From Mountains to Lone Stars

Matt's hands kept my face cupped. We both kept staring at each other, neither one wanting to say what we had done. We had kissed; we had broken the rules. No one on the same staff were allowed to date. It could lead to unforeseen outcomes. One of us was going to get fired or have to move, but that was far from my mind. What was in my mind was how much I wanted this man, how safe I felt with him, how everything that had happened over the last few hours left when I was with him.

Without a second fucking thought in my head, I leaned forward and kissed Matt hard. He didn't pull away like I expected; instead, his hands found their way into my hair and tugged me close to him. Our tongues tangled together in an epic song of passion. It felt so right to be kissing him, a man I wasn't supposed to know like this.

We pulled away, breathing hard. Matt rested his forward against mine and gave me one finally kiss. He held me to him, not wanting to say a word. I felt the same way. If we spoke, we might break the spell our kiss had caused. If we spoke, then we would have to talk about so many other things.

"Maverick, I know we shouldn't have done that, but it felt so damn right." Matt stroked my hair. "We can discuss all of this later, right now, I just want to hold you. Is that okay?"

I nodded. I still couldn't fully form words. Words from my mouth would likely be words I couldn't take back. I wanted to tell Matt how he made me feel safe. Matt was a man I felt comfortable with, protected with.

"Thank you, Matt," I said that instead. I didn't want to say more. I snuggled into his chest and wrapped my arms around his waist. It felt so right to be here, against his chest. It felt so right to be wrapped in his arms. It felt so right to be here with him. If I didn't need my job, I would quit. But that would be insanity.
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Mom arrived in her typical fashion. There was this thing about my mother. Whenever I got sick, it took her ages to believe me. The first time I had had a really bad injury, she had told me that I was fine. It turned out that I had broken my foot.

The second time was when I had appendicitis. She had told me the pain was all in my head until a surgeon told her that I needed an immediate surgery. When my hands had started acting up, it took my mom five years to finally concede to seeing a specialist. Imagine her surprise when a doctor told her that I needed carpal tunnel surgery. She never fucking believed my pain.

"Are you sure the doctors said cancer?" she asked as I drove her to her hotel. She insisted on being at my oncology appointment. To be fair, I was still on her health insurance, so it made sense she wanted to be there, but I wished she would just fucking believe me.

"Yes, Mom. And if you insist on not believing me, I can get Matt to come tell you. Why the fuck would I lie about something like that?"

Mom sent me a look. It was a look that normally would have made me apologize, but not fucking today. "I don't care for your attitude, Alexis. It's my money, and I want to make absolute sure. If this requires radiation or chemo, you are coming home."

"I'm in my last year!" I braked as the light turned red. "You can't take me away from my college when I'm so close to graduating!"

"It is too expensive here!" Mom yelled. This is how it always went with my health problems. I understood that money was tight, but she couldn't take me away from my job, friends, and school work. I loved it at the University of North Texas. I would recover better here.

"It's going to cost you more to take me away. And we both know that," I said and drove on. We didn't talk even after we arrived at her hotel.

"I'll pick you up tomorrow for the appointment," I said and watched her nod at me. I guess we would forever be at odds. This was just the way things went.

Notes

Another short update. We're about to get to the meat of the story now.