Love on the Line (Beaumont Legacy #2)

22. Maya

Chapter twenty-two

Maya

T he day after her meltdown, Maya tried to get back into her routine, giving three tennis lessons and working through some final charity logistics with Viola. Then, when she checked On the Line’s email, she found one from her grandmother, her nani, who Maya hadn’t spoken to in over a decade.

Her grandparents had apparently seen one of the press conferences about the charity, and upon realizing she was in Los Angeles, decided to reach out since they now lived nearby.

A part of her, the part that had felt abandoned by them, was angry. The other, bigger part of her recognized that she was as much at fault for not reaching out to them as an adult. Sure, she hadn’t known they’d left Michigan, but nowadays, finding their contact information wouldn’t have been such a challenge, and she hadn’t even tried.

Mainly because she was terrified of knowing whether they’d truly lost touch or had made the decision to stay away.

She’d come home to think through their offer for her to go over for lunch, and she was still mulling it over hours later as she lay in the hot tub.

Maya was just starting to relax when she heard the side gate closing. Her eyes flew open.

“Son of a bitch!” she cried as she took in the man striding toward her, her heart racing both because she was startled and because she’d missed his rugged sexiness deeply.

She stared at the face of the man who’d held her together over the phone yesterday, a bouquet of sunflowers in one hand, a big bag of gummy bears in the other, cowboy hat over his dirty-blond hair, and a sheepish grin on his face.

Her cowboy.

“Hi, sweetheart,” Cooper drawled in that intoxicating accent of his. “I found the spare key.”

“Y-you,” she stuttered, still in shock.

“I had to see you. You said you missed me, and that was all the tempting I needed.”

Her chest seized, and she jolted up, jumping out of the water and into his outstretched arms before she could think about how she was ruining his clothes. Her legs wrapped around his waist tightly, her arms around his neck and her face buried in it, breathing him in .

She felt him kiss the side of her head before he whispered, “Was today any better?”

Maya peeled herself off him, grimacing at the wet stain left behind. “Oh god, I’m so sorry.” When he waved it off, she smiled at him. “Today was a little better. A lot better now. Though I did get some interesting news.”

“Oh, yeah? What’s that?” The smile that pulled at his lips was heart stopping. She was lucky to still be alive.

“My mom’s parents reached out. They said they moved here recently and would love to see me if I’m interested.”

Shock was clear on Cooper’s face as he reached out to hook their pinkies together. Maya loved that now that he could touch her, it was almost like he always had to be touching her. She led him into the house.

“Wow. That’s…Wow. How are you feeling about that?”

As Maya had thought through the last couple of days and how sad she’d been just yesterday evening, she had wondered if it was some kind of sign. She’d never given much thought to a higher power, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that somehow, some way, her mother had known how badly Maya needed her as she’d sobbed through the grief last night.

And maybe this was her mother’s way of guiding her to the people who had known her best.

“I’ve been going back and forth. I don’t know what their reasoning is for reaching out, but I figure I should at least talk to them. Hear them out and decide from there, right? ”

Cooper placed the bag of gummy bears on the kitchen counter. “I think whatever you feel comfortable doing is what you should do. Have you talked to Colton and Landon?”

Maya nodded. “I texted them. Landon said it’s completely up to me whether I go or not. Colton hasn’t responded.” She paused. “I’ve just been thinking about it a lot the past few hours and…I think I’m going to do it. Meet them. Probably tomorrow, since they invited me for lunch. I just think the timing of them reaching out feels so right, and with how much this injury has made me miss my mom, I can’t not.”

Cooper bent down, catching her lips in a gentle kiss. After a second, he pulled back a hair, whispering against them, “I’m so proud of you for figuring that out. And I hope they have a damn good reason for waiting so long.” He kissed her nose and stepped back. “Do you want me to come with you? I can change my flight in an instant.” He handed the sunflowers to her.

Maya took them, holding them to her chest lovingly. She didn’t know why he called her sunflower, but she liked the nickname. “No, no. It’s going to be emotional, I’m sure. And something I have to do by myself.”

Cooper nodded understandingly, though Maya could still see concern in his eyes.

“I can’t believe you flew all the way here just because I said I missed you,” Maya whispered in awe. She pulled out a painted vase from one of the cabinets, filling it with water, adding the flowers, and then setting it onto the counter above the sink .

How anyone could have ever told him he wasn’t relationship material was beyond her. This was the sweetest thing he could’ve done for her. The sweetest thing anyone had ever done for her.

“I told you I’ll do anything I can to make sure I’m here if you need me. I meant that.”

Maya took in the crinkle around his eyes, the way his hat was a little lopsided after she’d jumped into his arms, the lips she’d imagined on her body countless times. He’d shaved for her, and like he knew what these tight shirts did to her, he’d worn a white one, every part of it hugging his sculpted upper body.

