Tailspin: A Top Gun Love Story - Pete "Maverick" Mitchell

Chapter 7

After you and Tom help a heavily inebriated Ron get home, you realize that you've forgotten your purse at the bar. Tom offers to take you back but, since he's got an early morning, you decide to go by yourself.

The bar is mostly empty save for the bartender, two drunk officers singing in a corner booth, and Maverick, who looks like he's getting ready to leave. When he sees you walk in, his mouth quirks upward.

"Forget something?" he asks playfully when you approach him.

You smile, shaking your head. "It wasn't on purpose, if that's what you're thinking."

He holds out your purse. "I'm not thinking anything," he responds.

You raise your eyebrows, taking your purse and pulling it over your shoulder. "Right," you say.

"You fill it with bricks?" Maverick asks with a smirk.

"Here we go." You roll your eyes.

He laughs. "It's heavier than a sack of potatoes."

"It is not!"

Maverick tilts his head slightly. "You brought another book, didn't you?"

"It's really not that uncommon, you know?"

"To bring a book to a bar?" He watches you with amusement.

"Whatever. It's not like I read it."

"Yeah, well, you didn't know I'd be here."

You scoff, hitting him on the shoulder playfully. "You are so full of yourself."

His grin widens and he catches your hand when you go to strike him again, wrapping his fingers around your fist. His hand is warm and his touch destabilizes you. His smile falters when you don't pull away, as if your lack of a reaction catches him off guard. His eyes sweep over your face uncertainly; he's wondering exactly how much he can get away with. He takes a step forward, keeping your hand against his chest. He lowers his head slightly, his grip tightening around your clenched fist.

You cannot comprehend why every time this man looks at you, you feel as though the world falls out from under your feet. But with every passing minute since the day you first saw him, the pull you feel toward him grows stronger. And despite every effort on your part to get him out of your head, Maverick has managed to infiltrate every single one of your thoughts.

He closes his eyes and rests his forehead on yours, letting out a controlled breath, clutching your hand over his heart. "I swear to you, I didn't mean for this to happen," he whispers.

Your cognitive faculties have all but shut down by this point, but you know that he had started flirting with you on the very first evening you'd met him, so you let out a wry chuckle. "Liar," you respond.

He smiles, his head still leaning against yours as he shakes it slowly back and forth. "Well," he says, "the moment I saw you, it was over."

You lift your face to gauge the sincerity of his words and find him watching you achingly. But still, you have your doubts. "Awfully convenient that I'm Tom Kazansky's girlfriend, though," you say. "Two birds, one stone?"

Maverick looks hurt by your remark. "Ice isn't my favorite person," he says, "but, I promise you, this has nothing to do with him."

You shake your head, pulling your hand out of his grasp. "I'm not buying it."

He gives you a solemn look, devoid of his usual smirk. "Now who's the liar?"

You look up at the row of glasses hanging from the top of the bar behind his head and pull your lips into a forced smile. "I've got to go," you say, shrugging.