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“I’m feeling invincible right about now.” He shimmies and his dick waves at me.

“You’re a bad influence on me. I’ve never done anything that risky before.” I stretch out and casually play with a nipple. Mav’s eyes follow the path of my finger, and I subtly open my legs.

He snorts.

“It’s true. Before you, I was a wealthy camboy who rarely had sex.” My finger continues down my abs to my very light happy trail.

“That’s hard to believe.” He rolls his neck and it cracks.

“I’d never lie to you.” I crook my finger, then pat the bed next to me. Mav falls for it, and I wait until he’s in range. “But I’ll steal your cookie.” My mouth closes over half the cookie, and I munch, making yummy sounds.

Mav glances from the half-eaten portion in his hand to my mouth in disbelief. “Angel, whatever I have is yours. You don’t have to steal a thing.” He kisses me and tastes of sugar and chocolate and my Mav.

I melt in his arms, letting his bulletproof attitude seep into me as if my room is safe from the outside world and nothing can touch us here.

“You make me reckless. All I want is to claim you in front of the world.” Mav hugs me tight enough to fuse us together.

“See, you are the bad influence. Public sex is next level.” My heart’s full enough to burst, and I could chill here forever.

“Not what I meant.” He swats my ass. “I’m growing on you. Soon you’ll be begging me to make a public declaration.”

“No lie was detected,” I say sleepily, and it’s the last coherent thought I have.

Of course Mav’s on an away trip when Maria needs us. He couldn’t do anything but be here at the hospital. At least he would keep my mind from running through worst-case scenarios.

He’s positive the danger has passed that pictures will surface online of us having sex in the club. I’m not so sure, but that was last week’s news. To say we were relieved when only dinner pics surfaced is an understatement.

The social worker gives me another exasperated glance because I’m unfocused and this is taking longer than it should. Maria is my first priority tonight. The social worker has a right to be upset, but in my defense, I’m young, and Maria will live forever. Denial works for me.

“This one will have to wait until we have a notary available to sign with you.” She uses her pen to drag the document naming me Maria’s healthcare proxy to her. “You’re lucky your grandmother was conscious when she came in. Otherwise, we legally couldn’t let you make decisions.”

“We are both very grateful.” The truth with the lie. Hopefully, it won’t matter that I’m not her blood relation after the paperwork is signed. I panicked, words flew out claiming she’s my Nonna, and Maria agreed.

A video call from Mav pops up on my phone. “Do you mind if I take this? I need to tell people.”

She agrees and leaves the room for my privacy.

“Hey,” I answer, barely hanging on.

“What’s wrong?” His hair’s wet from the shower and sticks out in every direction. I’ve never been happier to see him.

My tears gush like they’ve been waiting for him to fall.

“Are you hurt? Are you in the emergency room? Sky, talk to me!” Mav is ready to jump through the phone.

I shake my head. “I’m fine. It’s not me. It’s Maria.”

His relief causes a knot in my stomach and an irrational flash of anger.

“What’s going on? Will she be okay?” His soft voice soothes my irritation.

“She fell and broke her arm, but they’re running all these tests and won’t tell me anything. I signed to be her healthcare proxy and will sign a power of attorney when a notary comes on shift.” My spine straightens, and I wipe the tears away so I’m presentable when they let me see Maria.

“You should’ve called me.”

My laugh comes out as a hiccup. “You were busy, and Maria needed my attention,” I say with more snark than necessary.

“I’d be there if I could.”