Loving Maverick

Off Limits

"You sure you don't want to keep shopping?"

Stevie rolled her eyes as they pulled up to her older cousin's body shop. "I'm quite sure. And anyway, why are you so adamant about us not coming here?" She asked. "You usually never miss a chance at seeing, Stef." She said as she got out of the car.

Kacey sighed. "That was before I deserted you and left you to two drunk scavengers and nearly cost you your job." She reminded Stevie.

Stevie put the car in park and curiously eyed her best friend. "What does that have to do with my cousin?"

Kacey rolled her eyes and looked at Stevie. "I'm sure you told him." She said.

Stevie's expression turned sheepish. She coffee and looked away. "Oh, well-I-I didn't necessarily tell him the ins and outs of what happened." She said. "I didn't tell him that you left me for a quickie or anything-"

"I didn't even sleep with the guy, Stevie."

"Okay, so well, I didn't even tell him that, Kace." She realized how confusing her response could have been and tried to correct herself. "I mean I didn't tell him any of that stuff." 

"So, he's not mad at me?" She asked though Stevie could tell by the expression on her face that she knew otherwise. "I...did not say that, but I really don't know! I doubt it!" She said.

Kacey dropped her face to her hands. "Oh, Stevie, how could you?" She asked.

"Oh, Kace, I'm sorry," Stevie said. "I just-I was angry and-and-" She sighed, realizing that she there was nothing that could be said that would make her friend feel better. "I'm sorry."

Kacey just sat there for a moment, face in hands. "How long are you going to be?" She asked.

"Not long...maybe," Stevie replied.

"Then, I'll just stay in the car and wait for you." She decided.

"You sure?" She asked.

"Definitely," Kacey said. "It's my fault that this happened anyway. I shouldn't have left you at that club. My transgression was way worse than yours." She looked at Stevie with a sympathetic smile.

Stevie returned her sympathy with a smile of her own. "I won't be long, promise!" 

Kacey scoffed. "Don't make a promise you can't keep." She teased. "You know how you get when you're around a nice car." She smirked.

Stevie chuckled and got out of the car. She started for the entrance of the building when she met Stefano coming out. Stefano locked the door and turned just in time to catch Stevie approaching.

"Hey!" He said, greeting his little cousin with a smile. "How's it going?" He asked.

Stevie shrugged. "It's going."  She replied. Curiously, she looked past her cousin and noticed that the shop looked to be closed. "Closing a little early, don't you think?" She asked.

Stef shrugged. "It's Sunday, Stevie." He smirked. "I'm not going to waste my whole day here." 

"So where are you headed?" She asked. 

"Over a friend's house." He replied. "Why?" He asked.

Stevie rolled her eyes. "It wouldn't be my boss, would it?" She asked. 

Stefano scoffed. "Still isn't going too well for you at Maverick Industries, I take it."

"Didn't say that." Stevie countered.

"Then why do I sense so much hostility between you and Rick?"

"Because he's a jerk." Stevie simply replied as if Stefano should have known this. "You know. You're his friend." 

Stefano chuckled. "Maverick has his moments just like anyone else." He replied. "Give the guy a break. He's not that bad once you get to know him. Besides, he's fresh out of the military and has a lot of readjusting to do." He smirked. "And, well you're my little cousin so he probably doesn't even know how to act around you." 

Stevie rolled her eyes. "So, then I guess what you're saying is that you are going over to his place then."

"Would that bother you if I were?" He asked. "What? You don't want me to be friends with him anymore?" He asked. "Because you know that's a little ludicrous to even ask considering our friendship is what saved your job-"

"No, no, of course not." Stevie cut him off. "I would never ask that of you."

"Then what is it?" He asked. He then raised his eyebrow in curiosity, "Do you...like...him or something? Like-" He gestured inappropriately with his fingers.

"Ugh, geez! Stef, no!" Stevie snatched his fingers down. 

"Good." He smiled before it suddenly disappeared. "Because I'd have to kill him. And you too." 

Stevie chuckled. "Whatever, Stef."

Stefano chuckled. It was then that he noticed that someone was waiting in Stevie's car. "Who is that?" He asked.

