“Hey,” Haven said, grasping her hand. “You’re not alone, okay?”
Alexa nodded, appreciating the sentiment so much.
Just then, Alexa’s cell rang. “Oh, thank God, now it’s Maverick.” She put it to her ear and answered. “Hey.”
“Hey, Al.” Frustration and anger were plain in his voice. “If Haven’s there with you, can you put me on speaker?”
She pressed the button. “Yeah, you’re on speaker now. What’s happening?”
“Haven,” Mav said, “we can’t get bail hearings for Dare and Jagger until sometime tomorrow.”
Haven gasped. “Tomorrow? They have to stay in overnight?”
His rough exhale came down the line. “Fucking judge is probably in Slater’s pocket as well. He won’t talk to the lawyer until tomorrow.”
“Goddamn Grant,” Alexa said, emotion welling up inside her. This was so unfair. For Dare and Jagger, for the Ravens, for Haven. For her, too. “I hate him so much I don’t know what I’d do if I saw him.”
“Tell me about it,” Mav bit out.
The lethal tone made Alexa’s heart pound with a sudden fear. “No, Maverick. Don’t you do anything. Promise me.”
“We’ll talk about this later, Al. But you gotta know all bets are off. He blackmailed you, he threatened you, and now he’s threatening the freedom of two of my brothers and the livelihood of the club. What happened today was a declaration of war.”
She understood where he was coming from, she really did, but his words still sent a chill down her spine.
“Haven, the lawyer saw Dare. He said to tell you not to worry, that he’s fine, and that he’ll be home soon.”
“Thank you,” Haven said, those two words laden with so much more.
“Listen, I’m sorry to run,” Maverick said, “but I want to keep an ear out and catch the lawyer before he goes.” After a quick good-bye, they hung up.
“He’ll be okay,” Cora said, taking Haven’s hand. “He’s as tough as they come. You know that. And Jagger’s there with him.”
Haven gave a quick bob of her head. “I know. But he’s still hurt, even though he refuses to admit it. And I just hate the idea of him in there.”
“So do I,” Alexa said. “But Cora’s right. It’ll just be the one night and then they’ll make bail until we can get all this cleared up.”
“One night,” Haven said, taking a deep breath. “We can make it through one night.”
That we tugged at Alexa’s heartstrings, because it was clear that Haven and Dare really had something special between them. And Alexa wanted it for herself.
With Maverick.
“One night,” Cora said. “Easy peasy.”
Alexa nodded and put on a brave smile for her new friend. But inside she couldn’t help but wonder what other bombs Grant was preparing to launch at them the next day and the day after that—and how much Alexa was willing to let others be hurt and sacrificed for her so that she could escape him once and for all.
ALEXA KNEW SHE was alone the moment she woke up. “Maverick?” she called.
The sheets were cold beside her. Slipping out of bed, she wandered through the house looking for him—his room, the bathroom, the kitchen, the living room. She peered out the front door to check the garage, but it was dark. The LED on the microwave read a little after 4:00 A.M.
Worry sent a shiver over her skin, and Alexa grabbed the fleece throw off the back of the couch and wrapped it around her shoulders. Where could he be?
The Ravens had finally returned from the police station and guard duty around dinnertime, and the meal had been a somber, quiet, tension-filled affair. And it got even more tense when Alexa shared the text she’d received. She’d hated to pour salt into Mav’s wounds, but also felt like she shouldn’t keep anything from him. Not with so much on the line.
Most of the guys stayed around after dinner to drink and plot against her ex-fiancé, so Alexa had hung with Haven, Cora, and Bunny in the kitchen playing cards until Maverick had finally come in, bleary-eyed and a little unsteady on his feet, and said he was ready to go. When Bunny had said she’d drive them home, he thankfully hadn’t argued.
