Never again. If he could work on his temper, then she could work on her pride. She should have kicked his ass after what he’d said, not walked away.
Case pounded into her, angling up and hitting that sweet spot that sent her reeling all over again. Tears poured from her eyes, her heart so full of love for him as she went flying for the second time. Pleasure crashed over her and she felt Case stiffen behind, calling out her name.
He finally slumped down, his body collapsing on hers.
Mia groaned because that was so not comfy.
Case chuckled and kissed her cheek. “I’ll free you in a minute. Just give me a second when I know you can’t run away from me.”
“I won’t, Case. If you want me, I’m all in, but you better believe there’s not going to be a quickie Vegas wedding.”
He rubbed his cheek against hers like a large predatory and affectionate cat. “But Vegas is so nice and quick. And I want to be married by the time we head to New York and help your brothers. We can do it in between rescuing my brother and making sure yours don’t kill themselves. You know when you think about it, our families are really pains in the ass.”
She couldn’t disagree with that, but she did have another pain in the ass to deal with. “How long do I have to wear this thing?”
He kissed her again. “Go and get in the shower and we’ll take it out, but next time you have to wear it for a lot longer. I want to fuck that pretty ass someday.” He sighed. “I love you, Mia.”
“I love you. I’m glad you decided to leave me those messages and I’m glad Riley decided I was being stubborn and saved them.”
He went still. “Tell me he didn’t listen to them.”
Her arms were starting to ache. “He didn’t.”
She’d promised not to run away. She’d never promised not to tell little white lies that would save her ass.
Case rolled off her. “Damn it. Maybe I’ll let him die in New York. But as for you, I haven’t even gotten started yet. Let’s get you cleaned up so we can get dirty again. And by the way, you’re staying here tonight. You’re actually staying with me forever so if you don’t like this place, we should look for another one.”
She sighed in relief as he started to unwind the rope that held her. “I’m good with anything, babe. But you should know we’ll be staying in the most gorgeous place on the Upper West Side when we get to New York. It’s going to ruin you forever.”
She’d worked with a real estate agent to find their base of operations in the city. And now it would feel like home because Case would be there with her.
“Well, considering I grew up in a trailer, it’s going to be an adventure.”
She was looking forward to the experience.
Case watched Mia wrap a robe around her body as she stepped out of the bathroom. Her hair was still wet, but her skin glowed.
He’d put that look on her face.
How could he feel so damn settled? He was taking her to Africa in the morning. They were going into something dangerous and he wasn’t sure he would succeed, but here he was just hours away from the most important mission of his life and he had a dumb grin on his face. “You sure you’re okay with pizza?”
She stepped out of the room, but he could hear her voice floating in from the hall. “Yes, but you have to put some veggies on it.”
It was wrong. Pizza was supposed to be meat and cheese, but he could make the sacrifice. Mushrooms were sort of veggies. They would have to have a long talk if she was one of those people who put spinach or olives on a perfectly good pizza.
He went to grab his phone and noticed he had two voice mails. One from Michael and one from a number he didn’t recognize. Damn. How had he missed a call from Michael? Oh, yeah, he’d been balls deep in his almost wife, and that distracted him from everything. He quickly pushed the number to retrieve the voice mail and Michael’s voice came over the line.
“Hey, nothing to worry about, but I did get that video footage you asked for. It’s weird. I think he’s trying to avoid the cameras for some reason. He got off on the fourth floor but then took the stairs up to eight. That’s the floor the common room is on. There’s a gym and a big meeting room on that floor. He caught the elevator there, but it wasn’t the main elevator. It was the one that leads to the penthouse opposite from me.”
Michael had moved recently. He’d purchased a condo in Victory Park that he damn straight couldn’t afford because of his McKay-Taggart salary. Michael came from a super-rich oil family. The Malones were Texas royalty, but it was easy to forget how much money Michael came from due to his laid-back personality. He’d bought the place because he could share the top floor of the exclusive building with his cousin, Simon Weston and Simon’s wife, Chelsea.