Stevie turned around and saw Kacey on her phone. "Oh, that's just Kacey." She said.

"Surprised, she didn't come and say hi."

Stevie sheepishly chuckled. "She-uh, she thinks that you're upset with her." She said.

"What for?" Stefano asked. Before Stevie could answer him, however, he realized why. "Oh-is it because she almost cost you your job that would have in turn had your father disown you?" He asked.

"Stop it, Stef." Stevie chuckled in amusement. "Yeah." She answered, nonetheless.

"Or was it that you almost got kidnapped by two night prowling scavengers that my best friend had to save you from-a.k.a your boss-"

"Okay, okay, all of that!" Stevie interceded. "And she feels terrible about it, so don't be mean to her, Stef." She said.

Stefano rolled his eyes. "I'm not going to be mean to her, Steve." He said. "No meaner than I normally am-"

"Stef!" 

"What?" Stefano countered. "You know how our situation goes. She says something dumb, I return with something sarcastic and well, that's all she wrote." He said. 

"Whatever," Stevie replied. "Just be nice and say hi." 

Stefano rolled his eyes. "Fine." They made their way toward her car. "So, what did you drop by for?" He asked.

"I need my headache pills," Kazmiyah replied. 

"Thought you had a whole bottle at your place," Stefano said, pulling them out of his pocket.

Amused, Stevie looked at her cousin. "You keep them on you? I thought they would be in your office somewhere."

Stefano shrugged. "I never know when you're going to pop up." He teased. "So, yeah, I do keep them on me." 

Stevie poked her lip out, acting as if she was about to cry. "Awe, my big cousin does care about me." She said, sniffling.

"Ah, whatever." He said. "Now answer my question, where is your full bottle?" He asked.

Stevie sighed. "Well, apparently this whole job thing has stressed me out a little more than I thought." She shook her head. "I've been out of it the last few days because of those stupid pills but the headaches...I just can't deal with them." She looked at Stefano. "I have two left and my next doctor's appointment is over a week and a half away." She sighed. 

Stefano handed her the pills. "You need to be careful, Stevie." He said in all seriousness now. "You know how crippling those things can be, so you can't let anything bring you to that point."

"You know that it's not that easy, Stef," Stevie replied. "Sometimes, they just come." She shrugged.

Stefano shook his head. "I still don't know why you won't go on disability for those headaches of yours. They're debilitating, Stevie."

"I can handle them," Stevie reassured. "Just tell your boss to chill-"

Stefano smirked. "My friend, your boss." He corrected.

"I mean-you know what I meant." She chuckled. 

The headed to the car and Stevie got it. Stefano bent down and just watched Kacey in amusement as he noticed her trying to ignore his gaze. "Hi, Kacey." She said in a sing-song voice.

She gulped and looked nervously at Stefano. "Hey, Stef." She greeted with a timid smile.

Stevie found it hilarious that the only person that could make Kacey turn into a shy little girl was Stefano. Ironically enough, he didn't even realize it.

"How are you?" He asked.

"Fine." She said. "I-um-" She looked at him and gave a small smile. "How are you?" She asked.

"I am..." He inhaled. "Great." He replied. 

"Glad to hear that." She replied. "Headed out for the day?" She asked.

Stefano smirked. "Yeah. Headed over to a friend's house to have a few beers and shoot some pool."

"Is it my boss?" Stevie asked. 

Stefano cut his eyes over to his little cousin. "Yes, Stevie, I am going to Maverick's place. We're meeting up with a mutual friend. Someone that actually works in the same field as Maverick. He's come down from Chicago for a meeting with Maverick tomorrow. So, Carlo, Tracey and I are going to meet up there and chill for a little bit." He said. "Is that alright with you?" He asked.

Stevie sighed. "It's your life and your friend." She replied. "Do what you want." Stevie rolled her eyes. 

"Oh, I will." He said and then turned his gaze up to Kacey. "Take care, Kacey." He started to say.

 Kacey returned with a small smile. "You too, Stef."

"Oh, and try not to leave my cousin stranded again." He added with a wink before walking off.

