Before he knew it, Friday arrived. Max sat in an uncomfortable chair at the testing center for the DMV, checking his watch for the tenth time, anxiously awaiting Mia’s return with the instructor. It was bad enough he worried about her passing the test, and worse that she’d used his Challenger to take the test, but he wasn’t going to let her use the shitty cars they had on-hand for teenagers. She was going to drive a vehicle he trusted. He had taken her out yesterday evening one final time, and she’d done well.

When he’d checked into it a week ago, he thought she would have to get a permit first, but he managed to persuade a few people, by giving a generous donation, that if she passed the driving part of the test, she could skip the permit and get her license. There was nothing like using his money to cheat the system. It could’ve been used to do a lot worse than help his wife get her driver’s license.

The real surprise was what awaited her that weekend if she did pass.

His cell went off in his pocket, and he tugged it out, grinning when he saw it was his sister. “Stephanie? Where are you this time?”

“Closer to home than you think,” she said through happy laughter. “Flying into Seattle this weekend. Think you’ll be around? You know Mom won’t let me bunk with them.”

If Stephanie stayed with him, Mia would have to move to his bedroom—not that she hadn’t spent the last two nights in his bed, anyway. “Yeah, I will be, and I’ll make sure Jeremy gives up the guest room. You can finally meet my wife.”

“I guess I can. What’s her name again?”

“Mia, and she’s quite a catch,” Max said without thinking.

“Uh huh. You feeling all right?”

Max huffed. “Perfectly, why?”

“No reason. I’m just curious to meet the woman who dragged my brother out of the crazy life he was living. I’ll be in Saturday morning.”

“Text me when you land if you need a ride,” he told her. “I’m glad you’re home.”

“Me too, at least for a little while. It won’t be for long, though, so don’t get used to it. Gotta go, bro, see you tomorrow!”

She hung up before he could even say bye, and he tucked his cell away, shaking his head. After last night’s romp with Mia, which left them both giddy and exhausted after testing out several new positions and seeing what else she was up for trying, Max searched for an excuse to move her permanently into his bedroom. His sister coming into town would be the perfect reason. He only hoped she would say yes.

The doors to the room opened and a familiar laugh met his ears. “Max!” Mia cried and ran through the room, leaping into his waiting arms as he stood in time to catch her. “I passed! I did it!”

His laughter joined hers as he picked her up off her feet and kissed her, not caring who saw. “Told you. So, dinner to celebrate, then?”

“Just have to finish the paperwork first.” Once she was finished, he held her hand as they left the room, waiting for her to pull away, but she leaned into his side instead and he grinned, watching the looks they received as they left. “Where are we going? Can I drive?”

She dangled the keys in front of his face and he took them. “Maybe tomorrow we’ll go out bumming around, but tonight is for you, and I’m going to be your chauffeur. You didn’t get to eat at the pub when you were there. How about we go there?”

Mia’s worries became evident again in her bottom lip and her stance. “You sure that’s a good idea?”

“I’ll be by your side the whole night,” he promised. “Let someone try to mess with you and see what happens.” He offered her his arm, and they walked to the car she’d parked perfectly along the curb. “Nicely done, and you should know, no one gets to drive my car.”

“Telling me I should feel special, stud?” she asked with a wink as he opened her door.

He caught her before she sank into her seat and brushed his lips against hers. “Always.”

She blinked a few times and he grinned. The effect he had on her was beyond just outward reactions. The flicker of want flaring to life in her stormy gaze and the way her breathing quickened just slightly was enough to tell him she wanted to tackle him to the sidewalk just as much as he wanted to drag her into the back seat of his car and have his way with her.

The sun was down by the time they reached the pub across the city and parked in the back. Neither said a word as they drove, and his hand was permanently attached to her thigh. The clock read seven o’clock, and he’d texted Jeremy earlier to meet them at the pub around 7:30, unless plans changed. He parked and shut the lights off, the only sound their breathing. Rustling from the passenger seat made him turn to look, but Mia was moving to his lap and clamping her lips on his in a possessive manner that rivaled his own.

His hands moved to cup her ass in her jeans and pulled back in shock to feel bare skin. “You little minx,” he muttered. She’d shed her jeans so fast he hadn’t noticed.

