Me: Still going to fuck me at our usual time this afternoon?
Maverick: Still going to pretend you don’t want me as much as I want you?
I freeze, my lips parting in disbelief. He’s got me there.
It’s not the first time he’s hinted that this thing between us is more than just physical, but every time he does, it catches me by surprise.
And then, because I’m a selfish idiot, I reply with just one word.
Me: Yes.
I know it’s wrong to lead him on like this, to make him think we could have a future when we can’t. What Ishoulddo is the one thing he’s asked me to do—be honest with him.
But I’m still not ready to tell him about my condition.
Before, it was because I didn’t feel I owed him anything because we weren’ta thing. We still aren’ta thing—not officially, anyway—but my reasoning is different now.
Now, I don’t want whatever we have to end. Not yet anyway.
In some really messed-up way, holding on to this secret gives me a sense of being in control at a time when everything else is slipping through my fingers. I’m losing my sight. My cabin is getting leveled to the ground next week. I could possibly lose my job, the one and only thing in my life I’ve ever been good at.
I can’t let go of the one and only guy who’s ever made me feel like this on top of all of that.
I never expected Maverick to hang around this long. But now that I’ve gotten to know him, it’s clear he’s the type of person who follows through on every commitment he makes.The improvements he’s made to the sanctuary are a testament to that.
But I’m not some neglected, in-need-of-repair project for him to take on. I would never burden him like that.
I already feel guilty as all hell for having to move in with Clancy and inconvenience him. After everything he’s done for us, all the hard work he put in to raise us when Mom left, all the sacrifices he made in his personal life, I always thought I’d be able to repay the favor and look after him in his old age. Not the other way around.
It sucks I have to burden one person; I damn well refuse to burden two. Maverick has enough on his plate with running the rescue center and helping his brother with Sammy, the last thing he needs is to be weighed down by me.
My phone vibrates again.
Maverick: I’ll see you in my office at 2!
“You know, I’ve been thinking,” Maverick grunts into my ear as his hips piston against my wet skin, his cock spearing my channel, giving me that intoxicating fullness I’ve become addicted to.
“About what?” I pant, one hand on the tiles, the other fisting my cock.
“You could move in with me.”
I stop jerking myself off. “What?”
He slows to a stop, leaving his cock inside me. I glance over my shoulder but struggle to see the details of his face in the fogged-up bathroom. Warm water cascades over us, the sound thrumming in my ears, along with my heartbeat.
“Just an idea. Something temporary until your new cabin gets built. That’s all. My grandparents’ house isn’t massive, but it does have two guest rooms. See? Separate rooms. Nothing scary. Or serious. No need to freak out.”
He’s speaking in short sentences, his body swaying gently with each one. He probably doesn’t realize that every time he moves, I feel it in the deepest part of me.
He mentioned staying at his place as an option when he first broke the news about my cabin, but I was too upset to accept or reject it at that time.
Could I live with him?
My heart is screamingYES!while my head is yellingNO!
“I don’t know, Maverick.”
“You don’t have to answer while I’m inside you.”
