Ashley puckered her lips into a pout. Before he knew what was happening, she had hooked a leg over his hips and was straddling his lap. In seconds, the short dress that she was wearing was over her head and lying in the floor. Holy shit! There was no bra in sight. Her perfectly erect ni**les were now even with his mouth, and his c**k was going crazy beneath her firm bottom. She rubbed seductively against him as she lowered her head to whisper in his ear, “Forget the scores, the bases are loaded. It’s your swing.”
Seth knew he lost control for a few seconds before he managed to get it together. As a guy, having the sensory overload of a naked female in your lap pushing every button that you have was something damn hard to regroup from. Her hands on his c**k finally jolted him enough to pull back and at what he saw when he did, ice ran straight through his veins. Mia stood in the entryway of the living room looking at him in horror. His mind was frantically buzzing, trying to piece together how she could be here to witness what was no doubt a damning scene. He pushed Ashley’s hands roughly away from him, sitting her none too gently on the couch beside him. Possibly that hadn’t been a great move since Mia couldn’t miss Ashley’s exposed br**sts now. She was still staring at him, but her feet were carrying her backward as if she couldn’t look away from the train wreck long enough to turn around and flee. He got to his feet, ignoring Ashley’s questions as he made his way toward Mia.
He was afraid she would run before he reached her, but she had stopped, waiting for him. The confident woman that he was used to looked more like a confused child, causing something inside of him to clench in remorse. “Mia, honey, what are you doing here?” Yeah, shit, that didn’t sound guilty at all.
“I . . . we finished early. I wanted to surprise you tonight. I . . . did, didn’t I?”
He took her arm, gently saying, “This isn’t what it looks like. She . . . um . . . caught me off guard. It wasn’t going any further.” Ashley’s roar of outrage rang off the walls of his apartment and seemed to snap Mia out of her trance.
She jerked her arm out of his and gave him a look of such contempt that he flinched. “Do me a favor and don’t lie to me. I’m sure you fully planned to sleep with her tonight and with me tomorrow night.” She laughed a laugh devoid of humor. “You know, I had actually started to believe the last few weeks that you were someone of substance. I pushed myself and the entire team to finish early because I thought there was something . . . more between us. Thanks for the wake-up call.”
Seth felt her words flaying him. Despite the anger now radiating off her in waves, he could see tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. “Mia . . .”
She held up her hand, stopping him. Her anger seemed to have fled as fast as it had erupted. She held his gaze for another moment before saying, “Just don’t, Seth, please. You don’t owe me anything . . . anything at all. I saw something that obviously wasn’t there, at least on your part.” With those parting words, she walked through the foyer and into the elevator. As the doors closed, he stood there stunned by what had just happened. He had the very real urge to pinch himself to see if this was some kind of a dream. He still couldn’t fathom her showing up out of nowhere at the exact moment that Ashley was sitting on him practically naked.
“Fuck,” he muttered. He turned to find Ashley slipping her dress back over her head. He knew things were just as bad as he thought when she walked toward him with a look of pity in her eyes.
“Seth, if you had told me beforehand that you were involved with someone, this would have never happened. I may be many things, but I’m not the other woman. I don’t have to be.” Her look of pity turned to a look of disgust in the blink of an eye. “You really hurt that woman. You should have manned up and broken up with her instead of letting her see something like that.” For the second time in so many minutes, another pissed-off female stalked to his elevator and left.
Unfucking believable. Ashley, who had removed her clothing and shoved her tongue in his mouth and her hand down his pants, was his judge and jury. Mia, whom he had slept with once, had looked heartbroken. Even as he tried to convince himself that he wasn’t in the wrong, a part of him was torn up over what had happened. It was obvious that she had seen more happening between them than casual sex. If he were honest, hadn’t he started to feel that way as well? Dammit, Ashley was right; he could have prevented this whole mess if he had just leveled with her. He had kept their dinner date to prove that he wasn’t tied down to anyone.
His denial of his growing feelings for Mia was to blame for everything that had happened tonight. He didn’t want to accept that he could be feeling something more than lust for someone he had only met a month ago. Things like that just didn’t happen to him. He had let his guard down for a brief time when he met Beth and look how that had turned out. Mia scared him shitless and he hated that out-of-control feeling. He wasn’t sure it even mattered anymore. The look on her face when she left didn’t bode well. He needed a few days to figure out what his next move would be. One of his brother Ash’s favorite sayings came to mind: Piss or get off the pot. He couldn’t think of anything that fit the situation more. He was either all in or he would have to walk away from her.