Regret for my words in the trailer pummeled me. Of course, Will had fucked her up. “My, what I said about thinking beyond yourself?—”
“You were right.”
“Nah. It was harsh. You didn’t deserve that.”
“You didn’t deserve my mistrust.”
“Let’s agree we’re both sorry and move on, then.”
When I glanced at her, she gave me a warm, sweet smile I felt in my dick. “I can do that. I hate arguing with you,” she said.
I wouldn’t mind it so much if we could end the argument with me inside her, but … patience. “Me too,” I replied gruffly.
“So, how did you think it went today?”
We chatted a bit about the first shoot of the campaign. Then I dared, “I didn’t cross the line with the kiss, did I?”
I swore her breath hitched a bit. “Oh. No. No, the kiss was perfect.”
“Perfect, aye?” I flashed her a cocky smile.
Maia huffed, “For the shoot. It was perfect for the shoot.”
We talked and joked and teased each other all the way back to her place, and while I was still gutted about John, at least I felt better about me and Maia.
“How is John feeling?” she asked as we entered New Town.
“Lost. His … his mum died four years ago, and he and his dad … their relationship fell apart after that. Caley”—my throat grew thick—“Caley became John’s family.” I drew the car to a stop on Hart Street, right next to the lane that led to her place.
Switching off the engine, I turned to see Maia’s eyes were bright with unshed tears. I reached over to pat her knee. “I know. It’s shit.”
“It’s beyond shit,” she whispered, blinking rapidly. “Poor John.”
“Callan and I asked him to join our company so he could stay here.”
“That’s a great idea.”
“I don’t know. Property management isn’t his passion.”
“But it’ll give him a legal reason to stay until he figures out a way to remain in the country doing something he loves.”
“I tried to tell him the same thing, but he’s just … wallowing right now.”
“By himself?”
“That’s what he wants.”
Maia leaned into me. “There are times when we leave the people we care about to wallow, and there are times when we don’t. Let’s go get him.”
Surprised by the suggestion, I quirked an eyebrow. “Now?”
“Yes. It’s only four o’clock. Let’s see if Callan’s free and we’ll all go out to dinner. Me being there will make it seem less like an ambush.”
“Is it an ambush?”
“Kind of. We’ll lull him into a false sense of ‘We’re just here taking your mind off it’ and then hit him with the ‘Come work for us until you discover what it is you want from life now.’”
My chest fucking ached as I stared into her beautiful face because it wasn’t only the perfect arrangement of Maia’s features that made her gorgeous. She was gorgeous right down to her very soul. “Okay. Let’s do it.”
