Page 32 of Off Camera
“I promise. I swear in the name of boat shoes,” he says, and I know it’s the honest truth.
I’m not a big believer of fate or divine intervention, but as I head out of his room with my heels in my hand and a final look over my shoulder where I find him watching me walk away, I can’t help but think Reid was sent to me for a very specific reason.
ELEVEN
REID
I walkinto Dallas and Maven’s suite at nine in the morning with a tray of coffee and a box of glazed donuts. I haven’t stopped smiling since Avery looked at me over her shoulder while wearing my shirt and sauntered down the hall.
I’m running on two hours of sleep, but there’s this restless energy in me. Like I don’t want to sit still. Like I could run a marathon and hardly get winded.
I guess having the best sex of his life will do that to a guy.
“Hello?” I kick off my shoes and round the corner into the living room. “Anyone awake?”
Maverick groans from the couch. “What time is it? Where am I? Why are you up so goddamn early?”
“It’s morning. That’s when people tend to get up. What the hell are you doing here? You have your own room. Was it not nice enough?”
“I’m hungover as shit, and I’m dying,” he says. “My room was too far away when I was intoxicated last night. Can we lose the sarcasm, please?”
“That’s your own fault. You’re the idiot who thought he could outdrink a linebacker who weighs two hundred pounds more than him.” Emmy rolls her eyes and throws open the curtains.She looks like she’s been awake for hours, and I’d be willing to bet she went on a run before sunrise. “Rise and shine, Miller.”
“I don’t want to.” Maverick falls off the couch and onto the floor. He curls into the fetal position and holds a pillow against his chest. “Save me, Plant Daddy.”
“You’re on your own.” I set the drinks on the table in the middle of the room. Dallas’s tie is wrapped around a vase of long-stemmed roses, and I don’t want to know what happened in here last night. “I feel fantastic.”
“Fucker,” he grumbles, and I look at Emmy.
“I’m sorry you have to put up with this.”
“It’s infuriating how much I love him.” She sits next to Maverick on the floor. “Come here, pretty boy.”
“Love when you compliment me.” Maverick throws the pillow to the side and opens his arms. Emmy nestles in his embrace, and he rests his chin on the top of her head. “Are you going to tell us why you’re here so early? And why you’re grinning from ear to ear?”
I don’t know if I should tell them.
Telling them makes it real. A fever dream I’ll forget about one day when I’d like to keep it in my imagination for as long as possible.
But I really want to fucking brag.
“I had fun last night,” I say.
“I hope you did. Our best friends got married,” Maverick answers. “It was cute and shit.”
“My night was fun for other reasons,” I add.
“Hang on.” He squints at me, last night’s alcohol evident in his red-rimmed eyes, then gasps. “Holyshit. You hooked up with that girl, didn’t you?Didn’t you? You motherfucker. Iknewpaying the DJ would fucking work. I’m a goddamn matchmaker.”
I rub my thumb down my jaw and smile, unable to hide my grin. “It was that girl, and we had a good time.”
“A good—oh, you’ve got to beshittingme. Dallas,” Maverick yells. “Get your married ass in here.”
Dallas slides into the living room wearing only a pair of boxers. He has half a dozen hickeys on his neck. There’s Sharpie smudged on the back of his left hand, and there’s a bandage around his wrist.
“What happened to you?” I ask. “Please don’t tell me you broke your hand doing something stupid like the Cupid Shuffle. The season starts in like, two weeks.”
“Matching tattoos with Maven.” His eyes bounce between all of us. “What’s going on? Why are y’all in my hotel room? Who is watching my daughter?”
