It Must Be Your Love (The Sullivans #11)(11)

Before she could remember why they shouldn’t be smiling at each other, Ford was heading across the bricks to a slight grassy rise on the side of the house that looked out over the water and was completely surrounded on the other three sides by tall, leafy shrubs.

“This spot reminds me of that day we found that small park with the great view,” he said. “Do you remember?”

How could she ever forget? Blue skies had turned to drizzle by the time they’d laid out a blanket in Kerry Park behind the thick shrubbery that hid them from the rest of the neighborhood, but Ford had kept her warm with his body over hers. She’d believed his was the love she’d been waiting for, and that no other man could thrill her the way he did.

Unfortunately, while she’d been wrong about the love...she’d been dead right about the thrill. No other man had ever come anywhere close to making her feel so wild or so good.

She shook the memories away as she kept her gaze focused on the water at the edge of the property. “The view here really is beautiful.”

“You were a thousand times more beautiful that day than the view could ever be,” he said, each of his softly spoken words landing right in the heart around which she’d momentarily forgotten to keep up her guard. “You still are, Mia.”

“No.” She backed away from him, from his sweet yet loaded words and the way they made her feel things that she could never again let herself feel for him. “We already agreed that you can’t talk to me like that.”

“The hardest thing I’ve ever done is not touch you during the past hour.” He dropped his gaze to her lips. “No, that’s not true,” he said almost to himself as his eyes darkened further with desire. “It’s been a hell of a lot harder not kissing you.”

Five years ago, she hadn’t known any better than to let him sweep her off her feet so that she forgot everything but him. But now, even though she did know better, she still badly wanted his forbidden kiss.

“You think I don’t know your game? Showing up as an anonymous client to catch me off guard, brushing up against me when you go through a doorway, toying with me with your hot glances and sexy words? We both know it’s what you do, Ford. You’re a master at making women want you. You don’t need to try to reel me back in to prove that.”

“There’s only one woman I want to want me, Mia.”

Determined not to let anything he said or did affect her from here on out, she rolled her eyes. Honestly, at this point, it was ridiculous to think that she could look for a house for him in any kind of professional way. “I’m sure I’m supposed to be flattered that you thought one look at you standing in the tower like the conquering hero come home would make me drop to my knees and unzip you with my teeth.” She laughed out loud to let him know what she thought of that vision, praying he believed she was actually disgusted at the thought of being with him again. Her heart and mind were, of course—it was just her body that was busy trying to betray the rest of her. “Scrubbing the kitchen floor with a toothbrush sounds a thousand times better than that.”

“So,” he said with deceptive ease, “just to be clear, you’re saying you’re not interested in me anymore?”

“Not the slightest bit.”

“And you haven’t felt any sparks jumping between us the way they always did?”

“Nope.” She shrugged as if the answer to his question were totally obvious. “Nothing.”

“Funny, I was thinking just the opposite was true.”

“Then you were thinking wrong.”

“How’s this, then? You let me kiss you, and if you’re right and there’s nothing between us after all, I’ll stop pushing you where you don’t want to go. But if there is—”

“Do you really think I’m going to fall for some stupid dare where you’re going to declare afterward, no matter what happens, that there are sparks between us?”

“You’re the one who’s saying I leave you cold.” He hadn’t taken his eyes from hers, and in the span of a handful of words, they’d grown darker, more intense. “One kiss, Mia. Surely you can walk away from that.”

What had she done to deserve his return into her life? She’d packed up every beautiful moment, every sweet and sinful memory of being with Ford, and had buried them all in the deepest, darkest part of her heart. She’d worked so hard to put the past to rest. She’d been over him.

He couldn’t just come back like this, couldn’t make her want him like this, couldn’t send her emotions into turmoil with nothing but a dark look and a few tossed-off words in his deep, mesmerizing voice. Heck, she had a date tonight with a really great guy who could very well end up being the one.

But now, after less than an hour alone with Ford, she was grappling with all of her old demons.

She needed to take a step away from him, and then another and another until she was far enough that she couldn’t see him anymore, couldn’t smell him, couldn’t reach out to find out if his skin was still as hot to the touch as it had once been.

Pride be damned, she was going to have to let him win this round by running from him...if only to make sure he didn’t win back the one thing that really mattered.

Her heart.

Or worse, her soul.

But her feet still weren’t listening, because instead of taking her further from him, they were moving her closer, then closer still, until he was right there within kissing distance.