Hell on Heels(43)

My eyes moved to see Maverick in another black fitted Henley, cargo pants, the kind only army men wore, and boots walking towards us.

“Hart,” Jason acknowledged him.

“MacLean.” Maverick did the same in return.

Beau looked to him as he approached, and then recognition slid over his features. “Security check?”

Maverick nodded.

“Of course,” Beau agreed.

“Carlos will drive both you and Jason to the airport so he can accompany you to Calgary.” Maverick spoke directly to the men, and he never once looked at me while he did it.

“That’s settled then.” Beau turned his attention back to me. “Hart will take you home.”

The idea of being trapped alone in a car with Maverick for thirty minutes made me nervous, but still, I said, “Okay.”

I didn’t want to be difficult for Beau.

He wrapped his arms around my waist and gently pulled me to him. “Call you when I get back?”

“Okay.” I smiled, and his lips found mine in a sweet kiss.

It turned out that maybe the thing that made Beau Callaway human was that his life, like the rest of ours, was unpredictable and sometimes very, very sad.

“Fly safe,” I said as our lips parted. “I’ll pray for your father.”

Beau picked me up and spun me around in a half circle. “Goodnight, Charleston.”

He set my feet back on the ground and transferred me to Maverick, who led me to the other black SUV with his hand at the small of my back.

I looked up the driveway and watched as Beau disappeared into his house before pulling at the door handle for the backseat. It was locked.

Maverick laughed from behind me, and I turned to see what was so funny.

He looked at my hand on the door. “I’m not Carlos, Princess.” He shook his head. “And this ain’t a taxi.”

I was a little in my head then. Something about the evening’s mood had sunk. So, I didn’t respond.

This seemed to catch him off guard and his expression softened. Reaching past me, he pulled open the door to the passenger seat. “Up front, babe.”

“Okay.” I climbed into the seat and Maverick shut the door behind me.

I watched as he stalked around the hood of the vehicle, his massive frame eventually settling into the driver’s side next to me. I noted with vague interest that he had the seat back as far as it could go just to fit his body behind the wheel.

Kicking my boots off, I tucked my legs up under me and leaned into the door with my head on the glass.

“Seat belt,” Maverick barked, but it lacked his usual belt.

I didn’t move.

I was retreating into my mind.

He reached over, wrapped his hand around the bicep closest to him, and pulled my body upright. “Princess. Seat belt. Now.”

I glared through the windshield, but went through the motions and leaned back into my original position against the door, shivering when my cheek pressed against the cold glass.

Maverick, satisfied that I was buckled down, drove up the driveway. He stopped, pressing a button on the rear-view mirror, and the gates started to open. While he waited, I saw him twist his large body out of the corner of my eye and reach into the backseat.

“Here.” He draped what looked to be a man’s ski jacket over my thighs.

I glanced over to him and used one hand to pull the jacket up my torso, but still, I didn’t say anything.

The gates opened wide enough for the SUV to fit through, and Maverick turned us out onto the road. We drove for barely a beat, when he spoke again.

“You’re scared.”

It was dark outside. All I saw were the faint lights of houses as we passed. “No,” I told the glass.

“Yes you are,” he accused and turned left. “You’re practically shielding in yourself from me right now.”

Sighing, I closed my eyes and whispered, “I don’t want to fight with you.”

He ignored me. “What are you so afraid of all the time?”

Maybe it was a moment of weakness. Maybe I was caught off guard by his kindness. I answered him honestly. “Everything,” I whispered, and my breath fogged the inside of the window.

“Hell of a way to live your life, walkin’ on eggshells.” His deep voice rolled through the cab. “Life ain’t all that scary, Princess.”

My eyelids grew heavy.

“Life’s not that scary, Charlie bear.”

So I’d been told.




I felt a brush of cold and I shivered.

“Come on, Princess.”

The sound of my seatbelt being unbuckled stirred me briefly, and my eyes opened to see Maverick standing in the open door of the SUV. “Are we here?”

He nodded and I closed my eyes again.

I was someone who fought waking like it would be the last time I ever slept.

Arms came around my back and under my knees, and I was heaved into the air with a grunt. I curled into the heat and heard the door slam shut behind us.

Women my size were rarely carried by a man, and it felt nice to feel small, even in my somewhat incoherent state.

“Access code,” he demanded, but I was already falling back asleep.

I heard him swear and smiled.

“Princess,” Maverick whispered into my ear, shaking me in his arms a little. “What’s your access code?”