AllFreeNovel
Share Us
REID
Iwatchedastormof emotions race across Mia’s face before she settled on horrified.
“What do you mean?” she breathed. “When? Where- why?”
I got to my feet and walked to the kitchen, pouring Mia a glass of wine and handing it to her as I passed by again.
“I just wanted to talk,” I told her, patting the spot beside me. “So I arranged to meet him today at the restaurant where he ambushed you, because I had some very important information for him.”
Mia didn’t say anything. She just stared at me. She looked like she was waiting for me to tell her to get out. Something in my chest splintered at the sight and I yearned to reach out for her.
But I focused on the task at hand. “Please come and sit down?”
She moved like she was on autopilot as she crossed the floor and sat down next to me.
But the look on her face didn’t change.
“What information did you have for him?” she asked quietly.
I turned to face her and leaned back against the plush armrest. “I thought he might like to know that the police are on the hunt,” I said simply, and her eyes widened in surprise. “Especially after learning about his ties to a larger American crime ring. He won’t be in the country for much longer unless he wants to spend the rest of his miserable life in prison.”
Mia’s lips pulled into a frown, her brows furrowed and eyes bright. “Why would you do that?” she whispered, and nothing about it was accusing or angry. She was genuinely confused.
My heart fractured, realizing just how little she’d been taught to think of herself. My pulse turned erratic as I reached out across the distance between us and tucked a stray curl behind her ear.
If there was ever a time to tell her the truth, it would be now.
“Because I love you,” I finally said, watching as a single, surprised tear slipped down Mia’s cheek. “And I have for a long time, I think. After hearing what he’d done to you, what he was still trying to do… Let’s just say this was the most legal way to take care of it.”
Warmth spilled off her cheek and into my palm, and her lips fell open in a soft gasp.
“The reason I didn’t want to involve you,” I continued before she could say anything, “was because I didn’t want you to overthink or worry about anything. Besides, you’d try to talk me out of it, and we both know that wouldn’t happen.”
Mia’s eyes shone with unshed tears, and my thumb stroked the soft arch of her cheekbone.
“I’m sorry if what I did was too much,” I murmured. “Or if I overstepped. But I couldn’t stand the idea of you being afraid. I didn’t want you to ever be scared of coming back home just because of some stupid little psychopath. And your friend Carla? She got out. He has no idea where she is now.”
Mia shook her head and the movement caused her tears to slide down her cheeks.
“No,” she mumbled. “No, you didn’t overstep, I just- I don’t really kn-know what to say-”
“You don’t have to say anything,” I said gently. “I don’t expect anything from you in return. But I do want to ask you something.”
Mia nodded, her eyes creased.
“Can I kiss you?” I asked, swiping away another tear with my thumb. “Please?”
Her face broke and she nodded, wrapping her arms around my neck before I could even move.
Our lips connected with a gasp, the cool surface of her wine glass pressed to my back for just a moment before I pried it from her grasp and blindly set it down. She hadn’t even taken a sip, and the last thing I wanted was for her favorite T-shirt to be ruined.
She flattened her free hand on the middle of my back, pressing herself deeper into the kiss. It was nothing like the first time we’d kissed, or even the second. This kiss was pure relief, tinged by the tang of salt from Mia’s tears, but every bit as hypnotic as she was.
Her body melted against mine, soft, filling every crevice until there wasn’t a single breath left between us, until her heart beat inside my own chest, and her gasps for air were pulled out of my lungs.
I knew very well that Mia might not feel the same way about me, nor would she ever. I knew that emotions could run high and I’d end up hurt. But at the same time, it wasMia. The woman who’d stayed by my side and gave a damn about me when just about everyone else wouldn’t.
Mia, who still yelled at me for walking around the office barefoot when my heels irritated me. Who sang to me because I was scared out of my mind on the plane, who laughed at my stupid jokes when I was nervous in public.
