Her Sexiest Mistake

that we've got something going on here, enough to share this kind of stuff, but-'

'But we don't.' He stared at her, wondering how he'd forgotten that. 'Right. Sorry.' And he moved out the door without looking back. Going cold turkey, or so he told himself.

No more. He'd had his fill.

Now if only he believed it.

***

The next morning Mia had no hot water. A certain teen had used it all. When she entered the kitchen, the same teen was at the stove.

Flipping something in the pan. 'What are you doing?'

'You might have heard of it,' Hope said, hair wet from all of Mia's hot water. 'It's called cooking.'

'But we just cooked yesterday.'

'We? You mean me and the house in my pocket?' Hope handed her a plate filled with eggs, hash browns, and toast. 'You can't always go out to eat.'

'Why not?' Mia stared down at the food. Fat City. 'You really made all this?'

'Funny thing, a stove. You see it actually heats up, and then-'

'Okay, smart-ass.'

'Eat. It's the breakfast of champions. You'll be able to make more heads roll, you'll feel like a queen, you'll-'

'I get it.' Mia took a bite, and then another.

Hope had her hands on her hips, looking a little like… Oh, God. Without her black makeup, she looked like… Mia swallowed hard. She looked like Mia herself. She swallowed the bite that had suddenly congealed in her mouth and stared, stunned at the realization.

'Is it good?'

'Yeah,' she whispered.

Hope nodded, satisfied to have gotten her way, and went off to get dressed and paint herself up. And when she reappeared, she had her attitude and toughness firmly in place and looked nothing like Mia at all.

Mia sighed in relief and glanced at the calendar by the refrigerator. Two more days.

On the way to work, she cranked the air to combat the already warm day and accessed her messages. There was a client questioning the research budget for their company, another calling for trafficking reports, which would have been ready if she hadn't lost half her creative team. Then Tess's voice came on. 'I want to trade this job for what's behind door number one. Seriously, Mia, why didn't you tell me Dickhead told you I'd come on to Ted? You'd best get in before you have to bail me out for murder.'

Mia shook her head and wondered what the hell Ted was up to now, and drove faster.

'Look at that,' Hope commented dryly from the passenger seat. 'Your breakfast is working. You have the energy this morning to kick ass from the car. Usually it takes three lattes.'

'Hope?'

'Yes?' the girl asked sweetly.

'New rule. No baiting me before ten o'clock.' In the rearview mirror she checked the placement of the collar of her Michael Kors silk top, which was up to help cover the beard rash she'd gotten the night before from Kevin.

Then she noticed Hope was wearing a black T-shirt with a mock turtleneck beneath it. Also black. 'Are you crazy? You're going to melt.'

Hope fiddled with the neckline but said nothing.

Suspicion filled Mia, and reaching out, she peeled the neck of the material away from the kid.

'Hey!' She slapped Mia's hand away, but not before Mia saw the evidence.

'Damn it, you have a hickey!'

Hope crossed her arms over her chest and slunk into the seat. 'So?'

Mia pulled up to the teen center and turned to Hope. 'So sex can be as bad for your health as cigarettes.'

'Jeez, I'm not having sex!'

'You're not?'

'No, Aunt Apple, that would be you.' She flicked at Mia's collar, revealing Kevin's whisker burns.

They stared at each other, Hope's gaze filling with a slow, seething resentment.

'Okay,' Mia said, fixing her collar again. 'Okay, listen. Maybe we both need to slow down a little.'

'I'm not the one with the false accusations, thank you very much.'

'I mean in general. Maybe try to be less… worldly, and more… tolerant of each other.'

Hope arched a brow. 'You're going to be more tolerant?'

'Hey, I will if you will.'

Hope's nose nearly hit the top of the Audi. 'I'm perfectly tolerant.'

'Then what's with all the screwing with the music, the phones lines, the ice makers of the world? You're practically shouting Look at me, I need attention!'

Hope rolled her eyes. 'Fine. Maybe I could be slightly more tolerant of your life.'

That seemed too easy, and Mia eyed her a moment. 'So you're going to stay out of trouble today?'

'Yeah.' Hope was staring at the high school. 'I wish I could take summer school.'

'You'll be home this weekend. By Monday you can be signed up-'

'Here. I want to take the science class here. With Kevin. He said I could add it-'

'Hold on.' Mia removed her seat belt and turned in her seat to face Hope. 'You talked to Kevin about this?'

'Well, yeah. He said it was no big deal to add-'

No big deal? Jesus. What did he know of her life? Or the additional stress this would cause? 'Hope,' she said gently. 'You're going home this weekend.'

'Right.' Hope looked down at her clenched hands. 'Because you hate having me here.'

'Now, listen-'

'No, I get it. Loud and clear. Nice tolerance, Aunt Apple.' She opened the passenger door and sprinted out toward the teen center.

'Hope!'

But the kid didn't stop.

Mia watched her go, thinking she was getting good at alienating people. Real good.

Chapter 15

At the teen center, Kevin paced his office and looked at his watch. Again. There was a staff meeting this morning with a couple members of the board, who were in the kitchen getting their coffee, waiting for Kevin. And Mike. In less than sixty seconds, Mike was going to be late. Damn it, he'd woken him up with plenty of time to get here, and now-

The door opened. Mike poked his head in. Smiled, though it didn't quite meet his eyes.

Kevin let out the breath he'd been holding and pointed to his watch.

Mike lifted his wrist. Sorry, no watch.

Kevin shook his head. You've got to get it together.