Page 45 of Shot to the Hart

“The pizza and the banana pudding both sound so good.”

“Okay, I’ll order both. What toppings?” He takes Bella from me and we begin our walk back to the hotel.

“No way! Those fees are going to be astronomical. Just the pizza is fine. Meat lovers is the best way to go.”

“Kodi, trust me, the fees won’t kill me. You’ll regret not having this banana pudding, so I’m getting it.”

“Fine, if I must enjoy the most-definitely delicious pudding, I will, but I’m going to grumble about the fees.”

“Okay Ms. Frugal Franny.” I slap his arm playfully and we both laugh now. Some of the tension easing.

We make it back up to the room in silence, Mav gets Bella set up in her playpen while I head to the bathroom to get changed. Opening my suitcase I realize I’ve fucked up, my sweatpants are nowhere to be found. “Shit,” I mumble to myself. Mav’s voice is now drifting through the door.

“Food’s almost here. You about ready?”

“Uh, yeah. Just one minute.” My voice definitely wavered there, the weight and exhaustion of today is hitting me hard. I feel my throat tightening and tears welling in my eyes.

“Kodi. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“No, Kodi, I can tell something is wrong. Open the door.” I hear his forehead thunk against the door. “Please, or the fees that I have to pay to fix it will be nothing compared to the delivery ones. I don’t want you crying in the bathroom if it’s something I can fix or need to apologize for.” If I wasn’t so in my head, I probably would laugh. Sighing in resignation, I open the door, looking up to him with watery eyes and slumped shoulders.

“Whoa, hey what happened?”

“I’m just so tired, and you got upset with me, and I’m hungry, and I. . .” A whimper escapes my lips. “I can’t find the sweatpants I was supposed to sleep in tonight.” God damn it. This is the second time I’ve cried in front of him over something so silly.

Maverick pulls me into his arms, rubbing small circles on my back and I decide to let the tears freely fall. “Sweetheart, don’t cry. I’m sorry that I misdirected my anger at Conrad towardsyou. You didn’t deserve that and I won’t let it happen again, I shouldn’t have let it happen in the first place. You know, it’s okay to feel worn down, you’ve had a long day. I appreciate you being there for every part of it and taking the challenges with grace. You can sleep in my sweats, and the food should be at the door right now.” The tenderness in his voice isn’t something I’m used to with a man. If this was Andy, I would be told I was acting ‘ridiculous’ and ‘crying was unnecessary’.

I really don’t know how I stayed with that man for so long.

“I didn’t handle it with grace,” I sniffle. He pulls back just enough to look into my eyes. His baby blues looking right into my soul.

“What do you mean?”

“I. . .I told an old man that I couldn’t wait for my friends to kick his team's ass cause he was being a jerk about me trying to get organized before walking away from the register at the concessions stand.” The laugh that erupts from Maverick is hearty and full. I’ve never heard him laugh like this. It gives me the same feeling that the sound of the ocean crashing into the sand at sunset gives. Something I want to experience over and over, and it pulls a watery laugh out of me.

“Oh, Darlin’. That is the best thing I’ve heard in a while. Let’s eat.” Maverick grabs our food and we eat in silence, sitting on opposite corners of the bed. The room is thrumming with an unsettling energy now as we edge closer to sleep.

After we eat, I excuse myself to the bathroom with the borrowed gray sweats, and when I come back Maverick has created a pillow boundary and placed himself as close to the edge of the bed as possible. I make my way over, lift the covers and slide in. Turning off the light, I turn inwards. I can’t sleep with my face towards the outer edge of the bed, it freaks me out. Mav is facing inwards as well, and his eyes don’t leave mine for a long moment. It feels like he is trying to read my mind or he’ssearching for some sign that he needs to sleep on the floor, but I won’t give that to him. This is fine, everything is fine, even if my delicious boss is sleeping two feet away from me.

Clearing my throat, “Well, uh, goodnight, Maverick.”

“Night, Kodi. Our flight leaves at ten, I’ve got an alarm set.”

“Awesome.”

Maverick begins to fidget, sighing and turning, trying to get comfortable.

“Mav, I don’t have cooties. Make yourself comfortable, you’ve got to be exhausted and sore.”

“Uh yeah, I am. I just don’t want to make you uncomfortable.” It’s criminal that I am sharing a bed with this man and he’s not moving these pillows out of the way and pulling me into his arms to hold me as his breathing lulls me to sleep.

“We aren’t cuddling, it’s okay.”But I wish we were. He moves around a little bit more before finding a spot where we aren’t touching, but his body heat is sending warmth my way and I want to snuggle into it.

Mav’s breathing eventually evens out, and that’s when I finally let myself relax, drifting into my own sleep.

“We woke up face to face. His arm was slung over my waist! He scrambled out of the bed so fast, you’d think I had leprosy,” I gripe. We got home from Carolina three days ago, and I snuck away for brunch with the girls after Maverick got home from practice today.

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