Page 86 of Never Started
Izzy obviously picks up on my unusually quiet demeanor and walks over to me, gracing me with a smile right before sitting on my lap and nuzzling her head into my chest.
Just the feel of her body pressed against mine washes a sense of calm over me.
“Want to go back to the cabin and fuck me?” she asks, her hands gripping tightly around me, pulling us even closer together.
“No,” I say softly, shaking my head. She raises her head and looks at me with wide eyes full of questions. “I would like to go back to the cabin. But I’d like to talk.”
“Mav,” she says, rolling her eyes as she lets out a sigh. “I’m over talking. We’re okay. Can’t we just move forward?”
“Jett!” Ander calls out before I can respond, and it’s then that the front door swings open and Jett walks in.
I don’t miss the way Izzy stiffens in my lap, averts her eyes, looks down at her hands, and instantly begins twirling her fingers between one another. She only ever does that when she’s nervous or uncomfortable.
I look up to see Jett standing still by the door, unmoving, his eyes locked on us with his jaw tense.
Something happened.
I’m not fucking losing it. I had a hunch he went to talk to her, and now that hunch has proven to be fact. I can feel it with every part of me. I’d have to be blind to miss it. But…
Do I even want to know?
She came in pretending everything was fine. Maybe, just maybe, having a conversation with him was what she needed to move forward from whatever was holding her back.
The way I see it is, I have two options. I can choose to question and potentially push her away even further. Maybe even risk losing her. Or, I can choose to move past this. See it for what it is and go with the flow she’s putting down.I choose the ladder.
I can’t risk losing her, especially not over this.
“Yeah,” I say quietly, my tone clear and suppressing every damn thing I want to say. “We can go back to the cabin. No talking necessary.”
Her wide smile that follows causes my heart to flutter momentarily. “Fucking it is!” she announces in a whisper, grabbing my hand, standing, and pulling me to follow.
I do. I’ll always follow her.
Chapter forty
Izzy
February 2024
“What time are we leaving?” I ask Maverick, applying the rose pink blush to my cheeks. It’s a full-glam kind of day.
He walks into his bedroom where I’m sitting, looking every bit of handsome, and I’m half tempted to catcall him as he leans against the door frame.
“We have about half an hour left until we have to head out,” he says, eyes raking up and down my body when I push to stand and flatten my outfit. “Damn baby.” He bites down on his bottom lip, taking me in. “You know I love it when you wear pink.”
“It’s Valentine’s Day,” I say dryly, walking past him to get my shoes and swatting at his arm. “Wearing pink is practically a requirement. Duh.”
“I know something else that’s a requirement,” he jokes from behind me, and I belt out a laugh, just as I hear a knock at the door.
I chose not to tell Maverick what happened that day with Jett four months ago on the ranch. You know, just adding to the list of secrets I keep. The same secrets that bind me to guilt and hinder me from actually moving forward with my life.
Yet, that kiss, that moment we shared, still lives rent-free in my head. Of all the secrets, it’s the one that's invasively getting in the way of everything I had going for me with Maverick. Just when I was finally able to open myself up and let him in some, Jett came barreling back into my life like a fucking wrecking ball, leaving me in a pile of debris filled with indecision.
Not telling Maverick the truth is selfish. I know this. But to tell him would lead me to having to tell him everything he doesn’t know about me, and that’s not something I’m sure I can do. At least, not yet.
I pad over to the door, not thinking much of it. Part of me is expecting it to be a flower delivery. What I’m not expecting is the tall, dark, and handsomely dressed Anderson Cole.
"Oh, hey, Ander, what are you doing here?"