She laughed while her hands went to work on his jeans. He fumbled to lean the seat back as far as he could, giving them more room. Their touch turned desperate in their need to feel that intense connection again, and she pulled him free of his jeans, hovered over him, and rubbed her wet lips up and down his length. That was one thing he would never tire of—how wet she was for him and only for him. When she sank onto him, they sucked in a collective breath, clinging to each other as she rode him slowly at first, then faster as he plunged his tongue into her mouth, seeking her soul. Her inner muscles tightened around his shaft, and he grabbed her hips to hold her steady so he could finish them off together in several mad thrusts that had her screaming and him staring cross-eyed at the roof of the car, still in disbelief at how amazing it felt to be with Mia.

She collapsed in a quivering mess against his chest, and he wrapped his arms around her. “We should celebrate everything that way,” she mused.

He nodded slowly and reluctantly lifted her enough so he could slide out. “First time in a car.”

“Really?” she asked and sat up, a funny grin on her face. “I actually get to claim a first with you?”

“There have been several,” he informed her. “I just never announced them before. Damn, I don’t have anything in here to clean up with.”

She reached over to her seat and pulled her panties from her jeans, ran them along herself first and then dabbed up the rest of the mess before tossing them in the backseat. “Looks like I’m going commando tonight.”

“And how the fuck do you expect me to concentrate when I know you’re wearing nothing under those tight ass jeans?” he scowled as she crawled back across the seats. He gave her a solid slap on her ass, and she squealed with laughter as he gave her another one for good measure.

“Just save it all for tonight when we get home.”

“We already haven’t slept the past two nights,” he pointed out, fixing his jeans. “What the hell could a third hurt? But we do have an errand to take care of in the morning, and my sister Stephanie is in town.”

“She’s a photographer, right? Man, I can’t wait to meet her. I’m sure she’s got some awesome stories.”

Max nodded. “You two will get along well, I think, but if she’s staying with us, it’ll be awkward if she has to sleep on the couch because you’re in the guest room…” He grunted. Why was it so hard to ask her if she would mind sharing his bedroom?

Mia found his hand and kissed his palm. “Are you asking me to move into your bedroom?”

“I know it’s not what we agreed on, but it’d only be while she’s here.”

“Why not permanently?”

“You want to? Really?”

“Why do you sound so surprised?” she asked. “I’m not sure if you noticed, but these past two weeks have been incredible for both of us, and to be completely and utterly honest, I like you Max. Quite a bit right now, so why not? I’m supposed to be your wife anyway, remember?”

No woman had told him she liked him in years. Max swallowed hard, trying to find a way to explain to her what those words meant, but all he could do was lean over and kiss her tenderly on the lips. He ran his hands through her hair, ready for round two, when someone knocked on his window. They jumped and Mia hunkered down in her seat until Jeremy’s voice yelled to them through the window.

“If you two steam up that car any more, someone’s gonna call the fire department!”

Mia laughed and gave Max one final peck on the cheek before happily hopping out. “I got my license!” she told Jeremy, who hugged her as Max stepped out of the driver’s side.

“Great! That’s really exciting, Mia. Drinks on Maxie boy?”

Mia snorted a laugh and Max glared at his friend, swinging an arm around his shoulders and wrestling him down to give him a noogie. “I think the first round’s on you, my friend.”

“Aw, man, not the hair! I might have a date later!”

“A date, huh? What crazy man agreed to go out with you?”

With Mia between them, her hands tucked in each of their elbows, they walked around to the main doors of the building and managed to get inside and find a booth near the windows. “A man I have been after for weeks, actually.”

“And who is it?” Mia asked excitedly.

Jeremy’s cheeks reddened and he avoided their glances. “Harry.”

“Harry,” Mia repeated, her eyes widening. “Harry from the front desk, Harry?”

“Yes, he’s a pretty classy guy. Said he would meet me here for a drink—and maybe something else later on,” Jeremy added with a wink.

“You’re going to date the guy who works in my building?” Max stepped out of the booth, rolling his eyes. “Right, I’m getting drinks. Who wants what?”

“That’s all you’re going to say to him?” Mia scolded as she laughed.

“You know what it means? It means Jeremy is going to move into my building! As if I don’t see the man enough already,” he teased and gave his friend a good-natured shove. “Drinks going, order now or hold your tongues.”

Jeremy ordered a beer, Mia her usual martini now that she knew she liked them, and Max promised to come back with a bottle of something special since it was her night. The whole way over to the bar, all he could think of was the fact that she wasn’t wearing anything under those jeans. All he had to do was slip his hand inside them and she would be there for the taking, melting at his touch. A few hours more, and he would have her beneath him in his bed again, tangled in the sheets, wondering how much further this would go with a woman he never expected to feel so much for.

