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“Finally realizing it’s real?” he asked warily.
“Something like that.”
“Regrets?”
She took a deep breath and shook her head. Arueful expression swept across her face. “None. To be honest, Ijust wasn’t expecting to find anyone.”
“Whereas I was determined to.”
Her voice softened. “For Toni.”
“For Toni,” he agreed. His confirmation hurt her. He hadn’t meant it to, but he refused to be anything other than brutally honest with her. He couldn’t risk her thinking this marriage would last. “Mia?”
“I’m fine.” But she wasn’t. He recognized that fact and so did she. Then she forced out a smile. “I’ll be fine, Brand. We both know what we want from this marriage, and I think we’ll get it. Don’t you?”
“I hope so,” he said, though he had his doubts.
The priest, allowing the pause for their whispered conversation, concluded the ceremony, pronouncing them husband and wife, and Brand realized he was in trouble. She promised to move on to a new life when their marriage ended. But when he looked into her eyes, that’s not what he saw. He saw a gingerbread house with a white picket fence. He saw children playing on swings in the backyard and a fort in a huge oak tree with roots that speared downward, wide and deep. He didn’t see temporary. He saw forever.
Oh, yeah. He was in deep, deep trouble.
Chapter5
Mia hadn’tlooked at Brand once since their arrival at the Grand Hotel, she realized. In fact, she’d spent more time staring at the brand-new, plain gold wedding band gracing her finger than she had at her brand-new husband.
The cool weight felt foreign, strange on her ring finger, yet at the same time, as though it had always been there. She’d need to shake that thought, the feeling of rightness, as soon as possible. But tonight ... tonight as a newly married woman she’d allow herself time to enjoy the fantasy, especially because it was Brand.
Though her husband—how she delighted in using that word—initially planned to stay with the Beaumonts at their cupcake mansion, Soren’s arrival required a fast change of venue. The mansion would be the first place his brother would look for them. That prompted Mia to suggest spending the night at her hotel suite, which would also give them more privacy to get to know one another. Or in her case, reacquaint herself with her long-lost crush.
The elevator doors parted, and she stepped inside the car, stabbing repeatedly at the button for one of the uppermost floors. Nervous energy vibrated through her, causing her hand to tremble.
“Anxious?” he murmured close to her ear, his voice that of a lover, low and soft and deliciously arousing. “No second thoughts, right?”
She started, the inadvertent movement no doubt confirming his guess.Get it together, Mia. “Not at all,” she instantly lied. Her shoulders sagged and she blew out a sigh. “Yes, definitely.”
“There’s no need. Nothing’s going to happen.”
She waved his comment aside with a graceful sweep of her hand. “Oh, I’m not worried about that.”I’mnot?
“You aren’t?”
A wave of heat swept across her cheekbones, the flush trailing down her neck to her breasts. “As you said, nothing’s going to happen.”
“Tonight.”
She swiveled to face him. “I thought you weren’t interested in seducing me.”
“I’m finding the idea holds a certain appeal.”
The eyebrow he had used to intimidate earlier now lifted in a teasing arch. His lips curled into a broad grin, causing his expression to give way to a face she hadn’t seen in six years. Playful, teasing, and okay, predatory. His eyes caught hers, forcing Mia to hold his gaze. The deepening gold reminded her of a hunter, his stare focused, hungry.
Che Diavolo?What the hell? She’d been the one asking to be seduced. She’d practically threatened to leave him for another—not that she would have—just for the promise of one simple night of intimacy. It would have been too much for her to marry him knowing they would never truly know the blessing of physical union at least once. Now that he’d come onboard, she had issues?
He casually folded his arms across his chest, easily reading her uncertainty. “What’s wrong?”
She opened her mouth to reply just as the elevator arrived on her floor. Spinning on her heel, she exited the car and headed down the hushed hallway. Her limp, more pronounced at the end of a long evening on her feet, made her sway momentarily. He reached for her, gently pulling her against him, lending his support. She cursed the shoes aggravating her old injury before pausing in front of a double door with a gold placard that read, “Grand Suite.”
“Impressive,” he murmured.
