Loving Maverick

That's What I'm Afraid Of

"Well that wasn't what I expected," Stevie said as they left from the small restaurant after the small meeting that was held.

Maverick smirked in amusement as they made their way to the car. "What exactly was it that you were expecting?" He asked, opening the door to allow her inside before him.

Stevie still wasn't used to such gentlemanly gestures so she gave him an awkward smile before saying thank you. She slid in and he followed. 

"I don't know," Stevie replied with a shrug. "Something longer....a little tenser than what it was today, her gaze out of the window for a moment before she returned her attention back to her boss. "Mr. Garrett and his assistants were the only ones present."

"So?" Maverick turned to Stevie, wondering what she was getting at.

"So, you've already met with this guy one on one, did you really need to meet with his assistants as well? I mean, this seemed a little redundant, don't you think?"

"Not necessarily." He told Stevie. "When Garrett came to the office we did not speak on what we discussed today. This meeting was on the books." He clarified. "The assistants were present today to take note of what was being discussed at the table." Maverick turned his attention to Stevie with a little concern now in his expression. "You did take notes, right?"

Stevie rolled her eyes. "Just because I initially assumed that the meeting was a waste of time doesn't mean that I forgot my job during the process." She pulled out her notepad and began to open it. "Now I realize how truly important the meeting was, however, because I couldn't take notes the last time you two met." She suddenly felt a little guilty for not being able to do her job before when Garrett and Maverick first met up at his office.

Maverick could hear the underlining self-accusation in her words and without thinking about, touched her leg to turn her attention to him. "You did what you were supposed to do that day." He reassured Stevie. "And taking notes for what Garrett and I were talking about was not one of those things-else, I would have told you."

Stevie nodded, understanding. Then her eyes wandered to where his hand was before looking at him again. It was only a moment after this that Maverick realized that he should probably remove his hand. He uneasily chuckled and cleared his throat.

"Thanks." Stevie said. She was referring to his reassurance but after the fact realized that he probably thought that she was thanking him for removing his hand. "For...the reassurance." She clarified.

Maverick nodded and shifted away from Stevie. "I wouldn't be a good boss if I didn't reassure you of your good work ethic from time to time." 

From his peripheral, he saw Stevie looking over the notes that she made. It was then that he noticed the notebook itself. It was black and purple with anime character from a very popular show on it. He looked at her, unable to contain the amusement in his gaze as he watched her. She seemed so serious while looking over the notes that she had made in her little notebook.

"So," He started to say. Stevie's response was delayed but she eventually looked up at him, her innocent and large eyes staring at him. "You like anime." 

If he were being honest, Stevie Vidal looked exactly the opposite type of young woman to be into that type of thing. He was actually pleasantly surprised. He watched her shrug as she looked at the cover of her little notebook as if she had unintentionally shared a little secret about herself.

She shrugged and chuckled sheepishly. "It's a guilty pleasure, I guess you could say." 

"Is that right?" Maverick asked. When she nodded a yes, he laughed a little. "Nothing wrong with that."

"Yea, I jus-I know I probably look like a stick in the mud that likes to watch..." Her voice trailed off. "Well I don't really know what stick in the muds like to watch, but anyway," She shrugged. "You get the point I'm trying to make, I'm sure." She chuckled.

"Yeah, I get it." Maverick replied.

"So," She looked at Maverick, closing her notebook. "What are your guilty pleasures, Mr. Singh?" She asked.

He knew that she didn't mean to say it the way that she did-seductively, but as a man, he couldn't help hearing it that way. The fact that he had to admit that she was very attractive to him didn't help matters. The idea that she didn't even realize the way she easily affected men made her even more intriguing to him.

"Mr. Singh?" She said to him.

"Guns." He said. "Weapons." He looked out of the window. He thought he'd initially say cars but after thinking about it, he realized that cars was something that found beautiful but something that he know he did not really have a knack for fixing. At least not the way that his best friend could. "Typical, I guess when talking to a SEAL." He muttered.

"You were Navy Seal?" 

Maverick looked at Stevie and noticed how curious she seemed to be. "Yes. I thought Stefano told you-"

"I don't talk about you to my cousin." She chuckled. "He'd think I was crushing on you or something an get all crazy."

She saw this as a joke but Maverick saw it as a warning. "Good to know." He muttered. 

"So, any chance I get to hear some stories?" She asked. When she saw the sudden change in her boss' expression, she immediately regretted her request. "Ah, I-I am so sorry." She apologized. "It's not a game being in the military, I know that and I should have known better to ask such a question."

He didn't mean to make her feel so guilty about asking the question but a part of him was glad that she did. Maybe it would avoid a slip up in the near future. "It's okay." He replied. "Your uncle, he was in the military, wasn't he?" He asked.

Stevie looked away and sighed as she nodded. "Yea, he was. My grandfather too. And my father." She said, though she barely mentioned this. Her father was discharged well before her uncle and even her grandfather. "Jarheads." She smiled and then she looked at Maverick. 

