Nine

When Mia pulled up to her house Thursday evening, she was surprised to see Jace’s car in the driveway—his actual car, not the Blue Mistake. He was sitting on her top porch step, ruggedly handsome in the sunlight, and even after all the missteps of the past few days, her heart leaped at the sight of him.

“Hey.” She greeted him shyly, not sure where to start after her earlier outburst.

“Don’t worry.” He held his hands up in a placating gesture. “I returned the car.”

“Thank you.”

“And I thought very hard about what constitutes an appropriate apology gift. Will you give me another shot at it?”

“Sure, but I think you’re missing the point,” she said gently. For the first time, she wondered about the expectations of previous women in his life. Had they presumed expensive gifts and posh vacation getaways because of who he was? She’d been ill at ease with his wealth, but she hadn’t realized that it probably also complicated relationships for him. “You don’t need to buy me things.”

“That’s why you’re going to like this better,” Jace said enthusiastically. “I took a brand-new approach. Full disclosure, I also went by Shari’s restaurant, threw myself on her mercy and begged for help. She let me into your house—under her supervision—with the spare key. I hope that’s okay, but if not, please don’t be mad at her.”

“I’m not mad.” Mia trusted her friend’s judgment. Plus, her curiosity was piqued. “But I reserve the right to change my mind later.”

“Noted.”

He opened the front door for her, and Mia stepped into her living room, which currently evoked the waiting room of a spa. Electric candles had been placed along the coffee table and mantel, and classical music accompanied by nature sounds played through a wireless speaker. A handful of rose petals were scattered on the end tables, but not enough to create an overwhelming scent.

“Wow,” she said. “This is nice.”

“I picked up food from Shari’s,” he told her. “It’s in the kitchen with heating instructions. If you’re in agreement, I thought I could make you dinner and give you a foot rub. Or a back rub. Or both.”

After standing all day and performing multiple surgeries this week? She almost moaned. “Congratulations, you’ve done it! This is the perfect gift.”

“I’m glad you think so.” He reached past her to retrieve something from the bookcase. “This was my plan B in case you didn’t want my company.”

When she saw the mug full of chocolate bars, laughter burbled out of her. How could she resist chocolate and a massage? And how could I possibly resist those blue eyes?

She wrapped her arms around him. “Thank you, Jace.” She kissed him, and the strain of the last few days evaporated.

His mouth on hers caused the usual zing of pleasure, but it was even sharper, sweeter, than before. They’d argued, but instead of holding a grudge, he’d redoubled his efforts and reached out to her again, careful to meet her on her terms. Learning to speak my language. That was sexy in its own right.

Rising on tiptoe, she deepened their kiss, thanking him without words for his thoughtfulness. He buried his hands in her hair, nipping gently at her lower lip.

She angled her head back just long enough to ask, “Do we have time for a shower before dinner?”

“We?” he echoed, his eyes gleaming. “Oh, hell yes.”

They stumbled, tangled in kisses, toward her bathroom. Watching him discard his clothes reminded her of the night they’d shared in the Climbing W’s guest cabin, when they’d showered together after making love. He was stunning. And right now he was all hers.

She nearly purred. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to how sexy you are.”

“Back at you, Doc.”

Unabashedly naked, he stepped forward to help her out of her clothes, taking his time and heightening the anticipation. His hand brushed the side of her breast as he lifted her shirt over her head, and her breath caught at the teasing contact. He crooked one finger in the band of her underwear, slowly drawing them down over her thighs. She was almost shuddering with longing by the time they stepped under the warm spray of the water.

Jace grabbed a bottle from the shower caddy. “Want that massage I promised?”

She quirked an eyebrow. “Why do I think this isn’t going to be a relaxing experience?”

His smile was a wicked promise as he squeezed coconut bodywash into his palm. He worked the suds into a lather and cupped her nape with both hands, his fingers doing magical things to the muscles in her neck.

Her sigh was a sound of pure bliss. “Damn, you are good with your hands.”

He kneaded his way to the front of her throat, sweeping his thumbs over her collarbone, following the tropical-scented rivulets to the swell of her breasts, his touch achingly gentle. He captured a handful of silky suds, drawing them across her nipple, then ducked his head to blow them away. The flirty, ethereal caress of his breath against her had her dissolving faster than the bubbles.

“You make me feel like soapsuds,” she heard herself say. “Fizzy. Iridescent.” The words were nonsensical, silly, and she would have understood if he laughed.

But his eyes darkened, and he leaned forward to kiss her. There was nothing silly about his touch as his soapy hands slid down her body, slicked over her curves and tugged her tight against him. She moaned into his mouth, raising one leg to hook around his hip, trying to close the distance between their bodies. All she accomplished was a delicious friction as she tried to keep her balance.

