Chapter 37

Cha pter 37

Rose

I carefully open the door to Mav's room. When I'm convinced he's not in here, I breathe a sigh of relief. I sit hesitantly in one of his chairs and wonder if I'm really supposed to find something for us to watch. After debating and losing precious time, I finally grab the controls and start searching. I scroll through endless options, wondering what in the world to choose. Then an idea hits me. I grin at myself as I search through the apps to find which one has it. Bingo. And just in time because the door opens a minute later. I jump to my feet when I see his hands are laden with food. "Goodness! How much did you think we were going to eat?"

"I just came back from a run. I could easily eat all this by myself."

I glance up at him. "Does that mean I should go get my own food?" I ask, only halfway teasing.

"We're fine, Healer," he says and sets everything down on a table.

"Wow, how did you get all that? I always miss mealtime and can never find something to eat after hours."

He stops what he's doing and looks over at me. "You go hungry?"

I laugh at the expression on his face and wave him off. "It's fine. It's my own fault for missing mealtime." He's still staring at me. "Seriously, Mav. It's fine."

"Come with me real quick." He strides over to the door.

"Mav, I'm fine."

"Come on." He opens the door. "It will be fast and then we can eat. I promise."

I follow him more out of curiosity than anything else. "Um, where are we going?"

He glances down at me. "You like surprises, Healer?"

"Hmmm."

He cocks a brow. "You have to think about it?"

"I don't think I've ever really been surprised by anybody before. So, I don't really know." I shrug. "What about you? You like surprises?"

"No," he scoffs. "I hate surprises."

I grin. "That doesn't surprise me at all. You sort of like to be in control...a lot."

"Yep." He doesn't even deny it, and I can't help but smile. When we get close to the dining hall, he puts a hand on my lower back. He's been doing that a lot today; I wonder if he even realizes he's doing it. "My old pack was in here earlier. If they're still here, just ignore them and stay close to me." I nod and try to pretend that I'm not affected by his nearness. Thankfully, we don't see any sign of his pack as we make our way into the dining hall. He leads me right into the kitchen, surprising me.

"Uh, are we going to steal food?" I whisper.

"With this one, that wouldn't surprise me in the least," a voice behind me says, surprising me. I spin around and see a gray-haired woman smiling at me.

"Healer, this is Pamella," Mav says not looking offended in the least. In fact... is he smiling? I have to catch my breath because Mav is a good-looking guy even when he's scowling or more often than not, smirking. But when he smiles? I put a hand on my stomach trying to quell the sudden butterflies that have just taken flight.

"Hi, Pamella," I manage to say and put out my hand.

"Oh, come here, You." She swallows me in a hug. When she pulls back, she assesses me from head to toe. "She's gorgeous, Mav." I feel my face heat up and don't dare to look at Mav to see how he responds. When he doesn't say anything, Pam turns her gaze on him. I follow her gaze.

Mav shrugs. "Never said she wasn't."

I look away quickly but not before a good feeling settles over me. Pam sighs and turns back to me. "I've heard all the good you've done for our pack. Thank you."

Feeling uncomfortable with the praise, I settle for a nod. "Rose was just telling me that she often misses meals and goes hungry," Mav says, interrupting our moment.

"No, no, no," Pam says. "Don't ever go hungry, Dear. There is so much food here. You come find me if you miss a meal. I'm almost always in this kitchen. You find me, even if it's late." I find myself agreeing. "All right. Now that that's settled, you two enjoy your date."

"Oh, it's not..." my voice trails off at her stern look, and I look to Maverick for help. But he stays silent.

"Don't be a stranger now, Dearie."

I smile; I can't not. "I won't. It was nice to meet you, Pam."

"You too, Rose ." She puts special emphasis on my name and gives Mav a pointed look that he ignores.

"See you, Pam. Thanks." He nods at the door, and I take the lead out of the kitchen. Within moments, we're back in Maverick's room.

"Thanks for introducing me to Pam; she seems nice," I say, trying for conversation.

"She is." He pulls out box after box of food, and I can't help but shake my head. There won't be any going to bed hungry tonight. "Here," he says a moment later.

"Oh, I can make my own plate." He doesn't move, so I take the plate. I look at the sheer amount of food on my plate. "You know I'm never going to eat all this, right?"

"What are we watching?" he asks instead of responding to my question.

"Wouldn't you like to know," I say with a grin. "It's a surprise."

"I hate surprises," he says without missing a beat.

"So, you told me," I tell him, still smiling. I settle in the chair and get ready to eat.

"Sit on the bed," he says as he walks past me. "You can see better."

"Oh, I don't want to spill food on your bed."

