AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My damn heart lurched.
“Uh, Tobi? Why don’t we check out that hammock again and guess how many toys can fit in it,” Daisy said.
She led the little girl away, Ben going with them, though I hadn’t spared my brother a glance.
Mia and I were left alone.
I forced my mouth to open and my lips to move. “Do ye like the place?”
She took a shuddering inhale. “I love it. You really did all of this for us?”
I jerked my head in a nod, confused by the expanding bolt of something in my chest. I’d expected to feel happiness. This was not that.
Then Mia uttered another sob and flew across the kitchen. In a heartbeat, she was in my arms and burying her face in my chest. I hugged her. Closed my eyes and tucked my head against hers.
Shock. Relief. All manner of things battled within me, but all I knew was this private moment. I didn’t want to share it with anyone, and it seemed she hadn’t either.
“I knew you were working here, but I had no idea it would be like this,” she said, her voice strained and broken. “It’s perfect. I’ve never lived anywhere I loved so much, and I’ve barely been here a minute. Do you know what you’ve done? Do you know how much this means to us?”
I didn’t know anything, not even my own name, but I was certain about what I needed to do next.
“You gave us a home, Valentine,” she finished.
I dropped a kiss to her hair, nudging her face to meet mine. Then when she did, I kissed the ever-loving fuck out of her sweet mouth.
Cupping her cheeks, I forgot all my worry and stress, and lost myself in her lips. Mia fisted my shirt, bringing me as close as I needed her. She matched my energy, her cheeks wet from her tears, and her kiss just as fierce as mine.
We were playing with fire.
Her daughter could walk in. Or my brother and Daisy.
I turned us so my back was to the door. Mia tore her mouth from mine, breathing hard. My chest rose and fell, and I brushed my thumb down her damp cheek.
“I shouldn’t have kissed you,” she uttered, almost to herself.
I gave a short laugh. “I kissed ye.”
Her blue-eyed gaze rose to meet mine. “Then I shouldn’t have kissed you back. I need to ask you something.”
She stepped back from my hold on her, her expression getting all the more troubled.
“Anything,” I murmured.
“Why did you do all this?”
I raised a shoulder. “I had the time and the energy. It’s no big deal.”
Mia shook her head. “It’s a huge deal. Think about it. Think about the list of all you’ve done.”
Something less comfortable replaced my good feelings. I took my own step backward, shoving my hands in my pockets. “Is this to do with me kissing you? Like I said back at the bunkhouse, the two things aren’t connected.”
“They are connected for me. After everything you’ve done for us, I can’t separate out the two.”
“What does that mean?”
Mia’s careful gaze studied mine. “It means that I’m getting confused over what you are to me. A friend, a one-night stand, or a boyfriend in the making.”
Horror sank the rest of my lust like a stone.
