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My chin hits my chest, and I close my eyes.

He sounds sincere.

And what he’s saying makes sense.

I would want my ex to see me with my hot new boyfriend too, but I wouldn’t want him listening to us making love. As hurt and angry as I am, I believe him. The man I’ve been falling in love with wouldn’t do that.

I have to believe him because otherwise, I don’t know that we can be together.

“Maya?”

Finally, I slowly lift my head and meet his gaze. His face is filled with regret, the kind I don’t believe can be faked.

“Swear it,” I whisper.

“I swear.”

Chapter Thirty-Two

Cash

Making sure she believes me is imperative. We have a few other things to discuss as well, but I don’t ever want her thinking I would use her that way. It did occur to me we might run into Shandy and Jake, but that wasn’t why I attacked her the second I saw her.

The fact that this made her cry says a lot.

This is the first time she’s ever cried in front of me, and my gut tells me it doesn’t happen often. It also makes me feel like shit, which is why I haven’t said anything about the business deal Shandy mentioned. That’s something Maya definitely didn’t say anything about, and we’re going to have to talk about lies of omission—again—but not tonight.

Not after I made her cry thinking I would use her to somehow get back at Shandy.

We sit in the gas station parking lot for what seems like a long time. The rain is coming down in sheets and there’s thunder and lightning outside, and still, we sit there in relative silence. Finally, I reach out and pull her closer, even though it’s awkward over the center console.

“How about I drive home?” I suggest gently. “Not because you can’t, but because I’d feel better about it since I’m the reason you’re so upset.”

“I’m okay now,” she whispers. “But you can drive.”

She crawls over the center console and into the back seat. So I manage to squeeze myself into the driver’s seat and then she climbs back and gets into the passenger seat.

“We okay?” I ask, reaching out to cup her chin. “For real?”

“Yes.” She nods.

“You swear?” I ask, my eyes trained on hers.

She gives me a small smile. “I swear.”

“Okay. Are we staying at your place or mine tonight?”

She sighs. “If we stay at my place, you and Reid will be stranded when I leave for work and I have to be back early again. But even if we go to your place, I somehow have to give Reid back his SUV so he can get to practice.”

It’s a pain in the ass but I’ll suck it up tonight. “How about we swing by my place, I pick up my SUV and follow you back to Reid’s? We can ask him if he wants to drive me to practice or if I should drive him. Either way, you’ll have something to drive.”

“Perfect. Thank you.”

We drive in silence for a while, and then she says, “Our first fight.”

I wince.

This shouldn’t have even been a thing—but it never occurred to me that Shandy would be outside her office door listening. Especially since she didn’t seem to know I was Maya’s boyfriend.