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Oh, God, she hated to even think those words together. Leave and Mick.
She knew him well enough to know he wouldn’twanther to. And she knew herself well enough to know shehadto. Maybe they could swing something long distance for a while. But only for a while. Because really, how long would it take for her to go completely mad, wondering how a man like Mick was occupying his time during their long periods apart?
She shook off the thought. Mick had done nothing to deserve it—this time.
“So, now that we’re almost to Chicago, are you going to tell me where we’re going?”
He glanced over and shook his head. “Not ’til we get there.”
Giving him a deliberately pouty look, she said, “Pretty please? Is it shopping? You know how much I love shopping. And I saw some ads for some trendy place called the Red Doors that I’d love to check out.”
“They sell fabulous lingerie.” Then he snapped his mouth closed, as if realizing he’d said something he shouldn’t.
She laughed lightly, forcing the image of Mick buying lingerie for another woman out of her mind with a quick, internal sigh. “Look, we’ve been apart for eight years. It’s not as if I’ve expected you to be celibate.”
“Good.”
She glanced out the window. “I mean, it’s not likeI’vebeen.”
He stiffened in his seat. “Oh, right, we’re back to that whole lot of lovers conversation, are we?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“As I recall,” he said cutting the car off the interstate and heading toward downtown Chicago, “we never did finish talking about it.”
“Nope, we got, um…sidetracked.” There was almost a purr in her voice—she heard it herself.
“You were definitely tracked. The wolf tracked you down,” he said with a self-satisfied grin.
“Tracked. Huh. More like stalked.”
He growled lightly. “He was overwhelmed by your charms, and you couldn’t deny your womanly urges.”
“Ugh. You should’ve quit while you were ahead.”
They laughed together as he drove toward downtown, and all the while, Caro kept remembering the way they’d been before. Just like this. With laughter and teasing and great sex.
She just hoped they weren’t heading down exactly the same path. The one that had led to years of heartbreak and loneliness. She’d do just about anything to change things this time.
“We’re here,” he said, interrupting her unpleasant thoughts.
Expecting a hotel, she was surprised when instead Mick pulled up to a huge, familiar-looking building on a downtown street. “The Art Institute?”
He nodded and parked the car in an employees-only lot, not offering any explanation.
“Mick, the museum is closed. It’s late.”
“Don’t you worry about that.” He gave a suggestive lift of his eyebrows. “I have ways.”
She didn’t hide her skepticism. “Of breaking and entering?”
He shook his head and got out of the car, coming around to open her door. “Let’s go.”
“This is silly.”
“Come on.”
He wasn’t taking no for an answer and reached down to take her arm and help her out. Walking with him, Caroline nearly accused him of just using the nearly empty lot for free parking while they went somewhere else nearby. But he headed straight for a back entrance to the building, marked Staff Entrance.
