Neighbors with Benefits (Anderson Brothers, #2)(64)

With her time divided among Heart’s Home in the morning, her private commissioned art in the afternoons, and Michael in the evenings, her life had fallen into a blissful routine. Her smile broadened. Who would have ever believed she’d have any kind of routine? She shook her head and dipped her brush again, waiting for Michael to appear through the doorway dividing her new studio from their apartment, glass of scotch in hand.

Chills shot up her spine as Michael’s warm lips traveled across the nape of her neck instead. He’d departed from his evening ritual, which fired off alarm bells and all kinds of flutters in her belly. She pulled off the headphones and turned to face him, mind racing to figure out what had disrupted his unbreakable routine. He gave nothing away in his face. “You’re doing it again,” she said.

His expression and voice remained placid and controlled. “Doing what?”

Placing her brush on the ledge of the easel, she fought back a grin. “That thing you do when you’re trying to pull something over on me.”

Still wearing his overcoat, he arched an eyebrow. “Hmmm. I’m not sure what you mean.”

She untied her paint smock. “Yes, you do. Like when you surprised me by buying this apartment and converting it into an art studio.”

“Ms. Braxton was more than happy to sell it to me, especially since I offered twice what she paid for it.” Still, his face remained completely unreadable. “And I’m not at all sure that qualifies as pulling something over on you.” And then he did something peculiar—he placed his hand on his chest, his face registering surprise for a fleeting moment before going back to placid.

She circled him, trying to figure out his game. “You also did this when you came back from the psychiatrist last week with Clancy.”

“I was as surprised as you were when Dr. Whittelsey gave him to us. I was pulling nothing over on you.”

“Okay.” She continued her stroll around him. “How about when you had the entire apartment covered in rose petals the day you proposed.” Never in a million years would she forget that day. After the spectacularly public proposal, Lee drove them to Michael’s apartment in his horse-drawn carriage. Michael carried her all the way from the carriage, through the lobby, up the elevator, and into the apartment, which had been carpeted from the front door to the bedroom with red rose petals.

Dimples flashed. “What a mess. I’m still finding petals under furniture.” He winked as she circled back to the front. “Totally worth the mess, though.”

Oh, yeah. She’d made sure he wouldn’t regret a surprise like that. It had inspired Mia to see just how fast one hot man could be divested of his ghastly sweater—and all his other clothes as well. Pretty freaking fast, it turned out.

Her body tightened at the memory of that weekend. He’d been full of all kinds of surprises and inventive suggestions.

Again, he raised his hand to his sternum and his eyes widened.

“Michael?”

He cleared his throat, hand splayed across his chest. “Hmm?”

A tiny white and black muzzle poked out of his overcoat.

“Oh, my!” She covered her mouth with her hands as he pulled the squirming puppy out of his coat.

“Mr. Kawashima sent us an engagement present—one of his wife’s Japanese Chins. Her name is Sachi.”

“Sachi,” she repeated. The puppy couldn’t have been more than ten weeks old and was adorable with her short nose, round tummy, and silky looking hair.

He squatted down to let Clancy sniff the puppy. After a few tail wags and a nudge with his nose, Clancy strolled over to his bed and curled up as if nothing out of the ordinary were going on, right as Michael’s phone rang.

He passed the puppy to Mia. “Hello?” He shot her a look and smiled. He smiled a lot now, Mia realized. “Sure, Will. We’d love for you and Claire to stop in. We have someone we want you to meet.” He stroked the puppy cradled against Mia’s chest as he spoke, and his fingers grazed her skin above the neckline of her shirt. She trembled at the contact and his gaze grew heated. “Actually. I just walked in the door. Why don’t you come by in say, an hour?”

He shoved the phone back into his pocket. “They’re stopping by to hash out some more wedding plans.”

Mia had been stunned when Michael suggested a double wedding with his brother. “Is Chance coming with them?” She liked both of his brothers, but had seen a lot more of Will than the youngest brother.

“No. He always goes to a bar down in Soho on Fridays.”

“I thought he didn’t drink.”

“He doesn’t. I assume he’s hanging with his buddies from the dojang.”

She handed the puppy back to him and took her paintbrush to the sink. “Maybe there’s a girl he likes.”

Holding the puppy against him, he nipped her neck as she rinsed the brush, sending sparks of desire skittering through her. “There’s a girl I like,” he said, tugging the neckline of her T-shirt with his teeth. “A lot.”

He kissed a hot path from her ear to her shoulder, and she had to summon every ounce of concentration she had just to finish the simple task of drying her brush. “How much?”

Taking her hand, he pulled her toward the door between the studio and the apartment. “Let me show you.”

He already had. With words and actions. Far more than she’d ever imagined possible. “What about the puppy?”