But he also hadn’t been interested in talking. When they’d returned to his house, he’d collapsed into her bed and fallen right to sleep, still wearing his Ravens cut and boots and everything. No matter what he’d said earlier in the day, Alexa hadn’t been able to fight back the guilt she felt—guilt that he was so upset about his best friend being locked up in jail because of her ex—and she’d been unable to fall asleep.
She’d finally given up and gone out to the couch to work on her project for a couple hours, and part of her was glad that she had—because she was in better shape than she thought she was. A few more solid hours and it would be good enough to turn in. Maybe not her best work ever, but good enough. Right now, that felt like a victory.
A flicker of light out in the backyard caught her eye, and Alexa walked closer to the big picture window. A bright moon sparkled off the pond, and a low flash of red and yellow revealed a small fire.
In bare feet, Alexa crossed the back deck and padded down the sandy trail to the fire pit that sat at the little beach’s edge. Maverick sat next to the fire in a white T-shirt and jeans, his feet bare, his elbows braced on drawn-up knees, his eyes focused out over the dark water. He was so beautiful to her that it made her chest ache.
“Hey,” she said. The heat of the fire warmed her legs, the sensation a pleasant contrast against the night air.
His gaze cut to her and then dragged down her body. She felt the hungry look like a physical caress. “Hey. Why are you up?” His voice was flat, tired.
“Could ask you the same thing.” She came to stand in front of him.
“Too much shit in my head,” he said, raking his hands through his hair.
An apology sat on the tip of her tongue, but Alexa bit it back. That wasn’t what he needed from her. He needed her to make it better, to make it all go away, even if only for a little while.
“Know what helps that?” She dropped the blanket by his feet, her heart doing a little flip inside her chest. Next, she shed her T-shirt. Then she stepped out of her panties until she finally stood naked in front of him.
The raw need she saw on his face was the greatest thrill and the biggest turn-on. But she wanted to ease his mind before she tended to his body.
She stepped backward, a smile growing on her face. “Midnight skinny-dipping helps that. Like when we were young. Not a care in the world. Just you and me against the world.” Backward and backward, until her feet hit the cool water’s edge. Come on, Maverick.
He tilted his head and his gaze lost some of the blankness from moments before.
Alexa kept going. The water hit her knees, her thighs, her waist. The soft bottom was cold against her feet. But she kept going until she turned her back on him and gently dove toward the streak of moonlight stretching out across the dark, glimmering surface. The temperature was a shock to Alexa’s sleep-warmed skin, but it didn’t take her long to adjust. And then it was like swimming through silk, soft and slick and tantalizing. The bottom was a little rocky in some places and muddy in others, so Alexa swam out until she could just barely touch . . . and then she floated.
Small splashes sounded out from the water’s edge. She smiled up at the star-scattered sky, her heart exploding at the fact that Maverick was getting in, that he’d let her offer a distraction from everything weighing on his mind. Finally, she turned to find him thigh-deep, breathtaking in his nakedness, and heading her way. He dove, giving her a flash of the ink on his back before submerging for a long moment.
She scanned the surface, waiting for him to reemerge. Something grabbed her leg.
Alexa screamed and flailed. Maverick came up wearing a smug smirk, his arm around her waist, his hair appearing dark from the water.
She smacked his shoulder, laughing despite herself. “You scared me!”
“Sorry, baby,” he said, his to
ne clearly not even a little sorry.
Even though he said it playfully, the term of endearment unleashed butterflies through her belly. Until this week, she hadn’t heard it in years, and it was both familiar and achingly new after so long. “No you’re not. You suck.”
He held her tighter, their fronts pressed together from breast to thighs. “Is that an invitation?” His mouth dropped to her neck. Licked. Nipped. Sucked at the soft spot below her ear.
Alexa’s chuckle turned into a moan. “A standing invitation.”
Maverick’s cock hardened between them, feeling deliciously thick. “Did you mean it?” he whispered against her skin.
“What?” she asked, his mouth and wandering hands making it hard for her to do anything but feel, especially when he lifted her to wrap her legs around his waist. The movement lined her core up with his hardness, and he didn’t miss the chance to grind against her clit. Small, controlled thrusts that quickly had her panting.
