"Thanks so much for this guys." Maverick smiled at Jim and Tara gratefully as Darry ran inside with Tim after a quick goodbye for his dad.
"Anytime Mav." Jim smiled back. "Tim has been looking forward to this sleep over all week. He's been driving us crazy asking how much longer."
Maverick had organized with his friends to have Darry overnight on Friday so that he and Lee were free to take both the girls to the Officer's Club.
They agreed on a time for him to pick Darry up the next day and he made his goodbyes and headed back to the house.
As he turned the corner into their street, his eyes rested on Maddie standing on the front verandah.
She was leaning on the railing with a glass of wine in one hand, enjoying the spectacular colors of the setting sun.
She was wearing a gorgeous red halter neck dress and he stood watching her for a couple of moments, the last rays of the sun glowing on her dark hair.
God she was beautiful, he thought to himself. She took his breath away. He still couldn't believe that someone like Maddie could possibly be interested in him.
She straightened up and saw him standing in the street watching her. Smiling, she raised her glass to him and blew him a kiss, beckoning to him to join her on the verandah.
Maverick vaulted the front gate in one fluid movement and took the front steps two at a time as he hurried to her side. She handed him a glass of wine and gave him a gentle kiss.
"You look fantastic." He whispered against her lips as they broke apart.
Maddie did a little twirl for him, the skirt of her dress spreading as she spun around.
"So you like it?" She asked him, smiling suggestively.
"I love it." He told her. "Though now I'm not sure that we should go to the club."
"Why not?" She asked him in surprise.
"Because I'm going to spend the entire night fighting of all the guys who are going to try and steal you away from me." He joked.
"Mav, honey, you've got nothing to worry about." Maddie assured him. "There's not a man alive that could possibly steal me away from you."
She colored a little, her eyes looking away, embarrassed at revealing so much of how she felt about him.
Maverick gently lifted her chin with his fingers so that she was looking into his eyes and he saw it clearly for the first time.
The reflection of the feelings that he had for her. His heart soared as he realized that Maddie really cared for him, felt the same way that he did.
He had always been skeptical about stories of people falling in love in a heartbeat, but now, as he captured her mouth in a heart-stopping kiss, he completely understood what they were talking about.
"Oh for gods sake Madison, get a room would you?" Maverick looked up in surprise at the direction the voice had come from.
They hadn't heard the cab pull up or the approaching footsteps of their unexpected visitor.
The voice belonged to an attractive blonde woman who was now standing next to them on the front verandah.
Her hair was perfectly styled, her makeup was flawless and her outfit gave her the appearance that she had just stepped of the front cover of Vogue magazine.
Maddie laughed with delight.
"Sam!!!" Maddie exclaimed, embracing the woman affectionately. "What are you doing here?"
"Well darling, I just had to see for myself if this new man of yours was as gorgeous as you said he was." She explained, her eyes appraising Maverick as she spoke.
"Now I'm thinking that maybe your description didn't do him justice." She smiled flirtatiously, extending her hand to Maverick.
"I'm Samantha Gray." She introduced herself. Maverick gave Maddie an amused look and flashed Sam a winning smile.
"Adam Mitchell." He replied. "But you can call me Maverick, I'm so used to my call sign now that I probably wouldn't answer to anything else."
He took her outstretched hand and gave it a gentle squeeze as a welcoming gesture.
"Honey, you didn't tell me we were expecting a visitor." He teased Maddie gently. "I'll just go inside and get another wine glass."
Sam admired his retreating figure and turned to her old friend with a cheeky grin.
"Maddie, sweetie, you weren't kidding." She whistled. "He is hot with a capital H. No wonder you didn't want to come home."
Maddie colored a little at her friend's open appreciation of her new man.
"Yeah, he's something else, isn't he?" She agreed, her eyes glowing.
"Now Sam." She turned to her friend. "What are you really doing here?"
"You always could read me like a book." Sam shrugged her shoulders.
"I got the distinct impression from you on the phone that you were considering staying here on a permanent basis, so I thought I'd better come and see for
myself what could possibly possess you to throw away everything you have back in New York."
