“Aye.” I stood slowly, reaching for her waist to pull her to me.
She shoved gently at me, but for once I refused to let her go. I pulled her close, bending my forehead to hers. Maia whimpered at the connection and stopped struggling.
“I can’t let you throw away your career. Not for me. We’ll end the campaign and then when things blow over, maybe Burbank won’t care anymore.”
I jerked back, disbelieving. Maia wouldn’t meet my gaze. I cupped her face. “My.”
Waiting, my heart in her fucking hands, I stayed silent until she finally lifted her eyes to mine.
They shimmered with unshed tears. “Bear … it’s your safe place. Your home. I can’t take that from you.”
“Aye? You can’t take my safe place, my home? Okay, well, the fucking club is not that. You are. You are my safe place now. Maia … I love you so fucking much.” Emotion got the best of me, my voice catching. “If I thought the injury threw my life off course … bloody hell, My, losing you would destroy me in ways I won’t ever come back from. I have never loved anything as much as I love our relationship.Anything. It was a pretty fucking easy decision to tell Burbank where to stick his fucking club. I didnae mean tae swear so much during this convo, so sorry about that, but the only thing that terrifies me is losing you. Awright?”
Her tears brimmed over as she squeezed her eyes closed, her fingers sliding around my wrists as she melted against me.
Relief eased the cloying panic in my chest. “Football was never going to last. I mean, I’ll have to move out of my apartment because I won’t be making as much until Blantyre takes off, but?—”
“You know I don’t care about that stuff.” Maia jerked away. “I would live in a shoebox with you.”
My lips twitched. “Aye, it’ll no’ come to that.”
Her eyes dimmed. “Did you see the article today? I haven’t seen it. But apparently, he wrote about Dad being in prison.”
As tears spilled down Maia’s cheeks, part of me wished I’d beat the shit out of Craig Bennet after all. Yet I knew if Ihad, I wouldn’t be here to wipe those tears away. “I saw, baby.”
A wee sob escaped her lips, breaking my fucking heart. “I haven’t spoken to Dad or Grace yet. Or Aunt Shannon. I feel so selfish. When we started this … I was so set on doing it that I didn’t allow myself to really think about how this could impact them.”
“My, you couldn’t have known Bennet would write about your family. I know for a fact they’ll be more worried about you than you are about them.”
“I want to go to them. I need to.”
“Then I’m coming with you.”
She searched my face and despite the love she couldn’t hide, I still waited nervously for her response. “I’m sorry for pushing you away. It’s only because I love you so much.”
“I know, My. But please, don’t do it again. It … hurts.”
New tears spilled free. “I’m sorry.”
I kissed the tears away. “No more sorries,” I whispered. “It’s done. We’re good.”
A throat cleared behind us, and I cuddled Maia protectively to my chest as I glanced over my shoulder. Hilary and Christina stood in the doorway.
Hilary appeared uncomfortable. “I hate to break this up, but we really do need to discuss the campaign.”
“We do that, then Maia gets the rest of the day off so she can go see her family,” I negotiated.
Christina smirked, I think in approval, behind Hilary’s back.
Hilary sighed. “Fine.”
“Fine.” I wrapped both arms around Maia, not letting her go as her bosses entered the room. “The wedding’s still on. I spoke to my publicist, and she suggested we don’t fanthe flames. Especially as the campaign is almost at an end. No response. Continue on as we have.”
Maia gently extricated herself from my arms, wiping at her cheeks. I let her go because she was in a professional situation and I knew she wanted to respect that. However, I felt her fingers twine with mine at our sides, her grip tight as she met her bosses head on. “I agree with Baird.”
Crossing her arms, leaning her arse on her desk, Hilary sighed. “Well, there’s been some negative backlash about Pennington’s not checking their employee history carefully enough. As irrational as that sounds, we do have to listen to public opinion. Our publicist suggested you make a statement distancing yourself from your family. Including your father.”
Maia sucked in a harsh breath. “I’m sorry, but that’s never going to happen.”
