Still Into You (9 page)

She stopped and looked up at him, regarding him affectionately. He needed this. He needed her, and goddamn it, she needed him too.

“Mia . . .” he said, lowering his head and placing his parted lips on hers, devouring their softness. She leaned into him and deepened the kiss. He pulled her to him, her breasts crushed to his chest, their legs entwined, and his hands holding her hips to his.

When she tumbled in his arms, he paused the kiss, but she pulled his head back to hers, kissing him fiercely before letting him go.

“All right, Ethan,” she announced, her voice was tender, almost a murmur. “Let’s do this.”

He didn’t know whether to be happy or mad at the determined way she responded. Regardless, he now had another twenty-four hours or so to get her to change her mind.

Ethan

After their run, Ethan took Mia out for a late breakfast. They ate and talked—a lot. Their conversation never touched on what was bothering her though. It was safe. Mostly they talked about Kaitlyn, Luke’s daughter.

He wasn’t the only one that Mia had missed while on tour. She hadn’t seen the little girl since she left over six months ago.

As Mia told him, a lot can change with a young child in six months. She’d missed a lot in Kaitlyn’s life. One of the big things was her first talent show. Luke had recorded it, of course. The squirt had such an angelic voice that Ethan had choked up listening to her. When Ethan asked her why she had wanted to sing, Kaitlyn informed him that she wanted to be just like Mia. After that talent show, Luke enrolled her in voice and piano lessons. As he told this all to Mia, her eyes filled with happy tears. She was so proud of that little girl.

Talk then turned to Kaitlyn’s seventh birthday celebration. Mia asked if he was going and he sensed a little bit of uneasiness from her. So he provided her with an out.

“I was supposed to go, but if you rather I didn’t . . .”

“Oh, no. Please go,” she quickly added. “Kaitlyn would love to have you there too.”

And he was happy to have another chance of being with her.

After their meal, they headed back to his house where they unfortunately showered separately. He sensed Mia needed space after the emotional morning. She got dressed and quickly left the master suite, not even looking at the bedroom area. So instead of relaxing in bed like he had hoped, they went downstairs to the basement and watched the History Channel, snuggled together, until it was time for her to leave.

“Are you staying for the show tonight?” she asked shyly, tugging at that lower lip as she waited for his reply. He couldn’t say no to that face.

“I’ll be there. Are you going to come back here after the show?” he asked, hopefully sounding nonchalant.

After a few moments of silently thinking it over, she nodded. “I do have to stop at my room to get my things.”

“Let’s go then,” he said, urging her up. He wanted to get her luggage in his car before she could change her mind.

He helped her pack and got her to the arena on time for which Allie was very thankful. While Mia ran through her pre-show schedule, he hid out in her dressing room. And she delighted him when she came back with a plate full of food and a smile.

“Thank you, suga,” he said, accepting the plate. She sat by his side on the sofa, resting her head back, eyes closed. He knew better than to start a conversation at this point. She was getting in her zone. He’d let her engage if she felt like it.

After he finished his food, Ethan set the empty dish on the floor, then he mimicked the way she sat, except for the closed eyes. His were watching her and he had to contain his laugh when her lips twitched into a smile.

“What’s so funny, suga?”

Opening her eyes, Mia shook her head. “Nothing.”

“Oh, there must be a reason.”

She turned to him, a wicked, little smile on her lips. “Wanna make out?”

“That’s what was funny?”

“No. Making out with me is definitely not funny.”

“Definitely not. It must be taken very seriously.”

Her smile grew larger as she leaned over and gently pressed her mouth to his, moving them so they fit perfectly. He placed his hand on her cheek and she stopped.

“Don’t mess my hair! Allie will kill me.”

“Now, I wouldn’t want her to do that, would I?”

She chuckled softly and continued the kiss. He put his hands to her shoulders and lightly pushed back.

“Should we even be doing this?” he asked, kissing her chin. “We both know how you have a tendency to lose control when we make out.”

A laugh escaped her as she looked at him in incredulous wonder.
Keep making her laugh,
he thought.

“Yeah, maybe you’re right,” she said, settling back on the couch.

Until she turns the tables on me.

“Wait. Seriously?”

“I really don’t want Allie to be mad. She’ll make my life miserable. Though,” she said, tracing his lips with her finger, “I am pretty tempted.”

“Now I see why Marty always calls you ‘brat.’ I’d like to add ‘tease’ to that list.”

“Oh, that was not teasing you. This,” she said, cupping his erection, “is teasing.”

His eyes closed as she moved her hands along his cock, making it even harder. He felt her move and then her breath was in his ear. “You like it when I tease you.”

No denying that. He groaned as she unfastened his jeans, sliding her hand inside and wrapping those beautiful, long fingers around his aching cock. He turned his head towards hers, regarding her through heavy-lidded eyes. She smiled lazily as she continued to move her hand.

“You’re doing a great job at teasing me.”

“No. I’m not,” she said, resting her head against his for a moment before releasing him.

Could’ve fooled me.

Fuck, he wanted her, wanted to slide inside of her and make her scream in ecstasy.

She seemed to be of the same mind. Standing up, Mia lost her pants and proceeded to straddle him. “Worst tease ever,” she said as she guided him inside her. Mindful of her hair, he held her face and kissed her, possessing her mouth.

