Loving Maverick

A Good Night and A Frenetic Friend

Standing there at her front door, she felt her phone vibrate. She pulled her phone from her bag and put her key in the lock of the door. A smile etched her features when she saw the text from Stefano mentioning that she wasn't very inconspicuous about how she handled the whole 'Kacey showing up at his job' incident. She chuckled at his detailing of how it wasn't as painful as he thought it would be and that he was glad that she did it.

Kacey had already called her immediately after she pulled out of Stefano's shop to tell Stevie how it went and how her crush on the smooth Stefano Vidal was suddenly stronger than ever after realizing how charming he was.

Stevie, smiled and sent him a heart and smiley face emoji and replied with a 'that's what I'm here for' before sending a wink and finally unlocking the door to her place. She walked in and stepped out of her shoes, an exhausted sigh escaping her as she made a bee-line for her room. 

The workday was already long and busy; especially so, with Maverick having been out of the office for the day. He had personal things that he needed to deal with. 

Because Stevie was his assistant, he knew that he had some business concerning the land where he'd finally decided to build his home. She hadn't heard from him all day but she knew that he was anxious about those appointments the day before. She couldn't help but hope that's he was alright.

A grin appeared across her face as she thought about how he was probably running around like a chicken with its head cut off because he didn't know what decisions to make. "Poor little man," She muttered to herself.

She undid her hair and undressed. With an exhausted and still content sigh, Stevie went into the bathroom and took a shower, her mind full of subtle excitement of the idea of being on her living room sectional sofa with her favorite glass of wine, watching television. Thinking about this, she quickly jumped in, lathered, washed her hair, and hopped out.

After moisturizing with her favorite lotion, she slipped on a pair of men joggers. They were her favorite pair, dark gray and very loose. She pulled them up past her tummy and put on a black crop tank top that was a few inches short of meeting the draw-string of her joggers. 

She never kept the temperature past 65 degrees in her apartment so it was always chilly, an ideal temperature for Stevie since she loved to snuggle under blankets or wear big sweaters. She put on a long cardigan that she usually wore around the house and a pair of harry potter themed slippers.

She braided her hair down, grabbed her glasses and left her room and made a beeline for the kitchen to grab her a bottle that she had chilled since before she left for work that morning. When she took the bottle out, she squealed in delight at how crisp and frosted the bottle was. She grabbed her favorite copper wine cup and went to the living room to sit and watch t.v.

She plopped onto the sofa and immediately was met with pure happiness at just simply sitting there and drinking wine. Another squeal escaped her and immediately she started laughing at herself for being so ridiculously excited for just being.

"You're such a weirdo, Stevie," She said to herself in Italian before she started to sit back on the sofa. She dimmed the lights in the living room and sat back as she began to watch one of her favorite haunted shows. "Probably should order pizza," She muttered o herself as she took her phone out to call her favorite place. Then suddenly, the doorbell rang.

Immediately, Stevie's gaze shot up and over to the direction leading out into the hallway where the front door was. Her expression softened into sadness for moment as she thought about how her night was about to be interrupted. 

"Oh well, Stevie," She muttered to herself. "The thought was nice," She chuckled to herself. She went to the front door. She started to open it when she thought better of it.

She went into the kitchen and grabbed one of her butcher knives. She headed back to the front door. "Who is it?" She called out before she looked through the peephole. 

"It's...uh, well it's...me.."

Before he could even finish his sentence, Stevie already saw who it was and needless to say, she was actually surprised to see him...but then again, she wasn't surprised to see the seemingly frantic look on his face.

She immediately opened the door, incredulously looking at Maverick. He stood there, a concerning expression on his handsome face as he stood there.

"Hey!" He said a little more aggressively than he probably meant to say. "I brought you pizza!" He shoved it at her.

Surprisingly Stevie looked down at the still-hot box. It was from her favorite Italian restaurant. "Check," She said to herself with a pleasant surprise. She opened the box and saw that it was a half and half pizza...two of her favorites, 

"Peace offering?" 

When he said that, Stevie looked up at him curiously and reluctantly attempted at a response, "I...well...sure but I..." Her voice trailed off when Maverick walked past her and into her apartment.

"Can I come in? Thanks," He said and sat down.

She smirked and closed the door. "Sure," She finally replied after the fact. She then followed Maverick into the living room where she saw him headed before she closed the door. When she got there, he was sitting down on the sofa, his gaze straight but distant.

He looked a little disheveled. His collared purple-gray button-down casual shirt that was pulled up a quarter-sleeve to reveal his slightly hairy and large forearms. His elbows were propped up on the large thighs that were covered by a pair of deep gray and black striped, slim-fit pants his veined hand stressfully tugging slightly at his hair. 

Stevie walked into the living room and started to open her mouth to ask if he were alright but before she could, he beat her to the punch.

"How was work today?" He asked her. "I trust...." He paused and shook his head. "I hope that things weren't too hard on you being there alone today," He said. She didn't respond immediately, and this seemed to concern Maverick enough to look at her with a small smile.