Maverick came back with another wine glass. "I'm beginning to get a clearer picture now."
"A clearer picture of what?" Maverick asked with interest.
"A clearer picture of why my friend here seems to have taken temporary leave of her senses." Sam quipped.
"I think if I had a man of your caliber warming my bed, I'd be off with the pixies as well." She grinned teasingly at Maddie.
"Well if you two have finished embarrassing me now, I think I might go and see if Ashley is ready." Maddie retreated into the house before Sam could say anything else.
Ashley fastened on an earring and slipped on her shoes before taking a final look in the full-length mirror.
She smiled at her reflection, pleased with what she saw. Maddie had been so right about the dress, it really did suit her.
She smoothed her hair and switched off the light in her room.
She was about to go down the stairs when a low whistle came from behind her.
She turned to see Lee standing in the upstairs hallway having just finished getting ready himself.
She smiled at him uncertainly, waiting for a reaction.
"Ashley, you look stunning." He breathed as he took in the vision in front of him.
"Thanks Lee." She replied, suddenly feeling a little shy.
"So, are you looking forward to tonight?" He asked her, his green eyes locking with hers, glowing intensely.
Ashley started to feel a little flustered under his attentive stare.
"I haven't been dancing in ages, so yes, I am looking forward to it." She replied.
At that moment, Maddie appeared at the top of the stairs, breaking the building tension between them.
"So what's taking you guys so long?" She asked, glancing from Lee to Ashley with an amused look on her face. "Ashley, that dress looks fantastic, doesn't it Lee?"
"I was just telling her how gorgeous she looks." Lee smiled, though he hadn't taken his eyes off Ashley.
"Well it looks like I'm not going to have any trouble getting dance partners tonight then." Ashley had regained her composure.
She linked her arm through Maddie's and threw a casual glance in Lee's direction.
"Are you coming?" She asked him flippantly.
Lee smiled to himself and shook his head, following the girls down the stairs.
Ashley could pretend all she wanted, he knew the attraction was still alive and well between them.
He heard laughter coming from the lounge room when he got to the bottom of the stairs and walked through the doorway to find Maverick chatting to an attractive,
well groomed blonde woman, who was introducing herself to Ashley as Samantha, one of Maddie's old friends.
Lee stood back quietly and observed her with interest. He had known women like her before, she reminded him of the socialite set that his mother used to entertain when he was younger.
Lee had received quite an education at the hands of some of his mother's friends, not that his mother had known anything about it.
Samantha's eyes rested on him as he lounged in the doorway. The smile that came to her face and the sudden change of body language told him all that he needed to know.
He had read her correctly, and a plan began to formulate in his mind. Maybe if he played up to her a little, he could get the reaction he was looking for from Ashley.
"And who is this gorgeous hunk of manhood, Maddie?" Sam cooed as she walked over to where Lee was standing. Maverick grinned at his partner.
"This is my flight partner, Lee Sanders. Lee, meet Samantha Gray, a friend of Maddie's" Maverick introduced them.
Lee took Sam's offered hand and raised it to his lips.
"Always a pleasure to meet a friend of the lovely Madison's." He said smoothly. "Especially one as appealing as you are." Sam giggled and reluctantly drew her hand away from his grasp.
"This place just keeps looking better all the time." Sam said, her eyes almost devouring Lee on the spot.
"Well, we were just about to head out to the Officer's Club for a night out if you'd like to join us Sam." Lee offered, giving her a suggestive smile.
"That sounds wonderful, you don't mind if I tag along, do you?" Sam looked at Maddie for her reaction.
"Not at all Sam, it'll be fun having you along. Now have you organized anywhere to stay yet?" Maddie asked her friend.
Before Sam could answer, Lee jumped in.
"We can't have her coming all this way and expect her to stay at a motel, now can we?" He asked Maddie.
"She could stay in Darry's room tonight, and I'm sure we could work something out from there."
Before anyone knew what was happening, Lee had Sam all organized and was walking out the door with her hand tucked safely in the crook of his arm, chatting away to her happily.