“We need you out here, Derrick.” Mack’s voice grabbed the guy’s attention and he left the kitchen without another word.
Maverick finished his breakfast, but I had lost my appetite. Insecurity over my place in Maverick’s world popped into my brain. I hadn’t figured out how to proceed with my relationship with Maverick beyond the fact that I didn’t want to let him go. I had a life in D.C. that I couldn’t just up and walk away from. Even if Maverick and I wanted a future together, it would take careful planning and preparation on my part. That would mean long periods of time separated from each other and how would that work?
Maverick had some young, handsome doe-eyed guy that was clearly interested in him. How long before he got sick of me being seven hours away by car? How long before he realized he didn’t have to put up with my absence or head off to Charlotte for a weekend when he could be getting the same thing from Derrick?
I might’ve been a confident thirty-eight-year-old man, but in that moment I was still the teenage kid who feared that Maverick would disappear just as quickly as he did the last time. I knew he was at the mercy of his family at sixteen, just as I knew Maverick was building a life he was proud of in Beaufort. Still, I…
The press of Maverick’s warm lips to my cheek snapped me out of my musings. I turned to look at him and I saw that he knew where my line of thinking had gone. It was all still there from last night – the longing, the need, and the happiness to be with me. I needed to resolve that I didn’t need the next thirty-eight years of my life mapped out right then; I could live in the moment and try to build upon the happiness that I shared with Maverick.
“I’m going to head back to my apartment to change and feed Ozzy. Will you be here when I get back or will I see you later for dinner?” My heart thumped wildly over spending alone time with him again that night.
“I’m going to work on the back porch and make some calls so I’ll be around.” I leaned in and kissed him square on the lips, not giving a shit who was watching. Maybe I wanted them to watch.Mine. Mine. Mine.“Wait, who’s Ozzy?”
“He’s my bearded dragon. He needs to eat twice a day, bugs in the morning and fruits and veggies at night. I sent a text and asked Roxie to feed him his veggies last night before I climbed up the trellis to your window. Roxie doesn’t mind feeding him the veggies, but she hates feeding him the insects.”
“So, who feeds him when you’re away for your weekends in Charlotte.”I just couldn’t let it go, could I?
“Roxie’s wife Betty Jean isn’t afraid to feed him the insects, but she has an early class this morning. Betty Jean took morning feedings and Roxie took evening feeds.” Took, not takes. He was talking past tense, as if he wasn’t planning to return to Charlotte for his weekend romps. A guy could hope, because I knew I couldn’t – wouldn’t – share him with anyone. That was definitely not one of my kinks.
“Mav?” I asked when he rose from his chair to take his plate to the sink. “Can you wear your holey jeans tonight?” I didn’t bother to hide my wicked intent and his answering smile told me he liked my train of thought.
“For you, anything.”
Maverick gave me one last kiss before he left to go back home. I thought about working indoors since the days were getting hotter and more humid the further into summer we got, but things felt tense around his crew. They didn’t give me strange looks or behave badly, in fact, they were too polite. I had gone from a client they felt comfortable around to the boss’s boyfriend or at least love interest and that made them feel uncomfortable. Well, they would have to get used to it, because I would fight tooth and nail to stay in his life.
I took my laptop outside with a big glass of iced tea and began looking through case file notes that Justin begrudgingly emailed to me after each consult. He was pissed that I left, pissed that I was staying longer than he wanted, and pissed that I wouldn’t tell him why. Just opening his emails caused me to tense. The urge to tell him everything right then and there pressed down upon me, but it wasn’t right to tell him in an email or over the phone. That was a cowardly way to handle it. I’d be going back to D.C. at the end of the following week and would deal with him straight away. No more excuses, no more procrastination.
It didn’t occur to me until hours later that I didn’t refer to D.C. as home in my thoughts. My mom’s favorite coffee cup said “Home is Where the Heart Is” and my heart lived in a seaside town in North Carolina.
