Page 55 of Never Give Up

Maya’s the first of us to move a few long minutes later, and if I had the strength to stop her, I’d have done it. I’m not ready for it to end, for the perfect moment between us to be shattered by reality.

Watching her hips sway as she walks, naked, into the bathroom next to the kitchen, I swear that there’s nothing in the world that’s gonna stop me from keeping her in my bed… and my life.

Forever, if she’ll have me.

19

BRIAN

I don’t wantto open my eyes. Don’t want to move. Hell, I don’t want to breathe in case I wake Maya up and scare her.

Her warmth presses into me, solid and invading every inch of my space and somehow right.

And even though we’re both squeezed onto the couch, it’s the best sleep I’ve gotten since her attack. I like knowing that she’s safe because she’s with me. Maybe I can convince her to sleep with me every night, just for my peace of mind. Of course, it would only make sense if we were naked too.

Sliding free, careful not to wake her, I climb off the couch, miraculously without so much as making Maya skip a beat with her small snore. I stretch and massage a crick in my neck while I look down at the way her mouth is hanging slightly open and her arm rests over her eyes while she readjusts on the couch.

Like this… she’s peaceful and more than a small part of me wants to believe it is because of us. What we did. What we have. But I push that away. We moved to a completely different place last night, and if I get too cocky, if I let the arrogance I know I have inside me come out, I’ll just erase all the good that we’ve managed to create. That I’ve managed to earn with her.

But damn, she makes my heart burn. My chest is physically aching at the soft fullness of her lips, the sweep of lashes down on her cheeks, the dark honeyed tone of her skin.

I rub a hand over the back of my neck again, trying to ease the tension building.

The boys are at my parents’ house for the night, and I need to get them. I need to make sure I take this slow. Glancing down at my wrist, I see it is only ten in the morning. Maya will definitely sleep for a few more hours. With eyes that never leave her, I get dressed and grab all my gear. I lean forward and kiss Maya on the cheek before brushing her hair out of her face, my fingers lingering.

Then I leave her to her peace, but not before locking the door behind me.

When I get to my parents’ place, my mom and the boys are out. So I sit with my father on the back porch again, talking about football while I try to keep my mind from Maya.

“The boys are probably old enough to stay home alone, you know,” Dad says when silence fills the air.

“I know,” I admit. “But I don’t like the idea of them not having someone in case of emergency.”

“I get it.” He clears his throat. “How’s Jake doing with that investigation?” Ryan, my dad, had been a supervisor at the department up until his retirement, making him uniquely qualified to offer some insight.

And my father liked feeling useful.

“He’s doing what he can.” I stare out at the yard. “But there’s nothing so far. Paul sent out a request for the feds to assist with a profile, and we should be hearing back about it. But I can’t say much more, because there isn’t anything else to go on. Not only that, but I’ve been forbidden from touching it.”

“You know, these things start out with a spark,” Ryan says. “Something ignites their behavior, makes them think there’s a connection when there’s none. It doesn’t mean they were actually involved with the victim, just they perceived the connection existed. About fifteen years back, we had a case of seemingly random attacks that when we looked under the surface there were enough for us to link them, but not catch him.”

“Dad—”

“These kinds of perps, they need more and more once they start. There was a year between the first two attacks, and after that the timeline sped up. Once when the attacker was stopped by a neighbor, he ended up raping another woman not even two weeks later. She was the only one who died. We even had some composite sketches done based on information provided by his victims. Some of the times he wore a mask and the other times he didn’t. I’m sure those files are in the archives. You tell Jake to pull them and if he has any questions, I’ll be here to answer them.”

“Okay, Dad.” I hedge. “As soon as Mom gets back with the boys, I’ve got to get going.”

My father chuckles. “Why not leave them for another night, Brian? It’s good to have the house full. Come to supper tomorrow; your mother would love it. You can take them home after. I’m sure there’s a pretty brunette who might want your attention. You know, if you’re so inclined to bring her with you.”

Of course he’d pick up on the smallest change in my behavior. There’s no use saying anything to my dad about it, either. He’d no doubt tell Mom that I was gonna bring Maya, so now I just needed to figure out how to make it happen.

“Sure.” I smile. “I’ll bring her if I can convince her to give me a chance.”

* * *

Maya

“You slept with him,didn’t you?” Poppy looks at me over her computer screen and my cheeks burn, making my friend smile.

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