“What are you thinking?” she whispered, her breath brushing across his lips.
Her cheeks were flushed, and he swept his thumb over her temple. “That I want to kiss you again.”
She smiled, a sweet, barely-there curve of her lips.
“And that I want to ask you out.”
“Are you going to?”
He tucked a stray bit of hair behind her ear then dropped his hand. “No. I mean, I would,” he said quickly. “I want to, but…I don’t really go out.”
She looked back at him like that wasn’t such a bad thing at all. Like not going out in college wasn’t surprising or even a negative. “What do you do?”
He huffed out a short laugh. “I heat up chicken nuggets shaped liked dinosaurs, steam broccoli, and read Goodnight Moon.”
“I like Goodnight Moon,” she said, completely serious. “And I love chicken nuggets.” Her eyes shone like endless pools, and the flash of heat he felt in them when they locked onto his, the hint of dimples when she smiled…
He was a goner, never had a chance, and no other girl ever had a chance with him.
Chapter 4
Present day…
MIA SMILED ACROSS THE iron patio table at Hannah Walker, all grown up. She turned the iced coffee in her hands, absently traced the line of condensation running down the clear plastic.
“So that’s the new plan,” Hannah said. “I’m going to keep seeing Stephen and see where it goes. Without fear.”
“Sounds like a good one, and I’m proud of you.” She was so very proud of that and everything that Hannah was. And knowing the man in question was the brother of one of her own friends, Lizzie McKinney, Mia felt more at ease.
Hannah deciding to continue with her first relationship with a man, even after their rocky start, was not only a good decision in her opinion but a brave one. “Trust yourself. You have good instincts.”
She knew with Hannah’s past, trusting was the hardest part for her. But Hannah was a woman now, a beautiful, gifted woman with a heart of gold as bright as her eyes. Mia was glad to see the light back in them.
By luck or fate or chance, Hannah had come across Mia’s name when she’d decided to take that step to seek counseling. This time as an adult, without her brothers’ interference, more specifically without the worry that would come.
Mia knew how they were. One especially.
Even though it wasn’t usually considered acceptable to counsel a personal acquaintance, she hadn’t been able to say no. Not when Hannah had balked at the idea of seeing someone else, backtracking so far as to say she probably didn’t need to see anyone after all.
Hannah didn’t want to rehash the past, and Mia didn’t blame her. That wasn’t necessary or helpful. Hannah just needed someone to talk to, maybe someone who knew her past and could gently push her to take the next step with life. And men. There was no way Mia wouldn’t give her what she needed.
And until Hannah’s call, Mia hadn’t talked to her in ten years, had assumed she was nothing more than a forgotten piece of Hannah’s past. Like she was a piece of Nick’s.
Forgotten? She hadn’t forgotten. Not a single second. But God, she’d tried to forget him. Now that she’d reconnected with Hannah, she needed to try harder.
Hannah checked the time on her phone. “I have to get back. I know you do, too.”
“I do.” Mia would have been happy to sit and talk to Hannah all day, but she had other patients waiting, including a middle-aged woman having a difficult time with the circumstance of her new empty nest. She’d decided to suggest the woman’s husband come to the next session, hoping the two of them could reconnect and find happiness and fulfillment in their new stage of life.
As they walked out of the coffee shop together, something caught Mia’s eye: a lone woman pushing a stroller swiftly past the shops across the way. She barely got a glimpse of the baby inside, just one pink shoe and little fingers gripping a pale stuffed animal. She couldn’t look away. With her feet planted firmly on the pavement, she imagined herself running, grabbing the stroller, kneeling down—
“Mia? You okay?” Hannah followed Mia’s line of sight, but the stroller and the woman were gone.
“Yes. Fine.” It couldn’t have been her baby—the odds were a billion to one. And anyway, not her baby. Not anymore.
Hannah’s phone rang, and Mia was grateful for the distraction. “Stephen?”
“No. Nick.”
Nick. Right there on the other end of that line.
