Chapter 8

Grace

My cell phone buzzed on the nightstand, interrupting a steamy romance novel I was getting lost in since I couldn't sleep, and my heart leapt up into my throat. Everything around me stopped, froze completely, and the only thing I could hear was the sound of my racing heart.

Trent.

It couldn't be Trent, of course. It had been more than six months since I left, and he didn't have this number. He didn't know my new name. I scoured the online news in Ohio, and he hadn't even filed a missing person's report, which meant he was searching on his own.

"It's not him," I said aloud just to firm it up in my mind before I reached for the phone, slowly like it might reach out and hurt me, and looked at the screen.

Hey, the message read. From Maverick.

The smile came instantly even though I tried to will it away.

Hey back, I replied, still smiling.

Instead of texting anything else, he called me. "Why are you still awake?"

"Why are you?" I shot back.

"Long day at the office. You?"

I could lie, but this was an easy truth to tell without giving away anything. "This is my time just for me. I was reading."

"A smart chick," he replied.

"That's debatable, just looking for an entertaining escape, and this one won't wake Sophie and Mabel. So, what's it like being a biker?"

"I like it and it's all I've known since leaving the USMC."

He'd lived a full life, and I was envious of that. Curious too. "Is being a biker like it is on TV, with constant shoot outs and wars?" It was a silly question, but like I always told Sophie, if you don't ask questions, you won't have the answers.

He laughed huskily. "Don't know, honestly. Don't watch TV."

"Exciting life you lead, Maverick."

"Sometimes it's too exciting," he replied, and I felt the weight of those four words.

"I'm sorry you had a rough day. What do you do when you're not being a professional biker?"

"Hang out with other professional bikers."

I laughed out loud and smacked a hand over my mouth. "You can just say it's none of my business."

"Seriously," he said quickly. "We have a clubhouse with a full-service bar, music, pool tables, and dart boards. We hang out and work, it all becomes a little blurred at times."

Sounded wonderful and chaotic. "Doesn't sound like a good work life balance."

"It's not, but for now it is what it is. What do you do for fun?"

I rolled my eyes. "Pretty much whatever Sophie wants to do. Boring, I know."

"Sounds like a good mom to me. More than my own mother did for me when she was alive."

"I'm sorry. That had to be hard."

"I had Mabel and she was more than enough."

I couldn't help but smile at that. "She is a very big personality. Just the grandmother type Sophie needs in her life." I gripped the phone tighter as I realized my mistake. It was another truth I hadn't meant to reveal, even though that particular detail wouldn't reveal my secret.

"Luckily she's more than enough to go around."

He was such a laid-back guy and I hated to admit that I had a bit of a crush on him, which was ridiculous. It couldn't go anywhere for plenty of reasons, but at the top was that I was still married, and he didn't even know my real name.

"You can talk to me about anything." The offer came out of nowhere, but I knew he was responding to the fact that I hadn't revealed much about myself.

"Maybe I will. One day."

"Good thing I'm a patient man. Good night, Ruby."

I was still smiling like a fool minutes after we hung up. It didn't matter how much I told myself that this was silly, the smile wouldn't fade. Neither would thoughts of Maverick.

Knowing that didn't stop my hand from slipping between my thighs for the first time since I left Trent in Ohio. It didn't stop me from sliding through my wet folds and bringing myself to orgasm with images of Maverick with his big hands and his lips all over my bare flesh.

It was the best night's sleep I'd had in years.