That got Maya’s attention.
“Did you guys play together?”
“We played end to end.” Kevin hoisted the heavy weights into the air. “He played after me.”
“Why did you come back here?” She moved the rope side to side. “I mean, most guys do commercials or television or something.”
He and Damon looked at each other and laughed.
“We like it here.” Kevin wondered why she would ask.
“Yeah, we like it here,” Damon mimicked. “I made enough to retire, and I work at my leisure. I have a paid-off house where I grew up. I’m set and I got it all before I got too hurt to be able to enjoy it.”
“Did you get hurt?” Maya turned to Kevin with concern in her eyes. Her eyes skated his body as if looking for something she’d missed. “I mean, besides the helmet thing?”
Kevin lifted the pant leg of his sweats. He knew his scar wasn’t obvious because he was so fair skinned and it curved perfectly around his kneecap. The surgeon had worked with such precision that it was nearly invisible.
“The helmet thing was a broken jaw and dental work that had my mouth wired shut for what seemed like forever.”
Maya’s scowl etched a deep furrow between her brows. “Not sure I could have handled knowing you then. There was so much risk.” She rubbed the crease from her forehead. “At least you’re not a cop in a dangerous town. I couldn’t take that either.”
“Blackwood has its moments,” said Damon, smiling.
“Damon is my unofficial partner. He’d make a great cop.”
“I’m happy where I am, thank you.”
Kevin did another set. His muscles flexed and the blood flowed. Some stress that he didn’t know he had released.
“You’ll have to tell me some stories sometime.” Maya finished jumping then picked up a weight to work her triceps.
The guys finished spotting each other with bench pressing and went on to curls on separate benches. When Kevin finished, he seized the opportunity to help Maya with her form. Not to improve it, but just to touch her.
He didn’t want to be a spectacle in front of Damon, but he now thought of working out as a sexy endeavor.
“Anyone ready to eat?” Kevin wiped down the bench and bar.
“And police stories?” asked Maya.
“Sure.” He winked.
They headed inside. He and Maya hit the master bath while Damon used the guest bath to shower and change before they ate. He had Maya sit at the head of the table while he sat across from his friend.
“This looks great,” said Damon.
“Thank you.” She blushed at the compliment.
“Did you make the bread?” Damon pulled his roll apart and dunked it in the chili.
“I did. What about you? Do you cook or do you take your meals at work?”
“I like to cook.”
“I think most of the town is half and half,” said Kevin. “Fortunately, the food at the saloon and the diner is good.”
“I put the menu of the saloon together,” Damon said. “I had to throw in a few Old West names but—”
“If you don’t, people wonder why and if you do, the same,” said Maya. “So, Damon, any significant other?”
Damon laughed and then stood up and took a bill out of his wallet and handed it to Kevin. “You were right.”
“Told ya.” Kevin tucked the money into his pocket and looked at Maya. “I told Damon when I invited him over you would probably bring up the subject.”
“I’m not seeing anyone,” Damon said. “I’m between relationships. Taking a year off for me, so to speak.”
“Okay, I won’t pry.”
Kevin smiled. “But you want to, don’t you?”
“You gotta stop.” Damon laughed again. “I’m trying to swallow.”
“I’m fine not knowing.” She rolled her eyes.
“I’m happy for the moment,” Damon said graciously. “If I feel like I need someone in my life, I’ll be sure to let you know.”
“This would be a good time to talk about cop stories or something else.” Kevin took another roll and slathered it with butter.
“It’s a shame about the town being sold and all,” said Damon. “I like the idea of the community center. I’d love to be involved.”
“I’m trying to change that.”
“Maya wants to buy the town back.” His chest swelled at the thought of his fiancée fighting for his town.
“Really?” Damon’s face brightened.
“You haven’t been fired, have you?” Maya played with her chili. “Togi says the people at the diner have been. She got a letter.”
“No. I own the saloon, so no one bought me out.” Damon set his spoon down and wiped his mouth clean. “If you look at Blackwood, my place historically was one of the first buildings erected. Back then, it was the most important. Gotta have our saloon, right? It’s my building and then adjacent but not connected is the strip of shops I guess they built next. That’s what got sold to the development company.”
“You mean we asked you to sell and you didn’t? We offered people a lot of money.”
“You did, but I said no.” Damon’s voice was matter-of-fact.
“Did you know this?” Maya asked him.
“I didn’t give it much thought. At least we know that we don’t have to worry about that changing hands.”
Maya wiped her mouth. “I have someone working on it, but I have heard nothing. We’ve reached out to the development company, but they aren’t responding. It could be a long process.”
Kevin helped himself to more salad.
“Deena didn’t look like she was feeling too well. Maybe she should hand this project off to you.”
“Yeah.” Maya sat up straighter. “There isn’t any reason why I couldn’t investigate on my own.” She stood up and kissed him quickly.
“I don’t know.” Damon tossed his wadded-up napkin into his empty bowl. “Maybe I should rethink this relationship thing. You’re getting kisses and I’m not.” He turned to Maya. “If you have a friend, I’m all ears.”
