He didn’t try and touch her, didn’t say anything that might give away the relationship he thought they were still hiding.
It was Nina who said, ‘What are you doing here, Mav? You hate the city.’
He looked at her face for a long moment, trying to decide what she wanted, and Nina let him see the answer in her eyes. She nodded, desperate to finally hear the words. She didn’t just want them. Sheneededthem.
Mav exhaled a deep breath of relief. ‘I do hate the city. But I love you.’
Hearing the words from him for the first time was unlike anything Nina had ever known before. It wasn’t joy or relief or excitement, but some strange emotion that contained all three of them in staggering quantities.
Nina grinned. Her heart, so heavy only moments before, flew. She indicated the reporters, said, ‘They want to know: what now?’
All the microphones swung in Maverick’s direction. ‘You know what I want,’ he said. ‘I’m just waiting until you’re ready to trust me with your heart.’
The reporters swung back in her direction, making her laugh. ‘I’m ready,’ she said, and there was no doubt. There was some fear, but Nina finally accepted that she was allowed to be scared. Trusting somebody else with your heart was terrifying, but maybe it was supposed to be, maybe that waswhyit was so special too.
Mav smiled his dimple-popping smile. ‘Yeah?’
‘Yeah.’ Nina had never seen anything more beautiful than the denim-clad cowboy standing in front of her with the city at his back. ‘I love you, Mav. I need you like I need my next breath. I don’t feel safe enough to live free when you’re not with me.’
He put his hands on his hips and exhaled a deep breath of relief. ‘Sounds like we’re on the same page.’
Nina nodded, waiting.
‘I just have one question?’
‘Okay.’
‘Please, for the love of God, could I kiss you in public now?’
Another round of laughter followed.
‘I want the world to know you’re my woman, Nina.’
Nina didn’t reply. She walked straight into his arms and pressed her lips to his.
Everyone cheered. Reporters, spectators who had stopped to watch the unravelling scene, Linda and Markus, who stood on the steps above them, watching.
Mav took her deep. His hands gripped her hips and pulled her close, sealing the last of that space between them. His tongue swept into her mouth and gave, uncaring of the fact that the world was watching, and when they finally pulled apart, Mav didn’t step back. He kept her close, his arms wrapped around her, his big body sheltering her even when she hadn’t asked.
Nina closed her eyes and revelled in the safety of his arms. She breathed in his familiar scent and rested for the first time in days.
If either of them had been paying attention, they would have seen Alexander Cane and his attorneys standing on the other side of the courthouse steps, completely forgotten by the media just then. They might have looked at Alexander’s face and seen his outrage and his hate. His madness.
PART FOUR: LIVE
Chapter 30
As summer spread into fall and fall into winter, the temperature changed, becoming cold even by California standards. Like the weather, the legal battle began to cool after months and months of heat.
Mav grumbled aloud as his big hands fumbled to take a screenshot of the latest news snippet of Nina’s case. The caption read: ‘Things Not Looking Good for Alexander Cane,’ and the article detailed how the prosecutor had revealed damning holes and inconsistencies in his statements.
Mav posted the screenshot to Instagram and included a link to the article, just as he had done for every court milestone, and then he closed the app and temporarily deleted it from his phone so that he and Nina could escape the ensuing chatter.
It didn’t matter that Cane was clearly guilty or that he had hurt Nina, Amanda Black, and two other women who had since come forward; he was still a man with connections and power, and the predator wielded both with merciless force.
TheShadowlandsfilm had been wrapped up using a body double for the last scene, something that had hurt Nina irreparably. She’d had to stand by and watch as the project she’d put her entire self into had been finished by someone else. The movie was in post-production, but Nina’s agent had said that there were whispers, rumours that Alexander Cane was being pushed out of the film due to his bad press.
Nina had told Alison that she was taking a year off to deal with the legal battle and the aftermath, but Maverick knew that she was also scared. She was worried that she might not be cast in the future, and she had removed herself from the equation completely to come to terms with it.
