The Billionaire's Matchmaker(53)

“I do, Gid. I do. My own father would have sold me to some pervert in exchange for a fix if a store clerk hadn’t seen us pull in, gotten suspicious, and called police. They got there just as I was being forced into the guy’s car. My dad was arrested along with the other man.”

“And your mother?”

“She had supervised visits with me for awhile. Then, after my dad was convicted and sent to prison, she got me back. Everything was okay for a while, long enough for me to start believing I was going to have a normal life. Then she hooked up with another loser who used drugs. She died of an overdose when I was eight.” Another betrayal, in some ways every bit as painful as her father’s.


“After that, I bounced around the foster care system until I aged out.”

Her cheeks weren’t the only ones damp now. “You deserved a better childhood than that.”

“Yes, I did, although for a time, I wondered if I’d been to blame somehow. If something about me made me…” She swallowed. “Unlovable.”

“Aw, Mia. No. If I could make up for the past—God!—I would. But I’m not like your parents—”

“I know that—”

But he cut her off with a vehement shake of his head that had Charlie hopping up and padding over the mattress to where they were. “You don’t know, Mia. At least not in here, where it counts.” The tip of his finger grazed the lace of her nightgown just above her left breast. “Any promises I make, I will keep, but you have to believe me. You have to trust me. You have to—”

“Love you. I love you, Gid.” She smiled, surprised to find it wasn’t as hard to say as she’d thought it would be.

Gid, meanwhile, stared at her unblinking. Another time, Mia might have teased him for the way his mouth had dropped open. But this wasn’t the time for jokes.

“Say it again,” he said quietly. “Please.”

“I love you.” The words flowed easily from Mia’s heart—the battered heart that Marney had urged her to listen to.

“I love you, too.”

He kissed her then. His mouth was soft and sweet for a brief moment before it turned demanding. He pressed her back against the mattress and followed her down, the weight of his body made her feel secure, every bit as much as the love shining in his eyes. But she had to know.

“What about California? Your job? What are you going to do, Gid?”

“The clinic is still mine.” He nipped at her lower lip. “As for the rest, I’ll tell them I got a better offer.”

He didn’t say exactly what that offer was. Nor did he propose marriage. But this was enough, she told herself. When he would have kissed her again, Charlie started to bark and tried to wiggle in between them.

“I think he needs to go out,” Mia said ruefully.

“Yeah,” Gid agreed and then bobbed his eyebrows in a way that made her laugh and go soft inside at the same time. “I think he needs to stay out for a little while, too.”





Chapter Seven



“I’m so glad that you and Gid are back together.” Marney raised her coffee in a toast. Gabby and Jenny followed suit as the women sat at their usual table at the back of The Cuppa Cafe.

“If you start singing ‘Love is in the Air’ again, I’m out of here,” Mia groused, but she was smiling, too.

It had been a week since she had bared her soul to Gid, but this was the first time she and the girls had had a chance to get together and talk. On the tabletop were candid shots from Marney and Dell’s wedding that Gabby, a talented photographer, had snapped on the big day. Some were black and white, others full color. All of them captured the couple’s joy.

“I knew he would stay in Chandler’s Cove if you asked him,” Jenny said.

“I didn’t ask him to stay.” If there was one thing that could mar her current happiness, it was the fact that Gid was giving up so much for her. She couldn’t help wondering: would he regret it later?

“You know what I mean.”

“He’s happy to stay here because he loves you,” Gabby said. “He wants to be with you.”

Marney had said as much before. Still, that was a heady revelation, one Mia had only just begun to trust.

“You’re so lucky,” Jenny said. Her eyes misted. “All of you. You’ve found wonderful men to share your lives with.”

“You’ll find someone wonderful again, too,” Mia predicted of her friend. When they all gaped at her, she shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “What?”

Marney chuckled. “You. Ms. I-Don’t-Do-Commitment.”

“Looks like someone’s been drinking the Kool-Aid,” Gabby added dryly.

“I love him. And he loves me. He really loves me,” she said with no small amount of wonder. She had pushed Gid away, broken his heart. Still, he forgave her. Now, even though he knew her ugliest secrets, he still he wanted to be with her.

“So, when’s the wedding?” Jenny asked.

“It goes without saying that I’ll take some lovely pictures for you, too,” Gabby put in, tapping the photos on the tabletop.

“We’ll be bridesmaids, right?” This from Marney.

Mia nibbled her lip.

“What is it?” Gabby asked.