Page 57 of Maverick

I sat up straight, shocked. “Really?”

He nodded, still panting. “Oh yeah. All those moans and how easily you come? I just want to see how many times I can make you come. I want to show you something new to see how you react.”

“Like smacking my ass and pinching my nipples?”

His lips curled into a smile. “Yep.”

“What if I hadn’t liked it?”

He shrugged. “Then I would’ve tried something else. You can always tell me if you don’t like something because then I get to figure out something else you do like.”

I shivered at his words and laid my head on his chest. “Thank you, Maverick. Thank you for showing me how wonderful and honest, and hot this could be.”

He kissed the top of my head, and when he spoke, I heard the smile in his voice. “Believe me when I tell you it’s my pleasure.”

Silence settled between us for a few minutes, and I let my fingertips use his chest and abs as a playground, exploring and teasing every inch. “There’s something else I need to tell you about Trent. And me.”

He froze momentarily, but true to form, Maverick relaxed, and his fingertips skated up and down my spine. “I’m listening.”

“Just after Sophie was born, Trent took me out on a date night. It was the first time he’d taken me out in years.” I thought about that night, the memories now bitter and gross.

“That’s good, right?”

I let out a harsh laugh. “That’s what I thought too, that things were different. That maybe becoming a father had softened him. But he only took me out because my boobs looked so good while I was breastfeeding.” I rolled my eyes, and I remembered that conversation. “He made me change my clothes five times until I found a shirt that was cut low enough.”

“Asshole,” he growled. “Your tits are perfect, though.”

“Thanks.” I pressed a soft kiss to his ribcage. “Anyway, there was a guy who I guess didn’t realize I was with someone, and he hit on me. He was nice. He told me I was beautiful, and he complimented the way the burgundy top enhanced the green of my eyes. He was…sweet. And Trent was furious about it. That night, well, let’s just say he burned that shirt and made sure I understood that cheating on him was a mortal sin.” I inhaled and finished this part of the story on a sigh. “My eyes were swollen shut for four days.”

“Christ, Grace.” His grip tightened in a protective hold. “I’m so sorry that asshole didn’t appreciate you.”

“I’m not done.” This was the important part. “A few days after the swelling went down, I caught a story on the news about a missing man. It was the nice man from the bar. His name was Joel, and his family was desperate to find him. His twin brother begged for his safe return.” Tears streamed down my eyes and onto his chest as I thought about it. “A few months later, Trent was passed over for a promotion and he came home in a rage, which he took out on me, sexually and physically.”

“He’s a dead man.”

“He told me that he killed that man, and he threatened that the same would happen to me if I even thought about leaving him. And then, wearing a look I’ll never forget, he confessed that he’d planted evidence that would implicate me, just in case I thought about telling the police about what he’d done.” He’d made sure I was stuck with him while he benefitted from my silence.

Maverick said nothing for a long time, and I wondered if he believed me or not. “That’s fucking terrible, but, Grace, you know he was probably lying, don’t you?”

“I do, but I can’t risk that it’s true. I can’t risk going to prison and leaving him to raise Sophie.” I would kill him and me both before I left my baby girl in his clutches.

“I promise you that Trent will never, ever get Sophie. Or you.”

“You can’t promise that.”

“Well, I just did, and I am a man of my word. He won’t get near you two. Period.” He gripped my biceps and pulled me on top of him with a smile and a slow, hot kiss. “Just listen to me when it comes to your safety, and I will keep you safe.”

“Okay,” I whispered, and leaned forward, smiling as I touched my lips to his and shot for orgasm number four.

Chapter 29

Maverick

The air was cool as I rode through the streets in search of Grace’s soon-to-be ex, desperate to find the fucker and make him pay. All I wanted was to rip his fucking head off for everything he’d put Grace through, and for all that Sophie had to see and hear her mother endure. But I promised Grace, so I would try the easy way first, which meant getting him to sign papers saying he would stay the fuck away from Grace and Sophie forever. He wouldn’t, of course, which meant I would get to do things the fun way. I mean, the hard way.

Two nights I’d been out late roaming the city streets between here and Vegas in search of that asshole. I knew he was out there somewhere, and I hoped that in tonight’s case the third time would be the charm. This needed to end, because until it did, I couldn’t make Grace mine for good, and with every day that passed, it was what I wanted more and more.

I checked out the unincorporated areas, the seedier side of Vegas that was packed with motel rooms by the hour, dealers, pimps, and the rest of the city’s underbelly, and he was a goddamn ghost. No one had seen him and not even a few extra bucks opened up mouths or jogged memories.

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