The Forever Girl

by Jill Shalvis

  “Sure, I did.”

  Heather shook her head.

  “Huh.” Caitlin raised a hand to gesture to Boomer for another round. “Maybe because I’ve got love right here.” She smiled a little dopily and took Maze’s and Heather’s hands. “I love you guys.”

  “Me too,” Heather said. “I love you both so much.”

  Maze smiled and sipped her drink, feeling happily snockered before realizing both Caitlin and Heather were staring at her. “What?”

  “You love us too,” Caitlin said. “Right?”

  “Right.”

  Caitlin sighed. “Seriously? Even drunk you can’t say it?”

  “I’m not drunk.” She paused and considered the fact that the room was sort of spinning. “At least not one hundred percent.”

  “One of these days,” Caitlin said, “you’re going to say it out loud.”

  Maybe. But Maze was pretty sure not. The last time she’d said it out loud had been right before CPS dragged her away from her mom. Maze had cried “I love you” to her mom, who’d been too wasted to say it back. Remembering that, she pushed her drink away from her.

  “Truth or dare?” Caitlin said to Maze.

  “It’s your turn.”

  “No, it’s not,” Cat said, and Maze was just snockered enough to be unable to figure out if that was true or not.

  “Aren’t we done with this game yet? I mean, I’d much rather play Pin the Penis on the—”

  “Truth or dare?”

  Maze took one look at the seriousness on her face and said, “Dare,” because no way was she doing truth again.

  “Dares are forbidden,” Heather reminded her.

  “No, wait.” Cat smiled. “A dare is fine,” she said, and Maze got scared.

  “I dare you to go for Walker,” Cat said. “For real. For keeps.”

  Heather clapped her hands. “Yes! I double down on that dare! You two were made for each other. Two young kids given up by the people who should’ve loved you the most, screwed over by the system, and yet you found each other, you found something real in all that chaos . . .” She sighed. “It’s so romantic. Plus, he’s the most amazing man on the planet.”

  “Stop,” Maze said. “I’m begging you. None of us are going to talk about this anymore, and I hereby forbid either of you to talk about it too. Not to each other and not to Walker. In fact, don’t even think about him, okay, because I think he can read minds.”

  They both sighed dreamily.

  “Oh my God.” Maze pointed to Caitlin. “Pick another dare.”

  “Fine. I dare you to tell Walker you’re in love with him.”

  Heather burst out laughing. “Wow, you’re evil. I like it.”

  “It’s the same dare,” Maze protested.

  “No, it’s not,” Cat said. “Trust me, I know what I’m doing.”

  “This is ridiculous. My life’s ridiculous.”

  “Aw, honey, no,” Cat murmured, hugging Maze. “It’s not. Not even close.”

  “It’s the universe telling you that you two are meant to be,” Heather said, or sort of yelled. “Listen to me—you’re awesome, and Walker would be lucky to have you. Now repeat that back to me.”

  “But—”

  “No.” Heather put her finger on Maze’s mouth. Or probably that’s what she meant to do, but she got Maze right in the eye.

  “Ow!” Maze pushed her hand away. “And how can you still believe in all that mushy stuff after everything you’ve been through?”

  “Because knowing someone loves you is the best thing in the whole universe.”

  “Whoever said that never had grande cock cookies,” Maze said, and bit into one.

  “I’m wearing my sexiest lingerie,” Caitlin said, apropos of nothing. “And no one’s going to be seeing it.”

  Heather hooked a finger in the top of Caitlin’s T-shirt and sundress and peeked at her bra. “Ooh. Pretty. And now someone’s seen it.”

  Caitlin smiled at her. “Thanks.”

  “Sure,” Heather said. “I’m not wearing a bra or I’d show you mine.”

  They both looked at Maze.

  Since she couldn’t remember, she looked down her own top. “Oh yeah. I’m wearing my sexiest bra, but only because it’s laundry day. Oh, and I’m commando for the same reason.”

  This set them all off on a case of the giggles, which for Heather turned into a case of the hiccups, the really loud kind that come from deep in the chest. Caitlin, cracking up, choked on her drink and nearly had to be resuscitated by Boomer. Maze laughed so hard she fell out of the booth and hit the floor on her hands and knees.

