I felt like crying again, but wanted to do it in my own bed, without being stared at by someone who probably despised me for lying to him. “I’m going to get out of your hair. I can text whoever I need to about seeing Harper when they think it’s safe. I?—“
Maverick rose to his feet too. “I really need a shower.”
I blinked.
Right.
He was definitely ready for me to leave.
I made it one step toward the door before he grabbed me around the waist and tossed me over his shoulder. It knocked the breath out of me, and I stared down at his blood-stained back as he strode toward the bathroom, carrying me with him.
“What are you doing, Mav?”
“You made yourself my official hair-washer a few days ago. Did no one send the memo?”
“Maverick.”
He set me down on my feet in the shower and turned on the water, then took my face in his hands while it fell over us, already warm. “You should’ve trusted that I wasn’t going to kill your best friend if there was any other choice, Bloom.”
My throat constricted.
“I know why you didn’t, but I fucking hate it. I’m furious that you’ve been carrying this alone. That you fucked me and kissed me andbathedme while genuinely believing you couldn’t trust me with your best friend’s life. That you fed her my blood secretly instead of asking for it. That hurts.”
My eyes stung. I closed them, and nodded.
“But I didn’t tell you about Oren, so some of the fault is mine. Yeah, I’m angry. More than that, I hate that you’re hurting and I haven’t fixed it yet.” He lowered his forehead to mine. I breathed his scent in deeply, and he took mine too. “More than any of it, I want to take you to our bed, I want to hold you in my arms, and I want tosleep. Without any interruptions. For as long as possible.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure. You’re it for me, Bloom. I don’t walk away from this.”
“Do yourunaway from it?” My attempt at a joke was quiet, and mostly neutral.
His lips stretched in a tired grin anyway. “Only if I’m chasing you.”
I rolled my eyes, and he kissed me.
It was gentle.
Soft.
Slow.
And it ended too soon.
He pulled me into his arms when my eyes started watering again as the emotions of everything caught up to me.
Despite what he said earlier, he was the one who washed both of us this time, with one of his arms remaining around my waist to hold me upright.
When he tucked us back into bed, our bare bodies pressed together, but it wasn’t sexual.
It was something else entirely.
Something intimate... and something real.
As I dozed off, I silently accepted the truth I’d been hiding from.
I was in love with Maverick Darkwood.
