Can't Get Enough (Skyland, #3)(88)

“Remember the one she wouldn’t give a second date because he carried his own toothpicks?” Yasmen adds.

“Toothpicks!” I try to hold on to my straight face, but my lips twitch. “Now y’all know that’s some serial killer behavior.”

“I’m just saying it’s always something with you,” Yasmen continues. “So no complaints… Wow.”

I chuckle and shrug. “I’m not saying Maverick is perfect, but he feels…”

Perfect for me.

I don’t say it, but maybe something on my face does because both of their smiles dissolve. Never in the time they’ve known me have I asked for this kind of advice. I’ve never needed it. Wasn’t even tempted to go this far with anyone. They both sought counsel on love, and I never held back the best advice I could offer. Now I need them to do the same for me.

“He wants us to spend the next week together at his house in Malibu,” I say. “Before I have to go to my mom’s when Aunt Geneva has her surgery.”

Both of their jaws unhinge and fall open.

“I know.” I chew my thumbnail. “It’s a lot and it’s fast.”

“Does it feel too fast?” Yasmen asks. “You have always had the best gut instincts of us all, Hen. You know yourself. What does your gut say?”

I’m almost afraid to voice what I feel at a molecular level is the right thing for me to do. Not for Zere. Not for Chapel. Not for my business. For me. Maverick feels right for me and it is absolutely terrifying.

“Go,” I whisper. “My gut says go.”

“Then you go,” Soledad says, “but mitigate the fallout. You gotta talk to Zere before it goes any further.”

“I know.” I huff out a sigh and search their faces. “Did I break girl code?”

“The technicalities of whether or not you broke some unspoken code won’t matter if Zere is hurt or angry,” Yasmen says, sympathy in her expression. “You have to be prepared for the fact that she may see this as a betrayal, even though technically it’s not. It won’t matter if you win on a technicality if she no longer feels she can work with you because you’re dating her ex-boyfriend.”

Dating? Shit. I’m ’bout to be dating?

“Are you prepared for that?” Yasmen presses.

Am I?

“And is he worth it?” Soledad asks.

I lick suddenly dry lips. The implications don’t just affect me, but Chapel, too. That’s another conversation I’ll need to have if Zere decides to dissolve our business partnership.

“Oh, hi!” Soledad squeals, her wide eyes trained over my shoulder.

I whip around so fast I almost fall off my bed.

“Whoa,” Maverick says, catching my elbow and carefully righting me. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” I say, a little breathless. “I didn’t hear you come in. We… well, we—”

“I’m Yasmen,” she cuts in, beaming on-screen. “Nice to meet you, Maverick.”

“I’ve heard a lot about you.” He smiles easily as if he’s not bare-chested and wearing only briefs. Fortunately the phone’s camera is aimed up. “And you must be Soledad.”

“I am,” she says, her grin stretching from one corner of her face to the other. “It’s really nice to meet you.”

“I didn’t mean to interrupt,” he says, resting his palm with casual possessiveness at my nape. “Food’s ready.”

“Okay. I’ll be down.”

“Nice to meet you both,” he says, shifting his gaze back to the screen. “Hope to see you in person soon.”

He walks out and we wait a collective beat before they both release whisper-screams.

“Gurhhhhlllll.” Yasmen fans her face. “We gotta work this out. You waited all this time and Father God sent you that? Sis, you deserve.”

“You do, Hen.” Soledad blinks rapidly.

“Sol, are you…” I lean closer and take in the light skin flush of her cheeks and the way her nose is reddening. “Are you ’bout to cry?”

“I’m just so happy for you,” Soledad sniffs. “You’ve waited for someone who could truly be your match, and I feel like he could be, Hen.”

“Lawd! Y’all some hussies. Were you this confident before you saw how fine he is half naked?” I ask dryly.

“My confidence definitely shot through the roof at that point,” Yasmen says, cackling. “When a man like that wants you, and you want him, you better have a damn good reason to not go for it.”

I search my heart, my mind, my gut. All the places that have unfailingly steered my decisions over the years. Do I have a good enough reason not to pursue Maverick Bell?

I don’t think I do.





CHAPTER 32





MAVERICK


That was delicious,” Hendrix says, eating her last forkful of omelet. “Thank you.”

“Sure.” I grab her plate and mine to place them in the dishwasher. I force myself to focus on the conversation instead of the question boiling in my brain, which is WILL YOU SPEND THE WEEK WITH ME?

“It was nice meeting your friends,” I say instead. “At least on-screen.”