Kacey's smile immediately deteriorated, and Stevie grimaced. "Jerk." She looked at her best friend. "He didn't mean that."

Kacey sighed, a melancholy expression on her face. "Of course, he did."

Monday strolled around and Stevie decided to arrive at the office a little earlier than she normally would have. She knew that Maverick had a meeting that morning but she certainly didn't know that the guy that he was meeting with were friends. 

After getting out of the shower, she decided on a high waisted slit-front, black pencil skirt, with a fitted hunter green spaghetti-strap tank top and a matching black blazer. She put on a pair of ankle-strapped pumps to match her green tank top. She then placed her hair up in a bun that was as neat as her curly jet black locks would allow before heading out of the door.

When she got to work, she barely made it an obligation to speak to the clerk at the front desk. It wasn't like the girl wanted to speak to her anyway. She muttered a 'good morning' and headed to the elevator to get to work.

She went into her office and straightened up before heading to Maverick's office to see to it that everything was in order for his meeting that day with whomever this guy was that he knew.

Just as she finished, she heard the elevator door to his office open up. She turned around and saw Maverick coming out of the elevator with a man. 

"Oh, um, hi," Stevie said before she could stop herself. "Or-I mean, good morning!" 

Maverick stopped what he was doing and so did his colleague. "Good...morning, Ms. Vidal."

"I...was just straightening up for."

"Thank you," Maverick said before she could finish the sentence. He was so caught off guard by her, he had completely forgotten that his friend was standing there next to him.

"You're not going to introduce me to this...immaculate human being?" 

"Uh, huh?" Maverick incredulously looked at his friend as if just remembering that he was there. "Oh, this-this is my...assistant," Maverick said. "Ms. Vidal." He introduced. "Ms. Vidal, this is Garret St. Claire"  Maverick said. 

He walked up to Stevie and outreached his hand to take hers. "It's a pleasure, sweetheart." He winked. 

When he bent down to kiss her hand, Stevie's breath caught up in her throat as she took in how extremely handsome this man was. His skin was rich in it's smooth tawny brown and his eyes were so dark, a color could barely be seen and yet they were hard to avert from. His hand was large and matched perfectly with the rest of his body. 'Wow' She said to herself. 

"Nice-nice to meet you too, Mr. St. Claire." She replied. 

He looked at her for a prolonged moment before asking. "Do I know you?" He said. "You look familiar."

"Um, well, I don't think so," Stevie replied. 

"Maybe, maybe you're right." He grinned. "I can't fathom a place in time where I wouldn't remember you." He said.

"Ms. Vidal." Maverick cut off, stepping into the equation.

"I-uh, yes! Yeah?" She snapped out of her reverie and turned her attention to her boss. "What is it, Mr. Singh?"

Maverick looked her over. "I'll call you when I need you." He said. 

"Um, okay." She then walked out of the office and closed the door behind her.

When Maverick watched her leave, he looked at Garret and watched him as he kept his gaze on her until she was out of sight.

"Who..is that?" He grinned.

"My assistant," Maverick replied. "And she's off-limits."

"Why on earth would that be?" He asked. "The best affairs are office affairs, buddy." He turned to look at his friend. "And what I wouldn't give to have a sweet thickems like that bent over my desk during lunchtime."

With Garret having said that, Maverick fought hard not to imagine that about little Stevie Vidal. "Not when the little thickems is your best friend's little cousin." 

Garret looked at Maverick incredulously after he thought about it. "Best-little cousin?" He acted as if he were confused. "What-what, you can't be talking about, Stefano!" He said in disbelief. 

Maverick didn't even bother answering right away; he let his expression do the talking. And when Garrett finally realized that he was not joking around, his eyes widened immensely.

"You can't-you can't be serious!" He said, obviously shocked by the newfound information. "That-but Stef, Carlo, and Tracey only had one girl cousin that I know of and she-no!" He finally seemed to realize! "That can't be the little chubbs that used to follow Stefano around!"

"That's what I said." Maverick countered. "But it is." He sat at his desk. 

"Whoah!" Garrett said and sat in the chair across from where Maverick stood. "Wow. I guess-I guess, I could see that. It's just-it's been a while." He said.

