Maz Read online

  Marissa was in the car, almost to work, when Charity called. She should have just let it go to voicemail, but she had several missed calls from her from the night before, so she pushed the button for Bluetooth on her steering wheel and said, “I really can’t talk right now, Charity. I’m almost to work. Can I call you on my break?”

  “I called you twice last night. Why are you avoiding me?”

  “I’m not avoiding you, I promise. I was on a date last night, remember?”

  “Oh, really? You left on that date before lunchtime…you were still out at midnight? That was some date.”

  “Well, maybe I was already home sleeping…” Sometimes she wished she were a better liar. It wasn’t that she was ashamed of what she’d done with Maz, she just wanted to savor the memories by keeping them to herself, just a little bit longer.

  “Was it terrible? Is that why you’re avoiding my calls? You can tell me, it’s okay. He was rude and crass, and not even that…”

  That touched a nerve, and she was surprised even as she heard herself snap back at her friend. “Don’t talk about him like that! And don’t say he’s not that attractive. You said that three times when I told you I was going out with him. I think he’s attractive…very much so as a matter of fact!”

  “Oh my God, you fucked him.”

  Marissa growled. “I have to go.”

  “You did! Oh my God! Well, how was it? Was it worth waiting five years for?”

  “I’m here at work, I have to go.”

  “What time is your break?”

  “Nine-thirty, but…”

  “I’ll be there at nine-thirty. Meet me at Starbucks.” Charity didn’t give her a chance to say yes or no. She ended the call. With a sigh and shake of her head, Marissa locked her car and went into work. For a while, she forgot all about her pushy friend. She threw herself into her work, with the smile from the night before still plastered across her face. She probably looked like she’d slept with a coat hanger in her mouth to everyone else, but she couldn’t stop smiling. Every few minutes she would remember something he said, or something he did, and her body would go warm, and she’d smile, again.

  The first three and a half hours of her shift flew by and before she knew it, it was time for her break. The smile fell when she remembered Charity was going to be there. She told herself on her way over to meet her that she wasn’t going to tolerate Charity bad-mouthing Maz. She didn’t have to like him, or even think he was good enough. Marissa truly didn’t care. Charity could have her stockbrokers and investment bankers. Marissa would take her guy in leather on the back of a Harley Davidson any day. She laughed at herself. One night and she already thought of him as “her” guy.

  “Oh my God, you’re glowing.” The sound of Charity’s voice assaulted her ears and chased away her sexy thoughts. “Sit and tell me all about it. I got your coffee.”

  “Thanks,” Marissa said, taking a seat. “And good morning to you too.”

  “Fine, whatever. Good morning. So, was it good?”

  Marissa laughed and took a drink of her coffee. “It was…incredible. We went on a picnic up at Shaver Lake and we took a walk. Oh my goodness, riding on the motorcycle was so cool…”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah, get to the good stuff, your break is not that long.”

  “It was all good stuff. I had the best day I can ever remember having.”

  “Well, I’m happy for you,” Charity said, not really sounding like she was. “How long did he wait before he came on to you?”

  “For your information, he was a perfect gentleman. I’m the one that came on to him.”

  “No! Really?”

  Marissa giggled. She felt like a schoolgirl. “Yes, really. I invited myself back to his place, and as soon as we got there, he kissed me and…well, you don’t need the rest of the details.”

  “The hell I don’t.”

  Laughing again Marissa said, “Well, I’m not giving them to you. I’ll just say he was sweet, and sexy, and I can’t stop smiling.”

  “My little girl is growing up. I’m so proud.”

  “So what did you do last night?”

  “Uh-uh,” Charity said. “No changing the subject. At least tell me about the package. Was it big? Small? Fat? Thin? Most importantly did he know how to use it? Did you have the big ‘O’?”

  “I don’t kiss and tell,” Marissa said.

  “Oh, please. I’ve been waiting five years for this. You can’t hold out on me.”