Kevin laughed.
“Are you saying you like my future wife?”
“Ah, man.” Damon’s eyes opened wide. “Really? You two got engaged?”
Maya held out her hand. The diamonds sparkled under the dining room light.
“Congratulations. I don’t know who to hug first. Do we have a date yet or is this all still too new?”
“I don’t know when.” Maya looked to him. “But I know we want to have the reception or some celebration party at the saloon.”
Damon dropped his head and laughed. “That’s perfect,” he said. “We’ll make that happen.”
Maya clapped her hands. “I’m so happy.”
“You know what we should do?” asked Kevin spontaneously. “We should go to the saloon. We should have a couple beers—or not—”
He looked to Maya apologetically.
“It’s okay. I won’t melt at the saloon.”
“No, I’m sorry for suggesting we have beers. I forgot for a second.”
“I can have club soda and I would love to line dance.” Her smile was contagious. “That sounds like fun.”
Everyone stood and cleared their places, leaving them in the sink to soak. Then he and Maya followed Damon back to the saloon.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Maya
The saloon was lively. There was another bartender behind the counter and a waitress. Kevin, Damon, and Maya went over to the pool table.
“Do you have dancing here?” she asked excitedly.
“We do.” Damon put a quarter in the jukebox and music filled the air. Immediately a line formed.
Maya joined in, figuring it out as she went along, while Damon and Kevin moved to the pool table. She spied as Kevin racked the balls. Every so often their eyes connected across the room.
It was lovely to watch him in motion as she danced. He wasn’t next to her as she moved, but it was like they wer
e dancing together when they looked into each other’s eyes.
She was lost in her adoration when Clem and Kaitlin pushed through the doors. Maya’s face lit up. She hadn’t spent much time with them since they’d reconciled, or at least were working on it.
Maya was so happy to see them together that she rushed to embrace them both. They quickly took a place at her booth while she put more money in the jukebox.
Across the room, Kevin’s gaze was waiting for her. He gave a thumbs’ up at her choice in music. He leaned against the wall, watching as she and her brother and sister-in-law lined up to dance. There were several regulars that snaked around, their bodies all going through the same motions.
She watched the game, wondering if she wanted to play as well.
Kevin leaned down and focused. He pushed the cue through his fingers and missed. He made a face, rolling his eyes as he looked to the ceiling.
Damon cupped his hands to his mouth and called out to her. She hurried over.
“It took you getting engaged for me to finally beat Kevin in a game of pool.”
The waitress swung by and asked if Damon or Kevin needed drinks.
Maya noticed the way she looked at Damon then turned her focus on Kevin.
Kevin was oblivious to the attention. He only had eyes for her.
She walked him over to Clem and Kaitlin.
“Kevin,” she said brightly. “You know the crew.” He’d been there at the meeting so no one was a stranger.
Kevin shook hands with them but his eyes were still glued to Maya.
“How’s it going, Clem?” he asked.
Clem looked at Kaitlin and smiled. “Things are good. Looking up.”
“I was just telling these guys that we are engaged.” Maya held up her hand and admired her ring.
Kaitlin and Clem looked up to Kevin. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you.” Kevin sat beside her, setting his hand high on her thigh. The intimate touch made her want to be anywhere but in a crowded bar.
They gave each other the look. The one that said they’d rather be naked and in bed.
“Are you ready?” She set her hand over his, then twined their fingers together.
“I am.” He was ready to be alone with her. “It was nice to see you, but I’m about to take my fiancée home.”
Stepping outside of the saloon into the chilly, peaceful dark, it felt like the world belonged to them. Blindly, she reached for his hand. They found each other, moving toward the same thing at the same time.
Kevin’s body was like a warm coat against her, embracing her as their passion rose and melted the chill of the lovely Colorado night. She turned to him, leaned up against the truck, and wrapped her arms around him.
“I love you.”
“I love you back.”
“You’ve got to be the most grounded person I know. I don’t think you have an ounce of insecurity, and yet, you’re not arrogant.”
Just as she was describing his calm, reliable attributes, Kevin kissed her with a dark, ancient passion. The electric force of his affection brought her to the brink.
They rode quietly the few blocks to his place. He pulled into the driveway and killed the engine, but her passion was revving at full speed.
Maya and Kevin entered the house. It felt like she was walking into her house. It was a feeling she’d taken for granted. What she felt here, she couldn’t name, but it was absent when she camped out at John’s. She hoped that Kaitlin and Clem found something there that she could not.
She headed into his—their—bedroom as Kevin checked the windows and doors. Even in the peaceful, uneventful town, he swept the house every night before they went to bed, the same way he patrolled the town during his shift.
She was stripping out of her clothes when he entered the bedroom.
“Do you think someone will come in here?” she asked with a smile. “Does anything happen here?”
“Yes,” he said plainly. “Look at the guy who bothers you at meetings.”
She stopped and thought about it. She never considered that a possibility.
“Do you think he’ll come here?”