She was surprised when he turned her away from him, toward the water, his hands sluicing the suds from her shoulders before palming her breasts and slowly trailing down her torso. Once all the bodywash had been rinsed away, he reached to turn off the faucet.

“Are we done here?” she asked eagerly. As much as she’d been enjoying the shower, it provided certain logistical challenges, and her bed was just a few feet beyond the bathroom door.

“In here, yes. But I’m definitely not done with you.” He leaned in to lick a bead of water from the side of her neck, and Mia trembled in response. “God, you smell delicious.”

He wrapped a towel around her, not bothering with one for himself, and carried her into the bedroom, laying her sideways across the comforter before falling on her with hungry, avid kisses that made her toes curl. The towel fell open, and he worked his way down her body until his lips brushed her inner thigh. Mia was quaking with need, her legs wantonly splayed to give him better access, her pulse racing. Even though she knew what was coming, the heat of his mouth on her was still an erotic shock to the system.

He shifted, his grin devilish. “I was right. You are delicious.” Then he repositioned them so that her knees rested over his muscular shoulders, the sight of his dark head between her legs decadently carnal. Mia’s body arched, taut with pleasure and heat and thrumming energy that built with every flick of his tongue. Her fingers bunched the comforter on either side of her, and she offered herself up to Jace with an abandon more powerful than she’d ever known. She could feel a cry in the back of her throat, but when he sucked hard at her clit, the orgasm that overtook her was so powerful that for a moment, she couldn’t make sound. With a gasp, she went up on her elbows, her head thrown back as wave after wave of satisfaction rippled through her.

“Jace.”

Lightning-quick, he was there with her, kissing her deeply as he thrust into her still trembling body, drawing out her own climax as he found his. They didn’t speak afterward, but clung to each other, damp and replete.

It felt like the room was spinning, but in a good way, rocking her to sleep. Mia couldn’t keep her eyes open. Languid darkness closed in around her. She gave in to it, drifting off before she had a chance to tell Jace that what he’d just done was a far more luxurious gift than a car.


“NO!”

Mia shot awake, confused. It took her a second to remember that she wasn’t alone in her bed and to realize that Jace was the source of anguish she’d heard. “Jace?”

His eyes were open but staring forward, past her, unseeing.

She poked him in the side with her finger. “Hey, Jace. Are you okay?”

He slowly focused on her, his face more pale than she’d ever seen it. Maybe it was partly because of the moonlight washing out the room, but she didn’t think so.

“Bad dream?” she asked.

He sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. “Sorry.”

“Nightmares are involuntary, nothing you need to apologize for.” She put an arm around him, resting her chin lightly on his shoulder. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“No.” His voice was raw. “But I might as well warn you. It’s bound to happen again.” He pulled away from her and began to pace alongside her bed. “It’s always the same nightmare. Reliving my parents’ accident.”

Reliving? “You were in the car with them?” It was too horrible to imagine.

Although he didn’t answer her question directly, his grim expression was reply enough. He must have been terrified. She recalled his trying to tell her yesterday about the new car’s safety ratings. She regretted rejecting the gift so harshly. Her own minor accident last spring had left her more worried about crashes. What he had endured...

“You should go back to bed,” he told her.

“What about you?” Whenever she’d had a nightmare as a kid, her dad would reassure her that it had only been a dream, that whatever scary image she’d conjured wasn’t real. But she couldn’t offer Jace the same comfort. His nightmare was all too real. “Can I get you a glass of water? A shot of whiskey?”

After a second, the corner of his mouth quirked. It wasn’t quite a smile, but it was a vast improvement over his earlier frozen expression. “Is that what you’ll offer our kid when he or she has bad dreams?”

“Of course not—whiskey’s much too strong for a kid. Vodka, obviously.”

He did smile then, and the knot of tension inside her loosened. “You’re going to be a great mom.” The compliment was tinged with sadness, and she knew he was still thinking about his own parents.

“I’m going to try,” she promised. There were still moments when the fact that she would be a mother didn’t seem quite real. She got out of the bed. “Come with me.”

They went down the hall to the guest room, which was so seldom used that it had become easy storage for everything from off-season clothes to her Christmas tree. It wasn’t messy, but it was cluttered.

Jace raised an eyebrow. “I’ve heard pregnant women go through a ‘nesting’ phase, but this is an odd time to decide you want to organize a room.”

“The nursery,” she said. “Eventually. What do you think—crib along that wall?”

“If you move the treadmill, sure.”

She laughed. “Maybe a garage sale before the baby comes would be prudent. Or hauling some stuff down to the basement. Not me personally,” she quickly added when he scowled at her. “I do have brothers, remember?”

