Chapter Fourteen

Beth

The last couple of weeks have been great yet horrible. Everything between Maverick and I is different. Every time I look at him, I can see it in his eyes that our situation is tearing him apart. I’ve also kept my distance at work, knowing now what’s at risk for him if someone were to find out about us. Those things are what have made it horrible. The great part? Well, to avoid everything, there has been a lot of sex.

I pour myself another cup of Pepsi as I try to cool down in the late July heat. This is probably the hottest summer we have had in years and right now, I’m really wishing there were more rooms available inside the house that is hosting the company picnic for the Wyoming branch.

“I’ll know for sure if that’s even a possibility within the next thirty days.”

I hear Maverick’s words, but I don’t bat an eye or even flinch to look in his direction. Instead, I continue to stand in front of the drink table, adding more ice to my cup, waiting to hear what he has to say. The fact that he admitted everything to me has made him more open about why he’s here. But it doesn’t change anything.

We both know that whatever happens is going to be a hurdle for us, if whatever we have is still even ongoing. I’d like to imagine that it will be, but if I’m honest, I’ll be more than a little hurt if he gets the job. Somewhere deep inside my mind, I’ll never know if he got the job because of his family or because I truly wasn’t any good.

“How do you mean?” a man asks him. I don’t remember his name. He was one of the many people I met when we showed up here today.

“Well, it depends on whether or not my father allows me to resume my position under him,” Maverick answers.

“Assuming you succeed over me and Beth.” Austin’s input silences the entire crowd around them. I can feel all eyes on me. They’re burning a hole in the back of my head, just waiting for me to turn around, to have a reaction. I don’t really have one. I never expected Maverick to give it all up for me, but then again, I never expected him to assume he would be offered the spot over the three of us. Or maybe I did and I just don’t want to admit it.

Because I know they are all waiting, I turn. My eyes find Maverick’s right away and his lips tug to the left into a small smile. Even when I’m unsure of my own feelings, he can still make me react. Make me believe it will all work out. All because of a barely there smile. A throat clears, pulling my gaze.

Austin rises from his chair, a beer in his hand and slight wobble to his balance before he regains his footing.

“That’s what you think, isn’t it?” Austin’s words slur just slightly. A woman whispers something in his ear and attempts to take the bottle from his hand, but he jerks it back.

“I don’t need to quit anything. I want to know what it is that this guy thinks makes him better than me.”

“Austin, I’m not sure where you got that idea…” Maverick begins.

“Oh, don’t act like you didn’t come here thinking you actually had to try. We can all see you’re under the impression that you just need to show up and after your suspension period is over, you’ll go back to Colorado like none of this ever happened.”

A wicked grin takes over Austin’s face as he looks at me. “And anything that did happen will be gone.” He makes an invisible ball with his hands and slowly moves them apart. “Poof!”

He’s really trying to get a reaction from me. Has this entire night. He knows there is something going on between Maverick and me, but what I don’t understand is why he wants us to make the wrong step. Why doesn’t he just out us himself?

If it weren’t so silent from the scene Austin has caused, I would have missed the small growl Maverick released with his long sigh.

“Austin, why don’t you head inside? I’ll be right along behind you. We can discuss whatever you have on your mind in private. Let everyone else get back to the party,” he says, rising his glass with a chuckle. “Work talk always has a way of sneaking up at a party, doesn’t it?”

A few join him in his laughter while others continue to stare with concern.

With furrowed brows and a grim smile, Austin takes a step toward Maverick. He tosses his beer into a nearby trash, and I jump when the bottles clank together.

“I better do what you say now, shouldn’t I … boss?” he says, right before ramming his shoulder into Maverick.

My hand flies to my mouth. If Austin was looking for a reaction, he’s about to get one. Maverick takes a long swig of his beer before slamming it into the same trash, making the same noise. I follow right behind Maverick as he heads inside with Austin.

“Maverick, don’t do this,” I call after him. The fact that we haven’t discussed work or us further since that night means he probably has a lot of frustration built up. I know I do. But I can’t let him take it out on Austin. Not here.

“Go back to the party.”

“Not without you.”

“Beth.”

“Maverick,” I say. He isn’t the only one who gets to be mad.

He stops and faces me. I glance back at the party that is out of sight now that we are on the side of his uncle’s house.

“Don’t give him what he wants,” I say.

“I can’t let him get away with what he just said. It’s not right and it’s sure as fuck not okay.”

I release a sigh and lean back against the house.

“A small part of him might be right, though,” I say, fully aware my words could cause a fight. “Please don’t hide it from me.”

“You’re kidding, right?” he asks, hands on his hips, the same frustrated gleam in his eyes.

“Maverick, your plan this whole time has been to come here, get the job, and go back to Colorado, right?” I ask. I know what my next step is, but does he know his?

His chest heaves with each breath as he stares at me. He licks his lips, opens his mouth, but nothing comes out. One hand rubs the scruff on his chin as the other points at me. Again, his mouth opens but nothing comes out.

“Fuck,” he groans, running his hands through his hair and spinning around as he kicks the dirt. “I don’t know. I mean, it was … is.”

“Even after you and me,” I say, the last word coming out in almost a whisper as I hold back the lump in my throat. A tear slips over my cheek as I watch him at war with himself, his hands clenching and unclenching. He looks as though he’s in pain, and it sounds as if he can’t catch his breath.

We both knew at some point we would be forced to finally have this conversation, holding nothing back. I just never thought it would turn out this way.

“Maverick.”

“I had no idea that I would meet you when I came here.” His words are calm as he slowly turns to face me. “But one thing is certain: I never once imagined what my life would be like from here on out without you.”

He steps toward me. “No matter who gets this position, promise me we will still be us and we will make it work.”

More tears fall over my cheeks. If I don’t get this job, I’ll be gone. Away from here. I think he’s forgotten, and it’s okay. My life isn’t his to worry about. He tilts my chin to look at him.

“Beth, I’ve fallen so hard for you. Please tell me that we will be okay.” His lips are warm as they press against mine. I kiss him back, my lips opening for him to slip his tongue through. Then his body is flush against mine and his hand is in my hair, tugging gently until I tilt my head just enough to deepen the kiss and for his other hand, the one cupping my face, to swipe away a newly shed tear.

“Maverick,” I break the kiss, “that’s a hard promise to make when I don’t even know what we are.”

“What?” His eyes search mine. “How could you not know?”

“Well, I mean, we’ve kept everything between us a secret, so I’m not exactly sure what that means.”

“Do you want to tell people?” He kisses me quickly. “Will that help define us?”

“I would love to stop sneaking around, but just because we tell people doesn’t mean this is defined.”

“You’re my girlfriend,” he says so simply.

“No, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are,” he says and that same sexy smile is back. “I know you will have some rebuttal. Some excuse on why you can’t have a boyfriend. On why this won’t work. But you’ll be wrong about it all. I’m crazy about you, Beth. So absolutely crazy out of my mind about you.”

I don’t have time to reply before he’s kissing me again. His hands run over the outside of my thighs until he reaches my ass, lifts my legs around him. Pressing his body harder against mine, he freezes.

“Say you want this too, Beth. Me, you. Everything that comes with it. That we will make it through whatever life puts in our path.”

His words pierce my heart, and it’s like my body and my lips have a mind of their own.

“Okay,” I answer, kissing him hard. “We will make it work.”

Everything else—work, my family, his family, the party, the fight with Austin—are gone. It’s just us. And although my heart feels like it made the right choice, the wheels in the back of my mind won’t stop turning.

If he wins, I’ll be gone. And I’m not so sure I can make it work.