Chapter 32
Grace
This is perfect. Absolutely perfect.
It was a dangerous thought to have when I knew my future was so uncertain, despite the certainty that Maverick seemed to wear as well as he wore a pair of jeans. But we sat around the table, all three of us, eating dinner and laughing and chatting like a real family.
It was what I'd always hoped to have. It was what I thought I would have with Trent before everything went straight to hell. But now with this big, badass biker, my wish was finally coming true. It was enough to make me cry, if I hadn't decided to be done with crying. Unless absolutely necessary, of course.
Maverick was so good with Sophie. He was kind and patient, boosting her confidence in so many ways, that a few times over the past week I'd had to escape to another room just to get my emotions in check because he was so good. Better than her own damn father had ever been or ever tried to be.
"I'll tell you what." Maverick's amused voice broke through my thoughts. "If you eat those veggies you pushed to the side, I'll split the last biscuit with you."
Sophie gasped and her eyes went comically wide. "You will?"
He leaned back in his chair, a broad smile on his face. "Sure will. Eat up, kiddo."
She beamed a smile up at him and speared a carrot slice with her fork. "I love you, Mr. Maverick. and I'm staying here with you forever."
My heart stopped at my little girl's words, and when it started beating again, it donkey kicked against my chest so hard I couldn't breathe. She loves him. On the one hand, I was thrilled for my little girl to have a man in her life who cherished her and treated her like she mattered more than anything—and anyone—in the world. On the other hand, was I setting her—and myself—up for heartbreak?
Maverick, for his part, appeared to be choked up by her words, which touched me more than it should have, and suddenly I was more worried about my own heart because I feared it was too late for me. "Sophie, sweetheart." His voice was thick with emotion.
Sophie's hazel eyes rounded with fear. "I'm sorry, Mr. Maverick."
He frowned and shot out of his chair, coming to kneel at her side. "You're sorry that you love me and want to stay at my house forever?"
Her mouth curled up into a shy smile and she nodded. "I don't wanna make you mad."
"I'm not mad," he assured her, and stroked her lopsided ponytails. "You surprised me, and I didn't know what to say, but you know what?"
"What?"
He smiled. "I love you and I want you to stay too. Both of you." His blue gaze slid to mine and I felt it, the heat and the affection, all the way down to my toes.
"Okay, Mommy, we're staying!" She bounced in her chair and picked up a piece of broccoli with her fingers, eating it happily.
Any man who made Sophie smile while she ate her vegetables was a good man. A solid man. Maverick was everything I'd ever hoped for in a man, but I never knew I could have. I didn't even know men like him existed outside of romance novels.
I watched him closely, unsure if I could believe my eyes. My heart. But he pushed to his feet, twirled a thick finger around one of Sophie's ponytails and winked when she looked up at him with her biggest smile. "However long you want."
"All done," Sophie declared sometime later, and I reluctantly tore my gaze from the rugged beauty that was Maverick and found her smiling at him.
With all the seriousness of a man about to go into battle, he plucked the biscuit from the plate and held it out to her. "You ever heard of a wishbone?"
She shook her head, curiosity in her eyes. "Nope."
"Okay. With a wishbone, I hold one end and you hold the other and we pull. Whoever gets the bigger side gets to make a wish and it'll come true. This right here? It's a wish biscuit."
She giggled. "I want a wish biscuit."
"Hold the other end and pull, okay?"
Sophie nodded again.
"On a count of three. One. Two."
"Three," she whispered, and pulled the biscuit. Sophie examined it and then looked at Maverick's piece. "Who won?"
He took a big bite of his half and held it up to hers. "Looks like you did. Make a wish."
And just like that, the rest of my heart leapt into his big, strong hands.
"I wish you were my daddy," she said with the ease that only a child could accomplish. She ate the biscuit quickly, smiling and humming to herself. "Mommy, can we watch a movie?"
"Yeah, sure, honey. Go get your pajamas on and brush your teeth and I'll meet you in the living room, okay?"
"Okay! Be right back," she shouted, and took off down the hall.
When she was gone, Maverick sighed. "She's something else, isn't she?"
I nodded. "She is the absolute best." And the fact that he got it made me fall just a little bit harder.
We worked side by side to clean up the kitchen before settling on the sofa with a small space between us, which Sophie nestled into. She leaned her head against Maverick and rested her legs in my lap, ready for an impromptu movie night.
We chose a movie that was kid friendly, but it didn't matter because Sophie fell asleep about twenty minutes in.
Maverick's fingers were doing wonderful things to my hair. His thick fingers sifted through my hair, twirled a lock around one finger, and then skated the tips across the back of my neck until I shivered.
"Sorry," he whispered.
"Don't be," I whispered back, risking a glance to see a small, satisfied smile on his face. It was such an intimate move, one more meant for a couple who'd been together for years, a couple who was an actual couple. I turned my gaze back to the television because his touch was driving me crazy. Desire, hot and intense, rushed through me. My body was strung so tight I couldn't move, could barely breathe.
I shot to my feet. "I should put Sophie to bed."
Maverick grinned like he knew what I was doing, but he only nodded, standing with Sophie in his arms. "I'll follow you."
I nodded and made my way to Sophie's room, which was tidy and smelled like her. This space was more hers than her bedroom in Ohio had ever been because Trent hadn't allowed me to get much beyond the necessities. "Okay, baby girl, let's get go." Maverick flipped the comforter back and then gave us space. I felt his gaze on me while I tucked Sophie in and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Good night, honey. Love you."
