Page 76 of Never Give Up

Jake starts laughing. “Yeah, but I like my head attached, so I’m not saying anything.”

I finish screwing around with the rest of the camping equipment and toss it into the back of my truck. “Good.”

Jake tosses another box in behind it, this one containing snacks. “Are you still planning on leaving at dawn?” he asks.

I sit on the tailgate of my truck and look around the garage. “Yeah, I think so. We should head out as early as possible. I think last year the drive took two hours to get up there.”

Jake joins me, opening a soda and taking a drink. “Baxter State Park still the plan?”

“Yeah, I think South Gate this year.” They switched their location every year, trying to keep it interesting and just challenging enough.

The other man smiles. “That’ll be good.”

“So, are you planning on spending the night here or are you heading home?”

Pushing himself off the bed of the truck, he shakes his head. “I think I’ll just sleep on the couch if you don’t mind. I don’t want to have to wake up at the ass crack of dawn.” He eyes me. “That is if there isn’t a free bedroom?”

“Is that your lame way of asking if I’m sleeping with her? The answer’s none of your damn business. Either way, you’re on the couch. The boys each have their own room now, and they’re not changing.”

“I was just asking.”

“Sure.”

Jake laughs and takes a sip of his soda. “My truck going to be okay here while we’re gone?”

Jake had bought a brand-new truck at the start of the year as a birthday present to himself, and since most of the driving he does is for the department, I know that he hasn’t even put two thousand miles on it yet. It’s his baby.

“Yeah, you can park it in the garage now, and we’ll just leave my truck out for tomorrow.” That will give Maya an added sense of security as well, having another vehicle there.

“Alright, sounds good.” Jake’s phone starts to ring, and he looks at the caller ID. “Hey, I gotta take this. I’ll see you in the house.” He gets up from the tailgate and walks out.

“Hey.” Maya steps around the truck and into my line of sight. “You almost ready for tomorrow?”

“Yup.” I wrap my hands around her waist and draw her in close so that I can kiss her. “You excited to have the house to yourself for a few days while we’re gone?”

The way she blushes when my lips leave hers makes me smile. A real, genuine smile.

“What was the question?” She blinks, looking up at me with wide eyes and trust shining through them. “I got distracted.”

Her body presses up against mine, and I’m lifting her up and resting her ass on the tailgate in the next moment.

“Are you gonna have fun while we’re gone?”

All the happiness I’d seen only a second ago vanishes from her face, and it’s like I’m staring at a stranger.

“Oh,” she says. “I was thinking that while you’re gone I can move back into my place. You and the boys have been amazing. I just don’t want to overstep my bounds or anything.” When she finishes, she’s not even looking at me anymore. She’s staring at the ground between our feet, and even though she’s less than a foot away, it feels like she’s on the other side of the ocean.

“Hey.” As gently as I can, I cup her chin with one of my hands and guide her so that she’s looking at me. “Maya, look at me.” It takes a few extremely long seconds, but she finally raises her eyes to mine. “Good girl.”

I kiss her before saying anything else. Before she can take my heart in her hand and pulverize it. But I don’t expect the passion or emotion that comes with her returning it. I thought it would be the last, but her reaction gives me hope that it’s not.

She shrugs when the kiss is over, and I want to shake her so that she’ll tell me what she’s actually thinking. And then she opens her mouth.

“I keep waiting for this to end, for you to decide you’ve done your job, and—”

“My job? Goddamn. You’re the most beautiful thing in the world to me. You have no idea, do you? I stutter when I’m around you. When you walk by, I lose my mind. I’m afraid to breathe around you because if I do, I’ll combust. I love you, and I’m going to spend the rest of my life with you.” I look down at her and hold her in my arms.

Still, she doubts that I want her forever. “You don’t mean that.”

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