She was still shocked at the sharp pain that came with just the mention of his name. Just a reflex, just old memories taking their shot at her. She covered it well, she thought. Years of practice and going on with the broken heart Hannah’s oldest brother had left her with.
Hannah clicked it off. “I’ll call him back.”
Mia hadn’t asked Hannah about Nick, and Hannah hadn’t mentioned him except to say that she didn’t want her brothers to know she was seeking any kind of help. That was her right and her privacy. Neither of them had specifically set out to keep it from Nick.
Mia had no idea what Nick’s reaction would be if he found out she and Hannah had been seeing each other. He was the most overprotective man, and that was before his years in the FBI, before what had happened to Hannah. She’d loved his protective nature, but to say he didn’t like secrets, especially where his sister was concerned, was an understatement.
But she and Nick’s history shouldn’t have, didn’t have, any bearing on her relationship with Hannah. It was history, albeit painful, and Hannah had been a young girl going through her own extremely difficult time. It had nothing to do with what Hannah needed now.
They reached the line of cars, where they’d parked next to each other.
“He’s not too happy I’m seeing Stephen,” Hannah said, glancing at the phone in her hand. “I’m not sure if it’s Stephen specifically or if it would be the same with any man.”
Mia was pretty sure Nick wouldn’t be happy about any man.
“But,” Hannah went on, dropping her phone in her bag and straightening her shoulders. “I’m an adult.”
“You are,” Mia agreed, smiling.
“A capable adult, making my own decisions.”
Mia’s smile grew. “Yes. You are. I’m proud of you for knowing it.” She touched Hannah’s hair as she’d done so many times when she was young then pulled her in for a hug.
Hannah gave her a squeeze and pulled back. “We’ll talk soon.”
Hours later, Mia sat behind the desk in her office, making last-minute notes before heading home. Her gaze brushed over the framed baby photo, painful to look at but impossible to put away.
Hadn’t it been that way with Nick, and hadn’t she survived? Once she learned to love with this new hole in her heart, figured out how to take a deep breath without the pain, she’d be fine. She’d move on. She was good at moving on.
She hadn’t moved here because of Nick. She hadn’t even known he lived in Norfolk when she moved here. But now they were so close, so close, she thought, though it might as well have been on the far side of the moon. And that brought a new pain.
It didn’t matter that he didn’t know she lived here. If he’d wanted to, he could have found her. Ten years ago. Five. One. But he hadn’t, and she hadn’t tried to see him, either. She wasn’t sure she could survive it. And that sliced through her chest like a hot blade when she remembered a time she’d wanted nothing more.
* * *
Twenty-four years ago…
HE KISSED ME. NICK kissed me!
Not her first kiss, but the first one with a guy she actually liked. More than liked. She’d never been struck dumb by physical attraction, but it had happened the first time she’d locked eyes with Nick Walker. She’d recovered, just barely, her days in high school theatre saving her from making a complete fool of herself. Focusing on Hannah had helped. Of course, watching Nick cuddle the toddler to his chest like a warrior made her heart stutter even more.
/> With her heart pounding and her lips tingling, taking notes for the past two hours hadn’t been easy. She’d done it, of course, because… well, because it was class, and she took notes like an athlete trained for the Olympics. Still, her lips tingled.
Mia floated to her dorm located in the heart of campus, literally roll-out-of-bed-and-get-to-class-in-under-two-minutes close. She opened her door with her key and immediately saw Georgia, who was actually from Georgia, sitting cross-legged on her monogrammed comforter across the room. Most of Georgia’s things were monogrammed. At least neither of us will forget her initials, she thought fondly. She liked Georgia, with her Southern-peach city drawl and animated way of talking.
“Hey.”
Georgia looked up. “Hey. You look happy.”
She hadn’t realized she’d been smiling. She’d probably walked across campus like that, which was silly. Silly but unavoidable. “I am.”
“Want to share?”