Because of her fantastic teasing, he wasn’t going to last long, so he found the little nub of nerves between her legs and worked it—hard. It didn’t take her long before she was crying out, her perfect pussy tightening around him, milking his release from him.

Mia lay spent in his lap, both of them struggling to regain their breath. He rubbed his hands up and down her arms.

“I was right,” he said.

“About?” she asked, barely lifting her head from his shoulder.

“You losing control when we make out.”

She let out a puff of air against his neck and then giggled.

“How right you are!” she exclaimed as she moved off his lap and grabbed her pants.

“Maybe you should listen to me more often . . .”

“You think?” she said, jumping into the skin-tight fabric of her black jeans.

“I do. I know what’s best for you, suga. That body of yours . . . it’s mine.”

“Yes, Ethan,” she answered, leaning down and teasing his lips before she spoke again. “Always will be.”

If only that was the case,
he thought.

After the show, Mia rushed off stage and ran straight into Ethan’s arms with enough force to knock him back against a wall.

“Ready to leave?” he asked, almost saying “Ready to head home,” but stopped himself because even though he still thought of his home as theirs, he didn’t think she did anymore. That realization hurt (what didn’t hurt these days?) and made him want to try even harder to convince her to stay with him.

Nodding at him while grabbing his hand, she pulled him towards her dressing room. She showered and got ready quickly, then she gathered her jacket and bag, and they were finally on their way home.

When they arrived, Ethan led her up to their bedroom. He’d waited months to have her back home, in their bed, her scent covering the sheets. He undressed her with great care, taking his time. Then he proceeded to make the sweetest love to her all night long.

It was emotional for them both. She clung to him as much as he did to her. Tears mingled. Words of love whispered. He would have labeled it perfect, except for one thing—the bittersweet cloud that hung over him. He couldn’t shake the feeling that this could be it. That their time together was coming to an all-too-quick end.

When she woke the next morning, Mia was happier than he had seen her over the past few months. Her good morning smile to him reached her eyes. She then pulled him to her, kissed him and held him long after she ended the kiss.

They didn’t make love that morning, instead hurrying to get ready to head over to Luke’s for brunch to celebrate Kaitlyn’s birthday. It was just the four of them. Mia was so excited to see her. She didn’t want to share the little girl with anyone else.

After the meal, the girls sat on the family room floor. With a look of pure joy on her face, Mia folded her legs beneath her and just enjoyed her time with Kaitlyn, listening to her excitedly talk about everything: her BFF’s, her teachers, her voice lessons. Anything and everything. Kaitlyn asked about all the places Mia had been and Mia whipped out her digital camera and flipped through the pictures, explaining to the little girl what she was seeing. Mia had her enraptured, hanging on to each word out of Mia’s mouth. It was plain to see that she idolized Mia.

A couple hours later, Luke brought out a small cake with seven pink candles as Mia sang Happy Birthday to Kaitlyn. Her voice so beautiful, so pure, like this. This wasn’t for a show. Just for the birthday girl. The love Mia had for her was easy to hear as she sang.

Luke placed the cake in front of Kaitlyn, the girl grinning from ear to ear, then he turned to Mia. “You have such an awful voice. Stop singing,” Luke joked. She rolled her eyes at him and lightly elbowed him in the stomach. He wrapped his arms around her, resting his head on hers as Kaitlyn blew out the candles.

Ethan regarded the love on her face. He loved seeing her with Kaitlyn. She was so good with her. She would make a wonderful mother someday. At that thought, his breathing stopped and an ache grew in his heart, thinking about the five kids they talked about having and how that dream was falling away.

It left him empty.

He abruptly left the room and went quietly to the kitchen, not trusting his emotions at the moment. Once he reached the safety of the kitchen, he ran a frustrated hand through his hair. He leaned back against the counter and exhaled loudly, staring off, trying to empty his mind of Mia in the future, mothering his children.

A constant thought lately had been how unfair all this was. All he wanted was to love her, protect her, support her. But the universe was making that close to impossible. It wasn’t providing any answers and neither was his brain.

Hearing footsteps, he looked up and was thankful that it was only Luke. He really needed some sort of advice.

“Hey, what’s up?” Luke said as he entered the room.

“Obviously, I’m having a moment.”

“About?”

“Who do you think?”

He smiled understandingly. “I guess you’re allowed one of those.”

Luke went to the fridge and grabbed a couple of beers. He returned to Ethan and handed one to him. “Gonna share?”

“She’s going to be a fantastic mom one day,” he stated, scratching his forehead in frustration. “That vision I had of her being the mother of my children is quickly fading away and there really is nothing I can do to stop it. I love her, Luke, and I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to help her. I don’t even know what I’m up against. Something from her past. But I know next to nothing about it. That’s the way she obviously wanted it. I know I could help her if only I knew what it was that hurt her. I’m blind. Dammit!”

“She hasn’t said anything to me other than she has some things to work through. How do you know it involves her past?”

Ethan opened his mouth to answer, but Mia took that moment to enter the kitchen. “I wonder what your daddy and Uncle Ethan are talking about?” Mia said as she came into the room, holding Kaitlyn, the squirt’s legs wrapped around her waist. Ethan ignored her inquiry and held out his arms for that adorable seven-year-old. He lifted her effortlessly from Mia.