“You and me against the world.” Hips still rocking, he grasped her hair in an imitation of a ponytail and forced her head back. And then he licked her from between her breasts to her jaw in a slow, torturous line.
“I meant it,” she whispered, her heart thundering. She locked her ankles behind his back to gain more leverage. As close as he was, he wasn’t close enough. She needed more. She needed everything.
Maverick kissed her on a groan, his mouth tasting like mint and the earthy cleanness of the water and something that was all him. His hands were in her wet hair, on her breasts, squeezing her ass. He ground his cock against her, the wet slide over her clit driving her hard and fast toward an orgasm. And all Alexa could do was hold on and give herself over to the incredible feelings he was unleashing inside her. Desire. Wonder.
Love.
She loved Maverick Rylan.
She’d always loved Maverick. And she knew now what she’d hidden from herself for years—she’d never stopped. Not when Tyler died. Not when Grant made it easier to shove down and ultimately hide from her grief with trips and presents and the excitement of the way he’d chased her. And not when Grant’s touch had turned cold and controlling and hurtful.
Feeling the enormity of what she felt right now, she wasn’t sure how she’d ever thought she was in love with another man.
Because underneath it all, Maverick had still been there. At the heart and soul of her. Waiting for her to see the truth. Waiting for her to feel it.
Her truth.
I love Maverick Rylan.
The admission exploded her apart, destroying the last of her illusions and throwing light onto parts of her she’d ignored for so, so long. Emotion ballooned inside her until it was almost more than she could bear.
“I could get through anything if that was true, Alexa,” he said, his forehead pressed to hers, his hips moving maddeningly between her legs.
“It is,” she managed, her breath catching.
He pulled back, his eyes searching hers. “Hey, are you crying?”
“No,” she said, on a fast shake, despite the fact that her voice was suddenly thick with restrained tears.
“Fuck, am I making you feel pressured?”
She held him tighter with both her arms and her legs. “Not even a little, Maverick. You’re making me feel lo”—she swallowed back the word that’d almost spilled from her lips, not sure if it was too much to put out there so fast—“cared for in a way I haven’t felt in so long. You’re my silver lining in the mess that is my life right now. It all brought me back to you, and I’ve never been more grateful for something in my entire life.”
“Jesus, Alexa,” he said, claiming her mouth in a searing, exploring, lingering kiss. “I need you. I need you every way I can have you.”
“Then have me,” she whispered.
Still kissing her, he turned with her still in his arms and slowly waded back to the water’s edge, and then he carried her out. She didn’t feel the chill in the air for the heat pouring off Maverick’s body and out of his dark blue eyes. The fire had died down but still flickered low among the red coals. Next to it he’d apparently spread out her blanket before he’d joined her in the water.
Maverick lowered her to the brown fleece and came down on top of her, his hips between her thighs, his cock so close to where she yearned for him. But he didn’t take her. Not yet. He kissed and licked down her body, his tongue dragging over her sensitive skin until she was squirming and moaning and fisting her fingers in his long hair.
His big shoulders settled between her thighs, spreading them wider. He looked up her body. “I want you to say my name when you come on my tongue.” And then that tongue was right there, licking hard and firm over her clit. Driving. Relentless. Mind-blowing.
Her heart racing, Alexa couldn’t do anything but chase the orgasm barreling down on her. Hands tighter in his hair, she thrust her hips forward, seeking more of the delicious contact with his lips and tongue. He planted a hard palm against her lower belly and held her, his mouth sucking her clit deep and his tongue driving her over the edge.
“Maverick!” she cried out, her release crashing over her like a tidal wave. Her whole body spasmed at the goodness of it. “Mav . . . oh, God.”
On a growl, he crawled up her body and claimed her mouth, his tongue immediately sliding deep. She reveled in the taste of herself on him because she couldn’t see the pleasure he’d given her as anything other than a selfless gift. And that was something she hadn’t received in such a long time.