  “It’s a little twisted how interested you are in my sex life,” Marissa said.

  Charity laughed. “Look at you…one good roll in the hay and suddenly you have a sex life. I’m glad you had fun, finally. But don’t go falling for this guy, okay? Remember what I told you, sex does not have to be about love…it can just be a whole lot of fun, and you don’t end up getting your heart broken if you think of it that way.”

  “I love you, Charity, but sometimes you can be a little bit…”

  “Honest? Blunt?” Marissa was thinking cold, but she didn’t say it. Charity was still talking anyway. “I’m just being realistic, honey. I don’t want you getting hurt. You just need to learn how to separate having fun from those romantic fantasies you have in your head. Now that you’ve broken the ice…or re-broken the hymen,” she said with a wink, “you’ll be more confident the next time. You can…take a step up next time. I’ll introduce you to one of the guys at my parents’ club…”

  “Excuse me? What makes you think Maz is going to hurt me? And we’ve talked about the guys at your parents’ club before, Charity. I’m not interested in being set up.”

  “Oh, honey, I’m just being realistic. This guy is…what? Thirty years old and he’s in a motorcycle club. He’s the kind of guy that you fuck, but you don’t get attached to a guy like that.”

  “Why can’t you just be happy for me? I would be happy for you.”

  “I would like to think that you’d be honest with me. Honey, I have heard some stories about those guys in the Westside Skulls that would make Hugh Hefner’s face turn red if he was still around.”

  “They’re stories, that’s all.”

  “You went to that clubhouse to pick up the dog, right? Were there women hanging around there?”

  “Yes…but…”

  “But what? He’s not fucking them? That’s the sole purpose of them being there. Come on, you’ve watched Sons of Anarchy, you know what they’re like. Yeah, he might want to keep you, but he’s still going to do whatever and whoever he wants…while you sit in some shitty little house all day and night waiting for him to come home…”

  Marissa stood up. “I’m not sure if you’re unhappy with your own life, or if you just can’t come outside of yourself to be happy for someone else, but until you want to act like a real friend…I think we should take a break from this.”

  “What? You’re breaking up with me?” Charity laughed.

  “I don’t need your negativity, Charity. I’m sorry…but I like this guy and I’m seeing him again, and probably again if he wants to see me, and I’m not explaining or apologizing for that to you or anyone else.” She turned to leave and Charity said:

  “It will be okay for you to call me when he breaks your heart.” Marissa almost spun around and told her to hold her breath and see how that worked out for her. Maybe she was getting ahead of herself and things with Maz wouldn’t go anywhere…but that wasn’t for Charity to decide. She was just looking down her nose at him because he wasn’t one of her investment bankers. Worse than that, she was looking down her nose at Marissa for being with someone she didn’t approve of, and that was what really hurt. Marissa decided to take the high road and keep walking away, but it wasn’t easy. She just hoped that the rest of the day would go by as quickly as the morning had. She suddenly wanted to see Maz more than ever.

  10

  Maz was thinking about the night before while he was on his way to pick up Marissa for dinner. He was smiling so much that he would probably catch a bug or two
in his teeth by the time he got there. He’d been sure, as soon as he started to really talk to her and get to know her, that she would run screaming for the hills when she met the snake. But he’d been having so much fun just being with her that by the end of the night, he wasn’t even going to make a move…yet. He was shocked when she asked to come over, or tried to anyway. And when they got into his trailer and he kissed her, he’d still been a little bit afraid she was going to freak out. She seemed so innocent, and part of that was what attracted him to her.

  But when the hair came down and the clothes came off, she was a little tiger. She’d taken every inch of him, and she’d loved it. He’d been so afraid of hurting her, but she’d not only taken it, she acted like she loved it and she begged him for more. He was in a little bit of shock that he’d gotten so lucky…but maybe it wasn’t luck. Maybe the universe had somehow brought them together. One day when he and his friend Sledge were drinking together, Sledge started talking about fate and kismet. Sledge really believed it was fate that had brought his old lady back into his life. Maz had never bought into any of that…until now. Now he wondered if Sledge was right and the universe had a plan that we knew nothing about.

