Mia sits quietly in my passenger seat with the same vacant look in her eyes that she had when I arrived at her house. I don’t know how long she was there, but I sensed she hit her breaking point long before I arrived.

When I drove up and saw the snow-covered shell of the little red car that sat there just yesterday, I couldn’t get to her fast enough. I ran up the stairs, prepared to knock the door down if necessary, but when I saw her wrapped in a fuzzy pink blanket, tear-stained face and a dejected look in her eyes, every ounce of anxiety rushed from me with the overwhelming need to coddle her taking over.

I pulled her into my arms, taking a heavy relieved breath that she was okay. I muttered something to her, my worry coming out in questions that in that moment, held no importance, but when my eyes landed on the photograph of her with her family and that beautiful, carefree smile of hers, it spoke directly to my heart and I was more determined than ever to make her mine.

The painful clacking of her teeth fill the silence, my gaze turning to her. She bites down firmly stopping the chattering, but the subtle quiver of her bottom lip gives away just how fucking cold she is. With the heat already on high, I push the last vent her direction and grab her hand, breathing heavily into her palm. If the roads weren’t such a fucking snowy disaster, I would have her in my lap, wrapped around me, and giving her my body’s warmth.

She’s still shaking when I park in my garage. I jump from my truck, racing around to Mia’s side as Smith parks behind me. When I open the door to help her down, she falls into my arms, wrapping her arms and legs around me, not letting go. Smith gives me a chin lift, silently telling me to do my thing and I waste no time in carrying her in the house and up the stairs.

With her body still clinging to mine, I turn on the faucet to the large tub before setting her on the counter.

“You okay?”

She nods, and I begin to tug at the laces of her shoes. With every piece of clothing I remove, it becomes more obvious she’s chilled to the fucking bone. If I’d known she was this fucking cold, I would’ve had her sit in my truck while I packed up her shit myself. Her arms wrap around her waist after I lift her sweater and tee over her head and her jaw let’s lose, teeth clacking quickly before she catches them, biting down again.

I wrap myself around her, feeling her cold skin. “Mia, you’re freezing. You need to get in the bath and wait for me,” I say, lifting her from the counter. She steps from her pants and slips off her bra and I help her up the two steps to the edge of the tub. A short hiss fills the room when she steps into the water. “Too hot?” I ask.

“No, just a shock,” she says before biting back down, trying to hide her shiver. She slowly lowers into the water, acclimating her body to the warm temperature. When I see another shiver ripple through her body, my desire to strip and climb in with her almost wins, but then I remember Smith downstairs unloading boxes. He wouldn’t be too happy if I were up here getting lost in my girl.

I kiss the top of her head. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“How long will you be gone?” Her eyes have that vulnerability I’ve seen before, but not one trace of the strength I’m used to seeing with it. She’s at her limit today and it really bothers me that she thinks she’s in this alone, because she isn’t, not anymore.

“Not long beautiful,” I say, kissing her forehead and forcing myself out of the bathroom. I race down the stairs and out to the garage. Smith has half the boxes already unloaded and stacked against the wall.

He looks over and grins. “I knew putting those tires on that woman’s car wasn’t purely out of the goodness of your heart,” he teases.

“And the good friend you are, never questioned me when I’d said it.”

“I didn’t think it would get to this point, man.” He smiles, getting another box from the back of my truck and adding it to the pile. “It’s not like you to get caught up on a woman.” He pauses thoughtfully. “In fact, I can’t recall one woman in all the years I’ve known you, but sometimes good pussy messes with our heads. This is all kind of fast.” He glances toward the stack of cardboard boxes. “Most women tend to want something…at least in my experience. She’s not a gold digger, is she?”

A surge of fight washes over me with his words, but I let it go. Smith is just giving me friendly advice. I may not get involved with women for longer than it takes to blow a nut, but he’s no stranger to how evil some of them can be.

“I don’t know what her story is, but she’s not a gold digger,” I say with absolute conviction. I found Mia, not the other way around. “She never asked for any of this, Smith.” I wave my hand toward the house.

“What about her car?” he asks skeptically.

My mind flits back to the guy at the club. “I think it’s a jealous ex-boyfriend.” I crack my knuckles against the palm of my hand. “Nothing I can’t handle.” I smile, welcoming the idea of him to come near her.

“You sure you want to get into something like that? You got a fight coming up.”

“She’s a good girl, Smith. Some pansy ass ex isn’t going to be too hard to shake off. Once word gets out that we’re together, he’ll probably never even show his face. You won’t even have to get your hands dirty.”

He smiles. “Come on now, where’s the fun in that? You know I like a good beat down every now and again.” He chuckles, but I see the disappointment behind his dark eyes.

Smith and my childhoods were very different. Whereas I was alone, he was surrounded with violent people. I fought to survive. He fought to escape. We both needed out and Vic gave us what we needed, but I sometimes wonder, with his boxing career over, why he hasn’t returned to that when he’s admitted on numerous occasions he misses the adrenaline rush of a good fight.

