Her Sexiest Mistake

'Hey,' he said in a voice that made her yearn, and adapted his stride to hers.

She knew she was strong, but she couldn't help herself. 'I, um, missed you.'

He tripped, then caught himself. 'Excuse me?'

'You heard me.'

'I suppose I did.' He let out a smile. 'I just wanted to hear it again.'

He looked at her and she looked right back, drinking in all the details, the sheen of his several-day-old stubble, the shadows beneath his eyes that said he wasn't as laid-back and happy as he seemed, the planes and angles of his face, the sexy line of his jaw.

The piercing eyes that saw right to her soul. 'If you missed me,' he said, 'you knew how to fix that.'

'One would think. But apparently, smart as I am in some areas, I'm a little slow in others.'

He didn't correct that, and they jogged along.

He wanted more from her, and she struggled to give it. 'Sugar wants Hope back.'

'Does she?'

'Yeah. Best news I've had in weeks,' she quipped, then could have bit her tongue. Why did she do that?

Seeing right through her, he slanted her a long look but didn't speak. They ran in silence past the park on the right and onto a trail leading into the woods, where there was no development, just trees and wild growth on either side of them. The rain was coming down harder now, cooling her overheated body.

'I'm sorry,' she said, gasping for breath. 'That back there, about Hope. I lied. I'm going to miss her like hell. Kevin… I'm sorry I hurt you.'

'Me, too.'

She nodded, not liking the terrifyingly final tone to his voice. She took them off the trail, into the woods.

'Hey,' he called, following her. 'Where are you going?'

She kept running. Hoping he followed.

'Mia, I have to get to work…'

She kept running. Please follow me.

'Well, as long as it fits into your schedule, Ms. Gotta Do Everything Her Way or the Highway,' he muttered.

Finally she stopped and, huffing for air, turned to face him. 'See, now this is why you shouldn't pour your heart out to people. They'll use your personality traits against you.'

He made a sound that might have been a laugh or a snort of agreement, but it was cut off when she pushed him back against a tree. 'You're going to ruin your shoes,' he warned. 'Isn't that a crime in Mia-land?'

'Ha ha.' She knew they were surrounded by suburbia, and yet it was hard to believe it in here. Craggy rocks and tall pines and oaks were interspersed with patches of high bush and crevasses. They were isolated enough, with no one else around for what felt like miles.

'Mia-'

She held him to the tree, her palms slapping up against the tough, damp sinew of his chest. It shouldn't have turned her on but it did. He did. She had a feeling he could just stand there breathing and he would arouse her. 'Listen to me.'

'I've been listening to you for weeks,' he said. 'Want to know what you've been saying? 'Do me, Kevin.' 'Do me and then walk away, Kevin.' 'Don't get attached.' 'Don't try to get to know more.' 'Don't love me.' Well, fuck it, Mia. Whether you like it or not, I've done all those things, and I'm done. Cooked. DOA.'

She stared up at him in shock. 'You… love me?'

'Have you been paying attention at all?'

Spots swam in her vision, and from far away she heard him swear as he reversed their positions so that he pressed her back against the tree, holding her there with his body. Rain plastered his hair to his head, dripped off his nose, his chin.

'That night at the restaurant… I convinced myself you didn't really, that you couldn't…' She gulped in air, held it.

'Breathe, damn it.'

'Hold me. Please-just hold me.'

He swore; then his hand skimmed down to the backs of her legs, where he lifted her up. His erection pressed into her, and despite the wet, she sighed in pleasure. 'Oh,' she breathed, her head falling back against the tree so that the raindrops fell on her face.

'Yeah, oh.' He did not look or sound nearly as soft and relieved as she felt, and she lifted her head. His eyes were dark, his face taut, his mouth grim. Angry, frustrated. Turned on.

'Here,' she gasped. 'Please, here.'

'I'm more than this,' he ground out. 'I have to be more than this to you.'

'Yes-God!' She gasped when his fingers dipped between her legs, beneath the edge of her panties. He stroked one long finger right over her while she thunked her head back against the tree.

'We're back where I promised myself I wouldn't g°-'

With effort, she lifted her head and blinked past the now heavy rain to focus his face. 'Kevin-'

'Yeah. You know what I think? I think sex with me is safe for you. Short, fast, and damn good.' Another stroke and she arched into him. 'But when it comes to more, no can do. Wonder why that is, wonder what you're afraid of? That I'll see the real you?' His gaze swept down her body, flushed and damp with perspiration, with rain. 'News flash, Mia. I've seen the real you. I've always seen the real you.'

Unbelieavably touched, Mia closed her eyes.

'You're passionate, smart, sharp as hell, and damn funny when you want to be. You'd give a perfect stranger a room in your home, even when you don't open yourself easily. Yes,' he said when she began to shake her head in denial. 'You'd give a friend your entire savings account.'

He knew about that? She'd kill Tess later.

'And yet you'd go to great lengths to hide what you think are your faults so that someone who means something to you won't turn away. Goddamn, Mia, do you think I don't know your faults?'

'Well-'

'You're bullheaded, opinionated, and you swear like a sailor.'

She squirmed, braced for more, but he shook his head and murmured, 'I don't give a shit about any of that. I love you anyway.'

The words, uttered with frustration, with anger and heat, with utter bare-soul honesty, made her gasp.

'Yeah,' he growled. 'And I know that thrills the hell out of you.'

She clutched at him, rain falling on her face, his hands in her shorts, still stroking her. 'Kevin… I don't know what you want from me.'

'You. You, Mia, without me pushing, goading, prodding to find that you beneath your protective layer. Let me in, goddamnit.'

'In?' she cried, overwhelmed by the emotion she'd been holding at bay since… since forever. 'No one wants in. They want me to be strong, be in charge, they want me to be a team player. But I'm not! Do you hear me? I'm not any of those things really, I'm just me. Plain Mia Appleby, who can put a spin on anything, including a damn fine facade. Don't you get it? I don't know how to let you in.' She sank her fingers into his hair and tightened her grip, nose-to-nose with him, furious, upset, and far too close to tears. 'I'm giving you all I can, but it's not enough! I should have never brought you cookies that first night-'

'Damn right you shouldn't have,' he growled, hands clasped on her bottom to hold her in place. 'Or come knocking on my door the next night, and the one after that, looking like sin personified, promising all sorts of things with those gorgeous, wounded eyes, things that had nothing to do with what we give each other in the deep, dark of the night.'