Maverick was waiting outside the car taking a call when she emerged nervously from the townhouse. She saw him glance up at her and still before snapping shut his phone and standing to attention, the look in his eyes one of unadulterated appreciation.
‘You look fantastic,’ he said, swinging open the passenger door for her and suddenly she halted as warmth bloomed inside her. She felt afraid again, afraid of what might happen, afraid of what she couldn’t deny.
‘What is it?’ he pressed. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘I’m just not convinced this is such a good idea.’
His eyes revealed nothing of the frustration he had to be feeling right now. He tilted his head indulgently at her. ‘Rogerson felt the same way this week. He wasn’t sure whether he should commit to the deal. But you convinced him that sometimes it’s worth taking that risk. Maybe you should take a spoonful of your own medicine?’
She shivered. It wasn’t the same, she wanted to argue. Rogerson stood to gain by taking a risk on Maverick. Whereas she…She stood to lose everything—Morgan’s job, her own sanity and, most of all, she feared, her heart.
Was it a risk she could so easily brush off?
No.
Was it a risk she was willing to take?
Oh, yes.
She shivered as she slipped past him and lowered herself into the car, his eyes doing crazy things to her blood and her breasts at the same time.
Business dinner, she persisted in telling herself, it’s still only a business dinner. But that hadn’t stopped her finding the most feminine dress she could find in her sister’s wardrobe, a soft floral pastel with crossover bodice and pleated waist that gave way to a floaty skirt that shifted when she moved, revealing glimpses of leg. After the dull business suits she’d been wearing all week, this dress felt soft, feminine—and, the way it felt against her skin, even a little sexy.
The way he looked at her made it even more so.
He climbed in alongside but didn’t drive away. Instead he just looked across at her. ‘I’ve never seen you with your hair down,’ he said, touching a hand to the waves that cascaded around her face and over her shoulders, twisting one tendril around his finger, a gentle pressure that had her whole scalp tingling. ‘I like it.’
Their eyes connected and for the space of one hitched breath the world stopped. She drank him in with her eyes, the early-evening light turning his features into a play of light and shadow, of dark depths and rich promise, and she realised that just one evening with this man would never be enough.
She forced her eyes away as a stab of regret lanced her heart. Because one last night was all she had.
With a sigh he let go and started the engine. ‘Do you mind if we make a brief detour on the way? I’ve just had a call and there’s someone I need to drop in on.’
She shrugged. ‘Sure,’ she said, already enjoying the scent of fine leather and an even finer driver, and not in any particular rush to put an end to the sensual pleasure.
It was only when he pulled into the gated car park of the Green Valley Rest Home that her curiosity was piqued.
She looked up at him, her question unspoken.
‘My grandmother,’ he simply said.
‘You have a grandmother?’
He flashed a look at her. ‘That surprises you?’
‘Yes. I mean no. I mean…’ What did she mean—that it seemed incongruous for a man as hard as Maverick to have family, let alone a little old grandmother?
‘Besides,’ he continued, a slight frown creasing his brow as he parked the car and pulled on the handbrake, ‘you knew about Nell—given you’re the one who sends her flowers for her every birthday and Mother’s Day.’
‘Oh, of course, that grandmother,’ she stumbled, feeling her cheeks burn and wishing she were some place else entirely. ‘But you send them, I just order them.’
He was already climbing out, and thankfully oblivious to her gaffe. ‘I’ll be as quick as I possibly can.’
But he wasn’t out the door before a wiry old woman on a walking frame came through the front doors.
‘Jimmy!’ she snapped out in a soft American drawl. ‘What took you so long?’
Maverick didn’t flinch at his grandmother’s use of his childhood name. He just leant down and kissed her sunken cheek. ‘Come on, Nell,’ he said, taking her by one arm. ‘You should be inside now. It’s getting late.’
‘It’s only late if you’re on nursing-home hours!’ she grumbled, pulling her arm out of his hand. ‘I swear it’s a conspiracy to get us to sleep twelve hours of the day.’
‘Okay,’ he conceded, motioning to a park bench nearby. ‘Let’s sit outside and you can tell me what’s so important that you had to see me straight away.’