“What do you know about her?” He looks toward the stack of boxes again. “Other than her new address,” he says through another chuckle. I know he can’t believe it. I can’t fucking believe it. I just believe that when she’s here, with me, my life is better.

“Her parents died in a car accident a couple of years ago. Her sister lives with their aunt in Texas. She danced at The Big Shebang.”

His face tightens with surprise. “No shit?” He grins. “Vic is going to have a field day with this one,” he chuckles.

“He’s already lit into my ass about her, only he doesn’t know the woman I’m seeing is the same one he chewed me a new ass over.”

“The picture?”

“Yep!”

“This ought to be good,” he mutters, grabbing the last box.

* * *

Forty minutes later, I bound up the stairs, two at a time, still wound up from talking about Mia’s ex-boyfriend coming back into the picture. She’s out of the bath and tucked into my bed. Fuck, she looks perfect there. I toe off my boots, strip my clothes, and climb in next to her. She scoots back against my chest and I wrap my arms around her, getting lost in the flowery scent of her hair.

“This is where I’d hoped you’d be when I got home from the gym this morning.”

“Sorry,” she mutters.

“Last night wasn’t just a one-night stand for me, Mia.”

“I didn’t know…”

I feel her shudder with a silent sob.

“Hey, everything is going to be okay.” I roll her over and brush the hair from her face, looking into her eyes. I wipe a stray tear from under her cheek as it falls. She reaches up and softly brushes the wisps of hair away from my forehead. I close my eyes, relishing in her gentleness.

“Why are you so good to me? You don’t even know me, yet every time I fall, you seem to always be there to lift me back up,” she whispers. Her honey-colored eyes dance with mine in the dim light. I know she’s searching for answers. Answers I can’t really provide.

“Have you ever thought that it is you that lifts me up?” I ask, meaning it. I can’t explain what I feel, I’m not even sure I can sort through it yet, but with Mia, I see things differently and want things that I have never wanted.

“But you don’t know me and—”

I shake my head, silencing her because I know there’s nothing this beautiful woman could say to change what I want. “I want you here with me, in my house, in my bed, in my life Mia. We’ll figure it out as we go.”

“You really want me to live with you?” Her eyebrows pinch with her question.

“I need you to live with me, Mia.”

“Chance…” she begins to protest and I close the distance, silencing her with a kiss.

“Block out the world, Mia. Right here, right now, just you and me…doesn’t this feel nice?”.

“Yes,” she breathes, pulling me toward her again and taking my lips with hers. When her legs wrap around my waist, I run my hand down her skin, feeling the subtle curves of her naked body before grabbing her hip and forcing myself from sinking into her. I push back, looking over her ample chest and sucking her rosebud colored nipple into my mouth.

“I love that you’re not shy.” I whisper along her skin as I shift my attention to her other breast.

“Dance teaches you that,” she says breathily, arching into my touch. A sense of possessiveness washes over me with the reminder that other people have seen her beautiful body.

“I don’t want you to strip anymore, Mia.”

“I meant ballet, Chance.”

“I don’t want you to strip anymore, Mia,” I repeat, her explanation still not squelching my protectiveness. I drag my tongue down her firm stomach. “I want this all for myself.”

“It’s yours,” she moans when my tongue grazes over her clit.

“Say it again,” I say, spreading her folds with my fingers.

“It’s yours.”

With the tip of my tongue, I flick back and forth on her swollen clit until she’s moaning and writhing under me. I push two fingers into her center and feel the walls of her pussy instantly tighten around them. “Chance,” she breathes through a moan as her hips undulate, chasing the euphoria. I flatten my tongue, applying more pressure, pushing her over the edge with a heady moan. I ride the last ripple of pleasure that courses through her body before reaching to the nightstand for a condom.

My dick is painfully hard, throbbing to get inside her and I almost skip the latex barrier, wanting, for the first time ever, nothing between me and another person. I’ve hardly gotten it rolled to the base before I lower, slowly pushing into her. I close my eyes, feeling her soft exhale against my shoulder as she rocks into me, meeting my slow thrust.

“Everything feels right about us Mia,” I say through a measured breath as I pump slowly in and out of her. Her hips roll with mine, a soft moan escaping her lips before she pulls me lower, kissing me almost breathlessly as I continue my languid movements in and out of her body.

There’s no hurry, no desperation for either of us to fuck the other. Our hands roam, learning one another’s bodies as we look into each other’s eyes and ride the rhythmic wave we create. I hold her hand, entwining our fingers, gazing into her eyes and feel a connection being built that I haven’t ever felt with another person.

The stirring of my orgasm begins and I kiss her again, wanting to be connected to her in every possible way. Her nipples rub against my chest, tightening under the drag against my skin. Her pussy tightens, clenching around my shaft and I shift my hips, giving her the friction she needs to find her release. “Mia,” I whisper, my breathing becoming more labored as my own release builds.

“Chance…don’t stop,” she whispers softly. Her back arches off the bed with a thrust as her body tightens around mine when she comes. Her pussy pulses with her release, constricting my cock, taking the last bit of restraint I had left from me.

I find her eyes, needing her. “Mia…” falls from my lips as I meet her release with my own.