Page 37 of Coming Home to Maverick

He tore across their yard, raced around the back side of the barn, and climbed up into the loft. He laid the blanket out so they could sit on it. And they stared out the back of the barn, waiting.

“It should be rising any minute.” Bailey pointed to the sky.

“Oh, I’m in no hurry.” Maverick leaned back on his elbows, eyeing her like he had when they were young.

“You aren’t?” She leaned back so she was right next to him.

“Nope.” He lifted himself up on an elbow so that their faces were close. She could see every well-known freckle and the soft smile lines that had shown up since she left. His jawline was strong, his teeth beautiful; his eyes sparkled at her. But there was something there besides just his goodness. A yearning she only now noticed. Seeing his pain so bare in his eyes, she wanted to replace all his sorrow with something good, with her love, with happiness, with anything she could give him.

He lifted her hand in his. “When you look at me like that, I feel like I could do anything in the world.”

“How am I looking at you?” She ran her fingers down along his jawline.

“Like you love me.” He pressed his lips to the tips of her fingers. “Like you’d do anything for me. I see it all in your face. And I don’t deserve it.” He pulled one of her fingertips into his mouth. “But I’ll take it.”

She shifted closer. “You can see all of that just by looking?”

“Yep.” He reached out and teased a piece of hay out of her hair.

“What else do you see?” She widened her eyes and tried to let him see into her heart.

“That you’re wanting to be kissed by someone who knows how.”

“You can see that too?” Her voice sounded breathless even to her own ears. But she couldn’t deny it. She’d never wanted to kiss Maverick Dawson so much in her life.

He lightly ran a hand down her hair, pulling pieces back, shifting them behind her shoulder. Every touch sent a ripple of pleasure through her.

“You loved me before.”

She closed her eyes against the pain of his words. “I’ve never stopped loving you.” She knew what he wanted to know, to understand.

“But you left anyway.”

She opened her eyes.

His hands continued playing with her hair, and she would have done anything in that moment to erase all the sadness she’d ever caused him. “I won’t leave ever again.”

He studied her face, searched deep into her eyes.

“I’m not asking for anything from you. I’m happy to be back in your life, to be friends, for my little girl to know so many good people. But I’m not leaving, either, and you should know that.”

He moved closer and pressed his lips to her forehead. “I’m happy to hear that, ’cause nothing around here is special unless you’re a part of it.” A soothing warmth spread through her. This was right. This was Maverick. This was everything she’d been missing.

Then he wrapped an arm around her back and cradled her underneath his chin. “So, what happens if I do what we both want to do right now?”

She raised an eyebrow. “Since when did you start talking about everything? We’d have been making out with the moon overhead by now—”

He pressed his lips to hers. And that ended any plans she had about trying to keep things platonic. Whatever he did, whatever he wanted, she was in. And that was that. She wrapped her arms around his back, pulling him as close as he could go. He started slow, caressing her with his soft, velvety mouth. He tasted the same as she remembered. He smelled the same. He kissed the same. And all of it filled her with longing for more.

She responded to his insistence, trying to capture his lower lip, pressing her mouth to his over and over until everything else went away and all she wanted was him. He shifted, rising above her, and his kisses became more urgent. It was all she could do to not call out for more.

But he slowed. She caught her breath. And at length, he breathed out against her with his forehead resting on hers. “Wow, Bailey.”

“Yeah.”

“Why did you go, again?”

“I was an idiot.”

---