Adored (Masters and Mercenaries #8.5)(56)

He’d never gotten to his knees before. Not for any woman. Not for anything.

He needed time. He needed to think about what was best for all of them. Perhaps that meant taking a step back. He was going to write her a very polite note requesting that she keep him up to date on any and all developments with the baby and asking that she honor their contract and allow him to escort her to appointments having to do with their child. He would concentrate on the baby.

Perhaps at some time in the future he and Laurel could be friends again.

He sighed as he noticed a big truck in front of the house. He would have to talk to the neighbors because it was utterly ridiculous that they had guests park in front of his house when they had a massive circular drive.

Hell, he couldn’t even work up the will to argue anymore. He was about to put his key in the front door when it opened and Remy Guidry stood in the doorway, a frown on his face.

“You are in the doghouse. Dinner’s been ready for damn near thirty minutes and it’s cold. You should probably come up with a good excuse right damn now.” The big Cajun shook his head. “That woman makes a fine roast. If you’re stupid enough to lose her, give me a call. I’ll take her.”

Mitch stared at him as Remy walked through the doorway and toward the lawn. “What?”

The Cajun kept walking, his keys in his hand. “I’ll pick her up at eight tomorrow. The good news is now we’re out in the open and I can stay close to her. Night, Bradford.”

Laurel was here? Laurel was here.

He could hear the sounds of soft country playing through the house. He’d hated it at first, but now it seemed like the sweetest thing he’d ever heard. He locked the door behind him and set the alarm. He dropped his briefcase and walked through the living room. Slowly. Like this was a dream and he wasn’t sure he wanted to wake up.

“Laurel?”

She was standing at the sink, rinsing off one of his boring dinner plates that had no personality or color to them. She was the color in his home, in his life. She looked up. “Hello, Mitchell. Are you hungry? I made dinner.”

“Why?”

She set the plate in the dishwasher and dried her hands. “Because we eat dinner at night.”

There wasn’t a lot of expression on her face. God, she looked tired. He’d done that to her. But still, he needed to understand. He didn’t understand her at all. “Why are you here, Laurel?”

“Do you want me to leave? I can call Remy back.”

He moved around the bar, almost wanting to block her path. “No. I don’t want that. But I thought you left me.”

“I can’t leave, Mitch. We don’t get to throw everything away. I don’t know if we can go back to what we were before, but I think being apart is a mistake. So I think we should sit down and have dinner, and later, we’ll go to bed and maybe you can make love to me because I had a shitty day.”

He stepped up and dragged her into his arms, pressing his lips to hers. He took her mouth in a long, hungry, grateful kiss. She wasn’t leaving. She was here with him.

It was enough.

“Maybe dinner can wait,” he said against her lips, his hands moving to her blouse.

She sighed against him. “Definitely.”





Deep in the night, Laurel looked down at her sleeping…what did she call him now? They still had a contract but it felt broken despite the way they’d ended the evening. They’d avoided all talk about the future like it was a land mine waiting to explode in their faces, and she wasn’t sure what to do about that.

She loved him. She simply wasn’t sure love was enough in their case.

When he kissed her, when he put his hands on her like he would die if he didn’t, it felt like love. The D/s sex they had was over-the-top insane with pleasure and she craved it, but there was no doubt she also needed those times when Mitchell lost control and had to have her without any protocol or rules between them.

That was when she felt like he adored her.

She’d thought a lot about what Remy had told her today. She’d thought about that dog she’d coaxed into the trailer finally. It had taken weeks and weeks. Will had forbidden her to get anywhere near that dog. Come to think of it, Will hadn’t been spectacularly excited when he’d realized she was interested in Mitch. It seemed like her brother recognized the destruction capability that lived in both beasts, but she’d seen something else. She’d seen a chance to give something to a creature that had obviously been broken.

The world could break a spirit, but that didn’t mean it had to stay that way.

She looked over at him. Why was this man precious to her? Why couldn’t it have been someone simpler? Someone happy and whole? Why did he move her?

At the end, it was a mystery and she wouldn’t solve it. There were some things that simply were. If it didn’t work out between her and Mitch, she would miss him forever. She would move on because she wasn’t the type to lie down and fade, but she would always love him.

Why hadn’t she told him?

It seemed like the last wall she had, the very last defense.

“You can’t sleep?” Mitch’s voice rumbled as he turned over. Even with the lights out, she could see the hard line of his jaw, watch as his hand came out to touch her shoulder.

“I’m fine.” She wasn’t sure what to say.