  If they’d just had a good date and no sex, or great sex and no chemistry outside the bedroom, he wouldn’t even consider something like fate or kismet. He’d grown up in Louisiana, among the Cajun people whose lives and history were seeped in superstition, but he’d never bought into any of it. His father was always a black-and-white, cut-and-dried kind of guy and despite his maman’s best efforts to bring him over to what she referred to as the “light side,” Maz had a mathematical mind, and to him that meant every equation had one right answer…no gray areas and no room for magic or mystery or fantasy.

  But suddenly, he was wondering if he should rethink all of that. Marissa had turned out to be everything he’d assumed about her when he first met her, but so much more. She was sweet and shy and a little bit submissive at first, but in talking with her, he’d found out she had a whole other side to her. She had talked about her mother like she was her best friend and defended her real best friend Charity, while admitting her faults. She’d debated politics with him and apologized for disagreeing with him about a few things, but she’d never backed down from her convictions.

  He liked that. He didn’t want a woman he could mold into whatever he wanted her to be. He wanted one that had her own mind, and wasn’t afraid to express it. He liked that she wanted to travel, and that she read a lot of books and knew things about places she’d never been, just so she’d be ready when she went there. He liked that she knew so much about the disease that he’d struggled with most of his life. She was like the gift he’d always wanted, wrapped up in a beautiful package all tied up with a bow. His stepmom had always told him while he was growing up that there was only one person in the world for everyone and you just knew who that person was when you met them. He wondered if maybe Marissa was that person. Maybe all along he’d been searching…for her.

  He parked the bike in front of her house and told himself to stop thinking like that. It was too soon and if nothing else, he didn’t want to scare her away, and he didn’t want to be disappointed. He had to just stop thinking about tomorrow and what might happen and concentrate on right now, and what was happening. If she was the person that the universe meant for him, it would just work out. He chuckled as he walked up to the door. He couldn’t believe he was even thinking things like that.

  He knocked, and Marissa opened the door. He sucked in a breath through his teeth when he saw her. She was wearing a cute little dress that hugged her breasts and her waist and then flared out over her hips. It came down to the tops of her thighs. She had on a pair of black yoga pants underneath it, which was…different…but hot at the same time.

  She noticed him looking at her legs and she said, “Hi – don’t worry, the leggings are just for the ride to the restaurant. I know they look silly.”

  Silly was not at all the word he would have used. He didn’t know anything about women’s fashions, but she looked hot as hell to him. She’d left her brown hair down too, and it was straightened around her pretty face and fell softly down past her shoulders. “Hi,” he said, smiling so big that his cheeks hurt again. “They don’t look silly at all,” he told her. “You’re gorgeous.” He bent down and kissed her on the cheek.

  “Thank you,” she said. “So are you.” He thought she was lying. She was way out of his league in the looks department. But she was sweet for saying otherwise. “Come in, I just have to grab a jacket.” He stepped into the little entryway with her and said:

  “How’s your mom today?”

  “I’m good, Maz. Is she going to let you in to say hello?” Rhonda’s voice floated in from the living room and Marissa laughed and said:

  “I guess we’ve established that she’s good. You can go say hi if you like; I’ll be right back.” He watched her go down the hall. The little dress was open in the back, attached around her neck and at her waist, but leaving her smooth, sexy back exposed in between. He remembered how soft her skin was and he shuddered, glad he got that out of his system before he went in to see her mother.

  “Mrs. Williams, it’s good to see you again,” Maz said, reaching for her hand when he stepped into the living room. She was sitting on the couch, but she handed it up to him and he brought it to his lips and kissed it. She actually blushed.

  “You are so sweet,” she said. “You know, I was a little worried about Marissa going out with a biker at first, but you’re nothing like what I would have imagined.”

