Dominance Never Dies (Masters and Mercenaries #11)(104)

She was here. Why was she here? Was she going to give him the restraining order herself?

Case walked past the now giggling women, but he didn’t have time to give them a nice Dom stare and a lecture on not making fun of him. Everyone made fun of him. He was used to it.

None of it mattered because Mia was here.

He stepped into his apartment and shut the door. He didn’t need prying eyes because he was about to get down on his knees and beg a woman to forgive him.

“Mia?”

She wasn’t in the living room.

“Yeah, uhm, I’m back here and maybe you should stay out there for a minute because Kori was right and I should rethink this whole thing.”

She was in his bedroom. She kind of had to be. There wasn’t much to his place. His never-used kitchen was open to the living area. Beyond that there was only the big bedroom and his bathroom.

She didn’t want him to come in. What had she been doing? A little revenge?

“All right. I can stay out here if you would rather. Mia, whatever you’re doing in there, it’s okay. If you’re trying to get back at me, I understand. I just want to talk to you.”

“Revenge? I’m not in here trashing your bedroom.”

“I’m glad. God, I’ve missed you. Baby, let me come in and talk to you. I promise I’m going to be a gentleman.”

“Really? Because I’ve done a whole lot to make sure you don’t view me as a lady. You know how sometimes I get a crazy idea in my head? I like to make big gestures. Well, this one required a couple of friends. And if you’re not mad then maybe you should come in.”

“I’m not mad. I want to talk to you. I want us to sit down and have a nice long discussion about what happened between us.”

Her voice came out on a shaky laugh. “Then you’re going to have to come in here and untie me. I’m afraid for a girl who loves to spend all her time in suspension, Kori’s pretty good at tying a sister sub up, if you know what I mean.”

He rushed into the bedroom and then stopped at the sight that greeted him.

Mia was naked, her body laid out on his bed. Laid out wasn’t exactly right. She was trussed up like the sweetest gift he’d ever been given. Rope wrapped around her torso, holding her tight. Her hands were bound as well, tied behind her. Mia lay on her side, her legs free and a perfectly atrocious pair of underwear covering her * and her ass. He would always think any underwear was bad, but this one was cotton and reached up to her waist. There was no lace or silk. Just a bunch of martini glasses and the words “It’s always happy hour somewhere.”

“What the hell is that?”

She bit her bottom lip, her face going a nice shade of pink. “I was trying to surprise you. I think I probably should have called. I’m so sorry. If you could get Kori back, I’ll get dressed again.”

Oh, that was so not happening. She was here. She was half naked and tied up on his bed, and that meant she was forgiving him. At one point in time he might have wondered if this was a little revenge on her part, but now he understood his insecurities were his problem and not Mia’s. Mia wouldn’t do that to him. Mia would come here for one reason and one reason only.

Mia wanted to try again.

But she had some insecurities of her own and they did have something to do with him. He’d let her go. He’d let her walk away because he’d been so angry with her. He’d let his anger overwhelm his love. That was his mistake, and it had hurt her so very badly.

He stared down at her, enjoying seeing her again. “How can you be even more beautiful than I remember?”

“I thought you were upset to see me.”

“I was surprised to see you. I was upset to see that you’ve chosen to wear…” He couldn’t even call those panties. They were horrific.

A little smile began to curl up her mouth. “This is about the undies? You’re mad I’m covering my *. Well, Case, I wasn’t sure if Boomer was going to walk in, and I thought I should leave a little mystery between us. As for these particular undies, I didn’t have time to do a bunch of laundry. I kind of got home, found out I had a crazy-hot stalker leaving me messages, and then I flew here so I wouldn’t miss you.”

He couldn’t take his eyes off her. He might never take his eyes off her again. His cock jumped back to life. Months had passed. Months where he’d been hit on by several lovely women and not a one of them moved him. No one touched his soul the way Mia did, and Case had rapidly discovered that his cock definitely followed where his soul went. No pretty face or hot body could compare to Mia. Those other women didn’t glow the way she did, didn’t light up a room or make his heart do weird, fluttery things that he was never going to admit to. Never. Except maybe to his brother when he’d had too much Scotch.

Ian had told him to suck it up on the girly love stuff, poured him another drink, and then very quietly admitted he felt the same way about Charlotte and if Case ever said a damn thing to her, Ian would beat the shit out of him.

Then they’d talked about the Cowboys.

That was the Taggart way.

And so was this. He reached out and hauled her up. She was easy to move, all trussed up. A gorgeous, sexy piece of baggage. Mia had chosen to offer herself up like this. He would take it. They could work through their issues while finding the connection that had been missing for months. He’d missed touching her, missed tasting and loving her. And he’d definitely missed spanking her.