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“I missed you, too.” He brushed a hair back from her face. “Talk about a sight for sore eyes.”
She kissed him softly. “Sorry I couldn’t be there with you.”
“Nah, it’s probably better that you weren’t.” He cupped her cheeks and kissed her sweetly. “Besides, what’s the saying? Absence makes the heart grow fonder?”
Mia grinned. “Well, mine’s pretty fond of you, too.”
His lips found hers again, the kiss slow but deeper this time.
“Ugh, no, it’s just Alex,” she heard Del say down the hall. “Hey, when you two are done sucking face, can you bring the books up here? I’d like to get home before the sun comes up.”
Mia pulled back from Alex with a grin. “We’ve been found out. Wait—where are your books?”
“Shoot, I left them in the Rover. Guess I had my priorities backward.”
“Nope, I’d say they were right on the money.” She stretched to kiss him once more. “Here, I’ll help you bring them in.”
“You’d better grab your coat then,” Alex said. “I had to park around the corner. The spots back here were all full.”
“Oh, sorry about that.” She grabbed her coat and followed him out into the cool night air. It was overcast again, the temperatures expected to dip. Selfishly, she hoped for a fresh dusting of snow to make their holiday event that much more magical tomorrow. After the warm-up they’d had this week, most of the snow from last weekend’s freak snowstorm was long gone.
“You are staying at our place tonight, aren’t you?” Mia asked as they stepped back outside.
“Hmm. I mean, if the offer is there…” He winked, leading her toward the road. “I wasn’t sure what your plans were, since this is your weekend with Brooklyn. But I did remember to pick up a new doorknob for your back door.”
“Seriously? You’re my hero.” She wove her fingers through his. “And wouldn’t you know, Brooklyn’s made plans to spend the night at a friend’s tonight. That means if you stay over, we’d have the whole house to ourselves again.”
“Well,” he said, raising her hand to his lips. “How can I possibly say no to that?”
“Besides, after the week you’ve had, you deserve some pampering.”
Alex nodded. “It’s been a doozie, all right.”
His phone buzzed, then buzzed again. On a sigh, he released her hand to check his newest text messages. Mia couldn’t help it—she peeked at the sender’s name.
Her heart sank. It was Jennifer again.
“Everything okay?” she asked.
He frowned and tucked the phone away. “Yep, fine.”
They continued on, no longer holding hands and Alex’s mind still somewhere else. As excited as Mia had been to have him back, his behavior worried her. And the texts. Was it stress or something more?
And who the heck was Jennifer?
She wanted to ask him that but hated to get into a serious conversation after he’d just spent an hour and a half on the road. Besides, he really had had a heck of a week. The guy was probably just tired and stressed.
Too bad her gut was telling her there was something more. A feeling she pushed aside, determined to stay positive and give Alex the benefit of the doubt. So instead of talking about the elephant she sensed in the room, Mia shoved her hands into her coat pockets and followed him around the corner.
The truth would come out eventually.
It always did.
*
Alex had wantedto tell Mia about the double-booking debacle. In fact, he’d spent most of his drive to Bourbon Falls rehearsing what he would say. But then they got back to her place and Mia led him straight to her bedroom. Before he knew it, clothes were coming off, her body was on his, and the last thing he wanted to do was rehash the struggles he’d lived through all week.
In fact, she pampered him so thoroughly that for a time, he was able to forget about everything but her.