She jumped onto the counter beside the sink, pulling him closer by his shirt. When he was inches from her, she whispered, “Well, thank you for making my day.”

Maya marveled at how pretty he was as he closed his eyes. She followed suit, her hands tossing off his cowboy hat and slipping into his hair as she kissed him. They’d only been apart for a week, but it had been a week of having to stay inside to steer clear of the media and trying not to worry that people cared more about whether they were dating than how impactful On the Line could be.

She needed him.

The kiss, at first slow, turned hard and fast, and Maya slid herself across the counter until her legs were wrapped around his waist. She grinded herself against him, desperately seeking friction until she was hardly able to keep up with his deft kisses and bites of her lip. Her nails dug into his scalp, and he groaned like she was driving him crazy, his hands tightening around her waist.

Maya wanted him to let go for once . She didn’t care about anything but him and her. She wanted to finally have what she’d been imagining every night while her vibrator had brought her to an orgasm she knew would be lackluster in comparison to the real thing.

His hand came up to cup her face, and as one of hers slipped down his chest to his muscled stomach, he pulled away, panting.

She frowned, reading the hesitation in his eyes. “You know you don’t have to prove anything to anyone, right? I know you’re right for me. Isn’t that enough?”

Cooper grimaced, pulling her off the counter and setting her on her feet. “Sweetheart, let’s see what happens once On the Line is up and running. I just want to prove to everyone, especially Colton, that he shouldn’t be worried when it comes to me and you.”

He cupped her cheeks, placing a soft kiss to her lips before stepping back a few feet, rubbing against where his jeans were tented, like he was in pain. “I want you to know that not touching you, tasting you, not having you in that way is killing me. Just because I’m not laying you out and fucking you until you scream doesn’t mean that’s not true. But this is my first time trying this in years, and I want to make sure I do it right. ”

Maya sighed but she knew, once again, that this was about his past. He’d spent so much of his life feeling used, and she didn’t want to be like the rest of the people he’d been with. She nodded.

A car alarm went off outside, startling them. Maya huffed a laugh, then asked, “How did you get in holding all this without being seen?” She gestured at the bag of candy and flowers, knowing there were at least a few people with cameras waiting outside the house.

“I got dropped off a block away and snuck up to the side gate. I think they were waiting for a car to come right up to the house. They’re parked outside your neighbor’s house, on the other side from where I was dropped off.”

“Smart.”

Cooper shrugged, like he didn’t believe the word should be applied to him. “What were your plans for the night? What do you want to do?”

She took a couple of breaths, still letting her body catch up to what was happening. Or rather what was not happening. “I was planning on trimming my hair and then doing a face mask, but we don’t have to do that.”

“You know, I used to cut my sisters’ hair when they were younger. I learned from a video and got really good, if I do say so myself.”

Maya snorted, shooting him an incredulous look. She wasn’t sure she’d trust him near her hair.

“What? You don’t think I can do it? ”

“I’m honestly not sure.”

“Let me prove myself to you. I gotta make myself indispensable. Let me be your hairstylist.”

Maya looked at the confidence on his face, and even though she was sure she would regret it, she led him up to her bathroom and handed him the scissors. She brushed through it until it was completely untangled, and then she nodded for him to start.

It was just hair after all. How badly could he mess it up?

Only, the faces he kept making, a cross between concern and confusion, did not make her feel better. And, as it turned out, he could mess it up quite badly. When she turned to look at the back of her hair in the mirror, she saw him grimace. Maya slapped a hand over her mouth in horror, her eyes widening.

Her normally long, straight hair looked like a child had taken scissors to it, some pieces much shorter than others.

“Oh my god, Cooper. Oh my god, it’s horrible. It’s so bad.” She burst out laughing, slapping the sink with her other hand.

“I thought I was following the video so well! Look.” He pulled up a part of the video, showing her what he’d tried to do. “Look, I did this exactly! I don’t know why it didn’t work.”

“Cooper, you understand I can’t go out in public like this, right?”

He sighed dejectedly. “Yeah.”

“Okay, I’m gonna try it myself and see if this is fixable.”

Cooper scratched the back of his neck. “So, that’s a no on me being indispensable in the hair arena? ”

Maya patted his cheek, still trying to hold in a fit of horror-induced giggles as she took in her new look.

“My sweet summer child, you are never going near my hair with anything sharp ever again.”

He set his hands on her waist, pulling her flush to him. “All I’ve ever wanted to be is Edward Scissorhands. You’re crushing all my dreams.”

Maya pecked his lips once, twice, thrice. “What are some of your other dreams? Maybe I can make those come true.”

Cooper’s thumb ran over her jaw, and his forehead met hers. “I have no doubt about that. You’re all I dream about anymore.”

The storm in Maya’s stomach erupted at his confession.

Again, she couldn’t believe he didn’t see that he was more than enough for her. She would find a way to show him.

But first, she needed to fix her hair.