“Madison, stop it,” I whispered to myself. “Put the phone away. Take more pictures.”
“Make sure you get my good side, sweetie.”
Those words made the little hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
I spun and Maverick stood just a few feet away from me.
Wearing nice shoes. Nice pants. A t-shirt under a nice suit jacket.
The light from the tent kind of haloed around his body.
“Mav,” I whispered.
“Madison,” he said.
“What are you…” I shook my head. “You can’t be here. I’m working. I’m busy. We can’t be seen like this together.”
“Says who?” Maverick asked. “Nobody has seen me here. Nobody will. I’m going to linger around out here. And if anyone asks a thing, I came to the winery. For a visit. I’m pissed off about the road trip. Right?”
“This is just…” I looked around Maverick.
Everyone sat at their tables, enjoying their meals.
I maybe had another two minutes before I needed to get back into picture taking mode.
“Mav, this is too much,” I said.
“I don’t care what it is, sweetie,” he said. “I had to get to you.”
“Why?”
“I didn’t like those texts.”
“Neither did I.”
“Then why did you send them?”
“I just know how that stuff works, Mav,” I said. “Okay? You’re a sexy athlete with tons of money. You owe me nothing. You don’t have to commit anything to me. No offense either but I don’t want that pressure on me.”
“Did you go out last night, Madison?” Maverick asked. He took a step toward me. “Did you go out at all since I left? Huh? Did you meet someone new? Did you flirt with him?” He kept getting closer to me. “Did you tell him your name was Grace? Or Madison? Did you kiss him? Did you fuck him?”
Now Maverick stood inches away.
His right fingertips gently touched under my chin.
“Want to know if I sucked his dick too?” I whispered.
“Yeah, I do, sweetie. I want to know everything.”
“Why?”
“Because it makes me jealous to think about. It makes me not able to focus on playing hockey. It makes me give up four goals and get pulled from a game that just started. It makes me get changed and demand a private jet bring me back here right away.”
“Jealousy? Really?”
“Really,” he said.
“And you’re telling me you didn’t enjoy yourself, Mav? No other women? Nothing?”