful!”

  That was stupid. Yep. Real fucking stupid.

  She goes to grab one of the nerf footballs, and I decide to run, since I have no idea how good at aiming she is. Or what kind of arm strength she has. Just as I get outside, she rushes to the door, launching it at me. If I’d been standing ten feet to the right, it might have hit me. She releases a little frustrated sound, and I sort of want to laugh.

  “This is not funny!”

  “Your aim is terrible. I thought you were a tomboy.”

  She’s not as amused as I am.

  “Either admit you shouldn’t have grabbed my vagina, or you can go sleep in your bed by yourself tonight.”

  Obviously there’s a clear choice right here.

  “It let him know you were mine, didn’t it? You’re being totally irrational right now. I bought you Midol for a reason.” Dig, dig, digging up holes. Diggin’ em’ deeper.

  I promise I hear the indefensible stupidity running from my mouth. I just can’t seem to turn it off. Blame the endorphins. Or the testosterone. Or whatever.

  Bright side? She’s really fucking beautiful when she’s pissed. Can’t help but enjoy myself a little.

  “You are such an ass,” she bites out, turning and stalking back in.

  “Since you’re clearly wrong and know it, does this mean makeup sex?” I call behind her. In response, she flips me off and slams the door.

  “I’ll settle for angry sex!” I yell louder.

  She opens the door and another nerf ball is hurled out, missing me by another long mile. Cursing me like it’s my fault she can’t aim for shit, she slams the door again.

  Get a girlfriend, they said.

  It’ll be great, they said.

  You’ll have lots of hot sex all the time, they said.