Page 48 of Resisting the Fall

I slung my arm over the back of her chair, my fingers sweeping her soft blond hair. “I’m not sure how we’ll manage without you. You’re sure you don’t just want to come with us?”

“I was lucky the Rosts didn’t press charges last time they caught me on their property.”

“How about being our getaway driver? You don’t even have to leave the truck.”

Maven chewed on her lip, clearly torn. “I shouldn’t.”

“But…”

She smiled. “What will you give me?”

I slid my hat around, took hold of her face, and kissed her like I’d wanted to since I’d gotten here.

Carson muttered something under his breath, making us both smile.

“Fine.” Maven wrapped her arms around my neck. “But if we get caught, you’re going to owe me a lot more than a kiss.”

I quirked my head slightly, lifting my chin so my lips hovered next to hers. “What did you have in mind?”

“I don’t know yet. Probably just your firstborn child.” The way she smiled made me pause. Was she teasing? I mean, clearly she was teasing, but it seemed to be more in a way that hinted at there being a larger scheme at play. The strange surge of pleasure that rushed through me at the thought sent a goofy smile to my lips.

“Deal,” I said, kissing her again.

“Ben,” Tate whispered, but I couldn’t get my eyes to open. “Psst. Ben.”

A pillow hit me on the side of my head.

“Ben!”

“What?” I hissed, finally opening my eyes. Our room was still dark, and I tried to recall why my brother would be waking me up. We weren’t going fishing, were we?

“Your girlfriend is at the window.”

Suddenly, I was wide awake.

And sure enough, there was Maven, sitting on the branch of the tree just outside.

“What are you doing?” I said, opening the window.

“I couldn’t sleep.”

Carson’s being away at college had been a rough transition for her, especially on the nights when her mom worked the graveyard shift at the hospital. “Here.” I reached out a hand toward her. “Come inside.”

Her hand clasped mine, and she maneuvered through the small opening like it wasn’t her first time scaling a tree and climbing through a window. Why did that not surprise me? “Sorry it’s so late,” she whispered.

“What time is it?”

“Almost two.”

Tate shifted in his bed, so I guided her toward mine.

She gave a little pull on my arm, stopping me. “I don’t want to get you in trouble.”

My parents held a strict no-girls-in-the-bedroom policy. In all these years, Maven could probably count on one hand the number of times she’d been inside my room, and each of those had been with my mother’s permission—like last January when she’d covered every surface on my side of the room with Post-it notes to ask me to Winter Formal. It didn’t matter that I was now graduated, working full time, and saving for a place of my own. Those were the house rules. “You won’t.”

The bed was a twin which I barely fit in on my own, so when she slid beneath the covers, I wrapped my arm around her and pulled her close.

“Why couldn’t you sleep?” I whispered, glad to hear Tate’s breathing even out and grow heavier.