“Hey.” Her long hair falls around her shoulders like bolts of silk. Like every other time I’ve ever been in her presence, I want to sink my fingers into it and tip her face up to plunder her mouth. I clear my throat. “Sleep well?”
“No.”
“That’s too bad. I slept like a rock.”
The line shifts forward, but Maris doesn’t move. “Nick, tell me now. Are we here to have an actual conversation or to exchange banalities? If it’s the latter, I’m getting in my car and going back to my warm bed.”
Because that’s exactly what my dick needs, to think of Maris in bed. “We’re having a real discussion. I just don’t want to in here.”
“Boy, had this better be worth it,” she mutters.
“And one of the things we’re talking about is this problem you have with me,” I declare as the line moves forward again. I grasp her elbow.
“Problem? Me?” she sputters. “I’ve treated you the exact same way I have for years.”
“I’m well aware. And we have issues.”
“When did you come to this conclusion?” Maris snaps. Then she rubs her head. “I’m sorry. I need some caffeine and sugar. I’m good with no sleep if I have them.”
I’m not really sure I want to know how she figured that out.
The line surges forward again. We’re seconds from ordering. Just as a cashier opens up, I look down into her indigo eyes and mutter, “Do the words ‘baby’ and ‘adoption’ mean anything to you?” Stepping up to the cashier while Maris gapes behind me, I give a big smile. “Hi. I’d like a large Americano.”
Maris bumps my hip as she comes up next to me. The cashier asks, “Anything else? Oh. Hey, Maris. Didn’t see you there. You were too quiet.”
“I’ll pay you any amount of money for a pot of steaming hot liquid to throw, Cayleigh.”
The girl giggles. “Rough morning?”
Glaring up at me, she says, “I’m over my head already.”
“So, a large double caramel macchiato with extra, extra caramel, extra vanilla?” the cashier offers.
Maris gives it a lot of consideration before nodding. “Plus, a cookie. There’s no way I’m going to survive this without a cookie.”
I’m agog over the amount of sugar Maris is about to consume, but I don’t question it. If it sweetens her disposition at all, I’m willing to go out and buy a bag of turbinado and spoon-feed it to her myself. Damn, now I have images of doing just that floating in my mind. Leaning down and wrapping my tongue around her nipple before dusting it with the sugar crystals. Then I’d lean down and suck the entire thing back into my mouth…
I whip out my card to pay.
The cashier smiles at us both. “Your order will be right up.”
We wait for a few moments for our drinks and Maris’s cookie before she jerks her head to the rear of the building. Since I’m not certain whether or not Maris is going to throw the sticky substance at me, I warily follow her. But when we reach the back, I’m pleasantly surprised to find a courtyard that only has a few people in it. “How did I never know this was back here?”
Maris snorts before taking her first sip. She sighs in bliss. “That’s because you’re never in town long enough to actually spend time here, Nick. You’re like a captain with a storm off the sea. To protect yourself, you run the very minute you’re threatened whereas the rest of us band together to fight whatever it is were being threatened with.”
I had just been about to take a drink, but instead I lower my coffee to the table without taking a single sip. “Excuse me?”
Maris opens her mouth but closes it again just as fast. She reaches out to grab the bag with her cookie, but I snag her hand. “What is your problem, Sunshine?”
“Don’t call me that, please.”
I’m taken aback by the hurt in her voice. “Okay. Maris, tell me what I’ve done. We used to be friends.”
For a moment, her blue eyes widen before she bursts out laughing. “Oh, Nick. We’ve never been friends. Your friendship with the guys and how you conduct it is your own business.”
“Gee, thanks,” I drawl, my voice dripping with sarcasm.
“But you don’t get to come to my home and question me about major life decisions. I demand more from the people in my life.”
“Like what? Explain things to me. I may not be one of your girls, Maris, but I am your friend.” She snorts and I find myself mildly insulted. “Hey, listen, if it’s because I’m a man, I’m sorry. I can’t change my sex to make this easier on you. Though, frankly, you wouldn’t want me to,” I goad her.
Maris reaches for her cookie and this time takes a large bite. She swallows and her head lowers. When it lifts, my dick tightens immediately. Her lids are at half-mast as she peers at me. Her lips are glossy, but there’s a little icing stuck in the corner of her mouth. I want to spend hours licking it away.
“Holy shit.” The words escape me before I can control them.
“And that, right there, is why we’ve never been friends and we’ll never be friends.” Between one blink and another, Maris morphs back into the woman who greeted me like a curmudgeon at the door. Shoving another bite of cookie in her mouth, she chews before saying, “I’m just surprised you acknowledged it after all these years.”
I lean forward. “So, that little performance was what? To prove you could make me want you?”
She shrugs, seemingly indifferent. “That was your own fault for coming up to me like that at the bar last night. What the hell was up with that?”
I have no damn idea. Brad certainly chewed a bite out of my ass when I did it, especially since he told me before I went over to be on my best behavior since Rainey had let him know the person she was sitting with was from the state adoption agency. “Maybe I was just annoyed because everyone else knew about you and this whole adoption thing before me? When you know there’s likely something I could do to help you?”
Maris snorts. “Sorry, Nick. Your name’s not going to shoot glitter rainbows in this instance. Mrs. G. didn’t even know who you were until Rainey and I told her last night. So, I guess there’s at least two females who don’t melt at the very sight of you.” She takes a long drink of her coffee in satisfaction.
“Who’s the first?” When she splutters her coffee all over the courtyard, I grin. I can’t help it.
“Me, you ass! That’s who! Now, when I get back, you’d better be ready to tell me what you’re really doing here other than trying to ruin a dream for me.” Maris grabs napkins from the holder and begins to dab at her chin before standing and collecting her garbage.
Just as she’s about to pass me, I touch her arm briefly. “A dream, Sunshine?”
She doesn’t even take umbrage with the nickname. “The biggest one I’ve dared to have in a long while, Nick.”
“Then come back and tell me about it. And yes, I’ll tell you why I’m in Juneau.”
Her angry expression softens to the one I remember from so many summers. She reaches over and squeezes my shoulder. “I’m still pissed because you annoy me, but I’ve missed the real you, Nick.”