“You said so earlier.”
“Well,” I licked my lips. “You need to hear it again.”
Leaning forward, I closed the distance between us, knowing I was already fucking everything up, but, dammit, I’d been with her for hours, staring at every perfect feature on her and I needed to know what her mouth felt like against mine.
“Good night, Mav,” she said, backing away before I could make a move.
She was out of the cab and rushing up the stairs so fast I could barely register what was happening. But she’d done the right thing. I was caught up in the moment. We’d pretended so well even I believed we wanted each other.
But my heart was still racing when I got home, and my cock throbbed from being denied what he wanted. And right now, he wanted Clara.
4
Clara
We’d been to seven weddings in the last two months, and Maverick had become my favorite part of each week. He was quickly becoming my best friend. The nights after the weddings when we weren’t quite ready to stop the party, he’d come home with me and we’d watch a movie, order a late night pizza, laugh over a beer, tell each other our secrets. It was the friendship I never had with another person aside from my sisters, but we rarely spoke anymore. Hadn’t in a long time.
This week we were supposed to attend the wedding of Kelsey Turner and David Garrison, in the nearby town of Pleasant Peaks. It was an overnight trip, held at the beautiful Crestview Resort. We had two rooms, thank you very much.
Jenna was incredibly annoyed about that when I told her as we sat across from each other at One Horse Coffee Traders and caught up after a busy week.
“You mean to tell me, you had the opportunity to experience the only one bed trope in real life and you didn’t take it?”
“Not everything is a romance novel, Jen.”
“This is. God, you two are driving me batty. I thought for sure you’d be fucking by now.”
“Who is fucking?” Mackenzie asked, looking from me to Jenna.
“Not this bitch and Maverick.”
Mack laughed out loud before taking a sip of her latte. “If it hasn’t happened by now, it’s not going to.”
“Did you hear that she had the chance at an only one bed situation and this idiot didn’t jump on it?”
Mack’s brows lifted. “You did?”
“We’re going to Kelsey’s wedding this weekend in Pleasant Peaks. We got two rooms and you’d think I shot someone with the way Jenna acted.”
“Mmm, only one bed. That’s how I ended up with Luke.” She got this dreamy look in her eyes, like she was reliving the Hawaiian vacation that started their love affair.
“Hello, earth to Mackenzie, we’re not talking about you.” Jenna tossed a chocolate covered espresso bean at Mack’s forehead.
“Bitch. Don’t throw things at me when I’m remembering sharing a bed with that man. When the air conditioning broke and we—“
“Okay, that’s enough. There are kids at the next table,” I said, stopping her in her tracks. I’d heard the whole story in detail. The things they’d done were hot as hell, and if I wasn’t so jaded, I’d be a little…okay, a lot, jealous.
“The point is, Mav and I are just friends. Besides, I’ve made a decision and getting involved with anyone right now would be a terrible idea.”
Both of them looked at me then, silent and waiting for me to drop my bomb.
“I’m going to get pregnant.”
“Excuse me?” Jenna said, choking on her coffee.
“I’m tired of waiting for the right time.”
“I thought you were just thinking about freezing your eggs.”
“I was. But then I realized that was just another way of sitting on this. I might not want a husband, but I do want to be a mom. I look at the Rykers and their kids, Sera and Sutton…”
“Me and Luke.”
Jenna and I snapped our attention to Mackenzie. “What?” Jenna’s voice was so loud the other patrons in the shop stopped talking.
“I’m eight weeks. It’s a terrible time because school will be starting soon, but Luke is so happy. You should have seen him when I told him. He cried.”
My chest squeezed. “I’m so happy for you, Mack.”
She smiled. “We can be pregnant together.”
“If it works out that way, we totally can.”
“How are you going to do it?” Jenna asked.
“I’ll find an anonymous donor. There’s a clinic about an hour away where I can get the donation.”
“Well, I guess you’re a pro at this stuff. You inseminate horses often enough.”
Mack laughed. “I think it’s a little different when you’re inseminating yourself.”
“You’d be surprised,” I said, taking a bite of the absolutely perfect chocolate cupcake I’d treated myself to.
“Wow.” Jenna sat back in her chair. “When are you doing it?”
“I’ve started reading up on everything involved and think I’ll wait until after the last wedding Mav and I plan to attend. Then, I’ll bust out the turkey baster.”
Jenna shuddered. “Not the visual I was looking for.”
“Did you really want a visual? It’s my uterus.”
“Point taken.”
The door opened and Travis Ryker walked in with his little boy in tow, Hawk Langston and his daughter Carly right behind them.
“Hello there, ladies,” Hawk said, dropping a kiss on his sister’s head. Mack stared at us with a warning in her eyes. So she hadn’t shared the news with her family yet.
“Hey, Hawk. How’s the newlywed life?” Jenna asked.
“Couldn’t ask for anything better.”
Maverick came through the door a moment later, his piercing eyes on me almost as soon as he walked in. God help me, but I sat up a little straighter under the weight of his gaze.
“Oh, yeah, there’s nothing going on there,” Jenna muttered. “That man wants to bend you over a table right now and—“
“Jenna, stop.” My cheeks were on fire. “We’re not like that.”
“You should be.”
Mav approached, a grin on his face. “Hey, darlin’,” he said, but his tone was tight. “Can we talk for a second?”
I nodded and stood, my belly fluttering as I followed him to an empty table in the corner. “What’s up?”
“I can’t make it to the wedding this weekend.”
“What? Why?”
“I have to go to Seattle to deal with some team stuff. I’m so sorry. It’s completely out of my hands.”
“Oh, I see.”
“If you want, I can try to—“
“No. Don’t worry about it. The church ladies won’t be there anyway. I can go it alone, or maybe Trent or Declan will go with me.”
His eyes narrowed. “You’d want that?”
Shrugging, I tried to play it off like I wasn’t crushed he wouldn’t be with me. “Why not? They’re both handsome cowboys who’ll look good on my arm.”
“Oh. Well…all right then. I, uh…I’m glad you can replace me so easily.”