Chapter Six
Maverick
The silence into town is just about as quiet as it was when we drove out here, and I’m pretty sure it’s for nearly the same reasons.
“Let me know when you have cell service,” I say, driving up the seasonal road toward the county route. Usually, I get service right around this spot, but rain and the weight of the trees can change that.
I glance toward Julie, holding her phone in her hands, staring down at the bars as though they hold the weight of her future. I hope to God I’m right or I’ve just pushed her into being hurt again, which is not at all my intentions. But why else would the hospital be calling back? They aren’t in the business of counseling, they’re in the business of adopting babies.
“I’ve got bars. I have them!” Her voice is shaking and excited as she grips the phone tighter.
I pull the truck over and stare toward her as she files through a few incoming texts. Then, she deflates.
“It was Emily, the social worker. She called to check on me. She was worried because I’ve been through so many failed adoptions. It was just a wellness call.”
Fuck.I want to give her everything she wants right now. I want to put ten babies inside of her, take care of her while they grow, and give her everything she’s ever wanted.
“I’m sorry, sunshine. I didn’t… if I’d thought yo—”
“It’s not your fault,” she says, tucking her phone back into her bag. “It is what it is. I can’t make someone give me their baby… and that’s okay. I can adopt another dog. They really do keep me busy as it is. I mean between the dogs, the goats, and the sheep, I’m pretty strapped for time.” She’s trying to be strong, but I see another tear make its way onto her cheek.
I pull her into my chest. “Let me be strong for you. Go ahead, break down.”
“There’s nothing to break down about,” she says, her voice shaking. “I’m fine.”
A moment later, she collapses against my chest as a river of tears fall. I know without a shadow of a doubt I have to fix this for her. A heart this pure can’t be hurt on my watch. I just won’t fucking let it.
After a few minutes, she sits up and wipes her face on the sleeve of her sweater. “Do you think you could take me into town? I’m going to get back home and get started on my speech for Monday.”
I can’t deny her of her wish, but I’d rather her stay at the cabin where I know she’s safe from everything and isolated from more bad news. I’m such a fucking idiot. I shouldn’t have let her call. I should’ve trusted she knew what she was talking about.
“Of course, I’ll take you back home,” I say, running my hand down over her back as she rests her head on my lap.
I should pull the truck over and put a baby in her right now. I could just slide between her legs and fill that wet pussy with so much come that she’s overflowing with possibilities, but that’s not realistic. That talk is the remnants of her arousal all over me from earlier. I could’ve taken her right then had Henry not interrupted us, then again twenty minutes later if she’d have let me, and again and again a million times over for the rest of our lives.
Fuck, what’s gotten into me? I let my hand glide over top the curve that lends its way to her thighs. She’s wearing a thin sundress and a pink sweater, all of it much softer than the scratchy jeans and flannel I’m used to.
She lifts her hips a little and snuggles deeper into the bench seat of the truck. “You make me feel better, like there’s hope for happiness.” Her voice is so low that I almost ask her to repeat herself but I don’t. Instead, I stay quiet for a moment, memorizing how damn sweet the words sound.
Having been traded from home to home so many times in my life, affection wasn’t really something I ever got used to, and adult relationships have never been something I’ve had time for. Sure, when I was in my twenties, I hooked up from time to time, but never anything serious. In my thirties that petered out completely and my focus went to work, and stayed there. So the soft, genuine love of a woman is something I’ve never felt.
“Thank you, sunshine,” I say, running my hand up her shoulder and over her head. “You’re making me believe all kinds of things too.”
“Tell me about your life,” she says. “There must be more to that secret.”
“Well, when you don’t have a lot of good influence you make some pretty shit decisions. Some of them meant I didn’t always follow the rules.”
“What kind of rules? Start at the beginning.” She brushes her hand along the inseam of my jeans, my cock enjoying the external attention.
“When I was eighteen, I joined the Army. I ran with them until I was in my mid-twenties. I was honorably discharged and instead of going to college and pursuing my life, I got wrapped up with some shit gold diggers out in Alaska. I did some dirty work for them, which meant we stole and lied to a lot of good people. I spent a few years in jail because of it.”
“Jail?” Her voice cracks and I hope to hell I haven’t gone too far.
“The man I was working for had us stealing from his boss, a guy who hired us to dig this lot. He had a habit of delaying our pay and talking to us like we were shit. So we convinced ourselves we were justified. But honestly, by the end, we were taking well above what we were owed, pocketing nearly seventy-five percent of the gold we were supposed to turn in. The owner charged us with larceny, and we all spent a few years in jail for it.” I pause for a second to see if she responds. “When that was over, I started mining on my own because that’s all I knew. I decided then I was going to be the man I wished I was, an honest, hardworking, digger who never worked for anyone else ever again. The adventure of it all didn’t hit until the last ten years or so. Word got out about my skill for finding the big scores and people started calling from all over, South America, Europe, and Africa. Now I travel to amazing locations, dig in the mines, and we share the profits, forty-sixty.”
“I heard you’ve quite the name for yourself, a human metal detector. People really think you’re magic or something. It’s the reason I was calling you.”
I laugh. “In a way, it’s uncanny the way your body can attune itself with things that are extraordinary. And when you find something precious enough, you cling to it, and you never let it go.”
She sits up from my lap and looks toward me, her gaze soft. “Don’t let me go, Maverick. I don’t want to be alone again. You feel too good next to me. I want this. I need you.”
“Oh, honey,” I say, holding her close to me, “I’ll never let you go. I decided on that the second I touched those lips.”