"Then don't," he says without skipping a beat.

I sigh. "Anybody ever tell you how difficult you are to get along with?"

"All the time." I huff out a laugh and make my way over to his bed carrying my plate and water bottle. I stare at his bed for a moment, trying to figure out the best way to get on the bed without spilling my plate everywhere. "It's really not that complicated," he says in a dry voice, but he puts out his hand and takes my plate from me.

"Thank you," I tell him as I kick off my shoes and climb onto the bed. I move a few pillows around to make it work and then turn to him.

"No, please continue. I'd love to hold your food for you all night."

I shake my head and reach out and take my plate. "Thank you," I say in my most pleasant voice.

"You ever get cranky?"

I choke on the water I just sipped. "What?"

"It's not that hard of a question, Healer. You ever get mad? Irritated? You seem to only have two settings. Nice and crying."

"I'm irritated right now," I tell him.

He glances at my face. "Nah. You're not. You're trying to be mad but failing terribly."

I shake my head and grab the controls for the tv. "You ready to see what we're watching tonight?" I push play, and the movie starts right at the beginning because I got it all set up. I take a bite of chicken and sigh as I lean back against the pillows. I watch Maverick stop with his fork halfway to his mouth.

"No. Absolutely not." I start laughing; it just sort of slips from my mouth. And then I can't stop because of the expression on his face. "I'm glad you think this is so funny." He looks so pained, I laugh again. He lifts an eyebrow. "Twilight? Really?"

I grin. "I can't believe you actually recognize it."

"Something else. Anything else," he demands. "Give me the controls." I move them to my other side, out of his reach. He narrows his eyes at me. "They're my controls."

"And you told me to pick something to watch." I motion to the tv. "I picked. If you don't like it, go somewhere else."

His eyes narrow even more. "It's my room."

"I know." I grin. He looks away, shaking his head. I grab the controls and hand them to him. "Here. I'm just messing with you." He reaches out and plucks them from my hand.

"Payback is coming," he mutters.

I take another bite of food. "This is really good."

"Of course it's good. You would know that if you ate more meals in the dining hall instead of skipping meals all the time."

I concentrate on my food and wonder at the fact that this feels so easy right now. I'm actually having a good time with him. I almost choke on my food at that revelation. My eyes bounce over to his side of the bed for a moment and then back to my food. I wonder what things would be like if he actually chose this. Not gonna happen, I remind myself and force my thoughts to something else. I look back down at my plate, but my appetite is gone. I put the plate on the side table. "You done already?"

"I'm full."

He shakes his head. "You don't eat enough."

"I'm fine. I'm not a wolf, remember?" Silence falls between us, and awkwardness descends for the first time tonight. I try to think of what to say to bring back that easy comradery.

"Okay. Ready for this?" he asks, shattering the silence.

I face the tv. "For what?" I ask. He starts it, and I get comfortable against pillows. We're less than ten minutes into it when I turn to him. "Is this scary?" I whisper.

"Shh."

"No, seriously. Is this scary? Because I don't do scary movies," I tell him. I watch the tv but keep a hand on the throw pillow next to me in case I need to cover my eyes. Creepy music starts to play, and I grab the pillow and pull it halfway to my face.

"What are you doing?" he asks, and I can hear the humor in his voice.

"Getting ready in case—" something jumps out of the bushes, and I scream as I throw the pillow over my face. "What was that?" I yell into the pillow.

"What was that ?" he retorts, and I realize he's laughing. Laughing!

I lower the pillow to look at him. "Are you laughing at me?" The woman on the screen screams, and I scream too and cover my face again. Her scream rises in pitch. "Turn it off!" I yell at him. The screaming continues, and desperation hits. I drop my pillow and lunge at him, trying to grab the controls. His quick reflexes kick in, and he keeps the remote out of my reach. I grab my pillow and hit him with it. Hard. The creepy music starts again, and I yell at him. "Maverick! I will never forgive you!" I reach again for the controls and only manage to fall into him. Thankfully, his plate is nowhere in sight. I grab at his hand and grab the controls and scramble to push the stop button. I finally manage to do it, and silence blesses my eardrums. I turn to him. "I'm going to wake you up every hour tonight when I can't sleep." It's only then that I realize the position I've managed to put us both in. I'm practically in his lap. I quickly scramble away from him and to my side of the bed as I try to slow the beating of my racing heart.

"I don't think that's quite the punishment you think it is," he says in a low voice, and it takes my mind a moment to catch up. When it does, I turn back to him. But he's already picking up his plate and carrying it to the trash. I stare after him a moment, trying to find my equilibrium.