Page 85 of Maverick

Maverick laughed as he squatted down to pet her.

Grady stopped short when he saw Parker getting up from the sofa. He looked at Maverick and raised an eyebrow, but Maverick just smirked.

“Parker, this is Grady Henderson. Grady, meet Parker Tisdale.”

Grady took off his hat, smiled, and shook her hand. “Ma’am. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Nice to meet you too and thank you.” She glanced at Maverick. “I’m going to rest for a bit.”

“Okay. I’ll be back soon.” Giving her a quick kiss on the lips, Maverick watched as she headed toward the bedroom before turning to see Grady grinning at him. “Shut up,” he muttered.

Grady chuckled. “I didn’t say anything.”

“No need. I know you too well.”

“She’s beautiful.”

“Back off.”

“Oh, come on, Maverick. I’ve never crossed any lines. I was just making an observation.”

Maverick sighed. “I know. Sorry.”

“Don’t be. If she wasn’t head over heels for you, I might have asked her out myself.”

“You’re a pain in the ass. Come on, give me a ride to the barn.”

“Yes sir.” Grady saluted.

“Fucking smartass,” Maverick muttered as they walked out together with Blue following behind them.

****

Monday morning, Parker unlocked the door to the shop and entered, closing it behind her. She made her way to the back office, placing her purse in the safe, then hung up her coat, before grabbing a duster and beginning to clean the showroom. She was glad to be back in Clifton and back to work, but things didn’t seem quite right with Maverick. He had been distant since they got back from Oregon, leaving her unsure of what to do to fix their relationship. Lately, she missed his touch; they hadn’t been intimate since before her trip to Oregon and she didn’t know how to bring up the subject with him. In Oregon, he told her he was fine, but something still felt off and she was afraid she had damaged their relationship irreparably.

As Shay entered through the front door, Parker’s eyes welled with tears. Shay walked over and hugged her tightly.

“I’m so sorry about your grandfather,” Shay said.

“Thank you, Shay. I’ll miss him every day.”

“Are you sure you want to be here?”

“Yes, I need the distraction. If I stayed at home, my mind would only dwell on him.”

Shay studied her closely. “Is that all that’s bothering you?”

Parker hesitated before shaking her head. “No. My relationship with Maverick is also weighing heavy on my mind. I don’t know what’s wrong with him. Well, that’s not entirely true. I think he’s still upset that I didn’t take him with me to Oregon.” Parker recounted the events from the night before she left for Oregon and when Maverick showed up unexpectedly. “In Oregon, he told me how hurt and disappointed he was that I didn’t let him come with me. The night before my grandfather passed away, he told me he would have liked to have met Maverick, and it hit me hard just how wrong it was that I had not let Maverick accompany me and introduce them. Two men I love more than anything will never meet because I didn’t let Maverick go with me. I was so happy to see him when he showed up at the memorial. He even said he knew I didn’t want him there, but he wanted to be there for me.” Tears streamed down Parker’s face as she spoke.

“Have you talked to Maverick about this?” Shay asked.

“No, because he told me it was fine. After we talked about it in Oregon, he kept telling me he understood, and to stop blaming myself, but I can tell something is bothering him. Is everything okay at the ranch?”

“As far as I know,” Shay replied. “But you need to have a conversation with Maverick. You can’t just ignore this.”

“I know, but I’m scared of what I might hear,” Parker admitted. “I stayed with him Friday night when we got back, but he said he wanted to work over the weekend, so I left Saturday morning while he was at the ranch. We haven’t had sex in almost two weeks.”

“Go talk to him,” Shay urged. “You can’t let your fear of losing him stop you from addressing any issues in your relationship.”

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