Page 48 of Maverick

Okay, that's not entirely true. I met these men for the first time when they came to the rescue drunk, and then ran amok. But I chalked that up to the booze. Same with the other night at the club, and Maverick up the pole. Clearly, they're not the most refined bunch, but still, I pictured something other than…this.

As far as I can tell, no one's been drinking, and it's still chaos. Nan and I curled up on the couch to get out of the way, but thank god we still have a great view of the commotion.

Evie's little girl, Mia, who can't be more than four years old, is gleefully chasing Colton around the spacious living room, a tiny hamster clutched in her hands. Colton, probably the biggest man I've ever seen in person, is red-faced and practically shrieking as he tries to escape the giggling little girl. He's a hell of a lot taller, so it should be easy for him to run away, but he's so busy looking back to make sure she hasn't caught him, that he's banging into things.

"It's for your own good, Colton," Nick calls out, laughing and lifting his beer out of the way as Mia flies by. "Keep going, Mia. Once he gets used to the hamsters, you'll be able to have one at home."

Maverick, standing next to the couch, is shaking his head, but he hasn't made a move to help. He's trying to act cool, chewing on one lip to keep from laughing, but I'm onto him.

I glance over at Nan, who's practically wheezing with laughter. "Did you ever imagine this is where we'd end up when we woke up this morning?" I ask her, my own laughter bubbling up.

"Oh, honey," she manages between giggles, "I couldn't have dreamed up something this entertaining if I tried!" She waves Maverick over, patting the couch between us. He sits carefully, the cushion giving under his weight, grinning when Nan slides toward him. He carefully rights her, keeping a hand braced on her back until she's stable.

"What exactly is happening here, young man? Why is King Kong running from that little sweetheart?" Heismassive, and admittedly, the whole scene is ridiculous. A three hundred-pound mountain of a man running from a forty-pound little girl.

Maverick chuckles. "When we were kids, he had an unfortunate run in with a mouse. It got stuck in his sleeping bag. Since then, he's been terrified of anything little and furry. And that little sweetheart is his daughter."

"Oh my, is she trying to torture him?"

"No, she is sweet, really. Not above scaring him a little bit, but sweet. But this is my brother's doing. Jonas," he says, pointing to a squinty-eyed Jonas in the middle of the room, "has this idea that if Colton's exposed to his fear enough, he'll get over it."

"It doesn't appear to be working," Nan muses, laughter lacing her words.

As Mia finally manages to corner Colton by the bookshelves, holding the hamster up to his face triumphantly, Colton screams like a rabid beaver bit him in the dick. My hands fly up to cover my ears. So do Mia's, which would be unfortunate for the hamster, but luckily one of the other brothers, Kade I think, is there to catch it. Unfortunately for Colton, Kade's even more ruthless than Mia.

Kade's holding the hamster up to Colton's face. Mistake, since Colton's got long thick legs, and he uses them to kick Kade right in the nards.

Now Kade's screaming and Colton uses the distraction to bolt for the stairs, then he's gone.

Kade groans and mutters 'Fuck' as he drops to his knees. "Jonas, your fucking plan fucking sucks."

Jonas, hands on hips, scowls, toward the door Colton escaped from. "This was not my plan. If you remember, I suggested tying him down. We could control the variables that way." Sighing, he moves to Kade, and carefully takes the hamster from him, placing it on his own shoulder, then kneels next to Mia, who still has her hands pressed to her ears.

He taps her nose, and she carefully drops her hands. "Are you okay?" he asks softly.

She nods, still wide eyed. "Daddy and Uncle Kade yelled really fuckin' loud."

Jonas chokes and turns his head. Kade mumbles an 'uh oh', and somewhere in the apartment someone breaks into full belly laughs.

"Mia Sofia Collins," Evie says from the dining table, lips twitching, "that's a grown up word and you know it."

Mia's little mouth turns down in a wobbly pout, and I want to tell Evie to stop being so mean, which is stupid, considering she's completely right. Fuck is most definitely a grown up word.

"I sorry, Mama." Mia says mournfully, taking the hamster from Jonas's shoulder and dragging her feet toward us. She stops right in front of Maverick, lower lip trembling.

Seeing him immediately scoop her onto his lap does something funny to my insides. The easy way he holds her, and how comfortable she is with him surprises me.

Maybe it shouldn't. He told me I didn't really know him, and he's right. Because somehow I never imagined a version of Maverick that was this natural holding a kid. A really freaking adorable kid at that.

He presses a kiss to the top of her head, and rubs her back. She sighs heavily, and mutters. "I don't like grown-up words. It's dumb. All words should be everybody words."

Maverick grins, and tips her chin up until she's looking right at him. "Some rules don't make sense, but we have to follow them anyway. One day, you'll be a grown up, and you'll be able to tell your own kids that they don't get to use them."

She scowls, pondering that, then nods, as if she's come to some sort of internal decision. Thankfully, she doesn't make us wait long. "When I'm the Mama, my kids will say the bad words and not gets in trouble."

Nan hoots, making Mia turn in Maverick's lap to look at her. "Well young lady, that sounds like a good plan to me. I hope I'm around to see how it goes." Her twinkling eyes meet mine over Mia's head. "You know, my granddaughter was a lot like youwhen she was little. She liked grown up words, a lot. She got her mouth washed out with soap weekly for a while there."

Mia gasps, and I tilt until I can see her expression. The wide eyes and mouth in an 'O' is absolutely hilarious.

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