The Billionaire's Matchmaker(48)

In terms of practicality, she was right, but that wasn’t why he nodded. He didn’t want to leave yet.

Mia’s house was built in the 1920s and while a number of renovations had been done to the quaint cottage over the years, the bathroom still sported the original pink and black tile work. She claimed that the period detail added character. She’d teased him once that men who were secure in their masculinity could handle the color, but when she handed him a pink towel just then, secure or not, Gid felt foolish.

Her wry smile told him she knew it.

“I think there’s some of your shampoo under the sink. And a razor and shaving cream.”

“You kept them?” he asked, a little surprised. Of course, he still had miscellaneous items of hers at his house, too.

“I…it seemed a waste to throw them out.”

“I don’t suppose I left any boxers behind?”

“Not that either I or Charlie has found.”

He shrugged. “Guess I can go commando.”

He’d been half teasing but was pleased to see her eyes widen a fraction of an inch. Interest. Need. Desire. One after the other, the emotions flashed there, emboldening him enough to close the distance between them. He dropped the towel, cupped her face in his hands and lowered his mouth to hers.

The kiss lasted maybe thirty seconds, a slow plunder that did nothing to take the edge off his mood. He waited for her to pull back, to step away and remind him their relationship was over. Instead she helped him out of his T-shirt.

They didn’t speak, which was just as well. He didn’t want to know what was going through her mind just then. For that matter, he refused to heed the warning that was blaring siren-like in his own. Instead, he relieved Mia of her blouse, taking the buttons slowly before peeling the two sides open as if he was unwrapping the last gift of Christmas. Since it was a good bet this would be the last chance he ever got to make love to her, he was going to savor it.

The bra she wore was white cotton and fastened in the front. He found it every bit as sexy as the black lace one the dog had eaten. He nuzzled the soft flesh that mounded ever so slightly from the unadorned cups, before undoing the clasp and brushing her nipples with the pads of his thumbs. Her breasts might be small, but they were beautiful and, best of all, sensitive.

Her moan was all the encouragement he needed to follow up with his tongue. Her head fell backward. Her hands fisted in his hair. Her breathing turned to ragged panting. Gid knew what she liked. That was the advantage of having been lovers. He knew which places to kiss, which to caress, just where to run his tongue to elicit the most pleasure.

He might have wanted to go slow. Mia, however, had other ideas. She reached between them and unbuttoned his shorts. An instant later, he felt the zipper give way and then she was pushing the shorts down his hips, followed by his boxers. He did the same to her shorts and panties. Then, hands on her bottom, he pulled her against his erection and kissed her again.

“Bedroom?” she managed to ask.

He grunted his ascent.

The dog was waiting in the hallway. Gid swore Charlie was grinning. When he tried to follow them into the bedroom, Gid blocked the way.

“Sorry, pal. Find something else to entertain yourself for the next half hour or so.”

Gid closed the door and turned to find Mia reclining on the bed. She looked gorgeous, a feast for a man who had been starving for months.

“Half hour?” Mia asked, one eyebrow cocked.

“Or so,” he repeated, coming to join her.

…

Mia and Gid both wound up being late for work. Since she was the one expected to open the shop, she had no one to answer to. Except herself and on matters that had nothing to do with punctuality.

“Don’t look at me like that,” she told Charlie as she began work on a hand-tied bouquet of Stephanotis.

The blooms were as expensive as they were fragile. They were for a wedding the following day. He continued to stare at her anyway, and she swore his expression was just shy of damning.

“It doesn’t change anything,” she went on. “And Gid knows that.”

His exit after they’d made love told her so. He’d made no declarations, no promises. All he’d said was, “I really have to leave now.”

Then he’d levered off the mattress to find his clothes. The offer of a shower that had started everything was forgotten. Once he was dressed, he came back to the bed, kissed Mia on the forehead, and left.

She still wasn’t sure how she felt about that, despite her claims to the contrary to Charlie.

Would Gid call? The question crept past her defenses. Her hand tightened on the bouquet.

“He doesn’t need to call,” she muttered aloud. “I don’t give a damn if he calls. In fact, it would be best if he doesn’t.”

Charlie settled his head on his front paws, his expression unchanged.

“It was just sex,” she told the dog.

But then Mia swallowed and her eyes blurred. When her vision cleared, she knew the delicate Stephanotis wasn’t the only thing bruised.





Chapter Five



A week passed and Mia didn’t see Gid. Nor did she hear from him. But his scent lingered on her pillowcase and she couldn’t fall asleep for wanting him.

The scent would fade and these feelings would pass, she told herself. She would get used to being without him again, just as she had after their breakup. Really, he was doing her a favor by staying away. Which was why it made no sense at all that she scheduled an appointment for Charlie on the very day that Marney and Dell were due back from their honeymoon. As mortifying as it was to admit, the dog gave her the perfect excuse to see Gid.