"Oh, no, everything was fine!" She said, rushing to sit next to him. "Only one re-scheduled meeting. Your father took the other meetings and there were quite a few meetings that were appointed for later dates. One most important is the one by Mr. Garret's company," 

Maverick's brows raised seemingly delighted. "They finally called!" 

She smiled and nodded reassuringly. "Yes. He says that he's looking forward to the meeting,"

"Ha," Maverick countered, his gaze returning to the television though it was obvious that he wasn't looking at the television. "Surprised he didn't call me," 

Now it was Stevie's turn to raise her eyebrow. "Have you looked at your phone?" She asked. 

"Huh?"  Maverick looked at her curiously. "What do you mean? Of course I-"

"Because he did call you," Stevie corrected. "He said that you went straight to voicemail,"

Maverick grabbed his phone out of his pocket and only then did he even notice that it was off. "Oh!" He cut his phone on and as soon as he put his code in his phone started going off incessantly. There were numerous missed calls and messages from not only Garrett but Abhu and even Stefano. He cursed under his breath and sighed. "I'm so sorry. I-"

"Yeah, Stef called me today to see if you were around. I told him you took a day,"

Maverick searched down the list of recent calls and messages and not once did he see Stevie's name on there. He looked at her. "You haven't checked in not once." He said in realization. It kind of bothered him a little.

She simply shrugged and shook her head. She grabbed a slice of pizza with the works. "I thought that maybe if you were unreachable, you didn't want to be reached." She said. Stevie took a bite of pizza and ran to the kitchen to grab some plastic plates and a few sodas. She came back into the kitchen with an apologetic look on her face. "Sorry, no beers." She handed him a soda.

"It's fine," He said with a small reassuring smile before it faded. "What if something bad happened to me?" He asked her suddenly.

Stevie seemed to be caught off guard by this question. It took her a moment or two but she answered nonetheless. "Uh, well, I mean...you're a...um...a really big guy." She said, her gaze averted to the floor. "You're ex-military and I just..." She shrugged. "I didn't-I just thought that you would be fine," She dropped her head to her hands. "What an i***t!" She looked at him concerned. "You could have gotten into a car accident or you could have been robbed at gunpoint or y-"

Maverick immediately felt guilty for making her feel guilty. He grabbed her hand and she immediately stopped rambling. He looked at her and smiled. "None of that happened, so stop worrying yourself, Ms. Vidal." He smirked. He reluctantly let go of her hand when he realized that he had held on it for a little longer than what was probably considered appropriate. Besides, as far as Maverick was concerned, he was still on probation from trying to jump her bones the night that she came over to try and help him with the whole house-hunting process. 

"Then what's the matter?" She asked him. 

"Why do you think something is wrong-"

"You just popped by my house with a box of my favorite pizza-thanks by the way," She added. "And you just seemed frantic. Not to mention the fact that you mentioned something about a peace offering but though I wasn't aware that one was needed," She said. "You don't seem the type to randomly show up at your assistant's apartment in the middle of the night so..." When Maverick dropped his head, she touched his arm. "Hey," She said. When he finally looked at her, she asked again. "What's wrong?"

Maverick's answer was delayed because of his overwhelming thoughts. "I...I guess I did have my phone off because I needed the peace and quiet to think." He finally answered. "Nothing bad happened to me...physically, but...." He hesitantly said. He couldn't bring his amber colored gaze to her initially. "I...guess I did need you today," 

Stevie put her slice of pizza down and wiped her hands. "Why? What happened?"

"I don't know, I..." He said, barely giving Stevie time to finish her sentence. "I...I was just overwhelmed with all of the decisions that I had to make...materials I wanted, carpeting, flooring, paint, appliances..." He collapsed against the chair, his closed eyes suddenly facing up toward Stevie's ceiling.

Stevie watched him, the stress on his face as he genuinely seemed frustrated and overwhelmed by the day's happenings. She found this amusing, though she knew that he probably did not. She tried to stifle the chuckle that escaped her but, of course, she did not a good enough job to where he didn't notice it.

Maverick looked at her curiously. "What? What's so funny?"

She smiled. "You...Maverick Singh, are considered A-list in terms of architecture and interior design. A genius at it..." She complimented. "You're great at making decisions and suggestions for everyone else's architectural structures. But you're having a meltdown when it comes to actually having free-range of designing your own place," Her head tilted to the side. "A little ironic, I guess." She chuckled.

He sighed and sat up, a half-smile on his face. "True," He replied. His smile disappeared. "I don't why. I...I can't explain it but...it's easy when I'm making decisions for other people's well-being," He shook his head. "But not for myself, Every little thing seems to give me anxiety lately, and it makes it easier to mentally withdraw from everything." He scoffed, ashamed about what he was about to do. "I had three anxiety attacks today and I don't..."

