Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 104081 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 520(@200wpm)___ 416(@250wpm)___ 347(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104081 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 520(@200wpm)___ 416(@250wpm)___ 347(@300wpm)
“You wanted to push my buttons.”
She bit the inside of her lip like she was ashamed. Then, her smile leveled out, eyes searching mine, and I wondered if she was remembering what I’d done after she mouthed off to me.
I wondered what she’d do if I did it again, right now, without all that anger simmering between us. What would her eyes look like if I wrapped my hand around her throat and squeezed just a little bit…
“It’s okay,” I told her. “I like to push yours, too.”
I turned back to tend to her waffle before I got the satisfaction of seeing the look on her face. Once it was on a plate, I dressed it with the sweet cream cheese I’d mixed up, along with the blueberry compote and fresh blueberries and strawberries on top. It looked like a culinary sensation by the time I slid the plate in front of her, and Maven’s eyes lit up.
She eyed me curiously before taking out her phone and snapping a picture of the waffle. She snapped one of me, too, standing at the island with my palms on the counter, smiling at the camera. I had no problem cheesing it up for the public — especially since I wanted my name at the top of everyone’s mind when it came to selecting Rookie of the Year.
Once she had her pictures, she tucked her phone away and forked off the corner of the waffle.
“Make sure you get the berries,” I coached, which made her smile.
Then, she took her first bite, moaning with her eyes closed as I tried not to stare at where her tongue darted out to lick the compote from her lips.
“Hngg,” she said around the mouthful, swallowing before her eyes popped open and locked on mine. “Holy shit, this is good.”
“Always so surprised,” I chastised, but I smiled in victory when I turned away to make my own waffle.
Maven was almost done with hers by the time I sat down next to her with my own, and she rubbed her belly as if it was a beer gut, sinking back in her chair.
“Call me impressed.”
“I thought I was only supposed to call you Maven.”
She stuck her tongue out at me before leaning her chin on her palm, watching as I took my first bite. “So, I take it you and your sister are pretty close. Especially if she loves you enough to do that whole pre-game dance thing every single game.”
“She’s one of my best friends,” I answered honestly, stacking a few berries on my fork. “We were only a year apart in school, so we grew up together with the same friends and the same problems.”
“You ever date any of her friends?”
“Define date.”
Maven snorted. “Pig. Okay, did she ever date any of yours?”
“Never.”
“Never?”
I shook my head. “My friends didn’t want to die, so they stayed away from my little sister.”
“Oh, that’s rich. You can mess around with her friends, but yours are forbidden, huh?”
“Grace is too good for any of my friends.”
Maven smiled a bit at that.
“I take it you’re the oldest of your siblings,” I observed. “You’ve got the first-born attitude, too.”
“Only-born,” she amended, and her face softened a bit. “I was a miracle baby.”
I frowned, swallowing another bite before I asked, “How so?”
“My parents weren’t sure they wanted to have kids when they first got married. They were in AmeriCorps together, which meant they didn’t really have roots set in place. They were so focused on helping other people, they didn’t really think about themselves. But one day, Mom decided she wanted a baby, and Dad has always done whatever Mom wants.” She smiled, making designs with her fork on the leftover compote on her plate. “That’s when they found out Mom had cervical cancer.”
My heart bottomed out in my chest. I wasn’t expecting such a vulnerable admission, not from the woman who had been hard as steel around me.
“They caught it early, thankfully, but the doctors still weren’t sure she’d ever have kids.” Maven looked at me then. “She had two miscarriages before she had me, and not too long after I was born, the cancer came back, and she had to have her uterus removed.”
I balked. I didn’t have a single word to say to that.
“So, it’s just me,” she said, smiling on a little bounce of her shoulders. “Their miracle baby.”
“You three are close.” I said it as a statement, not as a question. “You post a lot of photos with them.”
“I do. Creeper.”
I smirked. “Hey, you left an impression on me at the gala. Not my fault your bestie dropped your full name, and I couldn’t resist the urge to look you up.”
“Damn it, Livia…”
“It surprised me,” I admitted. “What I found when I did.”
She propped her chin on her palm again. “Why? What did you expect?”