CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Grayson

I lay in the bed holding Mia, her back to my chest, my arm wrapped snugly around her, the electronic panels on the windows sealing out any ray of the new day surely upon us; the day Mia goes back to work with Ri. I tighten my grip on her and in this moment, I’m split between heaven and hell. Heaven is having her back here in my life, in our home, in our bed. Hell is letting her go back to work today. I don’t trust Ri. And I know Mia, she’s all heart and passion for those she cares about and I know damn well no matter what promise she makes me about protecting herself, she’s going to be tempted to put me first. It’s part of what makes her, her. It’s part of what made losing her so damn painful. She loves with all her heart and you feel it as deeply as she gives it.

“You’re awake,” Mia says, and that voice, so sweet with the hint of a rasp, always undoes me, but then everything about this woman undoes me.

“I’m awake,” I say softly, leaning in and kissing her neck. “You shouldn’t be. It’s still early.”

She reaches for the remote and turns on the bedside light to a low glow before rolling around to face me, her hand settling on my cheek. “Please tell me you slept,” she says. “Because I did. I did because I’m home with you.”

My hand goes to her hip and I pull her to me. “It was the best night I’ve had since the last time you were home in our bed.”

“You didn’t sleep,” she accuses, not accepting my attempt at avoidance any more than she ever did. I mean how many times in the early days of our relationship did this woman look at me when I gave her a cookie cutter answer and call me on it?

I have a brief flashback of sitting across from her sharing our first pizza and her asking me, “Why are you thirty-five and still single if your mom and dad were so happily married?”

“I don’t believe in marriage.”

She studies me a moment and then says, “I’m sorry.”

I frown at the odd reply. “What?”

“Everyone thinks your kind of money makes everything better, but it really does come with complications, doesn’t it?”

“Yes,” I find myself admitting. “It does.”

“I don’t want your money or a ring. I don’t want to be bought. I just want to be here, right now, in the moment. It’s okay if you want to really be here with me, I don’t expect anything from you, Grayson. I won’t become a problem for you later.” She lifts the slice of pizza in her hand. “And this is a pretty good moment. Best pizza ever.”

“Grayson.”

I blink Mia back into view.

“Where are you right now?” she asks.

“Still with you, baby. I was just thinking about how good you are at calling me on my bullshit, even from the very beginning. That first night over pizza.”

“Mr. I don’t believe in marriage because it means everyone wants my money,” she says, proving she knows exactly what I’m referencing. She laughs and sobers quickly. “And for the most part, they do want your money and your success. Ri is successful and wealthy but it’s not enough because it’s not what you have. Honestly, once I saw the magnitude of how much people want and want and want from you, I don’t know how you ever let me inside.”

“You didn’t give me any other choice,” I say, stroking a strand of hair from her eyes. “You took me by storm, Mia, and you still do. Truthfully, it’s a relief to have someone I trust, someone who really knows me. You’re the only one who does.”

“Eric knows you. You trust him.”

“Not in the way I do you. Not with everything.”

She sucks in air. “And then I left.”

I pull her closer, driven by emotions only this woman drags from me. “You’re here now. That’s what matters, but Mia, I cannot lose you again. I was laying here thinking about how hard it’s going to be for you to step back and let me handle this.”

“I promised you—”

“I know, and I know you meant it, too, but I also know you, baby. You will want to protect me and you won’t walk away from the chance. I can’t be pissed at you for wanting to protect me.”

“You were last night.”

“No,” I say. “You read me right. I was pissed about you leaving. I was pissed that Ri is putting us through this.”

“And that I let him.”

“You’re human, Mia. I can forgive you if you can forgive me.”

“That’s the first time I think you actually said you’d forgive me.”

“I forgive you. Forgive me.”

“For what?” she asks.

“I did try to fuck you out of my system and I know you’re going to think about that but I wasn’t going to lie to you. I should have recoiled to lick my wounds. I should have fought harder.”

“Okay, you can stop blaming yourself any minute now because I’m not blaming you.”

“Let’s make a pact right now. It’s over. We’re together. We’re not going to place blame.”

“And yet we’re flawed.”

“We are flawed, Mia, beautifully, perfectly flawed in the way all humans are flawed. Perfect is an impossible façade to maintain. Love me for my imperfections, not my perfection, because perfection isn’t real, and real is what you wanted from me, right?”

“Yes,” she says, her voice cracking, eyes watering. “That’s exactly what I’ve always wanted from you.”

I lean in, my hand on her head, my lips near hers. “You got it, baby. All of me, completely me. Now,” I brush my lips over hers, “what are you going to do with me?”

My cellphone rings at that moment and we both groan. I try to pull away and she catches my hand and presses her cheek to mine, her lips at my ear. “Lick you all over.”

Now I groan and if I could just let her make good on that promise, I would, but I can’t. Not this morning. I pull back, kiss her thoroughly and roll away to grab my phone from the nightstand right as it stops ringing. I’m just checking caller ID to find Eric’s number when he calls again. “Eric,” I answer.

“We’ll be there in half an hour. I just thought after you and Mia reunited you might need a wake-up call.”

“I assure you that this is not a morning that makes me want to sleep. Stay in bed and fuck, yes, but Mia isn’t going to let that happen.”

Mia leans over me and calls out, “Morning, Eric,” completely unfazed by the conversation—but then Eric is like a brother to her so why would she be?

Eric chuckles. “Morning, Mia,” he calls out and she kisses my shoulder and rolls away, the bed shifting as she gets up and heads to the bathroom.

“I need to go,” I say, realizing that I haven’t finished my talk with Mia over today and time is ticking. “Mia and I need to talk before you get here.”

“Understood.” We disconnect and I walk into the bathroom to find the shower on and Mia inside.

I strip out of my pajama bottoms and don’t even hesitate to join her. She turns to face me, naked, wet and beautiful but I’m not distracted. I pull her to me, turn her, and press her to the wall. “I will not let you go today if I don’t feel good about the plan in place. You will not fight me on this. Promise me, Mia.”

“I never fight with you unless we’re alone and I’m not going to start now. I have no desire to end up dead. I’ll listen to what you think.”

“Good, and if I let you go, try baby, try with all your might to remember your promise. Let me handle, Ri. Walk away so you don’t end up dead. Don’t think about me behind bars. I do have a shit ton of money and resources so that’s not going to happen. I promise you.”

“You don’t know what he has on you.”

“Mia—”

“I promise,” she says. “I do. I don’t want to screw up and lose us again.”

I cup her face. “Say it again.”

“I promise. I don’t want to—”

I kiss her and drag her with me under the water, wishing like hell I had time to fuck her this morning and she doesn’t make my willpower any stronger. Her hand wraps the thick ridge of my now rock-hard cock. “I think I need to remind you just how right here with you I am, Grayson.”

“Later, baby. We’re about to have a houseful of people.”

“I don’t think this will take long.” She goes down on her knees just outside the spray, and holy fuck, her tongue licks the water off my cock and then she’s suckling and licking and pumping. I don’t even try to maintain my willpower. I haven’t had this woman’s mouth on me in far too long. My hands go to her hair and I hold on perhaps too tightly but Mia has always liked that part of me that can’t hold back with her, perhaps because she knows she’s the only one that does that to me.

She sucks, and now I move with her, and she’s right, it doesn’t take long before I shudder with release, and she suckles me until it’s over. When it is, she’s made her point. She’s back. We’re back. And damn, it’s good. Too good to let that fucking little bitch Ri get in the way again. And he did get in the way of me and Mia, and for that, he will pay like I have not ever made anyone pay.