“How could I forget?” Jace put his arms around her, resting his hands protectively over her abdomen. “Have you talked to them yet?”

“Only through awkward texts. I think they’re embarrassed, but they’ll come around. Or Leigh will kick their asses.”

“I told my family, too. About the baby.”

She craned her head to look up at him. “You did? How’d that go?”

“They were happy for me.” He sounded bemused. “And weirdly supportive. Harry offered...”

“Offered what?” she asked when he fell silent.

“To babysit if we ever need it,” he finally said.

“Oh. Well, that’s nice of him, but still a long ways off. What I really need is a nursery theme. Got any ideas?”

After a second, he grinned. “Cowboys and ponies? Maybe a pastel mural of cattle along the far wall.”

“Mint-green and yellow cows? Never mind, I’ll ask Shari. She has good taste.”

“Shari!” He clapped a hand to his forehead. “I never cooked you that dinner I promised.”

“We got a little sidetracked.” Now that she thought about it, she was hungry. “But if you’re offering now...”

So they walked to the kitchen, hand in hand, discussing baby furniture and laughing about paint colors, the lingering hurt of past tragedy fading in the light of future joy.


“Mr. Malone?” Carol’s voice came through the intercom on Jace’s desk. “There are two men here to see you.”

Jace straightened his tie. “From the certification commission?” They were early, but he was excited to take this meeting.

“Um, no, sir. Ian and Dylan Zane?”

Ah. Mia’s brothers had come to toss him out a window. He supposed that had been inevitable. “Please show them back, Carol.” He found himself anxious to face them. For Mia’s sake, he wanted to establish a good rapport—if that were still possible.

Carol ushered in Mia’s unsmiling brothers and offered to bring them and Jace coffee. All three men declined, then stood silently, taking each other’s measure like gunslingers in the Old West.

“Please, sit down,” Jace invited them.

They did so, exchanging glances, as if silently debating which one of them should speak.

Ian sighed. “It was good of you to agree to see us, especially after how we acted.”

“Leigh called us idiotic jackasses,” Dylan put in. “Repeatedly.”

Ian scrubbed a hand over his face. “It might not seem like it, given how much we upset her, but we adore Mia. I remember the day she came home from the hospital, her tiny pink face. She was the most fragile thing I’d ever seen. It’s hard to remember she’s not fragile now. When I realized you...that she...”

“We know she’s a grown woman,” Dylan said. “But she’s barely over Drew. The last thing we want is to see her get hurt again.”

“I would never intentionally hurt her,” Jace promised them. Even if his and Mia’s relationship hadn’t started in the most traditional of ways, it was important they knew she was a priority. “I care about her a lot.”

“So do we. And she deserved better from us than what she got,” Ian said. “We reacted poorly.”

“We should have kept our noses out of your business,” Dylan said. “At least we don’t have to worry that you’re going to steal from her, so that’s something.”

“Steal from her?”

Once again, the two brothers exchanged glances.

Jace put the pieces together. “Like Andrew did?”

“Right.” Ian looked woeful. “She asked me, you know, if I thought it was a good idea for spouses to be business partners or if that would put too much strain on the relationship. I ride to work every day with Leigh and have lunch with her on the quad. I thought it would make their foundation even stronger. I didn’t know he was going to embezzle from the practice and jeopardize her loan!”

Jace saw red. Her ex was the reason Mia worked until she dropped? That she pushed herself until her blood pressure was too high and still drove a car with a blinking check engine light?

“How could you have known?” Dylan tried to reassure his brother. “She doesn’t blame you.”

“Anyway.” Ian cleared his throat. “You’re a busy man, and we shouldn’t take up more of your time. We just thought we owed you a face-to-face apology.”

“I appreciate that. And please know that, busy or not, I’ll always be here for Mia and the baby.”

Ian stood. “For your sake, I hope the first one’s a girl. If she’s older than her brothers, maybe they won’t grow up to be overprotective clods.”

“Or just have all girls,” Dylan said as he followed his brother out.

Jace was still trying to determine how to be the best father he could to one child, much less future children. So why was it so easy to imagine a pair of little girls who looked like their beautiful mother?

When Grandpa Harry had offered the family ring, Jace would have taken it if he thought Mia would accept. Did that mean that he loved her, or was he simply being too impulsive? Like I was with the car. He had a track record of careless actions and hasty decisions. But, as Mia had pointed out, mistakes were how people grew. He was proud of everything he was accomplishing at Malone Energy and proud of his closer relationship with his family. It gave him hope that he could truly be a great dad.

Maybe even a man worthy of Mia’s love.