She dropped her backpack and sat on her bed, taking out a textbook. Trying for calm and sensible. Up until today, she tried to tell herself they were friends, just sitting on the Knoll, and that she was happy with that. That it was enough. Not that she felt unworthy, but Nick definitely wasn’t the kind of guy usually interested in girls like her. The tall, dark, and athletically Godlike hot guy.
Even so, there was a different side to Nick—a deeper, gentle, serious side. She wondered if the girls who paused on the Knoll to say they missed him and ask him to parties knew that side.
“Mia!”
She jerked her head up, stilling the finger that had been steadily tapping the cover of her book. “Nick kissed me.”
“Really?” A sly smile spread across Georgia’s face. “The broody Calvin Klein underwear model you sit with on the Knoll every day?”
“Not every day. I mean, it’s three days a week for four weeks, minus one day it rained and one day Hannah was sick, so really—”
“Seriously? I say ‘underwear model’ and you count days?”
“I’m just being accurate.”
“So he kissed you. Aaaand?”
Mia felt a dam burst. She shoved her book aside. “Georgia, I mean he really kissed me. Do you know what I mean?”
“Yeah. I think I’m familiar.”
“I’m having dinner with him tonight.”
Georgia moved to her desk, grabbed a nail file, and came back. “What fraternity is he in?”
“I don’t know. It didn’t come up.” Her roommates were everything Greek. She was everything not.
“She doesn’t know,” Anna Margret said, walking in from the attached suite she shared with Robyn.
“Figures.” Georgia shook her head sadly. “He looks like an SA or a Kappa Phi. They’re almost all hot. I don’t know any houses that are open for dinner, though. That’s only for lunch and only on game days.”
“It’s not at his fraternity house.”
She looked confused. “He’s taking you to a restaurant? Well, that’s different.”
“No. His house. His real house. Where he lives with his brothers and sister. You know he has Hannah.” She was so happy, it took her a second to notice Georgia’s scowl. “What?”
“I don’t know. It’s just kind of… weird, isn’t it? I mean, off campus? Are you having dinner with all his brothers?”
“I don’t know if they’ll be there, but Hannah will. I’m excited. It’ll be fun.”
“Okay. If you say so. Just call me every so often so I know he hasn’t locked you up to be the family sex slave.”
“Eww. Georgia. Why would you say that?”
Anna Margret pushed a pile of clothes aside and sat on Georgia’s bed. “Didn’t you go to the freshman sexual assault lecture? Didn’t you watch the video?”
“Of course I did. It was required.”
“Just make sure you know what you’re doing. For such a genius, you don’t have much street smarts.”
“I’ve seen pictures of your house, G. You didn’t exactly carry a knife walking to the corner bus stop.”
“No, but I’ve been out. I know how to read the signs of grabby guys and watch my drink so I don’t get drugged.”
“Why would you want to go to a party and hang out with people that you think might put something in your drink?”
“Because it’s fun. Duh. And because they’re hot.”
She didn’t get it, but there were a lot of things about Georgia and Anna Margret that she didn’t get. Nick was definitely hot, but she wasn’t worried. Maybe she should be, but she wasn’t.
“What are you wearing?” Georgia asked.
She looked down at herself. Khakis and a white button-down blouse. “This?”
Georgia and Anna Margret burst with a simultaneous and emphatic “No!”
“Okay. What do you think I should wear?”
The girls exchanged a look. “Finally.” Anna said, slapping a hand over her heart, and Georgia raced to her own closet.
* * *
MIA ARRIVED AT NICK’S a few minutes before six in the lime-green VW Bug she’d borrowed from Georgia. His family home was in a nice neighborhood just ten minutes from campus, and she was early. Bad habit.
She shut off the engine and sat, staring at the one-story brick house. Sidewalks ran in front of mowed lawns of one- or two-story houses shadowed by mature trees. She’d passed several people walking as she drove. A couple had waved when she’d slowed, searching the mailboxes for the house number. The place was friendly, like her neighborhood in Boston.
She tugged at the thin fitted sweater Georgia had insisted she borrow. Soft and white, it barely covered the top button of the jeans Anna had forced on her. She did own jeans, even if her roommates rolled their eyes at the loose fit. They weren’t loose, they just weren’t painted on tight.