Kevin lifted his shoulders in a half shrug, as if he couldn’t commit to a solid answer. “He could, but I check everything anyway. I protect what’s mine.”
“Tell me a story with you and Damon in it and a bad guy,” she said with a smile.
“Right now?” He closed in on her nearly naked form.
“No,” she said breathlessly as he embraced her. “After.”
She sank into his body, the hard planes of his muscles pressing against her softness. She loved the feel of her skin against him even if he hadn’t undressed. He was big and solid, and so sure of himself. She lifted her face to his and found his soft, warm lips. She met his tongue with teasing strokes of her own. They twisted and tasted as their arms tightened. Kevin lifted her as he always did and it never got old. As soon as she was in his arms, her heart raced with impatience to be one with him.
While the universe hadn’t necessarily always been kind to her, it had offered her the gold standard for men when Kevin appeared in her life.
He lay Maya down. Her passion-drowsy eyes savored the sight of him as he peeled his shirt from his magnificent frame. She grinned wickedly at the luscious vision. Ripples of muscles led to narrow hips and an ass carved from stone.
In seconds, they became a mass of tangled limbs. Arms and legs and mouths, scrambling and eager for each other. He nuzzled her, pressing his lips to the base of her neck as he moved inside her. She delighted in the fact that it was as if they were made for one another.
It was such sweetness as he loved her deeply and completely. Maya’s hands swam the broad planes of his back, feeling his muscles as they moved with each movement. He was virile, and powerful and hers.
Kevin’s eyes were always fixed on her. When they made love, he looked into her soul. Any flaws and imperfections didn’t matter.
Maya thought she would burst as they stoked their heat together. She closed her eyes as she felt her pleasure climb. She was as lost as she was consumed and dissolved into a quivering mass beneath him. Kevin moved with her until he followed her into ecstasy. Spent, they sank against the mattress, their bodies bathed in the light of their love.
Kevin drifted in and out of a light sleep while she lay wide awake. She lazily checked her phone when a text from Deena cropped up. The development company had responded. They were interested in talking with members of the Blackwood Corporation about buying the town back. Apparently, they’d bitten off more than they could chew.
“Kevin.” She shook him gently. “It worked.”
“What worked, baby?” he asked sleepily.
“I’m going to get the town back.” It wasn’t a done deal, but it was at least a possibility.
She settled happily into his arms.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Kevin
For two people with simple lives, Kevin and Maya had to make a date to finally have a dinner with his mother. Since he could remember, he’d had dinner with his mother at least two times a week but now with a girlfriend, he found he had to juggle things. For some reason, he was anxious about bringing Maya to his mom’s house.
The night they were going to Franny’s, he found Maya nervously primping in front of the bedroom mirror. She looked beautiful, but she was fussing over herself like she wasn’t satisfied.
“Are you nervous?”
“Sure, but this too shall pass.”
“So smart and so beautiful. If it makes you feel any better, I’m nervous too.” He kissed her on the head.
“What?” She knitted her brow.
He knew she thought it was because of her. Not true. It was because even though Franny and he had a good relationship, it hit snags from time to time. Things didn’t always come out the right way when she said them. Franny was a mom and sometimes that came without a filter.
“I want you to like my mom as much as I’m sure she
’ll like you.”
She slicked on some gloss and turned to face him. “I like you and that’s all that matters.”
They headed out hand in hand.
The warm weather was holding, so they walked to his mother’s house. The snow banks lining the streets had receded, giving them room to safely go on foot. It was a joy to hold her hand and take a leisurely stroll.
He hoped that nosy neighbors were peeking out the windows and noted that he was walking with his girl. All was perfect in his world.
Even with the snow on the ground, spring was in the trees. The snow hadn’t kept the leaves from budding or the birds from singing.
“We don’t have sidewalks in Blackwood, do we?”
“I don’t know, Mayor Maya. It’s not a sidewalk kind of town.”
“I was thinking.” She craned her neck to look up and down the street. “Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself, but I want to give back. You don’t think sidewalks would be a good thing? It wouldn’t change it much.”
“I think working to get the town back is a way to give back to everyone.”
“What if when I have ideas like this, once I get the town back, we could have meetings and ask people what they think?”
Kevin stopped and looked at her. “Now, that’s a great idea. Selling the town and telling people afterward wasn’t such a popular move. Keeping them in the loop is a better plan. Let’s take it one thing at a time.”
When they arrived at Franny’s tidy rancher, they took off their shoes at the entry. Maya was uncomfortable walking around barefoot, but it was a Franny rule. His mom peeled their light jackets from them and hung them on the coat hooks hanging from the wall.
“Food smells amazing, Mom.” Kevin bent over and kissed his mom’s cheek. Something about whatever his mother cooked smelled like home.
Franny and Kevin had walked through a lot of craziness to get to that point, but they’d made it. Now both of their lives were even and peaceful.
“Yes,” Maya said with a warm, friendly smile. “It smells incredible.”
“Thank you,” gushed Franny. “I hope you like beef.” Her forehead creased with worry. “You aren’t a vegetarian, are you?”
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