Chapter
FIFTEEN
Mia bit her lip, uncertain whether or not to go after Gavin. No one seemed to have noticed his reaction to the noise—everyone was back to talking, playing games, and picking out desserts.
She hurried into the house, catching sight of him walking to the foyer.
“Gavin!” Her voice echoed against the stone floor. “Wait.”
He took his jacket from a rack and started out the door. She quickened her pace and grabbed his arm, yanking him to a halt. She almost reeled backward at the look in his eyes—bleak and dark as a black hole. An ache ripped through her.
“I need to go.” He pulled away from her and started to the door.
“Will you drive me home?’ Mia asked quickly.
He frowned, deep grooves carved on either side of his mouth. “Didn’t you drive here?”
“Yes, but… uh, my car is making a rattling noise,” she invented. “I’m not sure it’s safe to drive.”
“Luke or Polly will give you a ride.”
“But they’re having such a good time I don’t want to bother them.”
“So ask one of the other Stones.”
“Same thing. Good time. Don’t want to interrupt.”
Though his eyes hardened to the consistency of granite, he yanked open the front door and ushered her out. Mia grabbed her purse from the foyer table and hurried to the driveway before he could think of some other way for her to get home.
They got into his SUV. Mia texted Polly and Luke, apologizing for the sudden departure and assuring them everything was fine. Tense silence simmered between her and Gavin as he drove to her apartment, his hands so tight on the steering wheel his knuckles turned white. He pulled into a space in her building parking lot, braking hard.
As she’d expected, he exited the SUV to walk her to her door. Mia fished in her purse for her keys, her heartbeat suddenly increasing as she unlocked the door. Though she’d witnessed more of Gavin’s angles and layers than she’d ever imagined he possessed, she had no idea how to help him contend with his past trauma. Maybe it was arrogant to even think she could.
“All right.” He stepped aside when she entered her apartment. “I’m going back to work.”
“Wait.” Her hand tightened on the door handle. “Come inside for a while.”
He shook his head, but his gaze slanted past her to the frilly, warm interior.
“Gavin.” She didn’t reach for him again out of fear he might pull away, but she held open the door in invitation and gave him her best beseeching look. “Please come in. Just for a few minutes.”
He dragged a hand through his hair with a sigh, but followed her in. Mia closed and locked the door behind him with a surge of triumph. He didn’t want anyone, least of all her, to acknowledge his weaknesses so she’d have to tread carefully.
“Sit down.” She gestured to the sofa.
He sat, the tense lines of his body easing slightly. Mia went into the kitchen and opened the cupboards. She didn’t have any of the hard liquor he favored, so she poured a glass of wine and brought it to him.
He eyed the glass with suspicion. “What’s this?”
“Wine.”
“It’s pink.”
“It’s rosé.” When he looked blank, she added, “A combination of red and white.”
“I know what rosé is.”
“So drink it, tough guy.”
He scowled, but took a swallow before setting the glass on the coffee table. Maybe she should have offered him ice cream instead. She pulled an ottoman closer to him and sat, resting her elbows on her knees.
“Can I get you anything else?” she asked.
He shook his head. Frustration nudged at her. He took care of her so well, like he didn’t even have to think to know what would make her feel better, and yet when the tables were turned all she could manage to give him was a glass of pink wine.
She leaned down to take off his shoes and lifted his feet onto the ottoman. When she knelt beside him on the sofa, a gleam of interest replaced the scowly, suspicious look in his eyes.
“We’re not doing that.” She pushed him backward so he was sitting against the sofa pillows.
Any other man would have looked ridiculous against the frilly heart-shaped pillows and stuffed animals, but Gavin was even more masculine than usual—if that was possible—his dark hair and hard-edged features a striking contrast to the feminine background.
Mia took off his suit jacket and loosened his belt. She purposely avoided brushing against the bulge in his trousers, even when he tried to lift up her skirt.
“Stop that.” She swatted his hand away.
“Are you wearing underwear?”
“Good lord. I’d never go commando in a skirt this short. What kind of girl do you think I am?”
“The sugar, spice, and everything nice kind.” He ran his hand over her bare thigh.
“Stop that.” She wiggled off the sofa, picking up the glass of rosé before returning to the kitchen. She made a cup of hot cocoa, added multicolored marshmallows, and brought it to Gavin.
He frowned. Of course he frowned. He’d probably never had a nice hot cup of cocoa in his life, poor man. Probably he didn’t even know what it was.
“It’s much better than pink wine,” Mia assured him, setting the mug on the table beside him. “You just sit right there and relax.”
“Are you going to do a striptease?”
“Save that thought for another day.” She smirked at him. “I’m actually going to give you my granny’s brand of medicine. She always made me a cup of hot cocoa when I was having a bad day.”
As she’d expected, the mention of Granny extinguished the brewing lust in Gavin’s eyes. He picked up the mug and studied the melting marshmallows before taking a sip. He grunted a noise of approval.
“Right?” Mia said proudly. “Made from scratch with real cocoa powder and a touch of cinnamon.”
She turned her music player to a new-age station with slow, peaceful sounds of echoing waterfalls and ocean waves. She fetched a box and a lap desk from the bookshelf and returned to sit beside him. “So like I told you, Granny was an artist. One of the things she did was illustrate coloring books for grown-ups.”