"Yeah," Maverick said, sifting through his own thoughts.

"Well, all I have to say about that is, little Vidal has really grown up," Garrett smirked. He looked at Maverick. "So, how is she? Is she good at her job or is this just a favor that you're going to cash in later from Stef?" He asked.

"Both," Maverick replied. "

"Both??" Garrett seemed curious by his friend's response. "How so?"

Maverick shrugged. "You remember the girl that I told you about? The one that I saved from those two bozos outside of the club that night?" 

"Yeah-oh! That's her?" He incredulously inquired.

"The one and only," Maverick replied. 

Garrett had a hearty laugh about that before he spoke again. "So, this is the same girl that claimed that you were trying to kidnap her and use her for your own dirty little desires?" He laughed.

"You're being very obnoxious and loud right now." Maverick pointed out to his friend, peeking over the glass into the next office. It seemed as though she couldn't but that one, Maverick never knew.

"My bad," Garrett replied. "So, I imagine your first professional meeting did not go as planned." He laughed. "A big surprise, I imagine." 

"Got that right." 

"So, what did you do?" He asked.

"I fired her," Maverick replied.

Garrett turned around and looked into the direction pointed at her office. "And yet, here she is." He sarcastically retorted.

Maverick sighed. "Yeah, because apparently, Stefano got word of what happened. No one knew that she was his little cousin until she told him the company where she was fired." He said. "He called me in and asked me to give her another chance."

"Of course, it's never that easy with you. No matter how good a friend Stefano is."

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Maverick asked.

"It means that if she doesn't prove herself then she's out of a job regardless. It ain't him that has to win you over, it was her. So...how did she win you over?"

He thought about how impressed he was with her after she selflessly went to the police even after getting fired. "She went to the police before the press release got out that I was a s*x-offender and got the whole thing straightened out." 

Garrett didn't seem too impressed. "Who wouldn't when their job was on the line."

"Her job wasn't on the line, Garrett because she didn't have one." Maverick clarified. "She went there after I fired her." 

"Oh," Now he seemed to be impressed. "Well, isn't that selfless?" He said. "But how do you know that she didn't set Stef up to tell you about this after she was fired."

"The girl didn't even know that I knew Stef and if I'm being honest she wasn't too happy when she found out that I did." He admitted. "After I talked to her, I found out what happened and so I decided to give her a chance because I realized that any other bitter broad would have had me locked up and probably took me for all I had." He said.

"Hm." Garrett nodded. "True." He said. "So, how's it been?" He asked. "She doing her job?" 

Maverick nodded. "More than." He confessed. "She's hasn't been here long but, I really haven't wanted for much of anything since she has. Not to mention she's talented-very talented." He admitted. "She's the one that re-vamped the blueprints that your company is so pleased with." 

Now Garrett was even more impressed than before. "Oh really?" 

Maverick already knew what he was thinking. "Yes. And no, you are not going to steal her from under me." He laughed.

Garrett chuckled. "Never say never, brother." He said. "So, seems Stef's little cousin is far more talented than she looks."

"What does that supposed to mean?" Maverick curiously replied.

"Oh, come on, Mav. Girls that beautiful are usually lacking in intellectual talents."

"That's not true," Maverick said.

"For the most part, you know I'm right. They always try to get by with looks." 

Maverick's gaze turned distant. "Well, I don't think she's one of them." He watched her through the pane glass from afar. "She...seems too innocent to think so much of herself." He mumbled. When he heard Garrett smirk, he returned his gaze to his friend. "What?" He asked.

Garrett shook his head. "You're telling me that she's off-limits. Maybe I'm not the only one that should be reminded of it."

Annoyed with Garrett's assumptions, Maverick rolled his eyes. "I don't need reminding of it, because I don't look at her in that way."

"Sure you don't," Garrett said, brow raised. It was obvious that he did not fully believe his friend. 

Maverick was done talking about his assistant. "Look, we didn't come here to talk about Stefano's cousin so, are we going to talk business or what?"

Garrett smirked. "Sure, Maverick Singh. Whatever you say."