  Just in front of her was a pair of long legs wrapped in well-worn, buttery-soft-looking jeans. She lifted her head and found Walker looking down at her, an unreadable expression on his face.

  “Oh my God,” Heather whispered from behind her. “He can read minds!”

  Maze found herself being lifted off the floor and onto her feet, and she met his amused blue eyes as he steadied her because she couldn’t find her sea legs. Damn, he was hot. When she could stand on her own, she glanced back at Heather and Cat. “Okay, which one of you thought about him too loudly?”

  They both raised their hands.

  “You guys suck,” she said.

  “Hey, at least I’m wearing panties,” Heather said.

  This set both Heather and Caitlin off on another round of uncontrollable laughter.

  Maze sighed and looked at Walker. “What are you doing here?”

  “I’m the man of honor. I can’t join the bachelorette party?”

  “Truth or dare?” Caitlin yelled, while also grinning at him.

  “No, dares only!” Heather yelled. “We get sad at our truths.”

  Walker raised a brow.

  “Oh, for God’s sake.” Maze yanked them both out of the booth. “It’s time to dance,” she said, feeling smug because she knew Walker wouldn’t dance.

  But the joke was on her, because he started to come along with them.

  “Wait!” Heather yelled, and ran back to the booth and her bag. She pulled the fourth T-shirt from the pack, hastily wrote MAN OF HONOR across the front and then PROPERTY OF MAZE across the back, and made him put it on.

  “Not even going to ask,” he said.

  “Okay, now we dance,” Caitlin said, and tugged them all to the dance floor.

  Chapter 20

  Walker’s man of honor to-do list:

  —Make sure the girls get to do their thing during their bachelorette celebration, while at the same time keeping them safe from harm. Best of luck while you’re at it.

  Walker looked down at Maze’s face as she danced in front of him. She was dewy, flushed . . . and sexy as hell.

  “I’m awesome,” she said, apropos of nothing. Actually, she yelled it over the music as she shimmied and shook her hot bod to the beat. “And also, you’re lucky to have me.”

  This had him blinking in surprise. “That’s one hundred percent true,” he finally said. “But I wasn’t aware that I . . . ‘had’ you.”

  She shrugged. “Just announcing my stance.”

  “Good to know. And . . .” He let loose what was first and foremost on his mind. “. . . you’re commando?”

  “Laundry day.” Then she turned her back to him and kept dancing.

  Walker had gotten a call from Boomer half an hour ago. He’d barely been able to hear over the noise in the background. All he’d gotten was “the girls” over a whole bunch of music and laughter and “. . . they’re lit . . . might want to come get their drunk asses . . .”

  Walker’s plans for the night had been entertaining Sammie with Jace, but after she’d gone to sleep and Jace had taken over the baby monitor, Walker had been headed for a beer and eight hours horizontal without conscious thought. He’d gotten as far as cracking the beer when the call had come in. The drive had been easy. No traffic at the lake or in Wildstone at this time of night.

  He’d nodded to Boomer as he’d entered the bar. They’d
known each other for a very long time. In fact, Boomer was trying to sell him the Whiskey River so that he and his wife could move to L.A.

  Walker had to admit he was damn tempted. It’d mean quitting his job at the FBI, though, and he’d put his life and soul into the work.

  But then again, that job had nearly taken his life and soul more than once.

  Laughter drew his eyes back to the girls. Specifically Maze. She looked . . . happy. Just the sight of her took down the walls he’d built up, proven by the fact he was on the dance floor. He’d never been able to resist her, not once since he’d met her as a defiant, wary, resilient, amazing, tough girl. At the moment, though, she and her two comrades were dancing and singing at the top of their drunk lungs to “Shake It Off” by Taylor Swift. Heather was boogying, her feet planted on the floor, rocking side to side and swinging her arms with abandon over her head. Caitlin was dirty dancing with the air, shaking her booty along with everything else God had given her. Maze was the only one of them with any rhythm at all, and he couldn’t take his eyes off her as she worked her hips to the music, eyes closed, singing loud enough for people in the next county over to hear her. It made him laugh. As always, she made him laugh.

