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This isn’t what I wanted. All the times I’ve imagined Mia in my arms, she hasn’t been angry and defensive. She hasn’t been slinging challenges at me like insults. If I had any hope of helping the situation, I’d back away, beg for forgiveness, and ask her to start over.
But this woman doesn’t want anything from me. I’ve messed it up from the moment I looked at my grandparents’ affairs and decided to raise her rent. I walked into her barbershop, thinking I was doing the right thing, and the force of her hit me like a rogue wave. It knocked me down, dragged me under, and I’ve been drowning ever since. I’ve been a jerk and an absolute, unbelievable idiot.
She’ll never be mine, but if this woman wants me to prove how much I want her? Well that, I can do.
With one step forward, I cage her against the driver’s side door of her car. My hand coasts over her cheek, curling around her nape. The other notches into the curve of her waist, gripping tight. Her lips fall open on a gasp.
She fits in my arms like we were made for each other. My soul sings, my body hums, and I feel like I’ve finally come home. Breaths sawing in and out of my lungs, I dip my head toward hers, then let my lips hover just above her mouth.
It feels wrong. We shouldn’t be coming together for the first time this way, with animosity and hurt built up like stone walls between us. Once again, a voice in my head tells me I’m doing it all wrong, but it’s too late. I’ve had her in my arms now, I can feel her breath against my lips. There’s no going back.
A trembling sweeps through Mia’s body, and her hands curl into the lapels of my jacket. “What are you waiting for?” she whispers, taunting. “I thought you were all hot and bothered because of me.”
If only she knew. I tighten my grip on her small body, committing it to memory. “This might be the only chance I get to kiss you, Mia. I want to enjoy it.”
I tighten my hold on her nape, slide my other hand down to her ass, tug her tight to my body, and crush my lips to hers.
11
MIA
Well.I asked for this, didn’t I?
Sandwiched between my car and Desmond, I have nowhere to go. All I can do is cling onto his bulk and hope I survive the ride. His lips conquer, claim, devour. He slides his tongue against mine and licks into my mouth like he wants to taste every bit of me. He nips at my bottom lip, letting out the sexiest, deepest moan I’ve ever heard.
My body goes wild. Liquid heat pools between my legs as I lose the ability to stand on my own two feet. My grip on his jacket tightens, then goes slack as I curl my hands around his neck. An explosion detonates somewhere in the pit of my stomach.
I’ve never been kissed like this. I didn’t even know it was possible. Suddenly, being so much smaller than Desmond doesn’t annoy me. I love how big his body feels as it circles mine. I love feeling like he could pick me up and carry me to bed. I wonder how it would feel to have him inside me.
That big hand on my butt squeezes, and I let out a gasp. Oh, my. It feels amazing to be held like this, to be kissed, to be touched. Des drops his head to my neck, inhaling deeply before running his tongue down the line of my pulse.
My pulse, incidentally, goes into overdrive. I pant heavily, arching my back into his touch, mindless with the need to kiss and kiss and kiss. I’m unraveling, forgetting all the reasons I hate this man. He’s unspooling me, spinning me around and around and around until everything is a kaleidoscopic blur of light and color and lust.
Then, abruptly, Desmond tears himself away from me. He pulls me tight and tucks me into his chest, leaning his chin on my head. The spinning stops and I’m left clinging to him, off-balance and out of breath. Disoriented, I stare at the slice of parking lot I can see past his chest, not understanding what the hell just happened.
What in the world possessed me to ask him to prove his attraction? How did I ever think that was a good idea?
Blame the dragon. That beast has a mind of its own. I was hurt and humiliated, and he was giving me all these ridiculous reasons for his actions. But now…
Ishe attracted to me? Is that what’s going on between us?
I’ve never felt this kind of animal desire for a man. I’ve never had my body be so at odds with my mind. But which is right? Physical needs (of which there are many), or mental safety?
Gently, I pull away from Des’s embrace and clear my throat. I need to regain some kind of control over this situation, over my body. I don’t like the heat sweeping under my skin, the urge to lean into him again and beg for more.
When I want things—like sex, or affection, or support—from men, I know how it ends: they leave. It was a harsh lesson to learn with my ex-husband, but it sank in deep and grew roots. Now, faced with the force of nature that is Desmond Thomas, I know what I’m looking at. He wants me on his terms. His kiss proved his attraction to me, but he still used money and manipulation to get me here. Colin tried the same when I fell pregnant, lording his fancy job title and his big salary over me to remind me how much I’d struggle without him if I decided to keep the baby—and lose him in the process.
I was strong enough to make it through those early years with Bailey on my own, and I’m strong enough to resist this lust I feel for Desmond. As the haze clears, I know what I need to do: erect a tall, impenetrable barricade between me and Desmond Thomas…then walk away.
“I’m not having dinner with you,” I grit out through clenched teeth.
My words don’t seem to surprise him. He watches me, a palm lifting up to rub the side of his jaw. “All right.”
“I still don’t like you.”
Desmond looks…resigned. For some reason, that makes my chest ache. He takes a breath, his broad chest heaving. “That makes sense. I don’t like myself right now, either.”
Squinting, I meet his gaze. “I’m angry that you lied to me about who you were. That was a really shitty thing to do.”