Opening the mirror, she checked her face. She’d put her foot down there, but they’d talked her into a bit of blush, and she’d added the swipe of clear lip gloss herself. Butterflies danced in her stomach. Nick was the first boy she’d wanted to be pretty for.
A car pulled in behind her, and a guy got out. Great. No way he didn’t see me checking myself out in the mirror. When he stopped outside her door, she had no choice but to get out.
He stood almost as tall as Nick but had lighter hair. The eyes were the same, at least the shape and color, but the cocky look in them was very different.
“Hey. Cute car.”
His greeting was low and sexy, with more of a Southern flair than Nick’s. She’d guess this was Luke. “Hi. It’s not mine, but thank you.” She held out her hand and waited for him to take it. “I’m Mia.”
“Babysitter?”
“No. I’m having dinner at your house.”
“Really?” He laughed softly. “Please tell me you’re making it.”
“No. I mean, I don’t think so.” She pulled her purse strap higher on her shoulder. “I can. Nick just asked me to come over for dinner, so…”
“Right. Nick.” He gestured for her to go ahead of him and started walking. “Of course you wouldn’t be a babysitter.”
She had no idea what that meant and didn’t ask. They passed another car she assumed was Nick’s and entered the house through the garage.
The kitchen was nice like the outside. Not massive or overly fancy, but nice. She imagined they’d been a nice, normal family until they’d suddenly lost their parents. The kitchen trash overflowed with pizza boxes, and dishrags were piled on the counter. Hannah sat at a long, dark table, playing with the chunky plastic figures Mia had seen before.
She stopped and looked up when they came in. “Duke!”
“Hey, babe.” Luke went over and kissed the top of her head.
“I saw a duck, and I went potty!”
“You’ve had a big day.” He kissed her upturned face. “Look who I found in the driveway.”
“Mia!” Hannah shouted, bringing a puzzled look to Luke’s brown eyes.
Yes. Hannah knew her. Apparently hadn’t come up in
conversation with Nick’s brother.
“Hey.” Nick stood at the sink, drying his hands on a paper towel, a slow, hot smile pulling at his sexy mouth. “Sorry. I’m running a little behind.”
Her body shivered. “That’s okay.”
“I thought she was the babysitter at first,” Luke said, grabbing a soda from the fridge. “Stupid of me. I forgot you don’t allow sitters.”
The brothers exchanged a hard look, and Mia got the feeling the subject had been discussed before and Luke didn’t agree. Didn’t Luke know Hannah cried whenever she was left? Or had Nick been the only one to deal with that? She liked that he was protective. She’d much rather come there than have him eager to leave his sister.
The dishwasher stood open and, she assumed, clean, when Nick got four dishes out and only the silverware they needed. A house of boys, men, or nearly so. They probably took what they needed one piece at a time until it was empty rather than put everything away.
“Take the trash out,” Nick said.
Luke froze with a bag of chips in his hand, then turned slowly to face his brother. They stared, eyes locked in a heated battle, before Luke finally moved for the trash. “Yes, master.”
Mia turned her attention to Hannah’s plastic people to avoid staring at the private scene. The door slammed behind Luke, and a few minutes later, she heard a car door close then an engine roar to life.
Nick didn’t turn from the counter, but she heard his weary sigh, felt a bit of energy seep out of him. His shoulders slumped the tiniest bit under the enormous weight he carried, and she wanted to ease him.
She’d only kissed him once but was smart enough to know she was half in love with him already. Moving toward him, she laid a hand on his back and slowly moved it up and over the tense muscles. She hadn’t planned to do more than pat his shoulder or give him a squeeze of recognition for all he did and had to do, but her fingers continued up and into his thick, silky hair.
His hands stilled, and he sighed again, this time sounding less exasperated and more relaxed. She might have stayed there longer, but with a crash of plastic, Hannah sent the minivan tumbling off the end of the table.
Worth the Wait (McKinney/Walker #1) Page 3