Her Sexiest Mistake

getaway car?'

'You think I have that much talent?'

'Honey, I know it.' She pulled away from the curb. Silly to be wishing she'd caught even a little glimpse of Kevin. She didn't need a glimpse of the man.

But, God, she did. Today she really did, even if he was imprinted on her brain, the whole tall, lean, rangy length of him, with those smiling eyes and wicked smile… Yeah, probably a mind-blowing orgasm from him would be greatly beneficial in lowering her stress level. 'The house should be cleaned and ready, I had a service come in today.'

Hope nodded and said nothing.

They drove home in silence, with Hope not noticing-or caring-that Mia had an elephant of panic in the car with them. 'Yeah, I had a great day, thanks,' Mia said as Hope left the car and walked ahead of her into the house.

Mia just shook her head and felt her phone vibrating in her pocket. Tempted to answer it and agree to take her job back, pride be damned, she shut the thing off entirely. 'You hungry?' she asked Hope as they went inside.

The girl had headed for the stairs, but went still. 'Um… no.' She looked down, her expression giving out a big warning to Mia.

'What?' Mia asked. 'Look, are you sure you didn't blow up the teen center or something?'

'Okay, you caught me. I'm in cahoots with Satan, and occasionally I blow up entire teen centers just for fun.'

'You know what? Go ahead, step on my last nerve, see if I care. My head is only about ready to blow off my shoulders at the moment.'

'It's always ready to blow,' Hope pointed out.

'Today I mean it.'

Hope rolled her eyes.

'Now what did I tell you about doing that? Speaking of which, could you stop telling people I'm threatening you with physical violence? It makes the other parents a little anxious, and I wouldn't want you to lose out on friends on my account.'

Hope's smile vanished. 'I don't have any friends.'

'Gee, really? With your warm, soft attitude? Imagine that.'

Hope went taut as a bow, and Mia could have smacked herself upside the head. This was one of those tread- carefully moments that Tess had told her about, where bull-in-a-china-shop Mia wasn't needed, but a gentler, kinder Mia. 'Okay, listen. I had a bad day. I'm sorry.'

'No, you're right.' Hope's face crumpled and she sat on the step, burying her face in her hands. 'I got Adam suspended and now all the kids hate me. God, I hate boys! Every one of them are worthless and annoying.'

Mia climbed the stairs and heavily sat down next to her. 'Actually not all men are worthless and annoying. Some are dead.'

Hope let out a sound that might have been a snort of agreement, or a sob.

Mia lifted a hand to touch her, then let it fall back at her side, but another sound came from Hope, a definite sob this time. 'The hell with it,' Mia muttered and scooted closer, wrapping an arm around Hope's skinny shoulders, feeling a little like crying herself. If there was a worse day since the one all those years ago when she'd driven herself west and never looked back, she couldn't remember it-and there'd been some pretty bad ones, especially in the beginning.

They sat that way for a long moment, silent, miserable, with Mia wishing things were different, that she could actually help make things better for Hope, or at least take away her misery. She cared about the kid, damn it, far more than she'd thought possible.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door. Mia lifted her head hopefully, thinking maybe it was Kevin. He could fix this; he could fix anything. But the damn truth was she just wanted to see him. 'Just a minute,' she whispered to Hope and got up.

A tall, skinny, dark-haired kid stood on her doorstep. 'Hi,' he said, his Adam's apple bobbing. 'Um, is Hope home?'

Mia looked over her shoulder. Still out of view on the stairs, Hope lifted her head, swiped quickly at her tears, and rose to her feet. 'Cole?' she said, and came down the stairs.

He flashed her an uncertain grin that for some reason endeared him to Mia. 'I just thought I'd see if you wanted to do tonight's science project with me.'

Hope had black makeup smeared beneath her reddened eyes. Her hair had fallen out of its ponytail. She looked young, uncertain, and adorable, and right then and there, like the last piece of a puzzle falling into place, Mia fell the rest of the way in love with her.

'I don't know if we can,' Hope said and jammed her hands into her pockets.

They both looked at Mia. 'It's homework, right?'

Hope nodded.

'Well, then what a perfect way to torture you.'

Hope rolled her eyes but couldn't hide her pleasure. The two of them started to walk into the kitchen, but the doorbell rang again.

Mia opened the door and this time was caught utterly by surprise at the sight of Kevin. Wearing jeans and a white T-shirt, he looked so good she stood there for a startled second, just taking him in.

He didn't help the situation any by shooting her his smile, the one that always went straight to her throat. He lifted a bottle of wine. 'So what's cooking?'

She couldn't have heard him right. 'Cooking?'

'Uh oh,' Hope said behind her.

Mia turned to look at her. 'Uh oh what?'

Hope rolled her lips inward. 'Can I, like, talk to you for a minute?' Without waiting for a reply, she came forward and pulled Mia into the hall, out of hearing range. 'Okay, listen, this isn't going to go over well, but just remember, I was looking to piss you off.'

Mia crossed her arms. 'Keep talking.'

Hope winced. 'I sort of told him you were cooking him dinner.'

'You what?'

'Shh.' Hope put her hand over Mia's mouth. 'I'm sorry,' she said earnestly. 'I was being a stupid teenager, okay? I was mad because everyone in the world was happy except me.'

Mia pulled her hand from her mouth. 'Oh, no, you don't. You read that in my Cosmo mag. Ten Reasons Why Teens Act Out.'

'Yeah, but it nearly worked on you, I could tell.'

Mia paced the hall. 'Damn it! This day was a total waste of makeup.' Sighing, she looked at Hope. 'You told him I'd cook him dinner, knowing that I'd rather have a root canal without drugs?'

Hope grimaced. Nodded. 'See, you were all disappointed in me, and I decided I liked it better when you were mad.'

'You know, that's just twisted enough that I believe you.' Mia took a deep breath. 'Okay, in the kitchen. Get started. I'll meet you there.'

'Why don't I just tell him-'

'Oh, no! Are you kidding? Never admit your mistakes! Not to a man! Now move it-we have some major deception ahead of us. You know when you mentioned being in cahoots with Satan? You were just kidding, right?'

***

Kevin heard the frantic whispers and murmurs coming from the kitchen and glanced questioningly at Cole. The kid lifted his shoulder.

Kevin moved closer to the kitchen door.