I turned and ignored the stab of disappointment that Maverick had disappeared, which was totally illogical. He had no reason to stay and watch the mundane acts of parenting. I turned to watch Sophie one last time as I backed out of the room and into a big, hard wall of man.
"Oh. Sorry."
"Don't be." He spun me towards him so we were chest to chest, or we would be if he wasn't nearly six inches taller than me. "Grace." That was all he said before he captured my lips in a kiss so hot and intense it made my head spin.
I climbed his body until we were face to face, my legs around his waist, the hard length of him cradled between my thighs in a beautiful torture that made it hard to think, to breathe, to do anything other than accept his kisses and the pleasure he gave. My skin was hot, and my body pulsed with need.
Too soon, Maverick pulled back with a sexy smile that did wicked things to my insides.
"What was that for?"
He grinned again, wider this time. "Because I just had to taste you, Grace. I couldn't wait another fucking minute."
Oh."Oh hell," I moaned, and attacked his mouth in a frenzied kiss that wasn't anywhere near as seductive and skilled as his kiss. I didn't have the experience to make it beautiful and exquisite so I just made it impactful, holding his face and devouring his gorgeous mouth because I absolutely had to, because I couldn't go another minute without taking exactly what I wanted.
Before I knew what was happening, his long legs carried us down the short path to his bedroom. With the door closed and the house silent, the world outside dark and quiet, it was just us and our wants. Our needs. We kissed for an eternity before I fell to the bed and scrambled to my knees and rushed towards Maverick, undressing him feverishly because I needed him. Desperately.
"Grace," he moaned when I took his cock in my hand, squeezing and stroking his hard length.
"Maverick," I whispered breathlessly before I grabbed him and kissed him again, his taste the only thing that made me feel normal. I stroked his cock and kissed him, enjoyed the way his tongue thrust into my mouth and his hips thrust his cock against my palm.
"Fuck," he whispered against my mouth, falling forward until he was on his back on the bed. "Grace, babe. Please."
"I'm right here," I told him, and kissed his mouth, his strong jaw, the solid length of his neck, and down his chest, admiring his pecs and abs with my lips and tongue and teeth. "I want you." This level of honesty was foreign to me, but I couldn't tell him the thing I wanted to tell him most—how I felt about him—so I showed him. "Right. Here." I kissed the patch of hair right before his glorious length jutted forward, thick and hard and long. I gripped his cock and licked him from his balls to the tip of his cock.
"Fuck, babe."
I'd never felt so beautiful, so desired in my life. He didn't resent my boldness, in fact he seemed to relish it. With a strong grip on his cock, I took him into my mouth, deeper and deeper until there was nowhere for him to go, and then I gulped around him.
"Fuck!" His hips bucked forward in a silent reward, and I did it again and again until his fingers played in my hair, gentle and possessive while I took him into my mouth over and over again. "Grace, sweetheart," he moaned and panted, thrusting in slow, shallow moves.
It wasn't enough. I needed Maverick to feel as wild, as out of control for me as I felt for him so I took him deeper, tugging his balls gently while I opened my throat and accepted another inch or two of him. I moaned and his hips thrust up again, sending him to the back of my throat. His legs went stiff, clenched tight, and I knew he was close.
"Grace," he growled desperately, and gripped my hair in his hand, tugging me back. "Enough. I need to fuck you. Right fucking now."
My heart stuttered at his words, and I pushed away from the bed, quickly undressing before I gripped his cock in one hand as I slowly lowered myself onto him. "Good god," I sighed as his full length was buried deep inside me.
Maverick's hands grasped my hips, moving me up and down his cock with the rhythm and speed he preferred. It was erotic, the way he gave me what he needed while I took what I needed. We moved together in hard strokes, fast strokes, deep strokes that made my legs quiver as his thrusts grew more erratic. "Ah, fuck, Grace. Your pussy is so wet, so tight. Perfect fucking fit."
I couldn't disagree, not when every upward thrust sent fireworks shooting off behind my eyes, and ten thousand volts of electricity bolted from the surface of my skin. It was heaven. It was a beautiful torture that I never wanted to end. "Maverick," I panted as my hands landed on his chest and my hips moved to a beat only they could hear. "I'm close," I warned him as his cock grew thicker and harder inside me.
"I know. I feel you pulsing and clenching around me. Let go, Grace. I've got you."
My hips picked up speed. My desire grew exponentially. I worked myself into a sweat before I fell over the precipice, body shaking and trembling as he shouted his own pleasure.
"Fuck, Grace!" His hips pumped up and he shot his load, coating my insides with it.
My hips slowed, greedy for every inch of him as he came, but they never stopped, rolling and taking him deeper as his cock pulsed through me. "Holy shit, Mav. That was…everything."
He grinned and palmed my tits. "You're everything, Grace. And I'm not sure I'll ever get enough of you."
The way he felt buried deep inside me, I could agree. I didn't want to move, didn't want him to leave my body. "Same, Maverick." I groaned and continued to ride his cock until he slipped free, and we fell into a sweaty and exhausted heap of limbs.
If anything more perfect in this world existed, I wasn't sure I'd ever encountered it, because that moment with Maverick? It was the moment I knew, the moment I felt everything I'd been missing.
Everything I'd been deprived of.
Just…everything.