“Ride me,” he gritted out as he flipped them. He manhandled her until her thighs straddled his hips. “Ride me rough and hard and long, Alexa. Use me up.”
“Yes.” She grasped his cock and lined it up with her core. She sank down, taking him in inch by rock-hard inch. Her pulse beat so strong she felt it against her skin everywhere. “Oh, yes.”
Mav’s hands went to her hips. “Fuuuck.” When he bottomed out inside her, he held her still, forcing her to take all of him. To keep all of him. She would. God, she would.
Bracing her hands on his chest, Alexa rode him in a slow up and down that had both of them groaning and straining and clutching tight. His eyes were intense blue fire peering up at her, and she couldn’t look away. She didn’t want to.
“This is where I’m supposed to be,” he said. “Deep inside you.”
“Yes,” she said.
“And this is where you’re supposed to be.” His hands pushed her down harder. “Claiming every inch of me.”
“Yes,” she moaned, grinding her clit against his pubic bone. “Oh, yes.”
He pulled her down and hugged her against his chest, his arms banding around her, his hands in her hair. “Say it again,” he said, kissing her as much as he could while they moved.
She didn’t have to ask what he wanted to hear. “You and me against the world.”
His hips moved faster. His arms held tighter. His eyes burned brighter. “Again.”
Sensation spiraled hot and low in Alexa’s belly. “You and me against the world.”
He groaned. “Again.”
Her orgasm detonated, stealing her breath. “You and me,” she managed.
“That’s fucking right,” he yelled, his release pulsing inside her and drawing out her own. “You and me, baby. You and me.”
When their bodies calmed, he eased out of her but didn’t let her go. He settled her at his side, his arm around her shoulders holding their bodies tightly together. He kissed her forehead and sighed, the sound full of satisfaction and ease even as his heart pounded under her hand on his chest.
Or maybe that was her heart she felt, because he’d stolen it totally and completely.
CHAPTER 25
I don’t like this,” Maverick said as he pulled up in front of the model home where Alexa was working on Monday morning. A number of work trucks filled the driveway of the otherwise empty development. His gaze cut to her, looking so pretty and put together in a pair of navy dress pants and flowy lavender shirt.
“I don’t love it, either,” she said, giving him a brave smile. “But Grant never comes out here, which is perfect because I can do what I have to do in peace. He won’t be here until the walk-through on Wednesday, and then the whole team will be with us. It’ll be fine.”
Mav clenched his jaw, not wanting to open the argument they’d already had this morning even though everything inside of him demanded he push. For her own good.
Because he wouldn’t be able to stand it if anything happened to her. Not when he knew she was in danger. And not when it was on his watch.
It would be him failing his mother all over again—only worse. This time, there’d be no excuses that could absolve him. Unlike then, Maverick knew fully that Alexa was in trouble.
“Look, your guys are nearby, right?” she asked, reaching over and putting her hand on his thigh. He gave a tight nod. Renner and Blake’s presence just out of direct sight of the house was the only reason he could entertain the idea of her being out in the world without him all day. “If anything happens that even remotely worries me, I’ll call or text them immediately.”
You and me against the world.
Her words rang in between Maverick’s ears, and he needed them to be true so fucking bad he could hardly stand it. But Alexa needed to be safe in his life and at his side for that to have a chance. For them to have a chance.
“Don’t even let it get to the point of being worried,” he said, arching his brow and nailing her with a stare.
“I won’t,” she said. “I get it, Maverick. I won’t take any chances.”
He thought just going back to work was taking one, but they’d already been down that road. No matter how much Maverick wanted to lay down the law and tell her what to do, he couldn’t. That was the controlling shit Slater had done and not even a little of what Alexa needed from Mav. He wanted to take care of her, not dictate to her. Damn it all to hell.
Sliding his hand behind her neck, he released a troubled breath. “I need you to come home to me. Safe and sound. You understand?”