"Hey," Steve squeezed his arm. He looked up at her. "You should have called me," She said. "You could have called me," She smiled. "I'm your assistant and-"

"You were working, Ms. Vidal-"

"I...am...your...assistant," She cut him off. "I work...for you, Mr. Singh," She said. "I could have forwarded all of your calls to my cell phone and handled everything while I was helping you. Your father was handling everything anyway and the only reason I sat in on the meetings that he took off of your hands was because I wanted to take notes for when you return," She clarified. "This should not be so stressful for you when it should be something of a happy moment, Mr. Singh," She said. Her next words were reluctant. "If you think that this is overwhelming maybe you just stop-"

"No." Maverick refused. "I...I want to do this," He scoffed. "As weird as it may seem, I am excited about it. I'm happy about the idea but...I just...I'm not good with this..." He chuckled. "Not in terms of myself anyway."

Stevie smiled. "Well then....we'll do this together. If not, you can take Stef, Carlo or Tracey..."

"I want you," He said, biting into a slice of pizza. When he realized how silent it suddenly became. he suddenly recollected what he had said and immediately knew that it could have been taken the wrong way. "I-I mean like I want you...to help me," He clarified.

Stevie chuckled and stood up to take her plate into the kitchen. "I know," She said.

As she walked away, Maverick couldn't help watching her. When he finally got control of himself again, he immediately forced himself to look away. "Get it together Mav," He hissed.

"You alright?" She asked as she came back into the living room.

"Yeah, fine." He wiped down his hands and stood up from where he sat. "I know I intruded on your evening and I'm sorry, Ms. Vidal." He said, noticing that the t.v had been on pause since he arrived. "Your wine is probably cold and-"

"It's fine," She smirked. "I'm glad you came over. I got a free pizza out of the deal...and just as I was about to order it." She chuckled. "You came right on time."

"Well, I'm glad I could be of assistance," He laughed. 

"So am I," 

"Well, I'm gonna go home now and...beat myself up for being such a wuss today," He started to walk to the door.

Before she could stop herself, she stood in front of Maverick and smiled. As excited as she was to spend her night alone, watching scary movies that night, she was suddenly just as delighted to see Maverick.

"You know, you could stay...watch a few episodes with me," She offered. "And you're not a wuss,"

When she stepped in front of him, something about the simple gesture lit a small fire in him that was making him uneasy. As he thought about her offer and the pros and cons that would coincide with them, he simply enjoyed the view of Stevie Vidal.

Her jet black hair was braided into two ponytails that were only slightly messy, a ringlet-long, falling in front of her pale verdant eye as well as the cute stray curls that fell past her ears. Her light caramel toned skin was flawless and her lips were still only slightly greasy from the pizza that she ate, despite her wiping them only moments ago. Somehow, it made them even more alluring to look at, however. Her cardigan was slightly open so her tank top was visible and unfortunately for Maverick so was the braless and enticing sight of her ample breast. His heart fluttered and he cleared his throat as a distraction for himself. 

He immediately dropped his gaze but he only caught a glance of her wide hips and thick thighs and that only made his physical disposition worse.

"Don't...don't do this to me," He found himself muttering before he could catch himself.

"Do what?" She asked.

It was when he heard her voice that he came back to his senses. He looked back up into her large and beautiful gaze just as she innocently adjusted her glasses to her face. Did she not notice that he was practically devouring her with his eyes?

"I won't bite," She teased. "I promise,"

He forced a smile. "I think I'd better get going." He said and started for the door as he realized she maybe could have made such a promise...but he wasn't sure that he could.

"Suit yourself," She said from behind him as they both made their way to her front door.

"Raincheck," He said. 'Maybe I will try again when you're at a lesser risk of me pinning you against down against your living room table and...' He cut his own thoughts off as he gave himself chills from the inappropriate things that he was thinking about his best friend's little cousin. He took a deep breath.

"I'll hold you to that," She smiled.

"Goodnight, Ms. Vidal,"

"Stevie," She teased. She then chuckled, realizing that she was calling him by his last name still, as well. "We'll get it right one day," She said.

"I don't doubt it. Goodnight, Ms. Vida-Stevie," He corrected himself last minute.

Stevie chuckled. "Goodnight Maverick, and next time....call me," She smiled. 

"I will," 

"Promise?" 

Her smile weakened him, his knees nearly buckling from beneath him as he looked down at her. "I promise," He then walked away and headed to his car. When he heard her door close behind her, he paused and took a deep breath. "Get a hold of yourself, Maverick."

When he left, Stevie took the pizza box into the kitchen and put the remaining slices up and in the refrigerator. After she finished cleaning up, she dimmed the lights that she brightened when she heard the knock at the door and repositioned herself on the couch. 

Fortunately, her wine was still cold, thanks to her cup and so she snuggled herself onto the sofa, a throw on her legs. She then sat next to the spot where Maverick once sat. She pressed play and with every subtle movement she made, she could smell his sweet cologne. She hated to admit to herself that she wished he would have stayed. She liked being under him, she didn't know why but she did.

As the show went on, Stevie realized that she kept looking at the spot where Maverick once was sitting. Finally, she then decided, "What the heck," She shrugged with a smile and she then scooted over to the spot where Maverick once sat. It was still slightly indented from his heavy and masculine form and only a little warm still. Suddenly her body relaxed even more as she snuggled deeper into the sofa as she made herself comfortable watching her show.

She chuckled at herself for what she had just done. "Maybe it's time you find you a man, Stevie,"