Page 9 of The Cupcake Cottage

“Maybe,” he admitted.

“Maybe!Maybe?”

A few people from the patio turned to look their way.

“It’s that bad?” she asked, her eyes round.

He shrugged again and jammed his free hand into his jeans pocket.

“Wow,” she said softly. “That sucks.”

“Yeah.”

“And it’s not even your fault.”

“I know.” Maverick froze. Wait one second. He turned to look at her more fully. “Sorry? Say that again?”

“Well, that thing in Lafayette was obviously not your fault. You’d never…” Her cheeks went red. The urge to kiss her was even stronger than the time she’d had it out with some pageant protesters. He’d been taken with how her face had glowed with righteous indignation. That same glow was back along with her fight. Man, it was sexy.

“Never what?” he asked, holding his breath. He felt like she knew him, saw him. Knew he’d only done something good and was paying the price repeatedly.

“You’re not the type to mess up someone’s marriage.” She was watching him, and the party disappeared, the evening closing in around them. It was just them and this moment and the truth that so few could see but that Daisy-Mae seemed to. “I know you don’t—didn’t—love her. And her husband is…” She shivered.

“Is what?” He was desperate for her to intuitively understand the truth, the things he’d never spoken out loud. That she wouldjust know because sheknewhim. Knew what he was and was not capable of.

“Adwin’s not a good man. I think you were trying to help Reanna somehow.”

The entire world seemed to lift from his shoulders, his chest, his mind. It was as though he could expand his ribs and inhale fully for the first time since he’d stepped in and stopped Adwin from hurting Reanna.

Daisy-Mae’s cool hand rested on his and he met her eyes, hit with the force of one thought: It should never have been Myles with Daisy-Mae. It should have been him.

** *

Daisy-Mae’s crush was taking on a life of its own as she continued to hang out with Maverick. She’d always thought he was cute, but tonight, the way he was hanging out alone with her at Myles’s party and laughing with her, getting honest and deep… It was messing with her mind.

It felt good to be around him. Too good, because the man was seriously out of her league. Plus, it felt wrong to crush on one of her ex’s best friends. There was so much potential for broken friendships and awkward moments.

But Myles’ offhand comment about her and Maverick had hurt, and she couldn’t figure out why. Whatever it was, it was bringing up old feelings of being inadequate. It was as though Myles had announced to Maverick, right there in front of her, “Yeah, I don’t need her anymore. She was my reserve girlfriend. I kept her on a string in case I couldn’t find anyone else. But I’m good now, so you can have her.”

Obviously, her mind was an absolute mess because she was certain he hadn’t intended that.

It didn’t help that she’d just witnessed Myles drop a kiss on Karen’s waiting lips. She didn’t feel jealous though. It was more like a sinking, hollow feeling as though she’d never have love—the real kind. Her dad did his best to avoid her mother. Her grandma and grandpa had separate bedrooms and had bickered all their lives. Marriage ran in her family, but love didn’t. Not that burning, all-consuming kind of love that she’d been sold on by the media. The love she wanted.

But seriously. How long did a woman have to wait for true love? At this rate, she was going to be in dentures and leakproof panties by the time Cupid got down to Daisy-Mae Ray on his list.

She was still standing by the fence with Maverick, too chicken to join the party, as well as enjoying monopolizing his company. She feared he’d eventually wander off with his photographer to get some candid shots of him cuddling Myles’s dog or something and she’d be forced to mingle. And if she did, it was likely that at least one person would make a remark about her missing out with Myles, and didn’t it hurt to be there?

She watched the happy couple across the yard, laughing, smiling, kissing. Daisy-Mae shook her head. They’d be getting married in a few short months, on Valentine’s Day. “I can’t imagine it.”

“Marriage?”

She tipped her head to the side, realizing she could imagine marriage. It was just the getting there from here part. “I mean, maybe I can. It would be nice to have someone to come home to. Someone who lights up when he wakes up beside me each morning.”

“I thought you had a dog.”

She laughed. “Ella’s a girl.”

“So she doesn’t count?”

---