  He chuckled and said, “Can we keep that sweet thing between us? I do have a reputation to keep.”

  She reached up and patted the side of his face. Her touch was warm, and maternal, and he liked it. “It’ll be our secret,” she said. About that time, Roxy appeared at the glass doors in the back. “Oh no! I forgot you, didn’t I, you little shit?” Rhonda started to get up and Maz said:

  “I’ll let her in.” He went over and pulled open the door and Roxy came tumbling in head first, springing up with her oversized paws immediately and jumping up on Maz.

  “Roxy, down!” Rhonda scolded her. Maz crouched down on one knee and petted her, trying to avoid the big pink tongue that was reaching for his face. “Roxy, behave.”

  Maz laughed and rubbed her ears. When he let go, she rolled over on her back and splayed her legs open. “She’s fine,” he told Rhonda. “She just wants a belly rub…don’t you, girl?” As if answering him, she let out a little bark. Maz rubbed his big hand along her smooth little puppy belly and she closed her eyes and began to shake her leg. He wasn’t aware Marissa had come back into the room until he heard Rhonda say:

  “You’d better be careful, it looks like you’ve got competition.”

  “Shh, Mom,” Marissa said, obviously embarrassed. Maz looked up at her and for the second time in ten minutes, she made his heart race. He stood up and said:

  “You ready?” Roxy was jumping up and down against his leg.

  “I’m sorry about my unruly child,” Rhonda said. “The four-legged one. Looks like I’m going to have to enroll her in obedience school.” She stood and went over to get the pup off him and for some reason as she bent down and picked up the puppy, Maz got a strong sense of déjà vu unlike any he’d had before. He saw Rhonda, bending down to pick up a dog…

  “Maz, are you okay?” Marissa asked. He felt chills run down his arms and spine. It was so strange. Maybe he’d bought just a little too much into that superstition stuff.

  He smiled at Marissa. “I’m good, just had a thought about something I forgot to do back at the club…but it can wait. We’d better get going before we miss our reservation.” They started for the door and Maz turned back around and said, “Mrs. Williams, do you like Japanese food? Sushi? Teppanyaki?”

  “I love teppanyaki,” she said.

  “We’ll bring you some back.”

  “Oh no, you don’t have to do that.”
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br />   “It’s not a problem.” He looked at Marissa and said, “I imagine you know what she likes?”

  Marissa was smiling. “I know exactly what she likes…but no teriyaki sauce for you, Mom.”

  Rhonda made a face at her and then smiled and blew her a kiss. “I know you only deprive me because you love me. You two go on and have fun, and don’t you dare hurry back because you’re worried about me.”

  Maz had chosen a Japanese restaurant where the teppanyaki chef did the cooking right at the table. There were advantages and disadvantages to that. It was cool to watch, but they weren’t given their own table. They were seated around a big, oblong table with the cooking surface in the center, with three other couples. At least they got the two seats on the end, so they didn’t have to sit elbow-to-elbow with strangers.

  “Is this okay?” he whispered after they were seated. She’d already got his blood all heated up when she’d pulled the leggings off in the parking lot and now she was sitting thigh-to-thigh with him with her bare legs. Suddenly he wished he had taken her to a place where they could have gotten a table way in the back, beyond prying eyes.

  “It’s great,” she said. “I love this place.”

  The couple to Maz’s right was older, in their sixties, maybe. The woman was staring at him and when he finally looked at her she said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to stare. I just love your accent.”

  He smiled and said, “Merci.” The old woman blushed, and her husband rolled his eyes, but he smiled.

  “Now look what you’ve done. She’s been bugging me for years to take her to France. I’m sure it’s going to start again in 3-2-1…”

  “Well, you never take me anywhere. When we first got married, you promised me the world. We’ve been out of this valley all of a handful of times in forty years.”

  Maz looked at Marissa; she was smiling, but she had a faraway look in her eyes all of a sudden. “You okay?” he whispered.