"You seem proud of them," Maverick said noticing the smile on her face.

"I am," Stevie told Maverick. "They fought and died for this country." She sighed. "Doesn't mean that I do not miss them." 

"Must have been hard for you and your cousins-your whole family." Maverick responded. 

"It was." Stevie said. "I wanted to join the marine corp in their memory." She shook her head. "Daddy wouldn't allow it." She smirked. "In fact, he was livid. Said that I needed to get my head out of the clouds and find a job that didn't place my life at risk on a daily basis."

"And that's why you are here now?" Maverick assumed.

Stevie sat back against her seat and closed her eyes for a moment before she looked at Maverick. "I guess you could say that." She said. "It was either this or waitressing." She joked. "Figured I might as well do something that would at least get my creative juices going." 

"There is nothing wrong with waitressing," Maverick said with a smile.

"Nothing at all." Stevie agreed. "Of course we never get paid what we're worth." She chuckled. 

"So you tried out waitressing too, then?" 

"Of course."  Stevie laughed. "But then I realized, that I didn't like people enough to wait on them, so I decided to go to school instead." She scoffed. "At this point, I considered it the lesser evil."

"Is that right?" 

Stevie leaned her head over to look at Maverick. "Imagine feeling that way when you have school as much as I do."

"What made you decide to do this, though?" Maverick asked.

Stevie thought about his question. "Good question." She muttered as her gaze wandered for a moment before she finally decided to answer him. "When I was a little girl, there were two things that I always loved-one was drawing houses and buildings and the other was cars." She confessed.

"Cars?" Maverick didn't know why he found this so surprising given who her cousin was.

"My father thought that me being the chubby little lady that I was, should find something more realistic." She chuckled as she thought about how much of a  jerk her dad could be at times. She still loved him though. "What did my size have to do with working on cars...eh, who knows, but that was his insight on the situation." She said. "So, I decided to play it safe and go with this." She eyed her boss again. "At first I wanted this job so that my father would get off my back."

"And now?" Maverick asked.

Stevie just simply smiled as she realized how attentive her boss was to what she was saying. It was almost as if he were hanging on her every boring word. She appreciated that.

"Now," She emphasized. "You tell me about you."

"Me?" Maverick was caught off guard by her inquiry. The only thing that he even thought she'd be interested in was his military life. Otherwise, he didn't think that his life was anything worth sharing. "I don't have...much to talk about aside my life in the military and-"

"When were you deployed?" Stevie asked.

"What?" Maverick was suddenly off-put by her question. How did she go from being so guilty about inquiring about his military life to shameless? "I told you I-"

"How old were you?" She asked. "That's all I want to know."

"Eighteen-I was eighteen." He reluctantly answered.

Stevie nodded. "So you've...had eighteen years of life that you could tell me about." She told him. "Your military life is very important, Mr. Singh but it isn't the only interesting thing about you, I'm sure." She smiled. "And until and or if you are ever ready to discuss that with me, then I would love to know about the eighteen years that led up to it." Stevie clarified. "Besides, you've just recently come out of the military. So, I'd love to know how a man fresh from battle is suddenly next in the running to own his father's company."

"You make it sound like an amazing life story." Maverick chuckled. "I appreciate that."

"It has to be." Stevie laughed. 

"Not really," Maverick said. "My father named his company after me and he's always wanted me to run it. Of course, he would find a way to give it to me-"

"Your father wouldn't give you the company unless he was sure that you could run it," Stevie said. "You are...very talented in your work, Mr. Singh." Stevie complimented. "I don't really remember you as a little girl and honestly, I didn't really recognize your father at first but when Stefano put things in place for me, I remembered." She rolled her eyes. "Of course my father reminded me as well. I can tell that your father appreciates hard work so I am quite sure that he would not have let you off so easy for being his son."

 She was right. "Hm, true." He replied.

"So then why are you being so modest?" She asked. 

Maverick didn't know why he thought so little of himself in terms of his living up to his father's expectations. For some reason, listening to everyone else tell him how talented he was did nothing for him. However, hearing Stevie Vidal praise him even though she barely even knew him. It hit different from him. Part of him even almost thought about fully opening up to her, but fear and reluctance wouldn't allow him to.

The car finally stopped in front of the office building. A part of him was relieved that it did because had he been in that car any longer, he wasn't sure that he could keep himself for falling for Stevie Vidal.

"We should get back to work." He said, opening the door.

Stevie slid out of the car. Maverick closed the car door and when he turned around he surprised to see Stevie standing so close to him, a small smile on her face.

"What?"

She didn't say anything right away, just looked at him in silence for a moment before she finally said. "You don't have to tell me now. One day I'll get it out of you." She grinned. "I can feel it," She nudged his arm gently and then walked away.

Maverick watched her walk away. "That's what I'm afraid of."