All he did was raise an eyebrow. Just one, but it did the trick. Warm heat flushed through her and the air left her lungs in a whoosh.
“I like what you’re thinking, Mia,” he said, relieving her of the clothes and gesturing for her to lead the way up the last flight of stairs to their room. As she took the first step, he looped his arm around her middle and pulled her back hard against him. “And the way you feel.” She gasped as he pushed against her from behind, moving his hand to cup her breast, then put his lips to her ear. “I particularly like it that you screamed when you came.”
She glanced around to find the staircase behind them empty, thank goodness.
“Just me,” he said, stroking his thumb over her taught nipple and pulling her back even tighter against him. “You and me for hours.”
“Yes.” The response came unbidden from deep inside somewhere. Yes was all she had for this man.
He released her and she straightened, reluctant to look at him for fear he’d see just how lost in him she was. How much she wanted this…him. So instead of looking back, she climbed the stairs and opened their bedroom door, only to almost be knocked backwards the minute the door bumped into the bed.
“Clancy!” she said, catching the doorframe for balance. “Glad to see you, too.”
…
It was hard to be irritated by something so obviously pleased to see him. The dog circled Michael’s legs, wagging its tail like crazy.
“I’ll take him out,” Mia said, pulling the leash off the back of the doorknob. As he studied her face, he noticed she’d lost the fire she’d had moments before. It was as if seeing the dog had reminded her of their “business only” arrangement and her commitment to not getting hurt again. He had no clue what to do. He’d thought they were past this. She took a deep, resigned breath and snapped the leash on the collar. “That was our agreement from the start. The deal was you’d give me a place to stay and would come to the wedding with me if I took care of the dog at night.”
Oh, no fucking way. She was not going back to this business only routine after they’d come this far. He dropped the clothes on the floor and spun her to face him directly. “Here’s the deal, Mia. There is no deal. That all changed when I…” He stopped himself before he actually said it.
An odd look crossed her face. “All of that changed when you what?”
When I fell in love with you. But he couldn’t say the words—not when she looked so hurt and honestly, horrified. He’d thought she felt the same way, but apparently he’d read it wrong.
She crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m pretty sure where this conversation is going, but I’m also sure this is not the time or place to have it. If you are backing out of the deal now because of what happened in that closet, then I really underestimated you. And me, I guess.” She handed him the leash. “You walk the dog. I’m going to shower.”
Clancy tugged at the leash and whined. Wait. She thought he was calling off their deal because of sex? “You misunderstood.”
“Clearly,” she said, picking up the clothes from the floor, then turning sideways to squeeze into the room. The door closed with a click and Clancy whined again.
Sonofabitch. He looked down at Clancy at his feet, still pulling on the leash. What the fuck was he supposed to do now? She’d jumped to the absolute wrong conclusion.
The dog pulled harder and barked. First things first.
Clancy took care of business right away, but Michael figured he should come up with a strategy for dealing with the confusion before he returned to the room.
Think on the why, not only the what. It was his usual mantra when coming up with pitch strategies. The what in this case was obvious: Mia thought that now they’d had sex, he was done with their agreement. Though, in his mind, that was a pretty big leap for her considering how the weekend had been going so far.
“Why, Clancy?” he asked the dog sitting next to him on the bench on the bed and breakfast porch. “Why did she make that leap when it wasn’t logical?”
She was impulsive—and while he loved that about her, it was also a pain in the ass. Clancy stared back at him as if he understood every word he was saying. “Human relationships are not logical,” he continued. “You’re lucky you’re a dog.” Clancy’s tail tapped on the bench as he gave a commiserative wag.
“Why?” he asked again. Because she was returning to past habits. Self-doubt. And it had happened to her multiple times. No sex-first relationships was her non-negotiable rule, and something in what he’d said, or not said, or maybe nothing but her own fear, had led her to believe that was exactly what had happened.
It probably wasn’t his fault she’d misread the conversation, but it would be his fault if he didn’t straighten it out. This was a deal he planned to land, even if it meant losing a little control. He couldn’t let her go.