  Heather and Caitlin caught sight of him and sent twin dazzling, drunken grins his way.

  “Walker!” Heather yelled right in his face. “Dance with us!”

  Caitlin pulled him in a little and went back to shaking her groove thing, looking more like she might be having a seizure than actually dancing. “We need more drinks,” she announced.

  Thank God. Walker turned and headed to the bar.

  “Told you,” Boomer said, and they both looked out at the girls on the floor tearing it up. Caitlin and Heather threw their arms around Maze and nearly took her out at the knees. They all staggered but managed to stay upright.

  “How many drinks in are they?” Walker asked.

  Boomer grinned. “Probably a full pitcher each.”

  Shit. “Switch to virgin for this last pitcher.”

  “Look at you, acting like the boss already. You making me an offer for this place or what?”

  “Haven’t ruled it out,” Walker admitted, accepting the virgin pitcher. “Thanks for the call.”

  “It’s nice to see them cut loose. Caitlin’s not usually all that much fun.”

  “Yeah, well, hungover Caitlin’s going to skin all of us alive if she’s too sick for her wedding rehearsal tomorrow.” He took the pitcher back to the party. Thirty minutes later, it was empty and Caitlin said, “I can’t feel my feet.”

  “Do you want to go home?” Walker asked. “Or . . . ?”

  “Home.” She beamed. “I love it that you think of us as home.” She threw her arms around him and squeezed the breath from his lungs. “I also love that I can always count on you.”

  “Always,” he said, getting a grip on her wrist, then turned to gather the other two. He had no problem being the rescue squad for the night. Or ever. It was something that he’d done a thousand times for both Caitlin and Heather and would do a thousand more without conscious thought, because they were family.

  He’d never rescued Maze before. At least not in a way she’d recognize as such, because Maze hated needing help or rescue. Feeling those things made her feel trapped. Worthless.

  And that was the last thing he wanted for her.

  As for what he did want, well, his brain and his heart were not on the same page. Neither were certain body parts, which twitched as he watched her, still out there on the dance floor, moving with easy, sensual grace.

  As if she felt him, she opened her eyes. She didn’t stop dancing, though, just kept swaying, watching him with those beautiful eyes of hers.

  “Caitlin wants to call it a night,” he said. “Your chariot awaits.”

  Heather and Caitlin both “Awwwwed” in sync and looked at him like he was the sweetest thing on the planet.

  Shaking his head, he turned and eyed their booth. “Let’s get your stuff.” Since they all just kept dancing, he headed back to the booth and gathered three purses, which he slung over a shoulder. “What do you guys keep in here?” he asked, shocked at the weight.

  “Stuff,” Heather said. “I bet you’d make the best husband on the planet. Isn’t that right, Maze?”

  Maze pretended not to hear.

  Walker reached for Caitlin’s hand because she was usually the most reasonable. “Come on, honey, let’s get you home.”

  She clapped her hands to his cheeks. “I love you, Walk.”

  “No, I love him,” Heather said, pushing her way in, cuddling into his side.

  Maze rolled her eyes. “No getting mushy at a bachelorette party, it’s the rules.”

  “Hey, it’s important to express your feelings,” Heather said. She looked at Walker. “She loves you too.”

  He should be so lucky. “Yeah, yeah,” he said. “We all love each other, but I’ll love you more if you get outside and in the car.”

  He managed to wrangle them halfway to the door, but then Heather had to go to the bathroom and Caitlin wanted to hug and kiss Boomer goodbye. Maze, suddenly a little quiet and broody, wanted to walk home.

  Feeling like he was herding cats, he ended up standing on the sidewalk waiting for Heather and Caitlin to come outside. Maze sat on the curb, something definitely wrong. He had no idea if it was last night or something that had nothing to do with him, but his luck wasn’t that good so he figured that yeah, it was definitely last night. Aka him. “You okay?”

  She lifted a shoulder.

  Even he knew that was woman code for no. Taking off his sweatshirt, he wrapped it around her and sat at her side. “Is this about last night?”

