Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

Will

" I don't normally do stuff like this," Maya said, her slim fingers circling the rim of her glass. "Ditch my friends for a man I've known for a whole five minutes."

I had to be honest, I liked that she had. Five minutes wasn't long enough, and if she hadn't agreed to have a drink with me, I might have camped myself at her table. Admittedly, she was beautiful, but I was desperate to get to know her .

"I can go and find my mates if you want to go back to your friends," I offered, hoping she wouldn't agree.

She frowned and shook her head. "No. In any case, if I did, my friends would go crazy. In Loretta's words, ‘go and get a piece of that fine arse, girl.'"

I burst out laughing and looked over to her friends, who were sneaking glances at us. "What about your friend who's getting divorced? Did she warn you off me?"

"That's rude," Maya said with a smile. "Assuming she's a man hater just because she's getting divorced."

I looked at her through one eye and groaned. "Yeah, sorry, you're right it was."

"It's fine, she actually jokes about it herself." She turned to look at her friends who gave her a little wave. "Oh no, they're going to be grilling me for hours."

"How long have you been friends?"

"Morgan and I went to nursery school together and we met Loretta in our first year at high school. We just clicked and have been best friends ever since. We were Morgan's bridesmaids."

"How long was she married?" I asked, unable to move my gaze off her face. Even in the light of the lamp on the table, I could see that her eyes were a gorgeous shade of green with tiny flecks of brown.

"Five years." Maya shrugged. "He's a nice guy, but they should never have married. They are so different."

"In what way?" I loved her teeth too. That little gap was cute.

"Morgan is a party girl, and Ben likes to stay home. They met at uni, and I think they thought that it was the natural order of things, but as they grew up, they grew apart."

"Are you all from around here?" Despite it being Winter her skin was a gorgeous bronze colour that glowed, and it was taking every bit of my self-control not to touch her. Just to see if it was as soft as it looked

"Yep, born and bred," She replied. "Although Loretta is only visiting this weekend. She lives in Newcastle with her fiancé, Matt. What about you? Where are you from?" When she leaned closer, I got a hint of her perfume again and made a mental note to ask what it was.

"I live in a tiny little place called Norford, not far from Manchester. As for growing up, well, it was a few different places. Until a lady called Mrs Powell fostered me and she was from Norford." Maya's neck was long and slim, the sort that looked good adorned with jewellery, or that you could spend hours kissing.

"No family then?" She caught her bottom lip in her teeth, and two concerned creases appeared between her brows.

"Yeah, I have family." I smiled feeling my heart expand. "I have a seventeen-year-old daughter. Madeline, although she prefers Maddy."

"Seventeen? Wow."

"Yeah, me and her mum were young and careless, but I wouldn't be without her. She is my world that's for sure. Her mum died when she was only a few months old."

"Oh no," Maya said, laying her long, elegant fingers on top of my hand. "I'm so sorry."

"Thank you, but we weren't together at the time. In fact, I didn't even know that I had a daughter." I looked at the sympathy in Maya's eyes and let out a chuckle. "Bloody hell, I've known you about a minute and I'm already giving you my life story."

"I must have one of those faces," she replied. "The kind that makes someone want to spill their guts."

Maybe she did, but for me it wasn't her face. It was just her. I felt like I wanted to talk to her about everything and keep talking and talking until we were hoarse. I had no idea why, but I felt like I knew her but not enough. It wasn't that comfortable feeling you had with old school friends, but it was exciting, like I was discovering a whole new world. It was new and strange, but good. I'd liked lots of women over the years but had never seen myself having anything other than a sexual relationship with them. But this girl, this woman—she already had me wondering, ‘What if?' Ten minutes in, and I was hooked.

"What about you?" I asked. "What about your family?"

"Where to start." She rolled her eyes. "Brief history is, they're big and brash. My grandpa was Scottish and came to Leeds sixty years ago when he was twenty-two. He met my grandma two days later and a month after that they got married. Ten months later, they had my dad. He was followed by three more sons and two daughters. My mum and dad have been married for thirty-five years and I have an older brother Jack, and a younger brother, Charlie. Jack has three kids, and Charlie probably has about ten but officially none."

"He's a party boy?"

"Yes, he bloody well is. Well, he was, he's now met the one and is engaged. Mum even booked him into a sexual health clinic a couple of years back because she was so worried his dick might drop off. He didn't speak to her for a month because of that."

"She was just looking out for him."

"I know." Maya banged her hand down on the table. "That's exactly what I said. I told him, ‘Charlie Mackenzie you are one big slut and Mum only wants to be sure you don't have genital warts or some such."

"Like Gary," I added.

Maya grinned and her green eyes lit up. "Just like Gary." She narrowed her gaze on me. "He doesn't really have genital warts, does he?"

"No," I said around a laugh, "he doesn't have any sexual disease of any kind. At least none that I'm aware of, not that I inspect his genitals regularly."

"When does he get married?"

"Three weeks on Friday. To Amy, she seems lovely, although I don't know her well. Gary is more Sam's friend than mine."

"Really? That's exactly a week before my brother." She wriggled down in her seat like she was getting comfortable. "Anyway, so tell me about your daughter. What's she like?"

"Amazing." I didn't need to think about it. "Sweet, funny, smart, opinionated."

"Aren't all teenagers?"

"I guess so. She also knows how to wrap me around her little finger, so sometimes," I winced, "she gets too much of her own way."

"That's what dads are for. Mine still spoils me."

I sat back in my seat and watched her carefully. I bet with everything in me that she deserved to be spoiled. She looked like the sort of woman who should be treated like a queen. The sort that you cherished every single day.

"Do your brothers spoil you too?" Linking my hands in front of me, I relaxed back into my seat, getting comfy just like Maya was.

"Oh my goodness," she cried. "You have no idea."

She was right, I didn't, but was anxious to find out. "Hold it there, and I'll grab us some more drinks."

She sat up straight and smiled. "Great."

As I walked to the bar, I hated that it was time wasted. Time away from the woman who appeared to already have me tied in knots.