this road trip will be far from easy.
I need easy right now. Football is going to be tough as hell. Supporting my three brothers until they’re old enough to stand on their own is going to take an all-out effort. I do that by staying healthy and staying focused on my career. One injury, and I lose everything. And supporting my dad, who sacrificed so much for me, is a gift I’ve wanted to repay for years.
So, my love life needs to stay on the back burner. Meaning, Hannah and I can’t get involved.
She turns again in the bed, and this time, she flings an arm and a leg over my body.
Christ. Still on my back, I scoot farther to the left in the bed, but she follows me like an octopus clinging to its prey. Her heavy breathing lets me know she’s still sound asleep, so I give up fighting her unconscious advances. I lift my hand and place it gently on her head.
And then, I run my fingers through her thick, midnight hair. She’s still got an elastic band wrapped around it, and I gently undo the elastic until her hair is loose and flowing.
She sighs in her sleep and burrows into my chest.
The ache I feel there isn’t physical. But I don’t want to analyze what it is. That would mean I’d have to take a closer look at what this road trip is turning into, and I’m not prepared to do that.
Because no matter how much I like my copilot, when the trip ends, so does whatever this is between us.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Hannah
Oh, shit.
That’s thought number one on the morning of my twenty-third birthday as last night’s events come flooding back to me.
God, Maverick’s bare chest is warm against me is thought number two.
And thought number three?
I need to get out of this bed before he wakes up.
My eyes feel like two paperweights are on them. I roll away from Maverick quietly. Just as I’ve got one leg dangling off the mattress, a strong arm bands across my waist and drags me backward. My back makes contact with Maverick’s chest.
I squeeze my eyes shut. “Good morning,” I say softly into the air.
“Happy birthday, Hannah.”
“Thank you.” Before I can apologize for last night, and possibly ask him to forget he ever heard my humiliating proposition, he adds quietly, “We need to talk.”
Oh, God. Here’s where he’s going to reject me. He’ll try to be kind and let me down easy.
But it will still sting.
Because I like Maverick. And I want to move past Craig. I need to move past Craig. My relationship with Maverick is the opposite of Craig. It’s simple and uncomplicated, and I like that. Sex with him would be perfect as a rebound. And we could say goodbye without angst.
“Can it wait?” I slip out from under his arm. “I have to shower.”
Once I’m safely locked inside the bathroom, I look into the mirror.
I’m wearing his clothes again.
Not complicated, my ass.
This trip has gone from a getaway ride to something undefined.
Undefined has always scared me. Life without rules is dangerous. Like the driver who fell asleep at the wheel and crossed the line, killing my parents, we all need firm lines in our life.
And yet, with Maverick, I just told him last night I was willing to throw away the rules.
I stare into the mirror at my pale, hungover reflection.
Am I?
Maverick goes to work out at the hotel gym while I take my time getting ready for the day.
I pair green shorts with a pink, white-laced tank top that has a built-in bra. With this heat, I want to wear as little as possible. I brush my dark hair until it’s smooth and has lost some of that tangled feel from being on the road. Grabbing an elastic, I pull half of my hair up into a knot and fasten it with the elastic.
Maverick returns to the room just as I’m stepping into my sandals. He’s all sweaty and breathing hard.
“Hey.”
I stare back at him in silence, mesmerized by how drop-dead gorgeous this man is.
“The gym was really nice,” he says, not seeming to notice my mouth hanging open.
I slam my jaw shut and nod.
“Do you work out?” he asks me as he tugs at his shirt by the neck.
I can’t answer him, because one more tug and the shirt comes over his head and is dropped onto the floor.
And my mouth drops right along with it.
Because Maverick’s body…holy hell.
I felt his bare chest this