  “I don’t want to talk about last night.”

  “Maybe we should.”

  She sniffed, and his heart stopped. Shit. He knelt down in front of her and zipped up the sweatshirt before meeting her gaze. “Did I hurt you?”

  She let out a watery laugh, then wiped her nose on his sleeve. “I think you know you didn’t. And it’s not about that. It’s about tonight.”

  “Tonight,” he echoed.

  “Yeah. It was . . . great.” She gave a teary smile. “Cat and Heather and I talked, like really talked.” A tear slipped out and she swiped it away. “Dammit. I always feel stupid weepy when I stupid drink too stupid much.”

  “So this really isn’t about . . . me?” he asked cautiously.

  “No! And seriously, dude, check your ego. You and I were last night.”

  “And . . . you don’t want to talk about last night.”

  She shook her head. “Absolutely not. Because—”

  “Don’t say one and done,” he said.

  “Of course I won’t. Because we’re not talking about it.”

  Okaaay. He cupped her face, which was full of so much emotion, he felt his heart roll over. “You and the girls are really okay?”

  She nodded and sniffed again. Her mascara had run and her nose was red. She was adorable.

  “So these are . . . happy tears?” he asked, feeling like he needed to buy a vowel.

  She nodded again.

  “That’s good then, right?”

  “Right.”

  He nodded, but in truth, he was confused as hell. “But . . . you’re not happy with me.”

  “Right.”

  “Even though thirty minutes ago you danced with me like everything was okay,” he said, wondering if they were speaking the same language.

  She shrugged. “I faked it.”

  “You . . . faked it.”

  “Yep,” she said, popping the P sound. “Like I faked all the orgasms with you last night.”

  He stared at her and then laughed. Hard. When he got himself together, she was glaring at him.

  “What’s so damn funny?” she demanded.

  “You weren’t faking.”

  “I was so.”

  “Maze, your eyes rolled back in your head. You even passed out for a minute.”

 
; “Hey, my eyes were tired, okay? And I did not pass out. I . . . took a quick catnap, that’s all.”

  He was still grinning. “Okay.”

  “Ugh, you’re so full of yourself.”

  He twisted and lifted his shirt to show her his back. When she sucked in a breath, he knew she’d locked her gaze not on his burn scars, but on the angry scratches down his back, vanishing into his pants. He could’ve dropped them and shown her the ten nail indentions in his ass, but he figured she had enough evidence.

  “Oh my God,” she said. “I’m an animal.”

  He laughed at her horror. “Yeah. And I loved every second of it.”

  Boomer came out the front door, Caitlin in one hand, Heather in the other. “You forgetting something?”

  Walker rose and relieved Boomer of his cargo. It took a few minutes to wrangle them all into the car. He got Heather and Caitlin into the back and seat-belted them up, and then Maze into the front. Once he slid behind the wheel, he leaned over and buckled her up as well.

  The two in the back sighed dramatically.

  “Okay,” he said, craning his neck. “Seriously. What’s going on with all the dreamy sighs tonight?”

  “Nothing,” Maze said, giving both back-seat occupants a long, hard look.

  They giggled.

  Aw, hell. He ran a hand over his eyes and then turned to Maze. “You told them about us.”

  “You went to Vegas and I won forty bucks!” Heather yelled cheerfully.

  Walker raised a brow at Maze.

  She pretended as if he wasn’t in the car. In fact, she pulled up the hood on his sweatshirt and turned to face the window.

  “She also told us you’re married,” Heather said. “And that you said she was a mistake.”

  “Heather!” Caitlin whispered.

  “What, it’s true!”

  Walker glanced at Maze. “I said ‘it’ was a mistake, not that you were a mistake.”

  “Oh my God,” Caitlin muttered. “News flash, Walk, any woman would have taken that as an insult. Why are men stupid?”

  “I don’t know, but it’s so true,” Heather said. “I tried to switch to women, but I didn’t like them either. Too much drama.”

  Walker adjusted the rearview mirror to look at Caitlin and Heather. “You’re telling me that Maze doesn’t want the divorce?”