Neighbors with Benefits (Anderson Brothers, #2)(41)

“So, you and I need to go pick up our dresses, Mia,” Sue said. “I have a seamstress appointment for us at noon. If something is screwed up, she can fix it before the wedding tomorrow. I also want to hit a really cute shop I saw yesterday that sells jewelry. Kelli, I’d love for you to join us, or you can go to the craft brewery with the guys.”

“Come with us, Kel,” Jason said. Mia knew him well enough to hear the tension in his voice. Trouble in paradise, maybe?

Kelli rose from her chair on the far end of the porch. “Nah. I’m going to go hang with the girls. Beer’s not my thing.” From her arms crossed over her chest to her refusal to meet him eye to eye, it looked like Jason wasn’t her thing either. She brushed some strands of bright red hair from her face and gave Mia a slight smile, which made her instantly warm to the woman she’d hated for months.

“Okay. We’ll see you guys at one or so.” Sue took Mia’s hand and led her down the stairs of the porch with Kelli close behind. “I totally need the scoop on your fiancé,” she whispered when they hit the sidewalk.

Oh, great. It was the divide and conquer tactic.

Glancing over her shoulder, she locked eyes with Michael, still in the same spot on the porch, sporting a grin and an obvious erection, and her heart kicked up a notch. He wanted her. Scattered, impulsive Mia had drawn the attention of a giant. She just needed to be sure she didn’t go down with the whole beanstalk. She was in way over her head—and something in her loved it.

…

Michael turned the menu over and scanned the selections on the back. He really wasn’t in the mood for this, but short of being rude or giving up the ruse, he didn’t have a choice. Being split up from Mia was not something he’d anticipated and he didn’t like it. He found himself wanting to spend every moment with her, a completely new experience for him. Usually, he couldn’t get rid of people fast enough…like these two guys. But there he was, pining for a woman. Ridiculous.

“Welcome to Hair of the Dog.” The bartender was a man about his age wearing wire-rimmed glasses and a T-shirt with a dog sporting a keg around its neck. “As you can see from the menu, we only carry our own hand-crafted beers and ales made primarily from locally grown ingredients. Do you have any questions?”

He had questions. Plenty of them, but nothing to do with beer.

“I do,” Jason said before launching into a litany of questions regarding locally grown hops.

What the actual f*ck am I doing here?

He was making good on a promise.

No. It had nothing to do with a promise. He could have found a way around it and still put this Jason jackass in his place.

He was there because of her. Because he wanted her.

For keeps.

Oh, shit.

He’d watched Will go stupid over a woman and now he was doing it. Love was the career killer. The enemy. He’d vowed to never get close to a woman, yet there he was…completely and totally f*cked.

“And for you?” the bartender interrupted.

Mia. I’ll have Mia, please.

Without looking, he put his forefinger on the page.

“Ah. Excellent choice. Lucky Dog Stout. We use seven different malts including wheat malted right here, in…”

Lucky Dog. He shook his head and smiled as the guy kept talking. If it hadn’t been for the damned dog, he would have never met Mia.

“…with a roasted coffee overtone and a smooth finish…”

Smooth. “Your words are as smooth as your public image, Michael David Anderson. A girl could fall hard for you if she weren’t careful.”

Why so careful? What was she scared of?

“So, do you want to taste it first?”

“No.” He’d tasted Mia. He wanted her. And knew what it would take to get her. “You serve food, right?”

…

By the time they got to the pub, Mia was exhausted and starving. Her bridesmaid dress had fit fine, but Sue and Kelli insisted the neckline be adjusted. And to her amusement, they commented on the flashy black lace undergarments she’d changed into when she’d put on the jeans back at the room. She smiled at the thought of Michael picking them out. Had he touched them? He had certainly touched her. A tremor bolted through her body and between her legs as she remembered his skilled hands and mouth less than an hour past. It felt like forever ago.

When the wedding was over, she’d start her new housesitting job and all of this would be over. That in itself presented her with two options: Prevent it from going further with Michael by putting a wall up against potential heartbreak, like she’d done so far. Or go for it because it was a one-shot thing she shouldn’t pass up.

No matter what option she chose, her heart would be broken. She’d fallen hard.

Sue and Kelli had grilled her nonstop on him and she found herself gushing honestly, which hit home the point that she was way far-gone. Hopelessly gone.

He stood when they entered the pub, all well-dressed and handsome and hot as hell. The other guys followed his lead and stood, but it felt forced from them. The look he gave her was odd—the same poker face, but there was heat behind his eyes. Immediately, her breath caught.

Maybe it was just because she’d spent the last forty-five minutes convincing her best friend and her ex’s new girlfriend how in love with him she was… or maybe she really was, but like in those chick flicks she and Sue used to watch every Tuesday night, the rest of the world seemed to fade out, leaving only him.