I frown at him, confused by the tangled mess of gratitude, annoyance, and nerves churning inside me. He’s making itawfully hard for me to stick to my carefully constructed boundaries, which pisses me off.
I clear my throat. “Thank you. For the food. And for…caring.”
Maverick nods solemnly. “And thank you for saying that. I know how hard that must have been for you.”
“Fuck off.”
He grins like he just won a prize and swipes imaginary sweat off his brow with two fingers. “Phew. There you are. For a second there, I was worried the food poisoning had knocked the bite out of you.”
“You were?”
He nods. “Yeah. I’ve missed you avoiding me around the center these past few days.”
My frown deepens. “Please stop being so…”Funny? Caring? Sweet?I can’t say any of that, so I change topics. “I have to warn you about my family.”
“Why? Surely they can’t be worse than you.”
His grin grows into a smile. A very sexy, very alluring, dimple-filled smile. But that’s completely beside the point.
“Just be prepared for anything. Okay?”
“I’ll be fine, Jackson. Trust me. I know a thing or two about handling crazy families.”
10
Maverick
“Okay. Show of hands. Who here would rather be forced to eat—holy shit.” Pip stops mid-sentence.
“Who would want to eat holy shit?” a guy at the table asks, confused. He has his back to me, so he hasn’t seen Jackson and me enter like Pip has.
“Maverick.” Pip leaps to his feet. “What are you doing here?”
“Just dropping off some chicken soup for Clancy and Jackson,” I say.
The two women at the table exchange a smile. “These are my sisters.” Jackson gestures to them in turn. “Verity and Sibella.”
“Nice to meet you both.”
For some reason, I pictured his sisters having the same jet-black hair he does. They don’t. Verity has beautiful, glossy copper-red hair tumbling down her back, while Sibella’s soft chestnut curls frame her heart-shaped face. She’s glowing with radiant skin and, not that I normally notice these things about a woman, has very ample cleavage.
“That’s Tim, Sibella’s husband and proud dad-to-be.”
Ah, cleavage explained.
“Hey, man,” he says with a friendly smile.
“And that’s Chris, Verity’s partner. And you know Pip, of course.”
He’s now at the grill, piling food onto a plate, which he brings over to me. “Here you go. There’s a free spot next to Jackson. Enjoy.”
My eyes dart between him and Jackson, reigniting that ember of jealousy in my chest. Which is totally dumb. Ollie and I are more like brothers than best friends, and there’s never been anything more than platonic love between us. If Jackson says they’re just friends, they’re just friends.
Not that it’s any of my business anyway.
“Thanks.” I take a seat.
“Are you a Dodgers or Giants man?” Chris asks, and as I make bro-talk with him, I’m hyperaware of Jackson just to my right.