* * *

Keith shot back another glass of whiskey, ready to pour a third when the doorbell rang. Alice was supposed to be coming over to spend the night—again—but it wasn’t her on the front step. Carl pushed passed him and inside, babbling about something or other that Keith was too drunk to fully understand.

“What are you doing here, man? Get the fuck out.”

Alice might not be the same as his pure as snow Mia, but she’d given him plenty of ideas of what he would make his woman do the minute he got her back under his control.

“I found Mia,” Carl said louder and held up his cell phone.

Keith ran a shaky hand over his face to try and sober up as he took the phone and stared at the picture of Mia—his Mia—sitting in a booth with two men. He swiped his finger on the screen to find another of her leaning into the man she sat by, the one with the scar running down his face. There was another and another. The whiskey wore off as his rage increased tenfold. Then he saw the picture of the man putting his arm around Mia and kissing her on the cheek. She was laughing—laughing! His hand was on her thigh, and in the next picture, they were basically making out in the booth! Keith squeezed the phone so hard, Carl reached out to take it from him, but he turned away.

“Are there more?” Keith snarled.

“A few. But, Keith, she’s wearing a ring, a wedding band, and so is the guy.”

“Ring?” he asked and glared at the picture, trying to see her hand. He swiped over one more time, and there, on her finger, was a ring. The man wore one too, just as Carl had said. The way he held her, rested his cheek on her head, how she smiled so brightly in the picture it lit up her eyes… Keith chucked the cell across the room. Carl cursed and dove after it, but it only hit the couch. “That bitch! Why the fuck would she do this to me? Why!?”

“I don’t know, but I think you’re out of luck,” Carl informed him. “If she’s married, you can’t get her back.”

“The fuck I can’t,” Keith snapped. “People get divorced all the time, and how did she get married so fast—cheating,” he whispered as disbelief settled over his shoulders and he sank onto the couch. “She cheated on me this whole time. She was with that fucking ugly man over me!” He launched the coffee table across the room as he bolted upright and charged into the kitchen.

“Keith, you have to let her go. There’s nothing else you can do now.”

“Says you.” Keith snatched the bottle of whiskey off the kitchen table and took a swig from it. “Who’s the guy she’s with?”

“Haven’t gotten a chance to find out yet, but I heard her call him Max.”

“Max… she never mentioned him before.” That man had his Mia, the woman who was meant to be his. If she was married, then that meant… no, he wouldn’t let himself believe it. If he touched her, if she let him touch her and ruin her purity… the bottle in his hand shattered from squeezing it so hard and whiskey mixed with some blood splashed to the floor with the broken glass. “Find out who he is.”

Carl shook his head and waved over his shoulder. “You’re on your own. If she married someone, she clearly doesn’t want you and I’m not going to get my ass arrested, not for you.”

“I’ll triple what I paid you before,” Keith said.

Carl stopped, hanging his head, and turned back around slowly. “Then I’m out,” he said. “I find out who he is and I’m gone. This is your problem, and I don’t want any part of whatever you do next.”

“Deal. The money will be wired to you tomorrow,” Keith assured him. It was the last of his savings, but he had to have Mia back. She was his and that man… he was ruining her every day he stayed with her. He couldn’t have that. “Now, get the fuck out. Alice will be here soon.”

“Alice? Man, why don’t you just stick with her and forget about Mia—”

Keith lunged across the room, grabbed Carl by his shirt front, and slammed him into the wall. The man’s head smacked back hard and he groaned. “Alice is not Mia! That woman, she is the one I’m meant to be with. She’s mine, you got that? No fucking scarred up cunt is going to take her away from me. She lost her way, that’s all, and I’m going to get her back.” He let Carl slide to his feet and decked the guy for good measure. He sank to the floor and crawled out of the kitchen, clutching his bleeding nose.

Keith wiped the blood from his knuckles on his jeans and paced angrily around his house until Alice arrived. She walked right in as per usual now and spotted him standing in the kitchen, holding a crop in one hand and a collar and leash in the other. Without saying a word, she stripped out of her clothes, tossed them aside, and walked to him naked. If only Mia was so eager to please him, nothing would have ever gone wrong.

No matter. He would show her what she was missing. He would remind her of all he’d done for her in her moments of weakness. That Max was no husband for her. One day soon, she would be back in his arms, and she would be begging him for more instead of Alice.