“Why do grown-ups need coloring books?”
“You haven’t heard of the phenomenon? Coloring is excellent for stress relief and meditation, so tons of people are doing it now. Granny’s books were all about enchanted forests and lands where elves and fairies live. She’d always ask me to test drive her illustrations before publication by coloring them in so she could see if she wanted to make any changes. Some of my best memories are sitting in the kitchen with her, drinking hot cocoa and coloring the pictures she’d drawn.”
Feeling his gaze on her, curious and intent, Mia lifted the lid of the box and took out several of Granny’s paperback coloring books. A set of fine-point markers rested at the bottom of the box. She bustled around for a minute, setting the desk on Gavin’s lap and selecting a double-page spread of a forest grove of hollow trees surrounding a lantern-lit elven village.
“What am I supposed to do with this?” He frowned, getting scowly again.
“Color it, genius.” Mia placed the markers into a pouch at the side of the desk. “Come on, I’ll do it with you. You take that page, and I’ll take this one.”
She eased closer to him, edging the desk partway onto her lap and trying not to be distracted by the sensation of his muscular thigh pressing against hers and the delicious scent of his shaving cream drifting to her nose.
She cleared her throat and tried to focus. “Granny would always write a story accompanying the illustrations, but she never included it in the coloring books since she wanted people to create their own narrative. If you look carefully, though, you can see the story in the pictures. This one is about an elf girl of humble origins who enlists the help of woodland creatures to help her find a magic pendant that will save the forest from destruction.”
She plucked the cap from a marker and started coloring the heart-shaped leaves of a tree. Gavin watched her and drank his hot cocoa, and for a few minutes she thought there was no way he’d actually color. Then he set the mug down and picked up a marker.
Mia wanted to cheer. She settled against the pillows, relieved he was not only making an effort but hadn’t scoffed and left her apartment to go back to work. She switched her marker for a light green and continued coloring the tree, glancing over only occasionally to check Gavin’s progress.
Of course his technique was intensely precise and inside the lines, but he was coloring a mushroom cluster with purple, then filling in the little dots with bright yellow.
As they worked for the next hour, he colored his half of the forest with all shades of blue, lavender, peach, orange, and coral. He gave the elven girls rainbow skirts and polka-dot shirts, and he turned the sky into an expanse of cotton candy with fluffy pink clouds.
Mia was enchanted, especially as she’d expected him to infuse the forest with realistic browns and dark green—if he colored at all. And not only was he coloring, he was creating a vivid, lovely dreamland that would have made Granny very happy.
“Why are you smiling?” He glanced sideways at her from behind his glasses, but the lines of stress had faded from his face.
“I like it.” She tilted her head to the illustration. “It’s whimsical. I didn’t think you did whimsical.”
“I don’t.” He squinted and filled in the twigs of a bird’s nest with alternating purple and fuchsia. “This is for you.”
Her insides did a little flip. “What do you mean, it’s for me?”
He took out a blue marker to color the bird, his expression grave with concentration. “It’s the kind of forest you’d live in, my little fairy girl.”
Mia hadn’t known until that moment that it was possible for her heart to smile from ear to ear.
“Aw.” She nudged his hip with hers. “That’s really sweet.”
“I know.” He colored each individual feather of the bird’s wings.
Still smiling, Mia settled back in to coloring her side of the forest. With the soothing music drifting through the air alongside the smell of chocolate, and Gavin’s body so strong and solid beside hers, she couldn’t help imagining what it would be like to spend all of her evenings like this.
Well, some of her evenings, between seeking out new, cozy little restaurants where she and Gavin could have dinner, or going to the movies with him, or meeting him at one of her favorite haunts for a drink, or picking up Indian takeout for them on the way home, or strolling hand-in-hand along the beach at sunset…
Longing filled her, a rush so hard and fast it almost took her breath away.
“You okay?” Gavin peered at her, as if he’d sensed the sudden shift in her.
Of course he had. He was so attuned to her he noticed every subtle change in her mood. But did he know that she was falling in love with him?
A wild combination of joy and apprehension filled her. She set her marker down and snuggled up against his side, resting her head on his shoulder.
“What’s going on?” He settled his hand on her thigh.
“Nothing.” She rubbed her cheek against his shoulder. “I just have it bad for you, Gavin Knight. I’ve had it bad for you for over a year.”
“Hmm.” His voice rumbled in his chest. “I don’t feel the same way.”
The smile faded from her heart. “You don’t?”
“No.” He slipped his hand under her chin, lifting her face to look at him.
Behind his glasses, his eyes were warm and tender—whatever past trauma or fear he’d experienced at the barbeque was gone. Mia took some comfort in the fact that her brand of medicine had worked—hot cocoa and coloring had soothed his pain.
“I don’t have it bad for you, Mia Donovan.” He brushed his thumb across her cheek. “But I do have it good for you. Better than I could ever have imagined.”
He lowered his mouth to hers. And in that moment, she believed it was true, that her world of cupcakes and pink lace was a perfect match for his world of strict security and control. Because right between those two worlds, like the overlapping circles of a Venn diagram, was the enchanted forest where they both could live.
Together.