Savor You (Fusion #5)(22)

I’m completely and utterly pissed the fuck off. The hostess just insulted Mia, and Riley covered it up.

But I will not have this conversation with Mia right now, in front of her friends and in a public place.

“Today went well,” Trevor says. “Mia, you’re amazing in front of the camera.”

“You’re delusional,” she says with a grin. I can still see the hurt and embarrassment in her eyes, but she’s shaken the hostess off and put on a brave face. “But I’ll take all of the compliments.”

“You really are great,” I reply. “You’re great at explaining what you’re doing, and why you’re doing it. That’s the hardest part. I’m so used to cooking, and so much of it is habit, that I really had to practice describing the steps. I can’t tell you how many meals I cooked at home, talking out loud when no one was there.”

“I talk out loud when no one is there all the time,” Riley says with a laugh. “Here comes the waitress. I’m warning you all, I’m ordering all of the happy hour food as well as drinks. I’m starving.”

“Oh good,” Mia says with a smile. “Me too. Let’s order the whole happy hour menu, it’s only five things, and share them.”

“That’s perfect. And we can order more if the portions are small,” Riley says with a nod. “Are you guys okay with that?”

“No complaints from me,” Trevor says and I nod in agreement. After the waitress leaves with our food and drinks order, Mia lets her hair down from the messy bun and sighs.

“How are you doing?” Riley asks her.

“I’m great.”

I take her hand in mine, linking our fingers. She glances over at me, but she doesn’t pull her hand away, so I consider that a win.

“You’re letting him hold your hand,” Riley says. “Is your hand numb, and you just don’t feel it, or are you two a thing?”

“Neither. I’m not numb,” Mia murmurs. “I let people touch me sometimes.”

“Right.” Riley nods. “Like when you’re unconscious. Or when you go to the doctor and they take your temperature.”

“Shut up,” Mia says with a laugh. “I let Landon hug me the other night. Not a regular one-armed pat of a hug either. He hugged me against him for like a minute. And I wiped my nose on him.”

“Of course you did,” Riley says, laughing. She turns to Trevor. “Mia’s notorious for not liking to be touched. It’s not a trauma thing, she’s just not touchy-feely.”

I know that Mia has said that she doesn’t love to be touched, but that doesn’t describe the Mia I knew years ago at all. She was incredibly affectionate. We snuggled a lot on the couch while watching movies, and she loved to cuddle up to me in bed.

“It’s not like I’ll stab someone for touching me,” she says, interrupting my thoughts. “I just prefer to not be. It’s not a big deal.”

“Except, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen someone hold your hand.”

“Shut up, Riley.”

“Sorry.” But she doesn’t look sorry in the least as she grins at Mia. “Not sorry.”

Two hours, and three rounds of drinks and food, later, Mia checks the time. “Wow, we’ve been here for a while.”

“Time flies when you’re celebrating,” Riley says.

I’ve had my hand on Mia for the past two hours straight. Whether holding her hand or resting on her thigh, I’ve made sure to touch her. I want her to get used to my touch.

Because I plan on a lot of physical contact later.

“We should go,” Trevor says. Mia stands and stretches, reaching high above her. Her shirt rides up, just barely giving me a glimpse of the soft, white skin beneath.

I want to rip that shirt off of her and touch her everywhere.

“Are you going back to the restaurant?” I ask her as we push our chairs in and make our way out of the bar.

“Nope.” She smiles proudly and tosses me a flirty wink. “I’m going to turn over a new leaf and take the night off.”

“Wait. Are you sick?” Riley touches Mia’s forehead, but Mia just chuckles.

“I’m not sick. I’m trying to curb my need to control everything there. This is a baby step.”

“Atta girl,” Riley replies. “Have a good night, you guys.”

Trevor and Riley walk away, leaving Mia and me standing in front of the bar. I shove my hands in my pockets and wait for her to say something.

“Do you have plans this evening with your sister?” she asks, staring just past me down the sidewalk, not meeting my gaze.

“Steph and Chip left this morning,” I reply. “I don’t have any plans.”

She nods and shuffles her feet. “Well, I don’t know if you’ve heard, but I’m curbing my control-freak tendencies this evening.”

“I did hear something about that,” I say and step toward her. “You should probably be supervised. Just to make sure that you don’t give in and rush back to your kitchen.”

She nods slowly. “That would probably be a good idea. I mean, I can’t be expected to be reformed in a day. That’s just ridiculous.”

“What would you like to do, Mia?”