“Fine,” she said, regretting it immediately. Especially when a smug smile spread over his face. “Just know that I will not be changing my mind. And there’s nothing you can say to get me to. But out of respect for you and the time we shared, I will talk to you about our relationship. One last time. But please, stop doing this to me at work.” The words rushed out as her heart hammered inside her chest.
“So be it. I won’t bother you here again with personal conversation. But remember how persuasive I can be. I will change your mind.” The smugness overtook his whole expression in an attitude that was supposed to come off as sexy but now just struck her as smarmy and purposely obtuse. Who was this man?
She took her seat and laced her hands together on the desk again. “Tomorrow night. Until then, good-bye.”
His eyes flashed. If there was one thing Grant wasn’t used to, it was being dismissed. But she was so angry at herself for agreeing to see him, and she’d had enough. “Tomorrow night,” he said before finally turning on his heel and leaving.
On a heaving breath, Alexa bent over and rested her forehead on her hands. Why had she let him badger her into meeting? She didn’t want to see him or spend time with him. She certainly didn’t want to be alone with him. And it wasn’t like talking was going to change anything anyway.
Damnit. Way to cave, Al.
And if all that wasn’t bad enough, Maverick was going to freaking kill her.
The thought made her remember that Grant knew she was staying with the Ravens. Maverick at least needed to know that much now.
Grant knows I’m staying with you. She shot off the text.
Good, came Maverick’s reply.
What if he takes it out on you? She hit Send, for the first time wondering about what the consequences could possibly be to the Ravens for offering her shelter.
I can handle Slater.
Her belly flipped at all the things that might possibly entail. I don’t want you to have to handle him. Maverick didn’t need Grant’s kind of trouble, and after everything that Bunny and the club had been through recently, it was clear that none of them did.
Her cell rang. Maverick.
“Hey,” she said. Her heart gave a little pang that he’d stopped what he was doing to call her.
“Hey. You okay?” he asked. And another pang over his concern. “What happened?”
“Yes, I’m okay, but it’s a long story. Do you mind if I recount it all tonight?” she asked, not wanting to possibly start a second argument in five minutes. Plus, she really needed to get some paperwork finished so she could meet the general contractor over at the model home to go over room-by-room furniture layout.
“Fine,” he said. “That’s a plan. But listen to me, Al, and listen to me good. You’re under my protection. You’re under the protection of all of my brothers. Period. Something comes at you, it comes at all of us. We try not to go on the offensive if we can help it, but we sure as fuck defend our own. This is what we do. And that includes you.”
His protectiveness chased away some of the anxiety that had settled into her muscles from the confrontation with Grant. “Okay,” she said.
“Okay. You need me, you reach out. You hear?” he said, the fierce urgency of his voice sending comfort and strength down the line to her.
“I hear,” she said. “Thanks, Maverick. It was . . . it was good to hear your voice.”
“Any time.” He paused like maybe he wanted to say something more, but then he just said good-bye.
Alexa couldn’t help but compare how she felt after talking to Grant and Maverick. Grant left her stressed out, anxious, angry at him and herself, and just drained, while Maverick built her up, made her feel secure and less alone, and eased some of her concerns. Hammering home how much she’d misjudged the two men five years before.
Enough.
Enough personal bullshit for one day. It was only nine-thirty in the morning, for crap’s sake. And here she thought her day couldn’t get any more awkward after running into Maverick in the hall this morning wearing only a towel, water droplets running down his bare chest and back from the ends of his freshly washed hair. She’d wanted to drop to her knees and reacquaint her hands and mouth with what was under that towel, but she’d been too worried that he wouldn’t want her to. Not after he’d put the brakes on the night before out in his garage.
God, she really was a mess right now, wasn’t she? Her whole life. Which probably made Maverick right in wanting to put on those brakes.
She just needed to do her job, take care of her mom, and figure out how to put her life back on track. So that’s what she’d stay focused on doing.