Maverick helps me out, then leans toward the cabbie. “I’m walking her up, stay put.”

“Keeping the meter running,” the cabbie says.

Maverick nods and shuts the door behind us. His fingers press into the small of my back as he leads me across the lobby, pushes the Up button, and we wait for an elevator. When it tings and a couple shuffles out, he steps inside with me. And then we ride, all alone, to the penthouse.

He takes my hand in silence, dipping his thumb into my palm and staring down at me in smoldering male satisfaction.

“I should be embarrassed. I’m never this reckless,” I admit.

“Good. But I want you to be reckless with me.”

I laugh and duck my head, really embarrassed now. There are lights above us, and they feel brighter than usual after the shadows of the cab, and I’m utterly mortified.

“You know who I am. And I know who you are, Reese. And none of it has to do with what you said just now, or with who our fathers are.”

He pulls me so close that I can feel what our make-out in the cab has done to him, and his lips cover mine again, softer now, achingly soft.

A feather of pleasure ripples down my back as he shifts me and we end up flat against the wall. I’m sandwiched between the elevator wall and tons of Maverick.

We’re so hungry for each other that we can’t get our mouths off the other.

“You make me drunk, Maverick,” I say worriedly, as we kiss.

“I take it”—he frowns—“that’s a bad thing?”

I search his face. “I don’t know.”

“You make me want to go all out, Reese. Do everything.”

We kiss a little hotly again.

“You bring out a different me,” I confess, gripping his chest as I try to catch my breath. “I wanted to be her. But I don’t know this new me. I’m a stranger to this new me.”

He eases back with this slow, adorable smile. “I can see her perfectly.”

When the elevator arrives, he follows me out to the big doors of the three-bedroom suite. As I fish out my key, he says, “Hey. Find out where you’ll be staying next location.”

“Why?”

“I want to stay at the same hotel.”

I stare.

He nods soberly. “I want to find out what it’s like to have you lie on my chest. Spend the whole night with me. Talk about things.” He smiles as he quotes me.

I think I fell just a little bit deeper.

I inhale.

For two people who don’t talk a lot, this is huge.

To want to spend a night together. And talk.

“Hey,” he says quietly, lifting my gaze to his, “I want you in bed with me.”

I laugh.

“I’ve never spent a complete night with a woman, not in my life.”

I stop laughing.

Oh god. He’s emotionally a virgin too.

What are we doing?

His expression intensifies, and he takes my hand and kisses my knuckles. Knuckles, which are the way he makes a living, probably one of his most prized body parts after the obvious one. “I liked what just happened in the back of that cab, Reese.”

“I liked it too.”

“Then don’t regret it,” he whispers in my ear.

He heads to the elevator.

“Maverick.” I stop him.

I want to kiss him for luck.

I want to kiss him for me.

“I wish I could be at the next fight,” I say instead.

He stops by the elevator, hot and delectable, laughing softly as he rakes his hand through his hair. “I’m glad you’re not.”

“Why?”

He shakes his head woefully. “I need my head with my opponents.” He sends me a meaningful look, as if I fuck with his head.

“Riptide is undefeated, Maverick. He’s . . . unstoppable. I don’t want either of you to get hurt.”

He comes back and tells me gently, “One of us will.” He chucks my chin. “Don’t worry about me. I can take a beatdown. I learn best when I’m on the ground ’cause I fucking hate it there.”

He goes back to the elevator, and I lean on the door as he disappears inside. I open the hotel room door, dine on cereal, and head to my bed. I lie there, still breathless, squeezing my eyes to relive what just happened in the back of the cab with him.

I have never been so scared.

Reese, is this really you? Are you ready to be bold and brave?

TWENTY-SEVEN

HER

Maverick

When we reach the hotel, I take a shower, drop into bed, and I’m restless. I replay the cab. I replay her kisses. I replay her words. I replay what she said about herself.

You make me drunk, Maverick. . . .

Fuck, I shouldn’t have taken her to her hotel. I should’ve brought her with me. To lie here, on my chest. Like she wanted. And talk all night, either with words or with silence.

And I’ll kiss her, for hours, her tongue coming out to play with mine, and I’ll have her breasts in my hands. She’s going to moan into my mouth. And I’m going to draw out those moans, because when I’m with her, I’m intoxicated and I’m crazed and out of control.

Reese in bed, looking nice and sweet, wrapping her arms softly around me as I spread out on her. Her saying my name in a way I know she wants me, needs me like I need her. “Maverick.”

I can’t talk, I’m groaning against her mouth, then squeezing her ass in my hands as I taste her nipple. I turn her around and kiss the mounds of her ass too. Slip my fingers between her legs, and she’s all wet and juiced up. I’m memorizing her. It’ll take me forever, but I’m dedicated and I want to memorize every tiny inch and pore with my eyes and my fingers and my tongue.

Her breaths jerk and she rolls around and grabs me to her and takes me inside. She’s hot. Wet. I can’t get enough. She accepts me inside her. She welcomes me inside her. She rubs her hands all along my back, over my tattoo. And she knows what it means. She’s the only one who knows what it means. It’s not about my father, it’s about me.

And I know who she is. I know she’s strong and sweet, I know she fights to balance what others need and what she needs. I know she’s finding Reese, and I know that I’m the lucky guy who’s gotten the privilege of watching her find herself.

TWENTY-EIGHT

STRONGER

Maverick

One . . . two . . . three . . .